INTRODUCTION The ultimate challenge for any aspiring football manager. Soccer Supremo will test your management skills to the full. Can you take your team from the 4th to the 1st division? Will you win the F.A. or League Cup? Enter the tough, no holds barred world of football management and see if you've got what it takes to be a Soccer Supremo. Have you ever fancied yourself as a football manager? Ever thought you could do a better job than the top professionals? If so, then here's your chance! The ultimate challenge for any aspiring football manager. Soccer Supremo will test your management skills to the full. Your success or failure will not be measured by money but by how well you fare as the manager of a given team: whether you can take a team from the 4th division all the way to complete with Liverpool at the top of the 1st division. Can you motivate and drive your team to a Cup victory. You may decide to stick with just one club during your career or move about, the choice is yours - just one of the many tough decisions you will be required to make. The pitfalls are there - but so are the rewards - in the exciting, competitive, no holds barred world of the Soccer Supremo. CURSOR CONTROL Throughout the game you will be shown screen prompts: By moving cursor keys you can either answer questions - "Do you want to sell a Player? - YES or NO. Or move the SELECTION BAR to indicate your choice (e.g. the player you wish to sell) then move the cursor to OK. When you have finished with a screen move to OK. GAME BACKGROUND Having loaded, you are told the name of your team, what year and what division you're in. When finished you will be taken to the MAIN MENU. MAIN MENU The right hand side gives you information about your next match, whether you're playing home or away, who your opponents are, if it's a League Championship, League Cup or F.A. Cup game. Also what season you're in and your match chances, which are based upon your current position in the League. The lefthand side gives you information about your next match, whether you're in and your match chances, which are based upon your current position in the League. The leftahnd side lists the options available. SELECT TEAM The SELECT TEAM option lists: NAMES of all your players in your current squad. POSITION: G - Goalkeeper, D - Defender, M - Midfield, S - Striker GAMES PLAYED this season GOALS SCORED this season RATING - 9 being the highest, 1 being the lowest STATUS which is either: P - Picked (playing in the next game) A - Available to play in the next game I - Injured (cannot play) S - Suspended (cannot play) You're also given the teams RATING in: Defence, Midfield and Strike And also the teams total rating - all based on the picked players individual rates. You're then given the teams line up, number of players in Defence, Midfield and number of Strikers. As you know, you must have a team of eleven player and only have one goalie. HINT - You will find throughout the season players will become injured so you must have cover in all positions. A successful team is built from a strong squad - do not be afraid to buy good players that sit in the reserves. Use SELECT TEAM to produce a line-up of eleven of your best players. PLAY GAME Assuming you have eleven players selected, the match results screen will appear showing you how you fared. If you team scored any goals the goalscorers of your team will also appear. If you just played a league match you will also see the results of the other teams in your league. If, as a result of playing in the game, a player becomes injured or suspended a message will appear. HINT - Keep an eye on how the teams that are close to you in the league are doing - it may help other decision you make such as whether to buy more players or not. LEAGUE TABLE This will show you the League Table of the division you are currently in. It shows you: - GAMES PLAYED - GAMES WON - GAMES DRAWN - - GAMES LOST - GOALS FOR - GOALS AGAINST - POINTS - 3 points for a win, 1 draw, 0 for a defeat. HINT - Keep an eye on your position becouse bad managers don't stay in their job for too long. You may have to buy yourself out of the problem rather than wait for your team to mature. BUY A PLAYER You decide whether to buy a Professional or an Apprentice. By selecting Professional it will switch to Apprentice and vice versa. Apprentices are free but, have the lowest rating. You're asked waht position you want to buy. Goalkeeper, Defender of Striker. HINT - Only buy apprentices if you feel you will be at this club for a long time. SELL A PLAYER This screen shows your squad, their position and, most important, their career record to date: number of games played, number of goals scored, current rating, age. Select the player you wish to sell and you will then be shown an offer, the amount of money you will receive for that player. HINT - This screen is also very useful for seeing how your team is developing. Players once past a certain age - towards their thirties - will start to deterioate in ability, whereas younger players will improve. FINANCES This will show you your clubs financial status, how much money is left, your current loan, your weekly interest on that loan and weekly wages. You will then be asked if you want to increase or decrease your loan. HINT - If you get too much in debt you will find yourself sacked. The higher the division you are in, the more money you can borrow. You weekly wages are based on the players ratings, the better your team the more you pay. CAREER RECORD This shows you for every year you've been a manager, the club you have managed, what division they were in, what position they are in the league, how they faired in the F.A. Cup and League Cup. HINT - This is your guide to how successful you've been. NOTE - Your career will only last for so long, just over the year 2000. SAVE/LOAD GAME Follow screen prompt instructions. You can save onto the game disk. You can create a new file name to indicate your Save/Load game. Click in file area and type in selected file name. You then have option OK or Cancel. EDIT NAMES This allows you to modify the names of the players in your squad, the football team names and the spare player names, which appear when you buy players for your team. Select which one you wish to choose then use UP and DOWN to move through the list of names. When you come across the name you wish to change EDIT it; you then type in the new name, then click on OK or Cancel. HINT - Having done this you can then, save the game - this will save all the name changes as well! PLAYING THE GAME You spend your time selecting team players, building up your squad by buying players and then playing games. There are 21 teams in each division and you will play 40 games in each season plus F.A. and League Cup matches. At the end of the season you will either be promoted or relegated or if you've done sufficiently well you may be asked to manage a different team. If you accept the offer you will start again at another club, in a new league, with different players and a new financial situation. HINT - Only move if you are unhappy. TACTICS Build up a good squad of players by buying and selling. Watch your players ratings as at the end of the season they may change - based on how well they've done this season and their age. HINT - It is worth developing young players by giving them first team experience. Best Wishes and GOOD LUCK in your new career as a SOCCER SUPREMO.