I remember playing this game as a young boy. It would take a whole day to play one season, getting started about 8 am and finishing around 11 pm. It was highly addictive and during school holidays my brother and I would take turns of a day each to play it. I think this game eventually killed off our power pack. The idea was to achieve the "Double" by winning the First Division and FA Cup in the same season. You had to watch your entire cup games which just some squares were moving around the pitch.
You could make substitutions during these games but with the league games you just had to wait on your team’s result filtering through along with the rest of your division.
I would take an age to load in and your were automatically selected a team. Best was Derby County or Gillingham but you needed to avoid Newport County as they had the worst crowds and generally poor players.3 players were available from the transfer list each week and you could send a scout to watch them. He would come back with a report on how good they were. They would always come back saying something like" he can put the ball on a sixpence". I remember you could increase the capacity of your stadium
to generate more income and you were offered jobs at other clubs.
Of all the time I spent playing this game I never achieved the goal of the game. I took Sheffield Wednesday to many league titles but could never win the cup. I had a huge stadium with large crowds and all the money I needed but the watchable cup games kept killing off the dream.
Overall, I think this was the best managerial game of its time as it was the most realistic, although time consuming (you had to watch every result from every division, complete with scorers and watch every attendance from every game come through).
I think this game was great value for money even though it must have ruined my childhood. There were other games around the same time like Football Director and Tracksuit Manager (which was made by the same people), but The Double will always stand out for me as THE football management game of its generation.
