Football Manager 2020

My FM20 Player of the Year

by @_JDFM

 
 

You might know @_JDFM as the founder of the FM Creator’s Championship, or as the Official Virtual Football Manager of Margate FC for FM21. More recently, he has completed an FM Journeyman save for FM20 as well as his “Call of the Dragon” save in Wales, so we asked him to name his Player of the Year from this year’s version of the game.

Football Manager has really got me in a pickle over the last decade. Amassing well in excess of 10,000 hours of gameplay from FM10, it’s had a grip on me stronger than Peter Crouch’s dancefloor repertoire. It’s been a love affair that has brought joy and despair across leagues, nations and continents. And with FM21 looking so good, it looks like the draw is here to stay.

I only jumped into content creation for FM20 and the art of putting your content in the public eye certainly adds an added realism to the save, strangers commenting on fictional characters is something that takes getting used to.

In all of my time playing FM, my tendency has been towards building youth, developing my own world away from the usual suspects, favouring unknown wonderkids rather than the big names. Considering my usual style of play within Football Manager is to assemble an arsenal of overpowered newgens that make Barcelona look like Bradford (sorry lads), naming a real player is huge. But that’s the effect that Ilaix Moriba has had on me..

 
 

The world of Moriba was an FM20 Journeyman save, starting with nothing and climbing to the top. My Journey started with an obvious move; the Romanian Second league and the legends that are Daco-Getica. After taking a team of part-time farmers and bootleggers up a division, Astra Giurgiu came calling like I knew they always would. My first season was successful but brought no rewards or silverware. I needed a bigger challenge.

That’s when Bordeaux came calling, let’s be honest moving from Romanian football to the dizzy heights of the PSG league is a bigger step than Crouch’s dance routine. But they clearly liked my penchant for swanky Romanian designer clothing and baguettes. So in 22/23 I became the Manager of Bordeaux, coming in during the middle of a season is never easy but I dragged them up to 3rd position in my first season.

The next season is when things pushed on a gear, coincidentally when Moriba arrived on loan from Barcelona. His first season was good if not glamorous, but it was enough for me to spend £35million on the guy which in reality was a steal!

My love affair with Moriba came from my preferred tactical role of a Mezzala, admittedly a little OP this year but it just offered everything that I loved from a player, and Moriba was a worldie in this position. He’d constantly pick the ball up from deep, charge forward and score screamers for fun.

In total Moriba played 182 games for Bordeaux scoring 65 goals and chipping in with 42 assists

 
 

It was so much more than the numbers alongside Moriba’s name, he was the big game player we always needed.  Popping up with huge goals in cup games, pushing us to Champions League glory and even completing FM by toppling the mighty PSG and winning the Ligue 1 title.

Our relationship wasn’t always perfect; not only did I break Moriba’s heart whilst in charge of the French national team..

 
 

..but there were also times when he wanted bigger and better things, in reality he had outgrown the club.  And to be honest, I think I had too. I told him with confidence that we’d one day leave together and take over the world..and that’s exactly what we did:

 
 

Liverpool came calling, and I ran there quicker than Peter Crouch down that right wing for a goal and a robot celebration. Moriba was already on speed-dial and he along with a couple of other Bordeaux favourites came in the door for a measly £60million. That season we lifted the Champions League, Premier League and FA Cup.

That save will always stay with me as my favourite FM20 save and the legend that is Moriba is one of the main reasons for that. Maybe we’ll continue our love affair in FM21…

Thanks for reading,

@_JDFM

If you would like to catch up with more of @_JDFM’s Football Manager content including his Welsh-only FM20 save with Hiraeth then get on over to his Youtube channel, drop a sub and brace yourself for some great content to come with the arrival of FM21.

Interested in writing a Guest Author piece for WeStreamFM? Drop us a DM or else feel free to reach out to @MaddFM directly.

My FM20 Player of the Year

 
 

If you have ever read @AFMOldTimer’s Football Manager blog, you will know that there are few who delve into the world of metrics analysis and statistical detail better than he when it comes to breaking down a quality FM save - picking his FM20 Player of the Year must surely have been an easy task, right?

This year I had avoided playing as Liverpool in the beta as I considered it too easy, much like Liverpool found it themselves in the Premier League last season. However, when looking for a save to pass the time, I decided to look at how Liverpool could go about recruiting players that fit their model of picking up undervalued players and that fit into their system/style of playing. With an ageing midfield including James Milner (33), Henderson (29) and Wijnaldum (28), and not a massive amount of back up to them in terms of potential younger/youth prospect (Curtis Jones wasn’t top six Premier League quality in my save), I looked for signings that I thought could be a good fit for the club.

Step forward Lorenzo Pellegrini.

 
 

Pellegrini, 23, had a £26m release clause in his contract at Roma at the start of the save, and with a reasonable transfer budget to begin with, I leapt at picking him up for such a figure given his mental and technical attributes. His player traits of “tries killer balls often” combined with his vision, passing and technical ability make him an incredible playmaker in the central midfield strata.

Given his age and his work rate, teamwork and reasonable natural fitness and anticipation, I thought he would be a good replacement for Milner after his contract expired at the end of the first season. Since I didn’t foresee him being given many minutes in the first season, I loaned him straight back to Roma, confident that he’d play regular minutes for them.

He can engage in the press and help to win the ball back high up the pitch, and then progress the ball forward quickly with precise through balls to the forwards who are breaking at speed beyond the defence.

 
 

Yet, despite his natural playmaking abilities, he does not play in either the deep-lying nor advanced playmaker role within the tactic I’ve set up for Liverpool. Instead, he plays in the carrielo role on the left-hand side of a central midfield pairing, alongside a ball winning midfielder on support and a defensive midfield player set to defend. He has no specific player instructions beyond those assigned to the role, but the team play in an attacking mentality, pressing high and hard.

What really sets him apart from others in this magnificent Liverpool squad though is his set piece taking. His capability to whip in corners and wide set pieces onto the head of either Virgil van Dijk, Ben Godfrey, Joe Gomez or Nikola Milenkovic is remarkable. He has so far contributed 111 assists and 44 goals across all competitions – 155 goal contributions in 273 appearances (including substitute appearances).

Those goal contributions include these screamers in a hattrick against Atletico Madrid in the First Round Knockout of the Champions League in the 2020-21 season. This hattrick, along with a goal from fellow countryman and Roma import, Nicolò Zaniolo, turned around a 3-1 loss in the first leg at the Estadio Wanda Metropolitano.

His first goal in the rematch at Anfield was an absolute net buster from the edge of the 18-yard box after a knock down from Firmino inside the first thirty seconds, to set Anfield believing, hoping and absolutely rocking – at least in my mind!

 
 

The second goal was no less impressive – an incredible strike from even further out than the first on the 53rd minute following a first-half goal in injury time by Morata, to bring the score back to 4-4 on aggregate and the scores level on away goals.

 
 

With the scores tied, cometh the hour, cometh the man. An 87th minute free kick from all of 30 plus yards out and Pellegrini sealed his hattrick and place in my FM heart for FM20.

 
 

His professional mentality makes him a good tutor, if not spectacular with only 15 determination, but he has developed his attributes over the duration of the save and become one of the first names on the team sheet over his natural successor, Jude Bellingham, who he has held back from some considerable minutes.

He has been the mainstay in the transition from Henderson, Milner, Fabinho and Wijnaldum to a midfield of Kana, Camavinga and the aforementioned Bellingham, changing from the young upstart to the elder statesman in the side. He has been wanted by both PSG and Real Madrid but offers have been rejected given his level of import to the side. The world-class midfielder has won four Premier Leagues and four Champions League titles so far in his six years at Liverpool and is fighting to retain the Premier League half-way through his seventh.

In terms of personal honours, he’s won the Ballon d’Or, The Best FIFA Men’s Player and World Player of the Year honours twice across both 2023 and 2024, alongside the Adidas™️  Golden Ball award in 2022 following Italy’s second place finish at the World Cup.

 
 
 
 

Now aged 30, he’s starting to kick up a bit of a fuss about not playing as much as he believes that he should – but I’m trying to think long-term and want to provide Bellingham with the chance to shine and reduce Pellegrini’s playing time as result. Time will tell if he decides to move on, but I won’t begrudge him the chance given his output for the side.

Thanks for reading,

@AFMOldTimer.

Enjoyed this? You ain’t seen nothing yet - be sure to check out @AFMOldTimer’s excellent Football Manager blog for a vast selection of save series, metrics analysis, top quality graphics and tactical tips/insights.

Interested in writing a Guest Author piece for WeStreamFM? Drop us a DM or else feel free to reach out to @MaddFM directly.

My FM20 Player of the Year

 
 

We asked our resident American Football Manager superfan Brian Cook aka @SoccerwithBrian to bring us his Player of the Year from Football Manager 2020 - and what a player it is 🔥🔥.

In my nine years of playing the world’s best football/soccer management game (we’ll allow it), I’ve rarely found myself drawn towards specific individual players. You have some “favoured” players or players who have magical moments (like Jay Dasilva driving the length of the pitch to send my Philly Union side into extra time of the MLS Cup on FM18) but I rarely, until FM20, found myself emotionally attached to a player…that is until a scout suggested a player from Japan who would change the very existence of my 1860 Munich save.

I play Football Manager on an 8 year old laptop. It still runs the game, sure, but it does show it’s age. Normally it’s age is shown when I do silly things like a maximum player database which is what I chose to do for my “career” save bringing 1860 back from 3. Liga to Bundesliga glory. We didn’t win any continental trophies but I had a blast building a culture and mindset with a club who simply were looking for a strong leader.

As I rode in on my horse waving my American flag, my goal in the beginning of the save was to, as much as possible, save my youth players for as long as I could. If you haven’t looked into them, 1860 have a stupidly strong youth set-up for their level and easily produce some quality youth players who could be both financiers for your promotion push or keys for silverware winning sides when they come of age.

I produced a few here and there, and I attempted to hold onto as many as I could while selling those who wouldn’t fit into my tactical plans long term and investing into facilities, new players etc…the stuff you should when you are trying to do the casual “starting from the bottom to world class club” type of stuff.

After securing promotion in our first season, we spent a season in Bundesliga 2. I had begun to remove the responsibilities of certain things from staff to have more control over the directions we were headed

 
 
 
 

Screens like this became common sights for the club and as we hit the beginning of our second season I knew that I wanted more and wanted to find the coveted “hidden gem” that we all dig deep for in each save we play.

Enter, Kang Chung-Guk - The greatest player to come out of Japan:

 
 

There were two reasons this signing excited me. One - this was not a player that I found myself. With a large database, I went out and threw my scouts at any and all hot prospects out there. Guk came to Germany for 625K USD flat from an amateur side in Tokyo (Tokyo Metro Feliz). That money likely kept that club afloat for years and in exchange, we got what would turn out to be the key to a promotion.

 
 

Physically, Guk lacked what I would want from him in terms of attributes. Rarely have I found success with a striker that can outpace everyone but weighs a fraction of any other players even if they are soaking wet with two bricks in their pockets…however Guk was different. Despite being a natural False Nine, we threw him up top as a pressing forward and let him stress defenders out. The shocking aspect of his abilities were the fact that he was a set piece specialist… specifically with throw ins.

 
 

Guk was a mystery. I didn’t understand how the smallest player in size and height could be such a goal scoring machine but he was Mister 1860, taking the team on his back as we rode into promotion into the Bundesliga. The problem? As he got better… the teams that wanted him got better…

 
 

I don’t have any kids yet. But as the save progressed, I kept watching this young man grow confident in his new team and take such a massive step from the amateur depths of Japan to the massive waters of Germany. It was amazing to watch as I’ve rarely had this level of development but as time grew on, I got the feeling that I wouldn’t have him for his entire career. Despite hitting our goals and starting stupidly strong in the Bundesliga - Guk wanted more. He wanted things we weren’t ready to provide… yet. We had some solid players around him, we were building something special, but as he hit his 20s, he was hungry for Champions League football, which was, unfortunately, something we could hit yet.

 
 

We fought off most of the suitors for a season but it was painfully clear, I couldn’t stand in the way of a player’s desire to what is best for his career. By the time he was 21, Guk had hit “elite” status in game. Hertha Berlin had came in around 150 million and I stupidly called their bluff to see if I could get more from them. I couldn’t. Guk got upset as he was ready to go and was tired of me trying to squeeze value you out of him. I fought off many in-league buyers, namely Bayern Munich who were our fierce rivals. After much consideration, I realize the best decision was to ship him off to a “small” team in Spain called “Real Madrid.” Maybe Madrid had finally found their new Ronaldo, who knows, but it hurt to watch him leave. He was Mr. Reliable, the promotion hero, and the man responsibility for sending 1860 back to the top flight of German football but, all good things had to come to an end, and that included us not standing in the way of a player destined for greatness. With his funds and the profits from it, Guk’s sale actually pushed us to a point of challenging for the Bundesliga title as well as finally returning 1860 to their own stadium.

 
 

The post Guk era saw us come within a point of the Bundesliga title and challenge in Europe quite frequently but, as we reach the end of the FM20 life cycle, I will always look back at this save and this player and wonder what would have happened had we kept Kang and whether he would have led me to my first European title in my (going on) 10 years of playing Football Manager.

