Football Manager 2009 help required

Hi there, I bough a genuine copy of FM09 from the shops when it first came out and have been playing it for ages and really enjoy it.

Problem: About two months ago, i noticed when i launch the game a "product activation online" screen comes up which i need to put my key in to get to the game, now i have lost my key since buying the game all those months ago (it's genuine, i still have my receipt but not the code, probably chucked it away) and I really want to keep playing, i have not played for two months and i am quite annoyed as apparently i can't do anything?! so please, please tell me there is help out there?

Try contacting customer services and they might be able to help you since you can prove that you have a genuine copy of the game. I would have a good look for your manual where you can find this code though or have a look in the activation thread, which you can find at the very top of this page, because I believe that a few people have been suffering from this issue.

Hope this makes sense because I am trying to type and listen to the Arsenal v Celtic match at the same time. 1-0 Arsenal at half time btw.

If you installed via Steam and are getting this try uninstalling the game, and delete the certificate folders (they are detailed in most of the support stickies at the top of the forum). Then reinstall via steam (it will in effect download the game no CD neeeded) and hopefully that will solve the problem. I had the same problem a few months ago. Hope this helps.

But were you asked for any key at any stage when you are reinstalling?

Hey, i found another way! I was going through the certificates folder, found a doucment titled "activation" opened it and found my key was on it! typed it in and i got my game running! thanks for the help people.