Champ Man 2007 unveiled

By Tom Bramwell Published 1 August, 2006

Out this autumn on PC.

The Championship Manager rebuilding effort continues apace, as Eidos unveils the PC's 2007 edition - promising myriad improvements to interface, tools and accuracy when it comes out this autumn.

Developed by London's Beautiful Game Studios, Championship Manager 2007 features new options at the top and bottom of management, with the addition of an international option along with two new leagues, Conference North and South.

Behind the scenes the game will allow you to analyse a huge number of new stats, including goals-scored, runs-made and completion rates for shots, passes and tackles.

Along with that you'll be able to deliver team talks both before matches and at half-time, and should find improvements in transfers and negotiations, news, media and pre-match build-up, according to BGE and Eidos.

We're also promised player and club data accurate up to the end of the August transfer window, as well as a new look with new skins, menu shortcuts and a dynamic side bar - some of which ought to be apparent in the first four screenshots.

CM2007 is due out this autumn, when it will be up against the likes of LMA Manager 2007 and of course genre kingpin Sports Interactive's Football Manager 2007.

Picture of Tom.

About Tom Bramwell

Tom is Operations director of Eurogamer Network and Editor-at-Large of Eurogamer.net. He joined the company in February 2000.

Read more articles from Tom by visiting the Tom Bramwell archive page.

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Comments (22) Latest comment 6 years ago

Comments threads automatically close after 30 days, but please feel free to continue chatting on the forum!

  • tobi #1 6 years ago

    FM 07 anyday

  • green_nifta #2 6 years ago


    wasn't the last one only out in April or May?

  • TheMoonRat #3 6 years ago

    "new stats, including goals-scored"

    Since when was how many goals players and teams scored a new and inventive stat to remember and analyse? lol

  • Eldritch #4 6 years ago

    Best graphics ever. About as beautiful and old as Peter Beardsley.

  • Rambaldi #5 6 years ago

    I am so on my own with this...

    When blokes in the pub talk about how amazing fotty manager games are I look on, glazed eyed, like some 5 year old listening to his parents talk about the news..

  • Azazel #6 6 years ago

    Early previews indicate the game will contain football.

    Also, will you be delivering your pre-match team talks in the same way that Edmunds talks to the banker?

  • sam_spade #7 6 years ago

    Can we have a simplify option where I don't get bogged down in endless and endless screens of information so that I can't tell what's having an effect, so I'm not left wondering why Workington Men's XI have beaten a full-strength Man U or Chelsea.

  • Stickman #8 6 years ago

    No matter what they try, CM always ends up being the same as last year's FM.

    Try innovation rather than copying SI at every opportunity.

  • T4RG4 #9 6 years ago

    Give 'em a chance - I think they have every chance of catching FM if they play it right. I think their PR ppl arent really highlighting the greatest additions to the new game though ;)

  • sam_spade #10 6 years ago

    Oh this is fucking CM, I got mixed up with FM.

    Bloody name changes.

  • joeor #11 6 years ago

    passing power *sigh*

    I wonder if any person, in the entire world over the course of the world cup wondered about about any players passing power [a google search for passing power returns about 10,00 car reviews and articles!]. It really annoys me that a bunch of the 'new' CM stats make very little sense and are really for the sake of having something different than FM :(

    Interface looks less crap than last year, a step forward after they had to redesign it for a patch a few months back after a revolution in their community when the public got their hands of the disaster they shipped last year :)

  • Stickman #12 6 years ago

    Isn't this the third one that Beautiful Game have produced now? Aside from the purely aesthetical 'Subbuteo' pitch, they've yet to come up with one idea of any merit as far as I can tell.

    I just think SI have got the market completely sewn up for now. If I was them, I'd be working on more of an LMA level, ie. more 'console', less number crunching, slick presentation, etc.

  • AHiFi #13 6 years ago

    At last. It seems they have caught up to USM's match graphics.

  • T4RG4 #14 6 years ago

    I think they've only recently made some design staff changes hence my comment about giving them a chance. If this version is crap, by all means... moan at 'em as I will ;) & yes... passing power... hmm.

  • Stickman #15 6 years ago

    Didn't know that. I shall open my mind for this year's version then!

  • Bumbuliuz #16 6 years ago

    The big question is of course will it suck as hard as the 2 games before it after Eidos and SI split.

