This post is by Thomas Levin, you can find more of his work at FM Pundit and his real football blog Touchline Shouts.
Football Manager 2011 recently jumped back to number one in the PC charts a staggering 8 months after release. Paying testament to the longevity of the Sports Interactive series not only from one title to the other but the titles themselves which will rarely seem outdated quickly. Continue reading →
We all have them periods in our lives as Football Manager’s where we just cannot truly be bothered to carry on with our game. This can be down to a number of things from results going bad to a load of injuries…sometimes we just lack the inspiration to carry on with the game so we quit. I have put together a brief list of 10 things to do if you find yourself in these positions.
Go as an obscure or lower league team
An obvious one, but many people usually stick to the bigger teams on the game, I will admit I am one of these people. Going as a lower league team can be difficult but it is also a great challenge. The joy you get when you bring a club from nothing to domination is a great feeling. It will be a long game with a lot of ups and downs but stick with it and I can guarantee you will enjoy it. Check out How to cheat financially in the lower leagues for a good lower league tip and http://www.fmstory.com which is a great lower league story written by fellow blogger Lye.
Set yourself a challenge
Setting yourself goals before you start your career is a good way to make sure you stay determined. You have the mind and power to give yourself any type of challenge, however ridiculous it is. From getting Barnet to champions league glory, or like me winning a competition with a team from each country. It can turn out to be a lot of fun and help keep you focused.
Use the editor
The editor is an extremely powerful tool, and it’s under used. Spice up your game by creating your own database and doing whatever you want with it. Mixing up players, competitions, or creating your own club can be a good boredom killer and keep you interested in FM2010.
Downloads
The Football Manager 2010 community is amazing and we should be lucky to have some of the people we do participating. Many fans are creating there own fantasy databases and these are a good way to keep you interested. FM-View released a Bayern Munich Legends databse last week which I downloaded and tried out, it is a great idea and if it was not for my challenge and the blog I would definitely be playing a proper save with it. Check out http://www.sortitoutsi.net/forum/forum/122-custom-databases/ where you can find a whole load of cool databases for FM2010.
Graphics
You may not think so, but just changing the appearance of Football Manager 2010 can do a lot of good. Sometimes when I am lacking inspiration, I change the skin or install some facepacks to brighten up my game and give myself a change of scenery. Two blog posts that can get you started 60,000 Image Facepack and 5 of the best Football Manager Skins
Football Manager 2010 Time Machine
The Football Manager 2010 Time Machine I created is a good way to fast forward years in the game. The first season in my opinion is the worst and seems to drag on and on. The time machine allows you to start a game from 2010-2025 in England, Spain, Italy and Germany. I will be looking to add more countries to this list, including France which will be available to download tonight. Read more about the time machine and downloads here.
Get Involved!
If you have simply had enough of Football Manager for the moment, have look around the FM Community. There are some great fansites out there with amazing discussion forums where you can get involved and chat about Football Manager 2010 with other fans of the game. My person favourites are FM-View, Los Wonderkids, Football Manager Fanboys, FM-Britain and of course the official Sports Interactive Forums.
There is nothing wrong with being bored in FM2010, it happens to me all the time on every version, and sometimes little changes to the game or doing something different can spice things up for us and rekindle our love for the game!
Something I discovered earlier today by browsing http://www.theawaystand.co.uk was the fact that the regens in Football Manager 2010 are created on a specific day dependant on there nationality. Although this was nothing like a shock, It was just something useful that I thought I would share with my readers.
Firstly, if you are wondering what a regen is, they are the players that are generated through out your Football Manager save so that there is never a shortage of players. When the old players retire, new players must come through the youth academies etc in the game to make sure there is no player shortage, and if you get far enough in the game every play will be a regen/’made-up’ player.
Anyways, I found the creation dates interesting because it will allow me to know the dates of certain countries creations, so in future on a certain day in my game I can search for the regen’s (u16′s) from that country to try to find a hidden gem or wonderkid before anybody else does. A pretty useful piece of information if you, like me are one that is always on the hunt for the next generation of players and enjoy developing them from a young age. The regen creation dates are as folllows:
January 1 Brazil, Chile
January 5 Rep. Ireland, Iceland
January 7 Finland
January 10 Colombia
January 15 Africa (except South Africa)
January 20 Norway
January 28 Peru
February 14 Belarus
June 7 Baltic States, Georgia, Bosnia, Cyprus, Armenia, Montenegro, Albania
June 20 Germany, Ukraine, Portugal, France, Turkey, Israel, Australia, Scotland, Hungary, Croatia, N.Ireland, Greece, Switzerland
June 24 England, Austria
June 29 Slovakia
June 30 Italy, Czech Rep, Poland
July 1 Romania, Bulgaria, Slovenia
July 7 Denmark, Holland
July 10 Serbia, Spain
July 15 South Africa
July 20 Mexico
August 1 Argentina, Uruguay
September 19 North/Central America & Caribbean, Ecuador, Bolivia, Venezuela, Paraguay
December 9 Japan, Middle East
December 27 Russia, USA, China, Sweden
Hopefully this information will be of good use to you, I am hoping it can help me in my current save to bring in some amazing wonderkids!!
I am sure most of you already know how to play FM Online with your friends, but there are many who do not, So I thought I would write a quick brief tutorial on how to play Football Manager 2010 online. Ok, so to play online with your friends you will need: Continue reading →
Check out the ultimate Football Manager 2012 Wonderkids list containing 118 of the best youngsters in FM2012 who have the potential to become superstars.