Manage Southampton on Football Manager 2026

[Crab Lungs]

I’m still getting people in tracksuits on the pitch, taking my players out. 

[RedArmy]

2 hours ago, Crab Lungs said:

I’m still getting people in tracksuits on the pitch, taking my players out. 

I still play 2D and the glitch from many previous FM’s is back when the subs that you bring on their animation carries on for another 10 minutes and you have loads of dots running from the touchline across the pitch and you can’t see what’s going on. 

I assume they didn’t even think to test 2D.  

[AlexLaw76]

I will download the game tomorrow, but I hope god know how many of the bugs are sorted, even for little bits like this.

[RedArmy]

On 28/10/2025 at 23:43, 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.

Still think it was a beta? 

[Matthew Le God]

9 minutes ago, RedArmy said:

Still think it was a beta? 

It is an Advanced Access Beta. 

Full release in the UK is at 4pm today, with a further patch coming tomorrow.

Edited Tuesday at 15:42 by Matthew Le God

[RedArmy]

1 minute ago, Matthew Le God said:

It is an Advanced Access Beta. 

Full release in the UK is at 4pm today, with a further patch coming tomorrow.

A further patch on top of today’s that just removes the word “beta” and it’s the same game? 
 

 

[skintsaint]

On 03/11/2025 at 11:32, AlexLaw76 said:

I will download the game tomorrow, but I hope god know how many of the bugs are sorted, even for little bits like this.

They just installed the undersoil heating in the wrong place.

[Matthew Le God]

10 minutes ago, RedArmy said:

A further patch on top of today’s that just removes the word “beta” and it’s the same game? 

The release day version today is same as last hotfix (minus watermark). But as I said, another patch is released tomorrow with further improvements.

[RedArmy]

32 minutes ago, Matthew Le God said:

The release day version today is same as last hotfix (minus watermark). But as I said, another patch is released tomorrow with further improvements.

So which one is it? It wasn’t a beta or they’re giving everyone 24 hours access to the beta on release day? 

[Matthew Le God]

33 minutes ago, RedArmy said:

So which one is it? It wasn’t a beta or they’re giving everyone 24 hours access to the beta on release day? 

It was a public Beta for the last 2 weeks with a number of hotfixes and the game from 4pm today is no longer a beta with the watermark removed. 

[AlexLaw76]

Been playing it.

Prefer the match day experience/graphics. 

The main UI is very cluttered/busy. Do not like that at all, way too much for my laptop screen.

Noting that FM25 was cancelled for this....huge let down, and can fully understand why there is serious backlash against it.

Edited Tuesday at 19:45 by AlexLaw76

[LuckyNumber7]

Shame, was really looking forward to this but I'm gonna hold off a while until it's (hopefully) fixed.

[AlexLaw76]

2 minutes ago, LuckyNumber7 said:

Shame, was really looking forward to this but I'm gonna hold off a while until it's (hopefully) fixed.

Many of the bugs will get fixed over time, I'm sure. However, the Home Screen layout is, IMO, fucking terrible (on a laptop screen at least).

 

[Tommy]

This could be the end of the franchise as we know it, heads will have to roll for the incompetence. 

Womens football is borked....there is a huge injury bug thats killing the game with 2 thirds of squads getting long term injuries in training. 

[WinglessWonder]

7 games in and the highlights are:

Damien Downes is my top scorer (you have to question the realism of the game!)

Stewart hasn't picked up an injury thus far (see also realism and the lack thereof!)

Cancelling Ramsdale's loan was a masterstroke

Losing 0-1 to the skates hurt just as much as it does in real life!!!

 

Currently 4th so maybe I should throw my hat in the ring for the vacant job at Saints... 🤔

Edited Tuesday at 22:26 by WinglessWonder
Spelling

[Danwulfe]

Edited yesterday at 13:59 by Danwulfe

[S-Clarke]

I get that people hate change, and the automatic way to react to change is to downvote the heck out of that thing - but they've really made what was a solid experience absolutely horrific. 

