Beautiful Game Studios manager Roy Meredith has been speaking to GI.biz about the troubles the once mighty soccer manager series has experience since departed the fold and the series was adopted by Eidos' new studio.

He admitted that past releases in the franchise didn't have a strong enough identity to face up to SI's brand. "For too long we’ve not had a vision that explains what is. No vision, no direction - where are we within that genre? We want to create a strong alternative, a competitor to Football Manager - irrespective of what they do, we need to be clear on what ChampMan is all about, and identify where we need to be."

Meredith believes a better ChampMan can see the series flourish once again, the boss offering: "We did some research this year, and looked at fans in general, and Championship Manager is probably one of the strongest brand names there in gaming."

He continued: "What we need to do is give consumers a reason to believe the franchise again. They know the fundamentals, the basics of the game, and they need to know the quality of the game is strong, because for too long it hasn’t been."

More soon.

By Luke Guttridge