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!

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!

We won’t be looking at the consistently top players in the world, just those who have changed the most over the last year, both positively and negatively as these are the guys you may not think of.

For die-hard FM fans this part of the game is always the most thrilling, the hours of scouting, searching through the under-18s of every country in the world and filling your scouts diaries with 99.9% of crap, hoping that one of these kids will show some promise, this article will be a great place to start.

Those of you who may be new to the series, perhaps you’re looking at the next instalment to be your first, these next few months will be tough going but luckily for you the 2013 game is available for under a tenor if you’re feeling blue.

Looking back in history its safe to say that those players that are performing week in week out in the daily rigours of top-flight football will be stat-heavy come the next game, it’s also a fair shout to say that those players that have seen a downturn in their performances will be downgraded in the same way but who are these players and how much will they be affected?

Firstly lets look at those people we expect to be the new class-acts come the new game.

Best FM 2014 Players: Our 5 Would-be Superstars

Theres dozens, if not hundreds of players that will be up there with the best in the game but we have focused on those that have changed the most over the last year, those players that were run of the mill or pretty good on FM13 that are bound to be absolute hero’s when 14 is released.

No 1. Gareth Bale

Gareth was good in Football Manager 2013 but this year he will be one of the best on the game, perhaps even in a Barca or Real shirt by the time it’s released.

He has shown on a World stage that he is capable of mixing it with the best and we fully expect him to be given a massive boost. The 23-year-old Tottenham superstar has made 41 appearances this year in the Prem and in Europe with a total of 24 goals and 8 assists including some monumental solo appearances and spectacular goals from distance.

The other key change to Bale’s FM  characteristics will be his positional awareness, in 13 he was accustomed to the ML/AML position with ability to do a job anywhere on the left side and fill-in on the right-wing if needed but now, with the free-roll given to him this season he will no doubt be much more flexible and we think his ‘bright-greens’ will stretch to the AMC position too.

Lets have a more in-depth look at his stats:

This is how he starts the game on 2013, as you can see a very good all-round winger and attacking midfielder but by no means a world-beater.

Using Bale’s extraordinary form in the Premier League as a gauge we fully expect his stats to raise considerably from the above. In particular:

Dribbling from 16 > 18
Crossing from 15 > 17
Finishing from 14 > 17
Longshots from 10 > 17
First Touch from 15 > 17
Free Kick Taking from 16 > 18
Off The Ball from 14 > 16
Flair from 11 > 16
Creativity from 13 > 16
Strength from 13 > 16

 We reckon that’s a fair adjustment to his ability and one that will make him one of the best on the game, especially if he isn’t playing at Tottenham.

No 2. Marouane Fellaini

In our book Fellaini is one of the best bullying midfielders on the planet, of course he isn’t a massively creative force and isn’t in the same league as his Spanish and Brazilian counterparts, but he offers something else, a towering brute of a man who is capable of using his extreme strength and tenacity to win games all by himself.

I have never been fortunate enough to own Marouane on FM, not to say I haven’t tried (bloody man city), but he is a must-have accessory for a team that likes to play a flat 2 in the midfield. Coupled with either a BWM or a DLP he is magical to watch and scores loads from set-pieces.

In his Everton colours he finished the season with 11 goals and 5 assists in 31 appearances but that doesn’t tell the whole story. Marouane is an inspiration to his team mates and the loyal fans that adore this fuzzy-haired midfielder, he has also scroed some massively important goals in crucial games.

His stats on FM 2013 show his class as one of the best midfield enforcers on the game but we do expect his creative side to be improved as well as some of his mental attributes, heres what we think:

Passing from 15 > 16
Influence from 5 > 14
Creativity from 12 > 14
Bravery from 18 > 19
Flair from 10 > 13

Though we don’t expect a massive increase in his stats, we do expect him to perform vastly better on the game and be able to operate more efficiently further forward.

No 3. Philippe Coutinho

One that could have made the ‘Wonderkids’ section but at 21 Philippe isn’t a youngster anymore, he’s a fully fledged star ready to show what he has in his locker.

Liverpool pulled off this signing last year, it really went under the radar and this season I think the top 4 will be wondering why they were not interested in this impressive attacking midfielder.

Those who have watched Coutinho play for Liverpool know this guy is class, we have been admirers of his talent for many years and its a bit of shame that his Inter Milan career was held back by a manager preferring experience to youth, great news for ‘pool though.

