From Football Manager 2005 to 'real' football manager?

by James Ransom-Wiley { Jun 23rd 2006 at 11:25AM }

John Boileau, an expert at Football Manager 2005, decided to take his game to the next level by applying for the managerial position at Middlesbrough Football Club. Why not?

Long story short, John didn't get the job, but Middlesbrough's chairman did take the time to write him a charming rejection letter. You can visit John's site for the full details, including reproductions of the application and response -- also consider donating to his breast cancer charity cause.

[Thanks, Shizzle]

Tags: Football Manager, FootballManager, Sega, Sports Interactive, SportsInteractive

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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

James @ Jun 23rd 2006 11:39AM

Honestly, considering his American counterparts in the world of Baseball, I wouldn't have been suprised if he was hired.

Its called "Moneyball" my friends. If you know how to spend money for stats, anyone will hire you.

Trent @ Jun 23rd 2006 11:57AM

Whatever, I had Pele, Maradona and Wayne Rooney on my WE 8 team. This dude's team is nothing compared to mine.

Night Elve @ Jun 23rd 2006 12:01PM

@ 2.

Well no?, is quite different be a good player at a Football Manager than in Winning Eleven.

=P

fahmi @ Jun 23rd 2006 12:12PM

@3

true. by the way, lots of top managers (and not-so-top ones) use football manager (FM) as another option for scouting as FM database proven to be almost accurate in predicting bright youngsters. I read a news about spain under-21 (i think) manager use FM to scout its opponents weakness and strength.

crono141 @ Jun 23rd 2006 12:17PM

The rejection letter is pretty funny.

coalhalo @ Jun 23rd 2006 1:50PM

Great reply letter from Gibson showing that he has a great sense of humour.

Juan @ Jun 23rd 2006 4:46PM

I don't want to seem like the sort of guy who posts on Joystiq comments like "OMG THIS IS ANCIENT" or whatever, but this sort of thing has happened basically since the Championship Manager series started 10+ years ago. Every so often a story hits the media about an everyman who applied for a top English job using the game as the basis for his CV - it's by no means the first time. However Gibson (who already has the reputation of more-or-less the best chairman in England) wrote the best rejection letter I've seen, so this qualifies as news! Gratz, Joystiq!