Football Manager 2015 Features Video Official Feedback Thread

[Matshit]

FM is far too English, stadiums, sounds, even the way football is played, the whole game breathes PL.. Make FM less English!

I do think this is one of the game’s biggest weaknesses at the moment.

The German, Spanish, Italian, French or even Dutch league slowly turns into a copy of the Premier League after a few years.

I want to see Italian clubs like Parma or Udinese sign 50 pretty useless players in a summer, and loan out 40 of them just so that the one time they end up with a Alexis Sanchez or Samir Handanovic they can sell them for a huge profit. I will see the Spanish clubs focusing way more on their own talents. Even Real Madrid have two home grown players in their normal lineup this season, and clubs like Real Sociedad shouldn’t have to fill up their team with average foreigners.

English clubs dominate when it comes to amount of foreigners IRL, but after some time in the game, every other league is on the English standard.

The same can be said for homegrown players in clubs.

A club like Barcelona or Bayern Munchen should have around 0,5 youth players getting into the first team squad every season. And at least 2-3 players from every year ending up in a big European league.

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When we talk about youths I still think they need a complete revamp.

Has anyone ever let a young player go because you, and the coaches didn’t believe in him, and then see him end up as a world star? Not a player you sold for some cach, and now see you could get more for him, but like Jordi Alba, who was released at the age of 16 because he didn’t have potential to play for a club like Barcelona and had to play for a small club until Valencia signed him a few years later.

In the game today you just take every player with at least 3* potential, and you run no risk of missing out on anyone. I want the scouts and coaches to be spectacularly wrong about potential at times, and mostly just look at it as current ability/age. A 100/100 player and a 100/200 player at the same age should have the same number of stars for potential as I see it. Perhaps with some other factors, but not the potential ability.

[Sven.]

In the game today you just take every player with at least 3* potential, and you run no risk of missing out on anyone. I want the scouts and coaches to be spectacularly wrong about potential at times, and mostly just look at it as current ability/age. A 100/100 player and a 100/200 player at the same age should have the same number of stars for potential as I see it. Perhaps with some other factors, but not the potential ability.

This wouldn't work because almost everybody loves to work with youth and make some youngsters world beaters, but not everybody has the patience and time to play a lot of seasons. So if we would start at the beginning with developing soms youngsters just to find a couple of seasons later that they actually sucks then we actually waste our precious time.

And not every 3* potential player will be a world player. Injuries, karakter, transfers, ... can change his future. We have still a risk.

[Matshit]

That might be the oddest argument I have ever seen.

If you want the game to be artificially easy, can’t you just use an in-game editor to set/check the potential ability?

I love using my own youth players, and getting them into the team. The joy would be even better if I actually had to work for it.

I actually think the potential ability should just be reach for a very small amount of players. A young player in a small team could have a 180 PA, but the fact that his starting CA is so low, and he because of this never get the chance in a big club, means he never end up any higher than a lower league club. Or he might suddenly start blossoming later in his career, and end up as the type of player that suddenly in his late 20s goes from a mediocre player in a small, to a national team player. The type there has been more and more of in the later years.

In FM every player is close to his peek at 24, and you will find no 24 year old who will take a huge leap in CA. The real life examples of the contrary is very many.

[stevemc]

Will there be any change to the kits/logos/face/backgrounds.

What I'm getting at is can we re-use the same kits/logos/face/backgrounds as FM14, in FM15?

[mancmalaga]

You should take a look at the Bulgarian team Ludogorets. Five years ago they played in the Bulgarian Thrid Division. Then they were promoted to the Second Division and then the First Divison the year after. That was in 2011 and now, in 2014, they play in the CL and almost beat Liverpool a couple of weeks ago and Real Madrid really struggled beating them two weeks ago due to underestimation. Bare in mind that Ludogorets are not a club with any significant history in Bulgaria and have a really small fan base. So, yes, it is highly uncommon for a team like Woking to play in the CL, but it is possible and the key point here is the transfer system, whilch lets you generate healthy profit from players easily and therefore enables you to improve your finances more rapidly than you would in real life, particularly when you have a couple of promising youngsters, which you could sell for 10-11 mill a pop. Therefore, if the transfer system were revamped in order to be more realistic, it would seriously hinder one's chances to qualify with Woking for the CL.

Yeah but thats Bulgarian football, theres no way if Eibar stay up this year that in 10-12 years they'll be displacing R.Madrid, Atleti and Barca and winning La Liga and the CL, its impossible due to their fanbase and their geographical location, as it would be for Woking. And that was my point originally, if you want a realistic management simulation then this sort of stuff shouldn't be possible, if you don't, then don't play FM. The thing that sets FM apart from FIFA and stuff is generally the realism and the fact its not too easy. I want a game where its realistic and challenging, which FM generally is. Although when they try make it more realistic and challenging people on here kick off and say there's too much depth in it now. Ludicrous that is, cos being a football manager in basically a 24 hour job, so if you want it to be realistic and a simulator and not just an arcade game then it needs to be in depth. If you don't like that, then buy FIFA go on manager mode, do the basics and sim the matches and a season will take you an hour max.

[Kriss]

and you will find no 24 year old who will take a huge leap in CA.

Yes you will, but it's about as rare as it is irl.

