Manage Southampton on Football Manager 2026

[saintwiz]

When is the beta released on PC @Matthew Le God?

[Matthew Le God]

42 minutes ago, saintwiz said:

When is the beta released on PC @Matthew Le God?

No release date announced yet.

 

 

[saintwiz]

Thanks

[Matthew Le God]

FM26 has the FIFA license 😎 

 

 

[Weston Super Saint]

Shouldn't this be in the computer games forum where MLG can talk to himself?

[Colinjb]

Early reviews of the pre release are a bit concerning, particularly regarding the UI.

[Matthew Le God]

On 16/10/2025 at 20:17, saintwiz said:

When is the beta released on PC @Matthew Le God?

 

 

 

 

Edited October 20 by Matthew Le God

[trousers]

Bugger, just my luck... Washing my hair that evening....  ☹️

 

 

 

[Fabrice29]

Out of interest @Matthew Le God were/are you the data guy for the womens team as well?

Edited October 21 by Fabrice29

[Matthew Le God]

2 hours ago, Fabrice29 said:

Out of interest @Matthew Le God were/are you the data guy for the womens team as well?

I did some things for the women's team, but the majority of the work was done by other people. The men's team data is all by me (apart from new signings).

Edited October 21 by Matthew Le God

[Matthew Le God]

Is anyone doing better than Will Still on the FM26 beta?

[Willo of Whiteley]

Why would anyone wish to play as Southampton realistically? 😂

Especially at the moment.

[Weston Super Saint]

3 hours ago, Matthew Le God said:

Is anyone doing better than Will Still on the FM26 beta?

Is anyone doing worse?  Thought not.

[tdmickey3]

5 hours ago, Matthew Le God said:

Is anyone doing better than Will Still on the FM26 beta?

Who cares

[Matthew Le God]

3 hours ago, Willo of Whiteley said:

Why would anyone wish to play as Southampton realistically? 😂

Especially at the moment.

Some people like a challenge!

[Danwulfe]

https://www.reddit.com/r/footballmanagergames/s/qXbRzHraGl

[AlexLaw76]

Safe to say, this new version is very much marmite.

[saintwiz]

After playing 10 hours of this it’s not for me. 
Too much like a console game. 
The match highlights are excellent, an improvement. 
It’s the rest of the game. 
I’ve requested a refund. 
Back to FM24 I go. 
A real shame. 

[CSA96]

1 hour ago, saintwiz said:

After playing 10 hours of this it’s not for me. 
Too much like a console game. 
The match highlights are excellent, an improvement. 
It’s the rest of the game. 
I’ve requested a refund. 
Back to FM24 I go. 
A real shame. 

Yep, definitely feels like they've repositioned the game as being for console/tablet users and away from its roots. It's lost some of its immersiveness and the new UI is hard to grapple with and particularly intuitive. Clearly they've been put under huge pressure to launch because even for a Beta, the game is an unfinished project right now, a fair old way from being finished to usual standards

[Matthew Le God]

2 hours ago, saintwiz said:

After playing 10 hours of this it’s not for me. 
Too much like a console game. 
The match highlights are excellent, an improvement. 
It’s the rest of the game. 
I’ve requested a refund. 
Back to FM24 I go. 
A real shame. 

 

51 minutes ago, CSA96 said:

Yep, definitely feels like they've repositioned the game as being for console/tablet users and away from its roots. It's lost some of its immersiveness and the new UI is hard to grapple with and particularly intuitive. Clearly they've been put under huge pressure to launch because even for a Beta, the game is an unfinished project right now, a fair old way from being finished to usual standards

It is currently a beta, not the full release. Are you not even going to wait until day one of full release? Multiple patches are coming out over the coming days.

Edited Tuesday at 23:49 by Matthew Le God

[Colinjb]

Yep. FM 09 all over again.

Will wait for the bugs to be ironed out.