Though not a standout performer last season he showed enough for the scousers to take him under their wing, a pre-season training tour with Gerard and Suarez will definitely help his growth.

He only made 12 starts for Liverpool but quickly amassed 3 goals and 5 assists including some awesome creativity that many fans will be dying to see on a more regular basis next season, he is definitely under the guise of the right manager to achieve that.

Theres loads of room to grow but we reckon Philippe will see a dramatic increase in his stats, followed by an increase in his overall potential, he could certainly be regarded in one of the best youngish AMC’s on the game.

Long Shots from 12 > 15
Finishing from 12 > 16
First Touch from 16 > 17
Dribbling from 16 > 17
Passing from 16 > 18
Positioning from 7 > 13
Creativity from 16 > 18

Everyone has their favourite players, the ones that you have to sign even though there is better or cheaper available, Coutinho is my drug.

No 4. Jesus Navas

Man City have just snapped up Jesus and to be honest I am shocked that it has taken this long for him to be involved in one of the biggest teams in the world.

An explosive winger, mainly right, that loves to cut in. He has really shown his class during his countries journeys to the final of the confederations cup.

Though he is known as not putting in any sort of defensive shift Navas more than makes up for that with his contribution further up the pitch. His problem in the past has been in front of goal, his finishing is not the best but he is often targeted as the ‘main danger-man’ in a team so playing for City he is bound to have more freedom to show what he can do.

In FM Jesus has been a fairly run of the mill player for several seasons, often getting big moves but rarely setting the world alight with his new club but with his recent performances on the World-stage and a big money move to Manchester now completed Jesus is set for a huge rebuild of his stats and performances on the game.

For a winger his stats are already fairly good, definitely better than his new rivals in Milner and Scott Sinclair thats for sure but as a new-be to the Premier League we expect him to be given a nice boost:

Crossing from 15 > 17
Dribbling from 17 > 18
Finishing from 10 > 14
Long Shots from 11 > 13
Passing from 14 > 16
Acceleration from 19 > 20
Pace from 17 > 19

These improvements would really make Navas stand out in the City team and we think that will happen both in real-life and on Football Manager 2014.

No 5. Matija Nastasic

26 games for Man City in your first season, 2 MOM awards, only one yellow card and a pass success rate of 87% as a defender puts you at the top of your game in any team on the planet but doing that at the age of 20 makes you one of the best talents in the World.

Matija is just that, a towering powerful centerback with all the quality of Nemanja Vidic but without his ‘clunky’ athleticism.

Mancini had absolute faith in Nastasic for 90% of the games that he was available for, that says a lot but what will be his fate under the new gaffer at the helm of city?

Either way he is bound to be a must buy in Football Manager 2014 and his stats are set for a major makeover.

Matija, in my opinion will be the second most sought-after young defender on the game behind Varane and is set for a massive upgrade in playing statistics, my guess is:

Marking from 14 > 17
Tackling from 15 > 17
Heading form 15 > 18
Influence from 11 > 14
Off The Ball from 11 > 15
Teamwork from 12 > 14

And an overall 2-3 point increase in most mental and physical stats.

As well as these 5 there’s a few others that are well worth a mention, we anticipate some great strides forward from people like:

• Santi Cazorla
• Leighton Baines
• Laurent Koscielny
• David Luiz

Who Won’t Be Worth Targeting?

Now for as many top-performing players in the Prem this seasons there has been just as many under-performing stars of old, people who didn’t cut the mustard and players that will be due a downgrade come FM 14.

Heres who we think we not be quite as big a force as they have been on previous games:

Wayne Rooney

Wayne has continued to fall in standard over the last season or two, whether that is because of age, lack of motivation or being in need of a new challenge Rooney has certainly lost his charm slightly and we completely anticipate a fall in his skill levels come FM 2014.

Though he still scored a decent amount of goals last season he was often used much deeper than before to open up the position for RVP to take further forward.  Looking a shadow of his former-self Wayne has been attracting interest from other clubs and though he has said he didn’t hand in a transfer request, there is every chance he could be moving on to a lesser team than United.

David Silva

A year ago David Silva was regarded as one of the magical Spanish midfield, now he has lost his flair and lost his way slightly. Partially over taken in the pecking order by Pedro, Juan Matta and Jesus Navas Silva is no longer one of the first names on the team-sheet of Vicente Del Bosque’s team.

