I first began playing Football Manager under the Championship Manager banner – either CM4 or CM03/04 (I can’t remember) which I received as a signing on gift for some long-forgotten thing. I enjoyed this enough to buy the new game when it came out, which would have been FM07 or FM08 (CM was not the latest release when I got it) and have bought the game every year since.
My early experiences were much like those of any other player – starting with my own team (Southampton) and trying to improve the club’s fortunes. Each year though, I would grow bored before the new game was released, and would load additional managers to take control of clubs in different (mostly European) leagues, or a lower league club, or take on international management.
Then I began changing it up by managing different teams that I’d never tried before, but always sticking with the English Premier League as that’s what I know best. I did a game with Arsenal, the next with Spurs. Then I added the challenge of going full English – I did a game with Aston Villa and eventually got to the point of winning titles with a 100% English squad.
Still I was getting bored though, and I realised that one of the things that disappointed me a little was that I would always buy and develop young talent, but I’d upgrade to the next instalment of the game before they got a chance to break into the first team. I would spend time nurturing these players, without seeing the end result.
I think it was as I was coming to the end of my FM15 career that I decided I would do something about it. I was back with Southampton, with some great English talent coming through and just needing another season or two in order to make it big. When I got FM16, I made the decision to abandon the typical Football Manager experience, and create my own history – a team building on the success of the previous game, my star players from FM15 created in FM16 and continuing their careers. The players from FM16 created in FM17 and so on.
For the last few instalments of the game, I have managed just the one team. I’ve seen players come and go, lasting the majority of their careers under my tutelage. I’ve had great club success, but the key for me is that I’m now able to follow the players from academy to first team to international success in many cases. I’ve not lost interest in a game since I began this process, and indeed I look forwards to the new game each year, knowing that I’ll still have the familiar faces going with me.
This blog will detail the process I follow, which a number of people have shown an interest in. I will walk through the steps I take in planning for a new instalment of Football Manager, how I go about recreating the team, and why I made some of the key decisions early on in the process. I’ll also share some of the real successes throughout the last few years, and going forwards will share the new successes from FM20 and beyond.
Football Manager Legacy Gaming 