The changing room is small, sweaty and reeks of the desperation a man can only have when he is 45 minutes away from relegation. I pace around the room, trying to encourage my players, who have just seen themselves go three goals down inside fifteen minutes. One of my midfield players is a hot-head, and has already got himself booked.

“Calm down” I tell him assertively. “We don’t need another booking.”

The bell goes and I send my players out with one last rallying call of “do it for the fans!”

Three minutes in my midfielder goes in heavy for a challenge, is red carded and we lose the game 6-1.

Such is your life in the Football Manager (FM) series, where you take on the role of one of the most stressful (yet highly paid) jobs in world sport. A series that has spanned 21 years since its first release as Championship Manager in 1992, every year an iteration of the Fergie-simulator is picked up in its thousands by waiting fans. The series is renowned for it’s in depth knowledge of the football world and its inhabitants, so much so that even real football teams use its scouting network to find players.

And yet I still get asked the question by some people. “Why do you play it? Isn’t it just a complicated spreadsheet?”

And in some ways, they certainly have a point. The game’s interface, upon first glance, is a jumbled mess of statistic, numbers, colours and names. After memorising what each facet can do, you do somewhat feel like you’ve entered the Matrix.

FM is known for its addictiveness, a trait it shares with (it might surprise you) its near-cousin, the role-playing game. That’s right; I have just compared a game where you pretend to be a man in a sheepskin jacket with a game where you pretend to be an adolescent teen with an oversized sword.

But think of the similarities: In RPGs you control a team of people who you nurture through levels and use to fight against horrible monsters and demons, so you can earn money to get better swords or better team members to beat bigger monsters. It’s the same with Football Manager, except replace “horrible monsters and demons” with Wolves fans.

Another simple fact behind my addiction to the game is the tactics. Something the FM series has in common with (ready for another obscure comparison?) real-time strategy games. You set your team with a custom (if you’re brave) formation, choose the right balance of attack and defence and aim to outsmart your opponent in varying types of strategy. In this instance replace “zerg rush” with “hoof it to the big man” (looking at you, Stoke).

If you still doubt the game’s tactical depth, look at student Vugar Huseynzade who was in 2012 promoted to manager of FC Baku’s reserve team based on his success in Football Manager and his knowledge of tactics and the team’s players.

I have put a truly horrendous amount of hours in the FM series (2703 to be precise since FM2010) and hopefully some of the reasons outlined here can explain why I’ve used so much of my time on this game. I started out in 2008 as an unknowing beginner and mild football fan. I’ve ended up a guru of football knowledge and tactical genius*. The game gets more and more in depth and personal as the series goes on, adding emotions and conversational actions into the already deep squad management system. Here’s hoping that in 2019 we will be able use your Oculus Rift and Motion Gloves to gesticulate wildly on the touchline and point to our watches when stoppage time starts.

*May not be true

-Alex Hamilton