It’s that time of the year. Another Football Manager release cycle is coming to an end… and soon we’ll all be experiencing the hope, excitement, and inevitable misery all over again.
As one of the many people who found Football Manager 26 to be a bitter disappointment, I really can’t wait to move on. And this is what this annual Fuller FM blog update is all about.
In today’s post, I’ll be delivering my final withering summary of FM26, discussing all the non-FM26 posts I’ve published over the past year… and lastly, I’ll be outlining my hopes and plans for Football Manager 27.
FM26: AN UNMITIGATED DISASTER
Look… I’ve already written at length – multiple times – about how much I disliked FM26 and would rather play literally anything else, so I’ll try to keep this as short as possible.
To be honest, I expected some teething problems with the move to Unity. What I didn’t expect was a clunky AI which – instead of being “platform agnostic”, as per Sports Interactive’s marketing guff – was clearly designed with mobile gamers in mind. Too many important screens and features were hidden behind multiple clicks, if they had even been carried over at all.
FM26 was littered with bugs – some old, some new, and some affecting even the most basic game mechanics. Indeed, it was so clean and polished that even the Crash Reporter crashed.
Several match statistics were broken and didn’t record properly, making Moneyball-type saves unworkable. There were numerous reports of generated players being given attributes that didn’t suit their position at all (Second Yellow Card even found a goalkeeper who had the attributes of a centre-forward!).
Some old features not included in the original release were brought back, but they were either half-baked or disdainfully rebranded as “legacy” features. SI’s “bespoke” approach to marketing has been wildly out of step with a fanbase who have grown tired of secrecy and meaningless buzzwords.
To be fair, there were some positives from this season’s fiasco. The match presentation was upgraded from “terrible” to “slightly below average”, and Unity’s customisation tools allowed users to go to town with brand-new mods – including Football Manager’s first 3D facepack.
But with all due respect to all those talented modders, I sincerely hope that they don’t have to “fix” FM27 by themselves as well.
FULLER FM THIS SEASON
With FM26 being in such a terrible state, this was another strange season on Fuller FM. Starting a new FM story was obviously not happening, but I tried to make the most of a bad situation – by going back to other, more enjoyable games.
Like Football Manager 2024. The centrepiece of my third (and final) season of FM24 content was the Fairer World Cup, which I played through in the weeks building up to this summer’s real-life showpiece in North America.
I called this the ‘Fairer’ World Cup, as players could only represent the lowest-ranked nations they were eligible for. For example, Lionel Messi would play for Spain, and his heir apparent Lamine Yamal would turn out for Equatorial Guinea. This in theory made the tournament more open and competitive.
I won’t give any spoilers here, in case you haven’t read through all 17 chapters, but there were indeed some major shocks – not least in qualifying, with many elite players AND nations being frozen out. There would be even more chaos at the tournament, leading up to a Final that almost nobody could have seen coming.
I enjoyed playing through the Fairer World Cup and sharing the results, though there were a few issues which perhaps made it ‘unfair’ in some ways. The biggest issue was that several top-class veterans (and Cristiano Ronaldo) suddenly retired before the tournament. If I was to bring back the FWC for a future Football Manager, there will have to be some major changes to the rules.
Meanwhile, I’ve spent the past seven months re-playing Championship Manager 00/01. To mark that game’s 25th anniversary, I took on a new challenge with Millwall in Division 2, where my aim was to win every major trophy in the space of just 10 seasons.
My “Decade At The Den” was essentially split into three phases:
This challenge saw me bring several Championship Manager icons to south London, as well as developing my own talents from the youth academy and beyond. It was a lot of fun, even if I did find the AI’s defensive tactics and super-keepers a bit jarring later on.
I’ve also tried my hand at several other football games – reviewing various titles from past and present.
Soccer Manager 2026 was another bitterly disappointing addition to a series that has been stale for almost a decade now. While SEGA Football Club Champions wasn’t a complete disaster, it certainly wasn’t designed for the hardcore FMer.
In terms of Retro Reviews, Championship Manager 2008 was just… eh. I was much more excited to revisit an old 2000s shareware title named SoccerCards, even if it wasn’t the best card-based PC football game I’ve played this year.
