Football Manager 2026

[Finnegan]

22 minutes ago, Dan said:

I think a bit of a key was fooling the AI into thinking I would play one when I was going to play the other and that is particularly what caught out Radnik Sudurlica for example.

 

In my experience, Football Manager players tend to greatly over-estimate how advanced the AI is in terms of countering your tactics and greatly under-estimate how much impact the hidden stats of your own players interact with the context of your season and the things you say to them to set the tone.

 

The AI doesn't 'learn' your tactics and the AI doesnt' really do much to counter specific threats your team poses. All it really does is adjust how aggressive it'll be based on your reputation and league position.

 

A lot of the rest of the fluctuation comes from your own players and how they handle pressure, how professional they are, how consistent they are, how ambitious they are, whether they respond well to big matches, etc. 

 

The second-half collapse in @Beliall 4-4, for example, has almost certainly come from two things. The AI will have been more aggressive in the second half because it needs to recover so there'll be a tactical change. But there'll also have been two team talks, his and the AI's. If the AI manager has said the right thing and has a team full of determined, hard working, ambitious players they'll see an uptick in performance and if Belilal has mdae the fatal mistake of telling his team he's pleased then depending on their personalities, they might sit back and get complacent and stop concentrating. 

 

Edited 23 April by Finnegan

[Dan]

8 minutes ago, Finnegan said:

 

In my experience, Football Manager plays tend to greatly over-estimate how advanced the AI is in terms of countering your tactics and greatly under-estimate how much impact the hidden stats of your own players interact with the context of your season and the things you say to them to set the tone.

 

The AI doesn't 'learn' your tactics and the AI doesnt' really do much to counter specific threats your team poses. All it really does is adjust how aggressive it'll be based on your reputation and league position.

 

A lot of the rest of the fluctuation comes from your own players and how they handle pressure, how professional they are, how consistent they are, how ambitious they are, whether they respond well to big matches, etc. 

 

The second-half collapse in @Beliall 4-4, for example, has almost certainly come from two things. The AI will have been more aggressive in the second half because it needs to recover so there'll be a tactical change. But there'll also have been two team talks, his and the AI's. If the AI manager has said the right thing and has a team full of determined, hard working, ambitious players they'll see an uptick in performance and if Belilal has mdae the fatal mistake of telling his team he's pleased then depending on their personalities, they might sit back and get complacent and stop concentrating. 

 

"The fatal mistake of telling his team he's pleased" made me smile. It's so true. I'd far rather be 2-0 up at half time so that I can tell them "it's good, but you can do better" than 3-0 where I don't get the option.

 

It could be a subconscious thing regarding tactics but I've often had 2 or 3 reliable ones in hand so that I can switch it up if I need to and I've nearly always felt like I've had an initial bounce. But then I've often targeted particular games as well which goes beyond tactics - team meetings prior to winnable games rather than trying to raise morale only to have it shot down again by a loss at Partizan etc

[Finnegan]

When in doubt, there's nothing wrong with silence. You don't HAVE to give a team talk.

 

[Dan]

I think team talks are pretty easy anyway once you've got the hang of it - too easy in fact. But you're right and I've never even really thought to just say nothing if we're 3-0 up at half time (which is not often nowadays mind).

[Beliall]

29 minutes ago, Finnegan said:

 

In my experience, Football Manager players tend to greatly over-estimate how advanced the AI is in terms of countering your tactics and greatly under-estimate how much impact the hidden stats of your own players interact with the context of your season and the things you say to them to set the tone.

 

The AI doesn't 'learn' your tactics and the AI doesnt' really do much to counter specific threats your team poses. All it really does is adjust how aggressive it'll be based on your reputation and league position.

 

A lot of the rest of the fluctuation comes from your own players and how they handle pressure, how professional they are, how consistent they are, how ambitious they are, whether they respond well to big matches, etc. 

 

The second-half collapse in @Beliall 4-4, for example, has almost certainly come from two things. The AI will have been more aggressive in the second half because it needs to recover so there'll be a tactical change. But there'll also have been two team talks, his and the AI's. If the AI manager has said the right thing and has a team full of determined, hard working, ambitious players they'll see an uptick in performance and if Belilal has mdae the fatal mistake of telling his team he's pleased then depending on their personalities, they might sit back and get complacent and stop concentrating. 

