Champion Managers
Sports Interactive’s management team are nominated for Ernst and Young’s Entrepreneur of the Year Awards 2002.
Sports Interactive is thrilled to announce that its legendary Chairman Paul Collyer, enigmatic co-founder Oliver Collyer, and energetic Managing Director Miles Jacobson have all been short listed as finalists for Ernst and Young’s London Region Entrepreneur of the Year Awards 2002.
Sports Interactive is the development studio responsible for creating and developing the record-breaking Championship Manager series of football simulations and quiz games. Bored of the multitude of football management games saturating the market in the late 1980s, Paul and Oliver were sure they could do better, if only to entertain themselves and a select group of school friends, and so they set about designing their own game. The result was the first incarnation of Championship Manager, a game so instantly addictive to their peers that Paul and Oliver were easily persuaded they should seek a publisher. After several unsuccessful approaches, they pursued the project with Domark (which since became Eidos), and now that Championship Manager has earned its place as one of biggest gaming franchises ever, the rest, as they say, is history…
Miles’ CV makes for some impressive reading. Career highlights include signing top music act Feeder (for whom he still works as a consultant) to Universal Music. Miles has also worked in an A and R capacity with Fat Boy Slim, The Bluetones and Shampoo, along with over 30 other acts, as the gold and platinum discs on his toilet walls attest to.
Miles also set up SciFi Music (formerly Anglo Interactive), a company specialising in licensing music for games. Miles was responsible for the music in the Grand Turismo series and for World Rally Championship, among many others. SciFi Music has recently been downsized so that Miles can concentrate his time on Sports Interactive, where he is now Managing Director, having worked his way up after working part-time for a number of years both in data research and business management roles.
Paul commented, “Oliver and I are extremely excited to have been nominated for this prestigious award, it really is an honour. I have seen the list of our fellow nominees, and am delighted to be in such esteemed company. I absolutely love designing Championship Manager, and to get nominated for Entrepreneur of the Year for doing a job I love so much is quite something. Of course, none of it would be possible without the fantastic team that we have, all of whom have contributed to our being in a position where we can nominated for such a great award.”
Miles added, "I'm absolutely thrilled to have been short-listed for this award, it's excellent. I've only been installed as full time MD of Sports Interactive for a fairly short period, but now that I have more time to spend here, I really intend to make my mark. I want to take Sports Interactive and the Championship Manager brand to a new level. We want to be the most forthright UK-based games developer to flex the muscles of their brand. The games will always be the core of our business, but there are so many other areas that we can take our business into without losing sight of the core products."
Sports Interactive is due to make a slew of announcements over the coming months, including new games, new merchandise and high profile co-promotional deals.
The Entrepreneur of the Year Awards 2002 ceremony is being held at The Royal Lancaster Hotel in London on June 27th.
Sports Interactive is the development studio responsible for creating and developing the record-breaking Championship Manager series of football simulations and quiz games. Bored of the multitude of football management games saturating the market in the late 1980s, Paul and Oliver were sure they could do better, if only to entertain themselves and a select group of school friends, and so they set about designing their own game. The result was the first incarnation of Championship Manager, a game so instantly addictive to their peers that Paul and Oliver were easily persuaded they should seek a publisher. After several unsuccessful approaches, they pursued the project with Domark (which since became Eidos), and now that Championship Manager has earned its place as one of biggest gaming franchises ever, the rest, as they say, is history…
Miles’ CV makes for some impressive reading. Career highlights include signing top music act Feeder (for whom he still works as a consultant) to Universal Music. Miles has also worked in an A and R capacity with Fat Boy Slim, The Bluetones and Shampoo, along with over 30 other acts, as the gold and platinum discs on his toilet walls attest to.
Miles also set up SciFi Music (formerly Anglo Interactive), a company specialising in licensing music for games. Miles was responsible for the music in the Grand Turismo series and for World Rally Championship, among many others. SciFi Music has recently been downsized so that Miles can concentrate his time on Sports Interactive, where he is now Managing Director, having worked his way up after working part-time for a number of years both in data research and business management roles.
Paul commented, “Oliver and I are extremely excited to have been nominated for this prestigious award, it really is an honour. I have seen the list of our fellow nominees, and am delighted to be in such esteemed company. I absolutely love designing Championship Manager, and to get nominated for Entrepreneur of the Year for doing a job I love so much is quite something. Of course, none of it would be possible without the fantastic team that we have, all of whom have contributed to our being in a position where we can nominated for such a great award.”
Miles added, "I'm absolutely thrilled to have been short-listed for this award, it's excellent. I've only been installed as full time MD of Sports Interactive for a fairly short period, but now that I have more time to spend here, I really intend to make my mark. I want to take Sports Interactive and the Championship Manager brand to a new level. We want to be the most forthright UK-based games developer to flex the muscles of their brand. The games will always be the core of our business, but there are so many other areas that we can take our business into without losing sight of the core products."
Sports Interactive is due to make a slew of announcements over the coming months, including new games, new merchandise and high profile co-promotional deals.
The Entrepreneur of the Year Awards 2002 ceremony is being held at The Royal Lancaster Hotel in London on June 27th.
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