I first played this game on an Amstrad CPC464, probably about sixteen or seventeen years ago. It was quite unusual in that it kept me coming back for more, even though I wasn't a football fan at all.
The aim of the game, quite simply, is to become the Footballer of the Year. You start in a low league club, and find yourself having to try and make your way up through the ranks to reach the premiership level, and international level.
Along the way, you will earn money that you can use to buy "Goal Cards" which allow you to actually participate in football matches to help you earn your title.
Without "Goal Cards", you cannot really do much, so buy them as often as you can.
So, you finally get to the point where you're using your "goal cards" to play in a football match. You think, it'll be a walkover? You'd be wrong. The screen changes to around the penalty area of a football field. In front of you is the goal, and there's also the goalkeeper who will try and stop the ball entering the back of the net. Sometimes, you'll also come across one or two other players that are the goalkeeper's defenders. They'll try to tackle you, so you need to be quick off the mark, but also gentle. One move that's a bit more than you intended can send your
shot wide, just as a move that's not quite as much can make your shot easily saved by the goalkeeper or his defenders.
Whether you score or not after using some "goal cards", you've used them. As I say, it's not an easy game because you have to train, as well as play. You earn your wages and can even use them to pay for a transfer to another football club. You can gamble on the football pools to increase your cash a bit more by buying a dividend card, or you can just try to get through on blind luck. Dividend cards are sometimes actually wirth buying because you can not only earn more money from them, but also possibly get more "goal cards" allowing you to play in more matches.
Each match that is available will cost you anything from one to three goal cards if memory serves, and the price of "goal cards" increases as you rise up the divisions, not forgetting the international games where you need to buy "international goal cards". Without them, you're never going to become.....
PLAYER OF THE YEAR!
