Developed primarily for consoles, the franchise differs from the PC-based Football Manager and Championship Manager series by focusing on visual details such as a fully 3D match engine, although still maintaining the realism and level of detail craved by fans of the genre - a unique combination when the series was first released.

The first LMA Manager video game was released in 1999 for the PlayStation, featuring 8,000 players and 294 clubs in 32 countries.

It is also occasional for defenders to pick up the ball in their own penalty box, and proceed to kick it out like a keeper, as well as people scoring from their kick-off.

The next in the series was released on 12 March 2004 on PS2 and Xbox,[7] and added a variety of enhancements to the match, as well as new commentary in the post-match highlights voiced by renowned commentator Barry Davies and analysed by Lineker and Hansen as before.

Once the user compiles a squad and selects a team name, stadium and kit, the newly created club would compete in one of the leagues in the game.

At the same time as the normal version of LMA 2005, a special themed edition was also released on PS2 and Xbox, entitled Manchester United Manager.

In keeping with the series' visual roots, a new option allows players to create a 3D model of their manager, who can be seen pacing along the touchlines during a match or featuring in one of the new video headlines (introducing a new transfer signing to the press, for example) included in the game world's TV station.

After the third-party conversion of LMA Professional Manager 2005, a second PC version was developed by Codemasters themselves and was scheduled for release in Spring 2006 alongside the first seventh-generation iteration on Xbox 360, but these versions' development slipped back, making LMA Manager 2007 a tri-format release.

Due to the lack of subsequent titles, and the fact that the PC version of LMA 2007 would not run on Windows Vista and Windows 7 due to its use of a StarForce DRM, and its limited availability on 7th generation games consoles, alongside the growing popularity of the Football Manager series, the LMA series became effectively defunct.