David will no doubt still be a very good player but he has certainly dropped in stature over the past season and we fully expect that to be correlated in his stats for the next game.

Vincent Kompany

In the same way David Silva was a modern great this time last year Vincent Kompany was seen as unflappable, perhaps the top defender in the world at the time. But towards the end of the season this previously solid defender started to show cracks in his armour, started making mistakes and was often overshadowed by Nastasic.

With Matija set to be upgraded, Kompany may well have some competition in next years FM for a starting place amongst die-hard FM fans.

In recent seasons on the game Kompany has been making a ludicrous amount of mistakes, is this a sign that in the recent patches the developers have already decided his fate?

Thomas Vermaelen

Captaincy hit Thomas hard, he struggled and buckled under the pressure of being the clubs leader and this lead to some rather shocking performances on the pitch, this soon lead to him being dropped from the team and no doubt from his captaincy role come the new season.

Though he may return to his former self he barely pulled on the Arsenal shirt towards the end of the season and they looked much better for it, he is surely going to be given a penalty for this lack of game-time, composure and unreliability.

Luis Suarez

A controversial choice as he has probably just had his best season in his career, but for us and the FM developers it must be about time that he was labelled as a liability.

His on and off the field actions are not marks of a superstar player and I suspect that his levels of aggression, composure and concentration will be adjusted dramatically to encourage this type of irrational play on the game.

For us Suarez is no longer a top-player, though he will no doubt be sold to a massive club, his qualities on the pitch do not overshadow his ability to cause controversy on it.

Lucas Leiva

For a few seasons now Lucas Leiva has been less than impressive on the pitch and is constantly suffering with injuries and yet on the game he has consistently been one of the best DMC’s there is. It’s time this changed, he does not deserve to be labelled with such qualities.

Shinji Kagawa

A lot was expected from Shinji when he signed for United, a great talent and a very skilful player indeed but in his debut season he barely did anything more than Ji Sung Park ever did, only without his work rate.

Often described as another way for United to increase their revenues from Asia Kagawa has a lot to prove, but I do imagine he will get more game time this season, he matches the type of mould that Moyes’ likes, for the same reason I see Nani getting less time which will help Shinji.

He was long a good signing on FM and was regarded as a great signing by many this time last year but it hasn’t come to fruition and we think he will be no more than an average attacking midfielder when the game comes out.

Sandro

Like Leiva, Sandro has long been an FM favourite, he has long been an over-performing and overrated player on the game who contributed little in the real world. It’s about time he was lowered in standard.

There is no excuse for Sandro anymore, he’s been in the country for a few years and is yet to show the potential he once promised. If only he would spend as much time doing good stuff on the field as he does with his hair.

Wonderkids, Where Art Thou Wonderkids: 5 Predicted Stars

For me, one of the most exciting parts to any Football Manager instalment is trying to find and sign the latest batch of wonderkids, those super-human stars of the future that have been identified by the developers over the past 12 months so we’ve been testing our knowledge and have ear-marked a selection of  wonderkids that we think will be top-notch and available for all most Prem teams in the new game.

No 1. Lloyd Jones

Lloyd, touted by some as the next Alan Hansen, was signed by Liverpool from Plymouth for an initial £20k and has shone in the under-18′s and been a regular in the under-21 set up years before average.

Commanding in the air but graceful and comfortable in possession Lloyd was handed a squad number by Brendan Rogers for a game against Fulham last term and is widely expected to be promoted through the ranks quickly and make his debut before his 18th birthday this October.

Jones is sure to have caught the eye of the SI developers and could well be one of the game’s top youngsters.

No 2. Alen Halilovic

Dynamo Zagreb’s 16-year-old midfielder is already picking up attention from a host of top European teams with Spurs being the most recent.

Croatia’s youngest ever top-flight player Alen is fast breaking more records and is expected to be one of the top youngsters in the world in the coming years.

Grounded and talented the youngster could have his pick of clubs but has his mind firmly set on growing and doing what is best for his career.

Regularly compared to Luka Modric the youngster is confident on the ball, agile and very skilful. Though slightly light-weight he has the ability to step-aside the rough and tumble of the Premiership.

N0 3. Jordan Ibe

Another Liverpool youngster, this kid is quick and is of a similar mould to Raheem Stirling but with a more physical aspect to his game.

It has been said that Ibe may end up being positioned further forward in the future but is already plying his trade with regular appearances on the Liverpool bench and team towards the end of last season.

