I’m the brains behind the Football Manager phenomenon… and it all started out of one-bed flat in Milton Keynes
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THE man who took football into the computer age has gone back to basics. Kevin Toms was the brains behind Football Manager — the groundbreaking game released in 1982 that gave fans a first chance to live out their dugout fantasies. After a long break from the demands of an industry he pioneered, Toms returned.
![[Kevin Toms wrote Football Manager in 1981 and is back after a break]](https://www.thesun.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/kevin-toms-football-manager-game-956920973.jpg?strip=all&w=725)
And in a digital world where football and life in general have become swamped by information overload, he is finding a new audience for his unashamedly retro brand of entertainment. Toms, 67, explained: “When I created he original Football Manager, we didn’t have the internet so I didn’t get the feedback you can get now.
![[He's gone old-school and couldn't be happier]](https://www.thesun.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/kevin-toms-football-manager-game-956920966.jpg?strip=all&w=259)
“So although the game was selling well, I didn’t really realise its impact. “I learned that only in recent years when I started going to retro gaming events and building up an online following. “What I did first was put a message out saying, ‘I could rewrite the original game for mobile, is anybody interested?’ And I got a very positive reaction.”.
![[Toms believes game displays shouldn't be too complex]](https://www.thesun.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/kevin-toms-football-manager-game-956920888.jpg?strip=all&w=256)
Toms’ project — Kevin Toms Football * Manager — was a faithful, mobile-friendly recreation of the original game. That was an unprecedented phenomenon he devised, programmed, marketed and distributed from a one-bed flat in Milton Keynes. FOOTBALL FREE BETS AND SIGN UP DEALS.
Toms explained: “As a kid, I used to make football board games as a hobby. The one thing I wanted to crack was a management game. But it always had limitations. “Then I became a professional computer programmer, working on big IBM mainframes and things like that for the Open University.
