Gaming Matters: Football Chairman Pro Review

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One thing I've never written before is a game review but I've been enjoying this game so much in the last couple of months that I've decided it's time I gave it a go. The game I'm reviewing as you can see from the title is the phone app Football Chairman by Underground Creative and there is a free version and a Pro version which I now play. The free version is a great sample to see if you like the game before you spend £2.99 on the Pro version which for me is worth every penny.

The concept is very similar to any football management game but switching the position from manager to chairman gives a new spin on the game. The depth of the game is perfect for the casual gamer who wants to enjoy a fun football game without getting too in depth with tactics and scouting for example. You create your own club and start in the seventh tier of English football with the challenge of reaching the Premier League. As I'm reviewing the Pro version this also includes the FA Trophy, JPT, League Cup, FA Cup, Community Shield, Champions League and European Super Cup. It seems like a mammoth challenge to take a club with a few seats, no roof and a bunch of talentless ball hoofing players through so many leagues to the top but the great thing about Football Chairman Pro is that the game is easy to play and the seasons can be done really quickly. I don't spend hours and hours at a time on the game and I'm already in season 2114/15.

Another great thing with the game is once you've taken your non-league club all the way to European glory (or before if you decide) you can use the money in your bank (after all it's your club and your money) to buy out another club. Before you start the game there is also an editor where you can rename any divisions as you like and also move clubs between divisions before you start. One other point to note is that every division has 22 teams so it isn't fully true to life with a 20 team Premier League and 24 teams in the others for example.

As I live in Wakefield I started out with a club I called Wakefield Blue and the game starts in the 2015/16 season. To give you an idea on the progression of the game we won promotion first in 2018/19, the into the Conference (now called National League I think) in 2022/23 as runner-up. The team was promoted to the League in 2025/26, won League Two in 2029/30, League One in 2033/34 and the Championship in 2038/39. The team developed nicely in the Premier League and eventually won the title in 2045/46 before going on to win six titles in a row. I also won the Champions League in 2048, 2050 and 2053 so by the 2055/56 season I wanted a new challenge. I've now on my fifth club since leaving Wakefield Blue as a dominant force in the Premier League and they are still doing well sixty seasons later. I like that the team doesn't plummet back down as soon as you leave.

At the end of each season the game gives you five options of other teams you can buy out if you want to leave your club and a price for each one. Since Wakefield Blue I've taken Wolves from the Championship to 7th in the Premier League then Scunthorpe United from League Two to 8th in the Premier League. I fancied another non-league journey then and after a couple of seasons at Telford I saw Harrogate Town which is not far from me so went for them. Before I could get them into the Football League though my favourite non-league side Guiseley came up so I had to move to them. That was 2087/88 and we're now in 2013/14 where the West Yorkshire side have won the Premier League four times, the Champions League twice and three other cups. It does look strange but satisfying when you see Guiseley 2-1 Juventus in a Champions League final. You may wonder how I know which season everything happened. Am I a geek who keeps written records of all this? Well sometimes I am but I don't need to be with Football Chairman Pro as it has a History option where you can see this for all the clubs you've owned.

The main role you have as Chairman of each club is hiring and firing managers, sanctioning transfer deals and upgrading the ground, training and youth facilities through sound financial management. If you are struggling for cash though and want to pay for a boost then the fees for this are for more reasonable than most other app games. For a start you can get free finance boosts by liking the game on Facebook and Twitter. Alternatively you can buy £500k for £0.69, £5m for £1.99 or £50m for £2.99 which is great value for money. When I started out I vowed I wouldn't do any purchases but an extra £50m now and again not only really helps your club but it also makes it more fun.

The gallery above has a variety of screen shots but I'll run through the main screens which will help explain what is involved in some of the gameplay.

WEEKEND

This is where your fixture list and results are shown. If you click on the Chart option it also shows your progression in the league with your week by week position and whether you won, drew or lost. This information renews each season.

LEAGUE

Welcome to the league table. What more can I say? We all know what a league table looks like.

MONEY This shows how much you have in the bank on the main screen. If you get down to zero you do have an overdraft facility which increases as you work through divisions but be careful if you go there as the fans can feel that you have poor handling of the club finances. Clicking on Money takes you to your wages, recommended wages (I ignore this all too often) and profit/loss for the year. You can also change your transfer budget you give your manager here and see you finance history just like you can see your competition history but only for the present club. Don't forget even if you set a budget and your manager wants to buy a player he has to have your approval first.

SQUAD I love the simplicity of this part of the game. The main screen shows your overall squad rating here. In the page itself you have four positions being goalkeeper, defender, midfielder and attacker. It doesn't get bogged down with left backs, central attacking midfielders and false 9s. The rating for each player is also a simple 1-99 as an overall rating – I'm guessing it's your manager's job to judge the rest. You can see their wages here and there games and goals for this season and their club career to date.

MANAGER

The main screen show's your manager's overall rating. He has three individual ratings for match tactics, coaching and transfers. The page itself shows your existing manager's record and happiness as well as the match statistics for all your managers to date. From this screen you can also sack the manager but to prevent a fans backlash I wouldn't do this unless his popularity with them was in the red. You can also click Other Mgrs to see five candidates you could bring in if you decide to wield the axe. Be careful though – if the manager gets wind that you're looking to replace him then his happiness will drop. On the flip-side I've seen results improve when I've looked at other managers as though the boss has made a little more effort with the threat of a P45. In the Backroom Staff option you can also hire assistant managers, coaches, scouts and physios to help boost your managers individual ratings.

