While on 8-bit computers the football manager games were usually very simple due to hardware limitations, on more advanced computers it was up to the creators to choose how complicated their games will be. Or sometimes it was up to their programming skills. Santa Monica FC is an example of minimalistic soccer manager that was inspired by the old games of the genre - while running a poor 3rd division club and fighting to be promoted to the top division we were armed with the basic options (transfers, staff, stadium) and that is more or less the whole game. The graphics and audio side of the game were weak points (there were few background images and there were no sounds), but apart from that it was nothing more than copy of the old titles.
There were few interesting options, f.e. by hiring scout we were able to choose from wider range of players to sign, there were options to sign players from abroad, received transfer offers were available for longer than just a moment, also quite few leagues were available (England, Poland, France, Germany, Italy, Spain, Netherlands, Belgium, Scotland, two fantasy leagues) and even randomly generated divisions, which extended the playability of Santa Monica FC.
As for game written in just 4 days using simple tool (AMOS Basic) it was nice effort, but the game could hardly compete with "serious" games of the era.
Santa Monica Football Club gameplay video
