INTRODUCTION In SOCCER DIRECTOR you play a man with a burning ambition, to own all the top clubs in the country. While you realise it's against the rules to own more than more than one team, you have found a way to buy the shares without anyone realising it is you. Your objective in the game is to own (i.e. own at least 501 shares in) the top ten clubs at the end of the season 10, at the latest. In order to achieve your ambition, you use the First Division clubs to make your money, buying and selling shares as teams succeed and fail. Your capital will increase as share value goes up, and you will be paid a weekly dividend by each club you own shares in - IF they make a profit. You can attempt to influence the success of teams by calling shareholders meetings - the more shares you own, the more influence you have on the outcome of any votes. A team's results are based on 3 main characteristics: SKILL, FITNESS & MORALE, each of which can be affected by other factors in the game. It's up to you to find out what you can do to increase (or decrease) a teams chances of winning matches. For example, it is possible to 'nobble' a team that is annoying you by winning too many matches, just by using the features within the game. It may not be obvious to start with, but it is one of the many unusual features of SOCCER DIRECTOR that there are for the cunning strategist to discover. At the beginning of the game, you are presented with 5 options. The only option that needs explanation here is D (weeks per season). This is effectively the difficulty level. You can choose between 10, 20. 30 & 40 weeks - the longer the season, the more money you start with, and the better the chance you have of achieving your goal. Once you have started the game, you cannot change the number of weeks per season. When you select CONTINUE, you are presented with the main menu. There are 9 options: 1. PLAY SEASON: This starts the resulting sequence going, and should be the last decision you make each week. However, if you need to get back to the main menu, you have a limited time (press M) before the results begin. In the first week of every season, you are offered the choice of AUTO or MANUAL results. Your selection lasts for the whole season and cannot be changed. AUTO lets you sit back and watch the results of the matches and your investment unfold, and will continue to cycle through the various stages until the end of the season, unless interrupted. This can be done on the screen before the results sequence (again by pressing M) as many times during the season as you wish. You may want to check your investments, buy or sell shares, or use any of the other facilities available. MANUAL will pause on every screen, enabling you to spend as much time as you wish studying the information. Pressing the spacebar will move you on to the next screen. After the results, you will see how the shares are performing, and then details on the finances of each club you own shares in. 2. BUY/SELL SHARES: This is the wheeling and dealing screen! It tells you the current market value of each share, how many are available on the open market, and shows if you have a shareholding (by an asterisk if you own 500 or less, or by a hash symbol if you are a majority shareholder). The minimum quantity you can buy or sell at any one time is 10 shares. If a team is successful, more people will be buying their shares, so there will be fewer shares available than for a team that looses every week. There are two things to watch out for on this screen - firstly, the market is liable to close (and not re-open until the following week) at any time, so do your dealings in order of importance! Secondly, if you sell a large number of shares in one club, (we're not telling you how many!) it can cause the market to crash, possibly loosing you a small fortune on your other investments! One small hint here; it's well worth keeping a calculator handy for this part of the game! Please note that you are not allowed to buy shares on this screen if you have an overdraft, or if the purchase would cause you to have one. 3. GAME OPTIONS: This takes you back to the first screen, if you want to save the game or just start again! 4. BETTING MENU: Allows you to bet (before beginning of each season only) on League and F.A Cup winners, and one team to be relegated. This can be a very good way of making some extra cash - if you get it right! 5. SEE FORM TABLE: This option enables you to see how well (or badly) the teams are doing - although it does not sort the teams into a league table, it does show how many points they have; also the ratings for SKILL, FITNESS & MORALE. It will give you an idea of which teams are likely to do well in the weeks to come, and which ones need a little encouragement. 6. SEE SHARES OWNED: Self explanatory. 7. CALL A SHARE MEETING: You are only able to do this once a week, and only for a club you own shares in. You are invited to propose a motion from the options displayed - the motion is successful either if you own at least 501 shares in the club (i.e. you are a majority shareholder), or if the other shareholders vote with you. If you are successful well, try it and see! 8. LOAN: Self explanatory 9. MAKE SHARE OFFER: It is unlikely that you will be able to complete the game without using this option at least once. It is only available when the 9 is flashing (so keep your eyes open) but when this happens, you will be allowed to check other screens first without loosing the opportunity. This option allows you to attempt to force a purchase of shares (even if none are available) in any one club by making a higher offer than the current market value. The higher you bid, the better the chance of obtaining some shares, but although this is one of the few occasions you are allowed an overdraft facility, be careful, as this could cause you problems (see later). This is an ideal way to become the majority shareholder in a successful team. One other thing to be aware of here is that if you pay too much over the odds, you may never be able to recoup your investment! OVERDRAFTS: If you are overdrawn at the end of a season, the bank will force the sale of some (or all) of your shares, at well below the market value, until the overdraft is repaid. If you don't have enough to repay the overdraft, you are bankrupt, and the game ends. This is a particularly nasty feature, and the only hint we have to offer is: MAKE SURE YOU ARE NOT OVERDRAWN AT THE END OF THE SEASON! You will not have a chance to sell shares after the last weeks results, so do the necessary business beforehand. You have been warned. SHARE PRICES are obviously affected by a number of things; you should be able to predict these when you have played the game a little. PRIZE MONEY: If you are a majority shareholder in a team that wins the league, you win £80,000. If your team wins the cup, you win £10,000. RELEGATION/PROMOTION: This is calculated at the end of each season only. RELEGATION/PROMOTION: The two bottom teams in the league are relegated; along with them goes any money you have invested, as we are only interested in First Division teams in this game! Two new teams will be promoted into the table for the new season. HINTS: Keep your eyes open for surprise features that may pop up occasionally. Don't put all your eggs in one basket. Watch out for teams that look like they will be relegated - you will loose all your investment in them. Finally, you don't get any interest on money in the bank!