Jordan was not particularly recognised on FM 2013, but under the guise of the right manager he was capable of becoming a leading Prem winger and this is only going to get better come 2014.

No 4. Luke Shaw

Although already an awesome prospect and already very good on Football Manager 2013, he is sure to get a big move this summer and that will only increase his stock and profile.

I see him moving to Chelsea or Tottenham this summer with an outside chance of United, if not he will be an awesome signing for any top-flight club in FM 14.

A Premier League regular, Luke is progressing very well and is certainly an all-round left-back. Many have compared him to a young Ashley Cole but I think this boy could be better than that, take the athleticism of Cole, crossing ability of Baines and a more attacking minded Philipe Lahm and you get somewhere near the player Luke turns in to on FM 2013.

Lets hope that is portrayed in real-life too.

No 5. Wallace

After joining Fluminese at 11 years old this right back soon grew in to a cracking youngster and although he has already agreed a big move to Chelsea as part of the deal that took Deco the other way a few years ago, he could be potential loan signing for lower-league or bottom half Prem teams next term.

A fast, tricky and athletic right footed defender Wallace is very similar to Dani Alves but has already shown his ability to defend very early in his career, he has shown his class in the Under 17s for Brazil and is the first name on the team sheet with a full international call up believed to be not too far in the future.

Though a very raw player he is vastly superior in terms of strength over the Man Utd Da Silva twins and is expected to slot straight in to the Chelsea first team fold upon his arrival in England.

Though potentially not available for the first season on FM 2014, Wallace may be available for loan and those type of player is often available for purchase early on in their careers. He is well worth checking out, there isn’t many good right backs on FM 2013 or appearing on the world scene at the moment.

 Until next time

You may have guessed that we are massively excited about Football Manager 14, we love talking about it and if you do to give us your ideas to add to this post and we will get them mentioned.

For anyone who is keen to get their mits on the game through pre-order, Amazon are the official partner for SI on this so have a look here for the best price online.

Featured image thanks to https://www.facebook.com/SerbianFM

Hailed as the most action packed FM game ever we look set for a treat, although the official launch date is yet to be published, this is sure to come in the next few days but you can now pre-order it from Amazon.

You can buy Football Manager 2014 through Amazon using the button below:

Fans have been promised loads:

• An improved 3D Match Engine
• A tactical overhaul
• More realistic transfers and contracts
• More sophisticated board interaction
• More complex interaction between staff, players and rival managers
• A revamped news system
• An enhanced user interface
• Evolution for Classic mode
• Additional community features
• Extensive tech improvements

Though the details seem like a big step, to real players of the game this announcement only tells us what we expect from the game, natural progression, but do the released screenshots tell us the same story?

Not really, the screenshots seem to only include old features, things that were included in the 2013 and some 12 versions, just laid out in a different way.

For me the time was right for a big seed-change from SI, the last version was a big seller and no doubt this one will be to, but so far I have to say the news and pics look disappointing.

Lets hope that the ‘work in progress’ state is just the start of what is to come.

Today is a big step, its huge in fact for all us fans, but I am yet to pass judgement on the game based on the news and screenshots that have been shared so far.

There does seem to be a couple of small changes that look real good, the way scout reports show up a basic overview in your message area is cleaver, it really saves time and the overview screen that contains some pretty graphs and pie-charts based on a few new KPI’s in the game looks fairly sexy.

It appears that you can now get other players to talk to each other in attempt to ‘get them on board’ which is a nice touch, but nothing groundbreaking.

The biggest change though and something that little detail has been released on is the ‘match plan creator’ which through all intents and purposes looks like you can really drill down on how your team plays during the game, changing the tactics during any given situation without you needing to do it manually every time.

The other glaring feature seems to be ability to loan back to the host club, a great addition that we have spoken about a few times as being needed.

I did just spot a tiny thing on one of the images, ‘manager expectation’ has been included on the screen when negotiating a contract with a player, is that the expectation of the player’s performance at the club or your boards expectation of how you should be performing this season? Only time will tell.

I assume the later, in which case the board expectation options have obviously been widened up to include lots of different scenarios, rather than just your plans for domination.

What do you think? Did you spot anything in the pics that stands out to you? Here is a few more to wet your appetite.

SI say that we can expect to see the following:

The amount of free stuff on the net, blogs giving you advice and lists for this that and the other can be daunting, especially when you don’t know who to trust or are just starting out with FM.

