Football Manager 2026

[dmayne7]

11 hours ago, Ormondroyd8ftTall said:

Can someone explain the potential ability? You have the solid gold star increase on potential from current ability but what does it mean if there are greyed out stars on potential ability

 

7 hours ago, Mark_w said:

Essentially that your scouts/coaches (depending on whether your player or not and who you have assigned to certain duties) think they could possibly reach that level but aren’t sure.

 

It should either become a firm good star or disappear as they get to know the player. But obviously changes to the strength of your squad overall will also lead to ratings adjustments, as will injuries, training, etc.

The silver stars are also given to players under 22 (I think). So after a while you may see a player who is 21 with 4 golds and 1 silver, but when they are a little older that will change to just gold (4, 4.5, 5 stars).

 

To Mark's point about quality of team, it's sort of why the only real guarantee you're getting of potential is when you're one of the very best teams in the prem. That 5 star player when you're first promoted, could only be 3 star potential at a big team.

[Md9]

What’s the cheapest you think you could get a decent laptop for that would play this without it being to slow? 

[Fear Of The Fox]

3 hours ago, Md9 said:

What’s the cheapest you think you could get a decent laptop for that would play this without it being to slow? 

I'd recommend staying away from laptops even if you have the cash to splash on decent ones. All laptops have performance issues after 1 year or so and you'll see the downgrade day by day unless you're willing to open them now and then, apply thermal paste etc. 

Build an average PC or buy a pre-built one from a well known PC shop with quality builds. For FM I reckon you can get a £700 one and if you don't want to pay right away just do a 12 month no interest plan and pay monthly the installments. A PC will last you longer than a laptop. 

[Md9]

2 hours ago, Fear Of The Fox said:

I'd recommend staying away from laptops even if you have the cash to splash on decent ones. All laptops have performance issues after 1 year or so and you'll see the downgrade day by day unless you're willing to open them now and then, apply thermal paste etc. 

Build an average PC or buy a pre-built one from a well known PC shop with quality builds. For FM I reckon you can get a £700 one and if you don't want to pay right away just do a 12 month no interest plan and pay monthly the installments. A PC will last you longer than a laptop. 

Defo don’t have £700 spare for one so it is something I’ll need to look into thank you. 

[Finnegan]

3 hours ago, Md9 said:

Defo don’t have £700 spare for one so it is something I’ll need to look into thank you. 

 

Fear of the Fox is just wrong, to be honest, there's absolutely no reason at all not to get a laptop to run Football Manager.

 

I'll happily debate the merits of PC vs. Laptop gaming with him elsewhere (I've been gaming happily and successfully on laptops for over 20 years.) 

 

But if you want to buy new from a reliable dealer you probably are still looking at the same £750ish for current lower end machines. Performance, care and degredation aren't your biggest issue with laptops, it's affordability.

 

The thing is though, the recommended specs for FM26, even with the overhauled graphics engine, still aren't particularly "current generation." An RTX 2060 graphics card is several years old, the likes of Currys or BOX won't even be selling brand new machines with those in anymore. So you could get something older, potentially something refurbished, that wouldn't be super current but would run FM if that's all you're after. You're still looking at probably ~600 quid, mind. 

 

Leaves you with ebay and the second hand market which is a minefield for fairly obvious reasons. Laptops are physically handled daily, they're going to be more vulnerable to misuse and ill care, I'd personally be very hesitant picking one up blind, regardless of how good ebay's consumer protection might be. You could probably get something to run FM26 for 300-400 though if you're patient and get a bit lucky. Have a search on there for gaming laptops with an RTX 2060.

 

Edited 29 October 2025 by Finnegan

[Md9]

4 hours ago, Finnegan said:

 

Fear of the Fox is just wrong, to be honest, there's absolutely no reason at all not to get a laptop to run Football Manager.

 

I'll happily debate the merits of PC vs. Laptop gaming with him elsewhere (I've been gaming happily and successfully on laptops for over 20 years.) 

 

But if you want to buy new from a reliable dealer you probably are still looking at the same £750ish for current lower end machines. Performance, care and degredation aren't your biggest issue with laptops, it's affordability.