Thanks for reading!

Brian.

If somehow you haven’t been entertained by Brian’s consistently epic FM community support as well as his equally epic in-car hype videos, be sure to drop him a follow on Twitter - you won’t regret it.

Interested in writing a Guest Author piece for WeStreamFM? Drop us a DM or else feel free to reach out to @MaddFM directly.

My FM20 Player of the Year

 
 

If you can’t trust the opinion of a Czech blogger who has been managing in Mexico for the majority of Football Manager 2020, who can you trust? We asked Ondrej aka @FMRensie to bring us his Player of the Year from this year’s version of the game...strap yourselves in as we go on a trip to South America.

It's not uncommon that one, but usually more than one player spends his career in line with my Football Manager save(s) in one (my) club. And in the last edition, FM20, was no different.

I spent ten seasons as the Celaya FC manager starting in the Mexican 2nd tier with a not too big ambition to become some domestic or continental power. We changed it as we progressed during the save, but that's a different story. The main point of this post is to share my favourite FM20 player with you all.

Among all the newgens produced during the save, there still were some real players at the end of the 10th season, and one of them will always remind me of this FM20 save.#

Emiliano Ozuna from Argentina.

This Argentinian winger was already the key player of the squad when the save started. And he kept his role for the whole of the time of the save. Emiliano was 23 years old in 2019 when we started our journey, and it's clear to say he was already too good for the Mexican second tier at the start of the save.

 
 
 
 

He was able to play as the winger in ML or AML position, but he also moved to WBL position when I decided to switch to 3-5-2/3-4-1-2 formation. 

Ozuna was also able to play as a striker, so his variability was perfect. He was not good enough to play as Pressing Forward or Deep Lying Forward as he was always limited slightly by some of his attributes. And it was clear at the first sight.  I used him as the Advanced Forward when he played upfront. Just to take advantage of his Acceleration and the solid Pace. 

There were times when I thought he will not play too much and I will sell or release him. Because of too many good newgens. But the romanticism in me always decided against it. 

Some of his attributes increased during the first five years. But he also lost, for example, one Acceleration "point". 

It didn't affect his performances too much. He made it to the double digits in all three 2022/23, 2023/24 & 2024/25 seasons. 

At the end of the 2024/2025 season, he already has 280 matches in all competitions for the club. He was also added between the club icons as the first player after Emilio Butragueno. 

 
 

The seasons 2026/27 and 2027/28 were not too good for him in comparison with previous ones and I thought it might be his end. 

But it was great to follow his "refreshment" in our last season together. He was our main wing back on the left side of the pitch within 3-5-2/3-4-3 and he scored 15 goals and made 14 assists in 42 appearances. I think that's a good outcome from a 33 year old player. 

There was a logical physical decline within these ten years as he moved over the thirties. But it was not something drastic. On the other hand, his mental attributes slightly increased during the years. 

 
 
 
 

I resigned from the Celaya FC managerial position at the end of the 2028/2029 season as I decided to take over the Mexican national team. 

Emiliano Ozuna made 445 appearances in all competitions during the 10 seasons I managed the club, scored 137 goals and made 100 assists.

He spent one more season with the club after my departure and retired from professional football in 2030 at the age of 34. 

 
 

Ozuna is not a player about whom you will read in the books. He won't be among the best rated and the most famous players around the world. In real life, but also probably not even in FM. 

For me, he will always be the best connection with FM20. Maybe because of his versatility. Maybe because he turned down a lot of foreign offers (China and the USA mainly) and rather stayed with Celaya. For sure because he was the best North American Champions League goal-scorer as a wing back!

Ozuna was simply THAT one player I will never forget thanks to FM20.

 
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Thanks for reading,

Ondrej.

If you haven’t already explored Ondrej’s extensive Football Manager blog and back catalogue, get on over to FMRensie.net where you can find a host of save careers, tactical tips & guidelines, FM general interest articles as well as his selection of custom Football Manager skins, kits and set-pieces all available to download.

Interested in sharing your own FM Player of the Year? Drop us a message or reach out to MaddFM for more info.

My FM20 Player of the Year

 
 

Not many creators can say that they blog, stream and make video content about Football Manager - @MikaelinhoFM can, and following save stints at Man Utd, Santos and most recently at Hansa Rostock in Germany, we asked him to tell us his Player of the Year from Football Manager 2020.

I’m not one to fall in love easily. Especially not when it comes to Football Manager. Most of my saves revolve around the building of a club in general and their youth setup in particular. I can fall in love with the project, sure, but it’s very rare for me to get attached to individual players. They are more or less considered means to an end for me. They are the tools needed to help me achieve success for the club.

But what if the entire save is focused in individuals and their development? Would that change anything? Before starting the Santástico save with Santos FC, my answer would have been ”no”. A save solely focused on trying to create the next generational Brazilian superstar. The next Neymar or even Pelé. That wouldn’t change a thing. The individual players would simply be means to reach that aim. I stayed true to this for the first few seasons of the series as well. Kaio Jorge scored a lot of goals for me, but it didn’t wake any particular feelings for him. Marcos Leonardo improved massively on the training pitch, but that only made me eager to move him on to Europe. Renyer secured a record breaking move to Real Madrid and that made me happy. Happy, but not ecstatic. Simply another player leaving the conveyor belt. I was starting to reconcile with the notion of me playing the game, not without feelings, I still get pissed off when my winger hits the side netting for the 11th time in a row or when PSG steal my wonderkid, but without the ability to feel love for individual players. And then it hit me. Like a steam train on the loose. They say that you need to experience love to know what it actually is. Now I know.

I’m going to tell you about my first proper love on Football Manager. I’m gonna tell you about Willian. Willian 2.0.

Let’s start with the 2027 youth intake.

The youth intake preview looked quite promising:

 
 

An excellent group coming through!? Well, thank you! With an attacking mid, a winger and at least one striker coming through as the best prospects in what appeared to be a good intake I felt confident as we reached mid-September.

 
 

At first glance (this is actually the second glance, I’ll explain that soon) this seemed like a good intake with the top four players of the right positions. One five star potential player and two more with 3.5-4 star potential. Not bad. I was a bit surprised to see the name Luan Jefferson at the top of the list though, and before you ask why, I’ll explain!

I’ve been trying a bit of streaming for a while and I was over the moon when I got Willian through the 2027 youth intake live on stream as the best youth intake player ever! I went to bed with a big grin on my face and spent the night dreaming of Brazilians (stop that, you know what I mean!) but when I went to start the game up the next day the latest save file wasn’t there. I’m not sure what actually happened, if the file went corrupt during the saving process or something else, but the save file (and Willian) was nowhere to be found. I had no other option but to load the backup file which sent me to a point roughly one month before the above mentioned intake had happened and my disappointment was endless. I was about to kill this save and throw my desktop out the window, when several community members told me that I’d get the same intake again since they don’t actually generate on intake day on FM20. Apparently they generate at the time of the intake preview, which got my hopes up that I was going to be reunited with Willian when the intake day arrived again. That’s why I was a bit surprised when I saw the name Luan Jefferson as the “best” prospect. The name “Willian” was there in the list as well, but considering how good he was in the original intake and the assertions that we were getting “the same” intake again, why wasn’t he top of the list? Perhaps Luan Jefferson was even better? Let’s find out!

 
 

When I clicked his name I was actually a bit disappointed. Don’t get me wrong, Luan Jefferson was a decent player, but he was nowhere near the levels of Willian from the previous intake. When I clicked the name of 4 star potential new Willian my disappointment turned into pure joy though.

 
 

There he was! Not exactly the same, but still an absolutely amazing player! I think that this Willian 2.0 was actually slightly better than the previous one. With a Model Citizen personality this might actually be the player that gets closest to the Ginga Rating and career of Neymar! I had not had these levels of expectations for any player in the previous eight seasons of this save. This might actually be the guy!

 
 

He became an instant success for the club, scoring goals for fun and improving in training. At age 18 he had already scored more than 60 goals for Santos and made four appearances for the Brazilian national team. This player was really unique!

 
 

At the age of 21, the boy had turned into a young man and by now he had scored 170 goals in the process. In this stage of a player’s career I usually move him on to Europe, but this wasn’t the case for Willian. It wasn’t down to the fact that the interest had been lacking. No, I accepted a £108M bid from Juventus for him, but he simply didn’t want to leave. He became upset and made me promise not to sell him and who was I to say no to that face!? My aim was instead to make him a Santos legend. My plan was to play the Santástico save all the way to the launch of FM21, but I fell out of love. Not with Willian, but with the Santos project. After 13 seasons I had won everything humanly possible with Santos FC. Over and over again. Things had grown stale and I felt like I was playing the same season over and over again. I made the decision to end the save and do something else. Therefore, this is where my journey with Santos ended, which meant that I only got a few years together with Willian 2.0. That was probably the only thing I regretted with ending the Santástico series, not getting to experience his prime as a player. When I was approached to write about my favourite FM20 player I had an idea though. I decided to load up my Santos save file and simulate the game for 5 years, just to see what happened to Willian.

 
 

When I ended the series in 2032/33 Willian was already the best player at the club and well on his way to become a living legend. In my simulation he spent a few more seasons with Santos and didn’t make anyone disappointed. After scoring almost 300 goals for the club, he finally left for Europe and Inter Milan. His average ratings have continued to be great for his new club even though he hasn’t managed to replicate his Brazilian goal tally. Quite the career though, and he still has a few good years left in him!

 
 

During his time with Santos he won the Brazilian league eight times and the Copa Libertadores six times, which can be compared to Pelé’s two Copa Lib titles and five league titles with the same club. Pelé on the other hand scored over 600 goals for the club, with Willian ”only” scoring a little less than 300. Willian hasn’t reached Pelé’s levels of importance for the Brazilian national team either. With 19 goals in 60 caps he’s nowhere near Pelé’s record of 77 goals in 92 games.

 
 

As I stated above, Willian 2.0 still has a few good years left in him though. I wouldn’t be surprised if he’ll remain on the top international level for at least another five years. He sure has the technical and mental skills, and with a Natural Fitness of 17 his physical attributes won’t see such a rapid decline, allowing him to shine well into his 30s.

Hell, this actually makes me keen on loading up the Santos save file again. Maybe I can apply for the Inter job, so that me and the love of my life can grow old together!?

Thanks for reading,

MikaelinhoFM.

If you want to see more of MikaelinhoFM’s awesome FM content as well as occasionally seeing a Swedish guy donning a mullet wig, you can find him on Twitch, on YouTube and on his own blog where he is currently instigating the Swedish Mafia at German side Hansa Rostock.

Interested in sharing your own FM Player of the Year? Drop us a message or reach out to MaddFM for more info.

My FM20 Player of the Year

 
 

When @Nerdphonic starts a save, you know it’s going to be a good one - after 3 seasons at Blackburn Olympic having climbed from Tier 10 up to Tier 8 at the time of writing, we asked Matt to name his Player of the Year for Football Manager 2020. If you are a @5StarPod listener - you may know his name..

As has become typical of my actual FM play time over the past couple of years, I decided on a save that really enticed me way too late into the game’s life cycle to, ironically, get anywhere near the end-game I had hoped and longed for.

Enter Blackburn Olympic. A save that I am only three seasons into but has become a meme of biblical proportions. After starting in the 10th tier of English football, two back to back promotions as Champions following (almost) unbeaten runs and a cacophony of unrealistic signings, has led to a largely League One-standard squad plying their trade in the Northern Premier Division One North West. Catchy.

The quite ridiculous quality of playing staff that were recruited have caused some utterly bizarre board expectations, to the point where Olympic are expected to qualify for the FA Cup Third Round. This is despite drawing opposition four, five or six divisions above them in just the qualifying rounds. That combined with lofty hopes of winning the title upon promotion from the division below can make things a little precarious at times.

But this article isn’t supposed to be about justifying why I was able to sign Mario Gomez (yes, the German one that has a world cup medal) when in a farmer’s league only to be released and end up being signed by Rennes for £20k a week in a, well, different farmer’s league (thanks for the assist there, Kylian).

 
 

But before I get to the player that has genuinely pulled me out of the mud more times than I care to remember, there is one man that deserves an honorable mention.

Charlie Ball

He’s a ‘non-league legend’ on par with the likes of Omar Koroma and Jamil Adam. All of those I’ve spoken to who have embarked upon saves further down the English footballing pyramid have offered the same pearl of wisdom. Sign. Charlie. Ball.

 
 

Due to the nature of having to bring in players on non-contract terms, some don’t get to spend too long fawning over his performances before he gets snapped up by another club offering a permanent deal. I scoffed at talk of 50 goal seasons when he failed to score in his first 3 games. Then he clicked. Scoring 40 goals in his first season. He even managed to bag over 20 the following too, despite playing a more subdued role as he drifted down the pecking order.

 
 

Whilst his 5 goals in a game record has now been equalled (by the man you’ll be imminently introduced to), he has left an indelible mark on a team that, until I resurrected them, had not played a competitive game of football for 131 years. I’m normally quite ruthless with releasing players that can’t quite cut the mustard anymore, but not our Charlie.  He’s already a club legend, joining the stars of the 19th century that led Blackburn Olympic to their only FA Cup victory in 1883. Clearly, present day fans have a slightly lower threshold for greatness than their Victorian counterparts…

 
 

Now, onto the main attraction.