So we have cut the wheat from the chaff and put together the ultimate cheat-sheet for you.

The one big bug-bear with FM is the lack of imagery, be it player faces, badges or league images, they are all lacking and for many it’s a big problem so there is no better place to start than that.

Note: We are in no way associated to any of the websites we recommend, we just think the content we have linked to is the best online for that category.

Face-packs

Talk to anyone about face-packs for Football Manager and they will probably tell you to get the DF11 mega-pack from FM Scout, it’s the best out there by far, only problem is its size. At over 5GB it can be daunting and cumbersome to newbies trying to keep a ‘clean’ laptop.

Another notable mention is the ‘Cut out player faces mega-pack‘ from Sortitoutsi.net, there’s almost twice the amount of faces compared to the FM Scout version, but it also a bigger download. For no reason whatsoever I have always used the FM Scout version, not to say it’s better, just personal preference.

You can get the DF11 face-pack here or the Sortitoutsi.net version here, but for those who want a smaller, tighter download area covering a league or two then your best bet is to read on.

You can’t really go wrong with Sortitoutsi.net for face-packs and their section dedicated to single club face-pack downloads is second to none, if you just want to get the faces of your team, this is the place for you.

FM-base is also fairly good for face-packs, especially for single clubs or leagues. There are a couple of not-so-good packs thrown in so just look at the comments before you download, there’s loads of packs here.

Team badges

Though I’m sure you would be able to find some real good team badge packs over at Sort it out SI and FM Scout I have never gone further than the offering from Aid the boss.

The badges are clean, crisp and fit in to the game perfectly. This pack also contains every badge/icon for every team on the game, it’s a fairly big download, but its well worth it.

You can download the pack here.

I’m not going to recommend anyone else’s packs, there is no doubt some good ones, but I only use this one so it’s the only one I can vouch for.

Theme-skins

The world is your oyster for skins, there’s thousands about and everyone will like what they like so its difficult to recommend individual skins, but here is the one I use, it’s a fairly dark model from Football Manager Story.

You can pretty much find whatever you like, just beware with some skins not working with certain patches especially if you are using the latest updates, they will nearly all work but some will have some gnarly positioning if they are older models.

FM Scout have a really good index of potential themes, most are just colour changes, but there is certainly a lot to choose from on this page.

Theres plenty more skins here and here, from Sortitoutsi.net and truefootballmanager.com respectively.

How to install this shizz

Just a quick note, if you’re downloading all these packs for the first time, you are going to need to install them.

Unfortunately it’s not as easy as uploading to the game (there’s one for you SI), you have to actually place the files in the right place within the games’ folders. It sounds complicated, but its fine if you have the right guide showing you how, I nicked most of this from True Football Manager, thanks dude.

• Download the file.
• Unpack the download archive file via WinZip, 7-Zip, or WinRar ignoring warning messages.
• Go to My Documents/Sports Interactive/Football Manager 2013/Graphics
• If there is no “Graphics” folder, create one.
• Put the now un-archived files into the “Graphics” subfolder.
• Load up the game, go to settings/preferances and set “Use caching to decrease page loading times” to “Off “
• Then set “Reload skin when confirming changes in Preferences” to “On”

You’re done, once reloaded this should put all the new images in to the game.

Player lists

For the player list section I am only going to recommend one for each category, there are literally hundreds to choose from and each one contains thousands of players, most of which are duplicated so you would just be getting the same lists with a few additions each time.

So, the lists I recommend offer the biggest and best collection of players while also offering the most accurate and most diverse player-profiles.

Best players

Now, I realise that ‘best players’ is relative to what team you’re using so rather than give you a huge list that you would have no idea of who fits what team and you spending days scouting the players to find that you are not worthy of his services, these two suggestions have taken the statement literally.

The first selection from Football Manager Story is a great resource, it literally shows you the best 200+ players in the game according to in-game ability. So these are literally, the best players on the game, here’s the link.

The second ‘list’ is one of our own, it isn’ a best players list like the above, its a free e-book that we put together fairly recently that identifies 12 players that perform better than Messi. They don’t have stats better or better star ratings, they just perform this week in week out on the pitch and most will go to ANY top-flight team in Europe. Here’s the link.

Free players

You can’t go in to any game on FM without checking out who is available on a free transfer, every team from CL winners to semi-pro teams are in need of free transfers and there is some great finds to be had.