People seem to have this perception that PA governs development in a set in stone way, it doesn't as there are plenty of variables like injuries, playing level, training etc.etc. which can affect development in a big way.

Also if you pick up a 24 year old who has plenty of PA in hand because of his early career you still can get some late development out of him.

There isn't a complete ceiling at 24 and indeed peak time is often considerably later than that dependant on factors like position.

[RTHerringbone]

Will there be any change to the kits/logos/face/backgrounds.

What I'm getting at is can we re-use the same kits/logos/face/backgrounds as FM14, in FM15?

I'd imagine you can as I used the same ones on FM14 as I did on FM13 and FM12.

[stevemc]

I'd imagine you can as I used the same ones on FM14 as I did on FM13 and FM12.

Cool, the only one I thought might be different, is the background pictures (stadiums etc), given that there is now a sidebar in the FM15 skin?

[Matshit]

Yes you will, but it's about as rare as it is irl.

Can you? I have done a lot of holidaygaming, just because I like to check what the game is capable of.

I have never seen a Richie Lambert, going from League One at 28 to playing in the national team. Or Giaccherini, going from level 4 at 23, to the national team just four years later.

Or Mehdi Benatia. Playing on the second level in france at 23. Perhaps top three defenders in the world now.

Or Di Natale. Making his Serie A debut at 26. Only behind Messi and Ronaldo in terms of goals scored in top 5 leagues over a 4 year period from 32-36.

Or on a smaller level. Someone like Jamie Vardy, who at the age of 24 got his big move when he went to Fleetwood in the Conference League. He is now at 27 playing in the Premier League.

Or Grant Holt, or Luca Toni, or Andrea Pirlo, or Franck Ribery, or…

I am not saying it should be the norm, only that you should be able to find some players of this type in your game.

And I am aware that nothing is set in stone, but there is a sort of “average” who too few players differ from. And it looks to me that way to many players reach their PA. The PA should almost never be reached.

No one in the world is at a place where they can’t get better.

[karangooner1]

Totally agree with Matshit, So many players make late development, it's not as uncommon as in FM. Look at Giroud, Koscielny. They were playing Ligue 2 2 years before moving to Arsenal. And i don't see often an AI team taking a punt on a player who is nowhere near his PA and is being frozen out of his team and make him reach his potential, sometimes i see players with World class potential retire after their contracts end at 27-28 after irregular playing time

[Kriss]

MY point is that you have no idea how often it happens in FM because you only deal with a fraction of the DB in your save.

Also if you're basing it on the fact that rl players don't develop in FM as they do irl then you're making a double mistake because once you press continue they ain't real players any more

[Smurf]

Players don't really develop and ai squads don't really build.

Proof in this is that in 2040 - I can score 100 goals a seson, and the nearest to me is 60-70 goals.

I win cups, leagues, and the champions league by large margins. Recently defeated Dortmund 6-1 in the final of the champions league.

Every club I've taken over had a poor AI attempt to build the squad, from Bohs to Watford to Middlesborough to Chelsea to Bayern Munich - at each and every club along the way it's a total clearout of

Staff

Players

Scouts

Maybe I'll hold on to some staff, some players and maybe a scout - but mostly it's buying in 9 players in a single transfer window.

Or maybe if I can't the players I need right now - I'll take a few players on loan until the next transfer window.

But it's very consistent. I could quit Bayern right now and take over Barca and have to do the entire thing again there. Where Barca, Real Madrid, OM, Man Utd, Liverpool, West Ham, Juve, Inter, Sao Paulo, etc. should all have excellent youth academies.

But they don't. The squads are in bad shape, there's barely any decent players in their youth system.

And their squads are old - often totting up an average of 29 or above.

Where the average age of most clubs is under 28 (mostly around 23-26)

The AI rarely sells on older players, or the older players wait until they're 38/39 to retire. The AI picks them for the match day squads, instead of picking younger players with greater potential/ability.

The AI also never invests in youth players, as evident by taking over top clubs in a 30 year career season, the youth clubs are in dire straits.

This however, can reflect reality, as if you look at U21 England squad, the current squad only has a handful of players who play for the top clubs in England. But in comparison, Spain for example have about 10 players who play for top clubs in Spain and across Europe.

This is hardly ever reflected fairly in the game. As you'll often find an U21 English player playing for a youth team in Europe (outside the UK) - which doesn't reflect reality at all.

In fact, it's quite easy to sign an U21 English player from a club in England if you're playing in Europe - but this really never happens. The furthest U21 English players travel in reality is as far as Wales!

There's a lot of work to be done by SI in getting top clubs top again by adding in some sort of task for clubs to oust the older players (as long as they are not legends or something for the club).

They also need to sign in youth players from abroad that are high quality - similar to how Chelsea, Man City, Liverpool, Man Utd and every other club in the world try and do.

The average age of squads over time needs to be adjusted so that it never goes over 29 - as that's reality for most top clubs.

The list just goes on - I hope my point is not lost in this rant.

[Matshit]

MY point is that you have no idea how often it happens in FM because you only deal with a fraction of the DB in your save.

Also if you're basing it on the fact that rl players don't develop in FM as they do irl then you're making a double mistake because once you press continue they ain't real players any more

I agree, but I have actually been looking out for these kind of players with no success.

I can’t ever think of a time when one of my youth players with 2* potential ending up being decent, or even semi decent.

