My FM23 training strategy

July 3, 2023

Originally, I started writing this post at the end of January 2023. It took me only five months and a couple of days to finish it. I had an idea to share some of my training schedules because I enjoy creating new ones quite often and I like how my players are developing and their training rating is high overall. That means created schedules and the training strategy is not that bad.

It doesn’t matter it took me so long to finish the post because I kept the same strategy for the whole save so far and it was the same in the first season when I started writing about it as in the seventh season I’m in now.

As the official game manual suggests, the training can be handled in as much or as little depth as you want…

It can be handled entirely by your Backroom Staff, using a selection of pre-set schedules and sessions.
You can pick from those same pre-set schedules and devise your own training calendar.
Finally, you can be fully hands-on, tailoring each Unit, Session, and Schedule to your full requirements.

… I can’t say I’m doing everything by myself because of the squad’s policy I’m using. I have three teams within VVV-Venlo - the main one, the reserves and the youth team. I’m doing both team and individual training for the main & youth teams manually and completely on my own. The reserves training regime belongs to their manager.

MAIN SQUAD

My training approach for the main (and also youth squad no matter if their schedules are the same or different) can be divided into three groups or three parts. You probably guess one of them is a pre-season part. And you’re right :) Historically (read as my whole life), I have pre-season connected to summer and January + February. But that’s based mainly because I live in a country where the football season usually has at least two month’s break. That means I have to adapt my real-life experiences to the nation/league where I play the Football Manager in.

Pre-season: At least 1 month before the opening competitive match, it depends on when the game allows me to start the pre-season. It’s usually about 5 weeks in FM23 save in the Netherlands.
- This part of the training schedule is the hardest and most demanding. I usually run these schedules until the end of August despite the league having already begun.
- These demanding schedules are also used in the opening two weeks of the winter 1-month long break.
During the season: These schedules are created and divided to make it available when the match is on Friday (mainly in the 1st season of the save as the Netherlands’ 2nd tier has the match day set to Friday), Saturday and Sunday.
The end of the season: These schedules contain some same sessions I’m using during the season but there are significant changes to make the training easier and less demanding. It includes a lot of tactical things, more set-piece sessions and more recovery sessions. I used it usually for the last 3-5 weeks of the season.

I’m playing football for almost entire of my life. The older I’m the more I think about the training schedules and sessions. In real life of course. Especially as I became a playing coach in my local town team and I need to prepare training sessions for 15 players. Most of them are youngsters between 18-22 years old.

I know from my own experience, the training sessions have to include also some fun. Not only drills. And that’s, for example, the perfect example of the schedule I create for the last part of the season when the sessions contain goalkeeping sessions like one-on-one and more. But it’s more in my head because the game doesn’t include something like that. We have some sessions like team bonding or community outreach but that’s not what I would like to see within sessions.

I, for example, like to dedicate at least two or three training sessions during the month to just have fun. I know it sounds stupid maybe but I like to use smaller balls (the standard size is 5, so we are using the size 3) for some technical sessions like keep-ups etc.

But the Technical part of the training contains things like chance creation/conversion and so on. These things are very specific to some parts of the playing style or specific things like transition or playing from the back. And there is no technical training session within the General tab.

The already mentioned team bonding and community outreach sessions are dedicated to connecting within the local community and making some social contacts. Maybe we could have some technical/fun/competitive sessions within this Extra-Curricular tab. But it’s just my thoughts.

A couple of training schedule examples can be seen in the screenshots below.

RESERVE SQUAD

As I already wrote above, the training regime of the reserves squad is in the hands of the manager of this team. It’s not because I would be lazy or I would ignore the development of players in this squad but the reason is very simple. The reserves squad contains 3-5 players and I decided it’s not worth investing time to create schedules for them.

There are only players who are not good enough for the first team + they are too old to be in the youth team + they were not wanted even for a loan in some lower league and their contracts will expire at the end of the season.

The best young players who are too old to be in the youth team and they have high potential are already in the first team so they have the same training regime as other first-team players and they are allowed to play for the reserves squad. The rest of the reserves squad is players who are on loan - all green-highlighted players - currently, 18 when I wrote this and that means only 9 players are in training.

As the save progressed, the number of players in the reserve squad was reduced even more as the young players were on loan mainly to our affiliate clubs.

You can see the main difference is that all these players have also an additional focus in comparison with the other two squads. Every manager/coach has his own strategy.

YOUTH SQUAD

“Extra Sessions quickly result in fatigue and tiredness among your players; however, it is less of an issue for youth teams, who are more likely to benefit from the additional time spent learning and developing. There is as always, a fine balance to be struck, and the risk of over-training a young player could result in burnout.”

— Football Manager Manual

As the quote above suggests, the youth players are more likely to benefit from the additional time spent learning and developing. The training schedules for the youth team have no free day and no free sessions. The young players are able to last more and a quality training regime is more important until they will reach the age of 18 years old.

TRAINING INTENSITY & TRAINING INTENSITY SCHEDULING

This is something that’s connected a lot to all teams mentioned above. I decided to try something new within FM23 and like how it works. My usual strategy in the previous versions was that all players under the age of 18 had double training intensity. I usually set the double training intensity for all players until they were 24. But I decided to try and use the training intensity scheduling option within the game for FM23.

Firstly, the strategy with the double training intensity remains the same for the U18s team and young players.
Secondly, all the players in the first team are set to use the automatic training intensity.

You can find the Training Intensity Scheduling screen within the Training screen and there’s a “Rest” tab in the menu. It “Automatically set training intensity and rest based on player condition.” This description says all about it.

I have it like this:

Very poor & Poor condition = No pitch or gym work.
Fair & Good condition = Normal intensity.
Excellent condition = Double intensity.

The only exception to this set-up are players above their thirties, and they all have their training intensity set to normal. I don’t if this is only a coincidence or if it works as I wanted, but this set-up really helped me during the two latest seasons of the save when I played in three competitions, and there were a lot of matches in combination with the Champions League.

When some players are really tired, I’m using the good old manual rest for 1 or more days.

Edited custom view for the Training/Rest screen with some additional info.

My favourite developments

There are a lot of players who developed very well during the previous seven seasons. But if I would have to select someone, it would be (probably) newgens named Astrij Markaj and Rick Schotanus. I had him for four seasons in the squad after purchasing him for €4M from Club Brugge in 2025 when he was 17 years old. The 2028/2029 season was his fourth and the last in our club as he will join Brighton for up to €13.5M in summer 2029.

The secondly mentioned player is Rick Schotanus. It’s a player I signed for free from De Graafschap as a 16-year-old defender in January 2026. He spent some time in the youth team, he was also one season on loan in Belgium with Mechelen and he was a WBL backup in the 2027/28 season. I really liked how he performed in the second part of the 2028/29 season and he even replaced my first choice. His development is really good and I need to give him a new contract.

I’m not sharing this as something you have to/should follow. It’s just my thoughts and what I’m doing in FM23. I’m not the one whose main priority is to develop all youngsters into wonderkids. The older I am, the more important criterium for positive training/development is the feedback from players in terms of their training rating/performance.

Also, don’t forget one important thing - it’s still only a game. Let’s play it, improvise and try new things continuously. I’m currently at the end of the 7th season of the save. I didn’t produce wonderkids and sold them for €100M. But I sold around 35 players who are in Netherlands’ and Belgium’s top and second tiers. It was not always for millions but the bank balance of my club is now around €100M thanks to Champions League prize money and these transfers. That’s what I like.

Thanks for reading.

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Running From FM - July 2022

August 2, 2022

It’s incredible but it’s already one year since we did this for the first time. Running From FM. We were playing the Football Manager and we ran based on the results within the save. The time we spent together with Matt and Tony while playing the FM21 save with Wisla in the Polish top tier was absolutely perfect. It was that type of save I will remember for a long time. Especially thanks to my FM22 save in Poland as I think about some players from that Wisla team every time I meet Wisla in my save. Matt wrote about it in the LQ8 if you want to read about it.

For example, Zan Medved 🐻 and Yaw Yeboah 🌪️. It’s also fun that a short time after Tony decided to do this FM/running challenge again, these two players moved to the same team within my FM22 save.

Tony shared his spreadsheet with the results from his side save with Hertha publicly and I decided to join again. The rules remained the same and simple as last year. Win - 1km run, draw - 2km run, defeat - 3km run. I was not able to run exactly this amount of kilometres last year and it was the same this year. Not because it would be too many kilometres but because I’m used to running more.

I’m not a long-distance runner and I rarely run more than 7-9 kilometres.
My favourite workout is around 30-40 minutes/5-6,5km.

“Why do I run? Because 30 minutes of absolute misery is all it takes to feel great the rest of the day.”

— A random quote about running

If you would ask me about fifteen or twenty years ago if I like running, my immediate response would be simply no, I don’t! The main reason is that I play football for the whole of my life. It’s already been more than thirty years and I always hated long-distance running and workouts. The summer and winter pre-seasons were nightmares for me.

“Say hi, this is a ball, you won’t see him for the next two weeks.” This was a favourite sentence of one of my coaches in the youth team. And it was Mordor. I have no good memories of it but the time flies and I like running now due to many reasons.

One of them is freedom 100%. I have an advantage that I live in a very small town and I have a protected area very close to my home. To be able to run in the forest peacefully is one of the best things now. Especially while working from home with two small kids and a wife on maternity leave.

🤯🤯🤯

The calendar year of 2022 was not too kind to me so far in many ways. I already had sprained ankle three times this year and the only way how I can run or play football is with the ankle taped. The war conflict in Ukraine, the loss of some friends and relatives here and many other personal things also didn’t help me. But running is one of the things that helps me.

