Celtic manager Martin O'Neill appeared on the cover of TCM 2004. Some fans managed to control games in TCM 2003 by hacking the configuration files, but data loss and corruption was frequent. This feature, only present on other games with limited geographical distribution, the Spanish PC Fútbol, was included for buyers of both TCM 2004 and FIFA 2004, which could use the Football Fusion function. Although it could be played as a stand-alone game, it only reached the full potential when used with the manager game.
One of the key features of Anstoss 3 was the ability to actually play the games after Anstoss Action was released. The game had positive reception, and a year later Total Club Manager 2003 was released, with Bobby Robson on the cover (for the second time, after FIFA Soccer Manager).
However, by 2001, several employees of German developer Ascaron moved to EA, and the first game, Fussball Manager 2002, was released in Germany only, as a test for a potential series. Before FIFA Manager and Total Club Manager, EA Sports released FIFA Soccer Manager (1997) and The FA Premier League Football Manager 99, 2000, 20, but while the first managed to attract some attention, the latter were released when the managing games market for non- Championship Manager titles was close to non-existent, and after two unsuccessful titles, it was dropped.