 

i told them to focus and not let up and they got worried so i gave them all encouragement using the 3 extra talks you can do for each part of the team. sometimes this happens with a new squad until i get the right players in. the squads a mess but as long as i can pick up enough wins for top half, they are all leaving in the summer and i can rebuild

[Finnegan]

1 minute ago, Beliall said:

i told them to focus and not let up and they got worried

 

Yeah see there you go. If they've got low scores for pressure and you've told them they need to concentrate and be mindful of throwing it away when they're already winning 4-1 you've pretty much just done a Brendan Rodgers and created panic out of nothing

 

[shen]

25 minutes ago, Beliall said:

i told them to focus and not let up and they got worried so i gave them all encouragement using the 3 extra talks you can do for each part of the team. sometimes this happens with a new squad until i get the right players in. the squads a mess but as long as i can pick up enough wins for top half, they are all leaving in the summer and i can rebuild

You should NEVER use the same sideline shout more than once per half though, regardless of match situation. You'll get punished for it and get a negative response.

Also, to add to @Finnegan, pre-match talks, half-time talks and shouts also take into account the expected outcome of the match (whether you're favourite or not) and the amount of possession you've had (HT relevant). I'm not sure if shots/SOT also affects the squad's view of what the match balance is like, but in the past it was only possession that mattered (i.e. if your possession is lower and you're the favourite, you should rip them a new one; if your possession is higher and your the underdog, you can safely say pleased). 
Obviously squad personality plays into this (and getting to grips with this is even harder in FM26 as it's not easy to find), so it's good to have an idea how they'll respond.

I'm surprised not much has changed with regards to squad dynamics in so long. It's not much different, if at all, than FM21 or even earlier versions.

[Beliall]

5 minutes ago, shen said:

You should NEVER use the same sideline shout more than once per half though, regardless of match situation. You'll get punished for it and get a negative response.

Also, to add to @Finnegan, pre-match talks, half-time talks and shouts also take into account the expected outcome of the match (whether you're favourite or not) and the amount of possession you've had (HT relevant). I'm not sure if shots/SOT also affects the squad's view of what the match balance is like, but in the past it was only possession that mattered (i.e. if your possession is lower and you're the favourite, you should rip them a new one; if your possession is higher and your the underdog, you can safely say pleased). 
Obviously squad personality plays into this (and getting to grips with this is even harder in FM26 as it's not easy to find), so it's good to have an idea how they'll respond.

I'm surprised not much has changed with regards to squad dynamics in so long. It's not much different, if at all, than FM21 or even earlier versions.

first season i always struggle with them but the players get to know me after a while and this works eventually, if i can survive long enough. these are helpful tips though because this team is so apathetic im gonna need every trick i can use

[Finnegan]

Just now, Beliall said:

first season i always struggle with them but the players get to know me after a while and this works eventually, if i can survive long enough. these are helpful tips though because this team is so apathetic im gonna need every trick i can use

 

The first season has been pretty rank since about FM19ish. You have to build up tactical familiarity and relationship with you before the players start consistently performing. Which can be fairly realistic, to an extent, I suppose.

 

[Beliall]

1 minute ago, Finnegan said:

 

The first season has been pretty rank since about FM19ish. You have to build up tactical familiarity and relationship with you before the players start consistently performing. Which can be fairly realistic, to an extent, I suppose.

 

especially when you're a nobody with no skills who somehow has appeared on the other side of the world in a country where he doesnt speak the language and got a job managing a football team without any qualifications

[Dan]

I don't think I've ever used anything except for encourage. I used to use fire up a lot when I was Andorra because Andorra.

[Dan]

3 hours ago, Finnegan said:

 

The first season has been pretty rank since about FM19ish. You have to build up tactical familiarity and relationship with you before the players start consistently performing. Which can be fairly realistic, to an extent, I suppose.

 

Skill issue 

 

[Finnegan]

17 minutes ago, Dan said:

Skill issue 

 

 

No don't misunderstand, I've won a lot of titles in season one. I'd say I'm nearly always successful first season. But there's definitely an initial bedding in period before everything clicks. 

 

[shen]

4 hours ago, Finnegan said:

 

The first season has been pretty rank since about FM19ish. You have to build up tactical familiarity and relationship with you before the players start consistently performing. Which can be fairly realistic, to an extent, I suppose.

 

I'd argue it's the hardest season. The rest usually becomes a cake walk. 