However, two recent additions to the market really piqued my interest. Bang Average Football was a way-above-average game that combines retro Sensible Soccer gameplay with a cosy, family-friendly story.
And then we come to NUTMEG! A Nostalgic Deckbuilding Manager, which does exactly what it says on the tin. I’ve honestly become so addicted to this game that I’ve played it all the way through to the very end – the year 2000. After two decades, my superstar Hereford team finished up with five league championships and seven cups.
MY PLANS FOR FM27
In case the last two Football Manager cycles haven’t made it obvious by now, you really should not pre-order video games. This is a practice that encourages developers to rush out games in unfinished states, with promises of new features/improvements that they will not always keep to. At least SI don’t have the gall to promise early adopters a canvas bag that turns out to be made of cheap nylon.
I say that as someone who pre-ordered FMs in previous years (though not since Football Manager 2023). Seeing as those of us who bought FM26 were essentially paying to be alpha testers for FM27, it would now make a lot more sense to wait for reviews and/or a playable demo before you decide to part with your money.
With that in mind, I will not be pre-ordering FM27 and will instead wait for the demo. I will play half a season in the Bundesliga with VfB Stuttgart (yes, at last!)… and if the new game isn’t a complete disaster, then I’ll get cracking with my main save.
My plan is the same as it was for FM26… and FM25. This season, I want to finally scratch that itch and manage Arsenal women.
In a way, FM26 being a bit rubbish has actually worked out quite well in terms of my excitement about this long-awaited Arsenal save. Last season, the Gunners were the reigning Champions League holders. However, they have since lost their crown and will therefore head into this season with no trophies to defend, which will make any future successes sweeter.
My aim is to win the WSL and the Champions League in the same season, with a focus on developing players from the Arsenal academy. Vice-captain Leah Williamson and galloping forward Chloe Kelly are the best of our homegrown players, though both will soon be entering their 30s. As such, I will want to help centre-half Katie Reid and striker Michelle Agyemang [pictured above with Alessia Russo] realise their huge potential after their recent ACL injuries.
I’m also hoping to get started on that long-term ‘pentagon challenge’ I briefly touched on in last year’s blog update. But I don’t want to think too far ahead in case I’m left feeling disappointed again.
After FM25’s failed launch and FM26’s wheelie bin fire, not to mention Sports Interactive’s countless PR balls-ups over the past four years, I’m understandably sceptical.
It really doesn’t bode well that they’ve brought in a new community manager, only for him to then bugger off on holiday in the middle of September – the exact time of year when you’d expect the FM hype machine to crank into action. That they’ve got to this stage without telling us ANYTHING about FM27 reeks of poor planning and/or (dare I say) a lack of professionalism.
As far as I’m concerned, Football Manager really is in the last chance saloon. If SI fail to meet expectations for the third/fourth/fifth/sixth (delete where applicable) year in a row, there’s a good chance I might never come back to FM.
ANYONE FOR A COACH TRIP?
Mind you, the last few years have made me realise that I don’t really need Football Manager to enjoy being a virtual football manager. Even after playing Championship Manager for over 25 years, I’m still as addicted to the older games as I have ever been.
Following my successes with Millwall on CM00/01, I will soon be going back to Championship Manager 01/02… for a longer-term challenge that will put me much further out of my comfort zone.
You see, CM01/02 has a strong community of talented modders who have not only updated the database to the present day, but have also modified leagues and tournaments to use their current formats. This is extraordinary work that really takes the Championship Manager experience to the next level.
So once the 2026/2027 season databases and patches have been released, I’ll be planning a new European journeyman save – starting in the lower reaches of British football, and then taking me to various leagues across the continent. Basically, it’s much like my FM21 “Journey of a Deadman” series, but with fewer water bottles (and hopefully a little more success).
All being well, “Coach Trip” should start at some point in November or early December. I’ve not yet decided how exactly I will cover this save – it might be a blog-only thing, or maybe I’ll finally put some effort into YouTube.
In the meantime, there’ll be even more CM01/02 content to come on Fuller FM, particularly when the game celebrates its 25th birthday on Monday 12 October. Keep your eyes peeled…
That’s all for now. Let’s hope that FM27 is indeed better than FM26. At least it can’t possibly be any worse… right?
Fuller FM 