Football Manager 2020

Tangled Up In Red

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Bernal
This should be cross-posted in the up-down-left... forum, but apparently Football Manager 2020 is free for the next 6 days. As I understand it, this is the premier club management simulation (I don't even know if you actually play games), from training to recruitment to tactics and strategy.
Just making folks aware and asking if anyone has advice for a newb on how to approach the game.
https://www.pcgamer.com/football-manager-2020-is-free-to-play-for-a-week/
 

Cellar-Door

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Aug 1, 2006
34,460
It is incredibly in-depth probably the most ridiculously complete game ever created. Pro teams have at points legitimately used the game's scouting database to supplement their own scouting. It's not just Premier League, it covers over 100 leagues in various countries at various levels as well as most national teams. It has almost all real players (even down to 4th tier players, or 16 year olds on the youth teams in bigger leagues). It is by far the best sports simulation games ever made.

As to how to approach it.... well it's a true phenomenon, so it has a ton of fan sites and youtube videos. You can use that to get you through some of the complex stuff (like building tactics, etc.) It also lets you delegate some tasks to assistant managers which can help you if you don't want to get into something like say.... what training routine the 3rd string keeper is going to do each week.

Really while it is incredibly in-depth you can just do the player buying and selling aspects if you want, or just manage the team and get a Director of football to handle scouting and signing. Because it is so comprehensive, it also has a ton of built in automation options. I love the game, but it is the greatest time sink in videogame history. Sometimes I can play for 6 hours and not even get to my team actually playing the week's game.
 

slamminsammya

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Jul 31, 2006
9,154
San Francisco
My greatest achievement in life was leading Sporting Lisbon in FM 18 to win Champions league in 2020 against a Neymar - Suarez - Messi Barcelona buying only a few decent young players in addition to the starting Lisboa squad.
 

candylandriots

unkempt
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Mar 30, 2004
12,327
Berlin
It is incredibly in-depth probably the most ridiculously complete game ever created. Pro teams have at points legitimately used the game's scouting database to supplement their own scouting. It's not just Premier League, it covers over 100 leagues in various countries at various levels as well as most national teams. It has almost all real players (even down to 4th tier players, or 16 year olds on the youth teams in bigger leagues). It is by far the best sports simulation games ever made.

As to how to approach it.... well it's a true phenomenon, so it has a ton of fan sites and youtube videos. You can use that to get you through some of the complex stuff (like building tactics, etc.) It also lets you delegate some tasks to assistant managers which can help you if you don't want to get into something like say.... what training routine the 3rd string keeper is going to do each week.

Really while it is incredibly in-depth you can just do the player buying and selling aspects if you want, or just manage the team and get a Director of football to handle scouting and signing. Because it is so comprehensive, it also has a ton of built in automation options. I love the game, but it is the greatest time sink in videogame history. Sometimes I can play for 6 hours and not even get to my team actually playing the week's game.
Sigh...I don’t think I’m going to make it.

https://ibb.co/bXQYzqT
 
Last edited:

67YAZ

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Dec 1, 2000
8,730
Sigh...I don’t think I’m going to make it.

https://ibb.co/bXQYzqT
!!!!!!

As someone who almost ruined his career playing FM, I can confidently say it is an addictive game. Budget your time and resist the urge to just get through the next match.

Also, jump around clubs and leagues, take on interesting challenges. I think the most fun I had with a save was my most recent - getting Malaga prompted back into La Liga. The Segunda Division is no joke and competition for good young Spanish players is cut throat.

There was also the time in FM14 when I told the Soton board that I would qualify for Europe, but finished 9th in the table. I had also made it to the FA Cup final against City...took it all the way to penalties...and then my 10th taker, Victor Wanyama, buried it to save to my job. For a while anyway, I stretched my budget too thin over the summer and started very slow, got axed the next November.
 