[moore_94]

I started a save where I first simmed 10 years to June 2035 and then began unemployed with no badges

 

(found another bug where I can look at this job history and for some reason sometimes it just completely hides years like how this one has hidden 2040 lol)

 

2035/36 - Utebo

The first club I joined was Utebo in the 4th tier of Spain with them in the bottom half, and we just missed out on the playoffs because of results between teams

 

2036/37 - Utebo

My first full season in charge and we missed out on being Champions by 12 points to the B team of Zaragoza, and we then lost in the playoffs

 

2037/38 - Utebo

Won the league by 7 points as we conceded just 18 league goals all season and the only reason it was probably close was because we started to get quite a few injuries towards the end of the season and we didn't really have the squad depth to cope but we had managed to build up a big lead to secure the title

 

2038/39 - Lorient

Decided I fancied a change and noticed that Lorient were down in the 3rd tier of France after going through administration a couple of years prior and thought it would be fun to try and get them back up to Ligue 1. Of course didn't really have much money to spend and had to rely on a few youth players but we actually managed to sneak into the last playoff place on the last day of the season and actually ended up getting promoted

 

2039/40 - Metz

My initial plan was of course to stay with Lorient but they were really struggling financially and I had been given just £40k a week total wage budget to try and keep them up (we were already spending £30k), but I had noticed that Metz who had the 10th highest wage budget in Ligue 1 at the time had been relegated with the managed being sacked and thought it looked like a very good opportunity and went for the role. I got the role and as you can expect due to the wage budget we had it made it quite easy to win the title and although we finished 12 points clear of 2nd we weren't even a really standout side as we still drew 4 and lost 7 league games.

 

The most fun however was in the January 2040 where I actually had what looks to be like a proper front end tycoon takeover (I have never really had a proper front end tycoon takeover whilst I have been at a club, I have only really managed them by joining clubs after it has happened)

 

2040/41 - Metz

We were given around £40m transfer budget and £500k wage budget to spend for the season back in Ligue 1 and of course I stretched it quite a bit with installments as we spent £100m total. It was a very good season for our first season back in Ligue 1 as we got the final european place and qualified for the conference league.

 

2041/42 - Metz

The following summer we were given similar budgets and spent around £100m again, however the money spent was focused on younger players and paid off big time as for the first half of the season it looked like we could actually compete for the title. Second half of the season though we dropped off a bit and probably because of competing in Europe and our squad depth not being the best it affected our end of season league form, however we did still qualify for the Champions League and win our first European trophy as we beat Arsenal in the conference league final!

 

2042/23 - Metz

Just started the pre-season for the 2042/43 season and the heavy spending the last couple of seasons caught up with us a bit as I was only given around £20m and £200k to spend - the budget was set before the new commercial deals and owner money were pumped into the club, and before we have been given any Champions League money as our bank balance is now sitting nice and healthy at around £100m so I am hoping for quite a bit to spend next summer!

 

I have only spent £4.3m so far this summer and that was on a back up left back - I am relatively happy with my squad and going to focus on using my budget on youth players, going around hoovering up the best young talent in France and Africa that I can. I have some highly valued players that have now got teams like Real Madrid, Man City, Saudi etc. sniffing around them but hoping to hold on to them for at least one more season before cashing in

 

The sad news is that Lorient went down with back to back to back relegations after I left and are now no longer in a league, going to try and help them out where I can though with buying any good youth for higher fees, loan them players if they want them etc.

 

I have been offered jobs at Chelsea, Arsenal, and Spurs so far but they don't really interest me, going to take Metz as far as I can and then maybe see about leaving but right now I am enjoying it in France

 

My first "big" signing was for £5.5m straight after the takeover went through for this Spanish striker called Paul (what a name) - looks to be developing really nicely, 10 league goals in his first season in Ligue 1 with us and 13 last season, so hopefully 15+ this season

 

Edited 23 April by moore_94

[Dan]

17 hours ago, Finnegan said:

 

No don't misunderstand, I've won a lot of titles in season one. I'd say I'm nearly always successful first season. But there's definitely an initial bedding in period before everything clicks. 

 

Is this not just sort of inevitable though at every club. You're not likely to have everything set up how you want it and I kind of enjoy just installing that everywhere. To me that's a part of it.

 

I do wonder if the next save I do I might mix it up a little and do something a little different. I could happily just do the same as this all over again in a new country but unsure if to branch it out a little and go to another continent. Maybe even another crack at the pentagaon as my laptop actually flies through this.

 

In reality I'll probably just end up in the 2nd tier of like Slovenia.

[shen]

27 minutes ago, Dan said:

Is this not just sort of inevitable though at every club. You're not likely to have everything set up how you want it and I kind of enjoy just installing that everywhere. To me that's a part of it.

 

I do wonder if the next save I do I might mix it up a little and do something a little different. I could happily just do the same as this all over again in a new country but unsure if to branch it out a little and go to another continent. Maybe even another crack at the pentagaon as my laptop actually flies through this.

