Is it possible to complete Football Manager

I have devised the most singularly brilliant challenge that can never, ever be topped. How is that possible? Well, it's really quite simple, because the challenge is this:

Complete Football Manager.

I am going to complete Football Manager. But how can one feasibly complete the supposedly incompletable?

I am going to win every top tier league in vanilla Football Manager.

Years ago this wouldn't have been possible. The amount of processing power required to have all 51 playable nations loaded, along with the burden of 155,000 players, would be crippling. But thanks to the power of the Add/Remove league function you can tailor your game to suit your needs. A player can decide halfway though a career, "screw it, I want to manage in Hong Kong.".

Using this one powerful tool I will win all 51 nations' top tier leagues, in the same career game.

The rules are simple:

• Start unemployed with Sunday League reputation
  
• No in-game editor
  
• Can have as many or as few active leagues loaded as possible
  
• No adding/removing managers in order to create vacancies at desirable clubs
  
• Holidaying is allowed
  

That's it. Very simple, because let's be honest here; the challenge is longevity. If I'm not working on a day I can possibly crank out a season, depending on

the number of games. This is a challenge that would take, at the very bare minimum, 51 seasons, but more realistically would take 100 or more. This could easily take over a year to complete.

It is the ultimate Football Manager challenge, and I am going to do it.

One might argue that starting this story in 2034 is skipping out on a lot of the meat. But put it this way, you're missing out on the most boring part of the story.

Ten years in Greece? Six years messing around in Russia? That's all time wasted. Your time, that would have been wasted, if I hadn't so generously excluded you from the torture of having to holiday the first three rounds of every cup competition I've been involved in for at least nineteen years.

Put it this way, you're getting in just at the right time. Base camp has been made, you've had some boiling water, and now we're trying for the summit. screw sherpas, we're going solo. Like Derulo.

[video=youtube;8ESdn0MuJWQ]

So where does that bring us?

It is January 2034 and we're in Hong Kong. Hong Kong's alright. Well, except for the small fact there's no talent. Put it this way, I can't even get an assistant manager:

There's literally no one interested in the job, not one Hong-Kong (enese/ian? you decide) person available. Times are so bad I'm forced to attend my own press conferences like some sad competition winner who actually think managing a football club is fun.

Anyway, here's how we're doing:

Pretty awful. But there's still time left. And, to be fair, I won't stop until I've won every league. I don;t care if I get sacked, they can't stop me.

Good luck, but.. you're going to get bored at some stage before winning all 51 leagues lol

The key to good management? Being in the right place, at the right time.

Sun Source are all but guaranteed relegation, and I really didn't want to be saddled with that baggage. Fortunately South China inexplicably sacked their manager, despite being only a point off the top of the league. So I did the honourable thing and left the bad club for a better one. I've left Sun Source in a great position, with six more foreigners than is allowed in the match day squad, and healthy staff consisting of a physio and a scout. Children will be told of my mythical reign for generations to come...

Good luck, but.. you're going to get bored at some stage before winning all 51 leagues lol

We'll see.

I've always toyed with the idea of trying this but don't think I could ever stick it out that long, so I'll be following this. Good luck at South China!

Three games against the three worst teams in the league later and I am now the proud owner of dustbin lid that says "Hong Kong Premier League Winner". I took full credit for this win.

I've already quit, I'm not hanging around in this dumpster-fire of a league.

But even if you do what you set out to do, that doesn't mean you "completed" FM. There are still all the secondary divisions to win, all cups, continental and international trophies, manager awards, Steam achievements etc.

But good luck...

But even if you do what you set out to do, that doesn't mean you "completed" FM. There are still all the secondary divisions to win, all cups, continental and international trophies, manager awards, Steam achievements etc.

But good luck...

My thoughts exactly. If you really wanted to bulk out the list, I'd make the continental competitions a must. It shouldn't be too much more of a stretch - say you're playing in Spain or England or Germany, the team you're with should stand a chance of winning the Champions League anyway. If you managed to get through the 51 and hadn't won the continental ones, I'd be surprised.

What's to say I don't win all of the continental competitions by the time I'm done? I already possess the African Champions League, Europa League and I'm an Olympic Gold Medallist. Obviously it's impossible to complete the game; it has no end state. That's the joke, what I'm going to do is try and amass as much as possible. We'll have to disagree over lower leagues, I see no tangible benefit in winning them in the pursuit of being a completionist.

July 2034

The sun rises on my new tenure as manager of some club in India. That's what it says on my business card, by the way.

And this is the man who'll be leading me to glory. No idea how he's found his way into the miasma that is Indian football, but I'll use him all the same.

Royal where?