[CSA96]

1 hour ago, Matthew Le God said:

 

It is currently a beta, not the full release. Are you not even going to wait until day one of full release? Multiple patches are coming out over the coming days.

Sorry, but it's only a Beta in name

It's more like an Alpha, a product in the middle of its development cycle rather than approaching the finessing and full launch stages. I'm waiting and I'll take the plunge once it seems to have its issues ironed out, but I'd be surprised if that happens very quickly

I have a couple of friends who are former SI employees, one a QA analyst, and they have several people they know still working on FM. I've seen a few messages and even people inside the building don't feel like the game is anywhere close to their regular standards and is littered with issues that make it tough to enjoy 

Edited yesterday at 01:03 by CSA96

[Weston Super Saint]

6 hours ago, CSA96 said:

Sorry, but it's only a Beta in name

It's more like an Alpha, a product in the middle of its development cycle rather than approaching the finessing and full launch stages. I'm waiting and I'll take the plunge once it seems to have its issues ironed out, but I'd be surprised if that happens very quickly

I have a couple of friends who are former SI employees, one a QA analyst, and they have several people they know still working on FM. I've seen a few messages and even people inside the building don't feel like the game is anywhere close to their regular standards and is littered with issues that make it tough to enjoy 

Which is odd given it's had another year of development after last year's non launch event.

[Crab Lungs]

The UI is nice and presentable and you can get used to it over time but it’s still buggy and sometimes playing the game is a chore; click after click after click when in previous version it’d take one click. I’m assuming they want people to use the search function and bookmarks to negate that. 

That said, the match engine is far superior to the previous ones which in some ways, salvage some credibility for the game. 

Not sure how long I can stick it out for though; it’s missing so many features  and lacks the immersion of previous games. The biggest issue for me is that I still feel detached from it all. I hope they introduce some of the data and information back into the game.

SI had a lot of time to work on the next iteration (since 2020) and perhaps they felt pressured to release it for cash flow purposes but whoever was QA needs to hang their heads in shame. To release that in its state was unacceptable - perhaps its complacency and knowing they know have no direct challenger in the market which gives them the confidence that people will have to like it or lump it, per se.

What they continually drop a bollock on is the lack of input from the community. The community is what has made previous versions immersive and fun. The logos, facepacks, skins, databases - they should really lean into that community more for help; there’s some amazing modders out there.

[saintwiz]

2 minutes ago, Crab Lungs said:

The UI is nice and presentable and you can get used to it over time but it’s still buggy and sometimes playing the game is a chore; click after click after click when in previous version it’d take one click. I’m assuming they want people to use the search function and bookmarks to negate that. 

That said, the match engine is far superior to the previous ones which in some ways, salvage some credibility for the game. 

Not sure how long I can stick it out for though; it’s missing so many features  and lacks the immersion of previous games. The biggest issue for me is that I still feel detached from it all. I hope they introduce some of the data and information back into the game.

SI had a lot of time to work on the next iteration (since 2020) and perhaps they felt pressured to release it for cash flow purposes but whoever was QA needs to hang their heads in shame. To release that in its state was unacceptable - perhaps its complacency and knowing they know have no direct challenger in the market which gives them the confidence that people will have to like it or lump it, per se.

What they continually drop a bollock on is the lack of input from the community. The community is what has made previous versions immersive and fun. The logos, facepacks, skins, databases - they should really lean into that community more for help; there’s some amazing modders out there.

Yes, 

it’s not FM on PC. 
its FM mobile on PC. 
 

FM24 is a PC game. 

[RedArmy]

16 hours ago, Matthew Le God said:

 

It is currently a beta, not the full release. Are you not even going to wait until day one of full release? Multiple patches are coming out over the coming days.

It’s not a beta, betas are released much earlier and give ample time to get the bugs and feedback fixed. It’s an early access, fifa do the same they don’t call it a beta. 
 

It’s embarrassing how unfinished the game is, it’s not even close to being ready. Fuck knows how bad fm25 must have been to scrap it entirely. 
There’s basic spelling mistakes in places that really shouldn’t have been missed. 
 

