Picking a team to start a new Football Manager save with is a daunting task, regardless of whether you like to start your journey in the lower leagues, play as an established giant ready to win the big titles or somewhere in between.
It’s May, which means the real season is coming to an end, you’re probably 25 years into your existing Football Manager save, and you’re looking for a bit of a new FM challenge.But where do you start?
Picking a team to start a new Football Manager save with is a daunting task, regardless of whether you like to start your journey in the lower leagues, play as an established giant ready to win the big titles or somewhere in between.
The depth of the Football Manager database means there is simply no shortage of potential unique adventures, but here are a couple of ways you can work out somewhere new to start.
PICK A COUNTRY YOU’VE TRAVELLED TO
If you have been lucky enough to explore a few different parts of the world, then you will no doubt love reminiscing about your favourite places to visit.
Maybe you’ve wondered what it would be like to live in that country.
Football Manager is a fun way to re-immerse yourself in a country you’ve visited and a great way to expose yourself to an entirely new in-game experience.
In 2017, I was lucky enough to travel through Europe and visit a few different countries from the Czech Republic to Portugal.
Before travelling to those places, I had never even thought about starting a game in those countries, but both have proven fertile starting points for long and engaging saves.
Whether you start with one of the bigger clubs in those countries or pick a mid-table team and shoot for Champions League qualification or beyond, starting a new game in a country you’ve travelled to, but never played in before, is an engaging way to get off the beaten track in Football Manager.
There is one exception to this rule.
AVOID THE A-LEAGUE ON FOOTBALL MANAGER
I’m Australian, and I honestly don’t think there is a worst competition to play Football Manager with than the A-League.
The inability to sign players from other A-League clubs, the difficulty of selling players and the tight salary cap make it almost impossible for a team to take shape in anything less than two years.
Not to mention you’ll feel like you’re playing the same team every two weeks and have to simulate through the world’s longest off-season, it just doesn’t make for a pleasant experience.
There’s no promotion or relegation either, meaning you’re stuck with the same competition every season with only the sizeable challenge of turning your club into a continental force worth fighting for.
Seriously, just avoid it.
HOW TO TURN MID-TABLE MEDIOCRITY TO CHAMPIONS LEAGUE CONTENDERS
PICK THE CLUB WITH THE 3RD OR 4TH MOST LEAGUE TITLES
While I don’t enjoy starting a game in anything other than the top division outside of the likes of England, Italy or Spain in Football Manager, I don’t really like playing as the big fish in the small pond, either.
One way of finding a club with a serious prospect of building something decent within five seasons is to look at that competitions best performers outside of the top two or three teams.
So, if we use my example of travelling to the Czech Republic and wanting to start a save in that country, then I would look to avoid playing as Sparta Prague, Viktoria Plzen or Slavia Prague.
Instead, I looked at the history of the Czech First Division and found that Slovan Liberec had three titles to its name and had won it as recently as 2011-12.
This proved a fun way to find a new team in a new competition and opened up a whole new Football Manager experience, which proved plenty of fun.
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PICK A CLUB THAT MISSED CONTINENTAL QUALIFICATION BY ONE PLACE
Another good way of finding a club that presents a suitable challenge while still playing in a strong competition is to pick the club which just missed out on continental qualification the previous season.
If you’re playing outside of England or Spain, the club will generally be well equipped to make a good go of continental qualification in the first season, but will still face a good challenge from the surrounding clubs due to the much more equal spread of talent within the competitions outside of the top two or three teams.
In France, that club would be Saint-Etienne, in Portugal, it would be Chaves, or in Croatia, it would be Lokomotiva.
All three have the starting blocks to build a decent domestic campaign and - once qualified for Europe - the potential to start attracting some good quality youngster to launch an assault on the bigger clubs within five seasons.
