Welcome back to Breaking FM, where my aim is to take Football Manager 2023 to the limits – and see how it can cope with extreme (and extremely unrealistic) situations.
For the first experiment of this series, I will find out what happens if a team in the English league system played the maximum number of games in a single season. This includes ALL league games, play-offs, cup ties (including replays), and even European and intercontinental fixtures!
The club I have chosen for this experiment is Dagenham & Redbridge. In Part 1, I explained how the experiment would work, which involved beefing up the Daggers squad, and giving them two seasons to qualify for every possible competition, so that their 2024/2025 season can become the longest one ever.
But Part 2 is where the fun really happens! In this post, I will go through the entire 2024/2025 season, in which the Daggers are aiming to play 99 games of football. We’ll see if FM23 can cope with scheduling so many matches, or if it will all fall to pieces…
SEASON PREVIEW
It’s June 2024, and it’s time for Dagenham & Redbridge’s new manager to take over. This bloke that we kidnapped from an American summer camp is a soulless, uncaring husk of a man… which makes him the perfect choice to lead the Daggers through a long slog of matches that will last into next summer!
And here’s the squad that Mr Black will be managing for this record-breaking season. Unforunately, there are no ‘original’ Daggers left, but the 13 superstars (and Kévin Rodrigues) who fired this team up to League One have been joined by a few new faces. Some of these were signed by our Director of Football, though you could probably guess that Lee Angol was definitely one of my signings!
Incidentally, the Daggers have been made 1-91 favourites to be promoted from League One, which is FM’s way of saying, “If you can’t win the league with this lot, you’re worse than Nathan Jones.” Of course, we don’t want to win the league or get promoted automatically; we want to take the scenic route!
As well as League One, we will be competing in the Community Shield, the Super Cup, the Champions League, the FA Cup, the EFL Cup, and (of course) the Pointless EFL Trophy. We also still have to qualify for the Club World Cup, which will end our mammoth season.
Just to remind y’all, the aim isn’t to win every trophy – it’s to play in every possible match, including play-offs and FA Cup replays! If we play our cards right, Dagenham & Redbridge fans can look forward to watching 99 matches this season!
I will simulate most of our matches with the ‘Instant Result’ function. That will make it easier to get through the season, and it’ll also save some time if I have to reload any results that stop us reaching the 99-game mark. That being said, I will personally take charge of every Final we play in, so I can take the plaudits if we win… or shoulder the blame if we lose.
AUGUST & SEPTEMBER
We began the season in style, as a Harry Kane hat-trick outclassed Liverpool in the Community Shield. Sadly, any hopes of a clean sweep were soon dashed in the Super Cup, where Pep Guardiola’s Arsenal came from behind to beat us in extra-time. No, I couldn’t believe it either… Arsenal won the Champions League!
Harry also scored a hat-trick in our League One opener against Accrington – Harry Maguire, that is. Slabhead does love a set-piece! We then cruised through our next few games – only dropping points against Huddersfield – up until the first international break.
We were fine. A 2-1 win at Oxford pulled us three points clear at the top of League One. We did draw two of our next three games, but maybe we should start thinking about losing a few if we want to avoid automatic promotion…
There was also a pleasant surprise in the EFL Cup. As we were competing in Europe, I expected us to get a bye to Round 3 (just like Birmingham when they defended the Cup as a Championship team in 2011). However, FM decided to throw us in at Round 2 against Bristol City, which meant an extra match for our schedule! Instead of ‘only’ playing 99 matches this season, we can actually make it to a full century!
MATCHES PLAYED: 15.
OCTOBER & NOVEMBER
As we continued to progress through the autumn, I came to a startling realisation. We just couldn’t stop winning, even after heavily rotating the team for matches we didn’t need to win. Our second-string even spanked Wycombe 5-1 at Adams Park, for goodness sake!
Before we got too far ahead in the league, I decided to try and throw some matches. I threw in a bunch of youth players, including Tim Drake (a defender who can’t defend) and Ant Kilman (an attacking midfielder who has probably the best newgen name I’ve seen on FM23).
And somehow, we still kept on getting results! Kilman even scored a couple of winners! The closest we came to an early league defeat was when Cheltenham went 2-0 up… until Haris Seferovic scored twice in the last 12 minutes. I guess he’s found his level at last.