The match engine is better, but it's not an enormous graphical advancement - it just looks a bit more polished. The UI though looks like something out of a kids tablet, it's terrible. It's not just cluttered, but they've moved stuff around into the most un obvious places for no real benefit or reason at all.

I used to play previous games in windowed mode, but that is pretty shit too as it stretches out the UI to make it look even worse.

It may get better once the modding community get involved, but it's a good few months away from being anything worth playing I think.

Cheers for nothing @Matthew Le God  (joke by the way).

[Matthew Le God]

6 minutes ago, S-Clarke said:

Cheers for nothing @Matthew Le God  (joke by the way).

You can only blame me for Saints data fuck ups. You might find some, but anything else isn't my fault! 🙂

Edited yesterday at 14:35 by Matthew Le God

[Matthew Le God]

17 hours ago, WinglessWonder said:

7 games in and the highlights are:

1) Damien Downes is my top scorer (you have to question the realism of the game!)

2) Stewart hasn't picked up an injury thus far (see also realism and the lack thereof!)

3) Cancelling Ramsdale's loan was a masterstroke

Losing 0-1 to the skates hurt just as much as it does in real life!!!

Currently 4th so maybe I should throw my hat in the ring for the vacant job at Saints... 🤔

1) Damion Downs isn't rated highly. He is rated for CA as the worst of the 1st team strikers at the club.

2) If you are playing Downs, are you also playing Stewart for him to get matchday injuries? Stewart has a high injury proneness as a hidden stat, so he will get lots of injuries.

3) It isn't possible to recall Ramsdale from his loan at the start of the game.

[WinglessWonder]

1 minute ago, Matthew Le God said:

1) Damion Downs isn't rated highly. He is rated for CA as the worst of the 1st team strikers at the club.

2) If you are playing Downs, are you also playing Stewart for him to get matchday injuries? Stewart has a high injury proneness as a hidden stat, so he will get lots of injuries.

3) It isn't possible to recall Ramsdale from his loan at the start of the game.

 

1) Well, he has 12 goals so far and it's not even Christmas 

 

2) Yes, Stewart has played around 75% of the total games so far 

 

3) I beg to differ, I recalled him before the first league game and sugarawa and brereton-diaz a couple of weeks later....

 

Also, portsmouth went to 3rd when they beat my side and stayed there for a while but have since sunk to 21st so I guess it's not completely unrealistic 🤣

[Matthew Le God]

6 minutes ago, WinglessWonder said:

1) Well, he has 12 goals so far and it's not even Christmas 

2) Yes, Stewart has played around 75% of the total games so far 

3) I beg to differ, I recalled him before the first league game and sugarawa and brereton-diaz a couple of weeks later....

1) That isn't a data issue, as his current ability rating isn't high for the Championship. If you think it is a bug you could make a bug report on the forums.

2) You said in the original post that you are only 7 games into the save. If he has only played 75% of those 7 games, that is not a lot of games. Even players with very high injury proneness can manage 5 or 6 games without being injured.

3) I've just loaded up a game and the recall loan button for Ramsdale is greyed out. So it is not possible to recall him from the start of the game.

Edited yesterday at 14:53 by Matthew Le God

[AlexLaw76]

Played it more, and my point still stands. 

The Home Screen/ui is shite. Not particularly laptop friendly and like S-Clarke, I played the previous versions in Windowed mode. The only way to make windowed mode worth while is to play it full screen 😂

Also, when sharing tactics you cant search your computer for the tactic, but have to place said downloaded tactic in a specific folder within your library. Not particularly difficult, but a complete unnecessary (and unwanted) step in an area of what made this game what it was (not is).

[AlexLaw76]

Just now, Matthew Le God said:

 

3) I've just loaded up a game and the recall loan button for Ramsdale is greyed out. So it is not possible to recall him from the start of the game.

With the hideous number of issues with the game, you cannot say it is not impossible for other to experience this fault.

[Matthew Le God]

1 minute ago, AlexLaw76 said:

Played it more, and my point still stands. 

The Home Screen/ui is shite.

It needs some work, which will come. But part of the issue could be a muscle memory type effect. Many players are very used to the FM24 UI, having had incremental changes up until that point from FM23, FM22 etc etc. The new FM26 UI takes a while to get used to as it is significantly different. Sure, even after getting used to it there may be issues and bugs. But those should hopefully be addressed by the developers.