Titans Bastard

has sunil gulati in his sights
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Dec 15, 2002
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I still have a save from FM11 that I fire up in the summers when I have a lot more time. During the school year, I simply can't balance FM and my professional responsibilities. I managed to promote Dover Athletic five times in seven seasons, and am now in my third year in the EPL and first year in the Europa League. In classic fashion, the international competition is tanking my league season, though.

FM11 is from before Harry Kane "became good", but let me tell you — he was an absolute legend on loan for me in both of my seasons in League One. Bastard wouldn't sign permanently when I was promoted to the Championship, though.
 

tmracht

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Aug 19, 2009
3,070
!!!!!!

As someone who almost ruined his career playing FM, I can confidently say it is an addictive game. Budget your time and resist the urge to just get through the next match.

Also, jump around clubs and leagues, take on interesting challenges. I think the most fun I had with a save was my most recent - getting Malaga prompted back into La Liga. The Segunda Division is no joke and competition for good young Spanish players is cut throat.

There was also the time in FM14 when I told the Soton board that I would qualify for Europe, but finished 9th in the table. I had also made it to the FA Cup final against City...took it all the way to penalties...and then my 10th taker, Victor Wanyama, buried it to save to my job. For a while anyway, I stretched my budget too thin over the summer and started very slow, got axed the next November.
In a previous l managed to spread the FM virus (This was 2007 so probably FM05?) around my work place, we would sit in the office from 5-6/7 and we picked a league out of the Hat then Teams out of a Hat, I ended up as Maccabi Haifa fun times for all, our boss was shocked we were staying late but he would leave and be pleasantly surprised we were all still there.

Definitely a fan of trying different leagues/levels the rules in different leagues are fascinating.
 

67YAZ

Member
SoSH Member
Dec 1, 2000
8,730
This should be cross-posted in the up-down-left... forum, but apparently Football Manager 2020 is free for the next 6 days. As I understand it, this is the premier club management simulation (I don't even know if you actually play games), from training to recruitment to tactics and strategy.
Just making folks aware and asking if anyone has advice for a newb on how to approach the game.
https://www.pcgamer.com/football-manager-2020-is-free-to-play-for-a-week/
A more practical piece of advice - poke around the forums online and search for tactics that look like a decent match for your squad. Then line up 10 or so preseason matches to to tweak the tactics and roles to suit your team. I know I’m slow, and it took me a long time to really grasp how to develop tactics in FM. Better to start with a few good ones and tinker with those before diving in the deep end.
 

Jimy Hendrix

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Jun 15, 2002
5,846
My weird thing every year is to take Boston United (because ha, Boston but the other Boston) and see how far I can get them up the English pyramid from their current spot in the 6th tier.

So far, it's 2025 and we're way in front in League Two, but with an ill-advised stadium redevelopment that took us to a smaller capacity all-seater, we're hemorrhaging money so League One might be a struggle next year.

Idiotic in real life 4-3-3 with no wide players except for fullbacks is going strong and smashing records, although the roster rebuild will be brutal when it stops working because I have like one guy tops who could be a winger.

Bonus game within the game is seeing which C+ US prospects I can tie up in all that. I got 30+ non-league goals out of Charlie Kelman and Jordan Adebayo-Smith this time.
 

swiftaw

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Jan 31, 2009
3,434
What I like to do is to start unemployed and set my managerial experience to none and see where I can get hired.
 

tmracht

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Aug 19, 2009
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FYI FM20 is coming to PC XBox Game Pass in April. I believe I saw April 14th on a 3rd party site, but xbox.com says Coming Soon.
 

Titans Bastard

has sunil gulati in his sights
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The Age of Coronavirus is causing me to have a relapse. I just fired up my old FM11 save.
 

Cellar-Door

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Aug 1, 2006
34,460
Oh no... I had been resisting the temptation but free.....

