The Higher Tempo Press
FM26 Tactic Testing: GYR’s SWANSALONA 4231
We are back with just our second tactic testing for FM26, and this one is a tactic that has been used in previous versions of the game, but has been updated by its creator for the latest version of FM. That tactic is GYR’s SWANSALONA 4231. Read on to find out how the tactic fared […]
Sort It Out SI
Ukraine: UPL, First League, Second League, Amateurs – Update for the 2025–2026 seasons
Ukraine: UPL, First League, Second League, Amateurs – Update for the 2025–2026 seasons FM26 Download posted on Football Manager Databases - Editor Data Files for Football Manager 26
Passion4FM
FM26 Update 4 Brings The Return of Shouts | Complete Overview of Changelist & Improvements
Since Football Manager 26 was released a moth ago, the developers have worked hard at fixing UI bugs and making the game ‘playable’. With Football Manager 26 reviews being the […]
FM Scout
Football Manager 2026 Patch 26.1.0 - Hotfix Update for FM26
This update brings a wealth of bug fixes, improvements, and features to Football Manager 2026 retail version. This is the 9th hotfix update so far.
FM Addict
Wonderkid Factory | Part 3 | Takeover Precedes Gunma Playoff Push
Thespa Gunma’s young stars achieved a solid top-half finish in the longest football season known to man, as a 16-month J3 League campaign finally ended in May. That overperformance saw managed Robaato Rasamu field interview requests from multiple J2 sides.
Coffee House FM
FCK 25/26 Part 1: Tac-Tic-Tow?
The first pre-season of a new save is most definitely the slowest of any season in a save. There are so many different processes and decisions that are inter-woven or involve a level of repetition: assessing the squad, deciding on a tactical style, looking at the transfer market, reassessing the sq
Fuller FM
Alternatives to Football Manager 26
Football Manager 26 has been out for a few weeks, and… mmm, yeah. It’s still a mess, isn’t it? While many FMers are still wrestling with the new interface or complaining that their favourite franchise has been turned into a mobile game, some will be looking for something else to play. But I know what […]
Load FM
A Guide to Multiple Shortlists in FM26!
There’s one particular feature in the recruitment section of FM26 that assists you in organising your transfer targets and players of interest easily, by category and neatly, to make things far more simple for you during busy transfer windows. Why then, you may ask, does hardly anyone use it?
5 Star Potential
FM26 20 Hours In
I’ve done my 20 hours, that’s 38 games played which means 76 clicks of the down arrow to start each half.. and 228 continue clicks to start the match… but am I disappointed, no, does it need some work, absolutely. Off the bat my initial opinion on the Arcade/Console/Touch feel is becaus
FM Inside
Your Style, Your Personality: The New Manager Creator in FM26
Creating your manager is the first big step in every Football Manager save. And in FM26, that step has been completely reimagined.
A FM Old Timer
The Art of… The Artwork
I’ve had requests from a few people to show how to make the graphics I use for various aspects of my blogs, but in particular the squad age against minutes, and overall minutes across the squad by position, and age profile against peak age. In this blog post, I’ll take you through how to extract […]
The FFM
Football Manager Burnout – Why I Walked Away from the Game
Burnt out from Football Manager? You’re not alone. This post explores why I quit the game after years of obsession, and why I don’t regret it.
