Oliver Collyer leaves Sports Interactive!!!

[MarkG]

just got this in the mail

Open letter to the CM Community...by Oliver Collyer

Dear CM Fans,

I\'m writing to tell you that, as from today, I am leaving Sports Interactive (the company I co-founded with my brother Paul
many years ago) and will no longer be involved in writing Championship Manager.

Making CM has been pretty much an obsession since the mid-eighties, and I have devoted just about all of my adult life to
making and improving this game. I have thrived on the feedback that many of you have given us over the years and I consider
myself lucky to have been involved in what has been a hugely satisfying and unexpected adventure.

I certainly would never have considered for one moment that the game that Paul and I spent years writing in our bedroom, in
a remote part of the Shropshire countryside, could end up capturing so much enthusiasm amongst so many football fans from around the world. I^Òm very glad ^Ö and proud ^Ö that it has.

Over the past year or so however, I^Òve realised that I no longer get the same enjoyment out of writing the game; for me the halcyon days were probably when Paul and I were writing CM2 and the whole thing was a lot more personal. Although it^Òs been fun to work with such talented and enthusiastic people, being a smaller part of a bigger team just doesn^Òt give me the same creative satisfaction.

So, the time has come for me to move on and find new challenges in life and I felt it right that you, the people who have
supported us over the years, should be the first outside the company to know. My immediate plans are to travel, to see (and
learn about) some of the world. Beyond that, I have no idea what may happen. I do know, however, that I won\'t be writing
any more computer games.

Rest assured that CM and Sports Interactive remain in good hands; we have assembled a wonderful team (largely comprising CM fans) who, under Paul^Òs guidance, are in the process of making CM4 better than any of the CM games to date, including the brilliant updates to CM3 (which I was not involved in). The future of CM couldn\'t be brighter.

I\'d like to take this opportunity to thank each and every one of you who has bought a copy of the game or written to us
about it over the years.

May you all continue to have enjoyable and successful careers in football management.

Cheers,

Ov Collyer

ovcollyer@ekno.com