As I already mentioned, the Running From FM challenge has simple rules. But I made my own rules this time. My June workouts were mainly to get back into good shape to be able to play football. My runs consisted usually of 45 minutes run. No matter the distance or pace, just run for 45 minutes with the main aim - to run without a break as long as possible to be able to play at least one half of the match when the football schedule will restore.

The most common issue of my running usually is that football is always more important and that means whenever my running shape is good, the football sessions take place on my calendar. Another thing is that I usually pick some injury like the sprained ankle this year…

I also considered stopping playing football after thirty years but it looks like I will continue one more season. My initial idea was to run 10, 20 or 30 minutes instead of 1, 2 or 3 kilometres. But I decided against it in the end. And I set my own schedule for the whole month.

30 minutes workout from Monday to Saturday
45 minutes workout on Sunday

The 45 minutes-long run on Sunday was something like the match after a whole week of training. I can’t imagine running something between 6-8 kilometres during the football first half as it’s a different type of running/movement but it really is the ideal type of workout for me personally.

The training sessions of my local team (the Czech 8th tier) restarted on Thursday, July 21, 2022. That means I had 20 days prior to the first training session to run every day. The last week of July (should) offered me two training sessions, four 30 minutes runs and the first summer pre-season friendly match on Sunday, July 31, 2022.

During the first Running From FM last year, I ran very often also during the day when I had the training session and I had two workouts per day. But I decided against it this time because of my ankles, knees…

So, yes, the plan was clear - try to prepare me as best as possible for the opening friendly match on the last day of the month.

I also made one important decision prior to the first day of Running From FM 2022 - I took the last beer for the entire month on the eve of June 30. I love beer. I love good Czech beer and I’m used to drink it every day. But I decided I will try to not drink during July and this workout/running schedule I set to myself. Mainly to be able to sleep enough and not read books while drinking until midnight.

Anyone who knows me a little bit also knows that this is not an easy decision. Goodbye, Budvar. Goodbye, Pilsner. Goodbye, Zichovec. Goodbye, Kozel… See you in August. 🍺👋🏻

Week 1

The first week was, in some way, the easiest but also the hardest. It was easy to get out as I was hyped and motivated to do it. It was hard between the second and fifth run because I was probably the most fatigued within this week. Mainly because July and the running started on Friday so I had to run 45 minutes on Sunday (July 3) probably in the biggest fatigue. But I think I did very well. I absolutely didn’t care about the distance, pace and other stats of my runs. The main point was to work as hard as possible within 30/45 minutes of workouts. The fact I run further and faster at the end of the first week was just a bonus.

Week 2

The eighth day of Running From FM, and the first day of the second week, were without the traditional run for me. My teammates decided we are missing each other and they called me to play 5/6-aside. And as I wrote above, I decided to not run on the same day as I have a football training session to avoid injuries/burnout/fatigue. But as I am unable to just stay on the pitch, it resulted in 6.12 kilometres within one hour and four minutes of playing football.

July 9, the ninth day was my first miss. A sick younger son, a lot of work around the Women’s U19 EURO final match and the fact that my wife was sick too resulted in the day when I was without a chance to go out for even 30 minutes. It was one day and I already missed that running feeling and freedom.

The second week of running resulted in my best run in probably around 20 years as I managed to run 5.7km in 30 minutes - 5k in 26:10 was my fastest 5k since I started using some watches or running apps. I didn’t run so fast since I had to end my ‘pro career’ when I was 17/18 years old. I felt very strong at the end of the second week.

Week 3

The third week started with another football training session. I also felt I need a change of scenery where I run. I went to the nearby town where I grew up with my family and I decided to run around the football pitch of my elementary school as they made the simple tartan running track here. It was a tough and intensive workout as I ran very fast and I set a couple of new personal records.

It was also weird when some unknown 70 years old woman came to the field and started walking/running around the pitch despite she had a skirt and blouse as she would go to some shop or theatre. I need to get back there to find out if she bought the new running shoes as she wanted to buy mine…

The end of the third week also meant the same thing as the last year - curious fellow citizens in our small village. As I ran (almost) every day, more people wanted to stop me and ask why I’m running every day, especially as they know that I’m playing football here etc. Sometimes, I thought that I met more people (and talked with them) just because of these daily runs than in a normal regime. I also didn’t run the whole 30 minutes two days in a row as 1) it was really hot outside and 2) I felt I had enough after I was already over 5k. The last day of the third week, July 21, also was the first day of the summer pre-season with my local team… 36°C when the training session kicked off…

The last 10 days

The last ten days of July should be divided into more parts. I felt tired initially but I still have enough energy in my legs to run every day. For some weird reason, I ran very fast between football training sessions on Wednesday, July 27. But that was my last proper run when I felt power in both legs. The last run on Friday afternoon was slow and the main idea was to go out and refresh my legs after a training session from the previous day.

The last July’s Saturday was a proper crisis and I moved the run by every thirty minutes I instead spent the whole day with family and just went for a short walk. I thought my legs would explode and I knew that if I want to play a friendly football match on Sunday evening, I have to take a rest.

The friendly match was absolute as I expected before. Our opponent is playing in the higher division and they were better, we play against them regularly during summer or winter pre-season but we didn’t beat them since the summer of 2020. But the result (a 1:6 defeat) was not important as we are trying to put together an almost completely new team with seven or eight new players who made it through from the U19s team.

It was for the first time in probably one and a half years that we produced some good football and our play had a system, at least for the first 60 minutes of the match before most of my teammates were no longer physically fit and we conceded four goals in the last part of the match.

But it was great for me personally as I managed to run almost ten kilometres during the match and there was no part during the game when I would not have enough energy or power. It’s also probably good to mention that I was the eldest player of all from both teams…

If my main aim for the entire month was to prepare myself for the opening summer match, it really paid off because I felt very good on the pitch. Probably better than during most of the matches in the previous season.

Conclusion

I managed to do thirty activities during 31 days if we will count the walks. These activities lasted 21:40:31 ⏱️ and I managed to run/walk 168.4 kilometres.

22x runs 🏃🏻‍♂️
5x training session ⚽️
2x walk 🚶🏻‍♂️
1x friendly match ⚽️

The most important thing is that I didn’t pick some injuries during the entire month and my problematic right ankle hurt mainly only during the first week when I had to get used to some rhythm/tempo/fatigue etc. One thing is certain - when we did the Running From FM for the first time in summer 2021, it was, at least for me, more fun mainly because we played the save together with Matt and Tony, and we talked about everything much more regularly and I think we lived by the whole thing. Not only thanks to regular streams. On the other hand, if there would not been this challenge, I’m sure I would not do something every day for the entire month. Another positive thing is that more people were involved in this and they were able to combine their favourite game with some movement, not only from the desk to the fridge and back.

Don’t forget, Matt/fmadventure, wrote and continuously updated about his Running From FM month too - READ HERE.

Did I actually play some Football Manager during July? Despite I didn’t run based on some specific results, I finished the 2028/2029 season with Warta Poznan and I wrote some kind of four seasons summary. The save will continue to reach 10 seasons.

Thanks for reading and let’s run/walk/do anything.

And now, I can take some beers…🍺

Follow @FMRensie

When making custom skins steals the joy from playing the game

December 27, 2021

The same as I remember some bits from my Football Manager 2016 save in Denmark with AB Copenhagen, I still remember the moment when I told to myself it would be nice to create my own custom skin while playing the game. I was using mainly the ‘g2’ skin during the FM16 but despite it being perfect skin, there were things I didn’t like. Or better - I wanted to improve them to my liking.

And the learning process started. I decided to use the simple panels and widgets made for the DF11 website to have bigger player & staff faces and I added them to the base skin. I like this moment when you’re trying something new, especially in the combination with FM as it’s my favourite game of all. I remember the moment when I realised how to resize the kits’ widget in the club overview for the first time to make the kits bigger. It was like scoring the last-minute winning goal.

You would maybe be surprised how can three pixels’ adjustment makes a big difference (don’t tell it to your partner with centimetres). When I learned how to edit the league table and to be able to insert more data than only wins and points, it was so good feeling that I added all the data available just to have it here despite I know it looked stupid. And confusing as well with twenty-one columns...

It was simple skin with four or five screens edits. But it was my first try and I was happy. A year later, when the FM17 was released, the expectations were already higher. But it was the same as with my first try. Some small steps, some small edits here and there, some adjustments to DF11 panels to my own liking. And a lot of learning. Also thanks to some great people around the skinning hideout on the SI Forum or some feedback from other FM players around me.

The main idea of the skin was always the same – just make simple adjustments to make the game better. This remained the same despite I started making more and more my own panels, my own widgets and my own graphic papers. Because appetite comes with eating and the skin is much more complex and more detailed after all the years.

One of the nicest things of it all surely is when you realised how simple adjustments you made after three hours of saving the .xml file and reloading the skin again and again. The fact I spent many hours trying to move one line two centimetres higher but forgot to change the alignment or I deleted one symbol and was surprised why the whole panel doesn’t work. But it’s always fun to find something by yourself and not only copy/paste the work of others.

But the same as the game has changed in recent years, the way how people act has also changed. It doesn’t matter if it’s about making the FM skin or trying to deliver the best possible sports marketing content or some manual work. The more you create, the more you can lose.

As I mentioned in the post about the FM22 skin. I’m not a skinning expert and I’m doing mainly basic things because I like it in this way. There are more detailed and better skins around. Skins made by Wozzie, FMwkdsoul, Michael Murray, ‘bluestillidie00’ and others like Andromeda, for example. They all spend many hours making it perfect as they have great ideas and they know how to reproduce them in the game. I will always be grateful mainly for the fact that I found most of the things on my own. I didn’t steal it.

