Manage Southampton on Football Manager 2027

[Matthew Le God]

Can you get Southampton promoted after a -4 point start?

Game is out on 10th November 2026

Play the game for FREE from 29th October to 3rd November 

 

 

 

Edited October 22 by Matthew Le God

[Matthew Le God]

 

 

[Matthew Le God]

 

 

[Matthew Le God]

 

 

[Matthew Le God]

 

 

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[badgerx16]

Have they never thought that maybe they are msking the game too complex, and taking the fun out of it ?

[Matthew Le God]

10 minutes ago, badgerx16 said:

Have they never thought that maybe they are msking the game too complex, and taking the fun out of it ?

Pretty much everything can be delegated to another member of your staff if you don't want to do certain things in the game. You can make the experience very streamlined if you don't like the complexity. For many people the complexity is what makes it 'fun' for them.

Edited October 22 by Matthew Le God

[Willo of Whiteley]

Might be worth moving this to the Gaming Thread on The Lounge.

[Matthew Le God]

9 minutes ago, Willo of Whiteley said:

Might be worth moving this to the Gaming Thread on The Lounge.

The FM26 Southampton thread remained on the main forum. It is about managing Southampton in the game, so it is more on topic than some threads here that aren't about Saints!

Edited October 22 by Matthew Le God

[chivvy]

I'm in if it's more like fm24

[JohnnyShearer2.0]

Someone updated CM 97/98 but for this season but sadly they took it down due to overwhelming people accessing it!

That was the GOAT for championship manager games.

[Colinjb]

Willing to try it. A week free after all.

[Saint_clark]

57 minutes ago, chivvy said:

I'm in if it's more like fm24

This, last two I was able to get into were 24 and 20. 26 was a mess. 

[sotonjoe]

On 22/10/2026 at 09:38, Matthew Le God said:

Can you get Southampton promoted after a -4 point start?

Game is out on 10th November 2026

Play the game for FREE from 29th October to 3rd November 

 

 

 

Why is this berk allowed to create ads for his silly little video game in a forum intended for discussion of the actual Southampton football club? Utter nelt

[Weston Super Saint]

On 22/10/2026 at 10:46, Matthew Le God said:

The FM26 Southampton thread remained on the main forum. It is about managing Southampton in the game, so it is more on topic than some threads here that aren't about Saints!

It's a game.  Children play games.  Children are not allowed to use forums.  

[Ralph Fastenbüttl]

@Matthew Le God Am I right in saying you're a researcher for Sports Interactive? I have worked in video games for over 20 years so obviously have an interest! What sort of level of involvement do you have at a studio level? (If you don't mind me asking - feel absolutely free to tell me to mind my own!).

[Matthew Le God]

20 minutes ago, Ralph Fastenbüttl said:

@Matthew Le God Am I right in saying you're a researcher for Sports Interactive? I have worked in video games for over 20 years so obviously have an interest! What sort of level of involvement do you have at a studio level? (If you don't mind me asking - feel absolutely free to tell me to mind my own!).

I've been the researcher for Southampton on Football Manager for the last 19 years. It is an unpaid role, a hobby rather than a job. I've visited the studio a few times over the years.

[Ralph Fastenbüttl]

8 hours ago, Matthew Le God said:

I've been the researcher for Southampton on Football Manager for the last 19 years. It is an unpaid role, a hobby rather than a job. I've visited the studio a few times over the years.

That's super cool, man. And excellent legacy to be part of.

[Matthew Le God]

12 hours ago, Ralph Fastenbüttl said:

That's super cool, man. And excellent legacy to be part of.

Anything else you'd like to know about it?

[AlexLaw76]

5 hours ago, Matthew Le God said:

Anything else you'd like to know about it?

Looks like there are plenty of nods to what made the game good in the next version. 
 

had to really after the car crash of FM26

[Matthew Le God]

30 minutes ago, AlexLaw76 said:

Looks like there are plenty of nods to what made the game good in the next version. 
 

had to really after the car crash of FM26

Yep, some returning features from FM24. Plus the user interface is significantly better than FM26 and extremely customisable. 

[Willo of Whiteley]

Is FM really that different year on year?

Not a wind up, a genuine question, I’ve previously had FM 2014, 2016, 2018, 2022 and 2024.

Aside from minor colour changes and a few relatively minor changes I’ve never seen a great deal of difference - especially between the last two.

[Matthew Le God]

14 minutes ago, Willo of Whiteley said:

Is FM really that different year on year?

Not a wind up, a genuine question, I’ve previously had FM 2014, 2016, 2018, 2022 and 2024.

Aside from minor colour changes and a few relatively minor changes I’ve never seen a great deal of difference - especially between the last two.

Lots of changes between each addition. Sometimes some big new additions. Always lots of relatively small changes combine to make the game different from earlier years.

But they will always be similar as it is simulation of what a football manager does. Mainly training, recruitment and matches.

What else would you expect to see in a FM window?

You can play FM27 for free from 29th October to 3rd November and find out.

Edited Sunday at 21:21 by Matthew Le God

[Willo of Whiteley]

Either way it’s still better than FC (FIFA)

[Saint86]

Struggled with the games after they became too complex circa 2015 onwards. They just add more and more bloat every year and life gets too short to play a game that only ever becomes heavier - its long since ceased to be something you can casually pick up and play. And yes, i understand you can dedicate various roles to staff - but if you are a lower league club that means your staff are bad and they will do those roles poorly. So you just end up getting a worse experience regardless.

Rather than giving you the opportunity to automate certain features, they'd have been better off allowing you to toggle them on off - at the end of the day, pre match, half time, full time team talks are all just glorified modifiers in a spreadsheet. Ditto press conferences. Just give players the option to turn those bits off and set the modifier to 1 etc.

Edited 12 hours ago by Saint86

[Matthew Le God]

Sadly looks like Saints won't have player faces. The club sent SEGA the player images from the club website which aren't front on and are in heavy shadow. So can't be used in game like other club's player photos will be.

The only first team players with photos currently will be Schlotterbeck, Ward-Prowse and Abbott who had photos done at previous clubs.

Quite why Saints think this is a good player photo I have no idea!

Edited 11 hours ago by Matthew Le God

[Willo of Whiteley]

In the words of Jeremy Clarkson:

Oh no! Anyway…

[Matthew Le God]

2 hours ago, Saint86 said:

Rather than giving you the opportunity to automate certain features, they'd have been better off allowing you to toggle them on off

That is effectively the same thing. They are things that will always take place in football, so will need to be simulated if you are in control of them or not. 

[Matthew Le God]

49 minutes ago, Willo of Whiteley said:

In the words of Jeremy Clarkson:

Oh no! Anyway…

Yep, player photos are minor in the grand scheme of things. But help with immersion. It is annoying Saints failed to provide suitable photos like they normally do and other clubs have.

[ally_uk]

01/02 with latest update is the GOAT

Edited 10 hours ago by ally_uk