If you haven’t pre-ordered the game and so have not seen the Beta yet, there is loads you need to know about the game we all love and loads that you have missed out on so far.

So we thought we should wet your appetite before you get your hands on the game over the next few days, heres 5 things that you really need to know about Football Manager 2014.

1.Get an exclusive 26% off the game!

First up, if you haven’t bought the game yet, you should do so now and there isn’t a better place than over at our friends DL Gamer, they have given us an exclusive discount for all our members, you can get the game with an awesome 26% off! That means you get the full game, plus early Beta access if you buy it in time for less than £26, bargain. Click here to buy it.

2. Last years’ wonderkids suck

One thing that has really struck me about the game is the amount of old-school wonderkids from FM 2013 who are now really poor, even some of the more popular youngsters from the likes of Fifa are bad as well, Bakalli, Ademilson, Fierro, Vrsajiko to name a few big names in the 2013 version of the game who do not cut the mustard in this.

Luckily it seems most of the English stars of yesteryear are still prominent, apart from Nick Powell. Luke Shaw, Will Hughes and co are very good but the one thing that I really love is the pure epic-ness of James Ward Prowse and the master that is Adnan Janazaj, who so far in my game is the best youngster money can buy, he’s also available for a measly few mil off the bat, good news!

3. Save some money for 2nd and 3rd season

So far I have played a full season with the Gunners and 2 seasons with Southampton and believe me the Saints’ game was far more exciting, being the same team as I did in FM 2013 felt like I was playing the same game, there isn’t a massive difference in UI on this version and one criticism I have for the games’ makers is precisely that, the change-over is a bit too easy.

But anyway, going in to the 3rd season with the saints…

I had scraped 4th in my first season and nailed a 3rd position spot in the second so I had plenty of money coming in and a plethora of young starlets attracting decent wedges around Europes elite but what amazed me was the sheer number of world-class talent that I could now buy for a few million.

I bought Ozil, Cazorla and Song but could have had Wilshere and Ramsey too and felt I had to turn down the likes of Fabregas, Higuain and Alexis Sanchez because I already had too many players.

Unfortunately as always with my FM games, once I have that sort of talent in my team it becomes a fantasy-league and I quickly get bored, but thats another subject for another day.

4. Make sure you change your staff responsibilities.

For me young-players are the be all and end all to the success of any particular FM save, 2014 is no different.

Every game I have I aim to have a team full of 21 or less year olds by the 2nd season, I nearly always get there with a bit of experience thrown in but FM 2014 isn’t too keen on you achieving that goal.

By default you will not be in control of offering the youngsters you bid for a contract, it took me a good in-game month to work out why all the youngsters I was bidding for were turning down my contracts or joining other clubs.

One of your staff is assigned with offering these young players a contract and of course has no sentiment for offering anything more than a few grand a week to the next Zidane so you need to change this straight away, just change the role in the staff responsibilities section on the menu.

5. The new kids on the block

As i have mentioned above, youngsters are for me the biggest and most exciting part of the FM franchise and with Football Manager 2014 comes a new wave of kids that are set to take the world by storm.

Of course it is far to early to tell who will exactly be the next Messi but after 3 seasons played I have found a few gems that you should not miss.

One thing that really grates on me about online wonderkid lists is the pain in the arse time consuming effort of separating those players that will actually join your club and won’t cost the earth from the others. So these ‘kids’ are all available at the start of the game, will all join ‘decent’ European teams and none of which will cost you more than £10m, if that.

• Will Hughes
• James Ward-Prowse
• Pierre-Emile Holdbaerg (Search ‘Pierre-Emile’)
• Adnan Januzaj
• Gabriel Barbosa
• Nathaniel Clyne
• Angel Correa
• Luke Shaw

Some of our most read articles on this blog have been those ‘resource’ guides, the links and an encyclopaedia of vital FM info that we all need and want to enhance our gameplay further so we thought we should do another one targeting the new Football Manager 2014 release.

A lot of you will already own the game, if you don’t own it you can pre-order it now and get instant access to the BETA version, just use the big image on the right to buy from SI’s trusted partners, Amazon.

How to choose a team to manage

One thing that really troubles some people is who to manage on FM, lots of people just go straight in for the team they support but many others like to play the field. I for one have changed the way I manage this game, rather than opting for my beloved Arsenal, I went for Southampton and have opted for a game targeting solely youth, bringing in the best young English players I can and chucking them straight in the first eleven.

If you’re struggling to find a team there is a great team choice thread over at FM Scout – If you are struggling to decide which team you should manage just ask the FM community! Link: http://www.fmscout.com/q-10088-Team-Request-Thread.html

What, Why & Who should you play where?

In any new release of Football Manager and particularly in the 2014 game there are always new features, new names for positional regions on the pitch and new attributes each player needs to fulfil that role.

The enganche and the false 9  for example are new to FM 2014, but how do they work? Who should you play there? Do you need one?

Find out loads more at FMS, their page about this very subject is second to none. FM 2014 Key Attributes for Each Player Role and Duty – A huge post covering all the key attributes for every player role and duty and description of each player role.