I know I said the same during FM21 but I’m sure the FM22 custom skin was the last one I shared publicly. As I said, the behaviour of the people is worse every year. And I had enough. When someone told me during FM20 that I’m a useless idiot because I refused to make his own background to the custom skin, I just moved on.

When someone downloaded my corner kick routines, forgot to rename them but also placed them on his own website behind the paywall with the same name as I saved it, I just moved on. Only my friend who sent them over to me was a little bit angry that he paid for something he downloaded a month ago for free from my website. I moved on after most of these things.

Until this year. The beginning of the FM22 cycle hit the peak of all. There were three custom skins released publicly two days after the beta version of the game was released. All these three skins were 90% of my work from FM20 and FM21. One of them was named “FM20 Rensie skin Dark” as the author was not even able to change the name of the skin in the config file. “It’s just for personal use.” This sentence is one of the biggest lies within the FM “community”.

I released the FM22 Rensie custom skins on Wednesday, November 19, 2021, in the morning. Two hours later, I saw that two different authors released the updated version of their skins. With several extracted files from my skin without any mention. I spent almost two-thirds of November creating this skin. In my eyes, it’s the best skin I created since 2016 when I started learning how to edit the size of the font. I already improved it again. But only for myself and a couple of friends. And that’s how it will remain.

The time before every new FM edition should be the best one. I always loved the nation/club selection process. I always loved creating everything around the new game. But not this year. The joy from making small edits developed into a big frustration that every time I will create something, there is a queue of idiots who will steal it. And when someone steals your work, he presents it as his own with stupid mistakes and someone other labels that as the best skin of all, the motivation goes down even more.

It’s the beginning of December 2021 when I was writing this and I didn’t start my main save during that time for the entire time of FM22. But the main issue was that I had no intention to even think about the save or plan something.

The creating the custom skin changed from “YES, it’s the fucking new game time” to some kind of onus. It’s the same when you think you have to create some content because it’s popular or someone expects it from you. Or any other reason.

No, you don’t have to. The same as I don’t have to. I would just like to find joy from playing the game again.

The combination of people who steal your work & the continuous number of bugs/issues in the default panels I have to fix before the developers decide to fix it by rewriting the original code = all my /our/ work can start again, it all just leads to more depression than joy from making it.

I’m happy there are or there were some people who sent me some donations during the last three years. Not because of myself or because I would be earning money for making a custom skin for the Football Manager. I’m happy because I was able to send the money to others who need them more than me. I did it in 2019, 2020 and I did the same in 2021 before Christmas. It was probably the last donation but better than nothing.

Cheers for reading, take care.

Today's weather in the 🇨🇿 capital. Not everyone is able to have his/her own home, hot water or access to a shower.

But there is a "Nocleženka" thing and it can help thanks to your #FM22 Rensie custom skin donations.

It's not enough to help everyone but better than nothing. pic.twitter.com/yciucgvHwJ
— FM Rensie (@FMRensie) December 7, 2021

FM22 | How to view stadium footage while using Rensie custom skin

December 6, 2021

If you are using my Football Manager 2022 custom skin (both normal and low-resolution versions), this short post is for you. It was not meant as a purpose, it was just a coincidence 100%. But it works. I find a way how to you can see the stadiums in all their beauty. Again. Five years later.

Maybe you will remember the Football Manager 2016. I played with the Akademisk Boldklub in Denmark and I had the new stadium. When you played the match in FM16, there were always some very quick and short snippets at the start of the match.

The exact quote of the official Football Manager account If it’s possible to see more was: “That's a no. You generally only see snippets at the very beginning of the match.” Maybe you remember, they were wrong and I find the way how to do it. You can see the post about it here.

The work on the FM22 custom skin finally let me add some things back to the game as I wanted last year after the player’s widget bar was added to the match. Let’s talk about it as quick tactics buttons as they it gave me, or you who use it, the more useful way how to edit tactic including the team instructions, shouts, opposition instructions or sub players.

The last-mentioned button - Make Sub - is the key for this little game hack. It’s similar to how it worked in FM16 but it’s even easier now. The same thing is that it works during the half-time of the match you play actually.

The bottom player’s widget bar doesn’t disappear, the same as the quick buttons. The only thing you need to do is to click to Make Sub and then hit the Confirm button. And the footage of the stadium where the match is played will start. You don’t even have to make some substitutions. Just open the Make Sub popup window and hit confirm. That’s all.

You don’t have to be afraid you would lose some progress in the match. You can see the Dressing Room text is here in the top right corner where the Continue button normally is. So, the process of the half-time won’t be affected. You can hit the space bar as you are used to doing and you will enter the team talk or change tactics etc.

You don’t have to change camera settings or rewind something. As I said, just two buttons - Make Sub + Confirm.

I know it’s probably nothing too important for most FM players like I am. But if nothing more, if you will have a new stadium within your long-term saves, it can be a nice small bonus to see it.

*If you will have this Make Sub button in other skins, for example in the Tato22 as I know Wozzie added it recently, it will work too for sure.

Follow @FMRensie

What Football Manager Graphics Add-ons I use

October 27, 2021

The full version of the Football Manager 2021 will be released on Tuesday, November 9, 2021. It also means one thing – my custom FM Rensie skin for the new edition will be published. Straight after I will be able to check all the panels and widgets to see if it works well and without some issues.

I remember I had a post about the graphical additions to the game in the past. Probably during FM16 or FM17, I’m not sure right now.

The Football Manager 2022 edition will bring my 6th custom skin already. With every skin, I’m answering the same questions.

What logo pack are you using? What kits are you using? Why I don’t have the stadium pictures in the club overview? What face pack are you using? I think this page can help you. If you will check this of course.

Kits

Time from to time, I like to make my own kits, usually, just for the team I play with but the rest of the kits are the FC’12 kits.

You can find all the FC’12 kits that are made by the Allstar kitmakers team for the Football Manager 2022 official football season 2021/22 in the link below.

All the kits are absolutely perfect and they fit any skin you will use. All the credit goes to the Allstar kitmakers team in the lead with FM Slovakia. You should follow their social media channels to be up to date with new or updated packs.

FC'12 Kits download page

Face pack(s)

There will be two links. The reason is simple – I like to use both DF11 faces and Cut-Out faces. The custom skin I’ve been using for years is adapted for both versions and for both sizes. Both these packs are updated regularly. DF11 faces are updated monthly, Cut-Out pack is updated not at some exact date. But if you have an account on sortioutsi.net, you can for example see which updated pack you already downloaded (big thumbs up for this).

DF11 Faces

Cut-Out faces

Newgen Faces + newgen faces script

I’m sure many of us were at the point when we were not satisfied with how the newgen faces looked in the game when they started taking over the save. Some FM players pay for “better” newgen faces.

But you don’t have to pay for it.

I like to use the exported FIFA faces. You can use the faces manually and create your own face pack with the config file, the same as you would do with real pictures. That’s up to you. Or you can use the Newgen faces script (with ethnicity and hair colour) made by @Krysler. All instructions are in the link.

If you’ve followed my FM21 save in Sweden, you already saw these FIFA faces on the screens as I’ve used it for half of the save.

Edit in October 2023: If someone would be able to export newest FIFA faces, just let me know :-)

fifa faces

Logo pack

This is a very simple part of this page. I will be always the biggest fan of the Standard Logo Pack as this pack contains everything that you need. If you’re not a fan of some fancy logos or logos with some effects. That’s nothing for me. I like to check the sortioutsi.net page for updates to have the logo pack up to date.

Edit in October 2023: Unfortunately, this Standard logo pack has not been updated since 2022, so before FM24, I decided to download the TCM Logos Megapack.

standard logos

Mini Stadiums

The last addon I’m using regularly. I like to have the stadium panel in the club overview and I also added the stadium picture to the stadium overview screen. There is also a different pack with more pictures but I like to use the pack named FMT Stadium Superpack.

The main reason is that other packs contain pictures with a smaller resolution. Usually with a width of 400px. But the pack made by “geordie1981” includes pictures with a resolution of 800×480.

I could increase the size of the stadium widget in the club overview in the past thanks to this. And the pictures are not blurred. The best thing is that you can always make the picture on your own.

Just buy/download your favourite picture of the stadium you want and save it with the right unique ID. This ID belongs to the stadium, not to the club.

These pictures won’t work with the default skin when playing the full version of the game. You need some custom skin with the panels/widgets for the stadium overview. These pictures are also not meant to work as background pictures.

FMT Mini stadium pack

If I wrote about the fact you can make the mini-stadium picture on your own, it applies to logos too. If you find some wrong logo (club/competition/nation), just tell about that the author. He can update the pack and you will help others to have it updated.

Competition Colour Fix

Most of the competitions in the Football Manager don’t have the right colour combination due to natural things like licensing or just poor research or work within the database.

This fix is very useful if you want to have colours of the English Premier League with the right colours exactly as you like to use the real name fix.

Competition Colour fix

All sites with the add-ons I shared above offer all the important instructions on how to install everything and where to place it.

But the most typical things you have to do are:

Place the extracted add-ons in the following directory of your computer system:
- WINDOWS: Documents\Sports Interactive\Football Manager 2022\graphics
- MAC: Users\Username\Documents\Sports Interactive\Football Manager 2022\graphics
Run Football Manager 2022 and go to: Preferences > Advanced > Interface
Make sure that you tick the check box on the page called “Reload skin when confirming changes in Preferences” and un-tick the box saying “Use caching to decrease page loading times”. Hit Confirm.

PS: If you want to have default national flags in club/nation/players screens, just delete the national flags folder from the Standard Logos pack (or a different pack) and reload or restart the game.

You can use these add-ons already during the beta version of FM22.

