The Stadiums of Football Manager

[Lempicka]

The stadiums in Football Manager are often criticised for lacking in variation. However, rather than moan about them, I thought it would be nice to showcase some of the more obscure or interesting ones we can find.

Feel free to add some of the ones you come across on your travels. Like I said, they're not perfect, but once you look beyond the picnic benches and burger vans, you'll often find a nice looking cantilever roof or an interesting terrace.

Let's not turn this into a moaning thread (there's plenty of them already).

I’ll get the ball rolling with a couple of English non-league grounds. First up: Bulpit Lane (Hungerford Town)
 

[Louisking1992]

The Home ground to OFI Crete! 

[Lempicka]

Chesham United: The Meadow under floodlights.

 

[Johnny Ace]

I'm with you, I think they look flipping cool 

[emil_sbn]

Cool especially cretes, or maybe I like the palms and tiny houses more adds a Nice extra touch. 

What do you guys think of if you could see the stadium not only in the ME but also under the facilities screen. I think it would be cool touch to the game and for me stadiums are a big part of the clubs identity and could be done a little better imo 😀

[oblongata21]

2 hours ago, emil_sbn said:

Cool especially cretes, or maybe I like the palms and tiny houses more adds a Nice extra touch. 

What do you guys think of if you could see the stadium not only in the ME but also under the facilities screen. I think it would be cool touch to the game and for me stadiums are a big part of the clubs identity and could be done a little better imo 😀

I reckon that would be an awesome idea!

Some of the stadiums are pretty cool this year (some are still terrible lol), would be great if we are given some editor in the future.

I really do like that one for OFI Crete

[Lempicka]

12 hours ago, emil_sbn said:

What do you guys think of if you could see the stadium not only in the ME but also under the facilities screen. 

While it's nice to have a photo of the real ground on your club pages, the option of having your FM one visible would be great.

 

 

[eye-switcher]

Really stupid question, when you get to expand or build a new stadium do you as a player get to involved in design of IT?

[Johnny Ace]

3 minutes ago, eye-switcher said:

Really stupid question, when you get to expand or build a new stadium do you as a player get to involved in design of IT?

No, not at all, the board sorts all of that

I had a new stadium in FM19 & could never get a good look at it so some sort of stadium viewer would be nice 

[eye-switcher]

I agree, why not let the player get to be part of the design? Maybe as a reward if you have done well enough ( and want to of course). Would be cool.

[Johnny Ace]

1 minute ago, eye-switcher said:

I agree, why not let the player get to be part of the design? Maybe as a reward if you have done well enough ( and want to of course). Would be cool.

That doesn't float my boat to be honest, I doubt managers in the real world have any input on the stadium 

 

[Lempicka]

4 minutes ago, eye-switcher said:

I agree, why not let the player get to be part of the design? Maybe as a reward if you have done well enough ( and want to of course). Would be cool.

That's not really what being a football manager is about. A pre-game stadium editor on the other hand would be great. People have wanted ones for years - can't see it happening through. 

[anagain]

I love the grounds, though if I could chose one thing for future releases it is to see even smaller grounds. Even grounds that are just a bar around the pitch, as grounds at lowest levels are. Not a moan though, I assure you. 

This is my Nantporth ground in Bangor. Club shop in the background.

Edited November 22, 2019 by anagain

[Lempicka]

28 minutes ago, anagain said:

I love the grounds, though if I could chose one thing for future releases it is to see even smaller grounds. Even grounds that are just a bar around the pitch, as grounds at lowest levels are. Not a moan though, I assure you. 

This is my Nantporth ground in Bangor. Club shop in the background.

Love the industrial estate background.

You're right about the scale of the lower league grounds. Would be great to see some really small ones, with just the one stand.

 

[emil_sbn]

For those who remembers give a upvote =)

I mean I dont need to edit the looks or anything but just to be able to see it would be cool SI please?

[Tony Wright 747]

2 hours ago, Johnny Ace said:

That doesn't float my boat to be honest, I doubt managers in the real world have any input on the stadium 

 

On the whole you are probably right, but Wenger had a fair amount of input on the Emirates

[Scotty Walds]

2 hours ago, Tony Wright 747 said:

On the whole you are probably right, but Wenger had a fair amount of input on the Emirates

The Emirates is a virtual carbon copy of Benfica's stadium.

[Grifty]

7 hours ago, emil_sbn said:

For those who remembers give a upvote =)

I mean I dont need to edit the looks or anything but just to be able to see it would be cool SI please?