If you could show one example in game with a regen ending up in the national team of a big nation, and playing on lower level at a higher age then 25 I would be surprised. I have never found it.

And no, I am not complaining about the fact that players isn’t developing the same way as IRL. Absolutely not. My point is mostly about regens.

It is way too easy to predict who will end up as superstars when they are 17-18 years old, and everyone who has at least some skill in FM can with a world class club sign up 10-20 16 year olds only based on their PA and create a dominating team in 5-6 years out of it. Only thing that can really destroy it is injuries. Other than that, if you have a lot of 4-5 star potentials, I would estimate at least ¾ of the players succeed. The amount of Bojans in game, who just failed because he couldn’t handle the pressure is tiny.

The talents who fail at my clubs are either injury prone, or it is because I have signed 4 other talents in their position because signing attacking midfielders and strikers is so much fun.

[karangooner1]

Nope, thats not what i mean. I'm referring to the situation in the game in which a player is frozen out of the team but has high enough attributes and higher ceiling but no one gambles on him to help him rediscover some form. It's an AI issue, it should be embedded in some manager's profile to take these chances with younger players in their mid twenties to still make a step up. Whether it comes to fruition or not, that would be down to luck and playing time etc from then.

[Preveza]

Players don't really develop and ai squads don't really build.

Proof in this is that in 2040 - I can score 100 goals a seson, and the nearest to me is 60-70 goals.

I win cups, leagues, and the champions league by large margins. Recently defeated Dortmund 6-1 in the final of the champions league.

Every club I've taken over had a poor AI attempt to build the squad, from Bohs to Watford to Middlesborough to Chelsea to Bayern Munich - at each and every club along the way it's a total clearout of

Staff

Players

Scouts

Maybe I'll hold on to some staff, some players and maybe a scout - but mostly it's buying in 9 players in a single transfer window.

Or maybe if I can't the players I need right now - I'll take a few players on loan until the next transfer window.

But it's very consistent. I could quit Bayern right now and take over Barca and have to do the entire thing again there. Where Barca, Real Madrid, OM, Man Utd, Liverpool, West Ham, Juve, Inter, Sao Paulo, etc. should all have excellent youth academies.

But they don't. The squads are in bad shape, there's barely any decent players in their youth system.

And their squads are old - often totting up an average of 29 or above.

Where the average age of most clubs is under 28 (mostly around 23-26)

The AI rarely sells on older players, or the older players wait until they're 38/39 to retire. The AI picks them for the match day squads, instead of picking younger players with greater potential/ability.

The AI also never invests in youth players, as evident by taking over top clubs in a 30 year career season, the youth clubs are in dire straits.

This however, can reflect reality, as if you look at U21 England squad, the current squad only has a handful of players who play for the top clubs in England. But in comparison, Spain for example have about 10 players who play for top clubs in Spain and across Europe.

This is hardly ever reflected fairly in the game. As you'll often find an U21 English player playing for a youth team in Europe (outside the UK) - which doesn't reflect reality at all.

In fact, it's quite easy to sign an U21 English player from a club in England if you're playing in Europe - but this really never happens. The furthest U21 English players travel in reality is as far as Wales!

There's a lot of work to be done by SI in getting top clubs top again by adding in some sort of task for clubs to oust the older players (as long as they are not legends or something for the club).

They also need to sign in youth players from abroad that are high quality - similar to how Chelsea, Man City, Liverpool, Man Utd and every other club in the world try and do.

The average age of squads over time needs to be adjusted so that it never goes over 29 - as that's reality for most top clubs.

The list just goes on - I hope my point is not lost in this rant.

Well said there

I am confident SI will get this right eventually. Rome wasn't built in a day. I cannot wait until CA/PA is gotten right and we see a more realistic transfer market and AI squad building etc

[Preveza]

Can you? I have done a lot of holidaygaming, just because I like to check what the game is capable of.

I have never seen a Richie Lambert, going from League One at 28 to playing in the national team. Or Giaccherini, going from level 4 at 23, to the national team just four years later.

Or Mehdi Benatia. Playing on the second level in france at 23. Perhaps top three defenders in the world now.

Or Di Natale. Making his Serie A debut at 26. Only behind Messi and Ronaldo in terms of goals scored in top 5 leagues over a 4 year period from 32-36.

Or on a smaller level. Someone like Jamie Vardy, who at the age of 24 got his big move when he went to Fleetwood in the Conference League. He is now at 27 playing in the Premier League.

Or Grant Holt, or Luca Toni, or Andrea Pirlo, or Franck Ribery, or…

I am not saying it should be the norm, only that you should be able to find some players of this type in your game.

And I am aware that nothing is set in stone, but there is a sort of “average” who too few players differ from. And it looks to me that way to many players reach their PA. The PA should almost never be reached.

No one in the world is at a place where they can’t get better.

Would absolutely love for a concept like this to be implemented into the game. Players CA/PA in FM seems like its set in stone

How about my league 2 striker who scores 34 goals in a season. Surely his PA should gain a boost. So many examples of players IRL who have come out of nowhere. Giroud for one. Cabella another (sort of), Vardy another. Cant imagine a striker in FM who is playing for Fleetwood and then 2 seasons later is MOM against Manchester United

Hope SI can work on this part of the game starting next year. Please Miles!