Luca Navarro

I couldn’t believe my eyes when my scouts, who, for the most part generally steal a living, suggested I cast an eye over little Luca. Signed in the first season after he was released by Bolton, he has improved season on season. His attributes were clearly good enough for League Two, if not higher upon first inspection. He’s a well-balanced forward and although the game suggests he’ll play best as a false nine, he is so much better as a pressing forward. I don’t have enough fingers to count the amount of times he has won the ball high up the pitch from a lumbering centre half. Although his attributes may not have improved much, mainly due to my inept coaching staff and part-time coaching schedule, his on-pitch performances have been nothing short of spectacular. Despite signing arguably better players on paper since, he is the talisman of the side. The fulcrum in which we rely. He may only stand at 5’ 6”, but he truly is a giant.

 
 

Even though Olympic have a stacked side for the division, we all face those matches where you fail to break down the opposition. Where you’re baited into switching to a higher mentality only to concede a late goal despite setting up a protester’s wet dream of a demonstration outside their penalty area for 85 minutes. Except, this doesn’t happen as long as Luca is playing. Sure, we still struggle to break them down for the vast majority of the match but then, then the magic happens. He’ll dispatch a freekick from 25 yards, place the perfect shot despite being under incredible pressure or lay on an exquisite through ball for a teammate to take the glory.

 
 

He even matched Charlie Ball’s 5-goal haul in a single match record. Only he did it by scoring 5 in a single half. Although he rarely gets injured, I had intended to give him a rest but after conceding early and struggling to turn things around, I looked to Luca to right the wrongs. That he did and then some. It’s a feat he’s gone on to match for a second time since, too.

 
 

Enough of my anecdotes, I’ll let the raw numbers do the talking.

 
 
 
 
 
 

You can see just how vital he is. He assists almost as many as he scores. I can’t think of another player, past or present, real life or FM, that offers so many goal contributions. I’m just disappointed that I may not have enough time left before FM21 is released to see how truly great he will be.

 
 

Don’t worry Luca, the streets will never forget.

Thanks for reading,

@Nerdphonic.

Make sure to follow Matt on Twitch where you can find all the vods of his Blackburn Olympic save as well as catch him live at 11pm most evenings - you can also jump in the WSFM discord for more FM discussion and save updates from the team.

Interested in sharing your own FM Player of the Year? Drop us a message or reach out to MaddFM for more info.

My FM20 Player of the Year

by Oliver Jensen aka @fmFutbolManager

 
 

Following his French revolution at Stade Rennais, we asked @fmFutbolManager to give us his Player of the Year for Football Manager 2020.

When I was approached by MaddFM to write a player of the year piece for @WeStreamFM I thought it would be quite an easy thing to do. But often that first thought that enters your head is the emotive one.

When I sat down and actually started to give it some thought various players came to my mind. The obvious choice for me was Gilles Schmitt.

 
 

The boy was a machine. We had an on-off relationship. He left for Manchester United in the summer of '26 for €150M, the asking price I had set him.

For those who don't know, I do not handle my incoming offers for players. I set an asking price and clubs who bid face my Director of Football. If the bid meets the asking price the player is sold, if not, he stays.

Read more » Dealing with incoming transfer bids

I had set Schmitt's asking price at €150M thinking it was a safe value and no one would offer this. I was wrong. Manchester United made the offer, and the rest was almost history.

Schmitt returned on loan in January 2028, scored three goals against Manchester United en route to our first Champions League final against AC Milan. Unfortunately, he choked, and we lost on penalties.

His return saw him break the Stade Rennais all-time league goalscorer record, which he still holds with 108 goals; one of many records he has. He also came through the academy in the same year as my eventual player of the year. 

Jacky Rault

 
 

To look at him, you wouldn't think he was much of a player. He has an average first touch, he isn't particularly good at tackling, and his concentration and composure attributes aren't the best. 

However, what he doesn't lack is fantastic passing (his technique and vision attributes are brilliant) and an engine that keeps him going for the full 90-minutes (stamina and work rate). The perfect mix for the job I needed him to do.

When Jacky came through the academy as a promising midfielder, he was part of a crop of youngsters who I had very high hopes for. A golden generation. I never dreamed that he would be with me ten seasons later lifting the Champions League.

 
 

Of the squad which finished the 2019/20 season, only Rault and the retiring Jérémy Gélin remain. It is for this reason, the loyalty to me, that he is my choice.

Astonishingly, Rault has never played for France. Something that I would love to change should the France position come available. 

Despite playing a part in 304 matches for Stade Rennais at the top level, contributing 68 goals and 50 assists, he has been overlooked all this time in favour of older players, such as the 36-year-old Paul Pogba.

As a box-to-box midfielder, he is usually arriving on the edge of the box, waiting for a cut-back from one of the wide players. This affords him the chance of getting plenty of shots at goal.

Talking of shots on goal, rarely does he score the simple tap in. 

 

I could have chosen from the plethora of pacey wingers or the powerful strikers I've had at my time in charge of Rennes, but that would be the easy choice.

As I hand over the reins to a new manager, my only hope is that Rault can get enough games under the new leadership and retire a club legend. Moving into the 11th season, I've resigned as manager and become the Director of Football at Stade Rennais.

Read more » Oliver Jensen steps down as Stade Rennais manager 

It’s out of my hands

Writing this piece has allowed me to look back over the seasons and look at the development of a player who, while not spectacular, is certainly one of the best I’ve had the luck of managing.

It has allowed me to appreciate that what separates the human manager from the AI is our ability to look beyond the numbers. We become attached to these players. We build a narrative. The AI will often refuse to rotate, they'll play their strongest players based on current ability, and this is where I worry for Rault's future.

When I filter the squad by those who can play centrally as a midfielder, we have eight players available. Rault is second from the bottom in terms of current ability.

The story of Jacky Rault and Stade Rennais could become one of legend. However, with the AI in charge, it could also be a story of what could have been.

Thanks for reading.

Oliver Jensen.

If for some inexplicable reason you haven’t read any of Oliver Jensen’s FM content by now, drop what you are doing and get on over to www.theresonlyoneball.com where you can find a host of outstanding FM tips and guides, tactical pieces as well as save updates from his epic Les Rouge et Noir save at Stade Rennais.

Interested in sharing your own FM Player of the Year? Drop us a message or reach out to MaddFM for more info.

My FM20 Player of the Year

 
MaddFM PoY.png
 


It’s time for MaddFM to give us his FM20 Player of the Year following save stints at Southend, Newcastle and currently at Greuther Fürth in Germany #MayTheFürthBeWithYou.


Being the guy who has typed up and read in detail all of the nominations published so far on site here, I have naturally had plenty of time and inspiration to deliberate my own FM20 Player of the Year. If you were to ask me who the best player in the game is at the start of an FM20 save I’d probably lean towards the likes of Kevin De Bruyne, Sergej Milinkovic Savic or Bernardo Silva (outrageous he is). If I’m asked who I think is the best wonderkid in the game, I’d point you in the direction of Sebastiano Esposito or Adam Hlozek who turn out to be absolute worldies in the game after a couple of seasons.

But that’s not what this is. FM20 Player of the Year is reserved for special players..that one player who has had a huge impact on your save, that digs you out of games when you need him most, that you knew about before anyone else, signed when no-one else wanted him, or that you have developed and brought along with you on your journey to managerial greatness - forever associating them with this year’s edition of FM for years to come. For me, that player is none other than Alex Blesa, who despite having relatively mediocre attributes, average potential and a low value/asking price has been absolutely immense for me in my current Greuther Fürth save - helping to bring us from the dregs of Bundesliga 2 all the way to the higher echelons of the Bundesliga and (at the time of writing), Europa League football for the lowly Bavarian side.

 

Blesa in action for Levante UD

 

In real life Alex Blesa is an 18 year old Spanish Attacking Midfileder who has just recently made his debut for La Liga side Levante. At the start of FM20, Blesa is a 17 year old unknown entity with 4 star potential sitting in the Levante U19 squad just waiting to be snapped up for what is usually a bargain €1m - €1.5m transfer fee; you might think this is expensive for a 17 year old valued at €275K but trust me, it’s a steal if you are bringing him to a mid-table or lower league club.

 

Blesa at the start of FM20

 

I’ve long been a fan of the Shadow Striker role, having enjoyed much success with it previously through the likes of Xadas at Newcastle in FM17, Bradley Dack at Blackburn in FM18 and Mickael Cuisance at Tenerife in FM19. I find that they get into fantastic goal-scoring positions along the edge of the box, link up play between Midfield and Attack without dropping too deep and put great pressure on opposition defenders forcing them to clear the ball rather than play from the back. Football Manager defines the Shadow Striker as:

“one of the team’s main goal-scoring threats. Usually coupled with another forward in support, the shadow striker pushes up into goal-scoring positions as the ball moves into the final third and looks to close down opposing defenders when out of possession”

We signed Blesa to play this role and he does exactly that - as time has progressed so too have his attributes particularly in terms of Flair, Off the Ball, Technique and Decisions and even though not a superstar on paper, he has consistently performed even after moving up a division - regularly getting into goal-scoring positions, consistently finding the net and most importantly he is a big game player often scoring against some of the top opposition sides in the league.

 

6 seasons later

 
 

Career Stats 🔥

 


The icing on the cake? Despite only having 11 in the Long Shots attribute, the lad packs an absolute humdinger from outside the box and regularly pops up to smash home from 30 yards - see for yourself:

 
ezgif.com-resize.gif
 

All in all - for €1.4m we brought in a player who at the time of writing has racked up 39 goals and 22 assists in 175 appearances to date, not bad considering the lad is still only 23 years old. Interestingly he has just been given German citizenship in game and having not been capped for Spain as yet, perhaps a battle for his allegiance will ensue if his form continues to improve - will he be known as Señor or Herr Blesa in years to come? Only time will tell.

 
 

Thanks for reading,

MaddFM aka Paul.

You can find more of MaddFM’s Football Manager content on his blog here where you can catch up on his latest save exploits, FM General Interest posts and pieces written exclusively for The Byline, Sports Interactive’s official platform for Football Manager content and Wednesday Wisdom articles.

Interested in sharing your own FM Player of the Year? Drop us a message or reach out to MaddFM for more info.

My FM20 Player of the Year

by @FMTREQ

 
 

After some epic saves (still ongoing) at the likes of Deportivo La Coruna, Arsenal, Fenerbahce and the mighty York City, we put @FMTREQ to the test as we asked him to name his Player of the Year from this year’s version of the game.

When @MaddFM asked me to write a piece on my favourite player of FM20 the answer was remarkably easy. Despite having 7 different saves on FM20 spreading across over 30 years since the beta was released last October. I’ve managed clubs such as Manchester United, Borussia Dortmund, Arsenal, Fenerbahce, Sampdoria, Genoa and Deportivo La Coruna.

Now this isn’t an outrageous South American wonderkid I’ve stumbled across after trawling through every top tier club in Brazil, Argentina and Uruguay. This isn’t Paul Pogba, Jadon Sancho, Nicholas Pepe or even Vedat Muriqi, the 6ft 4in Kosovan who has been immense for me at Fenerbahce.

Let me introduce you to former Manchester City Academy player George Glendon, a player who almost wasn’t even in FM20 as he was one of many players in 2019 promised a deal by Bury only for the Shakers’ heart breaking expulsion from the EFL putting paid to those hopes.

 

George Glendon

 

Luckily for me Chester City of the Vanarama National League North under the duo of former Salford managers Anthony Johnson and Bernard Morley, who managed to pull off the deal of the century to bring him down into the 6th tier of English Football.

 
 

Now his move to Chester City did mean I was able to sign him for York City as part of my Non League To Premier League save. If the former England Youth international had found an EFL club after leaving Bury I may never have been able to lay my hands on the man who has literally (along with myself 😄) guided the club from Non League all the way to the Premier League (#spoilers).

I picked George up for £38k at the start of Season Four which was our second season in the Vanarama National League. We had tried 12 months earlier but his wage demands of over £2K a week was way above what I was willing or able to pay. However in our second season in the division with money to burn along with a few decent FA Cup runs, high attendances for our level and three seasons of managing our budgets with a fine tooth comb, we decided to do a “Salford” by doubling our wage bill for the season and spending £250k on players to help us push for promotion to the Football League (check out Episode 16 to view the historic moment that we signed the man himself).

 

#Monumental

 

Throughout the majority of the save we have played a 442 or 424 and I always had my midfield two as a Carrilero/Deep Lying Playmaker alongside a Box to Box Midfielder. Boring? Maybe, but a combination that I have found very successful in this year’s game. Even better though - George was a natural in all three midfield roles which always helps with rotation in repeat seasons where we would play around 60 games on average.

In his first season he guided the club to the league title scoring 6 goals and setting up another 7 with an average rating of 7.54 🔥🔥.

Now normally as you progress through a save like “Non League to Premier League” there are always players you would love to keep and bring along with you on your journey up through the leagues. Nathan Dyer is one player I have had in this save for all 12 seasons but he is no more than a Vanarama National League standard player; because as I used to coach him at York City footie camps when he was little and he lives in the same town as me I wanted to bring him along for the journey.