And with that, my time in India comes to a close. It was quick, and despite the closeness of the league, actually rather easy. They key was having a really good Irishman.

The only thing I can say in the positive is that I wish all leagues were 20 games long. I'm dreading Brazil, where if I get bogged down I'm looking at eight or ten seasons playing 70 odd games. I shudder when I think about it. But that's a long ways away, onto the next league...

June 6th 2035

I'm sure most people are familiar with South Korea, and Jeonbuk, one of the larger sides in Asia. They're currently third in the K-League after their manager left to join the 6th place team, Ulsan. I guess he must really love Ulsan, or hate Jeonbuk. Either way, his loss is my gain because I couldn't have asked for a better situation to move into. I'm not expecting quite as rapid a league title as I've seen in Hong Kong and India, but this is definitely a far better situation than I anticipated.

Three in a row doesn't sound too bad. I signed three solid players to utilise in my preferred 4-2-3-1 formation and they were effective, coupled with Jeonbuk's already talented side. I'm disappointed we didn't do any better in the ACL, and I have to make a decision now whether I stay and try to win that, or swiftly move onto another club elsewhere. Decisions.

In other news, shout out to my boy Pingo. He's good at football, and has a cool name.

I had a think and realised I'd get bored after having won the league, so I quit.

February 2036

We arrive in Indonesia. Time to start playing some hot football. We're 16th in the league, I can taste the fun already.

June 2036

Good recovery by the team, and we've got some decent young players. I'd hope to break the top six next season.

"PSIR", "PSM" and "PSMS" wouldn't happen to have "Pers"-something in their names now would they?

This is a cool thread.

How are you finding actually getting the jobs? Writing updates so sparsely (in game-time terms) means we're missing out on the boring stuff (rightly I guess) but in a nutshell are you finding you can just apply and get a job anywhere now?

And how are you in 2036 ALREADY?!!

Cool thread, did you ever try: The Ultimate Football Manager Challenge? Would be compatible with this challenge, but you "only" need 10 league titles (5 of them specific) + 10 cuptitles, champions league on 5 continents. But you need international titles.

"PSIR", "PSM" and "PSMS" wouldn't happen to have "Pers"-something in their names now would they?

In order:

Persatuan Sepak Bola Indonesia Rembang,

Persatuan Sepak Bola Makassar

Persatuan Sepak Bola Medan dan Sekitarnya

Apparently (on Google) Persatuan means unity, so I'd venture the actual translation is team.

This is a cool thread.

How are you finding actually getting the jobs? Writing updates so sparsely (in game-time terms) means we're missing out on the boring stuff (rightly I guess) but in a nutshell are you finding you can just apply and get a job anywhere now?

And how are you in 2036 ALREADY?!!

As always, the game's job centre is the way to go.

The only irritation is that I'm often laughed out of job applications. You can see in the above screenshot I have one job I applied for, I applied for that about eight months ago. So despite being a World Class manager and in the top-30 managers ever to grace the game, I regularly can not get certain jobs.

However I do have a trick. It's something I learned ages ago and have always had in the back of my mind: no matter what leagues you have loaded, no matter what you reputation in the game, you will always be able to get a job. What that means is that when you start a new game unemployed and load twenty leagues, you will be able to get a job. Conversely if you only load the English Premier League, and start unemployed with a Sunday League reputation, you will still be able to get a job. So all I'm doing at the moment is when I win a league title, I resign and remove that league from my database.

So as I work my way through the amount of leagues gets smaller, until I get down to one and then I'll load up all of South America, or all of the British Isles etc. I think that's the most effective way to keep getting jobs and keep the game flowing nicely.

As for how it is 2036, well I've been playing this game of FM 15 for a quite some time. I was thinking about doing this challenge on FM 16, but I've seen a number of bugs in the new game, and I wouldn't want there to be issues as my time goes on. Certainly this is one of the most stable late games I've experienced, especially in player balance.

Cool thread, did you ever try: The Ultimate Football Manager Challenge? Would be compatible with this challenge, but you "only" need 10 league titles (5 of them specific) + 10 cuptitles, champions league on 5 continents. But you need international titles.

I've won all five continental cups a handful of times. I've never really been one for international management because there's a limited amount of ownership one can have over an national side, so it doesn't appeal to me.

I've won all five continental cups a handful of times. I've never really been one for international management because there's a limited amount of ownership one can have over an national side, so it doesn't appeal to me.

Cool no problem, just wanted to let you know if you didnt know about this challenge. Will be nice to follow your challenge still.

One of the best/worst nicknames I've seen a Brazilian given. He's a banging player though.