[Kriss]

Nope, thats not what i mean. I'm referring to the situation in the game in which a player is frozen out of the team but has high enough attributes and higher ceiling but no one gambles on him to help him rediscover some form. It's an AI issue, it should be embedded in some manager's profile to take these chances with younger players in their mid twenties to still make a step up. Whether it comes to fruition or not, that would be down to luck and playing time etc from then.

Yeh I get that, trouble is it would require AI managers to be almost human to achieve that kind of sophistication in realistic proportions. (the age old AI problem)

[Kriss]

Would absolutely love for a concept like this to be implemented into the game. Players CA/PA in FM seems like its set in stone

How about my league 2 striker who scores 34 goals in a season. Surely his PA should gain a boost. So many examples of players IRL who have come out of nowhere. Giroud for one. Cabella another (sort of), Vardy another. Cant imagine a striker in FM who is playing for Fleetwood and then 2 seasons later is MOM against Manchester United

Hope SI can work on this part of the game starting next year. Please Miles!

PA is set in stone really, or rather it can only reduce due to injuries etc. (though the actual number doesn't change it just becomes unachievable)

I've seen so many people try to explain what PA is and yet somebody like you who's been around the game so long (and so expertly:)) still can't grasp it, it's all in that word "potential"

CA of course does change as you well know so I'm not even clear what you're asking for tbh.

[Smurf]

I'd love to be professional singer, I'd love to go on stage and play the crowds, I've go the charisma, the dance moves, but alas I cannot sing (like so many people lol).

This would put my PA for a singing career at around 90 and put my CA at 75.

I will never have a singing career I dream about because my signing voice will never get better.

This is the same for footballers, some are naturally gifted, like Messi, Ronaldo, Muller, Ribery, Hummels, Neymar etc. all destined for glory from an early age, and they avoided injury and progressed naturally to reach their natural gift of football.

You could say they had a PA of about 190 for example.

Now, if those lads picked up injury from the age of 16-21 that hindered their progression - then their PA is still as high as it was before.

But instead of going from 100 to 190 in 7 years, they only go 140 out of 190.

They had the potential (PA) to be great. But if their career stagnates then they won't reach that potential.

In essence, if Messi had been injured from the age of 16, constantly not training, and didn't progress into the first team - then he may well have been one of the greatest footballers that never was.

This happens so many players who had a rich career ahead of them, the likes of http://www.liverpoolecho.co.uk/news/liverpool-news/young-everton-midfielder-forced-retire-7199542

This doesn't mean that his potential is gone. He still has that potential. He just most likely won't reach it.

If somehow miracolusly gets it fixed and it's not a problem any more then at 17 they have a chance of making it.

If he comes back to football at 24 - he still has a PA that's high - but he most likely won't reach it.

[Raniel3]

Would absolutely love for a concept like this to be implemented into the game. Players CA/PA in FM seems like its set in stone

How about my league 2 striker who scores 34 goals in a season. Surely his PA should gain a boost. So many examples of players IRL who have come out of nowhere. Giroud for one. Cabella another (sort of), Vardy another. Cant imagine a striker in FM who is playing for Fleetwood and then 2 seasons later is MOM against Manchester United

Hope SI can work on this part of the game starting next year. Please Miles!

Well yes and no, it's not his potential ability that should get a boost, it's his perceived potential ability (=the star rating), and of course his CA. This leads to 2 potential future develpment situations, like in RL:

1. He just reached his maximum ability, so a buying Championship club thinking they found the hidden late bloomer gem, will be disappointed because he won't develop any further.

2. He IS really a late bloomer and will develop further reaching the perceived potential ability levels.

The whole concept of potential ability should be much closer to real life and therefore much more unpredictable.

Let's face it: Most players IRL are considered talents because they are already pretty good for their age (=relatively high CA!), not because some scout can foretell that a rather decent 15-year-old has a PA of 190 (how things more than often go in FM 14). Of course, apart from the current ability compared to their age also determination, professionalism etc. is important to predict the potential development of a player. Last but not least, there's the possibility to look at the PHYSICAL development potential of a player (that's why Messi was initiately considered to be too small (-> too weak) to compete physically on a high level of football).

Take the real life example of that norwegian 15-year-old kid that just played for the senior national team. The reason why many european top teams want to sign him now is purely based on the fact that he is already really good FOR HIS AGE, hoping he would continue to develop like this and become world class at 20. However, he could already be at his maximum potential ability! There's just no way to know that or just predict it. All you can look at is his current ability and think "well he already made half his way of becoming a superstar, rather sign him than someone who has a much longer way to go". That's how it goes in real life, that's why players like Freddy Adu could exist.

So im FM let's focus much less on some maximum potential ability level, but rather on "how good is he already for his age?" and the factors influencing his development: "Is he determined enough? Is he intelligent enough to learn well (that is: improve his mentals and even technical stats)? is his body potentially good to develop? does he have weaknesses that are unlikely to be ironed out in time to become a good player (like a 16 year old central midfielder with a brilliant vision but a technique of 2)? or is he quite good all-around, nothing to stand out, but the potential to become very good by just improving slowly in all aspects of the game?".

