Football Manager is one of the most successful video game series. It is seen as the pinnacle of sports management games and has a devoted fanbase. The series has existed in some form for over 30 years. I have spent an ungodly number of hours playing the games over the years.
Sports Interactive has promised that Football Manager 2025 will be an evolution in the series. The series is set to move from their bespoke engine to the Unity engine and promises to have a new interface and improved match engine. Sports Interactive has announced women’s football will be a part of the game and the Premier League has announced a four-year licensing deal with Sports Interactive.
As a fan of the games I will suggest features and improvements for future installments I would like to see and what’s popular amongst the fanbase.
Personal Backstory
Football Manager is not just a sports management simulation, it’s also a role-playing game. It allows players to live out their football fantasy. You can manage your favourite team to Champions League glory or start unemployed and work your way up the leagues. The possibilities are endless. I like to start as Bristol Rovers manager and work my way up to the West Ham and England jobs.
The games have allowed players to input some personal details, like date of birth, place of birth, and favourite teams and it does have a small impact on your personal story. The game points out if you manage a local team or a team you support. Players have basic options like picking their license level (i.e. Pro License or a lower license), previous playing career ranging from International Star to a Sunday League footballer, and choosing between being a tracksuit manager or tactical manager. However, this is an area that has plenty of room for improvement.
Players should be able to personalise their backstory even more. They could pick the clubs they played for, the club they trained at as a youth, or previous coaching roles. It could mean a lot if a former player manages a former club, or shows a player was a coach before getting the top job. It would add to a sense of realism for the game.
There’s no set course route for football management. Some managers never played football professionally, like Jose Mourinho and Julian Nagelsmann. Some managers learnt coaching at university like Graham Potter and Will Still. There have been plenty of top players who have become unsuccessful managers like Steven Gerrard, Frank Lampard, and Wayne Rooney.
Player Personalities
Anyone who has played Football Manager will tell you they will form a connection to their players. I remember having players like Chris Blunt, Lionel Morgan, Freddy Guarin, and Hao Junmin as well as Retgens like Simon McKinnon (a Scottish goalkeeper from St. Mirren), Andy Worthington (an English superstar striker I signed from Sevilla), and Andy McDermott (a youth product from Bristol Rovers’ academy). This is an area that could be refined. Some players are going to be more controversial and have undesirable traits like aggression or being play animals. Others could get married, settle down, and have a family.
These personal issues could be factors in players’ decisions. A famous example is Declan Rice who moved from West Ham to Arsenal because he wanted to stay in London, even though he had offers from Man Utd and Bayern Munich. Another example is Craig Dawson who moved from West Ham to Wolves because he wanted to move back to the Midlands. Other scenarios could involve players wanting to move back to their home country or first club at the end of their careers for a triumphant return while aging superstars would probably want to move to a glamour city (i.e. New York, Los Angeles, or Miami). Other aging players may be financially minded and choose to move to the Middle East.
Some quirks you might see in Football Manager is a player like Cristino Ronaldo becoming a substandard assistant manager in the lower English leagues. In reality, Ronaldo will probably become a footballing ambassador for a major club or organisation and is unlikely to move into management. He would want to live the high life.
Youth Coaching
A feature idea that’s popular amongst the fanbase is managing youth teams. It would add a bit of realism since many managers start that career working with their youth managers. Brendan Rodgers’ first management job was with the Chelsea youth team and their reserves. Kieran McKenna is seen as one of the best young managers in modern management: he worked as the Under-18 coach for Tottenham and Man Utd before he got the Ipswich job.
Players could replicate these stories: they could start as a youth coach before getting a first job. You could start as the Arsenal Under-19 manager and then get offered the Cambridge United job. If you started a youth coach League One side then you could be offered a management role in the Conference League. Players could even be asked to become caretaker managers if the first team coach is sacked or goes to another job.
Youth management would have some extra challenges that could test veteran players. A youth manager wouldn’t be allowed to sign players and your best players may end up getting promoted to the senior team if they impress.
Improve International Management
A feature fans have been demanding improvements with is international management. Managing a major nation like England, France, or Germany would be the pinnacle of a coaching career, but in Football Manager it can be a lacklustre experience. There are large stretches between matches and international management can be a boring experience. The game allows players to be a club manager and international manager at the same time. In real life, international management is a full-time job and it should be treated as such.
The issue with international management is the lack of matches. The focus is to qualify for competitions and compete in tournaments. The developers need to make international management a more involved experience. A manager could develop a strategy and different techniques for a national team. When Gary Johnson managed Latvia, he encouraged players to move abroad, Gareth Southgate changed the spirit within the England team and ended most of the club rivalries within the squad, and a manager could be involved in national development. In the 2010s Iceland was able to punch above its weight because it invested in youth development, training, and sporting facilities, whilst nations like Germany and Italy did have recent issues because of issues with youth development. A player could end up having a long-term job to rebuild a national team if a golden generation starts to retire or get the best out of a good crop of players. The current Norway squad serves as an example of a nation underperforming considering the players they have available.