[AlexLaw76]

Just now, Matthew Le God said:

It needs some work, which will come. But part of the issue could be a muscle memory type effect. Many players are very used to the FM24 UI, having had incremental changes up until that point from FM23, FM22 etc etc. The new FM26 UI takes a while to get used to as it is significantly different. Sure, even after getting used to it there may be issues and bugs. But those should hopefully be addressed by the developers.

I cant make my laptop screen any bigger...

[Matthew Le God]

3 minutes ago, AlexLaw76 said:

With the hideous number of issues with the game, you cannot say it is not impossible for other to experience this fault.

I'd be very surprised how it could appear greyed out for one user and not for another user. Perhaps if it was on a different platform, but if he is also on PC then I don't see how it wouldn't be the same.

[WinglessWonder]

6 minutes ago, Matthew Le God said:

1) That isn't a data issue, as his current ability rating isn't high for the Championship. If you think it is a bug you could make a bug report on the forums.

2) You said in the original post that you are only 7 games into the save. If he has only played 75% of those 7 games, that is not a lot of games. Even players with very high injury proneness can manage 5 or 6 games without being injured.

3) I've just loaded up a game and the recall loan button for Ramsdale is greyed out. So it is not possible to recall him from the start of the game.

So essentially you are suggesting that I'm lying about ramsdale being recalled? Ok, I'm starting to see why you are so popular in this forum.... 🙄

[Danwulfe]

2 minutes ago, Matthew Le God said:

I'd be very surprised how it could appear greyed out for one user and not for another user. Perhaps if it was on a different platform, but if he is also on PC then I don't see how it wouldn't be the same.

Maybe they started their save a bit earlier and it becomes available after x-time?

Game is a joke as of right now, hopefully when FM27 comes around next year it's much better.

Also strikerless tactics are now super good again. Perfect for Saints.

Edited yesterday at 15:04 by Danwulfe

[Matthew Le God]

2 minutes ago, WinglessWonder said:

So essentially you are suggesting that I'm lying about ramsdale being recalled? Ok, I'm starting to see why you are so popular in this forum.... 🙄

I didn't say that. All I said was that I was unable to replicate it.

[Paul Chuckle]

27 minutes ago, Matthew Le God said:

It isn't possible to recall Ramsdale from his loan at the start of the game.

No you said it isn't possible. Nothing about not being about to replicate it.

Edited yesterday at 15:07 by Paul Chuckle

[Danwulfe]

Here's two strikerless tactics if anyone wants them anyway, StephenHK made them, they're just linked in my discord server and to install them drop them into Documents\Sports Interactive\Football Manager 2026\tactics\

 

4240 FB

4240 WB

Edited yesterday at 15:29 by Danwulfe

[Holmes_and_Watson]

1 hour ago, Matthew Le God said:

I didn't say that. All I said was that I was unable to replicate it.

 

1 hour ago, Paul Chuckle said:

No you said it isn't possible. Nothing about not being about to replicate it.

Precisely this.

You are being a bellend Matthew. 

[RedArmy]

2 hours ago, Matthew Le God said:

 

3) It isn't possible to recall Ramsdale from his loan at the start of the game.

 

 

1 hour ago, Matthew Le God said:

I didn't say that. All I said was that I was unable to replicate it.

Liar. 

[skintsaint]

[Mystic Force]

Haven't played it, probably won't buy as i tend to do it once every 5 years.

But Southampton 3rd best squad in Championship seems like their biggest error so far.

[Matthew Le God]

13 minutes ago, RedArmy said:

Liar. 

No lie in that post. It wasn't possible for me to replicate it. So I said it wasn't possible. If someone thinks it is possible, post a screenshot of it not greyed out.

[Matthew Le God]

9 minutes ago, Mystic Force said:

1) Haven't played it, probably won't buy as i tend to do it once every 5 years.

2) But Southampton 3rd best squad in Championship seems like their biggest error so far.

