Total Club Manager 2004 (PC)

By PETER ELEY

Herald rating: * * * * *

Running an English soccer club isn't a job with long-term prospects for most managers.

Sir Alex Ferguson might have a debenture on his job at Old Trafford, but he is the exception.

Fans want instant gratification and if your club doesn't win something, or look like it might next season, you're down the road.

Total Club Manager tries to put you into this pressure-cooker job, with thousands of fans watching your every move, a posse of scandal-hungry tabloid reporters on your case, and last but not least, a power-crazed chairman hungry for silverware in the cabinet.

The key to a successful club is having the best players, and Total Club Manager has a transfer market featuring actual players and realistic valuations.

Buying players the calibre of $90 million Ruud van Nistelrooy is easy if you have a chequebook the size of Ferguson's, and can sell a Beckham or two to balance things up.

It's not so easy if you're managing a lower league club with gates of 1500 and a reliance on hot dog sales to buy the next ace goalscorer.

But that's football, and you will hit the highs and lows in your Total Manager career as you work your way up the ladder. It is by far the best game of its type, and many people will enjoy it more than an out-and-out goal-fest game.

Best of all, though, is that the team you create can play in glorious 3D as the game switches to EA's FIFA Football 2004 playing mode for games, as long as you also own that game.

You can choose an option which cuts out the game and just gives you the final result if your interest is purely on the management front.

The game is based around Britain's three main leagues, the Premiership, Football League and Scottish Premier League, but also has 47 leagues or divisions worldwide, featuring 1500 teams and 25,000 players.

(EA Sports, G)

* Email Peter Eley