It wasn’t until our 18th league game that Charlton finally ended our unbeaten start at The Valley, knocking us off top spot in the process…
We’d now settled into a consistent rhythm of playing two matches a week – a run that will only continue as we continue to battle through the competitions. Leicester did try to trip us up in the EFL Cup, but a quick reload outfoxed the Foxes. Wigan were more respectful of my time in the FA Cup, letting us draw the original tie and win the replay without having to hit the Load Game button.
MATCHES PLAYED: 33.
DECEMBER & JANUARY
This is where our schedule starts getting silly. Because of our various exploits, our FA Cup Round 2 replay against Bristol Rovers was delayed until New Year’s Day – barely a week before Round 3 was due to start. We then took a little bit longer to get there, eventually beating Rovers in extra-time with a Serge Gnabry hat-trick.
That earned us a home meeting with semi-professional National League side Dorking Wanderers. Incredibly, I only needed to simulate the game once to force a replay… though it was a close-run thing, as we trailed 1-0 before scoring an injury-time equaliser. The replay wouldn’t take place until 5 February – just three days before the start of Round 4!
With those knockout games coming thick and fast, league matches were being pushed further and further into the future. For example, our home fixture against Milton Keynes – which was originally due to be played in early September – had now been delayed until late-March!
As far as the Champions League was concerned, we won four league games and lost four to finish safely in 19th place. Bring on the play-offs!
Despite the punishing schedule, our senior players were handling it pretty well and weren’t picking up too many injuries. Our first really significant injury came in the EFL Cup Semi Final with Manchester United… but then again, it was Luke Shaw, so…
MATCHES PLAYED: 50.
Crazy as it was that we’d already reached the half-century, we were still only halfway through the season. We still intended to play another 45 matches in the next four months… and that’s before we even start thinking about the Club World Cup! Let’s find out how the game handles this madness!
FEBRUARY
FM always tries to keep at least a three-day gap between matches… but now that was becoming impossible. We had to fit in three games in just five days in February, including the first leg of our Champions League play-off with Benfica. But if you think THAT is mad, you haven’t seen anything yet!
I should probably mention that this point that we were now playing our Champions League matches at Selhurst Park – the home of Crystal Palace – because Victoria Road wasn’t up to UEFA’s standards. Our groundstaff were probably relieved just to get some sleep. (RIP Maxi Jazz.)
The game also broke in another way. After beating Wolves on penalties in the FA Cup, our Round 5 tie with Cardiff was set for 1 March – the day before the EFL Cup Final. Our Wembley date with Liverpool was rescheduled for a Wednesday night… but when both us and the Reds progressed through the Champions League, it was moved again to a Saturday afternoon!
MATCHES PLAYED: 59.
MARCH
So, was that extra wait for the EFL Cup Final worth it? Erm… not really.
Rice gave us an early lead (just like he did in the Super Cup Final), but Liverpool battled back to win 2-1 and win the EFL Cup. Perhaps we were too exhausted? Or perhaps we were just focussing on knocking Manchester City out of the Champions League…
While we were preoccupied with other matters, our League One form suffered, and we gradually slipped down the table until we found ourselves in 9th place! But hey, we still have a few games in hand!
The FA Cup Quarter Final win over Mikel Arteta’s Brentford (lol) represented another breaking point. There were literally no more free dates left in the calendar – and so our home games with Bolton and Peterborough were postponed until AFTER the final day of the League One regular season on 3 May! Somehow, I doubted they would be the last.
MATCHES PLAYED: 70.
APRIL
And now we come to our busiest month of the season! We played FOURTEEN matches in April, including the biggest one of them all… the Pointless Trophy Final against the mighty Burnley Under-21s!
Tragically, Kane was ruled out of the big day… except, no, he wasn’t! Not only was he fit enough to start, but he also scored the final goal in a 4-0 rout! (I’m guessing that report was just typical media hysteria, or yet another silly little FM bug, or maybe a bit of both…)
With a second trophy safely in the bag, we could now focus on a slightly trickier challenge against PSG in the Champions League Quarter Finals. The best we could manage at home was a 1-1 draw, so we had to win in Paris…
I think it took 13 reloads before we finally put the French Newcastle in their box. The FA Cup Semi Final versus Manchester City was an even bigger reload-fest; it must taken been something like 30 attempts. In unrelated news, I suddenly developed an irrational hatred for Erling Haaland.
