As all you avid readers will know, I'm eagerly anticipating the Football Manager 2010 launch next month. As sure as the clocks change and autumn all too quickly follows summer, it's inevitable that I'll be first in line to pick up my copy!

I'm a real football addict and put Sports Interactive's lovingly-crafted creation right at the top of my all-time favourite games in the early days of this very blog.

Aside from an up-to-date squad list, no doubt the new version will be slightly slicker and a little faster... no dramatic improvements but it still amounts to a must have purchase.

In the meantime, I'm going to be dipping my toes into the transfer market and picking up a copy of its closest rival, Championship Manager 2010. I defected from the Championship Manager series a few years back but with its recent Pay What You Want marketing initiative, I thought I'd give it a go... it will hopefully be the best 1p I've ever spent.

I should be getting an email with my download instructions in the next few days so after a thorough playthrough, expect a review on these pages some time soon.

FM 2010 is due out on 30 October, while CM 2010 comes off the bench first... it's scheduled for 11 September.

(Photo credit: Flyworld)