Libero Uno
Jurassic Volkspark – The Club, The Coach, The Core
Jurassic Volkspark – The Club, The Coach, The Core.Rebuilding a Dinosaur. Restoring a Legacy.From Empire to ExileThere was a time when Hamburger SV didn’t just exist in the Bundesliga — they defined it. Formed in 1919 from a merger of three local clubs, HSV quickly grew into one of Germany’s first great footballing institutions. By […]
Zane Pritchard FM
The 1860 Diaries
Over my years on FM I’ve journeyed through multiple types of saves. Some I’ve enjoyed, some I’ve given up on after a season or less and some I absolutely love. The 2 saves that jump to mind straight away are Gremio and Austria Vienna. Both 1 club saves. As much as I enjoy sleeping around […]
FM Stag
A Fresh Focus – 1- Crystal Palace
The following is a fictional article, from a fictional sports website called theangrylinesmen, modelled on the style of The Athletic. “Palace needed reinforcements, and needed them quickly.” In each post in this series, first we’ll look at a specific club’s real world performance in the 2023-2024 season. Analyse their strengths and weaknesses, and pose a… Read More »A Fresh Focus – 1- Crystal Palace
Thebootroom FM
Northwich Victorious
So here we are again, back into the whole Football Manager blogging thing and I thought it was about time that I focused on something I know a little bit about. I’ve taken the reigns of a club that’s very close to my heart: Northwich Victoria. If you haven’t heard of Northwich Victoria, then where […]
Taylor Made Manager
Hibs’ Challenge to Break Old Firm Duopoly
“It might not be today, and it probably won’t be next season, if we’re being honest. But I PROMISE that if I’m given time here, we will win the league and break the duopoly of the Old Firm. I’m all about competition; it drives everything I do, and I hate it when one or two […]
Madd FM
La Resurrección – 4
WE ARE BACK. La Resurrección – the revival of notorious fallen giants Deportivo La Coruña, where we are about to embark on our fourth season at the helm having been promoted in Season 1 before finishing 11th and 3rd respectively in La Liga – be sure to catch up on the first three installments here if you haven’t already. When we last left off, we had somehow managed to sh*thouse our way to a 3rd place finish in La Liga, largely thanks to 24 league goals by €6.75m signing Cameron Archer, along with a few big individual performances from the likes of Luca Lipani and Junior Kroupi. I had spoken on the 5 Star Potential podcast about our dilemma with Lipani – a season long loan from Sassuolo, he was one of our star players and we absolutely needed to activate his €16m permanent option or risk him returning to Italy and seeing his value skyrocket on arrival (already €21m – €28m by the time the season finished). The problem? Our board only gave us €8m to fund our newly-gained Champions League status, with a side that has already overachieved as it is – drastic times call for drastic measures, and considering we operate a Buy Low, Sell High policy here in Galicia, it was time for some wheeling-and-dealing to be done 🛞. Bought for €4.5 million from Hamburg last summer, his 14 assists attracted a €15 million bid from Premier League outfit Leeds Utd, and given we were about three days from Lipani’s loan deal expiring, we had no choice but to accept. A midfield wonderkid who we originally signed from FC Lorient for €11 million just 18 months ago, his 14 goals and 6 assists attracted an all out bidding war between the likes of Chelsea, Juventus and Bayern with the German Champions eventually winning his signature for a fee of €55 million – WE ARE OFFICIALLY RICH PEOPLE. €70 million made in transfers, 100% of which goes straight into our transfer budget and all of which will be needed to build a side capable of competing in the European Champions League for the first time since 2004 – let’s have some fun 🚀. My favourite player of FM24 so far. 5 goals, 7 assists and a 7.38 average rating across all 38 of our league games last season playing in a Carrilero role – we simply had to make his loan signing permanent and €16.25m is exceptional value considering his price literally doubled after we signed him. We badly needed some pace and explosivity on the right side of our front three, and the former Man City and Wolves man comes in for €5.5m from Ajax in what could be a shrewd piece of business at just 23-years-old. Needing some competition for Gianluca Busio at the base of our three-man midfield, we found more good value in the signing of versatile Ryan Flamingo who can play as a Centre-Back or Defensive Midfielder as needed – a great name also, it would be rude not to. Having lost Mikelbrancis, a right-back was badly needed – our search became quite specific, someone who can play both as a wing-back going forward as well as tucking in as a centre-half if and when needed. Our scouts established that 26-year-old