Glendon on the other hand has been completely different. I signed him as 27 year old so he was hardly likely to improve much attribute-wise, but as the club progressed so too did George - stepping up to club captain in 2025 as we won the League One title at the first time of asking.  However the best was yet to come for our Captain Marvel.

In the 2027/28 season, the club’s second season in the Championship we managed to reach the final of the Championship Playoffs against Middlesbrough, losing in true FM style..

 

Those Match Stats 🤦‍♂️

 

Despite that defeat George Glendon was named Championship Player of The Year at the age of 33 scoring 9 goals (not one of them a penalty) and assisting 16 with an average rating of 7.47; not bad for a player who according to my backroom staff was “surplus to requirements” and had an ability start rating of 1.5/5!

Our third season in the Championship saw us make a real push for promotion making key signings in the midfield for the next phase of the project at the club. Regen / Newgen wonderkids were brought in from Bosnia and Italy. Both Hadis Heric (£900k) and Gabriele Di Nicola (£3.9m) became regulars during our promotion winning season however George still had a very good impact, proving he was still capable of playing both positions and made 31 appearances scoring 3 and setting up another 3 with an average rating of 7.12.

George now was 34 and heading into his final two years of his contract. Stepping up again now in the biggest and best league in the world, George Glendon was happy to play back up to a number of talented youngsters we had in our midfield.

We had started the season well however by January we started to slide into the bottom half, Tottenham activated Gabriele Di Nicola’s £32.5m release clause which was a superb bit of business with a £27m profit in 18 months. It did though leave a massive gap, a gap we tried to fill with other promising youngsters. George Glendon was reintroduced in April after a horrendous run of form, during which we won 2 games in our last 7 which kept us away from relegation giving us a highly respectable 13th in our first season in the Premier League. Glendon managed a total of 8 starts and 9 substitute appearances with an average rating of 6.80, not bad for a 35 year old who attribute-wise should have been playing in the Vanarama National League at best. 

Despite having a year left on his deal and me asking him to reconsider, he decided to call time on his wonderful career with me at York City and retire from football. 8 seasons in 5 different divisions. 300 club appearances, 41 goals, 68 assists and 33 man of the match awards.

 

We salute you George 🙌

 

We gave George a more than worthy tribute in Episode 62 (1.40 minutes on the video). 

However, the story doesn’t stop here, George Glendon wanted to stay in the game as a coach and I immediately appointed him as my assistant. Once again his attributes don’t perhaps do him justice, I am putting him through his A license and he joins the best set of coaching staff in the country so we hopefully might see his numbers improve over the next few seasons.

 
 

For me as Manager, who better to have as a link between the players and I than George Glendon handing down his knowledge and experience to what is a very young squad we have built in the Premier League. He is now right by my side as we look to finish the journey by winning the Premier League and Champions League with York City over the next 8 seasons.

Thanks for reading!

@FMTREQ.

You can find more of George Glendon, York City and all of @FMTREQ’s awesome Football Manager content on his Youtube channel - we also recommend his “Welcome to Hell” series at Fenerbahce as well as his recent Rebuild series with Arsenal. If you haven’t already subscribed, you’re doing it wrong ☝️.

Interested in sharing your own FM Player of the Year? Drop us a message or reach out to MaddFM for more info.

My FM20 Player of the Year

by CurtyFM

 
 

Fresh from his Dutch adventures with AZ Alkmaar in the Eredivisie, we asked WeStreamFM OG CurtyFM for his FM20 Player of the Year from this year’s version of the game…considering one of his players even had a song dedicated to him, will there be any surprises? 👀

With Football Manager 2020 in the winter of it’s lifespan, I often start to think about who would make my FM20 starting XI. I’ve had quite a collection of saves this year, probably two or three more than I would normally have during one single version of FM. I started as usual with my beloved Aldershot, but I’ve also had brief stints at Lille, Hertha BSC, Rangers, Rosario Central & Man City. However, my favourite save of this cycle, and it’s not even close, was with AZ Alkmaar. Myself and Herb began a network save based in Holland with the idea that we didn’t want to start as the ‘big boys’ of Dutch football, namely Ajax & PSV, so Herb took over at Feyenoord and I plumped for AZ. Little did I know I would be blessed with an abundance of talent within the starting squad. I enjoyed the save so much that when the network part of the journey ended after season 3, I continued with the save solo and at the time of writing have completed 6 seasons in Holland, winning 4 Eredivisie titles and I’m well on the way to my 5th.

 
 
 
 

It’s safe to say that the majority of my FM20 starting XI would come from this AZ side, but the thought of narrowing it down and picking my FM20 Player of the Year will take some serious consideration. Let’s look at the top 3 contenders:

Teun Koopmeiners

 
 

Koopmeiners, or ‘Koop’ was the beating heart of my AZ midfield for 4 and a half seasons. Deployed from central midfield as a DLP, his vision and long passing were a joy to behold. The player trait combination of ‘Tries Long Range Passing’ and ‘Likes To Switch Ball To Other Flank’ were key to starting counter attacks, especially coupled with a striker who operates on the shoulder of the last defender. Koop was my club captain before his departure to Barcelona for £80m, and he’s established himself as a key player in Catalonia as well. A phenomenal midfielder who scored important goals and was an ambassador for the club.

 
 

Sebastiano Esposito

 
 

Oh, Sebastiano. I know this guy will be a popular pick amongst FM players this year. He’s relatively easy to sign if you have a few quid and rarely offers a less-than-great return on investment. Esposito left Inter to join us after Man City triggered Myron Boadu’s release clause. I actually brought in Fabio Silva alongside him, paying less for both wonderkids combined than the transfer fee I received for Boadu. Esposito started life in Alkmaar playing from left and scored some very important goals along the way. Since Silva’s departure to Man Utd he has taken up the mantle of being the premier striker in the Dutch league and is loving the new responsibility. At the time of writing this, he’s still only 23 years old and is attracting the attention of all the usual European giants. It’s unclear how long I’ll be able to hang on to him, but hopefully we can win a European trophy before he departs to pastures new.

 
 

Benoit Badiashile

 
 

Badiashile might just be one of my favourite FM defensive signings since the days of Eder Alvarez Balanta. He has been an absolute behemoth at the heart of my AZ defence since signing for a bargain £7.5m from Monaco at the end of season one. Badiashile has notched up double digits for goals scored in the last two seasons in all competitions and gives me a great amount of comfort when defending set-pieces at the other end. After each season, I have a deep dive into player statistics to try and spot any weaknesses that need to be addressed, and every season Badiashile dominates almost every key defensive area. He is the first player on the team sheet for every important game and has become a club icon during his time in Holland.

 
 

I have to give a few shout-outs to some that didn’t quite make the final three. Esteban Andrada has comfortably been the best goalkeeper I’ve managed this year, Calvin Stengs was awesome in his time at AZ and has become one of the greatest in the world since moving to Chelsea, and Kenzo Goudmijn is basically Paul Gascoigne reincarnated.  

Now to announce my FM20 Player of the Year. It’s such a tough call, but if you held a gun to my head and made me choose, I’d have to plump for Benoit Badiashile. After taking into account the fact that he cost a fraction of what I paid for Esposito, plus he hasn’t deserted me, unlike Koopmeiners, the big Frenchman deserves the crown.

Up the AZ!

Thanks for reading,

Chris aka CurtyFM.

If you somehow aren’t already following, you can catch CurtyFM live on Twitch where he is currently knee deep in a homegrown save at Man City - Twitch.tv/Curty.

Interested in sharing your own FM Player of the Year? Drop us a message or reach out to MaddFM for more info.

My FM20 Player of the Year

 
 

Who better to ask about his FM20 Player of the Year than a blogger who has surpassed 40 years in one Journeyman save alone? Surely an easy task for @Lutterworth_Fox…😉

When having a save that has gone on for nearly 40 seasons it is very hard to pick a player that has stood out. This is even harder as when you look at the teams you have played at and most of the players are now Newgens!

 

One of my main aims in this save was to get an intake player that I had faith could play 300 career appearances for me and also chip in with 100 goals. For season after season I received shocking youth intakes and never found THAT man, that was until the year 2039 when we welcomed Oleg Wagner to the Magdeburg ranks!

 
 

When he first arrived I hoped he could develop, but I never ever expected him to go on to be one of the greats! He had most of the attributes to become a decent Right Winger, his pace and acceleration needed to improve but his flair was there, alongside his natural fitness, passing, etc.

Whilst other intake players were shipped out on loan, Wagner was given the rest of the season to play in the reserves and in the 2039/40 season he was moved into the Magdeburg first team to ply his trade, get mentored by the older boys and see how he improved.

5 years later and Oleg was a staple in the Magdeburg side, he had played 106 games scoring 20 goals. Not the best goalscoring record but he was playing at a side flitting between the Bundesliga and Bundesliga-2. Then came his big chance…

I decided to leave Magdeburg to return to England with Newcastle. My first task? Bring Oleg with me. He only cost me £12.5m, a decent fee and he immediately was my first choice Right Winger.

The lad that seemed to kick on at a rapid rate, his goalscoring record jumped as well. From a goal every 5 games he was now scoring 1 in every 3!

Wind forward 7 years, Oleg Wagner now 28, 12 years since his debut at Magdeburg Oleg became a legend at Newcastle, he has helped us to 4 straight Premier League titles and our first Champions League success. But bigger than anything he reached the goal I had aimed for him way back in 2039.

At Newcastle he played 263 games scoring 88 goals, he tailed off towards the end but as I was so close to the 300 appearances/100 goals achievements I had to keep playing him.

An absolute legend of my save, the player of my series, one of the best intake players I’ve ever helped produce, here he is now.. In 2051!

 

What a ridiculous improvement!

 

From the humble beginnings at Magdeburg to becoming a Newcastle great, I’m sure you can see why I love him so much. He ended his career at Leicester, leaving Newcastle in 2052 for £30m. His career stalled there but he will never ever be forgotten at St James’ Park (or the new ground The Steve Robbins Arena!).

He will go down as my favourite ever player on an FM save!

Thanks for reading,

Steve aka @Lutterworth_Fox.

Like what you just read? Make sure to check out Steve’s excellent blog here where you can find a full narration of his Achievement Hunter adventures, “A-Z of FM” series and guest posts from other members of the FM community from this year’s version of FM and previous versions also.

Interested in sharing your own FM Player of the Year? Drop us a message or reach out to MaddFM for more info.

My FM20 Player of the Year

 
FMStag POY.png
 

We put out a call to hear some of your favourite players from this year’s version of Football Manager. @FM_Stag duly answered 👇👇.

People could say that I bought Claudio Álvarez for Boca Juniors from domestic rivals Newell’s Old Boys for £4.5million on 8 December 2020, aged 17.

Others could say that in my current game era (I am in February 2026), 22-year old Claudio Álvarez is the greatest footballer on the planet.

The problem with these two statements is that you are trying to normalise Claudio Álvarez, like he is just a footballer, just a man.

 
 

When Paul (aka MaddFM) asked me to write about my favourite player from FM20, my mind shot in a few directions. Could it be José Luis Garavano (dubbed #JLG9 by ‘the internet’) from my European Journeyman adventure? He was the incredible player who followed me from Lille to Bayern Munich and on to UEFA Champions League success? I should’ve said spoiler alert ahead of that. I also considered Rolando Blackburn, the Panama international currently smashing in the goals for my Bolivian powerhouses The Strongest in The Lever of La Paz.

It could only really have been Álvarez, however.

 
Hello.png
 

In short, the intentions of my Boca save is to propel my fictional manager to the top of the global Hall of Fame. Get out of the way Pep, Zizou, José and Sir Alex, I’m coming through.

Signing Álvarez from a domestic rival seemed a no-brainer. In a league like the Argentinian Superliga, if you are one of the big boys; it pays to take a leaf out of Bayern Munich’s book, and buy the best players from your rivals. Strengthen your own side with primarily home-grown players, while weakening the competition.

When I signed Claudio, it was admittedly a bit of a risk. Unfortunately I don’t have an original screenshot, as I had no idea just how incredibly he would develop, but he’s definitely gone far beyond my initial expectations.

Álvarez is currently gunning for Martin Palermo’s Boca Juniors record of having scored 190 league goals for the Xeneizes. The legendary Palermo played for Boca for some 11 years. His second spell ending when he was almost 38 years of age. I am confident Álvarez is going to pass his record before his 25th birthday.

Let’s have a look at his biography so far.

 
 

27 trophies lifted and 25 awards achieved by 22 years of age. Have a look at those last two paragraphs, Claudio Álvarez is an absolute once-in-a-generation phenom.

139 league goals in 159 league games. 217 goals in 254 appearances across all competitions. And this is only the beginning.

Here is where I’d normally break down his attributes. His major strengths and potentially his weaknesses. It’s hard though when leadership and long throws are the only glaring gaps in his skillset.

Tactically, Álvarez sits on the right side of a three man attack, partnering a Poacher (usually the Mexican Emmanuel Sol) with the incredible Matías Palacios (the San Lorenzo wonderkid) taking up the responsibility of the Juan Román Riquelme number 10 shirt and role, just behind the front two.

