Football Manager 2009 was officially released yesterday, but the massive hype that's surrounded Sports Interactive's latest offering was well and truly dampened by authentication and installation errors, leaving fans of the popular football management simulation somewhat frustrated and baffled to say the least.

It had promised to be an exciting day for numerous footy fanatics across the country, most of whom had undoubtedly made plans for a somewhat unromantic night in with their laptops and PC's, safe in the knowledge that a love affair with Football Manager 2009 was about to begin. And in what should have been a day of joy for the legion of Football Manager supporters has ultimately turned sour as activation problems threaten to cause chaos up and down the country.

The sceptics had already surfaced way before the game had been released when the announcement was made that Sports Interactive were to team up with STEAM in a clear attempt to beat piracy. In fact all legitimate purchasers of the game are required to produce an activation key (obtainable online or over the phone) to begin their managerial careers - or so they thought.

Not only have badly printed keys supplied with the game caused confusion but it would appear that some users have even been unable to authenticate their game altogether. SI have also taken stark criticism for joining forces with the relatively unknown software company ‘SoftAnchor', who itself has received much of the brunt of the blame for its activation system.

The official Sports Interactive Community Forum has been inundated with complaints throughout the day, forcing SI to take drastic action and temporarily close down their forum due to unsustainable amounts of traffic. The furore has lead to Sega, one of the companies behind FM2009 to make a statement.

"SEGA is aware that there have been some problems with the activation of Football Manager 2009 today. This has been due to a combination of issues relating to the printing of keycodes and the huge demand for the game," said Sega's statement.

"A solution is in place and is starting to clear the problem, we are confident that the issue will be solved today. The chances of successful authentication are increasing hourly. At this point consumers still experiencing difficulties are advised to leave a 10 minute gap between authentication attempts."

"SEGA apologises for the disappointment caused by the problems with activating the game and asks for Football Manager fans to remain patient."

With the uproar that has developed throughout this afternoon, the reputation of Sports Interactive has certainly taken a hammering, the question is will the problems be fully resolved before the day is up or could things escalate even further out of control.