1) There is a free to pay demo on Steam and Epic to make up your own opinion rather than that of others.

2) 4th, not 3rd best. Not unreasonable to think that given the players we have. Sure they are not currently living up to that billing!

[Saint Matty 76]

To be fair to MLG, I'm pretty sure it legitimately is not possible? I've definitely tried!

There are some definite improvements but on the whole it's a huge embarrassment for SI to release this mess after 2 years. The game will likely be saved by modders who have already done good work to increase the tragically slow UI speed, but I'm baffled about what they've been doing in the build-up to this game.

Some of the design/functionality errors I encountered throughout the Beta were remarkable. Looks like they've catered for the console version, which has also ended up going down horrifically in terms of ratings/feedback as well.

[skintsaint]

Saw somewhere they thought they had taken the UI straight from Tennis Manager 25 but can't see they did that.

[Holmes_and_Watson]

21 minutes ago, skintsaint said:

Saw somewhere they thought they had taken the UI straight from Tennis Manager 25 but can't see they did that.

🙂

Can I be the first to complain that I can't seem to sign Kouame. Silly FM database. 🙂

[S-Clarke]

2 hours ago, Matthew Le God said:

It needs some work, which will come. But part of the issue could be a muscle memory type effect. Many players are very used to the FM24 UI, having had incremental changes up until that point from FM23, FM22 etc etc. The new FM26 UI takes a while to get used to as it is significantly different. Sure, even after getting used to it there may be issues and bugs. But those should hopefully be addressed by the developers.

I mean muscle memory is part of it, but the question is why move stuff around when it was perfectly fine where it was.  There are also some really, really odd stretch issues with some of the panels and how they overlap if you play window mode. It looks an utter mess to be honest.

As I said, the graphics are better....but it's not as revolutionary as I thought it was going to be. For 2 years to wait for this  - it's a bit flabbergasting really.

[ChrisPY]

43 minutes ago, Matthew Le God said:

No lie in that post. It wasn't possible for me to replicate it. So I said it wasn't possible. If someone thinks it is possible, post a screenshot of it not greyed out.

I’ve just tried to replicate it and ended up with Nick Pope in my squad.

[Saint_clark]

12 minutes ago, ChrisPY said:

I’ve just tried to replicate it and ended up with Nick Pope in my squad.

😂

[HarvSFC]

Probably the buggiest Beta they've ever released, and I was surprised they made basically no changes regarding bugs with its full release yesterday. I was pleasantly surprised last week when they were releasing hotfixes each day, but even after all of them 25% of the matches I was playing would freeze at half-time with the only fix to instant result games. Made it pretty unplayable and they released two hotfixes on one day, the second one was to fix the bugs the earlier one created.

The match engine has underseen a good improvement, and it is feeling more realistic. However, there are so many things that are still the same (Media and player interactions) or that have been taken out of the game (touchline shouts and deadline day) that help with the immersion of the game that you're left thinking what has been developed over the two years since FM24 other than the poor UI and the match engine. It just feels a bit bland now, when we all play Football Manager for its depth, or we would just go onto FIFA.

I don't know if they've become lazy because there isn't any competition out there, but it's been a very poor couple of years for Sports Interactive, the communication last year regarding FM25 and its non-release shows they have got a bit complacent. 

[SambaMaverick]

Is Ramsdale recallable in January? Looking forward to getting stuck into my save in the next week, despite the negative headlines

[CylonKing]

Wish there was a decent Manager SIM on PS4 🙁

[petermcpete]

 

Think MLG has just passed stage 2...

[Matthew Le God]

A new opt-in public beta went live last night. It comes with a large number of changes and fixes.

To use it on Steam, you need to right-click on the game in your library, then go to properties and then Betas.

Change list (non-exhaustive):

• Substantial crash and stability fixes.

• Numerous string translation fixes.

• Numerous text overlaps and misalignment fixes.

• Numerous tile/card polish.

• Further fixes to Matches Freezing at start of the second half in Single-Player Career

• Added a preference to turn off/alter the speed of UI transitions between screens

• Change to default colouring of attributes to make them more distinguishable.

• Added preference option to allow users to customise attribute colours.

