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This is a textual adventure game, and the challenge is to become a top football club manager and get to the top of the division within a season of twenty games.

Promotion is then assured, and, ultimately, if you top the 1st division you are entered in the European Cup. Don't ask - I've only got to the second division!

You start by giving your club its name and, given a pool of money, you're on your own buying and selling players. Players have a skill rating which affects their price and your chance of success. On pressing the P key your match result is displayed followed by the league table and then the news - some good, some bad.

It sounds dull unless you have a burning ambition to be involved with all the routine of management. But this is what it is - a management simulation.

At least a couple of hours is needed to play this game and it's a pity that there is no game save facility. You switch off and you're back in the fourth division.

I'm sure there's a lot of interest in football management and it certainly entertained a few of my friends. To maintain that interest these games would have to transcend the specialist barrier and initially Champions does. It is fast-moving, clear in its display of information and witty too.

I enjoyed the news flashes - "Brian Clough says you're rubbish, morale soars" - which gives some credibility to the character you imagine yourself to be. Unfortunately, for me, the novelty soon wore off and the routine of management made it hard to persist.

M.P.