Harry Clarke was our best option without breaking the bank, we’ll give him a chance and see if he can match his predecessor’s exploits. This was a big one..our biggest transfer so far in fact. I know we said we operate a Buy Low, Sell High model, but this guy has the potential to be a €100m player in the near future therefore €26m could turn out to be fantastic value for money in hindsight; we badly needed to replace the quality and creativity of Junior Kroupi in midfield, Rego should give us exactly that and at just 22 has all the makings of a star player. We also add winger Adrian Gomez (€5.5m from Athletic Club) and midfielder Jason Knight (Free Transfer) to bolster our squad depth, and with 6 signings made we are ready to embark on Season 4 at Deportivo La Coruña. Squad List 2026/2027 Goalkeepers: Max Weiß, Kauã Santos. Defenders: Koni De Winter, Harry Clarke, Jon Pacheco, Niko Vukančić, Liam Kitching, Alessio Buttaro. Midfielders: Gianluca Busio, Luca Lupani, Ryan Flamingo, Jason Knight, João Rego, Joel Ndala, Luka Stojković, Carlos Borges, Adrián Pérez, Tomas Handel. Forwards: Cameron Archer, Gaetano Oristanio, Guillermo. We couldn’t have asked for too much more in terms of the first half of our league campaign. Barring defeats away to Real Madrid and Valencia, we went pretty much unbeaten and the new permanent midfield partnership of Luca Lipani and Joao Rego looks as good as almost any side in the league bar the obvious two – by the time we reach the end of December, we find ourselves in 4th position after 17 games played, things going far more smoothly than expected! We were handed a relatively tough draw with the likes of Liverpool, Arsenal, Inter Milan and Napoli all in our path alongside Club Brugge, Hoffenheim, Dinamo Zagreb and FC Kobenhavn. One feels you’d need to beat at least one of those big 4 to stand a chance at qualifying.. And that’s what we did! We somehow managed to travel to the Emirates and turn over Arsenal in their own back yard, and that along with wins against Brugge and Kobenhavn plus draws with Zagreb and Hofffenheim meant we finished in 20th place in the new Champions League League Phase (love saying that), and after we lost our final league game with defeat to Napoli, who did we go and get in the Knockout Playoff Draw? Well, Napoli of course 🤷. There’s only so much one can do against a side boasting Victor Osimhen, Romelu Lukaku and Khvicha Kvaratskhelia in FM24, and though we held them to a respectable 1-1 draw in Naples, they were simply too much for us in the second leg as we capitulated to a 3-0 defeat at home – so ends our return to Champions League football for the first time in 20 years as a club, we’ve had a taste of the big time and would very much like to be here again next season…. For the fourth season in a row we were told of an “excellent” group of players coming through and a real “golden generation” for the club in our annual youth intake; at this point, our Head of Youth Development has mastered the art of copy and paste every year, get that man a pay rise. However, when the list actually came through – dare I say it, we may have finally found our first ever true wonderkid in FM24 – arise, Francisco Valeiro, who apart from standing a measly 5’3″ in height looks like he could well go on to be a world-class wing-back in-game. I mean, look at those attributes 😍. Early exits from the Champions League and Copa Del Rey meant we only had to worry about league matters for our end of season run-in, a good thing too seeing as January and February were an absolute train wreck: The big difference between this season and last season is that we’ve had to become far less reliant on Cameron Archer’s goals; this time last season he had bagged 17 in the league, however by the end of February he had only scored 8 goals (11 in all competitions) which meant that the likes of Lipani, Rego, Stojkovic and Ndala were far more heavily relied upon – not that this is a good thing, but what a difference a prolific striker makes. 25 games in and we have dropped to 7th place in the league – not ideal at all, our Champions League dreams fading rapidly before our eyes. My concern at Archer’s lack of goals led to a slightly panicked January loan signing in the form of Max Moerstedt from Hoffenheim – a 6’5″ meaty striker with great physical attributes and at least one eye for goal. He did very little until a point where we randomly brought him on as a 90th minute substitute against Atletico Madrid, wherein he decided it was time to make a name for himself by scoring a 7 minute hat-trick from the Inside Forward (Left) role – make that make sense? He followed that up with a late winner against Espanyol, and though he did next to f*ck all for the remainder of the season – those two games will forever make him a cult hero at Estadio Municipal de Riazor. Three wins in March were followed up by a disappointing run in April, and as we entered May and the final few games of the season, we faced the inevitable realisation that Champions League football was officially out of our reach – Atletico Madrid’s two games in hand surely enough to ward off any late advances. Three games left to seal 5th place in the league which overall is a fine achievement for a squad of our age and quality. 