TRAINING

This shows your present training level and clicking the option gives you the chance to upgrade it for a price. You need to have the level of training to match your players or their overall rating will be affected. For example if you have level 70 training then a player rated 65 will be more likely to increase but one rated 75 could see his rating fall. In line with this the manager's coaching rating needs to be sufficient to train the highest rated players in the team.

YOUTH COACHING

It works the same as Training in terms of what you see on the main page and what you can do when you click it. The better the Youth Coaching level then the more likely you are to breed superstars of tomorrow but don't upgrade to 99 while in non-league as the division your team plays in has an effect also. You can click on Squad here and it will show you the present ratings of the 16 and 17 year olds in the youth ranks.

TROPHIES

The home screen shows the number of trophies won with your present club and clicking it shows the year, trophy and manager for each one. You can see this for either your current club or your whole chairman career.

ACHIEVED How many of the 50 achievements you've unlocked at your present club is shown on the home page. Clicking that will show which ones you've done and which you still have to aim for. You can also click the option for your chairman career to see which ambitions you have yet to fulfil. They cover everything from trophy wins and record crowd sizes to players reaching 500 games and going a season unbeaten. Nearly 100 seasons played and I still have 10 achievements to nail down.

RECORDS Click here for your records both at your club and as a chairman to date. They include record crowd, signing and sale values, appearances, goals in a season and career, longest serving manager, unbeaten run, games without a win, biggest win and loss and finally most and least points and goals (scored and conceded) in a season.

HISTORY A favourite for every geek. Here you find your division and position for every season you've played both at your current club and overall. It also shows how far you got in every cup you played and your average crowd for the season. The average crowd is only there for your current club as when you click on Chairman the column is taken up by the club that you were at each year. It's still great to see for example how Guiseley grew from a 624 average in 2087/88 to 68,323 in 2113/14.

FANS HAPPY? The main screen shows the percentage of fans that support you and the manager. Once the manger rating goes red (I think around 40%) then it could be time for a sacking unless you have faith. If the fans support for you drops then they could demand you resignation. I've had this happen to me but I guess if you resign the game would end so I just persevere. Let's face it the club is yours so you can't get sacked. Clicking the tab takes you to a screen showing where you are expected to finish this season in the league, the crowd atmosphere (I haven't really looked at this) and your club's worldwide popularity. If you click Rivals you also have a chance once for each club you take over to change their five listed rival clubs. For example Arsenal may have Chelsea, West Ham, Spurs, QPR and Crystal Palace due to location but if you have a particular dislike for another club like Southampton or something you may want them as a rival. When you come to rival matches the fans will be wanting a victory more than usual and you will also see bigger crowds.

STADIUM Who doesn't want a part of a game where they can build their own stadium, right? You increase the capacity of each of the four stands at a price. The nice thing here is that they start out as North, South, East and West Stands but you can rename them without a charge. This is a great way to personalise your game. I like using songs by a favourite band, TV shows (The Walking Dead Stand), films, classic players etc. As you build the stadium up you get to see this with a 3D representation which is another nice touch. Once the four stands are big enough you can also add corners. Clicking Facilities takes you to the screen where you can upgrade the catering through Food & Drink and also Merchandise. Obviously there is a cost for these but if you don't have enough then the fans will not be happy about queuing and poor service. Nobody wants to miss ten minutes of the second half for a hot dog or a scarf. If you don't want to gradually build your ground then there is a final option here to build a 120,000 seater Super Stadium for either £250m game money or £3.99 real money.

CHAIRMAN

This is the last option on the home screen. It shows your record to date (played 5,022 and won 2,467 for me) as well as the trophies and achievements earned. You can also see your all time profit/loss, transfer fees paid and received overall (I've spent £1.7bn so far!), the number of managers you've gone through and their average number of games lasted and your average lifetime fan approval for both you and your managers. Under the Club List option you see a summary of the history really with each club in a smaller list. Click Highscores to compare your career with other players. Unfortunately I lost this option by accidentally saving twice in once season which blocks this option. I think this is there to prevent anyone saving the game every few matches and going back to replay them if they don't like the results. I've never done that whether in this game, Football Manager of FIFA because I'd only be cheating myself but I guess some people would.

So that's most of the game in a nutshell. When the transfer season kicks in you'll receive an offer for one of your players most weeks while your manager will likely highlight someone he wants to buy. The key to Football Chairman Pro is balancing the money while also keeping the team successful and the fans happy. As each match has a Skip To End option you can go from home screen through the match and back to the home screen in a few seconds. It's very easy therefore outside the transfer window to just keep clicking, clicking, clicking through match after match in quick succession. Be careful though as every so often there will be a question like what do you want to do about a player's indiscipline or a stadium renaming deal which has the option you would want on the left when you're clicking the one on the right to speed through the season. Even with a bit of haste though you can get through a season in minutes rather than hours and that's the great attraction of this game.

Football Chairman Pro is simple yet challenging. It's addictive yet if you need to put it down you can easily pick back up where you left off. You can succeed without spending extra money but the option to do so is there if you wish. I've tried about ten football games since I've had android phones and this is the only one I've stuck with for this long. I give it 10/10 overall or in Football Chairman Pro terms it would be a 99.

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