A couple of days back I saw a post at Jason Langridge’s site saying Championship Manager for iPhone was out. Hurrah I thought, to put it mildly! I ran straight over to the App Store – in a tapping on a few iPhone screens sense of running – and looked for it. No sign of it. I did not panic (much) – probably just released a little earlier in the UK than in the US.
Well I’ve been periodically searching for it ever since and there’s still no sign of it. A little while ago I decided to put AppMiner to work – because I can temporarily switch to the UK App Store – and have a look. Sure enough, it shows up just fine in the UK store, but not at all in the US store.
Now something near panic is setting in. Does this mean there will not be a US release of this game? Do they not have US rights for it? I know I’ve seen weirdness with naming of other football management games in their US version – e.g. the game that is Football Manager in all the rest of the world is Worldwide Soccer Manager in the US.
I’ve had a little search-around just now and could not find any good information – not on any possible issues with selling in the US store, and not even about the iPhone app launch.
I did find some Championship Manager forum sites with some people who have already tried the iPhone app. There were some good comments, alongside a lot of scathing ones – such as this one from the championshipmanager.co.uk site …
So the iPhone verison is out and the depth and game play is as great as I would expect but I have to say the UI is shocking. It’s a very very very very lazy port of what could be a great game. I can’t start to stress how bad the UI is. I can’t even be bothered to list all the problems because there is to many. It needs sorting and fast. CM have missed the mark by a mile. It needs a full over haul and quick
I love the sound of the very first part of that comment – and to be honest even the ripping of the UI doesn’t put me off too much. The lure of Championship Manager is just too strong to be put off by that – this is a game that I’ve spent more hours on in its PC form than any non-CM-addicted person could ever fathom. A game that blew away evenings, whole nights, sleep patterns, weekends, the need for food (or girlfriends sometimes) and so on. 
I’d really love to know whether a US version of this game is just delayed, or never going to happen – especially right now while I cannot get Soccer Manager (another footie manager app) to run on OS 3.0 Beta 5.
I feel as if the App Store gods are conspiring against me, foiling my plans for guiding Tottenham Hotspur to European and domestic glory 
{ 2 comments… read them below or add one }
This is a crime. We need this game in the US store ASAP!!!
RIP – I agree – I've got trophies waiting for me to win them
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