• Added 1.5x Match Speed during highlights and 4x Match Speed between highlights

• Manually scouting a player will now correctly delegate an appropriate scout.

• Newgen portraits will now appear during match broadcast graphics.

• Fixed issue preventing subs processing that were made at halftime via the tactics screen.

• Fixed issue where white match ball would be used in snowy weather.

• Set piece attributes are now visible when setting Set Piece/Penalty takers.

• Tactic Familiarity will now correctly progress over time within Match Day > Tactics.

• Fixed issue causing World Golden Ball award to be skewed towards South American players.

• Text scaling preference option will now be saved after exiting the game.

• Fixed issue preventing user from closing Fixtures & Results popup post-match.

• Fixed issue causing Player Database to return incorrect results if user switched between Interest Levels

• Fixed issue forcing user to holiday past End of Season Team Meeting

• Staff Responsibilities has been made more accessible and easier to locate.

• Selecting any carousel option besides the first on the 'Club Staff' now takes you to the correct view

• Career Stats will no longer display GK columns for outfield players

• Fixed issue preventing users to progress through UCL Squad Registration despite correct number of Homegrown players included.

• Correct pronouns will now be used within ‘Ask Agent About Availability’ conversation.

• Mental Attributes will now display correctly when set within the Staff Database tool.

• Fixed issue where there was no way to tell which clubs were promoted/relegated via Season Preview

• Club badges are now shown on the Media Dream Eleven

• Back navigational directional arrow shortcut now functional across cards/tools

• Overall start/until dates within Club > Finances > Debts & Loans will no longer display 01/01/1900.

• Fixed issue where Squad Numbers would be missing if making a single substitution.

• Injury icon now better displayed on contrasting red kits.

• User can now select ‘None’ as an option for Individual Training.

• User can now remove previously set Individual Training Focus.

• Career > Managerial Vacancies will now display both men’s and women’s teams.

• Fixed issue where player would reject the own asking price that they themselves had set.

• Fixed issue preventing user from continuing if loanee was injured on international duty.

• Manager Creation > Accessories will now correctly reflect colour changes.

• Manager Creation > Fixed wrinkles slider not applying

• Manager attire choices will now save correctly.

• Fixed issue where remove button was not displaying in Squad Planner

• Fixed User being able to sell instalments within clauses tool

• Club Header in Welcome Pack will now display the correct information.

• User can now only mortgage transfer instalments from the point they took over, not from real world transfers that occurred pre-game start date.

• Refined 2025 squad registration rules for the NWSL.

• “Exit Talks” button now functions correctly within Contract Negotiations.

• Reworked Match Momentum Graph to better show teams with dark colouring.

• Opposition team will now be highlighted in Europa/Conference League pre match league tables.

• Winners will now display within Competitions Card.

• User is now always taken back to portal after using instant result for a friendly match

• Red card icon will now correctly display for each respective team within the Scorebar of men’s Champions League matches.

• Fixed spacing of the aggregate score within the Scorebar of men’s Champions League matches.

• Space bar can now be used to interrupt holiday or processing.

• Fixed issue where “Find Similar Player To…” within Player Database wouldn’t filter out correct results.

• Fixture tile on Portal will now correctly update post-match.

• The “Scouting Finished” message headline will now display the name of the player.

• The “Intermediary Suggestion” headline will now display the name of the player.

• Fixed issue causing the Attributes Graph within Progress Report not to display graph lines.

• Added a Leave button to Continue panel so spectators of an online match can leave during halftime.

• Fixed inconsistency of teams being selected by default via 'Quick Start'

• Fixed “non-EU” rule in Serie A that was preventing certain players being registered in game despite being registered in real life.

• Unmanageable divisions will no longer display within Advanced Game Setup.

• Improved in-game tooltips, resolving issues with text wrapping and display location logic

• Tooltip has been readded to First Team > Form to display numeric rating.

• Changed the colour styling on First Team > Position Selectors to ensure the position selectors reflect the team selection correctly

• Fixed issue preventing Medical Centre > Season Summary table from loading despite having injured player.

[skintsaint]

Had way less crashes today.