 

The thing is though, the recommended specs for FM26, even with the overhauled graphics engine, still aren't particularly "current generation." An RTX 2060 graphics card is several years old, the likes of Currys or BOX won't even be selling brand new machines with those in anymore. So you could get something older, potentially something refurbished, that wouldn't be super current but would run FM if that's all you're after. You're still looking at probably ~600 quid, mind. 

 

Leaves you with ebay and the second hand market which is a minefield for fairly obvious reasons. Laptops are physically handled daily, they're going to be more vulnerable to misuse and ill care, I'd personally be very hesitant picking one up blind, regardless of how good ebay's consumer protection might be. You could probably get something to run FM26 for 300-400 though if you're patient and get a bit lucky. Have a search on there for gaming laptops with an RTX 2060.

 

Thanks I would rather have a laptop as I don’t have the space for a pc anyways  . It would only be for fm as well so I will have a look into what I can get after Xmas now I think. 
I am trying to convince my son to let me take his off his hands for a few months while I try it out as it’s just been sat in the cupboard for months 😂 

 

[Fear Of The Fox]

5 hours ago, Finnegan said:

 

Fear of the Fox is just wrong, to be honest, there's absolutely no reason at all not to get a laptop to run Football Manager.

 

I'll happily debate the merits of PC vs. Laptop gaming with him elsewhere (I've been gaming happily and successfully on laptops for over 20 years.) 

 

But if you want to buy new from a reliable dealer you probably are still looking at the same £750ish for current lower end machines. Performance, care and degredation aren't your biggest issue with laptops, it's affordability.

 

The thing is though, the recommended specs for FM26, even with the overhauled graphics engine, still aren't particularly "current generation." An RTX 2060 graphics card is several years old, the likes of Currys or BOX won't even be selling brand new machines with those in anymore. So you could get something older, potentially something refurbished, that wouldn't be super current but would run FM if that's all you're after. You're still looking at probably ~600 quid, mind. 

 

Leaves you with ebay and the second hand market which is a minefield for fairly obvious reasons. Laptops are physically handled daily, they're going to be more vulnerable to misuse and ill care, I'd personally be very hesitant picking one up blind, regardless of how good ebay's consumer protection might be. You could probably get something to run FM26 for 300-400 though if you're patient and get a bit lucky. Have a search on there for gaming laptops with an RTX 2060.

 

My point is that laptops need good maintenance if you're going to use them for long sessions of gaming. 

In fact I have a better, cheaper solution for our friend: Gamepass with Xcloud streaming. This way he can play FM anywhere. Mobile phone, tablet, TV and projector with Fire Stick etc. 

[Md9]

20 minutes ago, Fear Of The Fox said:

My point is that laptops need good maintenance if you're going to use them for long sessions of gaming. 

In fact I have a better, cheaper solution for our friend: Gamepass with Xcloud streaming. This way he can play FM anywhere. Mobile phone, tablet, TV and projector with Fire Stick etc. 

both opinions where very welcome thank you 🙂

I tried playing 24 on Xbox just couldn’t get on with it at all not sure why but just didn’t enjoy it like I did playing the proper versions of it. 
 

[sdb]

What are the Heskey brothers like on the game? 

[Fear Of The Fox]

Sad day today, I still can't understand why SI and Miles decided to kill the franchise like this. Game is getting absolutely review bombed everywhere. Miles and Co need to understand that you can't experiment and mess with a game franchise like this. 

The problem now is that this UI which is the middle finger for everyone on PC who supported the franchise for 28+ years can't be fixed this year. 

[NGoloMode]

How is Jeremy Monga on the game?

[The Horse's Mouth]

So they’ve fully released it but not fixed anything . You know it’s bad when a lot of the cult are actively criticising it now. 

Edited 4 November 2025 by The Horse's Mouth

[Aleksz]

10 hours ago, dominicmsb said:

How is Jeremy Monga on the game?

Very good but surprisingly not the highest potential Leicester player on the game 

[moore_94]

Should be a level 9 database released in a few days

 

Looking forward to getting Shepshed Dynamo to the Prem

[The Hitman]

[Fear Of The Fox]

3 hours ago, The Hitman said:

All of us PC users who play the game since the 90s warned them when they announced the transition to the Unity Engine. They didn't listen. Miles wanted to attract the Fortnite community or whatever. 

