Football Manager 2007

Football Manager is a series of football management simulation games first released in 1982 by Addictive Games, and lasting until the mid 1990s. In 2004, the series was revived by Sports Interactive to replace the name of their Championship Manager series. The original series is credited as being the first ever computer game to use the concept of managing a football team. Football Manager 2007 is the latest in the series.

In the United States and Canada the series is sold as Worldwide Soccer Manager or WSM. This is similar to the name of the series on the Sega Saturn and Sega Dreamcast. These games were published by Sega who, incidentally, are now Football Manager's publishers, in the place of Eidos, who published Sports Interactive's Championship Manager series until their split in 2003.

On 8 June 2006, Sports Interactive published details on Football Manager 2007. "Packed full with more than 100 new features, Football Manager™ 2007 is set for release on PC, Mac and Intel Mac, as well as the Xbox 360™ video game and entertainment system from Microsoft. Football Manager Handheld on Sony’s PlayStation Portable handheld entertainment system (PSP) completes the format line-up, with all platforms set for a Christmas 2006 release."

On 24 September 2006 it was announced that Football Manager 2007 would be released on the 20 October 2006.

On 1 October 2006, Sports Interactive released a Gold Demo of FM 2007, available in two versions, vanilla and strawberry. Both versions allow users to play 6 months into a season. The strawberry version contains a larger collection of quickstarts so users can try out more leagues. It also contains more graphics than the vanilla version.

As a result of certain retail outlets ignoring the official release date, Football Manager 2007 was actually released on 18 October 2006.

New Features in the 2007 version of FM include the ability to include pictures for you as the manager; substantially increased media interaction such as approaches from national newspaper journalists about the upcoming match or asking for comments on a player's performance in recent matches; new varying degrees of criticism or praise for players (happy with form or very pleased with form rather that just one generic good term), a similar feature has been included for such actions as admiring players or attempting to unsettle transfer targets. Improvements have also been made to board request interactions.

The main improvement lauded by Sports Interactive for this version of FM is the improved scouting system. Scouts' and coaches' experience is now shown graphically via bar charts and scouts gain knowledge from areas they have scouted previously. To go with this it is now possible to get feeder/parent club status which allows you to either send your players to lower league teams to gain experience, make it easier to get work permits, merchandise sales in other areas etc. or work from a similar angle from the opposite end gaining parachute payments from higher league clubs and their reserve players on loan for no cost. In turn the parent club gains scouting knowledge for the area that the feeder club is in if it is in another country than that club.

A patch has been released to combat some of the main bugs in the game, such as unrealistic scout reports and high amounts of injurys sustained whilst playing on the pitch. The latest build of this patch is 7.0.2 94768.

Wayne Rooney's stunning last-minute winner kept Manchester United's hopes of reaching the Champions League final alive after an Old Trafford classic.

Cristiano Ronaldo's fifth-minute header put United in front, only for AC Milan to draw level through Kaka's angled drive after 21 minutes.

Kaka put Milan ahead from close range before the interval, but Rooney turned in Paul Scholes' cool pass on the hour.

Rooney then lashed a glorious 20-yard finish past Dida in injury time.

It was a moment of magic that gave United a precious lead to defend going into the second leg in Milan next Wednesday.

United opened in sparkling fashion, and it took a desperate intervention from Alessandro Nesta to divert Rooney's shot over the bar.

But they were soon ahead when Ronaldo met Ryan Giggs' corner with a firm header, which Dida palmed into the air and could then only divert into the net.

United were firing on all cylinders up front - but all the time Milan, in the shape of Kaka, were waiting to probe their suspect and under-strength rearguard.

And the strike they feared came after 21 minutes when Kaka took Clarence Seedorf's pass and accelerated away from Gabriel Heinze and fired a left-foot angled drive across Edwin van der Sar.

A high-quality encounter saw Rooney just fail to get on the end of Giggs' cross and Ronaldo bring a crucial block from Dida with a 25-yard power drive.

But Brazilian superstar Kaka was an ever-present threat, and he took advantage of shambolic United defending to grab a crucial second away goal for Milan after 36 minutes.

Kaka chased a long pass, and when Heinze and Patrice Evra collided, he moved smoothly into top gear to slide a perfect finish past Van der Sar.

Evra was then booked for dissent - a yellow card that rules him out of the second leg at the San Siro, an inconvenience United did not need given their lack of defensive resources.

Michael Carrick wasted a glorious opportunity to put United level after 47 minutes when he side-footed wide of an open goal when he arrived unmarked at the far post on the end of another dangerous Giggs corner.

Milan lost captain Paolo Maldini to a knee injury at half-time, then were robbed of Gennaro Gattuso with a knee problem - with the combative midfield man being replaced by Cristian Brocchi.