Link: http://www.footballmanagerstory.com/fm-2014-key-attributes-for-each-player-role-and-duty/

Wonderkid, where for art thou wonderkid

FM wouldn’t be FM without the obligatory wonderkid ‘engine’ and the joy a manager has in discovering a new one that wants to play for your club so it was only a matter of time before a detailed list of possible wonderkids popped up online, check out FM Scouts page about: Football Manager 2014 Possible Wonderkids – Players who may be invaluable in FM 2014

Link: http://www.fmscout.com/a-football-manager-2014-possible-wonderkids.html

Some love ‘em, some don’t

In my experience some people either spend loads of time refining their back room staff, knowing exactly the qualities each person needs to fulfil that role or they couldn’t care less. The latter typically have a yearly clear out but spend little time looking at anything other than the star ratings for each training category.

The problem has been in the past that there seems to be no real correlation between players training happiness and performances and the staff you hire.

But will FM 14 be any different? Only time will tell, until then there is some great info over at My Passion For Football Manager.

Football Manager 2014 Staff Recommendation – A collection of staff search filters for all available back-room staff in Football Manager 2014

Link: http://www.mypassion4footballmanager.com/2013/10/football-manager-2014-staff-recommendation.html

See that bug?

Last up is the most important of them all, one that means you could have an impact on the way we all play the game we all love.

SI have opened their doors to you and I as ‘field testers’ of the BETA, so if you spot any bugs, glitches, errors or just don’t like something to the extent you want to tell someone, go and rant about it over here:

FM 2014 Pre-Release Beta: Official feedback thread – Key issues we are currently working on. Report any annoying bugs here.

Link: http://community.sigames.com/showthread.php/363568-FM-2014-Pre-Release-Beta-Official-feedback-thread.?s=7be210ddd82b92925f20f615db1ebe7f

If you didn’t already know, a ‘wonderkid’ is essentially a totally awesome young player who has the potential to set Europe alight with his talents. It is important to note though that not all wonderkids are equal and even though one lad has the potential to be 4.5 > 5 stars, it does not mean they will make it to the promised land.

A combination of training, stewardship and most importantly game time are needed for a child-prodigy to make it to the worlds stage in Football Manager 2014.

What is immediately noticeable in FM 14 is the seed-change from those wonderkids of 2013, I only found a couple of players who were the go-to kids of the previous version who were good enough to sign for either of my two saves so far, but have they been replaced or simply ‘graded’ differently? Only time will tell.

Anyway, I did tell you that I have changed the way I play to ultimately benefit the growth of the wonderkids in Football Manager 2014, what I mean by that is instead of playing as Arsenal, which I have done on every single FM ever, I have started as Southampton, for two reasons.

Firstly, the Saints have a decent selection of young prodigies already, James Ward Prowse and Luke Shaw are the standout names but they sit on top of high quality training and youth facilities.

Secondly, hundreds of wonderkids never make the grade and it is so disappointing to see a player who once had the potential to be Lionel Messi, turn out to be the next Emile Heskey. So I wanted to manage a club who could attract youngsters but also be able to throw them straight in to the first eleven.

So, on with the wonderkids.

For me the frustration with lists of wonderkids online is the fact you never know what ‘level’ of youngster you are looking at, for example if you’re the West Ham you need to find a different level of wonderkid to if you were managing Real Madrid.

For that reason each of the 7 wonderkids I mention below is a) available to buy at the start, b) willing to sign for most PL clubs, c) capable of being one of Europes elite and d) won’t cost you tens of millions to buy.

First up is James Ward Prowse – the Southampton youngster has awesome stats for a midfielder from the off and is a ready made Frank Lampard of the future.

Second up is Andreas Chirstensen, a young defender from Chelsea who is a newbie to FM and to be honest a newbie to me in the real world scene but is available on the cheap and has the potential to be incredible.

Angel Correa, an incredible Argentinian attacking midfielder available for a few million who has the potential to be the next messiah of world football.

Oliver, young, Spanish, Central Midfielder – Need I say more.

Adnan Januzaj has started to show some incredible real world skills for Man Utd and this has been replicated in FM 2014, this kid looks the nuts and scores from the off from the heart of my Saints squad. Available from the start, but he does take some ‘persuading’ to join mid-table PL teams.

Gabriel Barbosa is an incredible poacher, with stats in all the right positions and available for a few mil, though beware of the work permit implications in the contract.

Gedion Zalaeam has been within the Arsenal youth set up for a few years now and is now in their full PL squad in the real-world, the FM editors haven’t missed this kid and who can blame them, potential to be 4.5 stars (it was 5 at one point) and a midfield maestro in the making. He will join bottom half teams on loan or slightly better teams for the odd million or two.

There you have it, 7 awesome Football Manager 2014 wonderkids that any PL manager can go out and buy today. If I could only choose one, it would be Ward-Prowse or Adnan, depending on whether I was managing the Saints or not.

Have fun, let us know any awesome wonderkids you spot in the game using the comments below.

Of course it is too early to tell what all the tweaks and features are and how they have impacted on the game and our in-game experience but aesthetically, how has it changed.

We challenged our editor Danny Chapman about his thoughts so far.

How long have you been playing FM?

