Like many fans of football, my relationship with the popular Football Manager PC managerial simulator has mostly been from the outside looking in. And boy, was it a sight to see. First, there was Brian Phillips’ mesmerizing series on his time as manager of the then little known Italian side Pro Vercelli.

Then came the book on the video game, co-authored by Iain Macintosh, on a “Twenty-Year Obsession.” The game has now entered football nerd lore, along with When Saturday Comes magazine and lower league football.

For those of us with jobs, girlfriends/boyfriend or husbands/wives not of the “I’ll See You in Six Hours, Honey!” variety, or children, the game always seemed like an interesting idea, if we had the kind of time to spare to make it worthwhile. Those days may have passed. From the Guardian:

Football Manager 2013 has finally been officially announced. The latest edition of the long-running management simulation will be released this November and alongside predictable updates to the match engine, media interaction and multiplayer features, it will boast a completely new mode: Football Manager Classic.

Aimed at footie fans who no longer have the time to indulge in mammoth sessions of virtual management, FMC is a condensed version of the game that automates much of the backroom detail and allows players to race through a season in around eight hours. You still get to sort all the on-pitch tactics and pinpoint transfer targets, but AI assistants take care of the media and training.

While the tweak is clearly aimed at former players of the game who’ve since found themselves caught up in living a full and varied life, it can also be marketed to those who’ve never been able to take an outright plunge into simulated football management, a game to be played between ironing shirts and wiping bums. Progress.