Many of us may have been able to wake up on Christmas morning with the present of Football Manager 21 sitting under the tree waiting to be unwrapped. Some of us may have been impatient and decided to get it when it was initially released and even had the beta demo two weeks before…
Nonetheless, each of us will face a moment where we do not quite know what to do as there are a plethora of challenges that we can look to try and complete. However, Football Manager Stories have provided us with some that we can all look to do over the festive break and beyond! Indeed, playing some of these challenges and keeping a track on some on the live score over the weekend can be a perfect way to spend a Saturday/Sunday.
1. Manage your home team
Why not start local? Managing your local team can be a great challenge as they are not always the best in the world. I took control of Stevenage for the first time ever despite having lived there for five years and managed to win promotion to League One as champions in my first season – maybe the club need to hire me to save them from the drop in reality this season?
2. From Rags to Riches
This can always be a fun challenge to take on and is probably one of the most popular of challenges players try to undertake. I have managed to do this in previous versions of the game series and I will likely try to do it once again when I get more time to play Football Manager 2021.
There is something truly enjoyable about taking a team from the lower echelons of the football pyramid within a country and taking them all the way to European glory. It can be time-consuming and frustrating at times, but the rewards can provide a good feeling. In addition, why not try and take a fallen giant and build them back into the team they once were?
3. Be a journeyman
Why not travel around and try your hand at a number of different clubs? Go into the game unemployed and see where your managerial skills take you and accept job offers that may come your way. It can be rather fun as you’ll be able to manage a club you never thought you would and can provide you with a new challenge each time.
4. Develop the kids
Players can look to develop their squads from within if they have a great academy and this can certainly be a great challenge to take part in. Why not try and build your first team with kids from the academy and see how far you can go?
Of course, this is one of the more challenging scenarios that players can look to play, however it can be equally as rewarding as it will show just how good of a manager you can be. Admittedly, a lot of it will depend on the facilities the club has, but not everything can be perfect, right?
5. Homegrown is the way forward
Try a challenge that sees only players from a certain nation or from a particular background play for the club. With Brexit coming into play for teams in the United Kingdom, buying players from other countries will likely get harder, therefore an importance on homegrown players may come into effect sooner than you think.
In addition, there are already clubs that focus on playing their own, such as Mexico’s CD Guadalajara and Spain’s Athletic Bilbao.