Hey Lucas, I’ve been playing FM for well over a decade now, it’s gone massively fast but I still remember the days of FM release day, with several of us round a friends house pounding that space bar until we literally fell asleep in front of our laptops, only to awaken a couple of hours later to do the same thing, happy days!

What were the things that needed fixing in your opinion?

For me Football Manager 2013 was a disappointment, in all honesty I played it the least out of any FM release yet. It just lacked something, an x factor if you like that it just seemed to miss.

There were too many in-game errors, glitches and mistakes made by your team on the field. Not to mention the discrepancies in team form being massively frustrating.

I remember one game I had just beat my club record wins in a row, 23 I think it was, I was top of the league, flying you could say. I had just played my ‘youths’ in a CL game because I had already qualified so was forced in to playing my star-line-up first team against Barnsley in the cup.

Anyway, I was 3-0 up at half time and lost the game 7-3. What?, how can that be plausible.

Don’t get me wrong though, in terms of graphical enhancement, UI and new features FM 13 was the best one yet. For me though the inconsistencies and frustration they caused outweighed the otherwise pristine makeup of the game.

Were you looking forward to FM 2014?

Yes I was massively looking forward to new game but I do wait with bated breath as for me the game needs to improve, but not the look and feel, for me its time to get in to the nitty gritty of the games functions to make it as real as possible.

Whats your first aesthetic impression of the Beta release?

I was both delighted to see some slight changes to the UI and excited to see that no too much had changed, there is a few bugs that need sorting in my opinion, for example the ‘black’ outline that seems to show up on all logos, imagery and comments etc makes it look unfinished.

I realise it is unfinished but that seems a simple thing and something that shouldn’t be seen in the Beta. I hope this is changed and I hope SI are not hoping that everyone downloads an image pack add-on to sort this issue.

The in-game graphics are awesome and you can really pick out the technical differences between players but its too early to tell exactly what has changed in game as i only managed to squeeze in a couple of games after my mass-transfer activity as is a given with a new game.

Your final thoughts on the game so far?

I am impressed but I wouldn’t want to pass judgement until i have been through at least a full season, the one niggling thing that is obvious to me at the moment is that there doesn’t seem to be a massive seed-change since 2013, which in my opinion was needed.

I was half hoping they completely scrapped the 1-20 stats, for me thats the biggest difference between the game and real life, but as 99% of the people I have suggested to would be happy to hear, they haven’t listened!

We would love to hear your thoughts on the BETA so far, just put them in the comments below!

But it seems to me that many FM fans across the community felt the same as me about the last release, a recent poll we did also backs that up,  and although I can’t speak for them, the newly announced features list hasn’t exactly set my world on fire.

We can all hope that the one feature that we really think would improve the game and our game-experience will be listened to this year so we have scoured through the forums, listened to our readers and put together this little list of features that we, as FM veterans, think SI have neglected to include in FM 2014.

That said, we can’t be 100% sure what the new game will hold until we get our pale mitts on it in the next few weeks. But, if I were SI and these were the type of things my customers wanted, I would make sure they knew I had listened to them.

So here goes, here are the 25 things that the FM community want changing for the new game, but looks like SI have neglected to listen to (we think):

1. During the off-season, we should be allowed to schedule team-building activities, or take the team out (like the Manchester United squad recently went to the horse races). Such activities could make the players happier as well as increase team cohesion.

2. Would like to be able to be able to offer a certain club a player of mine in exchange of a player of theirs plus money. For example if I have a goalkeeper ‘A’, I could be able to offer it to a club for a player ‘B’ and a sum of 3m. The other club could haggle around with the fee if they are interested in ‘A’ or reject the deal completely.

3. Be able to have a conversation with a transfer target who has no intention of signing for your club to try and sell the club to the player.

4. When your team wins a trophy, there should be a celebration or a cut-scene showing your team lifting the trophy.

5. More atmosphere in stadiums, I just want to here the fans singing, that’ll make the match experience more realistic.

6. It would be great if we can assign fix tactic’s player instruction individually on the player itself that would replace team or position’s player instruction. For example, I wouldn’t want this specific (A) player to play long shot for his whole life so I set the Long shot bar to Rarely for this guy and whenever I sub him into the game I don’t have to worry about changing it again in team tactic.

7. I would like to apply for a job and have the club offer me an interview if they consider me for the job.

8. I would add a value graph just like the attributes graph but it will show the player’s value progress through the years just like the one that is in transfer market.

9. Want to be able to host friendly in different countries at neutral venues. For example: Celtic vs Real Madrid in the USA. Both clubs could split the profits and have a boost in their fan base and merchandise sales.

10. Foreground text linked to shirt number colour. That means reduced chances of unreadable colour combinations.

11. Online Hall of Fame leader board

12. Team building days when morale is low.

13. I would like us to get weekly training reports to see who has been putting in the effort and is looking sharp before a match. A lot more detailed than ‘Wellington Nem has improved significantly over the last month as a footballer’ would be nice.