That's what scouts in real life look at, and that's what the scout report in FM should look like. Not the usual "well, that player X from our youth team, that just is as good as every other player in the team, is a potential world beater. Why I think so? Well, I perceived his PA."... (I know that it's a bit more complicated and CA IS being used in the PPA calculation, but not nearly enough IMO).

[Mr U Rosler]

I find all this talk of PA/CA strange. Those numbers are not available in the game, you essentially have to cheat to see them although you could hazard a guess from star ratings.

I've no idea what the CA/PA is of any of my players nor do I want to know,

Besides I've got 2.5 star players keeping 4 star players out of the team as their so damn consistent. So it's not always about the headline numbers (unless you also look up hidden attributes)

[Matshit]

Yeah, I don’t want the players PA to change, I just want it to less readable, and the road towards it to be much less limited.

I can give some examples of players I want to see.

- Big club get a player with 180PA, but a very low CA. The player isn’t signed and is released. The player end up in a Conference club, and around 20 he starts to get playing time there. Because of his high determination and professionalism, his CA keeps rising throughout the career. He might not end up with a 180 CA, but he get high enough to play in the Premiership. Maybe even on a much bigger club than the one that released him.

- The same player without the professionalism ends up playing his career in the Conference League, even though he could have been a world star with a better attitude, and better coaches.

- The young player who is world class at 18, starting with a huge CA. He is working hard in training and starting to reach his potential at 20. At this time, he has already won league championships, has lots of national team matches and is seen as one of the world’s best. Now, his career starts to go downhill, because his hunger isn’t there anymore. He change club and when he is 28, at what should be the top of his career, he is found in a smaller club on level two, and is no longer a shadow of the player he once was.

[sirgiorgio]

A few questions:

1. Have co-ownerships been removed? (The co-ownership "thing" will stop in 2015, and since co-ownerships in FM never worked that well, I guess it's better to remove them now than wait for FM16)

2. Will the salary cap for Italian Serie B work as it should?

3. Since the tactics guys had this epiphany that formations represents positions "without the ball", will this fact affect the database (AM R/L ---> M R/L; preferred formation 4231 ---> 4411, 352 ---> 532...) or will the ME be redesigned to have AM's actually do something when defending?

[cris182]

A few questions:

1. Have co-ownerships been removed? (The co-ownership "thing" will stop in 2015, and since co-ownerships in FM never worked that well, I guess it's better to remove them now than wait for FM16)

2. Will the salary cap for Italian Serie B work as it should?

3. Since the tactics guys had this epiphany that formations represents positions "without the ball", will this fact affect the database (AM R/L ---> M R/L; preferred formation 4231 ---> 4411, 352 ---> 532...) or will the ME be redesigned to have AM's actually do something when defending?

They may have set it so that at the end of the 2015 season there is no option to delay the decision on ownership. Therefore all co-ownership would end after that

[mI a legend]

In the BETA will online be playable or will it just be single player FM and FMC.

[YKW]

Firstly I would just like to say that I will be buying the game for the first time since FM12. The changes to scouting appear like they will actually affect the way I play the game, for the first time since dynamic league reputation in FM12.

Anyway the video (and I'll bear in mind that it was clearly an advert for the game as whole, not just new features):

(30s) UI: no issues with whatever it looks like really.

(2m) managerial style: Very nice, my second favourite new feature. I think RPGs could provide inspiration for some incredible features, if implemented correctly.

-(4m) Graphics: Cool. Stadiums look great, could be really romantic when getting stadiums upgraded. Purely cosmetic changes, but welcome ones imo.

-(8m)Tactics: I'm slightly dismayed by this section. Miles says that there are more default tactics to choose from than ever before. When he activates the drop-down menu of default tactics one of the sections is called "2 defender formations." Now my problem is that from reading these forums I know that the formation I choose is actually my defensive shape, so with that in mind why on earth are there default formations with just two center backs? The formation that Miles then selects, a 2-5-3 with a flat midfield 5, flies in the face of all the tactical advice given on here. This is a HUGE problem for me, there needs to more consistency with things like this, ie any consistency at all. I think this kind of waters down the claim that there are "1000s of tactics that could be employed."

The manager preferences regarding roles etc could be VERY good if it makes managers buy and sell players with less regard for their CA, PA and reputation.

-(9m) Roles: This is an area of the game that conflicts me. There is something about the concept of roles which I like, but I believe the implementation is fundamentally flawed. I still believe that the roles are actually 'player types' not tactical instructions, and so I would prefer if players had a 'role' for each position assigned to them in the database, such that they would TEND to play in certain ways in different areas of the pitch by default. For instance Walcott may feel he is a Poacher when played up front, and a Ramdeuter when played out wide. This wouldn't override my tactical instructions (especially for disciplined or versatile players) but could mean that I would be able to pick a team and not set any tactics at all, letting the whole team play as per their natural role.

-(10m) new PPMs: Nice.

-(10m30) Scouting: Attribute blurring, the reason I will definitely get this game. I hope there is the possibility of some wild miscalculations of stats, I have the suspicion that it could be quite easy to figure out what the player's attributes actually are. Other than this I'm seeing a lot of reformatted windows and things that sound like they are already in the game. Aside from the fact that I won't have to nickname my scouts according to their judging attributes anymore, which is great.

(13m) Player search. Decent. 'Scouted' filter is useful.

