Reminds me of the time I played for Fiorentina - Fiveways Fiorentina that is. Incidentally, Bland chose Fiorentina because he likes the colour (purple) and his favourite ever player, Socrates, played for them. 'I saw it as a natural way of ending what could have gone on, quite possibly, forever.' 'The game ended with me spilling some liquid all over my laptop, breaking my laptop, and I was so heartbroken I didn't even try and retrieve it,' he went on. 'I was caring for my mum, helping out my family, so I'd be doing other things, but mainly that was there to get me through a difficult time.' And being a Guinness World Record holder means 'those two and a half years weren't put to waste', he added. 'I had a lot of free time so I was playing the game every day like a full-time job,' he said. 'Of course there are going to be some elements of tactics and coaching that you're going to have a grip on and, I guess, do something with, but actual man-management: no, not at all, not one bit. 'Of course you're never going to be able to immediately go into a dressing room and be able to handle multi-millionaires who are more worried about their fake tans and girlfriends than anything you've got to say,' he added. I got a really nice letter back from them.

'I did go on to say, in my letter, how well I'd done at Football Manager. 'When Gerard Houllier left Liverpool, before Rafa Benitez got put in charge, I did actually apply for that Liverpool job,' he said. Mind you, in an email sent by the Guinness World Records team, it notes that Bland spent £104m on a player in 2040, so perhaps he's telling porkies.īland had a stadium named after him (again, unfortunate surname), saw a player retire because of arthritis, and witnessed Algeria win the World Cup in South Africa in 2034.īland even once applied to be the real-life manager of Liverpool FC, using his Football Manager credentials as evidence of his qualifications for the job. And you just invest it all again.' What do you think about it, Arsene? 'Buy 'em cheap, sell 'em high get 'em when they're about 16, get rid of them when they're about 28 - some big team will buy them. 'I was a good manager, good at business,' he said. That's even older than Arsene Wenger! And how much do you think Bland spent on players during that century and a half? £500,000! That's what he said in an accompanying video. That's how long Norwich chap Darren Bland (unfortunate surname) managed Fiorentina for - and now he's a Guinness World Record holder for it.īland won 151 league titles in that time, and his manager would have been 190 years old if Football Manager 2010 could recognise ages past 100.

What's the longest you've managed a team for in Football Manager? 10 seasons, 20, 50? Try 154.

Championship manager 01/02 fiorentina