Oh my god the hours I put into that game! Get through a season in 5 minutes.

[Lempicka]

Stadium in the forest:  CSC Nika Stadium (FK Oleksandriya - Ukraine).

Edited November 22, 2019 by Lempicka
Typo

[Lempicka]

High rises behind the Abbey Stadium (Cambridge United)

[Johnny Ace]

18 minutes ago, Lempicka said:

High rises behind the Abbey Stadium (Cambridge United)

I could sit there all day on a sunny day like that, the big screen ruins it a bit but bliss 

[Lempicka]

3 minutes ago, Johnny Ace said:

I could sit there all day on a sunny day like that, the big screen ruins it a bit but bliss 

Yeah, too many big screens in the lower leagues.

[janrzm]

Great post OP. I’ve had a grumble about stadiums in the past and I’ve given up the dream of seeing real replicas. However, as the post highlights the stadiums do in some cases look great. So SI, lets add more variation, lose screens where they shouldn’t be and those horrible generic picnic tables and make the most of what we have by adding more variables.

[anagain]

3 hours ago, Lempicka said:

High rises behind the Abbey Stadium (Cambridge United)

I love the variety of the housing in the background. Really gives the feel of being smack bang in the middle of a city.

Can I ask, how do you manage to get that view of the stadium with no windows or players? My match screen rotates around the stadium, but it has windows on top.

Edited November 23, 2019 by anagain

[Lempicka]

4 hours ago, anagain said:

Can I ask, how do you manage to get that view of the stadium with no windows or players? My match screen rotates around the stadium, but it has windows on top.

Just click the Pitch icon at half time. It'll then go through a montage of stadium views and you can screen grab the images you want.

 

[anagain]

4 minutes ago, Lempicka said:

Just click the Pitch icon at half time. It'll then go through a montage of stadium views and you can screen grab the images you want.

 

Thank you.

[rp1966]

17 hours ago, eye-switcher said:

I agree, why not let the player get to be part of the design? Maybe as a reward if you have done well enough ( and want to of course). Would be cool.

This should definitely happen - it should be optional, of course. However, I always feel there are two sides to a management/simulation game. One side is the simulation itself, which in FM's case is the football world and the management of teams in it; the other is control of the environment in which the simulation runs.

FM already gives you control of this in part - the editor allows you to change teams. competitions and players; FMT has the 'Create-a-Club' feature.  Allowing the user to choose the style of a new stadium (and name it) or revamp the club's kit every few seasons may not be part of the managers role, but they are aspects of controlling the game environment that could, and IMO should, be given to the player.

Edited November 23, 2019 by rp1966

[Lempicka]

Here's Valley Parade (Bradford City). From this angle, it doesn't look too different from the the real life one.
 

[anagain]

22 minutes ago, Lempicka said:

Here's Valley Parade (Bradford City). From this angle, it doesn't look too different from the the real life one.
 

Yep, SI could just add in those plastic wind breaks/walls and have a few less big screens and tehre is a very authentic replica of Valley Parade.

That similiarity is uncanny.

Edited November 23, 2019 by anagain
seems i can't spell authentic...

[Brother Ben]

5 minutes ago, anagain said:

Yep, SI could just add in those plastic wind breaks/walls and have a few less big screens and tehre is a very aythetic replica of Valley Parade.

That similiarity is uncanny.

Shhhhhhh!!!! they'll be wanting royalties  

[Lempicka]

Some nice grounds in Scotland. Take a look at Hamilton Academical's Douglas Park and compare to the real one. Obviously not exact, but a pretty decent representation.

[Dagenham_Dave]

17 hours ago, Lempicka said:

Some nice grounds in Scotland. Take a look at Hamilton Academical's Douglas Park and compare to the real one. Obviously not exact, but a pretty decent representation.

Motherwell, Kilmarnock, St Johnstone, and, bizarrely, Arbroath all have decent efforts compared to their real life counterparts. 

And yet for the last few editions now, they have absolutely butchered my own team's (Stirling Albion) ground to a completely unrecognisable state. The worst thing is, up until around FM16, it was almost perfect. 

[Sharkn20]

On 22/11/2019 at 16:42, emil_sbn said:

For those who remembers give a upvote =)

I mean I dont need to edit the looks or anything but just to be able to see it would be cool SI please?

This was awesome, and you could see it in the pitch too, it was really cool.