Because of that, there’s hundreds of these lists about but IMO, this is the best one.

It’s another list from FM Scout, they’re shit-hot aint they!?

You can get your hands on it here.

Lower league players

If you, unlike me, like the challenge of taking on lower league teams there can be a lack of information and resources around for you to find the players that suit your expectations in that division.

I have found a couple that look pretty good and the players they recommend are certainly awesome in the lower-leagues.

Heres a great guide from Football Manager Story, you can skip over the first half of the page unless you need some help setting up the databases.

I also saw this small collection of players, but after scouting them, they’re great finds that will certainly perform well in the lower leagues.

Wonderkids lists

We have covered the collection of wonderkids’ lists loads over here and to be honest, that is a great place to find some wonderkids, theres thousands of them on that page.

But if you had to push me on one list that is the best around, I would definitely say this one from True Football Manager.

Formations

Formations are a huge consideration, especially when you’re trying to fit all these new awesome players in straight away and still get some results.

I tend to stick to the same 2 formations but have a 3rd ‘winger’ tactic that is something new and out of the box, take my current 1-2-1-3-1-2 formation for example!

I know a lot of you out there like playing around with formations more than me and some of you have even published some awesome results online, these are available for download if you’re interested and I reckon this and this are your best option.

Optional extras

We’re pretty much there, you are all set and now have the best collection of downloadable content available online but I just wanted to give you one quick nudge towards our e-book, which gives you all the strategy you need to win every single penalty shootout on any FM game.

It’s here and well worth a look, especially if you are in lots of finals!

In little over 4 weeks we have had an astonishing 5,620 responses and if you took part, thanks a bunch!

We thought it would be selfish of us to keep the results to ourselves so here we go, lets see what you lot had to say.

The first question in the survey was “What is your overall opinion of Football Manager 2013?”

The responses matched our opinion of the game really, 43% said the game was “pretty good” and 39% answered that the game was “awesome”.

Importantly for SI, only 6% believed the game was the “best one ever”, which when you consider the game was the best-selling version of the game ever, isn’t the best feedback.

Interestingly though, not one single respondent said the game was “very poor”.

What does this tell us?: FM 2013 was by far the biggest selling version of the game in its existence, more people are buying it that ever so surely each one should be better than the last? Guess not, in my opinion 2012 is the best version in a long time and it seems everyone else isn’t too far behind those thoughts.

The second question in the survey was designed to understand the age range of the respondents.

The largest proportion of which were 22-29 years old which was more than double of that in any other age range.

What does this tell us?: Some people and some FM bloggers around at the moment believe FM is only a game for younger-heads, kids who need their parents to buy the game for them, it certainly is not. The majority (large) of our 5,620 respondents were between the ages of 22 and 29, couple that with the fact most people are playing the game ‘most days’ it seems the average FM player is a working man. That’s certainly the case in my experience.

Thirdly we asked “What ‘stature’ of team do you usually manage in your first season?”

We felt this was an important question to ask, though not relevant to much other than ‘how people play the game’ we thought it important.

The results of this question was fairly unexpected by us, we assumed that most people would be taking over at ‘top 6′ teams but the majority (28%) of our visitors were taking over mid-table teams in their first game on Football Manager 2013.

Only 8% of people take over the ‘best teams in the league’, with 7% taking over at the helm of ‘relegation battlers’.

What does this tell us?: You could be forgiven for thinking that people would follow their off-game support of football teams with their first club in-game but this doesn’t seem to be ringing true.  With only 8% of people taking over one of the best teams in the league, it seems we FM prefer a challenge over our loyal support.

The fourth question in our survey was designed to understand the credentials of our respondents.

“How long have you been playing the Football Manager series?”

By far the biggest response, over 54% was from people who had been playing FM ‘since Champ-man days’ which really added some authority to the answers we were getting.

What does this tell us?: This is a crucial question for the credibility of our answers, more than 54% of the people who got involved in our survey have been playing the game since Championship Manager days. In combination with some other answers you can start to see a loyal fan-base maybe turning slightly sour with the way the game is progressing.

Fifth in the survey was “How often do you play Football Manager?”

Only 3 answers were really used with this question, 94% of the respondents either played FM every day (27%), most days (41%) or a few times a week (26%).

The 6th question was by far the most important for our survey, it signifies what the real experts of the game think could change, the question was:

“What changes would most improve Football Manager 2014?”