(14m) Player interaction. A few nice additions of occasions to speak to players. Asking players to try to leave is decent. I like that the team meeting screen should have added use with the squad becoming concerned about more things. The flow of it looks quite nice, and generally I would be behind any idea that makes it more difficult to manage the squad. HOPEFULLY this feature could make keeping on to a big star impossible at times, because it is too easy to do this at the moment. Next SI must take the 'Team Hierarchy' screen from Fifa Manager.

In other news, "Hey Boss, I'm not going to be happy unless you can promise us promotion to the league which we are already in!" still exists in the game after 3 years. Isn't this supposed to be a NEW features video?

(17m) Press conferences. Hmmmm mixed bag. The potential rivalries between managers sounds like it could be VERY good, I hate other managers. The tabloid v broadsheet dynamic could be interesting also, but again it will come down to the EFFECTS of these things. If for example all I get is a sentence on my profile that says "prefers talking to broadsheets" then it isn't worth it. But if things could spiral out of control if I get it wrong then it could be good.

The pre-match press conference appeared identical. Tunnel and training ground interviews have the potential to stink the place up. I think the game has already reached saturation point in terms of interviews in the current format. I think an overarching media theory should be decided on and the area totally revamped. The fact that only one of my answers is relevant come the end of the press conference is particularly grating. Effects are too uniform and superficial. Get rid!

CAN I REJECT THE MANAGER OF THE MONTH AWARD???

(20m) Finance: Regulations are in, standard procedure. "The board will now set the initial budgets exactly when they set the initial budgets before, because the board's intelligence has been improved in many areas." It's nice that budgets will know who is leaving the club, and joining, so kudos for this.

The commercial summary screen is the same. The link at the bottom right still goes to 'Finances.' Please could we have a 'Commercial' window where we could see more things like this. For instance which player's shirts are selling, and where in the world my merchandise is popular. I hate having to make a note of my merchandising income just prior to signing a big name player, and then waiting for a month to see how much he has made it go up by.

(22m) Manager profile. Some nice looking additions here. Multiple languages and favourite teams is great. Set favourite formation long overdue.

(23m) Job Interviews. Looks quite good, I like this element of the game.

(24m30) Training. Basically the same.

(---) Others: Movember looks funny, I like the regen faces. Twitch, no interest personally.

Overall I'm looking forward to it.

[Jibby123]

I find all this talk of PA/CA strange. Those numbers are not available in the game, you essentially have to cheat to see them although you could hazard a guess from star ratings.

I've no idea what the CA/PA is of any of my players nor do I want to know,

Besides I've got 2.5 star players keeping 4 star players out of the team as their so damn consistent. So it's not always about the headline numbers (unless you also look up hidden attributes)

This exactly for me.

[Kriss]

This exactly for me.

Me too, my players' PA is what my scouts and I decide it is, we are often wrong but boy is it great when after about 5 seasons you start getting big offers for that kid you stuck with

[Smurf]

Best I ever had was sent a 19 year old out on a season long loan.

When he came back he was worth 24m and was first choice.

It was an amazing feeling.

Also signed a young lad from Galway Utd for Barcelona - he was only 15. By the age of 22 he was consistently the world player of the year.

And I had a guy that was 2 stars ability and 3 stars potential. He kept a 4 star player out of the squad with consistent performances of high standard. He actually won world defender of the year many years in a row.

For s&g's I looked him up in an external scout program, and he had a PA of 140.

[Äktsjon Männ]

i have a long save 2033 atm and i have to say i really do not share your view. i was playing in solid european league with 5 teams competing for the championship. they always had players i wanted to buy, they always had fresh talent and really good youngsters either from own academy or brought in by scouts before they were 18.

in all these times i played euro cups, i came up against chelsea, man city... and other top eu clubs having ridiculous squads. the top player in the world is indeed old guy, 33 yrs atm conveniently called - Baby and playing for man city. but he isn't playing because the squad doesn't change he is an absolute monster of player with his phisical stats all above 14, majority above 17.

i can send you the link to save game and you can check it yourself more deeply but i really had never had problems with top ai squads being underpowered.

I'm in 2025 in my latest save and my experience is much more in line with Eugene's. I took over Leicester in the Championship in 2018 and within 5 or 6 years made them the best team in England. The only initial resistance came from Chelsea but that was all down to insanely overrated Lukaku being an absolutely unstoppable monster and the rest of their real attacking players being also very good (Hazard, Oscar, Adnan Januzaj etc). Then Lukaku broke his leg and that was the end of their challenge. The rest of 'top' English sides are very average. In fact Southampton are the team with the best regen talent in the country but not able to capitalize on it because of their lowish reputation.

I also briefly took over Real Madrid and they were in a right state. Depleted, old squad and most jarringly no real scouting network to support them. Every scout at every AI club seems to scout either a local youth tournament or their local region. I had 47% world knowledge with Leicester, it was below 40% at Real. From what I've checked no big AI team has a brilliant first team, never mind a brilliant squad. It was such a mess at Real that I loaded an older save to continue with Leicester. Now that I did eventually move on to Leverkusen, my Leicester team were taken over by a world cup winning German regen manager whose first move was to apply a new tactic that doesn't employ an AMC. Which is notable because the best player there is an AMC who can't get a game now. He's worth about £30m and sits on the bench while vastly inferior players fill up the first team.