[Johnny Ace]

On 23/11/2019 at 08:01, Lempicka said:

Just click the Pitch icon at half time. It'll then go through a montage of stadium views and you can screen grab the images you want.

 

That's a nice tip, thanks 

A nice view of the surb's outside Newcastle Town's stadium 

 

[oblongata21]

On 23/11/2019 at 08:08, Lempicka said:

Yeah, too many big screens in the lower leagues.

I had one in each corner of a lower league save last year. With a stadium capacity of 5000

[Lempicka]

Club Brugge's Jan Breydel Stadion... and what it looks like IRL

[HibeeRyan]

On 23/11/2019 at 08:28, Lempicka said:

Here's Valley Parade (Bradford City). From this angle, it doesn't look too different from the the real life one.
 

I swear that this is part of football manager, certain stadiums do manage to look like their real life counter parts. Maybe I have just noticed it with a few grounds but with more famous grounds I notice some resembalances for sure

[Lempicka]

4 hours ago, HibeeRyan said:

I swear that this is part of football manager, certain stadiums do manage to look like their real life counter parts. Maybe I have just noticed it with a few grounds but with more famous grounds I notice some resembalances for sure

I would assume they're just generated but loosely based according to structure/style and capacity. E.g. Ibrox would be generated as a large ground with four prominent stands, The San Siro would be a large tiered ground with all corners filled in. 

It's great when you see a ground that looks similar though. Imagine what the community could to with a pre-game stadium builder. Put it on Steam - I'd buy it!!

[Lam3r]

One of the features I want every year is a ground editor.

TBF, I think FM does a decent job with lower league grounds, there's a lot of variety and they look decent 6 foot giant footballs aside.

Its the big modern stuff that looks rubbish. 'Wembley' looks like it was built in about 1970 and I've just played the world cup in Qatar and half the grounds I played in were proper English Goodison Park types grounds.

[Nobby_McDonald]

On 08/12/2019 at 23:11, Johnny Ace said:

That's a nice tip, thanks 

A nice view of the surb's outside Newcastle Town's stadium 

 

Nothing like Newcastle Town's stadium.

The pitch is surrounded by a cycle track.

There is a small stand, changing rooms and the clubhouse on one side of the pitch and a longer but shallow covered terrace on the opposite side.

There is no housing around the stadium at all. Parkland, a small business estate, the rugby club and a cricket club surround the stadium.

Edited February 10, 2020 by Nobby_McDonald

[vara]

the depths of Iceland

[Johnny Ace]

16 hours ago, Nobby_McDonald said:

Nothing like Newcastle Town's stadium.

The pitch is surrounded by a cycle track.

There is a small stand, changing rooms and the clubhouse on one side of the pitch and a longer but shallow covered terrace on the opposite side.

There is no housing around the stadium at all. Parkland, a small business estate, the rugby club and a cricket club surround the stadium.

 

That looks so much better  I've never been their, I wasn't aware of the facilities around the actual stadium, I just thought that was cool looking screenie 

[thiagoanjo]

I hope some day SI put some full stadium pre-editor on the game and please never put us, the managers, evolved with expansion and stadium stuffs, football managers dont do that kind of thing. 

[djpdavey]

On 11/02/2020 at 10:23, vara said:

the depths of Iceland

Looks like Leatherheads ground

[djpdavey]

On 22/11/2019 at 15:42, emil_sbn said:

For those who remembers give a upvote =)

I mean I dont need to edit the looks or anything but just to be able to see it would be cool SI please?

LMA Manager you could view the stadium as well as change it but viewing it would be good: 

[emil_sbn]

1 hour ago, djpdavey said:

LMA Manager you could view the stadium as well as change it but viewing it would be good: 

Remember that game also played it on the playstation if I remember correctly! Played many manager games over the years but premier manager 97/98 was my first experience with the genre.

[Burbian De Bay]

FC Rukh Brest in Belarus, with the typical Soviet-era buildings in the background.

[likesiamesefish]

Thought I'd add my new stadium to the list : )

The likesiamesefish Arena, Doncaster. Built 2058 with an initial capacity of 97,517.

Here's a view of one of the ends

And here is one of a corner

I like those corner screens and not a giant football or burger stand in sight!

[likesiamesefish]

And here it is from above

[likesiamesefish]

Finally the obligatory out of stadium shot

One man's concrete monstrosity is another man's lifelong dream

Edit: LOL - Spot the massive football! Classic

Edited February 15, 2020 by likesiamesefish