14. Fan reaction. I’m an Arsenal fan and of course twitter went mental with the ozil signing for example. Thats one thing missing from the game, the fans. Give interviews on the teams website and get fan responses or gauge fan reaction to new signings – get to keep an eye on the shirt sales of specific players on the site to see how well your signings are being received

15. For free-kicks, I would like to be able to designate one player for crossing situations, according to his free-kick taking and crossing attributes, and another player to take them in shooting situations, based on his free-kicks rating and long range shooting ability. For example, James Ward-Prowse is now Southampton’s designated crosser for free-kicks and corners – Rickie Lambert’s aerial ability obviously makes him a target for Ward-Prowse’s deliveries. But Lambert takes the free-kicks when there is a shot-on-goal to be had.

16. Just to add some flavor to the game especially for those of us that play long saves, Dynamic rivalries. If you brought a small club up through the ranks and now are beating the big boys, some spice to some of the games would be nice. How about Derby’s being created and possibly even Cups. The manager would not have any actual control of these things. Maybe coming up with a name if you wanted. For example, I have been playing Dag & Red in my save. What if a fierce rival developed with West Ham? Make these matchups a bigger game then they are now.

17. Be able to announce your retirement/resignation months before you actually do so, and if your a club ledgend be able to choose who your replacement should be.

18. I’d love to see benefits for playing overseas tours. Arsenal just announced a sponsorship with Bodog based on their Asia tour success. Would love to schedule a tour or two in game and have the possibility of gaining an extra sponsor.

19. More control over financial aspects – choosing kit sponsors, stadium advertising, ticket prices including special offers etc

20. Basic character creator – decide how your little manager sprite dresses (suit, tracksuit, club kit etc.)

21. Would love to see a scenario like Gareth Bales/Luis Suarez appear within the game. Hurting team morale, eventually another figurehead or leader in the team coming to you asking him to be sold for the good of the club…

22. the chance to instill a philosophy at a club from the academy up to the first team, such as at la masia. Identify core values such as formation, possession, pressing, certain physical attributes etc and translate this over to the team in meetings with players coaches etc.

23. I would love some sort of stadium designer or being able to specifically request a certain size stadium or expansion.

24. Improve referees predictability. You can literally know when a player is about to be red or yellow carded. Maybe throw a surprise in, here and there. Also, a lot of fouls in the match engine look like perfectly good tackles or like nothing has happened at all and it ends up a foul?

25. Be able to buy 2 players from the same club for a combined fee.

If your idea made the list, thanks a bunch for your suggestion, we think its an awesome idea.

These 25 are, in our opinion, easy to include feature changes that would greatly enhance the realism and our playing experience within the game.

For me, theres 2 or 3 that really stand out and to be honest I wish I had thought for them myself, in particular the want for more information-rich and weekly training reports that gives us more information about the players form, training performances, morale and other stats that could effect our line-up for the next match.

The other 2 ideas that i really like revolve around transfers, which for me is the most exciting part of the game, number ’3′ and ’25′ are completely missing from the game at the moment and there is no real hint that they would be included in the next version but they are both real-world scenarios that happen all the time.

Combining a transfer fee for more than one player is a cracking idea and may lead to some awesome deals, you might want to purchase the best midfield two in the world, with all the chemistry and friendliness in one hit.

Also ‘tapping up’ a player before you make a contract bid would be a great way to convince a player to come and join you based on your long term aspirations for your club. For example, I found it totally frustrating that I wasn’t able to sign Cesc Fabregas for Arsenal on a recent save, he was on the transfer list but wouldn’t even speak to me. If I could tell him that I was about to win the CL, Premier League double and I wanted to build a team around him, he might have accepted my whole wage budget.

Anyway, at the moment this of course only speculation, but like I eluded to earlier, if I were in charge of SI’s marketing announcements and charged with driving additional awareness I would certainly start by addressing the concerns of those people that have been buying the game for over a decade, sadly this seems to be non-existent within their initiatives.

Sources:http://www.fmscout.com/a-football-manager-2014-new-features-suggested.html & http://www.fm-base.co.uk/forum/football-manager-2014-discussion/114200-football-manager-2014-new-features-changes-you-would-like-see-32.html

With all the hype around the new FM, not to mention the launch of the XBOX one, new Halo, Call of Duty and games like GTA V & Fifa 14 already grossing millions of sales our bank accounts are getting pounded but how do you know what to spend you hard earned cash on first? Lets investigate.

For me this period is all about 5 key releases: GTA 5, Fifa 14, Xbox One, Football Manager 2014 and COD Ghosts.

Obviously the first two on that list are already up for grabs and I’m sure many of you out there have already bought them but if you haven’t here are my thoughts.

Fifa 14 is the best version of the game I can remember, it really is, but only a certain type of player will think this.

For example, I play like the real world teams like Arsenal in the game, slow, methodical, technical play, passing, through balls and finesse opportunities with a solid back line.

My Fifa buddy is more direct, a counter attacker who isn’t the best finisher but relies on the sheer number of chances generated by lobbed-through-balls and crosses to win games.

The new Fifa is massively beneficial to my style of play and the in-game seasons reflect that, I can’t lose a game on Professional but my buddy struggles to get over mid-table even though we are the same team, if anything they would always be better than me on previous Fifa’s.

If you enjoy the technical side of football, this Fifa is the best one yet. If you don’t its just another evolution for you and you probably wouldn’t notice the difference if you solely played online.

