In this Football Manager challenge, your task will be to manage two clubs that are also arch-rivals.
In this Football Manager challenge, your task will be to manage two clubs that are also arch-rivals.
These players have all broken the hearts of their former clubs at one point or another: by playing for their arch-rivals. The ultimate betrayal in football, to return to your old stomping ground wearing the colours of their biggest enemies. While some think this is taboo, this Football Manager challenge encourages this behaviour.
You’ll follow in the footsteps of the great traitors who went before you, by starting a career with a club before moving to their biggest rivals, where you must equal or better your trophy haul. In essence: the ultimate betrayal of your first club. This isn’t always as easy as it sounds; you’ll encounter fan backlash, suspicious boardrooms, untrusting players, and of course, heavy media scrutiny. But with the right attitude and combination of success on the pitch, it’s potentially a very fun one.
The Judas Football Manager Challenge - Rules
- You can start with any club and any reputation, as long as the club has at least one fierce rival.
- You must stay at your first club until you’re listed as a favoured personnel.
- You can move to other club’s in between, but you must return to your first club’s arch-rivals eventually.
- At the rival club, you must beat your first club’s trophy count.
- If you didn’t win a trophy at your first club, you must beat your first club’s promotion count, or the highest league position achieved.
- The challenge ends when you are listed as an icon of the rival club.
- For an added bonus: try and remain undefeated in any and all derbies, while managing both sides.
If you’re looking for inspiration, here are a few suggestions of rivalries to get you started:
Celtic vs Rangers
This seems like an obvious one. If you can win the league with the one you can definitely win the league with the other. Celtic and Rangers are both so far above the rest of Scottish football in terms of quality. There’s absolutely no excuse for not winning trophies with both. The only problem with this rivalry is wherever you start, the other club is likely to be very wary of appointing you. But, with a few years out of Scotland, you might be able to convince the board to let bygones be bygones.
READ ALSO: FM22 Scottish Cities Challenge
Aston Villa vs Birmingham
These rivals begin the game at different levels of the domestic game, which makes direct parity difficult. But in many ways, this makes the level of betrayal all the sweeter. Imagine being the manager who leads Aston Villa to a cup win, European football, heights not seen at Villa Park for a generation; only to cross the city and achieve the same with their rivals AFTER getting them promoted? Alternatively, imagine getting Birmingham promoted, only to make them watch as you leave to bring Villa to a new level? The potential to stoke this huge rivalry in England’s second city is absolutely massive.
Fenerbahรงe vs Galatasaray
The intercontinental derby is arguably the most fiery and explosive derby in the world. And you’re about to follow Graeme Souness’ lead and light the powder keg. You would be the seventh manager you cross the divide, and it won’t be popular, but the draw of playing in such an exciting and passionate derby is huge.
