The problem is that it’s even more dangerous this time as I have begun playing FM24 on my mobile phone…
This fall from the wagon came about as I was preparing to head off on a beach holiday in Summer 2024 and I knew I’d have some spare time to myself at some points during our lazy break to swim in the Mediterranean Sea, soak up the sun and lounge on our phones.
This meant that it was time to dust off my managers coat , put on my club tie and get down to the business of being consumed by FM.
The only reason I considered FM was because my Netflix account entitles me to get a few decent mobile games for ‘free’ as part of my subscription.
There’s not many games on the list but I have to say if it wasn’t for Netflix I would never have got back into Footie Manager again.
Football Manager essentially hasn’t really changed massively since the reboot of 2005 and the things that make it great, still make it great today.
The part that gets me genuinely excited every single time is choosing who you will start your manager journey with. It’s a decision I always think deeply about and try and get a feel for a club before I put pen to paper.
Then it’s the first glimpse of the squad and the finances to try and work out where the club needs to make signings. One thing I have learned is that it pays to be patient as the players on paper may actually be better on the pitch than you first think.
This time I went with a plucky Girona side from La Liga who tend to punch above their weight in recent years.
When you play FM you are essentially playing a spreadsheet with a front end that feeds you information. For the mobile version this is stripped down to its bare bones which I really appreciate as you get involved enough to make it fell like your club but not too deep that you have to start planning training schedules or anything to crazy for your team.
The beauty of FM is what you create in your head canon as you forge these imaginary relationships with a team of names both in your playing squad and your backroom staff. It feels great to eventually get to promote a player to the backroom staff once their playing days are over and they've become legends at the club.
There's also those favourite players that you nurture or sign as you progress through your management career. There's a great sense of achievement that you feel as an FM player as you see them flourish and conversely you start to feel the pressure after you have splashed out a massive amount of money for a flop!
Although I've always known how amazing Football Manager is as a game it's been refreshing to delve back into the game and rekindle my love for this amazing genre. My Girona team has become my virtual family and Artem Dovbyk, Christian Stuani and Marcos Junior have become my new favourite players both in the world of FM and in the real world...
Now if only I could just tear myself away from FM24 to play something else...…oh maybe just one more game!
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