For me this is an essential buy and apart from FM, should be the first on the list.

Our order of priority – 3rd

GTA 5 has taken a shed-load of time to develop and all the hype leading up to it speaks volumes as its a masterpiece, I can actually say it’s the first game in the series that i have not been able to put down from start to finish, the online play is also epic.

The only gripe I have is the length of the campaign, though the side-missions are a pleasing distraction, the actual game-play is only a few days work for those of us with jobs. Whether I think this because of perceived opinion of the other GTA’s (in the fact I thought they were ridiculously long because I never completed one) or its ‘as standard’ I don’t know.

The game is definitely longer than many other campaigns I have taken on in other games but I was expecting more and I was expecting to be able to spend more time roaming and causing havoc.

Our order of priority – 4th

The XBOX One isn’t far away and I for one have already pre-ordered mine.

I’ve always been an XBOX man, never once owned the dreaded Playstation so it was a natural progression for me, especially with a new Halo in the offing (which would have made this list if it had a release date).

This new version has been coming for a few years and IMO it’s a bit soon to bring it out as the technology advancements coming in the world of tech are monumental, Microsoft could have waited another 9 months and capitalised on those but hey ho, I’m sure this will be an industry leading console for years to come.

Our order of priority – 2nd

I felt slightly let down by the last COD instalment, I felt the online play wasn’t as good as the previous release, largely because of the small and claustrophobic maps so I wait with bated breath for what the new Ghosts has to offer.

Of course the campaign will be awesome, they always are, if a little short.

I’m sure this will be one of the flagship releases for the XBOX One and the graphical advancements that will come with it may see this game being slightly more astronomical than it would have been on older consoles.

Our order of priority – 5th

Last but not least, Football Manager 2014.

What could we possibly say here that would be new to you, not much, you are here because you love the game and so do we.

All I can say is I hope the likes of us, the veteran FM players are satisfied with the new updates because I for one felt let down by FM 2013.

The game seems confused in the fact it tries to be as ‘real’ as possible without actually trying to be real. Ultimately the game is fantasy until things like the 1-20 stats are ditched for real scouting knowledge.

Its either a ‘game’ or its a management ‘sim’ – which one is it.

That said the game will be epic, it will tick a lot of boxes and I will spend hundreds of hours sitting in front of it, I just wish SI listened to the cult following that the game has built up.

Our order of priority – 1st

The big publicity ‘shout’ is that there are “More than 1,000 improvements and enhancements” but what does that really mean for the casual and veteran gamer?

Football Manager has always been played in very different ways by many different people but together we can all point to things that needed changing to make 2014 the best one yet, more accurate scouting, less in-game silly mistakes and unrealistic AI signings for example.

Only time will tell whether us FM aficionado’s will be satisfied with the next release but what we can be sure of is the next few weeks of excitement before we get our pale hits on it.

So far SI has released 10 ‘major’ changes set to come to the 2014 game, these are:

Available on Linux

Football Manager 2014 will be available on linux for the first time, though this makes no difference to me whatsoever, I’m sure this will open the game up to many and be a USP in its own right.

Cloud saves

The new cloud save technology is a stroke of genius, though you are only talking about a small percentage of users who will use this feature to play on multiple computers, it’s a nice feature to show off. Will be interesting to see how this is policed, could I access the game at my friend’s house? If so how do SI know that its me playing it, not my friend?

Steam Workshop

Theres new Integration with the Steam Workshop which makes it easy for one to create and share customised content such as photo/logo packs, custom competitions, and custom challenges with the new Challenge Editor. Again, for me this isn’t a massive improvement as I wouldn’t use it but some will. I’m getting worried now though, I have been playing FM for over a decade and the 3 ‘flagship’ improvements that SI have made will not effect me in the slightest.

Realism on the transfer market

More realistic transfers and contracts – “yay!” – The revamped transfer module now includes and features a more realistic simulation for opposing clubs and managers when dealing with transfer offers. New transfer clauses have also been added, including the ability to loan a player back to the club he was just bought from. The old turn based transfer negotiation system has been revamped to a new live system. I love the sound of the ‘live’ system’ though judgement will have to wait.

Improved UI

A massively Improved UI – A new and major re-hash and redesign of the FM 2014 interface is coming, this includes all the key areas of the game, overview, transfers and scouting pages. Also the language in the game has been updated to more closely reflect the language of real world football.

Match engine updates

Improved match engine – Improvements in the 3D match engine including enhanced AI, better lighting and player animation, more realistic player reactions to in-game events, and many more improvements. This comes every year but always seems to not be quite enough, will have to wait and see I guess.

Redesigned tactics

Redesigned tactics – I have been campaigning for a much more flexible tactics system involving ‘drag and drop’ formations. There has been no word on that but they do claim to have completely redesigned the tactics system to include much more personable and customisable facets.

Board interaction

More realistic and dynamic board interaction – Contract negotiations are more realistic with new added features like how managers and boards can now make demands a reveal their visions for the club in both the initial job interviews and contract renewal discussions. Managers may renegotiate a transfer and wage budgets to hopefully keep players loyal who have been offered another job. This is one thing we have been talking about for months and are glad to see SI have listened to the fans of the game.