 
 

My tactical strategy involves patient short passing but with the odd defence-unlocking quick through ball on the counter. If Álvarez is either the provider (this season he has 23 assists on top of his 44 goals in 44 games because of course he does) or on the end of these moves, he has the ability to be the difference maker. He regularly is.

Diego Maradona once famously said that Lionel Messi is “the player who will inherit my place in Argentine football.” He meant at the very, very top.

This time round, I wonder what Lionel Messi would say about heir apparent Claudio Álvarez? Luckily for the Boca Juniors legend, he can just turn round in training and ask him!

 

“La Bombonera no tiembla, late.”

 

This translates as saying that the famous Boca Juniors stadium does not tremble, it beats. Like the hearts of la doce, passionately supporting their team. Those hearts certainly skip a beat when Claudio Álvarez steps onto the pitch.

Thanks for reading.

FM Stag.

If you enjoyed this then you can check out FMStag’s excellent content via his blog - whether it’s classic CM stories, FM Guides & Tips or his adventures around South America, you won’t be disappointed.

Interested in sharing your own FM Player of the Year? Drop us a message or reach out to MaddFM for more info.

My FM20 Player of the Year

 
 

Scottish blogger @NowAndThenFM takes us on a trip to Argentina as he brings us his Player of the Year for Football Manager 2020.

Normally, a player of the year award will go to the person who has been a stand-out throughout the season, consistently being your team's best performer. In Football Manager terms however, this is a player who has most likely been doing that throughout a few seasons in your save. If you are like me though, a bit of a serial save starter (I haven’t managed past 5 seasons in any one save yet in this FM) then there may not be an obvious choice as you churn through the saves. However, deciding my FM20 Player of the Year became an easy choice and it was on my first save of FM20 with Club Atlético Belgrano. The player I am about to introduce wasn’t necessarily my most consistent player or even my best player throughout this 4 season (nearly) save but he is the player who has brought me my most enjoyable moments in this year's edition and the player who has made me involuntarily shout out loud or ferociously shake my arms in celebration.

Step forward - Cristian Ferreira.

 
 

Who is Cristian Ferreira? A newgen/regen (wherever your allegiance lies) that came through my youth intake, you may wonder? Well no, Cristian is a real life player and unless you are a River Plate die hard or a consistent connoisseur of the Argentinian game, then you probably won’t know who he is. I didn’t and I partake in some Superliga action now and then (FM) so I googled him (no shame in that, is there?) and according to Wiki, he has made around 16 first team appearances for the first team in the Superliga since 2017 and scored 4 goals. This led me to a Youtube compilation of young Cristian and from what I can see, his in game trait of ‘shoots from distance’ is accurate so well done Football Manager (unless of course you literally just watched the same video as me).

Enough of the real life stuff…...mainly because I am struggling to give you any more information. Let's get into the wonderful world of Football Manager and the universe that I had entered full of confidence and managerial prowess. Cristian, starts life in the River Plate reserves and is one of many talented players in the Buenos Aires giants squads who isn’t quite at their first team level. 19 years young, desperate for some first team action but can’t get into the team due to the wonderfully talented Quintero and his backup, Carrasco. 6 months into my save and I decided to rescue the boy and give him his chance after scouring ‘the big five’ of Argentina and trying to tease one of their youngsters to Córdoba for first team action.

Picked up for £300k during the mid -season transfer window, he was more than willing to drop a division with a reputable club in Belgrano to sample some of the sweet first team flavour that El Pirata had to offer. I felt I needed a bit more flair in my team in the attacking third and Cristian can play in the Attacking Midfield position or out on the left as an Inside Forward.

 

Cristian at the start of the game.

 

Not the most physically gifted player in terms of his attributes but he has technical attributes that stand out and ones which sparked my attention right away in conjunction with his player traits are his set piece skills and the fact he likes a worldy from distance with his 15 for long shots. I wasn’t even put off by his low determination that many FM players might be, I just thought of this young ‘pibe’ from the Nunéz barrio who could come into my Belgrano team and make an immediate impact and help get us back into the Superliga with his shooting qualities and set piece wizardry. After all it's all about your own narrative isn't it?

Originally a slow start for the club but he soon got used to the rigours of the Primera B and 5 games into his career at the club he wrestled the ball off the more experienced Gonzaléz and told him that he was hitting this free-kick (he didn't, he was already set as the taker but play along). He sat the ball down and told Gonzaléz that he was curling this ball into the top left pocket as Gonzaléz muttered unsavoury words and turned away shaking his head. Cristian stepped up and executed it emphatically into the top left corner. Golazo!

Fast forward four seasons and you find Belgrano fighting at the top end of the Superliga with 6 trophies in the cabinet including the holy grail of South American football, the Copa Libertadores. Cristian was integral to this achievement and our good form throughout the save. He really was a big game player and more often that not, stepped up and showed some ‘cojones’ when the pressure was on.

 

Cristian in 2023 with added player traits - I love a ‘winds up opponents’ trait and he has developed this due to how his confidence has grown with his performances (obviously).

 

Below was his performance in what was the biggest game of the save and the biggest in recent FM’s for myself personally. It was against heavy favourites and Brazilian giants, Palmeiras. Obviously, after such a performance in a stand out game, he was instantly an FM hero but he was already a player that I had a connection with.

 
 
 
 

He loved scoring against his old club, which is always great isn’t it? Because normally it happens the other way around with a player we have sold (instant rage). He would run away celebrating with his shirt off, spinning it above his head and showing no respect to his former club where he had grown up, shades of Giggsy against Arsenal (well at least that's what I was imagining he was doing as I watched in 2D). We played River 6 times in the save and Cristian Ferreira scored 4 goals which were made up of 2 freekicks, 1 rocket from outside the box and 1 Tesco trolley (volley) from inside the box. The 93rd minute winner against his old club to make it 5 goals in 3 games was the one where I imagined this celebration (or was it me doing this celebration in the living room?) It always meant a lot to myself beating the historically bigger clubs and Cristian would regularly score in the games against Boca, San Lorenzo, Racing, Independiente and River.

 
 
 

Just the 5 goals in 3 games for the main man along with a couple against River in back to back games.

 

A hattrick against our neighbouring rivals (Talleres de Córdoba) in the ‘el clásico cordobés’ made him a fans favourite, even more so than scoring against the likes of Boca and River. A brace against Sao Paulo in the Recopa Final to help secure the trophy after a 2-1 defeat in the first leg all but cemented a highly coveted mention in the clubs tab under ‘favoured personnel’ . It just seemed in big games he would score or set up a goal. These are just some of the moments that made him become my favourite player of this year's game.

 
 

Overall in the save over nearly four seasons, he scored 30 goals and managed 18 assists. These stats are in the league only and he scored a good few goals in cup competitions. I found him to be more prolific as an Inside Forward but played a lot of games as an Attacking Mid on Support, where he would find space and more often have a pop from distance (“shoot more often” instruction added). He is a player who will live long in the memory along with his fellow Argentinians from many CM/FM’s ago - Pablo Vitti, Fernando Cavenaghi, Franco Costanzo and Andrés D’Alessandro to name but a few. I imagine Cristian to be an aesthetically pleasing player in terms of the way he plays the beautiful game and especially in the Argentinian leagues which require a bit of ’dig’ in you due to the fierce tackles that occur in this at times, frantic league.

Like many Football Manager players, we develop affinities and connections with clubs due to our experiences in the game and look out for the results but not as often will we have this with a player that isn’t normally a newgen/regen (allegiance not selected). I will now be looking out to see how Cristians career pans out and if he does well then you know I will feel a sense of pride and also like I had a hand in his push to stardom (most likely mediocrity). I don’t know about everyone else (I hope I’m not alone) but having a player that inspires your imagination and makes you think about how they would celebrate and how you envision them playing football, well, that's gotta mean something right?

Gracias, Cristian!

If you enjoyed this be sure to check out @NowAndThenFM’s thoroughly entertaining “Football Manager for Grown-Ups” which he recently wrote exclusively for WeStreamFM - you can also find all of his Football Manager saves and FM content on his blog.

Interested in sharing your own FM Player of the Year? Drop us a message or reach out to MaddFM for more info.

My FM20 Player of the Year

 
 

We asked Sports Interactive’s Andrew Sinclair take a break from producing all of the top quality online FM content we have seen released lately to tell us his favourite player/players (#spoilers!) from this year’s edition of the game. He answered 👇.

I had very high hopes for Football Manager 2020. After a couple of years of consciously not purchasing the game to focus on my degree, I was back and back with a vengeance – it was the first I’d get to play since joining Sports Interactive.

First up, without a question, were Partick Thistle, the surrogate team I’d picked up while studying in Scotland. An electric start, with a Betfred Cup semi-final and 12 wins from my first 14 games, had me flying high. I still thought I was the living embodiment of Johan Cruyff’s tactical vision. 

And then, as you can guess, it all went a bit Pete Tong. I crashed out of the Scottish Cup away at Peterhead. There followed a flurry of defeats and draws - I only won another five games before the season’s end. I crashed out of the play-offs at the first hurdle, humbled home and away by Dunfermline Athletic. I was, in fact, a fraud. 

There followed a stint with Valour FC in Canada that showed I’d mastered how to defend but had somewhere along the way forgotten how to attack. I’d also forgotten all the rules I spent a fair amount of time explaining on the FM website…

After my laptop packed up, I started afresh. One cup final and two third-place league finishes were my reward for two years with Argentinos Juniors. Two seasons with Hertha Berlin produced league finishes of 10th and… 10th. I thought I was Cruyff, but I was basically Zdenek Zeman with a transfer budget.

Then came the lockdown. I worked on the basis that being a football nerd had been my undoing thus far, and that my best football had come from managing a side I knew nothing about. 

Step up KA, based in northern Iceland. The start was disastrous. Taking inspiration from managerial heroes Sean Dyche and Steve Bruce, I adopted a structured 4-4-2. It didn’t work. I had no idea how to operate a 4-4-2 in the game and everyone else in the league did. We were bottom after seven games, with two draws and five defeats. 

With a call to the dreaded board meeting in sight, I completely switched my approach and went with a Vertical Tiki-Taka. It paid dividends immediately – a convincing 3-1 win over Stjarnan. I then shot up the table and was somehow in with a shout of winning the title on the final day. We only managed a 0-0 draw but it restored the faith. 

Building for the 2020 season began with the addition of two strikers – youth international Mani Austmann and Bradley Wright-Phillips on free transfers. BWP basically broke the budget but I thought he’d take to the Icelandic game, and my approach, like a duck to water. He didn’t and scored just eight in 41 across two seasons before calling it a day and joining my coaching team. 

Austmann stole the show and he’s one of two my players from that save that are my favourites in FM20.

Mani Austmann

Austmann was an Advanced Forward, so perfect for the high-pressing system being implemented and he took to the league like a duck to water. His attribute scores aren’t the most impressive, as you can see below, but they didn’t tell the story of what a natural finisher he was. 

 
 

His complete one-footedness threatened to distort the system but he formed a tremendous link with my Deep-Lying Playmaker in midfield, running the channels, getting in behind the opposing centre-backs and getting at least two clear chances in most games. As things stand he’s got 68 in 95 league games, and 137 in 227 overall for the club. He’s won 15 trophies with KA and been an essential part of our journey to becoming the dominant force in Scandinavian football. 

Without doubt the best real striker I’ve managed in a long time, Mani is the absolute boy. He also got a delightful brace on our famous night at home (it was a neutral ground, as our old stadium was too small for European competitions, sad) against Real.

 
 

Tobi Omole

Another addition during the 2020 season, albeit midway through, was Nigerian centre-half Tobi Omole. Initially partnered alongside fellow new arrival Alan Lithgow (the classic combo of one older centre-back playing on Stopper, and a younger, more spritely colleague on Cover), Omole developed into both an authoritative centre-back, a leader in the dressing room and a potent goal threat from set-pieces (the Dyche influence remained, despite the fancy tippy-tappy passing).

 
 

Omole had been released out of the Arsenal academy when I signed him and was hugely inexperienced. He was mobile though and a great passer (his Passing was 15 when I signed him), so he fitted perfectly into a system that was focused on building out from the back and knocking the ball around with panache. That game time allowed him to develop naturally and become the player he is for me now.

It’s in the Mental attributes that he’s made the most progress. It’s made him a dressing room leader and saw him get called up to the Nigeria squad. At this point in the save he’s just about peaking and already has 236 appearances and 16 goals for the club across seven seasons.

 
 

Looking at his attribute progress brings a smile to my face – it’s probably the most improvement I’ve extracted from a real player ever. I’ve signed him in my current save with Scunthorpe, hoping I can repeat the magic. 

Tobi Omole, captain, leader, legend. Much love my brother.

Big thanks to Andrew for sharing his favourite FM players from this year’s version of the game - you can find more of his excellent written content on The Byline, Sports Interactive’s official platform for online Football Manager content.

Interested in sharing your own FM Player of the Year? Drop us a message or reach out to MaddFM for more info.

Pledge Your Allegiance

 
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Name a player that has gained Senior International Caps for Argentina, Colombia and Spain. I’ll wait.