We are all in on trying an absurd 4-4-2 attacking tactic with Chesterfield (it's really a counter pressing 2-3-3-2) so far truly batshit considering the stress the system puts on wingbacks, and that the wingbacks in the National League are........... not great
 

Titans Bastard

has sunil gulati in his sights
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Yeah, I still have an on-again, off-again relationship with an FM10 save with Dover Athletic. I've been in the EPL for five years and have snagged a CL slot a few times, but am a long way away from having the financial muscle to be a bona fide title contender.
 

Cellar-Door

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Aug 1, 2006
34,460
Yeah, it's free. They're getting you to install their launcher is the trick. But if you change the settings to not load on startup, not show notifications and only use it when you want to play FM20 and then exit after, it isn't too annoying.
 

Dummy Hoy

Angry Pissbum
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Jul 22, 2006
8,232
Falmouth
I fired this up (having never played before), spent about 40 minutes playing around and then wisely uninstalled it.

100% this would lead to me losing my job, getting a divorce, and becoming a speed addict. I'd be living alone and soiled in a basement studio apartment screaming at my computer over bad advice from my assistant coach.
 

Titans Bastard

has sunil gulati in his sights
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Dec 15, 2002
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I fired this up (having never played before), spent about 40 minutes playing around and then wisely uninstalled it.

100% this would lead to me losing my job, getting a divorce, and becoming a speed addict. I'd be living alone and soiled in a basement studio apartment screaming at my computer over bad advice from my assistant coach.
Dummy is no dummy. Sage advice here.
 

Rwillh11

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Apr 23, 2010
225
Dummy is no dummy. Sage advice here.
Played this religiously through my undergraduate years + the years before I went back to grad school. A few years into grad school, had to take it off my laptop because I realized my dissertation would never get written if I had it on my computer. So easy to get sucked in, play "just one more game". It's really really good if you have the time for it though!
 
When I came to the UK for my junior year abroad, two-and-a-half decades ago, I wound up renting a PC just to let me play Championship Manager 95 in my dorm room. Before coming to the UK, I had played "Goal" and "One-Nil", two very DOS-like soccer management sims which were great fun...but CM95 was something else, and I got sucked into the series for several years. I keep downloading demos of the FM series and wishing I could relive the magic I had with CM back in the late 90s, but the game rapidly got too complicated for me and I lost the ability to play it well without losing my life to it - I liked the simplicity of earlier versions.
 

Jimy Hendrix

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Jun 15, 2002
5,846
When I came to the UK for my junior year abroad, two-and-a-half decades ago, I wound up renting a PC just to let me play Championship Manager 95 in my dorm room. Before coming to the UK, I had played "Goal" and "One-Nil", two very DOS-like soccer management sims which were great fun...but CM95 was something else, and I got sucked into the series for several years. I keep downloading demos of the FM series and wishing I could relive the magic I had with CM back in the late 90s, but the game rapidly got too complicated for me and I lost the ability to play it well without losing my life to it - I liked the simplicity of earlier versions.
at the risk of ruining your life, maybe take a peek at the Touch versions, which are somewhat simplified from the insanity that is the full game.
 
at the risk of ruining your life, maybe take a peek at the Touch versions, which are somewhat simplified from the insanity that is the full game.
I have, actually - and even the Touch versions are significantly more complicated than the game I got addicted to. (In fairness, I'm also 46 years old now and have plenty of other hobbies; I keep being attracted to the idea of playing computer games the way I did 25 years ago, but I just can't stick with them, Football Manager included.)
 

tmracht

Member
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Aug 19, 2009
3,070
When I came to the UK for my junior year abroad, two-and-a-half decades ago, I wound up renting a PC just to let me play Championship Manager 95 in my dorm room. Before coming to the UK, I had played "Goal" and "One-Nil", two very DOS-like soccer management sims which were great fun...but CM95 was something else, and I got sucked into the series for several years. I keep downloading demos of the FM series and wishing I could relive the magic I had with CM back in the late 90s, but the game rapidly got too complicated for me and I lost the ability to play it well without losing my life to it - I liked the simplicity of earlier versions.
I'm not sure there's a better one than CM01/02 for nostalgia sake.
 