Lots of the answers on the list were popular, with “Improve youth training – give ability to ‘mould’ young players” being the most popular, 69% of respondents wanted to see changes in this area of the game.

The second most popular answer was ”Improve youth training – give ability to ‘mould’ young players” with 67% of respondents thinking it would be a worthy addition.

Other notable answers included improving scout accuracy, giving the manager more control over sponsorship deals and to give the manager the ability to spend his/her personal earnings in-game. All of which were wanted by between 50-55% of the respondents.

Question 7 was designed to understand the buyer behaviours and the anticipation of Football Manager 2014, this, along with the first question gives us a realistic barring on the real-success of the game.

We asked “When will you buy Football Manager 2014?”

The answers were split across a few results but the bulk of people were either going to buy the game “as soon as it is available for pre-order” or on “the day it is released”. These made up 56% of the answers.

Question 8 was “Not including in-game issues, what is your biggest frustration with the FM series? “

A lot of the answers to this question were popular but the biggest concern was users getting bored and needing to start multiple games, 22% of respondents had the same issue.

This has to be a big concern for the game makers and I can say that I agree, I find myself getting bored after a few seasons because the game becomes ruled by regens. I know they are a necessity in the games longevity but there is ways and means of extending the life-span of any given game. For me the best way to do this would be to build a proper Youth Development structure, where you could recruit kids as young as 10, because these regens would have been developed by you, they wouldn’t be as detrimental to the future annoyance of them taking over.

For question 9 we wanted to understand what information people look for online, this was mainly so we could make sure we had that information on the site for you, the question was:

“What information do you look/search for online about Football Manager?”

Turns out you all want to see information on the best players and downloads, go figure!

The final question was ”How many of your friends play FM?”

This was a bit of a wildcard really, I have several friends that play FM but its a fairly ‘solo’ game so we wanted to know if it was the same for everyone else.

Over 28% of you have ’2 or 3′ friends that play FM, snap! Seems we are more alike than you might think.

I’m sure you are drawing your own conclusions about what this information means for the game, for SI and for the forthcoming 2014 release but what other things can we learn about FM based on these results?

For example, when you combine the age groups and the fact people play ‘most days’ more than any other result, you can safely say that most FM players work full-time.

You can also assume that because the majority prefer a challenge over team-loyalty they, in most cases, will need to find online help and guidance to find the players that suit the team they have chosen rather than knowing that already.

Do you have any conclusions? Let’s talk below.

Boost what you already have!

If you’ve already got a desktop or laptop that you’re fairly happy with but just want to give it a little boost to cope with the rigours of FM there are a few things you can do to improve the performance.

For smoother graphics on a desktop try upgrading your graphics card. My best buy would be this Asus Nvidia GeForce GTX 660, that’s a great price for the high level of performance you’ll see. If you have a laptop I’m afraid the only viable upgrades are a Solid State Hard drive to make load times quick and extra ram if your programmes are bogging down, that’s about all you can do I’m afraid.

Asus Nvidia GeForce GTX 660
Samsung 840 Series 250GB 2.5 inch SATA Solid State Drive Full Upgrade Kit
Komputerbay 8GB (2x 4GB) DDR3 SODIMM (204 pin) 1333Mhz PC3 10600 8 GB Laptop Memory

Laptop or Desktop?

Probably the most important decision to make when buying a computer is; do I need a laptop or desktop? It comes down to your needs and your funds. Personally I’ve gone for a desktop pc as my powerhouse for Football Manager and other games but I have a laptop for work and surfing in the garden.

Some people prefer to just buy a laptop capable of both. The advantage is that you’ve probably saved money compared to having to have both and you’ll have more space at home. The advantage to a desktop is that you can get much more power for your buck, you can expand it and you can change components (almost) at your heart’s content.

Laptops

There is such a vast array of laptops available these days that it’s hard to spot a good deal and even harder to know whether what you’re buying is any good. Here are three options all capable of running FM14 but some better than others.

The Budget Option

£330 for an i5 laptop is in itself awesome.

Okay it’s possibly not everyone’s idea of a budget Laptop but if you can fork out the extra view quid it’s worth it. In my opinion £200 laptops aren’t worth looking at, they’re slow and outdated quickly and won’t get you the full FM experience, after-all that is the only reason to own a computer isn’t it?.

This Fujitsu is a very good deal and, while it may look dull, a very good laptop.

