With Sports Interactive’s biggest franchise set to move into a new era, Thomas Harper discusses why the series is universally loved amongst its fanbase, despite limited updates in the last several years.
Football Manager is a fantasist coach’s dream, with zero limit to it’s imagination, you control the direction of your own story. Through this wonderful simulation based computer game, I have been able to bring another Champions League to Liverpool, delivered European success back to the North East with a UEFA Europa League win with Aberdeen, helped the Dons to win seventeen trophies in ten years and break the Old Firm’s dominance with three different Scottish clubs. Their newest addition to the thirty-two year long franchise, Football Manager 2025 will see them move to a new “Unity” engine, introduce women’s football and get rid of beloved modes such as “Create a club”, whilst getting rid of much needed revamped modes, like international management.
In Sports Interactive’s world, nearly anything is possible including generating your own virtual son, but why does what some call a glorified spreadsheet simulator bring in an ever-increasing number of players every year?
The Absolute Nonsense Of Your Own Save
From meeting Livingston in the UEFA Conference League quarter-finals, Micheal Gardyne being honoured by Ross County through a stadium name change and Eddie Howe getting sacked by Dundee United, the silliness (despite its serious image) the game can provide appeals to players who want to have light hearted fun in their own little world. For example, in my ‘save’, I have employed quite a selection of ex-players to my reserve and coaching ranks. The more realistic names such as Joe Lewis, Barry Robson and Jonny Hayes are helping out the under-18s, but Ruud van Nistelrooij, Victor Valdes, Diego Costa, Phil Jagielka, Harry Kane, Lyndon Dykes, Ilkay Gündoğan, Dries Mertens, Nick Pope and Steve McManaman have all been involved at the club somewhat during my tenure, with most leaving my headcanon learning tree to pursue senior management, with 99% failing. It seems my graduates are sadly not at the same level as a Marcelo Bielsa or Pep Guardiola equivalent. But one man changed everything.
Nathaniel Percival-Knight.
Now you likely will have zero clue who this man is but to me, it’s like he is my son. Joining the club with not a lot of coaching badges, the Ex Kidderminster and Wrexham defender was an exceptionally fast learner. Utilising his managerial potential as a reserves assistant, he then became senior assistant manager for a few years. Thanks to my guidance and expertise, Championship side Watford came calling, they saw the same things that I saw in him, so with my blessing he left the club.
To little surprise, he guided them to the Premier League, but for some reason, he randomly resigned after their play-off victory. I jumped on this opportunity for a reunion. It took me several years for him to pick up my calls and respond to my voicemails.
“Come on Nate, we won the Europa League together, we knocked the Glasgow sides off of their perch. We can do so much more together!
Aberdeen Manager Thomas Harper, with tears in his eyes
Now he has found sense and come home, but see how I got so carried away with my own little storyline? That’s what the game does to you. It makes you genuinely believe you are a football manager, you can get lost in your own narrative and that why it is so beloved.
From The Virtual World to the Real World:
As you would expect, the series has inspired many to become data analysts and scouts, leading to dreams of being involved in the sport becoming an actual possibility.
An ever-evolving part of football coaching in the professional leagues is looking at data. While some on Twitter will call that sort of thing “woke nonsense” teams like Brighton, Brentford and Saint Royale Union Saint-Gilloise have proven that this method can work. Working alongside traditional scouts, the mix of old and new school have led to an unprecedented mix that delivers results for teams on the pitch. Take Nathan Owolabi, who became a Bromley backroom staff member earlier this year. From playing the game for over 1,500 hours, to providing tactical presentations to the Ravens staff, which played a small part in helping them secure promotion to the Football League for the first time in their history, it is a lad’s dream to be involved in such a feel good story and he excelled in his role.
The game has also helped on the international stage, helping federations find dual-nationality players that they may have missed. You may have heard of how Englishman Ben Brereton transformed into Chilean Brereton Diaz thanks to an online petition, but did you know that Rory McKenzie can represent Trinidad and Tobago? Thanks to his Grandad Bill Mossman being on the island, the Kilmarnock winger can represent the Caribbean Island, which he is keen to do. Guinea Bissau also tried this method. Football Manager’s dual-nationality database led to Coventry’s head of data analysis Jack Coles noticing a link between the nations of the Netherlands and Cuaraco, leading to more than eight debuts in the side in the last eleven months.
It is no longer a secret to the footballing world that the game can lead to breakthroughs in somebodies career, leading to heartfelt stories and career trajectories being transformed.
The Wonderkids: Spotting Talent Before Everybody Else
Everybody’s favourite thing to do on football manager is to snipe a talented young player from under a club’s nose. From the worlds favourite Brazilian Endrick, to hidden gems such as Matias Arezo, the franchise has a great knack for predicting a footballer’s future career. A famous list of their data-based predictions includes Lionel Messi, Trent Alexander Arnold, Ruben Neves, Gareth Bale and so on. For my money it is more fun finding wonder-kids that are randomly generated by the game itself, something they call regenerated players (‘regens’ for short).
The art of finding a ‘regen’ can be miraculous, or meticulous. Some strike gold at their own club thanks to their youth intakes, but some find their own gold by scrolling through players in the Uraguyan third tier. I lean towards the second camp, it feels way more rewarding than banking on your 20/20 youth coaching staff to email you every March to provide a list of shocking talent, despite having the best scouting network in the country, what do I even pay these people for?! However, after you develop said talent into world-beaters; the rest of Europe finds out about your scouting brilliance, sniping you this time. It is a vicious cycle that never ends.
Buy, develop, sell. It forces you into a trading model that ensures you take a step back every transfer window and can come back to bite you, even though some of your outgoings were forced through by poor agent advice (cough cough Duk, who in my world, left the Dons for Sunderland, after a bid from Spurs was rejected).
During my time in the Pittodrie dugout, I had zero choice but to sell one of my many Belgian players Ryan Braun, to Manchester City. During both legs of the Champions League semi-final, against the Citizens; Braun scored in one leg, and provided Erling Haaland with a goal in the other, leading to the Dons narrowly missing their first ever final in Europe’s premier competition, on penalties… I chose not to play my save for months afterwards but felt a weird surge of pride that one of my old players was able to produce such a display. The game makes you feel emotions like no other. Of course it needs a much needed graphics overhaul and needs to apply actual logic when players get angry at you, but it is a beautiful, cruel video game, just like the real-life sport it emulates.