And thanks to everyone for their contribution to these add-ons!

Pros & Cons and thoughts about FM21

January 8, 2021

The beauty of the Football Manager (and other things as well) is that we all play the game differently. We all prefer different features and we all noticed the new/old/fixed/still bugged/newly bugged parts of the game in a different manner. Someone likes to go straight to some screens to check what is/not new or fixed. Someone absolutely doesn't care about it and just buys all the wonderkidz. My Pros & Cons and thoughts about FM21.

This post is mainly my own thoughts from the first weeks of the new edition. Some new things are criticised (rightly), some of them are praised (rightly) and some of them are left unnoticed. And, unfortunately, there is a lot of old and an old of new bugs that you would not expect.

But, this post is not about every single bug I (or someone else) found in the previous weeks. As I said, it's mainly only my own thoughts. Most of them are about how one or two small changes/tweaks would make the game slightly better.

*Note - I switched to the default skin to avoid some things I edited for my own so they are not in the game thanks to my own custom skin.

Match UI - the bottom bar

The improved, or maybe better just revamped, match experience was surely one of the most discussed things after a new edition release. There are some things that I thought about during playing matches.

The option to move players by drag & drop option. Mainly to be able to change (for example) CM players from CMR to CML position instead of having to go to the main tactics screen to make it after you made a sub. For example, when you sub defender for the midfielder and you have to change the formation or positioning at the pitch.

Sub counts - you can make a quick sub when you click to the player in the bottom bar but it counts as the one sub or better said one of three stoppages. I'm playing in Sweden 2nd tier and there is a substitution rule "5 from 7 (max of 3 stoppages)." So I have to go to the main tactics screen to make more than only one sub within one stoppage because when I do it via the bottom bar, three single subs are counted as three stoppages.

It's mainly connected to edited competitions rules due to COVID-19 restrictions so most of the leagues or cups have new or temporary rules.

The bottom bar

I have absolutely nothing against the bottom bar, especially as you can hide it and it gives you the nice zoom in and the players with the pitch are better to see overall. But the hide option gives us also one big disadvantage.

When you hide the bar it results in the fact that you can make some quick tweaks.

You can see the main Tactics & Subs button in the left bottom corner but you can't see the quick buttons for your tactics, mentality, instructions or shouts when you have the bottom bar hidden.

That leads to more clicks than before and despite I'm quite used to it already, it's annoying to hide/open the bottom bar every time when I want to do something or want to check players etc without having the touchline tablet open constantly.

I found out I'm pausing the game almost every time I want to make some tweaks or just check the players.

I like to watch a lot of matches in full or in comprehensive so that means 1) the bottom bar is hidden and not seeing the info to have the pitch zoomed-in or 2) buy new eyeglasses.

It's also sad that you can't see the profile of the specific player as there is a no "i" icon in the bottom bar and there is no option to see the profile of the player(s) when you click on his name/kit/position. That means you have to open the tactics screen = more and more clicks.

Match UI - positive small things

I want to share also two great things. They are great at least in my eyes. When you hit the settings icon during the match in the right top corner, you will open the settings like camera, highlights etc.

1. I really like the fact you have the option "View All Match Preferences" here. It will open the classic Preferences window, same as if you are in the home screen or mailbox. And you can set everything right now. Or you can jump to a different part of the Preferences. It's great we don't have to go back and open the Preferences here and here.

2. I'm not sure how many of you are using Replays during the match but I'm sure most of you are using it at least for goals scored. How many times do you skip the replay of the goal you conceded? Every time?
You don't have to! If you want to avoid the typical depressive feeling after conceding a goal and you don't want to see it again, just open the settings, hit the Replay Events... drop-down menu and untick the first option "Show opposition replays".

What I miss?

There are several things I miss in the game from the past. One of them is the little icon at the bottom of the sidebar just above the battery icon (if you're playing on a laptop).

The missing icon always shown you when is your next match. It's not here anymore and I can't stop checking that place.

I wrote here two paragraphs about the missing timeline in the match but the developers added it back to the game before I released this post.

(The match timeline is was one of these things for sure as the only option how to go through the match is was to hit the spacebar/play when you open the match. The game will load the match/report and you can watch it in full or rewind/move forward including using "10" buttons.

But would it be easier to click to the timeline to exact time instead of clicking to the "10" button? It's only possible to use the timeline only within already played matches, not the live match. It's still not ideal in my eyes but it's better than nothing)

Stats

I'm not statistic expert or nerd. There are many better FM players who love to use stats in their saves for many things like recruitment, transfers and many more (check @FMStag, @AFMOldTimer or @FMTahiti for example).

But that doesn't mean I am able to ignore everything.

I like to use simple stats so the fact some of them are displayed wrongly at several places in the game, annoy me too. For example, things like this are shared by @Shrewnaldo.

Wonderful #fm21 pic.twitter.com/e2hGOVkrzJ
— Shrewnaldo (@Shrewnaldo) January 1, 2021

I don't need to check and analyse all the stats within the game. It's not required (to me) to analyse every player and his passes/shots % success etc. But when I want to check the number of goals conceded from the right side of the pitch, I want to see the right number.

Here is where I would have placed an image from the analyst report but in researching said page for this blog I’ve realised it’s all completely bug-gered. Basically the numbers don’t add up and by a long way. I wanted to see whether we were conceding a higher % of goals from through balls, or crosses, or set pieces and also when abouts in a good we were conceding these goals. Alas this isn’t something I can do accurately right now without watching every game back and am I fuck going to do that. Disappointing.
Ed Wilson in his post about the Season 4 with Bodø/Glimt.

Set pieces

If you know me, or just only follow my posts in the last years, you know I wrote quite a lot about the set pieces every year. I like to check all the new things when the new edition is out. And the set pieces are one of the first area I like to check.

I had very small expectations before FM21 there will be something new. Or something improved. Or something fixed. Wow, that would be too much to expect.

We can say that Sports Interactive did not disappoint my trust and expectations. They fixed absolutely nothing. Nothing from FM16 when the current set piece creator/editor was added to the game.

There are still the same issues + some more. I even installed all the versions back down to FM16 to check around 10 things. They don't work properly in any version between FM16 to FM21.

I know it's a beta version but...

... I was afraid to open some screens in the new edition. I just had the possibility to take a look at #FM21Beta for the first time.

And, unfortunately, no surprise.

Some things are the same despite reporting them four years in a row. pic.twitter.com/QhGkNmXa3H
— FMRensie (@FMRensie) November 11, 2020

I didn't play as much as in the past before this post was released. But nothing within the set pieces was changed/fixed/improved since November 2015 when the FM16 was released.

I'm currently not sure if the fact I reported same bugs within one part of the game during 6 editions of the game in a row is a sign of dedication or my own stupidity.

What do I like?

One of the new 1000+ features I like is a new column within the mentoring group when you add players in. We were able to see the estimated influence on (the) group even before but we have another column here. It's called the estimated effect from group and I think it's clear what it means.

We can now see if the group will have some impact on the players you added in the specific group.

Another small thing what I like has to be the Team/Player Stats and Rules buttons at the bottom of the competition screen. I'm not visiting this screen too often but I think it's a nice touch to have quick access to stats and rules from here.

Squad icon

Sometimes it's enough to make me, at least slightly, happy with a very small thing.

The new squad icon in the sidebar is one of them. Not sure if you remember how it looked in FM20 (it's a too old game now, right?), the icons of your main/reserve/youth squad looked the same.

The Res and U19 description are so small that you have to concentrate on what is it. (if you don't have it hidden of course because you delegated everything to your staff so these teams icons are hidden under the Development centre).

Plus, yes, the Staff icon was also almost the same. So, this change is really appreciated by me. This is really positive change.

Improved offer for...

I recently saw one new feature in terms of signing players/negotiating contracts. I submitted the contract offer for one player and he came back in a couple of days. It was not accepted or rejected. He wanted to negotiate.

The Improved offer for player required is a nice feature as you can see straight in the mail news item what wage the player wants but you can also see the reason(s) why he wants to negotiate the terms and what clubs he prefers now over to you.

Too big fatigue

This is just a cosmetical thing. But it's exact thing I hate every time I see it. I made the new custom view within the tactics screen as I wante to include different columns reflecting the new system of condition, risk injury, fatigue etc.

Logically, I added the "Fatigue" column to the view. It was surprising and disappointing to find out the game developers were not able to make it with the same font as other columns.

It looks stupid and not representative
It's like the work of a group of amateurs
It looks even more stupid if you have a small resolution as it's not suited for small screens and it will take two or even three lines
It's stupid especially as several players reported it on SI Forum. I wanted to share the threads I remembered about (including mine) but I found out many topics were deleted including this one.

Conclusion

I'm sure I would be able to talk about many other things. Both positive and negative. But I don't think it's needed. I'm glad I put these together. It's not something like a review, just my thoughts I was putting together for several weeks. Sometimes, I thought SI will fix some of these things. Or break the positive ones :)

There are times when someone asks me why something is broken in my custom skin. I'm not 100% sure whenever someone asks because many things are untouched and they are broken even in the default skin.

I know it would be possible to fix these things, usually just with some simple change of code. But I always ask myself why I should fix something for SI when I pay them for the game?

One example - the xG thing is a big part of the FM21. It's in the analyst report, player overview, statistics... But you can't see the numbers at the first sight. Only if you open the widget.

It's just a small thing. Many FM players will don't even notice it. But things like this always drive me to the simple question - why?

I don't know the answer. But it's sad you have to do it by yourself. If you know how, of course.

I, somewhere in my head, feel that the fact I have to spend many hours editing a custom skin to make the game better is not the best way.

