When the GBA proved that it could handle Football Management games superbly (play O'leary Manager 2000 and you'll see how) we were all hyped for future portable management sims. After all, there's nothing quite like sitting on the loo playing out a few important games as your own team. Unfortunately, it has taken a good eight years to get something anywhere near as addictive and as well delivered as Mr. O'leary's GBA gem – so please, forgive us our excitement.

Thankfully Football Director DS comes with a stadium full of traditional management options. Want to dabble in the transfer market, cut your teeth with a high profile job Keane style or even tinker and train your squad before taking them on the road to success? It's all here. Even more importantly, it all makes sense. Yes, thanks to the touch screen, football management won't give you carpal tunnel syndrome from too much mouse clicking. The crux of the menu design revolves around the bottom screen housing four buttons which take you to context specific areas.

Is this what Dennis Wise does all day?

During a match the four buttons always housed on the left side of the screen will change to substitutions, formations, statistics etc., meaning choices can be made on the fly. Outside of a match these four buttons then change to house that screen's specific options. It works well and is a consistent design choice which means you'll be familiar with everything as soon as the first ball is kicked.

And from that first kick-off you'll be addicted. With fully-licensed English leagues (the names and stats of all players are spot on) and a vibe given off from the game that seems highly polished, slick and wholly involving with sound being unobtrusive yet solid. During matches events will be relayed back to you with text (no in-game match engine here) but it actually all works very well.

By not having a blocky match being shown to you everything is left up to your imagination. Text may only say "Booking for M. Carrick" yet it's wholly involving and really gets you thinking about the game as it unfolds. Keep noticing M. Carrick is giving away free kicks? He's obviously getting the run around by his opposite number. It's these little details that only the most studious of managers will recognise and put right.

There are areas where we feel some extra development would have paid off. A unanimous complaint levelled at the game is the lack of variation on player positions. We have to agree here. There are only Defenders, Midfielders and Forwards. So that means no Wingers, Sweepers... Although this is combated by dragging specific players into said positions, they are still not officially titled as such. Obviously if you know the player/team well this isn't a problem, yet it would have been nice to have had that extra dose of realism.

Prising players into our team is easy enough. With money seemingly growing on trees the transfer system can sometimes feel a little easy with players seemingly not too bothered about your league position as long as the cash is there. (Then again, the cynic in us says that's a little too realistic for our liking!)

For all its strengths and weaknesses, when it comes down to it you're playing with what are essentially well-designed spreadsheets. But with exciting possibilities, euphoric moments and true rewards abound, Football Director is a fantastic first step into footy management on the DS.

Football fans relax, your corner is now officially covered by a solid débutante. The scores lie below...