International management can be a case of handling big egos and exceptions. Ireland had a crisis during the 2002 World Cup when Roy Keane and Mick McCarthy got into a feud and Keane withdrew from the squad and France had an infamous training ground bust-up during the 2010 World Cup. A manager of a smaller footballing nation who has a superstar could have to walk a fine line of keeping the star happy without him controlling the national squad.
A player could end up falling into international management by accident. If they are unemployed they could get offered a job like the United States, Ukraine, or Egypt if they have a good reputation, and if their reputation isn’t as high they could be hired to develop a smaller footballing nation like Malta or Lithuania.
Pre-season Tournaments
Adding pre-season tournaments would be a small feature but it would add a sense of realism, especially for the bigger leagues. The Premier League, La Liga, Serie A, and Bundesliga want to break into other major markets and promote themselves on summer tours. If you’re a manager one of those leagues your team could partake in is a tour of America or Japan.
Overseas tournaments don’t even need to be limited to the big four leagues: major teams from other leagues such as Ajax and Porto could be invited to a competition. Or if two teams are playing the same nation, they could arrange a friendly for their mutual benefit.
Interim Management
Another small feature is the introduction of interim managers. Chelsea and Man Utd are great examples of clubs hiring interim managers to salvage a troubled season. Guus Hiddick, Rafa Benitez, and Frank Lampard have worked as Chelsea’s interim manager and Man Utd hired Ralf Rangnick during the 2021-2022 season. It would be a nice challenge if a player gets hired to be an interim manager for a club in crisis, especially if you have a previous connection.
An extension to the interim manager role is if a player gets approached by someone engaging in a takeover, even if the target club already has a manager.
Russia and Belarus
Since the Russian invasion of Ukraine Russia and Belarus have been banned from international competitions. This is a deserved punishment, but there will be a time when the war will end and those countries will be allowed back into international competitions. This is a politically contentious issue and, understandably, Sports Interactive would not want to touch this issue. The Chinese Government attacked them for recognising Chinese Taipei, Hong Kong, and Tibet as independent nations and Football Manager 2005 was banned in China.
On the other hand, Sports Interactive did make Brexit into a feature in their games. The date of the event was randomised and the impact could be different with Scotland sometimes declared independent. Future Football Manager games could do something similar by randomising a date for when Russia and Belarus are allowed back into UEFA and FIFA competitions. I would make the outcome be the war ends with Ukraine regaining its internationally recognised borders. It would limit political and programming complications.
New Leagues
Football Manager has a wealth of researchers and fans from across the globe and it is the most comprehensive football game out there. It’s a game that allows players to manage in leagues like the Gibraltarian Football League and the Brazilian National Third Division. But there are some gaps to be filled.
African and Middle Eastern football is underrepresented in the games. The only options are South Africa and Israel. It’s especially annoying regarding Africa since the continent is so large yet the only way to compete in the CAF Champions League is playing in the South African. An obvious candidate would be the Egyptian leagues since the Egyptian club and the national team have been powerhouses in African football and the fans can be passionate. Other candidates would be the Moroccan, Algerian, and Tunisian leagues since they are also highly ranked leagues in Africa. The developers should consider some sub-Saharan leagues to ensure there is some diversity in African football.
The Saudi Pro League is another major candidate since Saudi Arabia has invested in their domestic game. The Pro League has a lot of money and it has become a retirement league for some big names, the most obvious being Cristiano Ronaldo. However, there’s a risk that the Saudi Pro League could become the next Chinese Super League since they spent too much too quickly and it collapsed just as fast.
Some other leagues to consider would be Iran and Cyprus. Iran has a popular domestic league and their teams are often competitive in the AFC Champions League. The Cypriot League has been able to get teams into the group stages of the Champions Leagues, most recently being APOEL in the 2017-18 season.
Juventus and Brazilian Clubs
This is a minor issue within Football Manager but it would improve realism and emersion if Sport Interactive can fix the names of Juventus and Brazilian Clubs. In the games, Juventus has been known as Zebre and Brazilian clubs have been given names like FLA and SPO. This is a licensing issue and experienced players know of ways around it. However, the engine change might mean these workarounds might not be possible. It’s annoying that legendary clubs like Juventus, Santos, and Corinthians are not properly in Football Manager.
Club Culture
Expanding on club culture and identity is a complex and far-reaching idea yet it would enhance realism and immersion. This expansion would be tackled on two fronts, internal and external.
