Premier Manager/Main Menu

The main menu is the hub of the game; it's where you find links to all the useful information about your club and players, as well as other things.

As the image on the right shows, the top of the screen displays information about you and your club (your name, your team's name, your league position and your next fixture). The rest of the screen is filled with icons, and this section explains what each icon on the menu is and what they do.

Ground Improvements
This screen is used for 2 very important things: improving your club's stadium and sorting out sponsorship deals.


 * Ground Improvement: When you click on an element of your stadium, such as "seating capacity" or "scoreboard", some info will be displayed in the top-right of the screen saying what improvement can be made and how much it will cost. To confirm you want to make the improvement, click on the info that appears.


 * Advertisement Boards: The sponsorship advert at the very bottom of the screen shows what sponsors are available to you. Click on the arrows next to it to scroll through all the available sponsors and see how much they are offering. To accept sponsorship deal, click on one of the blank sponsor boards above (you have 48 blanks spaces to begin with). The available sponsors are as follows:
 * Daily Star - UK tabloid newspaper
 * Realms of Fantasy - Development team behind Premier Manager
 * Gremlin - Publishers of Premier Manager
 * GBH - Publisher of budget games such as James Pond
 * Zool - A platform game from Gremlin
 * The One - A multi-format video-games magazine
 * Nossac Designs - Unknown
 * Amiga Power - UK Amiga magazine
 * Martin Enterprises - UK-based photography studio
 * SP&M - Fictional marketing company
 * Stokes Consultants - Unknown
 * Atari ST User - UK Atari ST magazine
 * Lotus III - A racing simulator by Gremlin
 * PC Format - UK PC magazine
 * Camel Advertising - Unknown
 * ST Format - UK Atari ST magazine
 * NJC Parts - Unknown
 * Stewarts Holdings - Unknown
 * Commodore - The creators of the mighty Amiga
 * CU Amiga - UK Amiga magazine
 * ST Action - UK Atari ST magazine
 * Chupa Chups - A brand of lollipops
 * Amiga Action - UK Amiga magazine
 * Hearn Motors - Unknown
 * Amiga Computing - UK Amiga magazine
 * Legacy of Sorasil - An RPG by Gremlin; sequel to HeroQuest
 * Atari ST Review - UK Atari ST magazine
 * Philips - Dutch electronics company
 * PC Review - UK PC magazine
 * Nigel Mansell World Championship - A racing game by Gremlin
 * Amiga Format - UK Amiga magazine

Transfer Market
This is the place to go when you want to buy new players to add to your squad or sell some of your players to raise money. Use the buttons along the bottom of the screen to switch between the different pages of the transfer market screen. Here's what each button does (from left to right):


 * Transfer Market: This the list of all players available for transfer. The columns show how many weeks the player has been on the transfer list, their playing position, name, current club and current division. Unfortunately, you have to view a player to see how good he is or how much he costs. If there are multiple pages, click the transfer market button again to scroll through them.


 * Scout File: Highlight a player and then click this button (the magnifying glass) to view the scout file on that player. This displays the player's ratings and value as well as other info.


 * Apply for player: This is the screen where you make a bid for a player. The total at the bottom of the screen gives you a guide of how much to bid, but it's always wise to bid a bit more in case other teams make a bid. Beware: you only get one chance to bid so make sure you spend enough to get your man!


 * Sell player: As you might have guessed, this is where you sell your unwanted players. To sell a player, just click on his name. If any teams are interesting in buying him, a list of bids will appear. Select the one you want to accept by clicking on it (usually the highest bid!) or if you decide not to sell after all just press the escape key.

League Tables
This screen is where you can view stats such as the current league table, form table, top goalscorers and other info. Click on the buttons along the bottom of the screen to switch between the pages. Here's what each button does (from left to right):


 * League Table: This is simply the current league table for the division you are in.


 * League Form: This table shows the current form of the teams in your league over the last 6 home games and the last 6 away games. The recent results are shown as a line of letters (for example: XDDLWW). Below is a list of what each of these letters means:
 * W = Win
 * L = Loss
 * X = Goal-less draw (0-0)
 * D = Score draw (1-1, 2-2, etc)


 * Club Data: Highlight any team in the league table and click the club data button (the stadium picture) to view stats about that club. It shows some useful things such as who they have in their squad, details of their stadium, what titles they have won and a summary of how good each area of their team is (using star ratings).