 

In reality I'll probably just end up in the 2nd tier of like Slovenia.

I get @Finnegans point in the sense that just setting things up is a slog, like setting up training, tactics, shortlists, hiring staff, clearing deadwood staff/players, delegate tasks.

I would say that regarding tactical familiarity, team cohesion, relationship with the manager, I often don't see it as a big problem as it feels the other teams are in the same boat. 
If you get a good pre-season in, you can definitely get an early advantage, especially with regards to fitness levels/match sharpness, which should give a boost to performances for the first few weeks.

[Finnegan]

Think I might have explained myself poorly here. 

 

I'm not talking about finding the first season annoying because you've got to set everything up the way you want it. 

 

I'm saying that at some point over the last five / six years, they definitely changed something in the way cohesion and tactical familiarity works. 

 

You used to be able to go in to any club, load up a tactic you'd saved and exported and first game of the season at a new club you'd immediately be flying. 

 

At some point they tweaked this slightly. Even if you make yourself a Former International Player and go manage some tinpot club, you'll find the players don't initially listen to your team talks and they play somewhat hesitantly and your formation and tactics don't quite immediately click, even if you've built up some familiarity with it in pre-season. 

 

I'm not complaining about that, it's got some realism to it and basis in real life and anything that makes the game a bit more challenging is a positive in my book. 

 

But it does make the first few months of any first season a bit tedious, watching your players struggle to get any kind of rhythm before things eventually click and you start snowballing. 

 

[Beliall]

flying close to the sack in my save, just about keeping my job, changed formation and went all out attack and its kind of working but i have never had such a useless bunch of players in any save before, leicester rivalling honestly. clinging to 10th place in SA first division and i really want to make it to 8th, keep my job and rebuild becasue theres a really great opportunity here to clear out and replace with free transfers on less money and dominate next season

[Beliall]

season complete. it wasnt a particularly good one, squad was far too big and it took me a long time to see who was good enough, but we managed a few wins towards the end and were never really in danger of relegation, got the new contract, set almost every for release, including the reserve team and now i get to rebuild 

[Tommy Fresh]

Nothing will ever beat, great work in front of goal after your striker gets a hat trick, to which they reply get ****ed what's it got to do with you

[Ormondroyd8ftTall]

On 24/04/2026 at 19:29, Beliall said:

season complete. it wasnt a particularly good one, squad was far too big and it took me a long time to see who was good enough, but we managed a few wins towards the end and were never really in danger of relegation, got the new contract, set almost every for release, including the reserve team and now i get to rebuild 

I was today years old when I found out there was a team called Leicesterford City. Like a create a club name

[Beliall]

10 hours ago, Ormondroyd8ftTall said:

I was today years old when I found out there was a team called Leicesterford City. Like a create a club name

so many teams seem to go bust or rename themselves in this league

[Ormondroyd8ftTall]

1 hour ago, Beliall said:

so many teams seem to go bust or rename themselves in this league

Quick wiki search says the owner failed to pay wages in December 25 

[Dan]

So our newfound wealth had landed in my transfer and wage budget at last and in came 11 new signings. Most notable were two of Cukaricki's first choice defenders Vojnovic and Serafimovic - both of these had minimal interest in joining the club but were at least willing to talk to us at all and with the Serbian player wages situation, this made them quite easy to actually bring in.

 

 

 

This really was an overhaul. Pretty substantially strengthened in all areas. Cvetkovic was a player I'd had my eye on ages, he was somehow stuck in the second tier and nobody had come and taken him off Beograd. Bubanj had scored 13 goals in that dreadful Napredak team and the likes of Gotea and Croes looked like promising youngsters as well - albeit the £1.1mil future fee for Gotea was likely to stop a permanent move.

 

We made a pretty mixed start. Extremely disappointing to concede a last minute equaliser on the opening day at home to TSC but we followed it up with a shock 0-3 win at Partizan. It took us five games to win at home but surprisingly this arrived against Zvezda. We sat around 4th in the table after 3 months but there was something like only 3 points between the whole of the top half. it was a mad table.

 

We were never entirely convincing which was a shame. We felt a bit too open and I always expected us to give away silly goals even though we were scoring plenty. Despite hitting top spot we went and suffered a humiliating 2-6 loss to Radnicki Nis - one of the cluster of teams around the top. You could make a case for us coming 1st or 6th, but probably not below that.

 

 

 

The record against the Belgrade clubs was impressive though. How we didn't win at Zvezda I will never know. We sat 4th going into the winter break and I did have a bit of money to spend - with a couple more players lined up.