CHAMPIONSHIP MANAGER

I was fortunate enoiugh to attend Collyer's Grammar School in Horsham from 11 years old to A Levels. Collyer's was a "football school" in Winter and cricket in the Summer. It suited me fine! The school still exists and is now named Richard Collier College. With no connection to Collyer's School ( as far as I know apart from their name), brothers Paul and Oliver Collyer have a lot to answer for!!

On this day in 1992, the boys published the first edition of Championship Manager, the addictive  football, simulation, computer game. It is one of those games that you just cannot tear yourself away from.

In a scenario typical of many self-made game programming teams in the early days of the industry, the original Championship Manager game was written from their bedroom in Shropshire. The brothers subsequently founded a development company to take the game further, Sports Interactive, and moved to Islington, North London. Championship Manager became the most popular football management sim of the later 1990s and early 2000s, regularly setting sales records.

In 2003, Sports Interactive split with Eidos, the publishers of Championship Manager. Sports Interactive retained the game's database and match engine, producing a new game based on these titled Football Manager. Eidos retained the name and interface, with Beautiful Game Studios taking over the development of Championship Manager. Although the two series initially ran alongside one another, the sales of Championship Manager began to fall below those of Football Manager. The most recent full version of Championship Manager was Championship Manager 2010, with an iOS mobile game in 2011 the latest game to date released by Eidos.

Square Enix Europe, owners of the brand after purchasing Eidos, revived Championship Manager. They released five games for iOS and Android handheld systems and mobile phones.

In 2018, developed by Distinctive Developments. Championship Manager 13/14, branded as Champ Man, was released on October 15, 2013 for mobile phones. A follow up to this game, Champ Man 15, was released on August 18, 2014, for iOS and Android, Champ Man 16 was released in September 2015. In 2016, Championship Manager 17 was released. As of May 31, 2018, Square Enix has ceased all game services for all Championship Manager mobile games and removed them from the iOS and Android app stores.