Just some general admin on the transfer front, removing foreigners (there's a 3 foreign player limit) and I had to spend big money to bring in a competent goalkeeper. He was the only four star goalkeeper I could find, everyone available on a free was no more than one and a half stars.

That's what £205k gets you. That's insanity.

That goalkeeper is creepy.

I'll give you one guess to tell me when you think the injuries began.

It's fine, it's not like I have anything better to do in my life. I'm enjoying this.

The hits keep on coming.

Someone really doesn't want to make this easy. In the game I just won I had to play a defender up front.

Seriously, this has become cancerous now.

When was the last time you had THREE of your goalkeepers injured? ****'s sake. And this is who I have to step up:

I've had problems with injuries in this game since 2015, but this has taken it to another level which just makes me so, so happy.

That goalkeeper is creepy.

Not the first time a number one keeper has been a fascist.

20th June 2037

So close. If we hadn't been shafted by injuries it's very likely we would have won the league. Our extended run in the Indonesian Cup (which we came third in, because India has a bronze medal trophy game just to really rub the salt in) didn't help as well meaning a lot of our games were bunched together. I like football, but not four games in eight days football.

Still, there are major positives and two great signings should put us in a position to win the league.

My boy Dude broke records left, right, and centre, so as long as he can stay fighting fit we're going to be there.

December 2037

Nothing special on the transfer front. Just some backup players in case we have injury problems. I don't want to be playing defenders as wingers again.

27th June 2038

And with that, I'm done. I'm actually sad to be leaving Indonesia, it's been one of the most fun managerial stints I've engaged in. The quality of the football was awful, but it was still a fun game to hone a decent tactic (4-4-2 formation based for those that are interested) to add to my growing collection. I'm still waiting for the moment I can employ a sweeper, just for varieties sake.

I'm not going to hang around in Indonesia, it's time to press on. I've only got four nations left to conquer in Asia: Australia, China, Malaysia, and Singapore. I've managed in all but China before. My particular fondness was for Singapore, who years ago had a team whose mandate was to only employ African players, but they don't exist any longer. Anyway, time to quit and see where I can get a job.

9th August 2038

Right, now I'm going to bed.

The move must have tired you out.

I'm actually surprised we did so well. This squad is old as hell and it's only going to get worse as time goes on. Under normal circumstances that would be fine, except we're in Australia where every single aspect of player acquisition is governed by forty four rules. It's almost as if Australia loves rules, the joke writes itself, I'll leave it to you.

But seriously, just look at this rubbish:

- Maximum of four foreign players

- Maximum of 20 over-20 players

- Minimum of two goalkeepers

- Maximum salary of £26,500 excluding Marquee Players

- Maximum of one Marquee Player (including Australians)

- Maximum of one Australian Marquee Player

- Maximum of three Junior Marquee Players

Why is there a rule for Australian and non-Australian Marquee players? What are Junior Marquee Players? Why hasn't the salary cap risen with inflation? Why do I HAVE to HAVE two goalkeepers?

I hate Australia, and it's rules. I really don't want to play another season in this dump. I barely managed to put a squad together and the thought of spending years toiling away, only to be held up by arbitrary rules just hurts my head. I understand it's a living-within-means thing, but christ, why can't I choose to have 21 over-20 players, it's still the same money being spent.

Long story short, don't manage in Australia, I'd forgotten that was the rule I'd made for myself a few years ago after a failed attempt managing there once. Don't copy me, my life is a disaster.

The move must have tired you out.

Started a new job.

I'm sure those rules were put in place to try and keep talent at clubs, while at the same time making sure you had to use said talent. Australian clubs can't poach other Australian clubs (the biggest rule I fell foul of when I was there) and you can't just go out and sign quality elsewhere. It puts a little more challenge on things, like MLS without the extra bells, whistles and suspenders that the Americans put on.

I was hoping for an escalator to the top of Mount Success, not a zimmer frame.

Completing football manager... reminds me of jay on the inbetweeners ☺

That's great, but it doesn't count as the league win. So onto the next season.

One more season in Australia then?

God willing.

Trivia:

On 11/9/2015 at 17:37, Fantastic said:

In order:

Persatuan Sepak Bola Indonesia Rembang,

Persatuan Sepak Bola Makassar

Persatuan Sepak Bola Medan dan Sekitarnya

Apparently (on Google) Persatuan means unity, so I'd venture the actual translation is team.

A better translation would be: Rembang, Indonesia Football Association; Makassar FA; and Medan and surrounding area FA. Most Indonesian clubs are also local/regional FAs, ISL clubs are required to be a corporation, but still maintains their FA duties and privileges such as running their own internal leagues, drafting players from their member clubs, etc.

Anyway, interesting read. Looking forward to your next update.

Good luck escaping Australia!