Impossible I hear you say, how could anyone play for three different countries? Well, wind back to the 1950’s and you would have been able to watch one of the greatest players of all time do exactly that. Alfredo Di Stefano, more commonly known for scoring 216 goals in 282 appearances for Real Madrid, initially made his debut for his home country Argentina back in 1947 and scored 6 goals in 6 appearances to help them win the Copa America the same year. Unfortunately they were to be his first and last caps for his home nation - player strikes and a dispute with the Brazilian FA led Argentina to withdraw from qualification for the 1950 World Cup as well as the following two Copa America tournaments, and shortly afterwards Di Stefano moved to Colombia where he went on to to score 92 goals in 101 appearances for Bogota based side Millionarios. It was at this point that Di Stefano made 4 appearances in a Colombia shirt, selected to play a group of friendly games that were not recognised by FIFA as official international games - not sure if that would fly in the modern era, but hey at this stage 2020 is capable of anything.

Fast forward to 1956 and Di Stefano has lived and played for 3 years at Real Madrid, absolutely smashing La Liga helping them win back to back league titles and dominating the goalscoring charts year-on-year. After becoming a naturalised citizen, Di Stefano scores a hat-trick on his debut for Spain and goes on to score 23 goals in 31 appearances - the third international jersey Di Stefano has now worn in his career; imagine if Cristiano Ronaldo somehow managed to play for Portugal, Spain and Italy?!

 
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One of the original GOATs 🐐

Nowadays of course, players tend to have to “pledge their allegiance” and somewhat officially declare which nation they will play for - often causing controversy as we have seen when the likes of Declan Rice, Jack Grealish and Diego Costa all caused much debate on the subject when changing/declaring their allegiance. According to FIFA, an uncapped player is eligible to play for a nation if he/she meets the following criteria:

  • Born on the territory of the relevant association

  • Biological mother or biological father was born on the territory of the relevant association

  • Grandmother or grandfather was born on the territory of the relevant association

  • He/she has lived continuously for at least five years after reaching the age of 18 on the territory of the relevant association

Many nations have strategically taken advantage of this in order to bolster their ranks; Ireland’s successful World Cup teams of 1990 and 1994 contained a host of British-born players with Irish heritage including the likes of Andy Townsend, Tony Cascarino, Ray Houghton and Jason McAteer. This has continued all the way to present times and in the past few years young players such as Wayne Rooney, Harry Kane and Tim Cahill were all approached to play for Ireland due to their Irish connections.

These days when a young player with dual nationality/eligibility arrives on the scene, an instant battle almost ensues - when Adnan Januzaj burst onto the scene at Old Trafford back in 2013, a three way contest for his allegiance appeared to take place between England, Kosovo and Belgium before he eventually declared for the latter in 2014. More recently a similar situation occurred with 17 year old Dortmund Midfielder Giovanni Reyna, son of ex-USA international Claudio Reyna; born in England, holding a Portuguese passport from his mother’s side and eligible for both Argentina and USA on his father’s side, much debate was held about which nation he would declare for before he seemingly quashed all rumours by stating he intended to play for his “home” nation, the USA. (Interestingly he is listed as “English” in FM20 but not fully declared 👀).

How is all this connected to Football Manager? Why not try the same - taking over an International side and attempting to convince a World Class player to declare for that nation based on their heritage/bloodline. Reckon you have what it takes to convince them to change allegiance and help you lead their new nation to glory?

 
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5 Undeclared Players with Dual Nationality / Eligibility in FM20

1. Gabriel Martinelli (Brazil → Italy)

Born in Brazil but eligible to play for Italy through his father - could one of the hottest prospects to come through the ranks at Arsenal in years be the catalyst in bringing international success to the Azurri for the first time since 2006? More importantly - can you be the one to lure him away from playing for Brazil?

 
 

2. Harvey Barnes (England → Scotland)

The highly rated Leicester star is already 21 at the start of FM20 - if he doesn’t get capped for England soon, could he have his head turned North and help lead Scotland to success on the international stage?

 
 

3. Josha Vagnoman (Germany → Ivory Coast)

Competition at right-back for Germany is fierce with the likes of Joshua Kimmich and Lukas Klostermann playing for the top clubs in the Bundesliga. Vagnoman is eligible for the Ivory Coast through his father and should he not get capped for the German side, perhaps he can be swayed to bolster an already talented Ivory Coast side? Potential future team-mate Wilfried Zaha is no stranger to this debate.

 
 

4. Houssem Aouar (France → Algeria)

Granted - the chances of this kid not getting capped for France are pretty slim but seeing as he is still uncapped and undeclared in FM20, adding Aouar to an Algeria squad that also boasts the likes of Mahrez, Slimani, Ghoulam and Bennacer is a mouth-watering prospect..

 
 

5. Eddie Nketiah (England → Ghana)

Ghana boast a strong side with the likes of Thomas Partey, Kwadwo Asamoah and Baba Rahman among their ranks but not since Tony Yeboah (#thunderbastard) have they had a top quality centre-forward lead the line at international level…could the man the man loved by FMDoop like no other be tempted to change allegiance should he fail to break into the England side?

 
 


Make no mistake - convincing one of these guys to switch allegiance is no easy feat even in FM; you could try some of the tips suggested by FridayNightFM in his piece for The Byline about Signing Uninterested Players in FM e.g. watching their games, having them scouted etc however your best hope is that they remain uncapped long enough to become impatient at not earning an international cap as yet. Either way, giving this a try as a new save challenge or side-project to your existing save could make for an interesting international #narrative - let’s not even begin to discuss Brexit. There are plenty of other players of a similar nature who are yet to be capped or declare for a nation - adding the “Second Nationality” filter/column in the player search is a great way to identify these, otherwise stay tuned for Part II where we will look at some of the other dual nationality players that we hope are waiting for your call.

 
 

Thanks for reading - feel free to share your thoughts below or on Twitter and let us know if you succeed!


Cheers,

MaddFM.

Enjoyed this? Check out more of MaddFM’s WeStreamFM posts here where you can also find a host of great content from the WeStreamFM team and our guest authors. You can also find his own blog here where he is currently attempting to bring Greuther Fürth to the bright lights of the Bundesliga.

FM Game of Thrones

 
 

5 Teams to Overthrow in Football Manager

We're well used to certain teams dominating their domestic kingdoms in modern-day football. The likes of Celtic (8 in a row), PSG (6 of last 7), Bayern Munich (7 in a row) and Juventus (8 in a row) have all been annihilating their enemies for many years now to the point where it has become almost guaranteed that they will win their domestic league each year, thus ensuring their dominance ever increases due to the repeat annual financial reward that comes with silverware and European qualification.


The only thing that can stand in their way? Football Manager. Here are 5 "Fight for the Throne" challenges where the objective is simple - overthrow the King, dethrone the supreme ruler from their ivory tower by knocking them off their perch and putting an end to their spell of dominance once and for all so that a new ruler can rise from the ashes and reign supreme over their footballing dynasty.



 
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1. AUSTRIA - RED BULL SALZBURG (6 years flying)


Though not one of the most prolonged spells of dominance reigning supreme for 6 seasons straight in the Austrian Bundesliga, Red Bull Salzburg are arguably one of the most difficult teams to overthrow in a single nation primarily based on the fact that they are by far the richest and most exclusive club in the country. The sponsorship of Red Bull combined with the recent success of former players such as Erling Braut Håland, Sadio Mané and Takumi Minamino combined with current stars like Domenik Szoboszlai and Maximilian Wöber mean that Salzburg are now the Austrian club of choice for most players domestically and abroad. David Alaba's former club Austria Vienna were the last team to win the league in 2013 while teams such as Sturm Graz and Rapid Vienna have had a taste of Champions League football in the past before the Red Bull revolution. Do you have what it takes to clip the wings of Red Bull Salzburg?

 
 

Writer's suggestion: LASK Linz are a relatively unknown entity outside of Austria and haven't win the league since 1963, but after finishing second last season they were actually top of the Austrian Bundesliga prior to the Covid-19 pandemic in addition to playing Europa League football. With one of the best young goalkeepers in the league in Alexander Schlager there may just be a foundation on which to build a new empire in Austria (energy drinks optional).

 
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2. Bulgaria - Ludogorets (8 years straight = LUDOcris)

Hristo Stoichkov, Dimitar Berbatov, Nina Dobrev - we love Bulgaria. Defying all odds at World Cup 1994 to finish 4th after defeating World Champions Germany in the Quarter Final only to lost 2-1 at the hands of Roberto Baggio in the Semi-Final, Bulgaria have a proud and proven football reputation on the International stage. Unfortunately the same cannot be said at club level - despite the fact that Ludogorets have won the league for the past 8 consecutive seasons and are clearly the dominant force in Bulgarian football, they have only reached the group stages of the Champions League twice in their history and became the first Bulgarian side to pick up points at this stage back in 2015 in a 1-1 draw with Basel. Perhaps it's time someone else had a turn?

 
 

Writer's suggestion: While the two Sofia teams (Levski and CSKA) offer attractive competitive options, Botev Plovdiv provide a really interesting challenge in that they have (1) excellent youth facilities and (2) one of the best players in the Parva Liga in Todor Nedelev. Having not won the Bulgarian league since England last won a World Cup and having never qualified for Europe in their history, what are you waiting for?

 
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3. Wales - The New Saints (8 years saintly)

Who? You may remember The New Saints from such famed occasions as Liverpool vs Total Network Solutions in 2005 after the reigning Champions League winners played against the Welsh side for a place in the 2006 Champions League Group Stages due to the fact that Liverpool failed to qualify via the Premier League (needless to say TNS have changed their name since). While the top two superpowers of Welsh football play in the English league (yes I just called Cardiff and Swansea superpowers), let's not forget there is a ferociously competitive league in Wales that has been conquered 8 times in a row by TNS to date. Considering TNS have never reached the Champions League group stages, perhaps it's time to knock them off the Welsh mantle and come up with your own solutions to Welsh domestic football?

 
 

Writer's suggestion: the other more well known Welsh teams are Connah's Quay or Bala Town who also have flirted with European qualification at one point, however it's hard not to look past Barry Town if only for the Gavin & Stacey references alone (putting on a Welsh accent is also mandatory).

 
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4. Belarus - BATE Borisov (lucky 13)

That's right - BATE Borisov have reigned supreme in the Belarusian league for 13 seasons straight. The last time another team were victorious in the Vyšejšaja Liha, the iPhone didn't even exist yet and Twitter was only known as the sound a bird makes. Notable events for the club in recent history have been Aleksandr Hleb and victories over Bayern and Roma in the Champions League - doth this club hath no equal?

 
 

Writer's suggestion: if you are a true CM/FM fan, one cannot look past Dinamo Minsk purely due to the fact that they are the club who produced none other than CM0102 legend Maxim Tsigalko (or Maksim Tsyhalka as he is known in the motherland). If that's not #narrative enough...

 
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5. Cyprus - APOEL (7th heaven)

You may need to use a custom database to activate the Cypriot league in FM20 (see Steam Community or well known FM fan-sites), however in doing so you can take on the unique challenge of battling APOEL for control of the Mediterranean island of Cyprus, who have been bulldozing the Cypriot First Division for seven years straight without interruption. As if being able to name your save "The Battle of Cyprus Hill" isn't inspiration enough! #InsaneInTheMembrane

 
 

Writer's suggestion: in taking over Anorthosi, you would be following in the footsteps of one of the maddest footballers to ever grace the Premier League. Former Newcastle and Wolves forward Temuri Ketsbaia sits in the Manager’s hot-seat in real life currently (younger viewers - just google it); dare you start the save by overthrowing Ketsbaia from the Anorthosi throne before proceeding to overthrow APOEL and conquer Cyprus?

 
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There you have it! If you are looking for a new save or are in need of a serious challenge in which your mission is to perform a coup d'etat and dethrone the champions of that league, then hopefully this will give you some inspiration to continue your quest for power and glory in Football Manager. Be sure to tweet @WeStreamFM if you choose to follow this path and let us know your progress! Remember:

 
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Challenge Accepted?

Thanks for reading,

MaddFM.

Interested in writing a Guest Author piece for WeStreamFM? Drop us a DM or else feel free to reach out to @MaddFM_ directly.

Football Manager for Grown-Ups

 
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10 Tips for getting more FM time when you grow older

Written by Now&ThenFM

The carefree days of staying up all night (literally) playing Football Manager for hours on end, pausing only to have a toilet break or consume some food purely just to keep your energy levels up and not having to answer to anyone (except your mum asking "are you ok up there"), just to then proudly go into school the next day with your printed off squad or jotter full of players to discuss with your mates - ahhh those were the days but sadly they are days that are now gone as quickly as your best wonderkid after having his release clause met.


 
21st Century Jotting

21st Century Jotting

 

Fast forward several years and you now have to hold down a full-time job plus you have a kid plus a dog (multiplied by three) and then add a better half who you have almost certainly punched above your weight to tie down to a long term contract, all of which equate to dramatically less Football Manager time.