  • immateriaux #17 6 years ago

    The scouting part of CM06, player squad roles and the way player talks worked were actually quite good, SI have disappointed for a number of years on those fronts. However the match was just pants (sadly for me as I continually find SI's games too simplistic and fairly boring and have wished for a good alternative for years now :( ) Plus, I find it very hard to imagine BGS will have improved their game much in the few months since the last release. They need to be doing less of these quick releases and focusing on getting the whle thing completely right (thereabouts) or everyone will simply stop paying attention and never notice if they do start getting it right.

    Also, Eidos do deserve some sort of special prize for running what must be the worse excuse of a website, supposedly promoting a game, in the whole wide universe.

    (though I did read today that the SETI project has secretly been communicating with aliens so perhaps they do know of a worse site, not sure...?)

  • badabing #18 6 years ago

    Well Bumbuliuz thats the nice thing about PC games ......they'll be a demo kicking about so you can try before you buy!

  • KeirEdmonds #19 6 years ago

    We've put a lot of effort into improving the usability of the interface.

    We think you'll be pleasantly surprised by the Match Analysis Tool. We're writing some more indepth stories that will be running on the site, so you can see what a great addition it is. There will be a demo as well.

    Immateriaux - What is it about the site that makes you say that?
    Edited by 1 at 03/08/06 @ 17:22

  • immateriaux #20 6 years ago

    Keir, you are doing nothing to really promote this game and nothing to convince the game buying public that you want to deliver the best game possible.

    There's legions of people out there who will buy the next FM game whether it is packaged in rolls of dog poo, spits in their faces when unpacked and then thrashes their hard drives into extinction - FM has established itself now and CM hasn't. That's a fact that Eidos really has to face up to and stop just singing loudly to itself and hoping no-one else notices. The website needs to GRAB, not just sit there hoping someone notices a small story under the banner of "international update" that a new game is in the offing shortly (and some features listed that almost match FM07).

    Why the lack of news and updates? What the fuck is all the secrecy about? What's the point? I can't see how keeping people in the dark and allowing them drift off to other fora really gives the CM franchise much of a chance at impressing... It comes across more like shame really.

    And what does the new game offer to make it rise above the obvious opposition? What will enhance the playing experience? New skins??? Will match analysis be a live thing or only post-match (it really should be something you can pause and access anytime). Is there a pre-match editor? (the community has failed to deliver on this front and Eidos/BGS have apparently, so far, washed their hands of it). What does the game really look like (three measley screen shots...!! - though SI have been a bit crap in that regard too with their "our server is too busy to let you look at our screenshots" thing going on for weeks now...).

    The whole thing comes across as amateur-ish and poorly supported. I never get the impression that Eidos are fully behind this game: this business of releasing a new game just months after the old is a case in point - when SI fucked up with CM4, there were a concerted stream of patches - even if reluctantly - until the game became at least playable (if fairly hollow). Eidos should be trying to harbour support for this game by likewise updating it, not just trying to re-sell it. And getting fans interested in the game and involved - the CM forum is a dead place now. I find it very hard to imagine it will ever really recover the way things are going.

  • KeirEdmonds #21 6 years ago

    I understand your points about the PR side of things immateriaux, and now that Eidos have announced the game we're in a position to start running some in depth articles.

    As for the game itself, along with the improved interface (which does make a big difference) the match analysis is a really great addition - and it's something that no other management games have. Once you've tried it you'll see that it is really beneficial to the depth and realism of game play.

  • immateriaux #22 6 years ago

    When you say, "no other game has..." you really mean, and "FM doesn't have..."? FifaManager last year had an excellent match analysis too, for example, that bears similarity to what CM07 is doing. And going by the experience of that, and from what was posted on FifaManage's forum etc, it passed most people by completely. Hence why Eidos/BGS need to build it up and can't presume poeple will "get it" just by saying it is there.

    I'll wait to see what articles etc are published but last year you promised similar, ie an article a week leading up to game release. And then a short few weeks later the website "broke" and you had to put up posts on the forum instead :( ... Then they stopped altogether. It's just all been a very ignominious start to the relationship between Eidos, BGS and the CM franchise and unless some real concerted effort goes into customer relations NOW, as I mentioned earlier, people are just going to stop noticing your game.