BrazilianSoxFan

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Apr 11, 2006
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Brasil
https://fm-base.co.uk/resources/zealand-presents-american-tiers-for-fm21-by-readthemeade.5527/

After decades of broken promises and false starts, US Soccer has finally decided to listen to growing calls for a more European style league from top to bottom. With financial backing from some of America’s wealthiest people and companies, as well as the inclusion of affiliate clubs from all of the other major American sports leagues, the entire pyramid has been rebuilt. With fresh pathways for American talent to flourish, can you lift your club and the US to new heights?

This database replaces the MLS with a 7 level promotion and relegation pyramid with over 1,000 clubs - 90% of which are real or historic clubs, with a priority on accuracy. The top three divisions pay homage to the MLS, NASL, and USL, with the most reputable clubs in the USA battling to earn spots in playoffs to determine promotion and championships. The 4th division is split into four super regional divisions with a shorter league season and a big money super cup in the Spring. The bottom three divisions are split further into 8 total conferences, with a more traditionally European style league setup. All of the regional divisions are where you’ll find the Big 4 Affiliates as well as Indigenous clubs. Each tier provides new and exciting challenges!

Start with a Premiership team and jump right into competing for CONCACAF, the Club World Cup, and recruiting wonderkids. Go Park to Prem with one of hundreds of Semi-Pro or amateur clubs. Step into one of the Big 4 Affiliates and take advantage of outsized reputation and budgets and see how quickly you can fly up the leagues, or take over one of the Indigenous clubs and fight against small money and even smaller reputations to rise up. Or, go for all the glory with a Club and Country style save and help the Yanks make a name in world football. The choice is yours!

This database has been fully tested both via auto-simming and play testing to ensure financial realism, balanced challenges, and unique experiences. Additionally included with this database is a graphics pack that will provide logos for all teams, leagues, and cups along with team and player awards in every division to further immerse you in your save.

League Structure:
Tesla Major League Premiership
Chase North American Championship
XBox United League
Amazon Prime Divisions (Northeast, Northwest, Southeast, Southwest)
Netflix Championship (Atlantic, Big Sky, Cascadia, Frontier, Great Lakes, New England, Pacific, Piedmont)
Netflix League 1 (Atlantic, Big Sky, Cascadia, Frontier, Great Lakes, New England, Pacific, Piedmont)
Netflix League 2 (Atlantic, Big Sky, Cascadia, Frontier, Great Lakes, New England, Pacific, Piedmont)

Cup Competitions:
Lamar Hunt US Open Cup (All clubs)
American Outlaw Supporters’ Shield (MLP Winner vs. Open Cup Winner)
Thomas Cahill Memorial Trophy (Top 3 leagues)
Twitch Challenge Cup (Top 6 clubs from each Prime Division)
Whole Foods Consolation Cup (Bottom 6 clubs from each Prime Division)
Phil Woosnam Trophy (Netflix Leagues)
Gerrit Miller Memorial Cup (Netflix League 2)
Sports Interactive U23's Cup
Zealand Media U18’s Cup

An explanation of the Dynamic Relegation System:
The American Tiers database is set up to reliably promote and relegate teams within their regional divisions, so as to avoid an amateur bottom tier team in Hawaii having to trek to New York multiple times a season. In a nutshell, the amount of teams relegated from Levels 4-7 varies from season to season based on the regions of the four teams relegated from the XBox United League. For example, if two clubs from the Atlantic division are relegated from the United League, that means the Amazon Prime Southeastern Division, Netflix Atlantic Championship, League 1 and League 2 will all have two extra clubs relegated. That variable zone is represented by the Relegation Playoff colors on the league tables - so if you’re in that zone, you’re not safe!
 

Cellar-Door

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Aug 1, 2006
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Bumping this, because if you have Prime FM 2023 is free right now. Basically you click through and it gets added at the epic games store (I assume you need to download and install a launcher, sadly not a steam code.