Godfather Of Champions

"Tony? Tony?" Evan\'s voice sounded out.

"Ah? Evan? What\'s the matter…" Tang En, who was jolted into awareness, saw Evan smiling at him mysteriously.

"Do you still remember the present you gave us last Christmas? The concept of a player database?"

Tang En nodded. At the mention of that, he became furious. The American company had made a product that was completely incompatible with his demands. He had known at one glance that it was created by someone who had no understanding of football. After a period of trial usage, he had tried to get them to revise the program, but the result of the revision still failed to satisfy him. At that point, he had simply terminated the partnership with them and temporarily shelved the plans.

"We know that the previous one was terrible… So Allan went searching again and found a company. They promised to make us a data system."

"Do they have any proof of their competence?" asked Tang En.

Evan indicated for Allan to take over. Allan nodded at Tang En. "Tony, I think you\'ll be satisfied with this company. They\'re a local company, SI."

Tang En was stumped for a second upon hearing the name. SI? SI! Was that the production team that developed the Championship Manager series as well as the FM series (Football Manager series) – Sports Interactive? He could not believe that Allan had managed to find them! Tang En admired the old American even more now.

Looking at Tang En\'s expression, Allan knew he must have found the right company.

"They\'ve agreed to start cooperating with us not only on the database system but in other areas too. When I approached them, they made some co-op requests that you might be interested in."

Tang En looked at the somewhat bored Shania beside him and said, "Shania, do you want to get more signatures? If you use my name, no one will dare to refuse you. Actually, you just need to smile at them and they would definitely listen!"

Evan and Allan laughed.

Shania astutely realized that Tang En must be discussing some important matters and that her presence was inappropriate. She nodded and turned, walking into the crowd.

At that, Tang En pointed at some sofas ahead of them. "Let\'s sit there and discuss."

The three sat down and Tang En launched into a question. "Concretely, what are their proposals for cooperation?"

"They hope to become one of our sponsors; not by way of monetary funding, but technical sponsorship. In other words, there will not just be a single version of this database. They will be in charge of maintenance and further developments of better and more comprehensive abilities…"

Tang En nodded in understanding.

"And they also hope for you to become the game ambassador for the latest Football Manager game, FM2007."

That request came unexpectedly to Tang En. He paused for a long while before realizing that he did not hear wrong and that Allan was not joking.

"Me? An ambassador?"

"Yes. There\'s no monetary remuneration because it\'s a cooperation. This will be their take-away from the sponsorship; they won\'t be getting any money from us."

Tang En went silent and delved into deep thought. In his mind, he was searching for all the information he could remember about SI and the FM series. Since it was a manager series that he considered up to standards, he had played from the earliest FIFA96 developed by EA until CM and FM. He was also aware that the FM series was a product after the split of SI and EIDOS.

Back then, SI had always overseen the development of CM while EIDOS had handled only the distribution. Later, both parties chose to go their separate ways for unknown reasons. EIDOS had inherited the title CM and the familiar operating interface. They chose a development team which previously oversaw "Gianluca Vialli\'s Football Manager" to continue the production of CM. Meanwhile, SI inherited the gigantic player database as well as the source code of the game.

The two companies should have gone their separate ways the year before. The classic CM0304 would be the final version of the game that they would produce. After that, they pursued separate paths.

EIDOS was an old hand in the gaming industry; they had access to plenty of resources. Their inheritance of the name and the CM logo was equivalent to their continuation of the series. Meanwhile, SI was restarting their business. Other than the player database and source code, they had nothing else. Their initial steps would be crucial. Last month, SI had released "FM05," a brand-new football manager game that took more than a year of development for retail sales. In comparison to CM, this was a completely unfamiliar game to both the players and the market. They urgently needed better advertising to promote the title.

At this point, Allan had coincidentally found SI and hoped for them to create a soccer database for the Forest team. SI then saw a new position from which they could advertise.

To SI, who held a network of more than 2500 researchers all over the world, it was more than simple for them to create a database based on Forest\'s requirements. On the reverse, it was much more important for them to make use of this chance to establish a strategic partnership with an English Premier League team. Despite having once sponsored the newly established AFC Wimbledon team, that was only driven by a desire to show support for a club that was completely established by fans themselves; it could not be considered part of their business interests.

After putting together all those factors, Tang En more or less got the picture. Although he was a football manager, wasn\'t it also interesting for him to use some of his free time to be a game ambassador?

So, he nodded. "It\'s no problem; but how do they want me to represent them?"

"Oh, for now, there are plans to advertise through print media. You will also need to attend a press conference held by their company to announce our partnership. In addition to that, the cover of the new game will be using your image."

"They aren\'t planning to film a TV commercial?" Tang En was a little disappointed.

He remembered the television commercial filming of the current manager of the Japanese National Football Team, Zico from Brazil. It was for Pro Evolution Soccer. The timing for that seemed to be earlier; it appeared that Tang En would not be able to get the title of "The First Manager to Get on TV as a Game Ambassador."

Evan chuckled. "Tony, are you already thinking of switching careers? That would depend on their budget. As a new company, they probably don\'t have much money at the moment."

Tang En scratched his head. Although he was unable to get on a TV commercial and experience the feeling of being an actor, his vanity was somewhat appeased by his soon-to-be appearance on the cover of a game that would be known throughout the world.

"Other cooperative ventures could be slowly considered at a later stage. Now that you\'ve agreed, I can reply to SI after Christmas. I think you\'ll definitely be happy with the database they come up with."

Tang En laughed. "It seems like you know quite a bit about SI, Alan."

"I did some special investigation. I can\'t make another mistake like the previous time." Allan answered with a grin.

Seeing that official business was concluded, Evan Doughty raised his wine glass. "Alright. Let us all forget about that for now. Tony and Allan, Merry Christmas. Thank you for the hard work you\'ve put in this year."

"Of course. We\'ve got to be working since you\'re paying us." Tang En raised his own glass. "Cheers. Merry Christmas to everyone. Next year, I think we\'ll be celebrating Christmas with an even better mood."

The three glasses gently clinked together, making a clear, crisp sound.