 * Position Graph: Highlight any team in the league table and click the position graph button to view a graph of how their league position has varied over the season.


 * Timetable: Highlight a team and click the timetable button to view the full fixture/results list for that team. Click the button again to scroll through the pages.


 * Top Goalscorers: This page shows to top 15 goalscorers in your division. Goals in all competitions are included, not just league goals.

Team Selection
The team selection screen is where you select your players for the upcoming match, as well as choosing tactics and view other info. Click on the buttons along the bottom of the screen to switch between the pages. Here's what each button does (from left to right):

If you are in doubt about which formation to choose, just leave it as the default (4-3-3).
 * Formation Selector: Click this button to choose what formation your team will play. The formation is shown by the multi-coloured squares inside the icon itself. You can choose from are:
 * 4-3-3
 * 4-4-2
 * 4-2-4
 * 5-3-2
 * 5-2-3
 * 3-4-3
 * 3-3-4
 * 3-5-2


 * Style Selector: Clicking this button allows you to set your team's style of play. You can choose from the following styles:
 * Passing: Denoted by a ball with 4 arrows coming out of it. This style means your team will play a patient passing style of football.
 * Defensive: Denoted by a red letter D on a green background. This style will make your team play defensively; you will not score as many goals, but you not concede many either.
 * Attacking: Denoted by a red letter A on a green background. This style will make your team play more offensively and you will score more goals but be more vulnerable at the back.
 * Long Ball: Denoted by a ball with a long arrow next to it. This means your team will play a very direct style, hitting long passes straight to the forwards, without much passing build-up.


 * Team Selection screen: This is where you select your first eleven. To move players around highlight a player, then click on the player you want to swap him with. The names in the squad are colour-coordinated depending on what position they are. The columns are across the top of the list are poorly labelled, so to explain here is a full list:
 * P = Position
 * Player Name
 * HN = Handling
 * TK = Tackling
 * PS = Passing
 * SH = Shooting
 * ST = Stamina
 * SC = Number of goals scored
 * CN = Number of goals conceded (goalies only)
 * PL = Number of games played
 * AG = Age
 * DP = Disciplinary points
 * T = Training


 * Players Match Data: This screen shows you info and stats about your team's previous match. Stats include the number of shots and tackles made by each player, number of saves made and the number of yellow and red cards given out. If a player's name is in yellow or red text, that means they were given a card of that colour during the game.


 * Next Match Data: This screen shows details about your next opponent. Most importantly it shows the ratings of each area of the team and the team's overall rating. If these ratings are higher than the ratings of your team, then you're in for a tough game.


 * Team Injuries: This screen just shows a list of all your players along with any injuries they may have and whatever treatment they are receiving.


 * Timetable: This is your team's fixture list. You can use this to view upcoming fixtures and results of previous matches. Click on the button again to scroll through the pages.


 * Edit Player Name: As you might have guessed, you can use this feature to edit the names of your players. This can be fun if you want to have a team with you and your friends in it or just want to make up a fantasy team based on your favourite players, or celebrities or whatever you want.

Save/Load
This is probably the most important screen of all; where you save your game and reload previously saved games.


 * Format Disk: If you haven't saved a game on Premier Manager before, you need to create a save disk. To do this, insert a blank disk into the drive, then click on the Format Disk icon and follow the instructions.


 * Using DF0: This icon lets you select which disk drive to use (if you have an external floppy disk drive). The standard Amiga disk drive is DF0 and any external disk drive will be DF1.

A Premier Manager save disk has space to save 2 separate games. The following section tells you how to save or load them.


 * Load Game One: This loads saved game number 1 from your save disk. Insert your save disk, then click this icon and follow the on-screen instructions.


 * Load Game Two: This does the same as above but with saved game number 2 on your save disk.


 * Save Game One: To save your current game in slot 1 on your save disk, insert the disk and click this icon; then follow the instructions on screen.


 * Save Game Two: To save your current game in slot 2 on your save disk, insert the disk and click this icon; then follow the instructions on screen.

History
The history screen is where you can view details of who won what, going back many years. This is only really useful when you have played quite a few seasons of on the game. Click on the buttons along the bottom of the screen to switch between the pages. Here's what each button does (from left to right):


 * Manager's History: This page shows your performance as a manager over the years - including how many games you've won, drawn and lost and your performance in the various cup competitions.


 * League History: This screen shows your performance in the league for each season.


 * History of English Cups: This shows your performance in the various domestic cup competitions over the years; basically recording what round you reached in each cup.


