Football Manager has long mistaken a crowded tactics screen for tactical depth. We have always been allowed to create sophisticated systems, but whether the players understood any of it appeared to be somebody else’s administrative problem. You could take over a semi-professional club on Monday, introduce an asymmetric 3-2-5 with Read more
It is profoundly stupid to spend your evening scouting young footballers while allowing two perfectly good ones to leave because you have avoided reading your messages. It suggests a commitment to youth development which extends to almost every aspect of the process except keeping the youth. Welcome to the wonderful Read more
There are five things I want from Football Manager 27. An immersive game world. A clear vision for the future. An intuitive interface. Reliable communication. And, perhaps most importantly, the desire to play the next match. None of these requests involves revolutionary artificial intelligence, photorealistic blades of grass or the Read more
There is something rather peculiar about watching a Football Manager promotional video in 2026. A few years ago, the announcement of a new interface would have been met with the usual mixture of excitement, suspicion and people demanding to know whether their favourite obscure league had finally been included. These Read more
If you are anything like me, you love a transfer window: a little in-house tidying of the squad, perhaps followed by the odd maybe-not-entirely-needed-but-definitely-desired impulse signing. And at some point in every Football Manager save, the window produces this player. They are 27, available for around 1 million and apparently Read more
The temptation is to approach women’s football in Football Manager 26 as an entirely different game. That’s like treating tea and coffee as different food groups because they come in different mugs. After all, the pitch is the same size, the transfer screen contains the same buttons, and your centre-back Read more
There is a moment every Football Manager player knows intimately. The ball hits the net, you are happy, the scoreline flips to 1-0, and then a cold, familiar dread settles in. Now you have something to lose. What to do next? For approximately three seconds, everything is wonderful. Then you Read more
Sometimes the most effective tactical adjustments are also the simplest. They are the kind of changes that sit in plain sight for months, quietly ignored because they seem too obvious to matter. In a simulation as complex as Football Manager, there is a persistent temptation to search for intricate solutions. Read more
In Football Manager 2026, developing a robust tactical framework is paramount to creating your tactical identity. Your tactical framework is the living organism that dictates how your team breathes, reacts, and imposes itself across every phase of play. The best managers throughout any iteration of the game don’t just copy-paste Read more
In Football Manager 2026, set pieces have finally caught up with the rest of the tactical evolution. With dual formations and more detailed set-piece assignments, short corners have become even more effective. A short corner is essentially a possession-based distribution choice. Instead of swinging a cross straight into a crowded Read more