Fact is us old gamers don't care about a fancy 3D engine. Now they've ruined everything and the franchise will need a miracle to recover from this disaster. Stubborn Miles and Co had all the funds so many years to develop and improve a house engine but they were just milking the consumers year after year with pointless features. 

The game doesn't even work properly on consoles. They developed this abomination for consoles and the performance there is hilarious. 

Idk if I should laugh or cry with this disaster as this game was part of my life since the 90s.

[Zear0]

3 hours ago, The Hitman said:

It's not great, but it's also being review bombed by gammons.  Wouldn't pay much attention to that list.

[Fear Of The Fox]

6 minutes ago, Zear0 said:

It's not great, but it's also being review bombed by gammons.  Wouldn't pay much attention to that list.

Yeah sure, after buying the game for 32 years in a row we suddenly started review bombing it for no reason. You can't be serious. 

[Zear0]

9 minutes ago, Fear Of The Fox said:

Yeah sure, after buying the game for 32 years in a row we suddenly started review bombing it for no reason. You can't be serious. 

Didn't say for no reason, just find it a bit weird the meltdown for them changing a UI after, *checks* 32 years.  Not sure the game is the problem here.

[Fear Of The Fox]

12 minutes ago, Zear0 said:

Didn't say for no reason, just find it a bit weird the meltdown for them changing a UI after, *checks* 32 years.  Not sure the game is the problem here.

You've probably haven't played it. The issue isn't only the UI. The biggest problem is the ME and crucial match day features removed from the release. The ME works on rails, whatever you do tactically has little impact on what you see on the pitch. It's a mobile game for a certain demographic who daydream that their tactical input mirrors the action in the pitch. 

[moore_94]

30 minutes ago, Zear0 said:

Didn't say for no reason, just find it a bit weird the meltdown for them changing a UI after, *checks* 32 years.  Not sure the game is the problem here.

Not even after 32 years, it changed about 2012 I think it was and there was a meltdown then because the navigation bar moved from the top of the screen to the left side

[moore_94]

Personally I am really enjoying it so far, haven't really experienced any bugs or crashes or anything like that either

 

New patch today makes the UI very quick to move between screens and areas as well

 

Already put over 60 hours into it which I expect will increase a lot more when I am off next week and will get a lower league database!

[Ian W LCFC]

Anyone else struggling with Leicester? I'm having more xg in most games by quite a margin but struggling to score goals, and concede such stupid ones at the other end.

 

(Sounds very realistic tbf!  )

 

I guess I need to buy a proper striker in January

[The Doctor]

9 hours ago, Fear Of The Fox said:

All of us PC users who play the game since the 90s warned them when they announced the transition to the Unity Engine. They didn't listen. Miles wanted to attract the Fortnite community or whatever. 

that's obviously not the reason to move to unity, no-one has ever gone "I'll play this game because it shares an engine with a game I enjoy". They moved to unity because their aims for the game weren't achievable with the old engine.

 

9 hours ago, Fear Of The Fox said:

Yeah sure, after buying the game for 32 years in a row we suddenly started review bombing it for no reason. You can't be serious. 

come off it, while there are legitimate criticisms making up chunks of those reviews, because it is pretty buggy, let's not pretend that there isn't also a chunk complaining about the addition of women's football period (rather than the hash they've made in trying to separate it, where you can still sign and register women's players to mens teams). It would be a negatively reviewed game generally but the 7th worst on steam? it's been elevated that far by review bombing

[lcfc278]

I know it's not a game you play on console it's a PC game, but anyway I was bored yesterday so I downloaded it to my xbox gave it a go. I had a bad feeling at the manager 'creation' screen which looks like it's gone backwards tbh. Then I got about 45 minutes in to the game, I'd started sorting out the squad and staff and then it just inexplicably had an 'error' when I clicked continue and it closed itself down. When I rebooted the save file went back to the beginning of the season. Turned it off and won't bother again. I'm hoping the PC version isn't as much of a sh**show.