Manage Southampton on Football Manager 2026

[Matthew Le God]

We've had a two-year wait, with the last version, FM24, selling over 17 million copies.

Some huge improvements are on their way for FM26! You can’t complain, this year is simply a ‘data update’!

The biggest one that will make the most difference is that Football Manager will no longer be made using an in house engine. Instead it will use all the benefits of the Unity game engine, which will see huge advances in the user interface and the match graphics.

Womens football is also making its debut, so you can manage Southampton’s men's and women's teams. Plus, the game now has the Premier League licence for when you get Southampton promoted!

 

Edited 3 hours ago by Matthew Le God

[Turkish]

you know what Football Manager is like, you can play any system in the world and tweak it slightly and win the Champions League with Rochdale

Will Stil 9/8/25

 

[revolution saint]

Kevin Toms has updated the original and still the best version of football manager.  It's out tomorrow and knocks Football Manager 2026 into ignominy and obscurity.  https://store.steampowered.com/app/3707550/Kevin_Toms_Football_Star_Manager/

[coalman]

33 minutes ago, revolution saint said:

Kevin Toms has updated the original and still the best version of football manager.  It's out tomorrow and knocks Football Manager 2026 into ignominy and obscurity.  https://store.steampowered.com/app/3707550/Kevin_Toms_Football_Star_Manager/

I hope they've remained true to the original so you can stop the program and mess around with the data in memory. Thanks for highlighting this @revolution saint

Edited 3 hours ago by coalman

[RedArmy]

Can you make the Saints players a bit more realistic so it’s not too easy this year. 
 

Ta. 

[Matthew Le God]

1 minute ago, RedArmy said:

Can you make the Saints players a bit more realistic so it’s not too easy this year. 
 

Ta. 

Which ones do you think were too good? Saints currently are the 3rd-best Championship team in the FM26 database. That isn't unreasonable.

[Matthew Le God]

FM26 is the 20th version of the game I've worked on as the game's Southampton researcher. It is going to be a very special one!

[Football Special]

6 minutes ago, Matthew Le God said:

FM26 is the 20th version of the game I've worked on as the game's Southampton researcher. It is going to be a very special one!

Out of interest is it a full time job or do you do it in your spare time? 

[hypochondriac]

1 minute ago, Football Special said:

Out of interest is it a full time job or do you do it in your spare time? 

Part time obviously. Football forum pedantry is much too important to be relegated to a part time pursuit. 

[Matthew Le God]

38 minutes ago, Football Special said:

Out of interest is it a full time job or do you do it in your spare time? 

It is a volunteer role. I get a free copy of the game, get to play it months before it comes out, free Premier League tickets due to the new license deal and my name is in the credits. I enjoy doing it as a hobby. I have a full-time job as a teacher.

Edited 2 hours ago by Matthew Le God

[AlexLaw76]

1 minute ago, Matthew Le God said:

It is a volunteer role. I get a free copy of the game, get to play it months before it comes out and my name is in the credits. I enjoy doing it as a hobby. I have a full-time job as a teacher.

Have you seen/played anything to do with the new game?

[Matthew Le God]

2 minutes ago, hypochondriac said:

Part time obviously. Football forum pedantry is much too important to be relegated to a part time pursuit. 

My pedantry comes in useful for a database role! 😉😇

[Matthew Le God]

Just now, AlexLaw76 said:

Have you seen/played anything to do with the new game?

Not yet, apart from using the database for it, but when I do, I'll be under an NDA, so I can't reveal anything.

[iansums]

6 minutes ago, Matthew Le God said:

It is a volunteer role. I get a free copy of the game, get to play it months before it comes out and my name is in the credits. I enjoy doing it as a hobby. I have a full-time job as a teacher.

Isn't that a contradiction in terms?

[Football Special]

10 minutes ago, Matthew Le God said:

It is a volunteer role. I get a free copy of the game, get to play it months before it comes out and my name is in the credits. I enjoy doing it as a hobby. I have a full-time job as a teacher.

Fair play mate, was just interested,  they should probably pay you a few quid as well considering the millions of copies they sell 

[coalman]

43 minutes ago, Matthew Le God said:

Which ones do you think were too good? Saints currently are the 3rd-best Championship team in the FM26 database. That isn't unreasonable.

 

9 minutes ago, Matthew Le God said:

Not yet, apart from using the database for it, but when I do, I'll be under an NDA, so I can't reveal anything.

 

[Colinjb]

Worried that my rather modest PC cannot run this.

[Gloucester Saint]

3 minutes ago, Colinjb said:

Worried that my rather modest PC cannot run this.

Hopefully there’s still the Mobile version, whether or not they have a deal to download via Netflix. 

[Matthew Le God]

@coalman

I said "apart from the database". To say we are rated worse than Leicester and Ipswich, but better than the rest is hardly groundbreaking news.

Edited 2 hours ago by Matthew Le God

[coalman]

5 minutes ago, Matthew Le God said:

@coalman

I said "apart from the database".

No, you said "apart from using the database". Don't worry I'm sure their lawyers don't read Saintsweb so you won't get in trouble for breaching your NDA.

[Colinjb]

17 minutes ago, Gloucester Saint said:

Hopefully there’s still the Mobile version, whether or not they have a deal to download via Netflix. 

May leave it for a bit, can see this being like the terribly buggy and essentially unfinished FM 2009 where the 3D engine was first put into place. So won't be worth trying until FM 2027..

[Holmes_and_Watson]

2 hours ago, revolution saint said:

Kevin Toms has updated the original and still the best version of football manager.  It's out tomorrow and knocks Football Manager 2026 into ignominy and obscurity.  https://store.steampowered.com/app/3707550/Kevin_Toms_Football_Star_Manager/

Great news. Looking forward to it.

[Roo1976]

1 hour ago, Matthew Le God said:

Not yet, apart from using the database for it, but when I do, I'll be under an NDA, so I can't reveal anything.

Im 65 and cant wait for it ,played it when it was owned i think by the collier brothers under a different name to the one we know now.

[Matthew Le God]

56 minutes ago, Colinjb said:

May leave it for a bit, can see this being like the terribly buggy and essentially unfinished FM 2009 where the 3D engine was first put into place. So won't be worth trying until FM 2027..

Try the free demo and find out.