Football Manager Stole My Life

If you have ever found yourself lying awake thinking about your best XI, or whether or not you have taken Forfar Athletic as far as you can; if the words Tommy Svindal Larsson bring you out in goosebumps or if anyone has ever told you to grow up and stop going on about that bloody game, the people at BackPage Press want to hear from you.

They will be publishing 'Football Manager Stole My Life' this summer, a book celebrating 20 years of glorious obsession.

And they need your help. Part of the book will involve your stories - not about how you won the Champions League with Fleetwood Town (nice one, though) but about how FM or Champ Man, depending on your era, has broke out of the screen and into your life (and took over).

• Are you one of the 35 divorcees whose ex cited FM addiction as a reason for the break-up?
• Do you don a suit and tie for cup finals?
• Have you used your FM CV to apply for jobs in the so-called real world?
• Have you ever met and/or touched Tonton Zola Moukoko?

So far they have heard about:

• A recovering heart surgery patient who smuggled a lap top into the hospital ward, causing a medical emergency when his team scored a late equaliser in a derby match
• A student who tracked down his favourite non-league FM legend on social media to inform him that he was destined for the EPL and international stardom
• An FM 'intervention' when concerned flat-mates held their friend down and broke his disc after a 'lost weekend' on FM

Whatever your story, they'd love to hear it.

Send your stories to [email protected] and be a part of the book that will celebrate 20 years of magnificent obsession.

→ Read more about the project