Message overhaul

News system overhaul – Managers can now respond to club matters right from their inbox. Also, news will now be colour-coded and include more detail. I’m not sure this was needed, perhaps it will help with the news that we actually care about but after a season or two you train your eyes to pick out the 1 email out of 100 you get that day that actually interests you, we always skip 99% of the messages anyway, this will just make it easier to ignore the ‘spam’ and IMO the time could have been spent elsewhere.

FM Classic Evolution

Evolution of Football Manager Classic – In addition to the new ability to choose more than three playable nations in Classic mode, there is a new Fast Play mode with Transfer Deadline Day, a Match Plan wizard and new unlockables.

Though the features that have been released so far are only 1% of the actual enhancements it does worry me that the above are the ‘flagship’ changes that SI are using to promote the game and to drive sales. What you can forgive them for though is the above are certainly targeted at the more casual gamer, so we can’t fully expect to see what changes will be under the bonnet of the game when its available to play in the next 2-3 weeks.

As an avid FM fan I would have loved to have seen the ten flagship features released by SI to have been:

1. Match engine improvements

2. Massively increased scouting accuracy

3. 100% customisable formations and tactics

4. Increased youth development options – more youngsters (8-16years old) from the off would negate boredom long-term because of regenerated players taking over

5. In-game manager earning investments

6. Training transparency, increased options and player benchmarking.

7. More realistic transfers and contracts

8. Increased scout communication/opinion on scouted players traits/ability to blend in – rather than just a star rating and a few lines

9. Team talk overhaul – at the moment its just another monotonous click before you get to the action.

10. More realistic board interaction.

Maybe these are all in the game, maybe it will be the best one yet, maybe I will go back to playing FM 2012, only time will tell but until then lets hope Football Manager 2014 is the best one yet!

Can succeeding in reality help you get a real life football managers job?  Let’s take a look at those who thought it could…..

Won Jae Yang (Bath City)

Won Jae Yang was a 17 year old student from Korea when he thought he would try his luck at obtaining the Bath City job.  He was so obsessed with wanting the Bath City manager’s job he emailed them over 100 emails asking to replace manager Adie Britton.  Within each of his emails, he goes into detail about what the manager should of done during each game to win it.
Bath City has decided to publish some of the letters which Won Jae Yang sent them, here’s a snipet from one of them: -

“Hello. My name is Won Jae Yang from Korea. The reason why I am sending you an e-mail is because I want to be Bath City’ Manager. On its last game, I believe that the Bath City’ played well but has not 1played to its full potential. The c urrent ranking shows you that. Honestly, I do not understand Manager, His tactic fluctuates harshly. He does not satisfy Bath City’s passion.”

Won Jae Yang currently refers to himself as the Honorary Director of Tactics for Bath City FC.

John Boileau (Middlesbrough)

Back in 2005, John Boileau had a CV that had seen him take Nuneaton Borough from the Conference North to the Championship in eight seasons and also won the Swedish top flight with small club Kalmar FF.  Ok, it was on Football Manager but still a feat nonetheless.  So with this experience behind him, In 2006 John thought he would apply for the Middlesbrough managers job (this was when Middlesbrough were a Premiership team).

John sent his letter and a CV to Middlesbrough Football Club chairman Steve Gibson and was honestly hoping to be invited for an interview.  In his letter, the 25-year-old, from Rugby in Warwickshire, jokingly said he could manage the Premiership football club after becoming proficient at the Football Manager computer game.

Middlesbrough saw the funny side of this letter and responded by saying: -

“You were of course the outstanding candidate but we decided against your appointment.  Quite frankly we were of the opinion your tenure with us would have been short-lived, as your undoubted talent would result in one of the big European Clubs seeking your services.”

John is still waiting for his first real life manager’s job.

Mac Wilson (Doncaster Rovers)

Football managers are getting younger and younger these days with Karl Robinson of MK Dons the current youngest league manager at 32 years old.  Mac Wilson nearly took this crown from Karl Robinson to become the league’s youngest manager at only 8 years old.

His letter was received by Donny chairman John Ryan back in January 2013 after Dean Saunders was shown the exit.  John Ryan was so impressed with Mac’s letter and positivity as he stated he would get Doncaster Rover’s into the Premier League within three years!  John Ryan decided to give Mac and ring and ask him to come down, have a look around, meet the players and have an interview.

Sadly, Doncaster Rovers went with a 57 year old in the form of former Wales Under 21 manager Brian Flynn.

Don’t let the above three unsuccessful stories put you off though as just like all fairy tales, there is a happy ending and prove that dreams do come true……

Vugar Huseynzade (FK Baku)

In November 2012, FK Baku of the Azerbaijani Premier League hired Vugar Huseynzade in an advisory role.  Since then, Vugar, a 21-year-old Azerbaijan-born, Sweden-based student is now been appointed manager of the club’s ‘A’ side (reserves).  His appointment was solely down to his strength of his Football Manager resumé.

Huseynzade has no actual managerial experience and was fresh out of Business School, with a month or two’s work experience at an American sports agency.  FK Baku initially hired the Baku-born student based solely on being impressed by the knowledge of the game Vugar applied in setting up and running his Football Manager team.

