Fully agree. I have an FM 'routine' that I developed many years ago, and each game fundamentally plays the same to me. It's the core gameplay loop that is addictive enough to make me buy it each year (although I may well skip this one), and whilst I do notice the slightly redesigned or new screens every version, they soon get ignored.
I think that's part of the challenge that SI has; how do they improve the game in a way that actually enhances that core gameplay loop rather than with 'bloat' (as others have put it). I think they've mostly missed in their attempts to do that, but I do suggest you load up an older version of FM every now and again just to remind yourself what you've gotten used to!
I also do think there are a number of bugs and QoL improvements that can and should be made to features that are slightly invasive or a part of that core gameplay loop, such as a media and team talk rework, better newgen attribute balancing, player interaction / unhappiness rework etc.