Paul Edward Collyer MBE and Oliver Charles Collyer MBE , collectively known as the Collyer brothers, are two British video game designers and programmers. In July 1994, they founded London-based video game developer Sports Interactive, under which they created popular video game franchises of football-based sports games, such as Championship Manager and Football Manager . The Collyer brothers often inserted themselves into their games as below-average players, not good enough to play for even the worst teams.[ citation needed ]
The Collyer brothers are supporters of Everton [1] Both Collyers were appointed Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) in the 2010 New Year Honours for services to the video game industry. [2]
The Columbus Panhandles were a professional American football team based in Columbus, Ohio. The club was founded in 1901 by workers at the Panhandle shops of the Pennsylvania Railroad. They were a part of the Ohio League from 1904 before folding after one season. Three years later, the team tried again, playing in the Ohio League from 1907 to 1919, not winning a championship, before becoming charter members of the American Professional Football Association (APFA) which became the National Football League (NFL).
Championship Manager is a series of football-management simulation video games, the first of which was released in 1992.
Sports Interactive Limited is a British video game developer based in London, best known for the Football Manager series. Founded by brothers Oliver and Paul Collyer in July 1994, the studio was acquired by Japanese video game publisher Sega in 2006 and became part of Sega Europe. In addition to its work on Football Manager, the studio has also created a number of other sports-management simulations, including NHL Eastside Hockey Manager and Championship Manager Quiz, and is the former developer of Championship Manager.
A sports video game is a video game that simulates the practice of sports. Most sports have been recreated with a video games, including team sports, track and field, extreme sports, and combat sports. Some games emphasize actually playing the sport, whilst others emphasize strategy and sport management. Some, such as Need for Speed, Arch Rivals and Punch-Out!!, satirize the sport for comic effect. This genre has been popular throughout the history of video games and is competitive, just like real-world sports. A number of game series feature the names and characteristics of real teams and players, and are updated annually to reflect real-world changes. The sports genre is one of the oldest genres in gaming history.
Football Manager is a series of football management simulation video games developed by British developer Sports Interactive and published by Sega. The game began its life in 1992 as Championship Manager. However, following the break-up of their partnership with original publishers Eidos Interactive, triggered by the "fiasco" release of CM4 in 2003, Sports Interactive lost the naming rights to Eidos Interactive, but retained the game engine and data and re-branded the game Football Manager with their new publisher Sega. The latest version of Football Manager, titled Football Manager 2023, was released on 8 November 2022.
William Arthur Bonds is a former professional footballer and manager, who is most often associated with West Ham United with whom he spent 27 years as player and manager. He played 799 first-team games for West Ham in a career spanning 21 seasons.
British Universities and Colleges Sport (BUCS) is the governing body for higher education sport in the United Kingdom. BUCS was formed in 2008 by a merger of the British Universities Sports Association (BUSA) and University College Sport (UCS) organisations. BUCS is responsible for organising 54 inter-university sports in the UK and representative teams for the World University Championships and the World University Games.
Raymond Colin Wilkins was an English football player and coach.
Alan Patrick Mullery is an English former footballer and manager. After enjoying a successful career with Fulham, Tottenham Hotspur, and the England national team in the 1960s and 1970s, he became a manager working with several clubs. He is now employed as a television pundit. He is also known for being the first ever England player to be sent off in an international match.
Adrian Neil Adams, is an English judoka who won numerous Olympic and World Championship medals in judo representing Great Britain. He was appointed Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) in the 1983 New Year Honours for services to judo.
John William Hollins was an English football player and manager. He initially played as a midfielder, before becoming an effective full-back later in his career. Hollins played in the Football League, predominantly for Chelsea, with whom he won the FA Cup, Football League Cup and UEFA Cup Winners' Cup. He made 592 appearances for Chelsea over two spells from 1963 to 1975 and from 1983 to 1984, making him one of six players to have made over 500 appearances for the club.
Barry George Davies MBE is an English retired sports commentator and television presenter. He covered a wide range of sports in a long career, primarily for the BBC.
William Roy "Link" Lyman, also sometimes known as Roy Lyman, was an American football player and coach.
Championship Manager is the first game in the Championship Manager series as well as the Football Manager series of association football management simulation games. The game was released on the Amiga and Atari ST in September, 1992 and ported to MS-DOS soon after. The game was written by Paul and Oliver Collyer, the co-founders of Sports Interactive.
Ronald Flowers was an English professional footballer, who played as a midfielder, and was most known for his time at Wolverhampton Wanderers. He was a member of England's victorious 1966 World Cup squad. He was the elder brother of John Flowers.
Ivor Verdun Powell, MBE was a Welsh football player and manager. He won eight caps for Wales.
The 4th British Academy Video Games Awards, awarded by the British Academy of Film and Television Arts, was an award ceremony held on 23 October 2007 in Battersea Evolution. The ceremony honoured achievement in 2007 for games which were released between 6 October 2006 and 5 October 2007 and was hosted by Vic Reeves. Wii Sports led with the most nominations with seven. Wii Sports was the major winner on the night, taking six of the seven awards available, equaling the record Grand Theft Auto: Vice City (2003) and Half-Life 2 (2004) had with the most awards won in any BAFTA Video Games Awards ceremony. BioShock took the main prize of Best Game.
Miles Jacobson OBE is studio director of Sports Interactive, the team behind the Football Manager series of video games, and creators of the original Championship Manager.
Deborah Jayne Bestwick is a British entrepreneur. Following a short career in video game retail, she was part of the December 1990 merger between British video game publisher 17-Bit Software and Swedish developer Team 7 that created Team17. She was the company's co-manager until buying out the other founders' stakes in 2010 to become chief executive officer (CEO). Team17 went public in May 2018, earning Bestwick £50 million in windfall gain. She has been awarded various accolades related to the video game industry between 2015 and 2017, and was pronounced a Member of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire in June 2016. She intends to step down as CEO of Team17 on 1 January 2024.
Manisha Tailor MBE is an English football manager who is the youth manager of QPR.