Eight months down the line and FK Baku have decided that Huseynzade is the man to whip their ‘A’ side into shape having been without a manager for two whole years since previous incumbent Kamran Ismayilov upped and left.

Huseynzade was reportedly appointed ahead off former Marseille and France legend Jean-Pierre Papin (crazy!).

Since his appointment, Vugar still tries to relates the real game to Football Manager.  Here are of his classic lines: -

“We have big game tmo and I need to get off to good start, so I’ll save the game now; if I lose, I switch it off and try again.”

“I just stormed out of the press conference. I didn’t have a multiple choice answer sheet to use to reply to their questions.”

“I don’t need scouts. I just use Player Search to find my targets.”

“I told the board when interviewing that team talks are a strong point of mine. I have over four different team talks at my disposal.”

It just shows that there is hope and being a good manager on Football Manager does pay off.  Not sure about you lot, but I’m getting my CV up to date for those reserve teams in the Maldives maybe or failing that I’ve heard good things about Bali in the Indian Ocean.

As FM fans there is one thing we all have in common, one thing that takes us to the internet (unless you are dodgy and have the RTE) searching for, wonderkids. The young whipper-snappers that can make the difference to our teams in the years to come.

Wonderkids are like gold dust on many of the FM games of the past, but with the invent of the real-time editors lists can be found across the web from all and sundry, but how do you know which ones are any good? That’s were we come in.

I used to spend hours finding lists and scouting every player on their to then find that i was looking at a list of ‘Wonderkids for the Championship’ or like, so now, with my headache of the past in mind I have put together the ultimate list of wonderkids.

Whether you are looking for the best young stars of England, cheapo’s, foreigners or conference players they are all on this page, you will never need to go anywhere else to find wonderkids, star players and must buys for your team ever again.

Football Manager 2013 Wonderkids: Ultimate List (link)

This is a great list of over 200 wonderkids for FM 2013 from Aid the Boss. A cracking collection containing most of the ‘obvious’ choice wonderkids and some players that would suit mid-lower premier league teams, it contains everything from name, age, club, country and value at the start of the game.

Star player form the list: Kurt Zouma

List rating: 4/5

Ideal list for: Liverpool, Everton and Newcastle

Football Manager 2013 Wonderkids and Young Talents (link)

A very comprehensive list of FM wonderkids from True Football Manager, you can find everything here from decent Championship signings all the way up to superstar Champions League winners, my favourite and most used list which also has  all the key ingredients for finding the player on the game as well as some idea of wages.

Star player form the list: Luke Shaw

List rating: 5/5

Ideal list for: Everyone from low-level Championship teams to the best teams in the world.

250+ Football Manager 2013 Wonderkids (link)

A good-looking list from FM Scout, a good selection of players but only really useful for the best teams in the World, I feel there is also some TOP quality obvious English talents that are missing from the list, i.e Will Hughes and Luke Shaw, both 5 star Premier League players after several seasons. There is some great players on the list though that some others haven’t picked up on.

Star player form the list: Raheem Stirling

List rating: 3.5/5

Ideal list for: Mainly top teams but the odd ‘bottom half’ signing about.

250+ Bargain Buys (link)

Another decent list from the guys over at FM Scout, presented as well as the others but I feel this is more useful than most as its very well researched, bargain buys for FM 13 are harder to find. Its a decent list, would be nice if it was presented in a way that ‘filtered’ out unrealistic targets for those in leagues above or below the players’ expectations.

Star player form the list: Felipe Anderson

List rating: 4/5

Ideal list for: Just about everyone.

Football Manager Wonderkids Shortlist 425+ (link)

This is a good list from My Passion for Football Manager, it does require a download to see the whole lot but you can upload that straight into your game so the shortlist is on the game, no need to copy and paste for a few hours! It’s also great for finding the perfect player match as it breaks up players into playing personalities, I.E Ball Winning Midfielders. The only problem I see with this bunch is the presentation for those who don’t want to download the FM 13 Wonderkids Shortlist, the formatting isn’t the best.

Star player form the list: Sime Vrsalijko

List rating: 4.5/5

Ideal list for: Everyone, especially if you’re looking for a gem of a particular playing personality

250+ Best Free Players on FM 2013 (link)

Another list from the guys over at FM Scout, though I rarely use this type of player I’m sure there is a few of you out there who have a bigger interest than me, looks a good list and I can see a few cracking signings who I will definitely be checking out next time I start a new game.

Star player form the list: Roysten Drenthe

List rating: 4/5

Ideal list for: Lower league teams and teams with zero budgets (Liverpool)

Football Manager 2013 best wonderkids list (link)

For me this is the best list out there, its comprehensive, it offers so much more depth that enables anyone with a little time to see what the player looks like in a few season in to the future. Kudos to Darren Smith for putting this together, it must have taken weeks to perfect it. There isn’t much more to say really, this is THE place to be for finding, researching and signing players for any team, in any league.

