Football Manager 2009 will benefit Moyes and co

Today, men all over the world will bid farewell to daylight, loved ones and basic levels of hygiene, as the latest life-consuming edition of Football Manager is released. No one is more happy about this than the staff at Everton, who will be letting the game’s huge databases take some of the work out of scouting:

The Premiership side have done a deal with the makers of the bestselling video game Football Manager to get an early look at their database of 370,000 players worldwide.

It cuts out the first stage of scouting for players - waiting for feedback from the club’s network of talent spotters.

Football Manager’s footballers, from junior level upwards, are meticulously researched and rated so that game players can choose them to make up their own dream team for competitions.

Clubs can use the same data to short-list potential targets all over the world before flying out to evaluate them.

Previous highly rated young players on the Sports Interactive game included two teenagers destined for world fame - England and Manchester United ace Wayne Rooney and Argentine wizard Lionel Messi.

This should be a great move for Everton, who apparently need all the scouting help they can get:Egyptian striker Emad Meteb’s agent claimed the player was on his way to Goodison this week, but David Moyes said he had “never heard of him.”

Spoiler bonus: Whet your appetite for Football Manager 2009 with the trailer…