In Football Manager Handheld, you can take control over one of the 354 teams in 19 leagues from seven European countries, choice enough I would say. From then on, it is up to you to train, sell, buy, coach and support your team on the way to victory. Before every match, you can determine a whole strategy for your players that should give you the necessary three points. Do not forget however that failure will be punished, and even more so when you are standing with an A-squad in the spotlights of every TV-camera and magazine available. The amount of information that you will have to process as a manager is easily accessible thanks to a both inventive and intuitive system which allows you to easily browse the different menus.

The sad part of the game is that it has long loading times every time you access even the slightest newest bit of info on your players and it is never fun to spend more time watching a loading screen than actually play a game. However, beyond this loading screen is a world with more features, in-depth gameplay and options than you will ever be able to use unless you can keep the show running for 30 seasons and earn yourself a place in the Hall of Fame. When you reach that point in your career, you will probably have had your share of paparazzi, injuries and suspensions…

Football Manager Handheld can be described as Excel with colours. There are a lot of charts and statistics, several hundred tables with info about the condition and contracts of your team and a mailbox with all the gossip and news from the soccer world and reactions from the club owners who constantly evaluate your work. The matches are described through text messages, which is a shame because it would have been cool to actually watch your player in action.