Two days after beating City, we lost our final away league game of the season against Burton. I wonder how the boys are holding up after that…
Yeah, I thought they would be a little jaded after such a heavy schedule. We’ve still got seven league games, the play-offs, an FA Cup Final, three Champions League games and a bloody Club World Cup to get through! No rest for the wicked!
In case you’re wondering, I’ve been intentionally starting Jordan Pickford and John Stones in as many matches as possible. The only games they’ve missed so far have been for some poxy England internationals. They’re up to 77 games each now, and I’m sure they’ll have made it to the 90s by the time we’re done with them.
MATCHES PLAYED: 84.
MAY
Saturday 3 May. The final day of the EFL League One season… or was it? We still needed to play another THREE league games before the play-offs could even begin!
Of course, we did just about enough to make sure we finished no higher than 3rd, which meant a Playoff Semi Final against Barnsley. The Tykes were swiftly taken care of, but not without a cost. Kane aggravated an existing groin strain and picked up a more serious hip injury – and not even injections could keep him fit forever. His season was over.
The first Final that Kane missed was in the FA Cup against Chelsea, which we lost 2-1 after Bukayo Saka gave us the lead in the 8th minute (yeah, I think we can call that a habit now). At least Saka scored again to seal victory against Sheffield Wednesday on a Wednesday night Playoff Final, taking the Daggers up to the Championship.
Meanwhile, we finished off AC Milan to reach the Champions League Final – which, ironically, was against Internazionale! I feared the worst when Gnabry struck after just 7 minutes… but Saka (him again!) doubled our lead early in the second half to secure an incredible result.
Of course, playing in the CL Final also ensured that we would get to take part in one last competition…
MATCHES PLAYED: 95.
JUNE
After a summer break lasting two whole weeks, we were off to Japan to prepare for the Club World Cup. Unfortunately, most of this tournament would take place after the 2024/2025 season had ticked over into 2025/2026 – but for the purposes of this experiment, I’m still counting it as one season.
Having smashed former African champions Mamelodi Sundowns and home favourites Kawasaki Frontale in the group phase, we faced our first major test against Barcelona in the Quarters. After them came Manchester bloody City. Yay, another 16 reloads!
We did eventually make it all the way to game #100 (which would be #93 for both Pickford and Stones). Incredibly, despite the short turnaround between matches, nearly all our players were in peak physical edition for the Final! That’s a very different bug from the one you had on FM22, where the Club World Cup would cripple half your squad in the knockouts!
Anyway, after all that, only Real Madrid could stop the Daggers from becoming world champions. What could possibly go wrong?
Oh, great! Gnabry scored after 21 seconds! There’s only one way this can end now!
I guess not. Our incredible 338-day, 100-game season had ended with five trophies: the Community Shield, the Pointless Trophy, the League One Playoff trophy, the Champions League, and now the Club World Cup!
MATCHES PLAYED: 100.
FINAL THOUGHTS
After a century of matches, what conclusions can we draw from this experiment? Well… in terms of rescheduling matches, FM had a few hairy moments but it still managed to get all the domestic competitions finished before CL Final. In that sense, it wasn’t a total mess.
One thing that surprised me, though, is how durable our players were. They only picked up a total of 52 injuries up until the Club World Cup (way lower than expected), and there were only a few major injuries in there too. Yet some FMers still complain that their players get hurt too often!
Even after playing a good 70-80 matches, they didn’t look that much more knackered than if they’d played a usual 50-match season. Pickford and Stones each played in 93 matches, but neither were ever any worse than a little jaded.
In fairness, our squad was mostly full of elite athletes, not overweight 30-somethings who get exhausted after walking to the local Tesco (like, er… me). I’d be interested to see what would happen if someone tried this experiment again, but on players with much lower Physical Fitness and Stamina… and perhaps even using a full-on gegenpress tactic.
Anyway, our work is done. Mr Black can have a well-earned lie-down, and after three years at Victoria Road, our superstars have finally got their dream moves to Newcastle…
And that was the longest season ever… in England, anyway. If you think it’s possible to play an even longer season in another country on Football Manager, then please let me know. You can drop a comment below or tweet me @Fuller_FM.
Also, if you have any suggestions for future editions of Breaking FM, I’m all ears!
Fuller FM 
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