Football Manager 27 - First Impressions

I was about to be prosaic about the state of Football Manager, but despite it now being Tuesday, it really is a beautiful Sunday. Aside from doing The Slosh since Sunday, I’ve also been like most of you and playing far too much Football Manager 27 during its free Advance Access period, which ends today. We will have a proper review hopefully sometime next week when I’ve won the Champions League, kicked Pocognoli back to Monaco, and have Barney Stewart scoring the World Cup winner, but for now, let’s talk about the initial impressions.

What I was going to be prosaic about, if I wrote this on Sunday morning, was whether FM27 was the revolution or evolution of Football Manager as it stands. A question that right now I am likely to answer by leaning towards the latter simply because, despite its flaws – underlined in red pen multiple times and with a few exclamation marks – FM26 was a game you needed to embed yourself into. To go along with this roundabout metaphor on beds, FM27 instead wants to tuck you in. I’m reticent to say “it is FM24 with a skin,” because we’ve played a weekend and we’ve done our first saves.

Things have returned, things have changed, others are more or less the same, and there is a bit here or there that could be worked on more. The broad strokes are, of course, the returns such as cup draws, training that’s actually functional, news and immersion that is worthwhile, and whatever Shuffle Draft is (a multiplayer mode I wouldn’t touch for money). Meanwhile, data is now a focus within the UI, which itself has been reworked to be smoother and better for you as a player, and there are bits of the match engine that have been improved. We’ll also get to the newer stuff in a minute.

I think we’ll start with the returns from previous (24) Football Managers following last year’s release. Cup draws are back, yes, and they are as boring as they are in real life. Don’t get me twisted, I like that we’re taking a moment out of slamming the space bar in our spreadsheet simulator that is occasionally broken up by games of football, but unless you have Rod Stewart “oof ‘es bin” (allegedly), there is no point in a cup draw. Or the farce that was the World Cup draw.

What I need to put that into context with is that while I am glad I know who I am facing in the cup in six weeks’ time, if you’re managing a top six team in the top tier of any league structure but aren’t in Europe, then it isn’t as interesting. If you’re playing non-league or making your way up through the structures to get to continental competitions, then it’s tense and fantastic. Otherwise, you might as well skip it and just get the email knowing it is coming this time.

Really, I think that’s my opinion more or less of the whole “returning features” element of FM27. It is great that training is now functional enough that you can effectively change things for the better, but chances are for now, you’re going to delegate it until you find that purple patch and someone makes a YouTube explainer of how to most effectively do training. Am I wrong? Again, we’ll get to why training is relevant and useful, but for the most part that’s what most people will do.

The best “returning feature” also spills into what my notes declare as “better.” I played far too much FM26 to say I hated it, but I know for a lot of people the thing that put them off playing last year’s release was the news and immersion: It didn’t feel (for some) that there were stories being shown to you; you had to go looking for them. This year the stories are shown to you with a revamp of the UI that is focused on that immersion.

For the benefit of my editor, and so I don’t have to repeat one word until we’ve hit semantic satiation (Aces? Isis?), immersion in Football Manager to a lot of people is the movement off the pitch in the footballing world. The teams that are surprisingly struggling, the managers that have been sacked (Martin O’Neil) for poor performance, the players moving to the Saudi league because a tinpot prince is paying them millions, and so on. I get it from both ends. It was there last year, but not as prevalent as you really want it.

Now there is a “Competitions Hub” sub-menu in the news tab, so on top of your league being shown, you can have eight other leagues shown directly to you simply by continuing the game. Nine if you acknowledge your league is already in focus on the portal landing page. I’ve even had the email about United being in relegation danger, and I’ve been up in Scotland. There is a real sense of “by the way, you’re doing great, everyone else is on fire.” I love it, and I think everyone that hated FM26 will love it too.

The overall UI is – I don’t want to say wholesale better, but it has a sense of logic to most things. Reading league rules in FM26 was like reading the small print on receipts from whichever store prints the longest ones where you live. The rules for the MLS were like reading a CVS receipt for a single bottle of over-the-counter sleeping pills. No, the rules aren’t important, but those pages where everything was a pop-up (Tile? Card?) are emblematic of the problems in communicating dense information to you as a player. The majority is now 85-90% of the screen space.

Loans, training, captains, the medical center, mentoring, transfer history, finances, and now I am struggling as I jump around menus finding very few pop-ups. Yet the few pop-ups that do show up- news articles I click on or scouting range selection– they make sense. That’s what I think is important to stress: The UI makes sense. I’ve even found the “World Knowledge” pop-up, which still isn’t a map, but it’s the fact I found it, and that’s when I remembered I have Robbie Fowler coaching in Scotland.

Indeed, that might seem all sunshine (on Leith?) and roses; however, if you’ve played enough FM26 and got into that rhythm with the bookmarks, it can take a few hours of relearning again. The bookmarks do return, and I did use them last year; moreover, this year they are expanded in a number of areas but sadly also constricted in others. The main two I used last year, in this order, were the First Team and tactics. Tactics are now on the top bar (grumble to someone else who cares). As I say, it’s about relearning.

As is how to play Football Manager in general, apparently. Let’s talk about one of the big changes this year and the thing that, if I wrote this a couple of hours into my FM27 experience early in the weekend, it wouldn’t have been so kind. Tactical Effectiveness and Training is a major part of Football Manager 27 and why I asked myself if this is revolution or evolution.

It wasn’t until the latter of the deep dives that we saw this, but “Tactical Effectiveness” has effectively rewritten how to play Football Manager in a way that is catching a lot of people out. Some are suggesting this year’s game is too hard or needs patching. If I wrote this 10 hours in, I’d almost be on their side. Players are out of position, not really able to string sequences of passes together, unable to capitalize on mistakes by the opposition, and generally playing like a Sunday league team against 4th in the top tier. Ok, that’s the last dig I’ll make.