Some things from the FMSlack

Maybe you will find something similar to your pros/cons in replies under this tweet...

Back to the writing mode this week and I'm finishing the post I've started to write a month ago.

👍🏻👎🏻 What's your most & least favourite thing/feature/part/issue in #FM21? pic.twitter.com/Rf8dvlUCwI
— FMRensie (@FMRensie) January 6, 2021

Thanks for reading as always.

Hope you are all well, take care of yourself and your family.

If you are interested in reading other thoughts about the FM21, Chris @Fuller_FM released his perfect post yesterday. It's nice to read also other opinions and thoughts about the game especially as I spent a lot of time putting together my own post about it.

My thoughts on Football Manager 2021

Searching the right club in Football Manager

November 4, 2020

I'm not an easy person when it comes to searching for the right club in the Football Manager. And this year is one of the worst in a very long time. I can't choose some club to play within FM21. Not even the continent or nation. The more I'm thinking about it, the more I'm sure it's because of the need to find something even more obscure or not too traditional as the year ago. I realised I talked about it even with my small son who's reply is usually "huu" or "hmm". I think it's time for some change...

If you don't remember my post before FM19 (logically, it's very far away in some ways), I wrote the post about named Time for a change. I tried to express why I decided to move from the typical saves in Europe to unknown (for me) places in different continents.

I moved to Chile but I realised it's almost the same due to the same league system with 30 rounds, playing each team twice. That was the right time to move to Argentina with more complicated league system. And to Mexico for FM20 with play-off, apertura and clausura etc.

It was refreshing in many ways, for sure. I usually ended far in the future in the previous editions but I played "only" ten seasons in FM20 and I spent also much less time with the game in overall.

But that was not because of the club selection. That was due to the game itself.

The map above shows destinations of my saves since the Football Manager 2015 when I started this blog. Scotland, Denmark, England, Hungary, Chile, Argentina and Mexico.

All these saves were different but also the same in some way.

Known vs. unknown nation/league/club

One thing I mentioned in the three years old post was when I play the beta version of the game with the known club. By the word known I mean mainly known to me.

I made a big mistake recently when I downloaded the edited and updated database and started the FM20 save with Sparta Prague. The club I know from the bottom to the top.

That save last around 5 or 6 days before I realised what I did again. Picked the club, added around 10 players to the transfer list, promoted young players from reserve or youth team and was winning everything. Mainly domestically.

Well, it's always fun at the beginning but when I started talking about that save with @FM_Athlete recently in FMSlack, I immediately found out how boring is it.

To be honest, this is the best example of the save I started to hate two years ago and why I went to Chile/Argentina and Mexico in the last two editions. I knew 1 or 2 players in the team. I made it to the end of August now in this save with Sparta and I hate it in some way because it really is easy

This realisation is the best for me because it put me off from playing with Sparta during the beta because it would be the same and I would be bored very soon.

I decided I will use the Beta mainly to find the right nation and club for the main save.

My own vs. club in-game philosophy

This is something that I'm considering the most right now probably. The thing is that I was able to make it on my own in the previous editions. I mean, when I decided to play with young players, I played with them. All the restrictions were usually only in my head. Or in some writing form.

But since the Club Vision is part of the game, I can't think about every club because I don't know what the club visions/philosophies will be in the game.

I can expect some specific things within the club vision but it all depends on what the developers will set in the game.

Searching the right club in Football Manager

The save with Celaya in FM20 was a good example. I had to sign Colombian players at the beginning, the same as it was recommended to not sign players over the age of 30. If I would know about the sign Colombian players vision I would probably think about that club more because I would not know how long it can take me to get rid of this part of the club vision.

The truth is it took me 5 seasons before the club board removed it from the club culture.

(Ask FEO about the scoring from set pieces club vision and the fact he was not able to get rid of it despite it was enough to score a couple of goals during the pre-season)

I like to play with the domestic-based squad. I like to develop my own players and I'm very boring in terms of transfers.

It's clear I can't play with the club if there will be opposite or different visions. It means I have to consider possible clubs because of this feature in the game as well.

What to choose?

It's the beginning of November. The month of the new FM edition release. And it's for the first time in about 10 years I don't know what continent/nation/league/club to play with.

I usually had some plan or at least a small idea about the next save. Nothing similar this year. Probably too many other more important things in the way to think about it.

I wrote the above to FMSamo some time ago on Twitter when we talked about the new edition and save ideas for the beta version or the main save.

The save with BFC Siófok was probably the peak of my planning. All the things connected to the "Around The Lake" policy was too good. Nothing like that interested me since this save.

It doesn't matter how much I read, what I read or what kind of inspiration I'm trying to find around the game or even in the real life.

I think I had a list with around 25 - 30 clubs for FM21. Every time I started searching something about one of these clubs and the nations/leagues they are in, something always took me off.

The size of the stadium - it had the too big capacity for the type of the club and the challenge. Should I change it in the editor?
Too easy league system.
No ambitions in FM20 - what can be different in the next edition? (Mainly because it's not a big league so the improvements and changes will be limited).
And many more...

Time for another change?

TedRedwood recently wrote in his great post "Der Kult : Bonus : The best of a bad bunch?" this about me:

Ondrej Rensie oft takes teams from vaguely less-fancied nations and makes them into giants...

And he is right. I always try to find some big challenge. Something that will ensure I will be interested in one save for the whole edition because I'm not a big fan of changing clubs.

Maybe it's my biggest problem. When I think about it, maybe I don't need to find some obscure team in the third tier somewhere. Especially as I know I won't be able to reach 2040+ same as in the past because of much less time for FM.

I started thinking about it even more when MaddFM published his post about objectives and aims within his FM21 save in France with Angers.

He has some similar aims and visions as I like to follow and he is not afraid to play in one of the top nations/leagues.

I usually try to find some outsider in obscure league with everything below average to ensure it will take a lot of time to build the club.

Not needed now as I need to change my own FM perception. It's the only game. The game I love so I want to enjoy playing it.

I don't want to say I will take over Manchester City, that's not likely. But in combination with all the real-life circumstances, I need to play the game just because I like it. Not because I have enough obscure save.

I wrote this post on Wednesday, November 4, 2020. I still don't know where I will play in FM21.

But I'm glad I put these words together as they are some kind of stamp on my thoughts.

I hope you will all enjoy the new Football Manager edition. Or you will enjoy your current save in some different FM edition. Stay safe and take care of yourself and your families.

(My) Mentoring in Football Manager 2020

July 24, 2020

The new system of mentoring was introduced in FM19. I finally decided to be more patient and give it some proper chance. Mainly as it's not as easy as in the past and you have to combine more factors together than just only Driven personality of the experienced player with some promising youngster who will turn into a model citizen in three months. This is my system of mentoring in Football Manager 2020.

I spent some time reading different materials about mentoring since the new system was introduced.

This is the short and simple summary on SI Forum. It gives me the most important basic information.

But I think it gives all of us a lot of room for experimenting because you can try many ways how to use mentoring in the game.

No way is the best one, no way is the perfect how to do it and how to have the best results.

This is how I made it before the end of the 2026/2027 season and how I kept it for the 2027/2028 season. And what happened with some groups and players.

Maybe it's a wrong way. I don't know. It's not a guide on how to do it. But I felt this is the best how to do it within my save.

Central defenders

If I've added all these five central defenders, the third column shows you the social group in which each player is. You can see Marion Arboleda is in different group.

If I will take the fact the players have a bigger chance to mentor/influence each other if they are in the same social group, the best thing is to remove Arboleda from this mentoring group.

Btw. He is Colombian, the rest of these central defenders are Mexican. The nationality can have influence/effect to the social groups probably.

As "Players can still pass player traits (PPM’s) on as well if the individual shares a similar position to those in the mentoring unit" it's one of the things I wanted to monitor through the season.

At the beginning, only Loreto (Stays Back At All Times) and Franco (Plays Short Simple Passes) have some trait. Infante and Briones none.

Changes during the season:

Infante - personality changed from Professional to Model Professional in December 2027
Loreto went for a loan in the winter, the group consists only three players for the rest of the season
Juan Manuel Briones became Influential Player because of the number of played matches in the Apertura.
Juan Manuel Briones - personality changed from Perfectionist to Fairly Professional, Determination attribute went from 16 to 13 within two years. On the other hand, he was called up to the Mexican senior national team for the first time at the end of 2027/2028 season.

Defensive midfielders

We had six defensive midfielders in the first-team squad at the end of the 2027/2028 season. Only one of them had a Balanced personality. Paradoxically, it was one of our two main DM players Salvador Garcia.

When I added them to the one mentoring group I found out they all are in the Core Social Group. But the fact they all are able to play as defensive midfielders, they will play in this position. That's why I had to select players for the mentoring group also relevant to their current and possible position on the pitch.

Despite it was not highlighted by the hierarchy, Carlos Castillo and Salvador Garcia were the two main players to lead this defensive midfielders group.

It led to the fact Raúl Ortíz and Ricardo Marín were not included as I train them in CM role and plan to use them higher than in the defensive midfield.

I know three of these four players are highlighted as Other Players and there are no leaders but I'm expecting that Castillo and Garcia will have a higher position in the hierarchy soon.

To be fair, I'm a big fan of Carlos Castillo. I signed him for free in summer 2026/2027 from Athlético Choloma. He is a member of the Honduran national team and he is great as the Half Back. Only need to improve my Heading a little bit.

He also has Plays Short Simple Passes & Plays One-Twos & Runs With Ball Rarely traits. I'm sure they would suit other defensive midfielders as well...