 * History of European Cups: This shows your performance in each of the three European competitions available of the years: the European Cup (Champions League), the UEFA Cup and the Cup Winners' Cup.

Finances
The finances screen let you keep track of all the money coming into, and going out of the club. You can view a lot of stats here such as crowd attendance, wages, bank balance and loans. Click on the buttons along the bottom of the screen to switch between the pages. Here's what each button does (from left to right):


 * Stadium Data: This is similar to the Ground Improvements screen except you can't change anything, only view. However, you can see how many weeks any ongoing work on your stadium will take. You can also view a graph of the crowd attendance at your home games.


 * Pitch Advertisement Boards: The main part of this screen shows you what sponsors you have on your advertisement boards, and the number of weeks each sponsor has the board for. At the bottom of the screen you can see a summary of sponsors who are waiting for a space to advertise in.


 * Daily Club Bank Statement: This shows details of all money made or spent by the club on that day, as well as the club's overall bank balance and overdraft limit.


 * Yearly Club Bank Statement: This screen shows a detailed summary of the money made and spent by the club since the start of the current season.


 * Bank Loan Information: In Premier Manager you can take out a bank loan if you need some extra cash; this screen gives you info about how much you can borrow and how much the repayments will be.


 * Apply For a Loan: Click this icon to apply for a loan, using the information mentioned on the Bank Loan Information screen. If you ask for a lot of money and you are only a small club, the loan will probably be refused. If you click on this icon by mistake and don't want a loan, just press escape.


 * Pay Back Bank Loan: Click on this icon if you have a loan and you want to pay some of it back. Your normal repayment will automatically come out of your clubs account each week, but if you want to pay back some extra, this is how you do it.


 * Club Wages: This screen shows you how much money each of your players and staff get paid each week.

Phone
This is how you contact your non-playing staff, such as the physiotherapist, scout and coaches. You can also enter cheat codes here. On the right is a pad with all your staff and their phone numbers on - you can either enter the number of the phone or just click the relevant line on the notepad. Here are all the people you can contact and what they do:


 * Job Centre (815655): This is where you hire and fire your staff. When you phone the job centre a box appears containing all the available staff. If you want to hire someone, click on the word none and it will change to hire. To fire someone, click on the word hired and it will change to fire. The amount next to each staff member is their weekly wage - click on this with the right mouse button to raise their wage or click on it with the left button to lower it. The more a staff member is paid, the better they will be, as explained below.


 * Head Team Coach (815400): This is your main coach and he controls the type training that each of your players does. Basically Handling training is for goalkeepers, Tackling is for defenders, Passing is for midfielders and Shooting is for strikers. The more you pay the head coach, the more he will improve your players' abilities.


 * Goalkeeper Coach (815301): Hiring a goalkeeper coach will help your goalkeeper improve his handling ability more than normal. The more you pay this coach, the more he will improve your goalkeepers.


 * Defence Coach: Hiring a defence coach will help your defenders improve their tackling ability more than normal. The more you pay this coach, the more he will improve your defenders.


 * Midfield Coach: Hiring a midfield coach will help your midfielders improve their passing ability more than normal. The more you pay this coach, the more he will improve your midfielders.


 * Forwards Coach: Hiring a forwards coach will help your forwards improve their shooting ability more than normal. The more you pay this coach, the more he will improve your forwards.


 * Physiotherapist (816432): When you players get injured they will need treatment from a physiotherapist. When you phone your physio a list of all your injured players will appear along with the number of weeks they will be out for. Click on the N next to a player to change it to a Y and start treatment. Physio treatment means a player will recover faster. With longer injuries you can click it again to change it to L - this stands for Lilleshall, a specialist treatment centre for footballers. Sending players to Lilleshall costs money but the player will recover faster than if treated by the physio. The more you pay a physiotherapist, the more players he can treat at once.


 * Scout: Your scout will search for the type of players you ask him for and you can then make bids for those players if you want to. Contact the scout, then use the options at the bottom of the page to specify what type and rating of player you are looking for. After a few days he will have a shortlist of players for you to view. The more you pay a scout, the higher the divisions he can look for players in.


 * Youth Team Coach: Doesn't really seem to do anything. Only hire one if you have lots of money you don't need.


 * Club Directors (816751): Only phone the club directors if you want to resign from your job as manager! When you contact them a box will appear asking if you really want to resign for the club and quit the game.