sport – Valley Reviews

A wonderful read and a great history of the World Cup, not just the football side of it but the socio-political and economic side.

Each chapter details the build up to each World Cup and how it came to bed and the politics and personalities. Yes the football is the star of the show but the supporting cast are no less enjoyable (sometimes for the wrong reasons).

Politics and using the World Cup as a vehicle to put on a front has never been changed only the Mussolinis, Juntas of yesterday are today’s sportswashing with the recent Qatar and upcoming Saudi World Cups. With all the money spent on World Cups they are essentially white elephants after the Greatest Show On Earth leaves the staidums remain and all the problems of the people and millions (now billions) of debt remains. Especially as the World Cup has gone to countries like South Africa and Brazil where people are dispalced for the stadia and nobody really cares what happens afterwards.

Reading the book the interesting thing for me is two World Cups 1970 and 2002. 1970 was when football and the World Cup went colour and commercial and 2002 is when footballers were truly global.

2002 also happened to be my first World Cup where I paid attention to football and I can remember becoming a teenage expert in the metatarsal bone, loving the Fevernova ball, Anh Jung-Hwan’s goal against Italy, Ronaldinhos free kick and Rivaldo’s play acting. Until 2022 being a Welshman we only saw the World Cup here in the UK through the rose tinted glasses of England. Though as an adult I dislike international football and feel no connection to it.

I digress but the book highlights to me that football has changed as technology and globalisation grows and improves but the politicking and corruption has been ever present. The names change Rimet, Rous, Havelange, Blatter, Infantino but the self-serving rot is always there.

For all my life I have gamed and played video games since I was a child playing on the Sega Mega Drive. One of the earliest type of games I had got into was football (soccer) management simulation games. I forget the names now of the very early games I played on Mega Drive, maybe FIFA Manager or Championship Manager but they got me hooked.

Moving on to PC gaming I remember picking up big cardboard boxes containing Greatest Hits versions of Championship Manager 97/98 onwards and that is really the bulk of my gaming. Championship Manager eventually split into two rivals Football Manager and Championship Manager, though the name was retained the quality and game went to Football Manager.

Today there is only Football Manager existing, and it is on Football Manager 2024 (2025 version scrapped for FM 26 due to development issues). The game has a yearly release and despite minimal changes in recent years I have always bought it and played the life out of it, a quick look at steam shows the hours I have put into it, though some hours account for idle time and background. I’d play while I work or do stuff. A huge chunk of my life devoted to the game. A game that is essentially a spreadsheet.

Due to the current two year cycle of FM24 it is feeling a little stale and boring even with updated squads and new matchsim files to play with (a key feature of the series is fan made skin and mods to update the quality of life and cosmetic aspect of the game like kits, badges, profile pics and skins).

I discovered something and I am addicted to it, it is making my own kits for my teams to use in the game. I discovered this site FM Kit Creator and it has blown my mind being able to create my own 2D and 3D kits to use in game. I enjoy using the real kits but its fun to make my own. You can edit styles, patterns, colours, badges, logos and sponsors. The past few weeks I have spent as much time making kits as I have playing the game.

I plan to going forward make new kits every in game season for whoever I am managing, like currently I am managing Liverpool FC and Brazil, so made custom kits for both.

Here are some (mostly Liverpool FC) kits I have made for my game.