Changes during the season:

Irvin Moreno picked up the Plays One-Twos at the end of June. Nearly two months after the groups were set. He left for a loan spell in the end as he joined our affiliate club in the 2nd tier and was their key player.
Castillo - developed the Dictates Tempo trait in December 2027.
The defensive midfielders group remained despite I switched to the 3-4-1-2 formation without a DM role during the season.

Filling the mentoring groups is the same as selecting the team instructions within your tactic. You don't have to select all the instructions and you don't have to select all the players to have ten mentoring groups with all the players. It's not bad to not mentor all players.
My opinion

Central midfielders

The group of the most players in our squad. And also, same as all defensive midfielders, all central midfielders belong to the same social group.

I decided I will create one mentoring group around the Gilberto Erick Serrano. He is our own newgen and my favourite player. He has resolute personality, determination 15 and he has perfect traits for both CM(A) & CM(S) role.

Gets Into Opposition Area, Tries Killer Balls Often, Plays One-Twos, Dictates Tempo. The bonus is Uses Outside Of Foot aka Tomáš Rosický.

I selected him in hierarchy and just selected other CM players to add them with him to the same group.

I put Ricardo Marín and Raúl Ortíz together with Serrano. Both 18 years old players with Spirited and Professional personality and with decent potential.

They both had no player traits so it was interesting to follow what they can take from Serrano.

Changes during the season:

Raúl Ortíz picked up the Dictates Tempo trait quite soon. Same as he gained Tries Killer Balls Often. He also added Uses Outside Of Foot. That means he learned three from four traits from Serrano from May 2027 to March 2028.
Ricardo Marín - personality changed from Fairly Professional to Resolute in November 2027.
Ricardo Marín - picked up Tries Killer Balls Often trait from other two players in March 2028.

Central midfielders - the rest

They were not the only central midfielders in the squad so I created also one more group with four other CM players as Emmanuel Cantú was the leader of this group with the most experiences and most games for the club.

These four players have various player traits like Plays One-Twos or Dictates Tempo.

Changes during the season:

Fernando Robledo moved to Liverpool FC for the record transfer fee (€17.5M). I decided to keep this group only with three players.
Villalobos - Places Shots trait developed from David Escobedo.
Escobedo wanted to be a star player, wanted €200k per month wage. He moved to Chivas for €7.5M = I moved youngster Ortega here to keep the three-players group.
Leonardo Ortega (click to open his profile) took Plays One-Twos from Cantú within one month (March 1, 2020)

Team Leaders - Ozuna & Osorio

You maybe noticed in the pictures above there are only three team leaders in the squad. Infante, Ozuna and Osorio.

Infante is within the central defender's group and I decided to create a separate group with Emiliano Ozuna and Sebastián Osorio. (click to open their profiles)

Both are our most experienced players (the real players, not newgens). Ozuna plays as AML/Winger(S), Osorio plays as AMR/IF(A).

There are players for both AML and AMR positions who can learn something.

Both these groups were formed by three players, Osorio and Ozuna both had a significant influence on the group.

Changes during the season:

The first change happened even before the start of the season as Julio Cesar Jiménez moved to FC Porto. And I decided to place here 16 years old striker Jonatan Arenas who can develop in the wide player as well in the future.
Arenas had none impact on this group first couple of months but it changed to light after he made some appearances.
Víctor Ríos was placed to the group with Ozuna and Pineda during the season after Garibay went for a loan.
No evident changes despite both groups were formed by team leaders.

Social groups

I mentioned social groups several times in the post and the fact they can influence the mentoring of each player within specific groups.

We talked about it some time ago in FMSlack with @FromElevenOne and he mentioned the players changing their groups often.

More precisely, he said: "...those fuckers change so dam often."

And he is right. I mentioned I created the group of central defenders also with the view they all are in the same social group.

It took only three weeks before two of these players changed their social group.

If one of the main suggestions and advice within the new mentoring system is to be patient. And the second one is to combine players within the same social groups...

You can be the most patient human being on this planet but it's probably impossible to keep the same mentoring units in terms of the social groups. When four of your players are moving within the social groups every two weeks because one player talked too much with the girlfriend of the second player. The third player didn't come to the birthday party and the fourth player is the lover of the girlfriends of the first three teammates...

We can do nothing probably. Just give it a time despite the constant social group changing.

As it stands, I started to write and make screenshots on May 10, 2027. The first picture in the gallery below is from May 31, 2027. Only one mentoring unit remained the same in terms of the social groups.

May 31, 2027
September 2, 2027
November 15, 2027 (all players back in the Core Social Group)
December 1, 2027 (only two weeks after and two groups remained the same)
May 31, 2028 (all players in the same Social Group except the one)

The last words

Before Cleon closed his website, he wrote the post about the mentoring in FM19 when the new system was introduced.

It's still on the SI Forum website so you can find it here. He wrote about the simple system which is similar to me in some way.

I'm using the units with a maximum of 4 players and players in the same group has the same positions.

His third "rule" was to have at least 1 player who has significant influence in the unit. Same as I have it with team leaders Infante, Ozuna and Osorio.

I didn't use the mentoring groups without team leaders before the 2026/2027 season and before this post. I just wanted to try it.

"In this group, there is no one with any real influence over the group. What this would mean is that most of the unit are all equal with the exception of the first player. I wouldn’t have high hopes for a unit like this because of the lack of real influence. It would mean there would be barely any benefit to mentoring because no one is strong enough to take control of the unit."
Cleon

I knew there were groups without a player with significant influence. They at least passed traits between each other. As players in the group are players from the same position/role, I have no problem with it.

There was no big negative effect despite the smaller or zero influence. Same as there were no significant changes except the traits within the whole season.

The game itself gives you some suggestion during the season. One of them, within the mentoring, was, for example, moving striker to the group with central midfielders or wide defender/midfielder to the group with strikers.

Not sure what to think about it. Same as if you hit the "Ask Assistant to Assign" and he places together players with different positions and from different social groups.

But I will test it more. Probably...

Player development - when it doesn't work

June 19, 2020

It's always great to see the green arrow near each of the attributes in the player profile. It's great to see players growing and improving as the game progress. But it's not always only about the positive player development. What if it doesn't work?

I'm still doing a very similar approach as I wrote about during previous FM editions and FM20 as well in terms of the players' development.

I have my own way, I'm doing things I like and things I feel they are alright. Not something from the specific development guide or article.

As we spoke recently with @fmFutbolManager in my FMSlack channel, I'm sure some development results could be better in my save if I would do everything with some insight. But I like my own system.

What went wrong?

I remember when I published the post about the player development back in March this year, TedRedwood was interested in players who didn't make it. In players, their development was not as good as I expected.

It took me some time but I remember his idea and I decided to put some of these players together now.

We are in the half of the 2026/2027 season. My eighth in Mexico within FM20. I went back through the save and decided to write about several players. Yes, I have a save file at the end of each season so I was able to check their development screens back.

What you don't want to see within the player development in Football Manager

Ramiro Jiménez

The first player is the extreme situation immediately at the start of these players list.

He was my second signing of the save when I found him as a free player and I waited until December 2019 before he became our player. His main position and roles were AM/Enganche.

I've used 4-4-1-1 with AM player during the first part of the save so it was ideal. But he was trained as Roaming Playmaker in CM position.

He made progress only in one attribute as he was able to improve Strength by 3 during 1 and a half-season. He improved some mental attributes as well but nothing dramatic.

It didn't matter where he played, he was so inconsistent and I can't trust him.

But the whole potential went to the bin. I sold him in December 2021 to Chivas for €1.1M. They didn't see it and give us a lot of money. He got number 54 (later changed to 17) and they moved him to the B team.

He spent 5 years in Chivas' B team, he made only 4 appearances for the 1st team and he retired from football in summer 2026 when he was only 24 years old.

Brian Mirabelli

I had some period during this save when I liked to scout young American and Canadian players.

One of them was wide midfielder Brian Mirabelli. We signed him for free in 2021/2022 season from Toronto FC Academy. I set him to train as Complete Wing Back, as I like to do with wide players, especially with wingers.

My aim was to have him as a backup for the AML/Winger role and coverage for Emiliano Ozuna but it didn't work out. He spent the majority of the time on-loan back in Canada with FC Edmonton. It's important to say Edmonton had the same (bellow average) level of their facilities.

He got some chances in the first team, mainly during pre-season, but it was not enough and his development stagnated. At least in my eyes.

It resulted in a free transfer to York9 FC. You can see there is absolutely no development.

Brandon Herrera

Another Mexican talented player, this time a central defender originally from Pumas. I bought Brandon for €67K as one of the players before the first season in the top tier in summer 2020.

Even as 18 years old player, he looked solid, for a young central defender. Decent Marking and Tackling, good Acceleration and Pace in combination with the fact he would fit the domestic strategy and rules.

He developed slowly. And after a damaged knee cap injury (only 4 weeks out), his bravery & determination dropped.

Herrera spent one-year on-loan with our feeder club, played 40 competitive matches in the second tier and Copa MX but it was not enough.

No club wanted him for another loan or transfer, even for free and he retired in 2025 when he was 23 years old. He was trained as Ball Playing Defender. Nothing worked and it doesn't matter what I tried as the additional focus.

José Preciado

I would not say the case of this Colombian midfielder was a total failure. But disappointment for sure.

I signed José Preciado for free from Deportes Quindio in January 2021. He played most of the time as CM(A) or DLP(S) in that time when we've used 4-3-3 with flat midfield or as AM(S) within 4-4-1-1.

He was trained as Box To Box midfielder with Attacking Movement to boost Composure/Anticipation/Decisions in the first part.

The main change in his development after three years in the club was he turned in natural CM player. But his development in overall was not good.

He spent the next two seasons on loan before he was sold to America de Cali. I tried Final Third or Attacking Movement but his mental attributes were probably frozen.