Kaka was giving a master-class, escaping the offside trap to shoot across the face of goal then playing a sumptuous one-two with Seedorf only to volley narrowly over.

United desperately needed inspiration, and a moment of genius from Scholes provided it as they drew level after 59 minutes.

Scholes instinctively lifted the ball into the path of Rooney, whose finish was half-stopped by Dida but rolled in.

United were suddenly buoyant again, and the unpredictable Dida saved brilliantly from Darren Fletcher after Rooney's cross was headed into his path.

Fletcher forced Dida into a save at his near post as United pressed for what would be a crucial lead to take to Italy.

Dida then finger-tipped Ronaldo's dipping drive inches wide as United mounted a spell of sustained pressure in the closing stages.

United's sheer courage was rewarded when Rooney ran on to Giggs' pass and fired past a startled Dida to send Old Trafford wild in celebration.

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Man Utd: Van der Sar, O'Shea, Brown, Heinze, Evra, Fletcher, Carrick, Scholes, Ronaldo, Rooney, Giggs.
Subs Not Used: Kuszczak, Smith, Solskjaer, Dong, Richardson, Eagles, Lee.

Booked: Evra, Giggs.

Goals: Ronaldo 6, Rooney 59, 90.

AC Milan: Dida, Oddo, Nesta, Maldini (Bonera 46), Jankulovski, Gattuso (Brocchi 52), Pirlo, Ambrosini, Seedorf, Kaka, Gilardino (Gourcuff 84).
Subs Not Used: Kalac, Cafu, Inzaghi, Favalli.

Booked: Kaka, Bonera.

Goals: Kaka 22, 37.

Att: 73,820

Ref: Kyros Vassaras (Greece).

PFA AWARDS DOUBLE FOR RONALDO

Manchester United winger Cristiano Ronaldo has become the first man since 1977 to win both the PFA Player and Young Player of the Year Award in the same season when he was honoured at a gala dinner in London.

Not since Andy Gray scooped each of the coveted accolades 30 years ago has one player dominated the voting of his fellow professionals in such fashion.

Ronaldo, 22, has been in awesome form for United, as the Red Devils remain on course for a Barclays Premiership, FA Cup and Champions League treble.

The achievement is all the more remarkable considering the somewhat harsh criticism the Portugal winger received following England’s demise at the World Cup.

Ronaldo beat Chelsea striker Didier Drogba to the award, with United’s former England midfielder Paul Scholes third.

Ryan Giggs and last year’s winner, Steven Gerrard, also made the shortlist, alongside 19-year-old Arsenal midfielder Cesc Fabregas.

Ronaldo said it was a "big honour" to be singled out by his peers.

He said: "It is a special night. It is amazing and a big honour for me to win trophies like this in the English Premier League. I am very proud.

"My colleagues have voted for me and that is fantastic because the players know the qualities of players.

"I want to keep working hard and getting better because these trophies have now given me more motivation.

"At this moment, I am consistent. I am more mature now and I am playing better.

"This great team has helped me as well, because when the team win it is more easy for us all to play with more confidence.

"Everything is right this season and I am really enjoying it.

"I am still young and I am learning more every day.

"I have much time to learn more and improve myself.

"I try to improve all aspects of my football - not only in training but also in games."

Fabregas finished runner-up in the young player category as well, with 20-year-old Tottenham Hotspur winger Aaron Lennon third.

Ronaldo’s team-mate Wayne Rooney (21) was also shortlisted, as were Reading striker Kevin Doyle, 23, and 18-year-old defender Micah Richards of Manchester City.

It was Manchester United who took centre stage at the Grosvenor House hotel - with eight of their players making it into the Premier League team of the year and manager Sir Alex Ferguson being honoured with the PFA Special Merit Award.

Ronaldo said: "This shows what quality we have at Manchester United.

"To have eight players in the team of the year is great."

Ferguson paid tribute to his multi-talented young winger, who joined United from Sporting Lisbon in a £12.24million deal during August 2003.

The United boss said: "When we saw him play in a pre-season friendly for Sporting against us, at half-time I knew we had to get him and I said to [then chief executive] Peter Kenyon 'we are not leaving the stadium until we get the boy'.

"At this moment in time, I think he is the best player in the world and his season has been incredible."

PFA Player and Young Player of the Year 2007: Cristiano Ronaldo (Manchester United)

PFA Premier League Team of the Year 2007: Edwin van der Sar, Gary Neville, Nemanja Vidic, Rio Ferdinand, Patrice Evra (all Manchester United); Ryan Giggs, Paul Scholes, Cristiano Ronaldo (all Manchester United) and Steven Gerrard (Liverpool); Didier Drogba (Chelsea) and Dimitar Berbatov (Tottenham Hotspur)

Special Merit Award: Sir Alex Ferguson