The Football Manager Documentary Is Self-Descriptive

Football Manager is an odd cultural duckling. Its nerdy, number-heavy presentation holds it back from the ooh-it's-like-a-film mainstream acceptance of Call of Duty, et al. Meanwhile, its being about football stops it from being embraced with the same open arms as, say, EVE Online, despite it inspiring similar levels of passionate brain-crazy among its far larger audience. Its far less talked about than its vast success would suggest it should be.

This news seems a good thing, then. An Alternative Reality: The Football Manager Documentary is a Football Manager documentary being released in select cinemas in the UK come October 7th.

Glumly I report that there's no trailer to show, though SI's Miles Jacobson does explain the motivation behind the film:

“The documentary isn’t our story – it’s the story of the people who escape to the alternative reality of being a football manager, and the effect this has had on their lives. It’s also the story of how a computer game made by football fans has become a part of the world it set out to replicate,” says Miles Jacobson, Studio Director of Sports Interactive. “But it’s not just for people who play – it’s also for people who’ve ever wondered why others spend so much time escaping into this world.”

Which means lots of talking heads, both famous and dedicated players of the game, and hopefully some insight into how the structure and rules of Football Manager compel people to play and invest so much into the game, beyond simply "cor footie its a bit realistic innit cor."

If you want to see the film, it's being shown at (a minimum of) 26 Vue cinemas, with more being added according to demand expressed according to the instructions provided here. The currently planned cinemas are (deep breath): Aberdeen, Birkenhead, Birmingham Star City, Bolton, Bristol Cribbs, Bury the Rock, Cardiff, Cheshire Oaks, Doncaster, Edinburgh Omni, Fulham, Gateshead, Glasgow Fort, Islington, Leeds Light, Manchester Lowry, Oxford, Piccadilly, Plymouth, Portsmouth, Reading, Sheffield, Swansea, Watford, Westfield White City and Westfield Stratford (gasp).

I like Football Manager and so does Adam, though neither of us were asked to appear in the film. Don't they know how handsome we are?