The Lifebook will run Football Manager 2013 and I’d expect it to run FM2014 too. Don’t expect the matches to run on high superbly but that i5 will handle the games’ CPU needs admirably.

Heres the best place to check out the spec and prices.

The Middle Option

£634 for i7 and dedicated graphics, bargain!

It’s not a serious gaming machine but it will play games like Fifa to a good level. This would be my weapon of choice for Football Manager 2014 if I wasn’t sticking to desktops. It’s excellent value and powerful enough for most people’s needs.

Heres the best place to check out the spec and prices.

The Hardcore Gamers Option

Want your laptop to play FM 14 and make you sandwiches? Try this bad ass laptop out.

This laptop is the argument for buying a desktop for your gaming needs, sure it’s powerful but the equivalent desktop PC will be at least £2500 cheaper. If you have the dosh to buy one of these you truly won’t be disappointed though, lightening start-up and most games on Ultra graphics. If you want a gaming desktop computer though, my best advice is to keep reading…

One final point for those people asking: “Should I buy a Macbook?” Unless you have a beret on, thick rimmed glasses and a meat-sword up your orifice, no.

Desktops

Desktop pcs seem to be going out of fashion, at least as far as sales are concerned…it’s not true though. What’s really happening is that more and more people are realising that the only way to buy a desktop pc is to build one. Sales of motherboards and graphics cards are skyrocketing. It sounds complicated but quite honestly if you can manage lego blocks, you can manage this.

I’m not going to go into how to put a PC together, it’s simple and there are millions of guides out there already. These prices don’t include Windows, it’s up to your whether you want Windows XP, Vista, 7 or 8. I’d go for Windows 8, it’s actually very good, people just like to moan about Windows.

The Budget Option

This little baby will only set you back £270 but is well capable of out-performing very high-spe shop-bought PC’s, here’s the components we recommend.

Fractal Design Core 1000
Palit 2GB Nvidia GeForce GT 630
AMD Athlon II X4 651K 
Western Digital Caviar Blue 500GB
Corsair Builder Series CX 430 Watt
Asrock Socket FM1 A75M-HVS
Corsair CMX4GX3M1A1333C9 XMS3

The Middle Option

It’s not going to be as fast as the £3500 Gaming Laptop but it’ll probably be better than the mid-range laptop I chose and will certainly run most modern games on low at least. A definite FM14 PC. My tip would be to spend £30 quid on a CPU cooler and look into overclocking if you want a little more power too.

This lot will set you back £550, but what you get back is amazing performance and an ultimate desktop FM machine!

Zalman Z11 Plus Midi Tower Case
Asus Nvidia GeForce GTX 650
Intel Core I5-3570 Processor
Western Digital 1TB internal Hard Drive
Corsair CX750 Builder Series CX 7
Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO (120mm)
Asus P8Z77-V LX2 Motherboard
Corsair CMZ4GX3M1A1600C9B 4GB

Make no mistake, this is a powerful PC, perfect for gaming and if you have any friends obsessed with Macs you can show them this and make them weep for their wasted money. The CPU might seem expensive but it’s worth it for a super-slick experience. This PC will play most games on high, and for all you console fans it’ll perform around the xbox one/PS4 mark, if not better.

The Ultimate Option

I’m not going to list the better pc’s you could build, the sky’s the limit really.  But I would personally recommend the above as a bench-mark then to upgrade using these parts if you so wished.

This will deliver much better graphics:

Asus Nvidia GeForce 2GB GTX 680 DirectCU II OC Graphics Card

FM will run smoother and your PC will run faster with these:

Intel Core i7 4770K Quad Core Retail CPU (Socket 1150, 3.50GHz, 8MB, Haswell, 84W, Intel Graphics, BX80646I74770K, 4th Generation Intel Core, Turbo Boost Technology 2.0)

Asus Z87-PRO USB 3.0 Motherboard (4x DDR3, ATX, 2x PCI Express 3.0/2.0, Intel, Wi-Fi )

Your new FM PC will start at the speed of light with this little fella:

Crucial CT256M4SSD2 256GB M4 SATA III 6Gb/s MLC 2.5 Inch Internal SSD

And to add a final bit of class to your awesome new FM PC, you must buy one of these:

Fractal Design Define R4 PC Case – Black/Pearl

I hope this helps you choose a computer for playing FM14, in all honesty some of the suggestions were a bit silly but the more reasonable ones are ideal for avid FM fans.