If you are anything like me, a grown man in his 30's who thinks about Football Manager every single day but has several key responsibilities to attend to in daily life, then you might need some tips on how to get more time in playing the game that we all love. Look no further - below I have listed 10 tips on how I manage to get my FM fix in when I can amongst the duties and responsibilities that my real life role currently requires:

1. Newgens

If you have children, depending on their age it can be very difficult to get some game time in. At the start of their careers (life), they come into your youth academy (home) and all they do is sleep most of the time but normally your partner does too so there is sufficient time then to fire up the laptop and get your FM fix in. However, children grow and develop rapidly which requires more time to coach the youngster if they are ever going to fulfill their potential and this therefore demands more of your focus. My son is 2 going on 3 so, my first tip is to get them on an individual training plan (bedtime routine) with some new traits added (places bowl in the sink after use, mark parent tightly when crossing the road) as soon as possible. Not the easiest thing to do admittedly but with a bit of determination and repetition then this will result in you having a few hours each night to play the game. DO NOT however, bring your laptop out in front of them as they may see this as some form of surfboard, seriously, my son once decided to stand on my laptop. This was a valuable lesson learned and serves me right as I should have been giving my full attention to him anyway (plus no one wants to be told off by their missus.) The hope is that one day we can play Football Manager together, reminiscent of the old times going to my mates to play CM 00/01.

 
This actually happened

This actually happened

 

2. Preferred Role

This largely depends on your job - I am office based so this tip is based on what I do (I'm not expecting you to take your laptop to the building site). In my current role some ‘work FM’ isn't possible but in previous jobs I was often told to "keep myself busy" as my job was very reactive so I had periods of inactivity. Sure, my boss was wanting me to maintain spreadsheets or something that would benefit the business but naturally I saw it as an ideal opportunity to hook my laptop up to the dual screens to make my FM time feel so much more professional with my shirt and tie on (not that one needs to be at work to wear a tie for FM eh?). Now, there are certain things that must be done before this can be achieved successfully in the office environment like pre-empting your FM work session the day before to save time and be more efficient, leaving much less admin to do the next day (half an hour at night saves an hour in the morning). Other things like setting up your laptop so that you can close it without going to sleep means you will be able to hide it quickly if needed without risking any loss of progress! I would also have a spreadsheet open to switch to if someone dared enter my office (though it usually contained lists of wonderkids and transfer targets).

3. Stamina = 20

Maybe giving myself 20 for stamina is unrealistic given that I can no longer stay up all night and play FM without passing out on the keyboard, however late nights are key in the struggle for more FM time. The simple truth is that there is no way it is possible to stay up all night and then responsibly care for a 2 year old, so late nights mainly happen for me at weekends and the latest will be approx. 2am. Stopping at this time gives me adequate sleep so I encourage you to know your limits and don't partake in lots of sugary drinks otherwise you will be up all night (beer is acceptable). Leading up to your late night, plant the seed with the misses (mind out the gutter) and make her aware of what your plans are. You certainly don't want her suggesting a movie night when all you really want to do is focus solely on your save, play a product of your youth academy for the first time and feel a real sense of pride and satisfaction.

 
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4. Go on Holiday

My laptop has been to some wonderful places and I have 'FM'd' in some magnificent cities and resorts. On city breaks the key to this is just do what your other half wants (even if that means spending hours in a multi-floor Primark). Just do it - go sightseeing, enjoy a movie, a meal, do whatever your other half wants because at the end of the night you know you will be getting some.....quality FM time. You can stay up late also, you’re off on holiday so enjoy the late night and lie in because you’ve earned it by going on a 10 game unbeaten run so damn right you deserve it! Going abroad can be slightly different as I can’t always take my laptop along with all the other things you need to pack travelling with a child. To get my fix in, I bring my iPad, fully installed with Football Manager Touch. The iPad would come under the disguise of “it’s so we can watch something at night” or “I have downloaded a few things for our son to watch”. This diet version of Football Manager is ideal for a save to last you the duration of your holiday and you can really fly through the seasons along with being able to try out new teams and/or tactics to implement on the full fat version when you get home. It fills a hole, just like the 3* all-inclusive food you’re consuming.

 
holiday.png
 

5. Decision Making

Being drunk and playing FM is not always recommended but I suppose it depends on the level of intoxication. I, like many others enjoy a beer or a case whilst playing Football Manager at the weekends and I find if I start my FM session sober and then end up drunk, my decision making is around the same level when I started although my celebrations become a bit more animated and louder. The downfall is coming in from a night out and deciding to play FM. This can lead to you ruining a full save which I have done on many occasions. It is not recommended to argue with the board over transfer funds to the point of an ultimatum from which you do not back down, which a less drunk me would have done (4 seasons of hard work down the drain). So, the tip here is not to play FM after a night out as it will feel worse than a case of the fear the next day - find a local beer for the club you’re managing instead!

 
BeerFM.jpg
 

6. Media Handling

Ahhh Netflix & FM, it's your classic target man and poacher combination. Most people will have something on in the background whilst they play FM, be it music, a film or some other form of entertainment but I am not talking about when you are on your own. No, I am talking about when the other half asks you if you would like to watch something on Netflix but really you were hoping for some game time. Anyway, the tip here is to combine them all and naturally you let the other half pick what to watch. This means that you are not really interested in it so it won’t divert your attention therefore you can bring the laptop out. If they moan, respond with  “well you’ve always got your face in your phone, there’s no difference” and that should be that in my experience. You will have achieved three things; 1- spending time with the other half. 2- confirmed that what they had chosen to watch was rubbish and 3 - you will have played some FM which was the whole idea in the first place.

7. Favoured Personnel?

Is there anything worse than hearing “Can you come round for dinner at my mum and dads on Sunday?” You just know you are going to be there for hours and whilst there is nothing wrong with spending time with the in-laws (said no-one ever), my being there is eating into my valuable Sunday FM time. Lucky for me (unlucky for her), I’ve been in my relationship nearly a decade so I don’t need to go to her parents house and impress because quite rightly they have already been blown away by me (Man Management: 20). So, I have on occasions taken my laptop and whilst they pander over her and my son, I can play a few games. This might seem very rude but I at least wait until I’ve had dinner and anyway, I always pass it as being work related - “oh I’m just trying to save myself some time tomorrow, you know what Mondays are like”. This method is transferable to dinner at my own parents house as my son and partner will be the centre of attention as I know my parents were secretly happy to release me of my contract by mutual termination. They do however, wonder what sort of scouting ability my missus had in place when she recruited me.  

8. Community Outreach

By this I simply mean some coffee shop FM and this can’t be achieved by just saying that you are going to Costa or wherever you purchase your coffees from. No, this (in my case) has to be coupled up with something else like popping into town for a haircut and some shopping or some DIY essentials to complete some of the household jobs. Reward yourself with a coffee and take your laptop for some FM time. Don’t worry about the “what kept you?” question, just tell the truth which is you went in for a sit in coffee. There is something good about sitting with a latte, playing FM and watching the world go past. Try it, it's amazing how long you can stay in a coffee shop. You may also try engaging with the press by liaising with the barista when they ask if you will be making any tactical changes in your coffee (recommend the dark roast on this occasion).

 
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9. Journeyman

Sure, you can take the car to your city break for quickness but who uses their car whilst in that city? Not me! I’m the designated driver and if we are going on a ‘break’ it is just that, a break so why would I want to drive 300+ miles into a place I have never been before? And that's exactly what I say when it is suggested that I drive. My suggestion is take the train. You can take your laptop with you and gone are the days where you need to rely on a decent battery life. The trains have followed your training schedule and have implemented your additional focus request of installing plug sockets. This means you can sit back and play some FM whilst your other half reads that book that you bought them (book = less chit chat). You will have several hours to master your tactic and crack open your beer that you've brought with you for the journey, you deserve it. The same can be said for flying these days - if you don't need to pack for a human child then take your other baby (laptop) - most long-haul flights also provide a power outlet, what better way to lock in for a 6 hour flight than a session of uninterrupted FM?

10. Presenting Data

Get more invested in your save, I mean, who doesn’t do some Wikipedia research on the club they are about to manage, choose them because of their kits or current situation, maybe convince your partner to fly there for a "“holiday”? We’ve all been there right? Well why not tweet regular updates from your save, write down your thoughts on players/tactics or even start a blog. Creating a record of your save for yourself makes a save extra enjoyable and if you want to it can be for others to read also. The latter creates engagement and even if just from one person then it will help you feel more invested in it (trust me, I know). I get new save ideas and inspiration for my saves by listening to podcasts, watching Youtube videos, checking out other people’s blogs and reading books. Taking a break to do these things can help stop the FM burnout and reignite the desire to keep your push for promotion alive.

There you have it, a look into my life as a grown adult with a slight addiction (they don’t like that word do they?) to Football Manager but has real life to contend with first. I know there will be many others like me (I hope) that have limited game time but hopefully the above has given you some ideas on how you can fit some more FM into your life schedules and always ensure you can get that one more game in. I have always said that the only problem with Football Manager is that real life gets in the way, rightly so but it’s always nice to be able to balance both.

Cheers,

Now & Then FM.

Enjoyed this blog? Be sure to like and leave some comments below and let us know your thoughts on Twitter (@WeStreamFM). You can find more of Now & Then FM’s Football Manager content in his blog and be sure to check him out on Twitter also (@NowandThenFM).

Interested in writing a Guest Author piece for WeStreamFM? Drop us a DM or else feel free to reach out to @MaddFM_ directly.


The Underutilised Utility Man

 
 
 
Utility Man Definition.png
 

Versatility; Adaptability; Flexibility – not always the first words or attributes we look for when scouting in Football Manager, however over the years we have seen a number of successful teams benefit hugely from having an effective Utility Man in their squad who can play in multiple positions and cover a number of roles when called upon. Any names come to mind?

 
Utility Men Pic2.png
 

More and more games to play each season combined with squad registrations and injuries mean that the Utility Man has become an extremely important addition to the squad, and in the modern game we see an increased need for players to be far more versatile and adaptable than in previous years where player positions were more structured and defined. This is not only the case in real life, but also in Football Manager where it is vital to have players that can suit multiple positions especially when budgets are tight and FM can at times take pleasure in inflicting various levels of injury crises at crucial points in a season.

In this article we will look at the role of the Utility Man and look back on the more successful advocates of the position in recent years; we will analyse how to approach scouting for a utility man as well as on implementing them successfully in the game – we will then use this to look at who are the most effective utility men in the modern era and identify the best Utility Players & prospects in FM20 at both elite and lower league level.

Old School

“There was a period in the late-’80s when Ruud Gullit rivalled Diego Maradona as the world’s best player, and in virtually any position – centre half, winger, centre-midfield or up front. But for injuries, Ruud would’ve achieved even more than he did” - Ronald Koeman, Holland Manager.

 
Maradona & Gullit

Maradona & Gullit

 

Younger readers might recall Ruud Gullit as a Sky Sports pundit, or that guy with the dreadlocks who used to manage Chelsea and Newcastle for a while. As a Newcastle fan I still remember the notion of "sexy football" that Ruud brought to the North East for a brief period, While this couldn't quite be maintained as a Manager, Ruud Gullit was an absolute gem of a football player and although different from the traditional Utility Man in that he was often the first name on the teamsheet at the majority of his ex-clubs (Milan, PSV, Sampdoria and Chelsea among his ex employers), he was outstanding in almost every area of the pitch short of being a goalkeeper and this earns him first honorable mention in our Utility Man story.

Slightly older readers will remember that Ruud Gullit was known to play almost anyhere through the middle of the pitch, often switching from Centre Half to Centre Forward during the same 90 minute period while regularly playing as a Sweeper, Defensive Midfielder, Attacking Midfielder and Powerhouse Striker from one week to the next. He featured mostly as a Striker or Attacking Midfielder during his best years having started out as a Central Defender, and again reverted back towards being a Sweeper / Centre Half towards the end of his career when he joined Chelsea and kickstarted the club towards becoming the team it is today. After becoming the most expensive player in the world when he joined Milan from PSV for close to €7 million in 1987 (replacing the late Ray Wilkins who had left for PSG), he picked up back to back European Cups and won the Ballon d'Or for his efforts - widely accepted as the best player in the world at the time; not bad for a Utility Man.

 
Ruud Gullit Ballon d’Or 1987

Ruud Gullit Ballon d’Or 1987

 

And now for the important question…how good was he in FM? Back when it was Championship Manager - well, see for yourself…

 
Gullit.png
 

This is not the first time we have observed Strikers moonlighting as Centre Halves in the past, both in real life and again reflected in CM/FM. Before Chris Sutton was partnered with Alan Shearer which led to Blackburn famously winning the Premier League in 1995, he was signed by Norwich as a Centre Half which thankfully didn't take long to correct from the perspective of Blackburn fans. He was swiftly converted to Centre Forward at Norwich and scored 25 goals in the 94/95 season which lead to him being signed by Blackburn - the rest as we know is history, he went on to form the prolific SAS partership with Alan Shearer and later found success at both Chelsea and Celtic. Another ex-Norwich Defender/Striker also emerged in the 1990's by the name of Irishman Gary Doherty, who although not blessed with pace or skill was powerful and strong in the air making him equally effective at either Centre Back or Centre Forward. His career never flourished, but he was a perfect example of a reliable Utility Player that could come on and cover multiple positions when needed.

