I am unashamedly addicted to Football Manager

I had pulled an all-nighter. I was shattered. My eyes were stinging and all I wanted to do was sleep, my report was due in 6 hours and I hadn’t made a start on it, but it was the Champions League final with Everton, eternal glory awaited me if I won, if I lost it wasn’t worth thinking about…

We all have those guilty addictions in life and mines is Football manager. Last year I racked up over 1000 hours on it and this year is going to be no different. “One more game” turns into half a season and you find yourself thinking about who you’re going to buy when you’re working or in a lecture.

The issue that FIFA has for me is that most games end up the same; once you master a few skill moves you’ll end up winning every game with ease and to me there’s no excitement in that – there’s no sense of achievement. Football Manager on the other hand is completely out of your control and anything can happen: you could play a team 10 times and the outcome would be different. It’s so detailed that even real life football teams and Sky Sports are using it to scout players and compare attributes.

I’ve even found myself lying to my girlfriend at times and telling her that I’m off to sleep just to get through an important round of fixtures without being interrupted. Maybe it’s hereditary – my dad has played as Kilmarnock for the last 40 years in the game and he’s not looking like giving up anytime soon.

Leave me alone I have big matches coming up

It may come across as sad but to me it’s what helps me relax and chill out when the stresses of life take over and is that really bad thing? Most of the time it’s just sitting in the background and I check it in between study breaks – 1 minute of typing to 5 of FM, obviously.

It’s becoming more apparent to me that I need to take breaks from it for a few days at a time. When I was away in the summer for two months I’d sit there on the beach thinking about who to play when I got home and jotting down formations as the transfer window unfolded.

Oh and if you’re wondering, I lost 3-0 off of Bayern Munich, handed in my report late and I went in a rager for the next two days but hey, there’s always next season.