Football Manager Ruined My Life — Tony Jameson Exclusive

Update: You can now purchase ‘Football Manager Ruined My Life’, see the details here.

I recently watched Tony Jameson perform ‘Football Manager Ruined My Life‘ live at Scarborough Spa. Touring the country Tony covered a number of venues with mine been the last of his 2014 Autumn Tour. I contacted Tony and asked for an interview, been the top lad he is we spoke for half an hour, so today I will review the show and give you a unique insight into one of Football Managers true addicts. First the review…

Football Manager Ruined My Life Review

Like with any comedy or stand up show I entered apprehensive but hopeful, will I get the humor and will I connect with the material? As a Football Manager addict the latter was never going to be an issue, but you enter wanting to laugh out loud and leave feeling fulfilled. Tony definitely achieved this, he was engaging, witty and one hour seemed to fly by.

Throughout, the question was raised, ‘am I an addict’ and while Tony hopelessly tried to twist his way towards being an enthusiast we arrived at the same answer with every junction, something I can really relate to. From relationships, to jobs and even social life, I could relate to everything Tony had seen ‘ruined’ by Football Manager. There was one bit, that really hit home, as he explained the experience of winning the Champions League with Blyth Spartans and like myself he wore a suit during the final. I however didn’t go as far as to soak myself in champagne and book myself onto the local City Tour bus the next day. )

We hear about divorce sightings, FM related job applications and even Tony Jamesons very own rejection letter from Blyth Spartans, who I personally feel would be lucky to have such a talented manager. I particularly enjoyed the rationalization of literally serving a touchline ban outside your own room, leaving a wedding to check up on transfer deadline day and learning the Cameroon national anthem, extreme actions we have all considered.

I won’t reveal much more, you will want to see the show for yourselves after all. From the stars FM predicted to the ones they got so horribly wrong, this show just brings back past and present memories, for anyone who loves the game it is a flash back to your heroic moments and inspiration to carry on this great addiction. To cap it all off, here is a snippet from ‘Football Manager Ruined My Life’.

Tony Jameson Interview

I have to say, it was a pleasure talking to Tony. He’s a down to earth, genuine guy with a blatant obsession for Football Manager. In fact, it was his knowledge of the game and its history that suprised me the most. At times I struggled to keep up as we discussed games gone by, all the way back to Championship Manager Italia which was just before I developed an interest in the series and it was great to compare stories from my Scarborough Athletic days to Tony’s Blyth Spartans…those two in a network game would be something. :)

This won’t be your conventional interview, I’ll include facts about Tony and quotes from the interview, mostly FM related of course. :) Lets begin with a few interesting facts.

First played: Championship Manager

Favorite FM Team: Blythe Spartans

Favorite FM Series: Championship Manager Italia, FM07 and FM10

Longest Save: Played until 2060 with Blythe Spartans on FM10, still playing today!

Favourite FM player of all time: Nii Lamptey in Championship Manager 93′

Favourite formation: 4-2-3-1

Tony has a rich experience with the game, so I couldn’t help but draw out his opinion on the new release.

I quite like the new one, its a lot harder than previous versions. We have gone from setting a 4-3-3 and win to now where it is so immersive and there is so much to do, I think I get more out of it now because my knowledge of Football has developed with the game, I get more out of it now as I am looking at it in a more technical way. In my head its more realistic.

I also asked Tony about his style of management, does he rely in youth or an instant fix.

I tend to focus on youth, I don’t like to spend big money. In comparison to a real manager I’m a bit like Wenger. I could spend big money and fix the problem immediately, or invest in youth and assume it’ll fix the problem in three years time.

Moving onto real life, I wanted to know where Tony first got the idea for his tour and how it came about. Turns out a chance meeting and Football Manager bit during his stand up led to featuring in Football Manager Stole My Life. After featuring in the book Tony met Miles Jacobson at a games conference and got the go ahead to turn his routine into a show, after which performing at the Edinborough Festival then led to smaller venues and eventually going on the road.

This was a two year process and Tony isn’t finished yet. 28 or 29 dates are in for the early part of next year with the shows starting in February. There may even be a chance of the tour hitting Scandinavia. Tony was also keen to point out that he is taking suggestions for venues, so if you guys have a preference mention it in the comments box and we’ll pass this onto Tony for you.

Well that is it folks, I hope you enjoyed this little insight and will go see ‘Football Manager Ruined My Life‘ live in 2015, I highly recommend it. If you do have any venue requests for Tony, please leave them in the comments section below.