His contract with América will expire in June 2027 and he was moved to the B team and is transfer listed...

Diego Montano

It wasn't easy to select the fifth player but I decided for Diego Montano in the end because he is a little bit different case. Because he was on-loan with us for two years from Club América.

I shared his picture in the El Buitre” Search Filter post what is base mainly on mental attributes. The initial thought was to retrain him to the full-back role but I gave up due to his technical attributes, mainly crossing.

Montano was trained as the Half Back with additional focus on technical and also physical attributes. He played mainly as our Half Back, it was a joy to watch when he hit this goal but in the end, he was forced out of the line-up.

Mainly because his development stalled and our own players were better and I wanted to give them more playing time.

Probably his versatility and possibility to play in more than one or two positions/roles were the cases I rather prefered my own players.

He is now back with Club América and when he is playing, it's a different position/role every time. He played against us in the last Apertura play-off final. One match as the central defender, the second match as a defensive midfielder. But he has also full-back (both sides) or central midfielder within his report card. Btw. he has number 11 as DM/D(RC)/CM.

It was hit or miss in this case. I could develop a good player for us and bought him from Club América (they wanted €5M after the first season of the loan) or I could develop a good player for Club América. The first option fell with the end of the loan. Not sure even about the second one.

Conclusion

I would be able to write about many other players for sure. There are some other players I signed at the beginning of the save and they are retired or in some lower league.

I always like to check the transfer history screen and find the transfers from summer 2020 after the promotion. I signed 7 young players for a total fee of €254k.

Erick Vargas is our number 1 keeper, Luis Hernández moved to Vitória de Guimaraes last summer for €5.25M and Josué Manuel Dojaquez to Shakhtar in 2025 for €13.25M.

I made the comparison of Ramiro Jiménez and Josué Manuel Dojaquez in 2021 and 2025.

Midfielder Kefren Castillo (also shared him in the player development post) went to Deportivo Toluca for €2.7M. But mainly because I had too many midfielders and he wanted too much money.

Not every bought player or newgen is able to make it.

These five I shared all had/have a neutral personality. Nothing that would help them to develop better probably. I tried the same tricks and the same way as for other players but despite their high or very solid potential, it was not enough.

As always, thanks for reading, @FMRensie.

My squad numbers system in FM

June 15, 2020

The time between seasons is always a great opportunity to refresh many things in the Football Manager saves. You can review the whole tactics or just only some small things. And one of the things I like to review is the numbers of players in the first team and I decided to write something about my squad numbers system in FM.

I know FM players are divided into groups related to many things. Some of us make everything by our own, some of us give the responsibilities to the assistant manager, Head of Youth Development or Director of Football, some of us delegate everything to the staff and do almost nothing to speed the process of their saves. It's absolutely the same as the numbering system.

*Assign numbers Auto assign numbers is a nice battle question for the Twitter hitz.

My squad numbers system in FM

The way how I assign numbers within my saves is very easy and it's based on how I like the numbers in the real life for a very long time but there is probably a no single team in the world what would have it the same.

If you would use the same system, I would know what your player's positions are despite I don't know your team, players and it doesn't matter if you are two or forty years into your save.

Same as I like to have a domestic goalkeeper, I like to have my number one keeper with the number 1 on his back of the shirt. That's nothing too revolutionary

I'm always going from right to the left. The numbering system is affected by the formation I'm using. The list below is adapted for three formations I'm using the most: 4-3-3 with the flat midfield, 4-1-4-1 DM with MR/ML players and 4-1-4-1 DM with AMR/AML players.

RB - 2
CD - 3 & 4
LB - 5
DM or the defensive player within the flat midfield - 6
CM player with support duty - 10
CM player with attack duty - 8
MR/AMR - 7
ML/AML - 11
ST - 9

The system consists of one very simple thing in terms of the backup players of each specific position.

Examples

The right defenders have numbers 2, 12, 22, 32 etc. It's about number 2. The same for CM players with the attacking duty - 8, 18, 28, 38 and so on.

The numbers reflect the role of the player within the squad. I like to have 1-11 for the players within the starting XI. Players with numbers between 12 to 21 are the first backup players. The players with numbers from 22 to 31 are the third group of players - usually the youngsters.

The only exceptions are backup goalkeepers who currently have numbers 40 and 41. If there would be backup/young players for some specific position what would require these numbers, I would move numbers for keepers higher.

As you can see in the above picture, several players have "Previously assigned to..."

It's exactly due to the fact I mentioned at the beginning of this text. I review the squad numbers every year in line with the players' playing time and the position within the squad.

Example: The young striker Christobal Aguirre got the number 29 before the season, previously assigned to Victor Rios. Rios had the number 29 as he signed for us in the winter so I was not able to change the numbers during the season. But as he became our number one striker, he got the number 9.

I already now know I will have to change some numbers next year. In-summer bought central defender Juan Manuel Briones got the number 23 as he is the youngest from our central defenders and he was the second backup player for Josué Infante in the right CD position.

But as the 1st part of the season developed, he is playing with Infante as our left-sided central defender so he should have number 4 or 14 as became a more regular player.

Preferred squad numbers

Several players have their own favourite number but they can have even ten favourite numbers in my team. But they won't receive it if they are not playing in the required position.

There is no room for a sentiment like this in my head. Even if I would have some star like Messi, Ronaldo etc. and they would want their favourite number, he would have to play with what I would give them.

I know there is a possibility some players will give the favourite number as the requirement to the contract but I would try to remove it. Or I would not assign this number, I don't care

I remember it was quite painful in the FM19 save when I joined Arsenal de Sarandí and there were 5 players with the same favourite number. But players usually get used to it in the end...

**The most ideal starting XI in terms of squad numbers in my current save in line with my squad numbers system in FM.**

The official Football Manager Twitter account recently started a discussion about the numbers with their Tweet and I'm sure you can find some good examples in replies.

But more than this tweet, I was inspired to put this together by @FMGrasshopper who likes to replicate country's tradition of numbering system - for example, this is from FM20 and the system within his time with Penarol in Uruguay.

And by @FMAthlete who wrote about his system back in march - Squad Numbering is an Art Form. And I'm glad I was able to finish it as I started writing this some weeks ago.

Tifo Football

The game of shortcuts

June 2, 2020

Smash the continue button. Hit the F4 button to see the mailbox or F3 to enter the squad screen. Many people play the Football Manager with the shortcuts. If you would think about it, it's mainly the game of shortcuts. There's plenty of them available in the game. But. Did you ever think about to change the default ones?

I did that some time ago and I'm using my own system same as I'm using the customised sidebar on the left side of the screen.

The sidebar customisation is very easy. Just move icons by your mouse. Same as you can move the horizontal dividers.

I like to have it as in the picture. Schedule and Home bottom of the sidebar, mailbox separated, same as tactics and training. All the squads with team report and development centre together.

The rest contain three groups related to the club info, scouting and transfers and the last three are the "most rest" I used very less.

**My current version of the customised sidebar**

The most used shortcuts/screens

If you want to set your own shortcuts, or if you want to just check the default options, just go to Preferences and type shortcuts to the search bar. It will appear here.

You can see the keyboard commands sorted by name as it starts with Game - Continue option etc.

I didn't edit these so far. I still use spacebar to continue or CTRL+S to save the game.

But I changed or edited the "key bindings" for several screens what I'm using most often. I set them for F1 - F11 commands.

As you can see, F3 remained the same - the squad. But I changed, for example, the home screen, I also use F2 for the mailbox instead of F4 as this one is used for the tactics screen.

The highlighted shortcuts in the picture below are the most used right now. F12 is not here because it's set as taking a screenshot by default for the Steam.

If you would like to edit it by your own, just click the specific shortcut and Remove and +Add New buttons will appear here.

You can completely change it. But you can also have more shortcuts for the same line. For example - F4 and CTRL+T for tactics. And You can also restore it all to default.

What shortcuts I also like to use?

There are other shortcuts I like to use during playing the game. Some of them are the same as default, some of them were edited during the time.

ALT+S - take a screenshot and save it to the Documents/Football Manager 2020/screenshots (you can set the picture format [png or bmp] in the Preferences too, just type Save Screenshots As)
SHIFT+F - visit the finances summary screen
SHIFT+T - notebook in the game, mainly when I want to make a quick note or create some reminder, usually about some transfer or loan.
SHIFT+R - reload skin, mainly when I'm editing the custom skin.
SHIFT+S - staff responsibilities.
- I'm using the same type of mouse for many years because I like the simple function when you are able to go back or forward with the mouse scroll wheel just as it's available to move left/right. It makes it easy and I don't have to use other keys.
You can also use the left/right arrow within your keyboard to go back or forward. You can also decide in Preferences if you will leave the player or staff screen when you use the back option.

Possible improvement?

If there is something that I would like to improve in the future, it has to be the option to be able to add our own shortcuts.

I mean, you can set the exact shortcut right now but only for the already available screens.

Example: you are now able to add/remove command shortcuts for the Scouting - Assignments and Scouting - Knowledge screens. But I would like to add the Scouting Centre screen as well.

Unfortunately, it's not available because the Scouting Centre screen is not on the list.

One of my shortcuts is F9 for the Tactics - Set Pieces screen but if you would expect the shortcut will take you straight to the set piece creator, you are not right. It will get you to the Set Piece Takers screen because it's the first one in the set pieces drop-down menu.

Until this will be available, it's better to click to the Tactics icon in the sidebar with the right mouse button and go straight to the set pieces creator to corners, free kicks or throw-ins. I will change some of the shortcuts probably in the future. For example the set pieces I mentioned above as it's not as useful as I would like. I still have to make one more click to go to the corners or free kicks.