[ChelseaSince86]

In regards to the people asking can our clubs have new kit designs each season as per real life... Wouldn't licensing issues stop this from being in the game?

[forameuss]

In regards to the people asking can our clubs have new kit designs each season as per real life... Wouldn't licensing issues stop this from being in the game?

Could be done using graphics on the surface, but of course wouldn't affect the kits worn actually in the ME.

However, I'm taking from your post that you mean each season you play, your kit changes slightly. If that is what you meant, then how could there be licensing issues? The kits don't actually exist. The more pressing issue would be what to change the kits to - they won't be accurate (again, future here) so they'll just be "different".

The graphics idea would work - if someone really cares they can create a kit and load it as a graphic for show on the relevant pages in game. If they really, really care, they can make their own 3D kits for the ME in the same style.

[Äktsjon Männ]

Could be done using graphics on the surface, but of course wouldn't affect the kits worn actually in the ME.

However, I'm taking from your post that you mean each season you play, your kit changes slightly. If that is what you meant, then how could there be licensing issues? The kits don't actually exist. The more pressing issue would be what to change the kits to - they won't be accurate (again, future here) so they'll just be "different".

The graphics idea would work - if someone really cares they can create a kit and load it as a graphic for show on the relevant pages in game. If they really, really care, they can make their own 3D kits for the ME in the same style.

The kit selection feature is a good idea (i.e a manager being presented with a variety of designs and then choosing from them) and according to someone in this thread is how it's actually done at least at some clubs in reality. I'm quite sure it would be a nightmare to code though seeing as AI managers would also have to be able to make sensible choices every year.

[Fabio MVP]

For FMC users.

[meenie]

Dont know whether it has already been mentioned or if anyone else has noticed,but i may be completely wrong,but i watched the FM15 tv ad and i thought i heard a little bit of crowd chanting in the few seconds of a match that is shown. I think crowd chants have been missing for too long now in match play and if they have been re introduced this would be a fantastic addition. I may have misheard though,what does anyone else think

[Sussex Hammer]

One thing I must ask, are there any changes to the match speeds this year to a more realistic speed? I found with speed of the ME action last year that in the middle which I assume is default was just a tad too quick, with passes fizzing around, crossing like a bullet yet a click to the left it was too slow and a click to the right it was like fast forward. FM12, and 13 seemed to have realistic speeds but for some reason 14 was just a tad off synch. Be interested to see if others thought that?

***KITS.... There are plenty of selections kit wise in the editor with many styles and colours so I am not sure if a mini mid game editor could be accessed at the start of each season to allow a manager to choose a change of kit?

***Crowd chants....Can't be too difficult surely to add "Bubbles", "Never Walk Alone" or "Glory Glory Man United" once in a while. Mind you I suspect a "ooooooo aaaghhhh ***** aaaaghhhh" might get a bit irritating every time a keeper takes a goal kick!!!

[Lawlore]

KITS.... There are plenty of selections kit wise in the editor with many styles and colours so I am not sure if a mini mid game editor could be accessed at the start of each season to allow a manager to choose a change of kit?

To be honest, I'd make it even simpler than that- rather than allowing complete control, just put in a tickbox, as if a designer has come to you with three concepts.

The different shirt designs, as they are, can be grouped together quite nicely by style- a few types of hoops, a few types of stripes, a few with a main colour plus trim etc. The same is true of shades of colours- there are a few different shades of red, a few shades of royal blue, a few shades of gold etc.

In the summer, you get an email which offers you three shirt options for the new season:

1. Current shirt, exactly the same as the previous season.

2. New shirt with the same colours and a different style from the same style group.

3. New shirt with the same style and different shades from the same colour group.

With away kits, you could mix it up a bit more than that- perhaps take the groups away, so the colours and/or designs are a bit more varied.

The AI could do this too, albeit with a bias towards keeping the status quo, to prevent anything too outlandish over longer saves. Changing kits would give a sense that the game world was actually progressing, time-wise, rather than replaying the same season over and over.

[RBKalle]

Not a single word about improvements to the long-standing issue of poor AI squad building and atrocious transfers model where Reputation dictates everything?

All the additions in the video look and sound great, but they'll be worth much less if we'll be able to rebuild our starting XI with all the great free agents AI squads won't be able to keep or sign...

[HUNT3R]

Not a single word about improvements to the long-standing issue of poor AI squad building and atrocious transfers model where Reputation dictates everything?

This has been addressed by SI in this thread. It gets worked on every year.

[Äktsjon Männ]

have no idea, might be database size or pure luck, but i surely had it in this year regarding ai squad build. will check better now that i am at home and see if i was only imagining.

My game is medium database to be fair, instead of large. But that was a conscious decision to avoid the other side of the coin - good players not being able to find a club. It was still about 70 thousand players if I remember correctly (no way to check now as far as I know). It should still be enough.

[BoxToBox]

I find all this talk of PA/CA strange. Those numbers are not available in the game, you essentially have to cheat to see them although you could hazard a guess from star ratings.

I've no idea what the CA/PA is of any of my players nor do I want to know,

Besides I've got 2.5 star players keeping 4 star players out of the team as their so damn consistent. So it's not always about the headline numbers (unless you also look up hidden attributes)

Maybe crossed wires, I know I, for one often use the terms CA and PA specifically in reference to my players star ratings, rather than the hidden stats, even if the potential star rating is really PPA.

