Due out this winter, Football Manager 2012 will apparently boast over 800 new features. Key alterations include a revamped transfer and contract system, including better implementation of amateur and youth contracts, and the arrival of loyalty bonuses (you won t need to pay many of those in the Premiership). We re constantly watching the whole of the football world, and dealing with people inside football, to find out out what s changing, says Sports Interactive MD, Miles Jacobson. One thing people may notice from the screenshots is that the signing on fee isn t there anymore - it s been replaced by a loyalty bonus. It s fortuitous this has happened just as the news broke that Febregas was going to be paying back Arsenal some of his signing on fee for the next few years, because they paid him a loyalty bonus upfront. The featureset for this game was nailed down in December, but sometimes we go along at the pace of the real-life sport. Life sometimes imitates art!

In the 30-40s of last century fascist propaganda has paid considerable attention to the most popular game on the planet. Hitler, Mussolini and Franco did not stop at nothing to ensure that football glory for their country.

Back in 1960, an industrious sports writer named Dave Campbell decided that, when it came to football, Texans deserved something a little better than what national publications could offer...