It's just the game of the shortcuts and you are the one who will decide how you will use them. Do you use them? Feel free to vote or comment what do you like to use.

Pictures & videos shortcuts

Time from time, someone asks me about how to capture things from the game. Mainly longer videos.

I'm using Gyazo or Lightshot for pictures. The first one mainly for quick pictures without edit, or to use the picture link to the text. Lightshot is good because of the unlimited library for free.

The biggest advantage in comparison with Gyazo where you would have to have a PRO version to have more than last 10 pictures/videos.

Gyazo is a very good software to take short gifs from the game (not only of course). But you are limited to 7 seconds by the free version.

For all the pictures or videos capture, I'm using shortcuts. For example, gif capture is CTRL+SHIFT+A. Try to put your fingers to these keys, it's nice they are close to each other. Both these programs offer the option to set your own shortcuts.

Lightshot has, for example, a great option to "Instant upload of the fullscreen" to the library. If you play FM in full mode, you can have the screen in several seconds.

I like to share longer videos on Twitter to show the full build-up before the goal for example. It's taken by GeForce Experience/in-game overlay when you are able to choose your own short key to record video.

And you just hit this hotkey during playing the game and it will record what you want.

Player development in FM20

March 19, 2020

The player development in the Football Manager is one of the key areas of the game. At least for me. In combination with a good training regime, it can lead to quite good results. What is my system in FM20?

Most of you who follow me and my saves, know, my saves are usually connected to young players and their development. And it's not different in FM20.

I've reached the end of the 2023/2024 season recently and I think I already have enough examples of player(s) development after five years.

And I would like to share some of them with you. Also with the samples of their additional training focus.

Same as we all love the green dots in the schedule screen, many of us love the green up arrow near the attributes. The green arrow(s) means your player is developing well and his attributes are better.

But don't worry if you will see some orange or red arrows aimed down...

If you look on the attribute graph you will see that most if not all the attributes dropped by as little as .01. Under the hood, FM views the attributes as a 1-200 range. And this allows it to account for gradual declines and gains over time. Over the course of the season, and often early as they are working back into fitness, you will see this happen. It's only a problem if you see it persist over time.
Things to consider if it is a decline to be concerned about: age, a serious long-term injury, and off-field incident, or signing a young player from a team at a higher level with better training facilities (though this will level out fairly quickly and cease to be a problem, though he might not get back to where he was if the decline is too much).
Source: SI Forum

Midfielders = my pride

If I really enjoy the development of some specific players, it must be midfielders.

It's also connected to my favourite formation as I like to use 4-3-3 with a flat midfield. That means I need to have a lot of central midfielders.

They are usually my key players
I like to have a big depth in this position
There is a big potential to develop some really good players

I also changed my approach during FM20 in terms of Position/Role/Duty training.

I liked to use Roaming Playmaker role for 99% of my central midfielders in the past. This role covers most of the physical attributes but also most of the mental attributes.

That means it's a very "overall" type of training as it's less specified and it can be slower in terms of improvement.

I decided to change it to Box To Box midfielder role.

Trained attributes for BBM role (green) in combination with Defensive Positioning as Aditional Focus (blue).

One of the key questions is what do you want from your central midfielder?

Hold the position and distribute the ball?
Roam from his position, play as a free player?
Get forward whenever possible?

You can have everything but even if my central midfielder is creator, finisher from the second line or just someone who is responsible for simple passing, I want them to have strong physical attributes.

The only exception would be the player who I would use in the Ball Winning Midfielder role. Yes, the physical attributes are important too, but it's a very specific role in my eyes so I would not train this player in a different role than as BWM.

Player development in FM20 - example 1:

The first example is Gilberto Erick Serrano. My central midfielder who plays as DLP(S) or CM(S), it depends on what role I'm using.

Gilberto is our own newgen from the 2021/2022 Youth Intake. He was able to make 11 appearances until the end of this season in our U20s team. He was promoted to the 1st team squad and made 12(9) appearances in his first full season.

In that time we used DLP(S) role so he was my backup for Lionel Laborda.

He was set to train BBM position with Defensive Positioning as the additional focus as I wanted to improve him for DLP(S) role - mainly to improve his Positioning and Decisions attributes.

As you can see, between March 2022 and July 1, 2024, the progress of those attributes was really good:

Decisions ⬆️ 7
Positioning ⬆️ 5
Marking ⬆️ 5

In combination with his overall development including physical attributes or Off The Ball attribute improvement, he grew up to the perfect midfielder. And he still is only 19 years old.

Also, both his traits - Plays One-Twos & Dictates Tempo - were developed during his time in the club.

It's also the right time to decide what Additional Focus to give him now. I thought about Passing but Technique and Vision are already good. It looks like I will give him some time with Endurance to boost Stamina and Work Rate.

Player development in FM20 - example 2:

The second example is Kefren Castillo. I bought this midfielder at the end of the first season of this save from Zacatepec for €60k.

I let him play the U20 league in the first season and as I'm in charge of the individual training of the youth team, it was not a problem to train him same as if he would be in the 1st team.

Same as Serrano, he was set to train as BBM. The difference was the additional focus. Castillo was set to train Passing.

Passing ⬆️ 7
Technique ⬆️ 5
Vision ⬆️ 8

The improvement of his Vision attribute is phenomenal in my eyes.

Both Serrano and Castillo play as CM(S) with Hold Position and Shoot Less Often instructions.

Not good enough? I will take a look...

Our example number three is not a midfielder. It's a central defender and our own newgen. I mentioned Josué Infante in the post about the far post corner kick routine some time ago. He was not among the players our DoF wanted to sign from the Youth Intake. But I signed him.

And he made 45(2) appearances in the latest season despite he is still only 19 years old.

He is trained as the Ball Playing Defender. The additional focus in the first full season was Agility and Balance. I changed it to Aerial for the second full season.

Agility ⬆️ 6
Balance ⬆️ 7
Heading ⬆️ 3

He is playing as a central defender and I'm very happy he improved attributes like Anticipation, Concentration or Positioning a lot. Same as Pace up by 5 ⬆️ .

I will continue for some time with the Aerial additional focus with him to improve his Heading attribute.

The Youth Intake responsible man

I don't buy too many players in my saves. I'm more inclined to develop my own players.

That's why I try to invest all the money to the training & youth facilities and youth recruitment.

Currently, our Director of Football Ramoncito Morales is responsible for youth intakes. Mainly because of his professional personality. If I will be able to find better HoYD, I will change it.

Btw. it's hidden here in Staff/Overview/Transfer and Contract responsibilities - Provides Youth Development Information.

The reason why I mention the youth intake is mainly that the fact of the preferred formation as it could have a big impact on your youth intake.

Morales' preferred formation is 4-1-4-1 DM Wide. That means three central midfielders, same as I like to use within the flat 4-3-3. The DM position is not too important. It's much easier to retrain DM to CM role than to have 5 players with the position I'm not using...

The 4-1-4-1 is my most favourite formation with the flat 4-3-3 so I like to choose my coaches or other staff with this formation. If it's possible of course.

The own players aim

We are currently on the way to finish the third improvement of our facilities in three years. We currently have Good training facilities and Average youth facilities. I also hope the Youth Recruitment will be available to upgrade.

I have 27 players in the 1st team at the end of the 5th season with the club. 15 of them are home-grown players and 7 of them are our own players.

The aim is to have at least 75% of the squad made up of its own players.

* I would like to find my coaches and DoF or Head of Youth Development by the 4-3-3 formation with the flat midfield trio but it's not possible to select it in the Staff Search as 4-3-3 Wide is not within the Preferred Formation option.

I remember I suggested it as a new feature during FM19 but nothing changed...

Another one?

David Escobedo is on a very good way to join his older teammates. I bought this young midfielder from Mineros de Zacatecas in summer of 2023 for €40k. He trains as Box To Box midfielder with the Passing as the additional focus.

And his attributes of Passing, Technique and Vision already moved up by 2 and 3 respectively. His physical attributes are also better.

He turned 17 years old in April 2024. He still has a lot of time to reach his potential and became a first-team regular player. So, that's it about my Player development in FM20.

I would be able to share some more players from my current squad but I think those examples are enough.

If you would be interested in something related to the player development, just let me know.

FM16 Guide: How to see your stadium in 3D

June 9, 2016

One of the best things in Football Manager is when the board decided to build a new stadium or expand your old stadium. And I think I'm not the only one who wants to see the whole stadium during reconstruction and after the completion. I finally know how to see the whole stadium during the match.

In September last year, I asked the Football Manager Twitter account if "is there some way how to see the whole stadium during the match?" They replied "That's a no. You generally only see snippets at the very beginning of the match."

@FootballManager Is there some way how to see the whole stadium in during match? Like this screen... thanks pic.twitter.com/FrFlBvCHo6
— FM Rensie (@FMRensie) September 26, 2015

BUT!

I found the trick how to see the stadium which means you can make screenshots or you can use it for video etc. It's very simple.

Guys from the FM Twitter account are right that you can see the stadium just only for a while at the start of the match. But we have to concentrate on the half-time.

When the 1st 45 minutes are finished you make half-time team talk or some tactics change. When you click Start the second half, there will be a short shot at the whole stadium from above. Be sure you have the Director camera angle in the settings.

Wait for the 2nd half to kick off and click on the pause button. Then you click to rewind back button and you can take time back to the half-time or before the kick-off time. And Director camera will now run through a slideshow of different camera angles with the view from above included.

You can also make it in previous matches. Open match, click to "Upload highlights - Preview Clip - stop it and click at the time before the half-time on the timeline - wait to the half-time whistle and pause game."

It will also show you a slideshow of different camera angles the same as during live match coverage.