5th place it is! A place in the Europa League which is arguably far more suitable for a squad of our quality, age and depth especially given our Buy Low, Sell High model and our realistic ability to compete with the biggest fish in Europe. If we can make a few more positive additions to the squad and with a little bit of luck, maybe we can even go on and win the f*cking thing?! Champions League it is then!!! Forget all that Europa League nonsense – Deportivo are BIG TIME ONCE MORE and we march on to the biggest club competition in world football for a second season running 😂. See you there 👌. Feel free to share any thoughts, comments or questions below! 👇👇 We keep on waiting patiently for FM25…
Wallace 'Til I Die
This Is It – May 2026
I won’t lie, folks. This is possibly the biggest month I’ve experienced in a Football Manager save in a long time. With that in mind, there is so much at stake, I’d like to share a poem by the late, great Walter Wintle to manifest a positive outcome to this nerve-shredding season in domestic and […]
Volksrepublik Fußball
Top Dogs of Tijuana: Season Two | Part I
As the dust settled on the many successes of season one, our manager, Agustin Madoery, was already planning for the task of rebuilding and repeating. The squad had a lot of strengths, but was also relatively old in its age profile. The task at hand was to remove some of the dead weight, rebuild with […]
FM Jellico
In the year 3145…
Luton Town won the Prem. Swindon, who have won 10 out of the last 12 years, has fallen to 10th, while Dani Salavert was fired after just 288 days in the job. The former Man United coach may regret leaving… In the Bundesliga, TSG Hoffenheim continues it’s dominance. Since winning the league in 2982, Die […]
The FM Library
11 Questions – FootLikeATractionEngine
If he isn’t tweeting about FM then Adam, aka @TractionFM is likely be found talking mental health. He doesn’t Blog as much as he would like to which is a shame but please go it out. Creator name & what made you choose it? I was initially planning on going for the easiest option available […]
Lump Kickers Anonymous
Celtic Nations League – Athlone Are Confident?
The team is performing well and we’re going in the right direction, namely to the top of the table, and apart from Rúben Candal — on the wings — we have a full squad. We play Carmarthen next, who are in 18th. I’m going to play a slightly rotated squad, but we saw how that […]
Irish FM
The Normal One.
Jurgen Klopp’s announcement of his departure from Liverpool at the end of the season marks the end of an era for the club. From the highs of winning the Premier League and Champions League to the heartbreaking defeats and the impact of the pandemic, Klopp’s tenure has been filled with unforgettable moments. While fans grapple with the news, there’s a sense of gratitude for his transformative impact and a shared understanding that his decision comes from a genuine need for a break. As the club and fans prepare for a future without Klopp at the helm, there’s a collective acknowledgment of his lasting legacy and a heartfelt thank you for the memories and successes.
Bearded FM
Believe
“You may call it in this evening, but you’ve only lost the night. Present all your pretty feelings, may they comfort you tonight” Hello and welcome back to another instalment of our Football Manager 24 save, Sunderland Till We Die. When we last left you, we were flying high in the league, and showing we […]
Kartoffel Kapers
Gazing Across The Water – cinch SPFL Review 2023/24
Cinch Premiership: It was a memorable season for Rangers as they not only retained the Premiership title but also secured their first domestic treble since 2003. The Light Blues lost just once in their 38 games and were champions by 20 points. Celtic endured a wretched season, drawing a joint-high 13 games and slipping to […]
FM Pioneers
Against All Odds #2
Welcome back to Against All Odds, a FM23 save where we aim for world domination with Odd, a team in the Norwegian Premier League, Eliteserien. Last episode, we looked at the complete squad and what the team might look like at the start of the season. In this post, I will be diving in to […]
Strikerless
Downloads; Chrissy’s Remix
Let me start off by saying this is NOT my own tactical work, but work by Chriss Ross, who uses the forum-handle Chrissy and whom you can follow on Twitter @Chrissy_Ross_. Chrissy has gratiously revamped my tactic and turned it into a more defensively stable formation, which looks like this. Change-list; – Box-to-box midfielders’s for […]
