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