Friends Say I'm Sad, I Say You Just Don't Understand...

Hi guys, I've been viewing the forums for a while now and thought I would register so I could actually add my opinions to certain topics and hopefully help some other users out where possible. Now, this is my first thread and I thought I'd go through how I play Football Manager and see if there is anyone else on here who plays the game in a similar way or am see I considered weird amongst you lot on here too as well as my own friends.

I love Football Manager, I will admit before I found Football Manager I would of been classed as a FIFA fan boy on the Xbox 360 and PS2 back in the day but all that has changed now. I have saved myself a whole lot of money by selling my Xbox 360 as I have found myself a game in Football Manager that seems to entertain me every single time I load it up. The way I love playing Football Manager this year is by watching every single game in 3D and Full Match highlights, each game takes a fair amount of time to complete but it never bores me, this is my favourite part of the game and I make sure everything else revolves around this. This is the bit where you might start calling me weird, this is perhaps the part where a couple of my friends had decided I am slightly strange and very different to themselves. I have a notepad... Not the most shocking of confessions I know but this notepad of mine sits next to my Laptop on my desk and is only ever used for Football Manager. I love taking notes of things, I love working out a rotation system that will keep all of my players happy but also fit and healthy all season. I also take notes of the opposition and how I expect them to lineup and also jot down there main threats in the hope that I can nullify them, this for me is the most rewarding part of the game. It does take me a long while to finish a season but I don't focus on getting promoted as quickly as possible, I only focus on the next game and that is a mentality that has improved my experience of Football Manager so much in this years game.

In previous games I would select a team, buy players as quickly as possible, try and create myself a super tactic that could win me every game without any need for adjusting game to game and I would just try and blast through the seasons. I did find it enjoyable at the time, I was delighted after every promotion but I realized one thing. Each and every game about 5-6 seasons down the line I would get bored of the team I had seemingly worked so hard to put together and it made me think. What have I actually done here? Can I remember some great moments from previous seasons apart from the promotion for instance? The answer was no and in this years game it is totally different, I have so many memories of my young striker going around the 'keeper to net his first goal for the club or my veteran defender nodding home from 8 yards to get us a precious away victory... It's the little moments like these that personally make me love a save on Football Manager, I have used Manchester United, Barcelona and the rest of the big boys before, I wouldn't lie on here and say I haven't but for me there is no greater game than starting as far down as possible and taking every game as it comes and enjoying the moment rather than setting myself a target and simply flying through the games with little focus on anything else but whether I was going reach my target or not. Call it sad, call it what you like. You either understand or you don't.

First of all, I am not the greatest writer in the world as you have realized if you have read this little piece of text but hopefully I have conveyed some of my passion for the game over to this thread. Does any of what I have said ring true for some of you guys on here? The in depth games, the prep, the notepads? Thanks for reading.