Summer's painfully boring without any football to watch. Thankfully, the English Premier League kicked off again at the weekend and even better was news that updates for the greatest footy management games ever to grace our screens were imminent.

While I'm salivating at the prospect of another fantastic version of Sports Interactive's Football Manager, which is due to hit the shelves on 30th October, I can't help but feel hugely let down by Eidos and it's Championship Manager series... and I haven't even played it yet!

Championship Manager has had a lot of publicity over the past week following the announcement of its innovative Pay What You Want initiative... but I'm none too impressed so far. They claim that after a simple sign-up process you can buy the game from as little as a penny. Sounds great, eh?

"From the time the shop goes live today (August 18th) until midnight on September 10th, you can pre-order the digital download version of Championship Manager 2010 from www.champmanstore.com and on the day of release, September 11th, you can then download it direct from the website.

This is a first in the videogame industry and echoes a similar initiative launched by rock band Radiohead in 2008 with their album “In Rainbows”. We’re keen to see as many people as possible playing Championship Manager, and think this is a great way to get people playing.

There is a small transaction fee to cover costs encountered in delivering you the game and a 1p minimum charge, but the cost for the full version of Championship Manager 2010 is yours to choose..."

What they don't tell you though, is that the web site is abysmal and no matter how many times you try, it's nigh on impossible to actually register your details.

I've tried countless times in the past few days, with different browsers and have even provided different usernames and passwords. Each time I am faced with an "Incorrect Login Details" message!

It's not really the best way to get all those who defected to the rival Football Manager series back on side is it? And if they can't get a simple website - and heavily promoted PR campaign - to work properly, it doesn't bode well for the actual game!

After 10 or so attempts, I even contacted the support team via email but several days later have still heard nothing.

Looks like my allegiance will remain with Sports Interactive for the coming season... and I've saved a penny!

(Photo credit: Katie@!)