It’s a weekend night, my eyes are tiring and I’m gazing across internet discussion boards, Big Brother’s Big Mouth’s repetitive commentary on the most compelling and yet most unimaginative reality show on television blares in the background as Russell Brand makes another shitty remark regarding his ”dicksacks”.

It’s been two and a half hours of playing FM06, my favourite version of the game ever and as I beat Tottenham 6-1 in the premier league with my rejuvenated youth-based Manchester United in the second season, I let my hand wander around my desk, rummagging for sustanance in the form of cheesy Doritos or half a pint of Pepsi Max.

I decide to surrender to MSN messenger and turn it offline, only seven contacts online and none of them relatively talkative and most probably away having a drunken pish. The FM scene is dry with activity, the odd Australian forumer having his say whilst he enjoys the daylight whilst I try and make it through the late evening and into the night, hopelessly addicted to the game at hand.

This however, has not happened once when I play FM07- the game has been a disappointment, merely FM06 with what is in my opinion, a poor skin despite the chorus of devotion to leaving the default skin as their skin of choice, and very limited new features. Feeder clubs was wanted since the days of CM4 and let it takes them four years to get it into their system and then to come up with such an over-rated feature.

Form and consistency are two words of choice that make me cry when I discover FM07, having to try and wade my way through suspensions and injuries just to get eleven professional footballers out onto the pitch, let alone spend 20 of my cherished minutes refining my tactic and personal instructions for each player just to get three past Rochdale.

My FM07 has packed in and to be honest, I’m glad in a way as it gives me a chance to enjoy my favourite PC Game ever- Football Manager 2006. So many graphical attributes, so many undiscovered gems, so much love and simplicity with a soft centre of complexity and originality; I dare you to close that FM07 and load up FM06 and you’ll realize what you’re missing. What you’ve judged to be better has betrayed your own personal judgement when you load up this gem and you realize that the old game that dominated your spare time and your computer screen is an improvement despite being a step back in time.