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Versions of Addictive Games' Football Manager have been produced for all the popular home micros, and it is now available for the 48K Spectrum.

You are given the managership of any one of the 64 teams in the league (you can even change any team's name to your own favourite if it is not one of those shown). Whichever team you choose, it begins in division four at the start of a new season. Your aim is to achieve promotion and a good run in the FA Cup - who knows, perhaps even win it?!

The league is split into four divisions of sixteen teams, so each season involves fifteen league matches plus up to eight rounds of the FA Cup. You start off with a squad of twelve players and £100,000 to spend in the transfer market if you wish. If you're the sort of manager who likes to try and buy your way to the top, then you can also obtain a bank loan up to a certain credit limit based on your division, at a 1% per week rate of interest.

The players, whose names are those of the current league footballers, have three attributes. First, they are either defence, midfield or attacking players. Second, they have a skill rating. Second, they have a skill rating of 1 to 5, on which depends their value. Third, they have an energy rating of 1 to 20, which goes down by one for each game played, and up by 10 for each game rested. When you come to play a match you are given the 'team attributes' for yourself and the opposition, and it is then up to you to juggle with the composition of your team if you need to. The five team attributes are the average energy rating, morale (which goes up and down depending on results), and then the total kill rating in defence, midfield and attack.

With the team selected, you can sit back and watch the match highlights in moving 3-D graphics. This is what makes the game more than just a sophisticated 'Kingdoms'. Seven or eight goalmouth incidents are shown, with players running around, moving into position, and then shooting at goal. Having to helplessly watch the results of your decisions like this is almost as exhausting as playing. The final score is based on the team attributes, but there is always the chance of a shock result. After the highlights, if it was a league match the rest of the results are given and the league table calculated and displayed.

Each week you are shown your financial balance sheet. Outgoings are wages, which depend on the number of players and their value, ground rent, and interest on your loan (if any). Incomings are gate receipts, which are based on your position and your opposition's position in the league. A good FA Cup run can also be a money spinner. At the end of the season, promotion and relegation take place, you are given a bonus according to your league position and a 'managerial success rating' is calculated.

There is a facility to save the game at any point so that you can progress with one team for as long as you like. This feature is often available in adventure or chess programs, but I always find I forget where I've been, or what strategy I was following. With Football Manager, this is not a problem, as all the information you need is available at each stage.

Although I'm no great football fan, I really enjoyed playing this game. Despite having been converted from a ZX81 program, excellent use is made of colour and user-defined graphics. The game is very logically put together, so that the development of strategy and tactics has a real effect. For example, one of my teams got through to the fourth round of the FA Cup where it was beaten by a second division side. The upset morale and meant that our promotion bid failed. Perhaps I should have given up the FA Cup run and held some good players back - the possibilities are endless. Brian Clough had better watch out!

Football Manager is £7.95 and is available from Addictive Games, PO Box 278, Conniburrow, Milton Keynes MK14 7NE.