The internal side would have short-term and long-term factors. Short-term would be due to the ownership, essentially if a club has a hands-on owner. Real Madrid and Barcelona have members who elect presidents and candidates have made promises to gets votes. Florentino Pérez famously brought in the Galácticos era and a manager at Real Madrid or a similar elite-level club would have to work with that policy in mind. Some owners are a lot more hands-on than others and could attempt to bring in players or enforce tactics upon a manager. Other owners could become spiteful towards their ‘property’ and cut off funding.
Bad ownership can lead to long-term problems. Look at Man Utd under the Glazers since they used the club as a bank and that has led to Old Trafford being a dated and poorly maintained stadium and the club’s training facilities also becoming dated. Since Sir Alex Ferguson retired Man Utd have had six permanent managers and three caretaker/interim managers, and they have all struggled in some form. José Mourinho said his time at Man Utd was undervalued and Ralf Rangnick stated the club needed massive changes. Look at Tottenham, they have been a club that has perpetually underperformed despite who they have signed or hired as manager. A player would have a massive challenge working with these clubs.
Other clubs have been used as examples of how a club should be run. Brighton serves as a great example, because of their style of play, transfer policy, and youth system and a manager would need to fit that system. At some clubs a manager would need to perform an evolution, not a revolution.
Football ownership has changed drastically. Many clubs are now owned by massive organisations. There are clubs owned by investment funds (both state and private) and sporting groups. Even a rich individual would struggle in this climate. Some organisations own multiple clubs, like the City Football Group and Red Bull, and many owners can own other clubs. Tony Bloom, the chairmen of Brighton, has a minority stake in Union Saint-Gilloise.
Internal factors also affect the training pitch. A manager may have to fix broken or dysfunctional squads. Arsène Wenger had a big job at Arsenal because he had to change the player’s drinking culture into something more professional. Football clubs have moved to hiring ex-players as coaches, Steven Gerrard started as a youth team at Liverpool and Michael Carrick was a Man Utd coach before he moved into management. Football Manager players should be given more incentive to hire ex-players at clubs, players who would know the culture at a club. Or maybe some ex-players turned coaches are imposed on a player when they are hired at a club, especially if they are stepping into a big club.
External factors would involve a club’s fan base. Some clubs have notable fan cultures. Fans at Real Madrid and Barcelona don’t just demand success, they demand success with style. West Ham wants their club to play attacking football and has been hostile to managers like Sam Allardyce who played a defensive brand of football. Fans have let their feelings be known about owners and managers who have performed poorly.
Other fan bases have had an activist number. Rayo Vallecano fans protested the signing of Roman Zozulya because of his far-right views to the point the club had to stop the transfer. On the other side fans at Zenit St. Petersburg infamously demanded their club not sign any black players and Beitar Jerusalem’s fans proudly state they are the only club in Israel to never sign an Arab player. Sports Interactive is unlikely to have teams demanding racial segregation, but it would be a factor if fanbases let their opinions be known.
There are many extremes between football fanbases, from some being intense and intimidating like Galatasaray and Fenerbahçe whilst other clubs want to form a community and family-friendly atmosphere. These factors could have an impact on the squad and the manager.
New Gameplay Modes
This is an idea that would be more popular amongst the player base rather than with me. Football Management has changed drastically, becoming more like American sports where there’s a front office that handles transfers and recruitment and a head coach is hired to handle first-team affairs. Some players would like a Director of Football or Head Coach mode. It would make an interesting challenge to play a game where a player can only handle tactics, training, and match management, but let’s AI handle transfers, or control the transfers and recruitment and hire a coach to handle the matches.
I am against this idea for two reasons. The first reason is part of the fun of Football Manager is the wheeling-dealing and developing your team over time. The other reason is I wouldn’t trust the AI to handle transfers. I can picture my Director of Football signing an average striker for a world record fee and selling a 19-year-old hot prospect to a big club for a pittance.
Some fans have said they would like to run a football club on Football Manager, including things like sponsorship deals, ticket prices, and stadium improvement. The issue is this would turn Football Manager into a business simulation instead of a sports management game.
Specific Scouting
Specific Scouting would be a return of an old feature rather than introducing a new one. My strategy in the old games was to scout for players below the age of 19 and develop them for the future. In my Football Manager 2021 game, I found this specific approach to scouting more difficult and scouts recommended all sorts of players, usually big names where I couldn’t afford the transfer fee or wages. Specific scouting would be usual for smaller clubs who don’t have the financial resources of Man City or Real Madrid. They would need to find young prospects that could propel them or at least develop them and sell them for a profit, or go to the ‘broken toys’ model where they find undervalued players. Football scouting has become more data-driven and many clubs have adopted the Moneyball approach, so players should be allowed to do the same.