Really, really poor effort considering they had an extra year to get it right. 
 

 

[Convict Colony]

whose the best player we have on fm, asking for a friend

[skintsaint]

14 minutes ago, Convict Colony said:

whose the best player we have on fm, asking for a friend

Downes

[trousers]

19 minutes ago, Convict Colony said:

whose the best player we have on fm, asking for a friend

 

4 minutes ago, skintsaint said:

Downes

I thought it was supposed to be a realistic game...?

[skintsaint]

46 minutes ago, Convict Colony said:

whose the best player we have on fm, asking for a friend

In all seriousness, we have a few that are good enough for a top team - these from July 2028 :

 

[Convict Colony]

Someone needs to explain the price tags to me, robinsons 82-92m, charles 110m !!!!

sold

Edited yesterday at 17:27 by Convict Colony

[Matthew Le God]

1 hour ago, Convict Colony said:

whose the best player we have on fm, asking for a friend

 

1 hour ago, skintsaint said:

Downes

No, he isn't.  Not for CA or PA. 

[RedArmy]

1 hour ago, Convict Colony said:

whose the best player we have on fm, asking for a friend

The trick I find is to wait for the in game editor and then just remove 2 from every stat of every Saints player and then enjoy the game. 

[Matthew Le God]

1 hour ago, RedArmy said:

It’s not a beta, betas are released much earlier and give ample time to get the bugs and feedback fixed. It’s an early access, fifa do the same they don’t call it a beta. 

It was made available much earlier. Just not to the general public who are getting it at this point. This is the normal time they do early access.

In other news another hotfix out today. I think another is due out tomorrow. 

 

[RedArmy]

3 minutes ago, Matthew Le God said:

It was made available much earlier. Just not to the general public who are getting it at this point.

When?

[Matthew Le God]

8 minutes ago, RedArmy said:

When?

Quite a few months ago.

[Matthew Le God]

1 hour ago, skintsaint said:

In all seriousness, we have a few that are good enough for a top team - these from July 2028 :

Those four are pretty good. Build your team around them!

[RedArmy]

22 minutes ago, Matthew Le God said:

Quite a few months ago.

They should never be allowed to beta test anything ever again. 

[Crab Lungs]

11 hours ago, RedArmy said:

They should never be allowed to beta test anything ever again. 

Quite agree. 

What a wimpy collective they must have been. No one with any balls to say ‘this isn’t good enough’.

in other news, one man on his own from the FM community has fixed the UI lagging/fading issue ..

http://sortitoutsi.net/content/74865/fm26-speedster-football-manager-26-patch-to-make-the-ui-go-as-fast-as-it-should

 

Edited 16 hours ago by Crab Lungs

[skintsaint]

3 hours ago, Crab Lungs said:

in other news, one man on his own from the FM community has fixed the UI lagging/fading issue

Its always been the case that the mods/graphics done by the community make the game better.

[Danwulfe]

17 hours ago, RedArmy said:

They should never be allowed to beta test anything ever again. 

Beta tested pointed out many of the issues and flaws.
It's a failing on SI, and projects for not priortising them correctly before "early release".

[Matthew Le God]

18 hours ago, RedArmy said:

They should never be allowed to beta test anything ever again. 

 

7 hours ago, Crab Lungs said:

Quite agree. 

What a wimpy collective they must have been. No one with any balls to say ‘this isn’t good enough’.

All beta testers can do is raise bugs with the developers. They don't prioritise which ones are fixed and when or make the fixes.

Another hotfix is due today for the beta. The recent ones have made some big improvements. 

[skintsaint]

To be fair to SI, it is stated its a beta version and they are fixing issue daily. It certainly is a far more stable version now than a week ago. 

Whether they get all the issues fixed before the official release date though I have my doubts.

[Matthew Le God]

Another day, another long list of improvements. Which is what the beta time is for.