However, I don’t think the problem is entirely the fault of this new back-end system to breed a sense of complexity to the tactical side of Football Manager. I will say that if the data for certain players isn’t quite reflective of who they are, the Tactical Effectiveness system will actively make them look worse. Not just bad; they will act as if they’ve never seen a football in their life. I think it is easy to say there is a balancing issue, but I also think it can show the numbers side of the database currently being out of date for players that have now come into form.

However, part of that Tactical Effectiveness system is the training and the ability to play the system that you as a manager want to play. A bit like Marink Reedijk and Michael Carrick (managing Southampton in my save), you don’t have the players on your side, and you don’t have the players to play the winning football you want to play. That’s what I think is lost here; Football Manager 27 isn’t a plug-and-play tactic game anymore. I’m not crying “realism, finally,” but there is that element of working for the system to work the way you want it to.

Explaining this slowly for the people in the back: Don’t make non-league sides like Scunthorpe United play like prime Brazil, even if you use the editor later to sign Ronaldinho now that he’s back in the database. Play your tactic as simplified as possible, then throughout the season you bleed-in your desired instructions as you train the team and build the team that you want it to be. If that sounds too simple, that’s because Bill Shankly was right when he said the game is only complicated by idiots. Play the players you have and learn the system they can play.

There are problems with how quickly (or rather, how slowly) some of those players will learn even basic ideas you are trying to get across, but combined with a training overhaul both from a schedule perspective and otherwise, it is promising. For now, I’m willing to see it out throughout this period before launch and see if there is much change.

What won’t change is the match day experience and new character creation stuff, which has been improved. Though improved is a strong word in this context because it feels like minor things to the overall game. The match day experience is fans waving flags and wearing team tops, while the character creation stuff is a wheelchair, a couple of hats, color selection, and scarves. They are the accoutrements to the overall experience: If they weren’t there, you wouldn’t notice them, but if they go now, you’ll miss them.

Like a lot of people talking about Football Manager 27 right now, be it reviewers, streamers, or whatever, there is positivity more or less around the game. If you’re a die-hard chalkboard person, you won’t be converted; if you’re a die-hard skin person, you won’t be won over just yet; and if you’re a die-hard Sunday League manager who hates training, you’ll want to commit Seppuku. Being serious, though, it isn’t FM24, but it has gotten a lot closer. That’s where I think the divide is now.

Where I think the gap between 24 and 26 was Homer going down Springfield Gorge and hitting every branch on the way down, and don’t get me wrong, I put over 1000 hours into that Gorge – this is Homer almost landing it. For some, I think it will be that moment when he lands it on the other side. Yet I think for others, it is still that moment when he comes out of the back of the ambulance and hits every branch on the way back down the Gorge. By the way, spoilers for a 36-year-old episode of The Simpsons.

I don’t want this to come out as only praise; there is plenty for me to complain about here and in the review later. One of those immersion things is the new “Transfer Hub” within the news sub-menu within the Portal (wheels-within-wheels), but that annoys me. Not that it is there. I like it in principle, but once you get to a different screen, the drop-down filters reset once you return. If I am managing in the 9th tier of English football or the 6th tier of Scottish football, why do I need to know Al Hilal’s latest signing? I don’t care about Roma; I care about Kidderminster.

For later seasons, after promotions and after I’ve sold wonder kids to afford a second coach, according to the board, then I’ll care further up the table and beyond. I can hardly afford to pay a player 30 quid a week, so hearing that Aston Villa are willing to pay Galatasaray 30 million for Gabriel Sara is a joke. It is a small complaint, I know, but it is one of those where I feel it doesn’t take into account the scope that information is always useful.

That said, that wasn’t the biggest disappointment. Yeah, the hope is that the database updates via FMScout and the Steam Workshop will come and “fix” this, but I think the women’s game has been let down by Sports Interactive and SEGA here. I said it of last year’s game: it was a good building block to introduce women’s football to Football Manager, and I stand by that point, so why we’ve only seen one license come in for a league that was playable last year is disappointing.

“No one cares about women’s football.” I’ve met the national team manager, I was on a team bus as Scotland won their last game, I have a season ticket for a domestic women’s team, and I’ve championed this for more than a year now. If no one cares, then I am dead! What I said earlier about cup draws is reflective of the women’s game: Without the smaller teams to punch upwards, they are a skip and read the email telling me who we face. When I’m in the WSL 2, I don’t need to know Enzo Fernández moved to Man City for 125 million.

Football is more than the English Premier League, and Football Manager is so much more than the English Premier League. The licensed leagues are fine, but I think Football Manager 27 is going to be a lot more interesting once those databases are released, once the mods start flooding in again, and once fans get to mold and shape the game a little more. Especially the name/badge fixes.

My first impressions of Football Manager 27 are positive, and we’ll get more into that for the review closer to November 10th; don’t take my latter points too harshly. After more than 50 hours and a save or two exploring different elements of Football Manager 27, it is looking like a positive evolution of FM26 and maybe even FM24. From the word go, this was always going to be an odd year for Sports Interactive; whatever the opposite is of “tricky second album.” Time and a couple more saves over the next week will really tell.

Football Manager 27 is available to pre-order right now with a 10% discount on Steam, and sadly, as of today, the free Advance Access period ends. If you do pre-order, you will get access to Football Manager 27 on PC right away ahead of the November 10th official release date. Personally, I’m never one to promote pre-orders, but if you’re picking up Football Manager 27 anyway or you’re heavily encouraged by what you’re seeing, then I don’t see any point in not bothering.

A PC review copy of Football Manager 27 was provided by SEGA for review.