[StormenDK]

Dont know whether it has already been mentioned or if anyone else has noticed,but i may be completely wrong,but i watched the FM15 tv ad and i thought i heard a little bit of crowd chanting in the few seconds of a match that is shown. I think crowd chants have been missing for too long now in match play and if they have been re introduced this would be a fantastic addition. I may have misheard though,what does anyone else think

Then hopefully they will fix the annoying crowds of 600 people sounding like a stadium of 20.000. Please make some groups of sounds, so let's say 0-200 crowd sounds, 200 - 500, 500-1000, 1000-3000, 3000-7000, 7000-12000 etc. etc. ... it feels wrong when playing in front of 567 spectators in the BSS and it sounds like a game between Liverpool and Everton.

[Mr U Rosler]

Maybe crossed wires, I know I, for one often use the terms CA and PA specifically in reference to my players star ratings, rather than the hidden stats, even if the potential star rating is really PPA.

The conversation i was referencing mentioned exact numbers like 190 PA and 100 CA so no crossed wires my end

[Str0aK]

I don't fully understand the tracksuit or tactical choice. I can choose how good I want my manager to be and therefore make the game easier for myself? I don't get it.

[RBKalle]

This has been addressed by SI in this thread. It gets worked on every year.

I see, but with the utmost respect, the "we never stop working on improving that aspect" mantra has been thrown around for as long as I can remember while the improvements have been relatively marginal compared to the magnitude of the issue and of its repercussions on the whole gaming experience (at least for those who enjoy mid- or long-term careers)...

Sure, I understand "Completely reworked AI squad building and transfers" doesn't sound appealing enough as a headline or as a portion of the video (and I concede it'd be difficult to explain it in a convincing and compelling way), but I still think that portion of the game is the one that has progressed the least and that still can sort of break the longevity of the game.

SI members a few years ago admitted there's not much they can do with that module without rewriting it from scratch, with the chain reaction a brand new module would cause... So I guess we'll be stuck with what we've learn to work with, just with a different degree of "overmedication" FM after FM...

Really, it's a shame because the game is still brilliant... Not having an almost endless pool of top-quality free agents every season would help the game massively...

[Pompey1978]

I don't fully understand the tracksuit or tactical choice. I can choose how good I want my manager to be and therefore make the game easier for myself? I don't get it.

As I understand it you'll have a pot of skills to distribute around the various attributes in order to get the balance of abilities that you want to define your manager. It won't be the case that you can max out everything to make yourself a super manager.

[Nonlondoner]

To be honest, I'd make it even simpler than that- rather than allowing complete control, just put in a tickbox, as if a designer has come to you with three concepts.

The different shirt designs, as they are, can be grouped together quite nicely by style- a few types of hoops, a few types of stripes, a few with a main colour plus trim etc. The same is true of shades of colours- there are a few different shades of red, a few shades of royal blue, a few shades of gold etc.

In the summer, you get an email which offers you three shirt options for the new season:

1. Current shirt, exactly the same as the previous season.

2. New shirt with the same colours and a different style from the same style group.

3. New shirt with the same style and different shades from the same colour group.

With away kits, you could mix it up a bit more than that- perhaps take the groups away, so the colours and/or designs are a bit more varied.

The AI could do this too, albeit with a bias towards keeping the status quo, to prevent anything too outlandish over longer saves. Changing kits would give a sense that the game world was actually progressing, time-wise, rather than replaying the same season over and over.

Good ideas there. Maybe a 4th option to design your own.

[CurnRaisin]

Just wondering about some of the new features Particularity the new manager attributes and the scouting rework especially the way attributes are now displayed in a range. Have any of these ideas been inspired by any of the posts on these forums or in the wishlist thread. Or indeed have any features been inspired by us the player base? I not trying to claim anything and I'm genuinely curious but I made a post about having a range in attributes for when you scout players until you knew more about them problem is I think it was before all the post history was wiped so I cant find my old post. Also I made a suggestion years ago about having more detailed Manager attributes and more detailed persona in the game and got absolutely slated on the forums, although what I suggested was a bit different from what you have in the new game.

On the topic, is there any way for me to find them older posts, or have they been wiped from existence?

[Tobias Funke]

In regards to the talk about chants in the crowd, I personally play the game in silent mode so it doesn't bother me but for those that want more varied matchday noise it would be good if SI opened up the audio side to modders so that you could have an audiopack on the steam workshop with a bunch of different chants specific to clubs etc.

[Raniel3]

Best I ever had was sent a 19 year old out on a season long loan.

When he came back he was worth 24m and was first choice.

It was an amazing feeling.

Also signed a young lad from Galway Utd for Barcelona - he was only 15. By the age of 22 he was consistently the world player of the year.

And I had a guy that was 2 stars ability and 3 stars potential. He kept a 4 star player out of the squad with consistent performances of high standard. He actually won world defender of the year many years in a row.

For s&g's I looked him up in an external scout program, and he had a PA of 140.

See, that's the problem: A multiple world defender of the year should not be regarded a 3 stars potential player. Even if he only has a PA of 140, he should be considered a player of much more potential, because of his performances. However, in FM scouts just take some kind of look at the database number PA instead of looking at what happens in the game