Star player form the list: Kevin Volland

List rating: 5/5

Ideal list for: Everyone

400+ 2013 Wonderkids (link)

A nice little list from FM-Indo.blogspot. Fairly comprehensive and contains a LOT of players that are not picked up on any other list, its a brilliant resource for mid-table clubs and those on a tight budget. Can’t fault the list though I wonder if missing out a lot of ‘big names’ is intentional or not.

Star player form the list: Moritz Leitner

List rating: 4/5

Ideal list for: Something for everyone here, from lower leagues to CL winners.

Best Of FM 2013 Wonderkids and Young Talents 500+ (link)

A really good list of players from all across the globe, though I do feel that there is a few missing from the English leagues which is normally a staple diet for me, fairly good collection with something for most but like all of the above, what is lacking is some kind of segmentation for those looking for a particular ‘level’ of player, Championship, League 1 for example. Has everything needed to find the players you want quickly.

Star player form the list: Granit Xhaka

List rating: 3.5/5

Ideal list for: Loads of players with some uniques in there too, something for all.

The Ultimate Wonderkids Shortlist For FM13 (link)

A good little list of a couple of hundred names, there is some good picks in there but some that you wont be able to find unless you have some not so popular leagues activated on your database, you do need to download the list though, there is no mention of it online at all.

Star player form the list: Nick Powell

List rating: 3/5

Ideal list for: Plenty to choose from for everyone

Best French Wonderkids

Italian Wonderkids on FM 13

English Wonderkids and Must Buys

Spanish Wonderkids

Best Brazilian Wonderkids

Top Wonderkid Strikers

 Putting an end to the post…

Well thats it, we couldn’t find any other lists online that offered any value to you guys so thats the end of it.

There will no doubt be a lot of duplicates within the lists above but just pick and choose the ones that suit your current team and transfer policies best, for me the wonderkids list by Darren Smith is the best by a long way, check it out, the work that went in to it is ridiculously complex and you will definitely find some players on there that you would have never seen or heard of before.

Get involved, if you have any lists to add to this let us know using the comments below.

My aim with this save was simple, to do things I have never done.

So first up my standard variations on the 4-2-3-1 formations were ditched, in its place stood 2 fresh 4-3-3 alternatives with one being 3 narrow strikers, the other being 3 wide. Something that I had never done.

Next up in my big change, my transfer policy.

Usually I am a creature of habit, buying a selection of players all the time and adding a sprinkling of fresh faces along the way, not this time, this time I was going for the 1 or 2 big signings, world class players that would change the game, consistently.

All I can say is wow, I never knew that a measly team like Arsenal could attract such players and win what I did within a couple of seasons.

Before I tell you who I have in my lineup, let me tell you what has happened.

I’m in 2016 and already at the top of the manager hall of fame, last season I won every trophy possible and went the whole season unbeaten, in every competition.

I won the charity shield, the league cup, club world championship, champions league, FA cup, premiership and the super cup. A clean-sweep and a first for me and only the second time in my FM history that I got the ‘invincible’ achievement.

To do that, this was my starting line-up for the season.

Just to note, all the players were bought fair and square, there was no ‘tinkering’.

Sczesny

Caravjal   Varane   Koscielny   Santon

L Bender   Fabregas

Wilshere

Sharaawy           Neymar          C Ronaldo

Bench:  Sakho, Shaw, Ramsey, Bale, Lewandowksi, Falcao

Never in my FM career have I signed the likes of Fabregas and Ronaldo.

Never would I spend £31m on a right back or £110m on Ronaldo when you can pick up others with better potential for 10% of the cost.

And never in my career had I signed Lionel Messi, who has just signed on the dotted line of a 450k a week contract to come to Arsenal at the end of my third season. I had to pay him £275 a week for 5 games then bump his wages to 450k and offer him top-wack on everything else to get him to come.

My biggest realisation with this was the fact that I could actually afford these players at Arsenal, yes my funds are going down by £11m a month, but my ‘normal’ teams still lose 75% of that so whats the difference.

The one thing that is clear though, is the game really does favour these legends of our modern game. So far in my 4th season, after dropping Jack to MC and playing Messi at AMC, I am yet to concede a goal in 10 games and have put 45 goals away. Ronaldo, Messi and Neymar are truly astonishing.

One thing that does have to be said is that Arsenal actually have a good foundation to build a team like this and although nearly every player was bought over months, the funds were not hard to raise.

With players like Podolski, Giroud, Walcott, Cazorla, Vermaelen, Mertersacker and many more being easy to sell at £20m+ and the likes of Park, Bendtner, Denilson etc on high wages in the reserves, its easy to terminate contracts to raise wage budgets and make astronomical amounts of money from sales.

In my second summer, I spent £186m on 4 players, but sold £163m worth of talent, 18 players.

Give it a try, stop bartering over a few mil here and there, stop buying bargains and players with potential, buy the big names now and have a play. It really opens your eyes to the difference between a player with 5 start potential and one playing at that level already.

How this will end I don’t know, I’ve won it all with this team and although it was enlightening to see the constant big-name signings come in to the club, the long procession of regens is likely to start a takeover soon.

I must say though, this game has been enjoyable, its opened up a new chapter in my FM book that I didn’t realise was possible and one that will be an exciting prospect come Football Manager 2014.