Chris Fuller

Player interactions in Football Manager

Published on 5 January 202314 July 2026 by Chris Fuller

Being successful in Football Manager isn’t just about signing the right players and building tactics that best suit their skills. You also need to show good people management to keep squad morale high, while also ensuring that your players are motivated and confident.

Player interactions are becoming increasingly important in FM. It’s vital know how to praise your players when they’re doing well, encourage them when they need picking up, and even discipline them when they deserve it.

Any top manager knows how to strike a good balance between punishment and reward. Being too harsh on your squad can create discontent and destroy team confidence, while constantly showering your players with praise can make them complacent and maybe even see you as a soft touch.

If you are struggling to handle player interactions, I’m here to help. Today, I have some tips for building up player relationships through interactions, including quick chats and promises. I also have a word of warning for those of you who like to reach for the water bottles after a defeat!

Continue reading →

FM13 In 2022: The Superstars That Weren’t

Published on 11 November 202212 July 2026 by Chris Fuller

It’s time for another trip back in time here on Fuller FM! I will once again be revisiting my long-time Football Manager 2013 save to see how the footballing world looks in the year 2022.

Last time out, we looked at where some of today’s football superstars had ended up 10 seasons into my FM13 universe. Who’d have thought Son Heung-Min would be playing Championship football for Aston Villa?

For today’s article, I’ve found 15 players who developed into world-class talents on FM13, but who never reached those giddy heights in the real world. So where, how and why did it all go wrong for these Football Manager wonderkids?

Continue reading →

Setting up Screen Flow in Football Manager

Published on 31 October 202214 July 2026 by Chris Fuller

Back in the days of Championship Manager, the game used to automatically show you the latest results from major competitions such as the World Cup and the Champions League. Some of you probably miss that now, though you can still set that up manually on Football Manager 2023.

Hidden in the game settings is an underrated feature called ‘Screen Flow’. It can look daunting at first glance, but this guide will take you through every step of the process.

Screen Flow can also be a useful tool for finding exciting young prospects before other clubs snap them up. Tracking the statistics of various continental and international youth competitions can alert you to some potential starlets who you might then want to send your scouts to look at.

This guide was written specifically for FM23, but it also works on FM22, FM21 and FM20. If you are still playing FM19 or an earlier version of Football Manager, the instructions are slightly different, so please refer to this guide instead.

Continue reading →

FM13 In 2022: The Best Players In The World?

Published on 28 October 202212 July 2026 by Chris Fuller

And now it’s time for something a bit different on Fuller FM. Today, I’ll be revisiting probably my favourite FM game of all time – Football Manager 2013, which just so happens to be celebrating its 10th anniversary next week!

My longest and probably best ever save was on FM13. Starting at my hometown club Romford in the lower reaches of English football, I played on up until 2043, when I led Dagenham & Redbridge to domestic and European glory… but I’m not here to talk about that!

In this mini-series, I’ll be looking at the state of the FM13 game world at the end of the 2021/2022 season, and how things compare to the present day. For the opening installment, I will look at the nominees for this year’s Ballon d’Or, and see what happened to them in this virtual universe…

Continue reading →

Retro Review: Ultimate Soccer Manager 98

Published on 19 October 20227 July 2026 by Chris Fuller

It’s time for another Fuller FM ‘Retro Review’, where I replay a classic football management game from years gone by. I’m particularly excited about this, because it’s an absolute doozy!

Today, I will be looking back at a game that many people who grew up in the late 1990s still remember very fondly. This was regarded as a serious contender to Championship Manager, even daring to go places where Sports Interactive would not.

We’re going back to the year 1998 – a time when northern punk anarchists Chumbawamba were getting knocked down (and getting back up again), and when Dennis Bergkamp was doing Dennis Bergkamp things. This is Ultimate Soccer Manager 98.

Continue reading →

Blog Update #6

Published on 10 October 20224 July 2026 by Chris Fuller

As the final whistle blows on Football Manager 2022, it’s time for another blog update right here on Fuller FM.

It’s become an autumn tradition for me to finish each game cycle by updating you on everything I’ve written on the blog this season. I’ll also deliver my final thoughts on FM22 – and I have a lot of them – before looking forward to the release of FM23.

Continue reading →

Hale End Heroes: The Final Whistle

Published on 7 October 202214 July 2026 by Chris Fuller

Embed from Getty Images

Welcome to the 20th and FINAL chapter of my Football Manager 2022 story with Arsenal.

In this series, the aim was to win either the Premier League or the Champions League with a team consisting mostly of graduates from the Arsenal youth academy.

I will finish this story off with the 2025/2026 season review, before looking at how all our homegrown stars have developed over the past five years. (HUGE spoiler alert: if you haven’t read Season 5, Part 4 yet, you might want to do that first!)

Continue reading →

Hale End Heroes: Season 5, Part 4

Published on 5 October 202214 July 2026 by Chris Fuller

It’s all or nothing for Arsenal, as the fifth season of my academy challenge comes to an end.

After a seven-game winning streak, Arsenal are top of the Premier League table by two points, with just eight matches to play. If our Hale End heroes can hold their nerves, we will be champions for the first time in 22 years. We’re also gunning for continental glory, having reached the Quarter Finals of the Champions League.

Can Arsenal finally end a long wait for a major title – or is there yet more heartbreak to come?

Continue reading →

Hale End Heroes: Season 5, Part 3

Published on 3 October 202214 July 2026 by Chris Fuller

After four years of frustration and near-misses, is this the season where Arsenal finally claim a Premier League or Champions League title?

We made a fine start to the 2025/2026 campaign, sitting just four points behind leaders Manchester United at the end of December. Today’s chapter will take us through the next three months, which includes two big title clashes with Liverpool and Manchester City, plus both legs of our Champions League knockout tie against Roma.

And with a new youth intake on the way, we’re also going to have a look at how our best newgen prospects have developed. We’re all especially excited about Fallon…

Embed from Getty Images

…no, not THAT Fallon.

Continue reading →

Hale End Heroes: Season 5, Part 2

Published on 30 September 202214 July 2026 by Chris Fuller

Embed from Getty Images

While the Football Manager 2023 hype train has started, my FM22 series with Arsenal is still going strong – and things are arguably just heating up!

Today’s chapter takes us through the first half of the 2025/2026 season, which I previewed in the last installment. Unfortunately, we lost the Community Shield to Liverpool, but that won’t matter if we can finally knock them off their Premier League perch.

There are plenty of questions that need to be answered. Can we continue to frustrate the bigger teams? Can we find some consistent scoring form against the weaker teams? And is 19-year-old Sean Fallon ready for the Premier League?

Continue reading →