 
 

It's hard to talk about hybrid defenders/strikers without mentioning one of CM9798's finest. When one first loaded up this legendary game, you would normally see Manchester United re-signing Dion Dublin from Coventry for at least 5 or 6 million pounds and it rarely took long before he was featuring in the England squad both at Centre Half and at Centre Forward. Though known and remembered by most as a Striker during his time at Man United, Coventry and Aston Villa, Dion Dublin was frequently deployed successfully as a Central Defender, so much so that according to Dublin himself: “I remember when I was marking Wayne Rooney, playing centre-back for Villa, and he told me I was the best centre-back he’d played against." Whether this is true or not we will never know, however there is no doubt that the likes of Ron Atkinson, Alex Ferguson and Gordon Strachan all rated Dublin highly both for his versatility as well as his strength and goal-scoring ability - there are still those that feel Dublin should have been included in England's 1998 World Cup squad after finishing joint top scorer in the Premier League alongside Michael Owen and the aforementioned Chris Sutton. If you are one of those, I highly recommend reading "The World According to Championship Manager 97/98" by Dave Black (@CM9798 on Twitter) which brings absolute justice for Dion Dublin on the international stage.

 
Dublin.png
 

Sticking with CM97/98 - this version of the greatest football game series ever played brought arguably the most versatile and adaptable Utility Man of them all….seriously, this guy was the ultimate all rounder and could literally play anywhere outfield on the park...why would you not sign him?!

 
 
 
 

Utility Man Royalty

Brace yourselves for (in this writer's opinion) the best Utility Man of all time both in terms of versatility, skill, technique, leadership and all round footballing pedigree. Luis Enrique was everything you would want from a footballer - he could defend, tackle, pass, dribble, score, assist - it's little wonder that Barcelona moved quickly to sign him after his contract wasn't renewed at Real Madrid in 1996, making him part of an exclusive list of players to play for both Spanish giants that also includes Ronaldo, Figo, Hagi and Eto'o to name a few. He went on to become part of title winning sides alongside the likes of Figo, Guardiola, Rivaldo, and Kluivert and eventually captained the Catalan giants from 2001 to 2004 - during his time he went from scoring 18 goals a season to being utilised at full-back, right wing, left wing and in central midfield and so much was his influence and footballing ability that he was named by Pele in his list of the 125 Greatest Living Footballers.

 
Louis Van Gaal’s “favourite player to manage”

Louis Van Gaal’s “favourite player to manage”

 

Modern Day

It's fair to say that Sir Alex Ferguson was a clear advocate of the Utility Player and left a legacy in place at Man United whereby players have frequently been deployed in multiple areas outside of their natural position. The likes of Phil Neville, John O'Shea, Quinton Fortune, Alan Smith and even Wayne Rooney all found themselves playing in multiple positions under SAF, while even recently we have seen players such as Daley Blind, Ashley Young and Phil Jones all deployed at multiple positions throughout the season. Other clubs appear to have followed suit where we have seen the likes of Fabian Delph (Man City), James Milner (Liverpool), Victor Moses (Chelsea), Oleksandr Zinchenko (Man CIty), Ainsley Maitland-Niles (Arsenal) and Matt Ritchie (Newcastle) all evolving into more versatile Utility Players initially to cover injuries but subsequently continuing to operate in multiple positions depending on needs must for their managers. It's fair to say that this benefits the club in that they are able to maximise their squad usage and ensure they have cover for all positions, however would you say that the "positionless" names above have all had successful international careers? One might argue that being a Utility Man is detrimental to one's international ambitions as these players don't often get to prove themselves in specific positions when under the spotlight from International Managers. Would you agree?

 
Utility Man? Completed it mate.

Utility Man? Completed it mate.

 

Football Manager

What good is all of this in FM? As mentioned above - if you are managing on a tight budget, have to operate under certain constraints / squad restrictions or are going through the common FM affliction that is the annual injury crisis, then having a decent Utility Man in your squad offers a number of useful avenues. Not only do you ensure sufficient cover for multiple positions, it also enables you to maximise how you use your bench for games, facilitates squad rotation during a long season, enables you to bring versatility, adaptability and experience to the squad which is important for squad balance, development and mentoring - and finally it usually means you can be smart and efficient from a transfer market perspective as often these kinds of players can command a slightly lower transfer fee than a player specific to one position.

Scouting a Utility Man in Football Manager

Using the Player Search function, it's pretty easy to identify the more versatile utility type players by searching for those who are competent in multiple areas of the pitch. There are many variations of this and by tweaking these between the various playing positions, you can quickly get a gauge on the best Utility Players in the game regardless of what level you are managing at.

 
scouting.png
 

Below are my Top 5 Utility Players at the start of Football Manager 2020.

1. Saul Niguez

World-class player who can play at Centre Half or Right Wing, what more could you want?

 
Saul.png
 

2. Daniel Wass

Even more versatile in FM19, this lad can basically play anywhere across the defence or midfield line, solid as a rock.

 
Wass.png
 

3. Christian Kabasele

Ever been losing on 89 mins and thrown a Centre Back up top in a desperate attempt to score? Now you can as this man can do both..

 
Kabasele.png
 

4. Kristoffer Ajer

A natural at Centre Back, Defensive Midfielder and Central Midfield - he basically is worth three players in any squad. Echoes of Paul McGrath, Lothar Mattheus, Javier Mascherano and Fernandinho all rolled in to one 💪💪💪💪.

 
ajer.png
 

5. David Alaba

Another player who was even more versatile in earlier versions of FM, David Alaba is the ultimate utility man in that he can do a job almost anywhere on the pitch. His outrageous attributes combined with his ability to play either in central or wide roles mean we can't not include him in this list.

 
alaba.png
 

Top 5 Youth Prospects

Konrad Laimer (RBL)

Dwight McNeil (Burnley)

Pedro Porro (Man City)

Dejan Kulusevski (Juventus)

Jacob Bruun Larsen (Hoffenheim)

Top 5 Lower League

Joe Rankin Costello (Blackburn)

Marcus McGuane (Barcelona B)

Henry Lawrence (Chelsea U18)

Wolke Janssens (Sint Truidense)

Dujan Sterling (Chelsea U18)

Effectiveness?

It it worthwhile splashing out on one of the above? Does a Utility Player really contribute positively in Football Manager? (Writer’s note: “I wouldn’t expect him to turn games around single-handedly” comes to mind). The simplest way to find out is to look at some live examples after a season in FM 20 which is exactly what we have done - let’s look at three Utility Players in FM20 after one season completed to see how they contributed in their roles as Utility Men for their teams:

1. James Milner (Liverpool)

Played in 5 different positions during Liverpool’s title winning campaign albeit not regularly starting, however with Liverpool playing close to 50 games in the season he was a highly effective member of their squad in all competitions.

Utility Man Verdict: 8/10

 
Milner 1 Season.png
 

2. Daniel Wass (Valencia)

Deployed mostly as a midfielder, Wass covered 4 different positions in a season which saw Valencia finish 4th in La Liga - probably would have featured more had Valencia not completed the signing of Right-Back Alessandro Florenzi on loan from Roma.

Utility Man Verdict: 7/10

 
Wass 1 Season.png
 

3. Matt Ritchie (Newcastle)

Equally utilised at both Left Wing Back and Left Winger, Ritchie operated in 4 different roles in a season which saw Steve Bruce miraculously lead Newcastle to 17th position, narrowly avoiding the drop on the last day of the season.

Utility Man Verdict: 6/10

 
Ritchie 1 Season.png
 

Convinced? Whatever way you look at it, we can see that certain clubs and players have reaped the fruits of the Utility Player function, and depending on your club and save in FM then it might be worth putting a small portion of your transfer budget aside with which to pick up the perfect Utility Man to add to and compliment your squad. Honorable mentions also go out to the likes of Joshua Kimmich (DR/MC), Hasan Salihamidzic (DRL/MRL/SC), Paul Warhurst (DC/SC)...have we missed anyone?

Thanks for reading,

MaddFM.

For more random FM reading check out my blog or drop me a line on Twitter 👌.

FM20: First Look

 
 

Football Manager returns in mid-November and last weekend I, along with a number of other notably more recognisable names, had the honour of being invited to Sports Interactive to take a sneak behind the curtain for what they have in-store for us with FM20* 

With our lunch orders taken, our lives signed over & our shoe laces removed we load Football Manager 2020. From the manager creation page you can already spot the little changes, managers look more realistic, hairstyles are Azzopardi-esque and there is some rascal clobber for your manager to wear on the sideline but it’s when you’ve selected your team that the real changes start as you are welcomed to the club in the all new board room setting. Here you will have your formal introduction, your coaches will give you a brief overview of your squad, you get your first look at the board’s vision for the future and you get to make arrangements for that all-important intra-squad friendly.  

 
 


Football Manager 2020: Headline Features First Look 

This year sees the introduction of the Development Centre, Club Vision and Playing Time Pathway, these are accompanied by new Graphic Improvements and an upgrade to your Backroom Staff.  

When the headline features were released my train of thought was already heading towards the longevity of a save so the more you put in, the more you will get out and as you start playing the game you’ll see how these seemingly subtle changes can transform your whole save experience. 

The Development Centre 

When you start your save there isn’t a great deal going on here in terms of development but as the game goes on you start to see information on the state of your youth team and your hottest prospects. The progression graphs are great for giving a clear guide on how a player’s developing month-to-month and the backroom advice let’s you know when they think he’ll be ready for some first team football.  

When we were first introduced to the Development Centre on social media my initial reaction was that it was all the information we already had grouped together in a new menu, but after playing the game it feels like so much more. I play the game with a notepad by my side at all times, noting down future stars, noting where I’ve sent them on loan and noting why I’ve sent them on loan. The Development Centre collates so much of this and whether it’s an overview of players out on loan, their progression or where to find your much-anticipated Youth Candidates the Development Centre is that place. Unfortunately, there just wasn’t the time to get far enough in the game to experience the long-term benefits, but our friends @FoxInTheBox, @WorkTheSpace & @GoldenFM will have you covered with some simulated game footage.  

 

A helpful tip - If you’re like me, you’ll be used to finding your Reserves and Youth Teams on the sidebar, these teams are now found in the Development Centre across the top of the screen.  

Club Vision 

I’ll go out on a limb here and say that Club Vision is my favourite new feature in Football Manager 2020, even if it does put you to work on the first day! You will have noticed from Monday’s Twitch Stream that Club Vision is split in to three areas – club culture, ongoing activity and the club’s five-year plan and that the board have a far greater say in what’s happening at the football club than they ever have, you can be challenged on the style of football, your transfer policy, your financial control & the club’s competition but don’t worry, you will be given the opportunity to flex your managerial muscle and ask for items to be removed or added, but be prepared to negotiate. 

There’s also another nice addition in Club Vision in the form of grading, you are now graded on Performance, Club Vision, Match Performance, Transfer Activity, your Tactics & your Squad which looks a lot nicer than the five bars we used to get. 

 

Playing Time Pathway 

Ever over promised and underdelivered to a player? Well the new Playing Time Pathway gives you the opportunity to structure a player’s growth or decline using the new squad statuses which gives you the freedom to plan for the future without upsetting the player... unless you are me. During negotiations with a player I screwed up the negotiations causing him to reject a contract and end any hopes of bringing him to the club!  

Note – A great new addition to goalkeepers' contracts are the Emergency Backup & Cup Goalkeeper options.  

 
 

Graphic Improvements 

As I said at the beginning of this post, you’re greeted to a new game with the new manager model and the difference is noticeable, not just in options of attire but in the whole look of his or her anatomy, no more go-go-gadget arms! It’s not just the manager that looks different, the players have a different look to them in a match with the kits and fitting a much-needed improvement.  

The new pitch textures look great as well, I wasn’t expecting the difference between dry, damp and wet to be that obvious but that, plus the pitch deterioration really make playing the game in 3D that much better. For some impressive gameplay footage go and check out @DoctorBenjy’s latest video.

 

Backroom Staff 

FM20 sees the new addition of two new staff roles, Technical Director and Loan Manager. The Technical Director looks after the hiring and firing of first-team staff and is involved in coaching development and works with your coaches to plan training schedules if required. Your Loan Manager will decide which players will go out on loan, where they go and provide feedback through the Development Centre on how they’re doing while they are away from the club. How much they do is totally up to you as the Staff Responsibilities screen has been revamped to give you a more in-depth way to make full use of the backroom team. 

 

That’s all from me on today’s post, for game play footage of the event make sure you check out the other WeStreamFM lads’ footage from the weekend @DaveAzzopardi, @CurtyFM & @BigHerbTheNerd. We also had the opportunity to sit down with Neil Brock, Seb Wassell & Nick Madden at the weekend and interview them for the 5 Star Potential Podcast so keep an ear out for those special episodes.

Last but by no means least, we would like to extend our gratitude to Sports Interactive for the invite, especially to Dom & Tom for looking after us all weekend, Neil, Nick & Seb for being so accommodating and answering all of our questions and to Miles, the gaffer, for taking the time on a Sunday to come in & talk to us about the game. These guys love the game, don’t give them a hard time on the internet, help them make the game the best it can be by reporting bugs in a constructive way when the beta drops and you’ll get a better game because of it.

Until next time. Thanks for reading.

*All captured images were taken from an Alpha build of the game at the Sports Interactive HQ and are a work in progress. 

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