First and foremost, I need to explain who I am and how I interact with sports. This way, you can make a snap decision right now, before reading my review on how you feel about it. I have zero interest in sport. There, I said it. Judge away. When it comes to any sport, the closest I get is breaking into a sweat to reach for the remote and change the channel, typically to animation. That is not to say I don’t understand sports or their rules. I have many friends and family who follow different sports, and they are more than happy to share their passion with me, much like I love to share my passion with you – gaming.

So, when developer Sports Interactive and publisher Sega gave MKAU a copy of Football Manager 2024 to review, I most certainly did not expect to be the person picked from the lineup to review it. As previously stated, I’m not completely ignorant about sports, and that also applies to soccer. Yes. I called it soccer. That’s what we call it in Australia. Do you want to fight me over it? Well, come on ya wanker!

Ahem, *collects composure* I last played soccer when I was part of an under-12s team in the 1980s. I fielded the positions of full-back and goalie, but nowadays, playing soccer consists of a large ball and little cars strapped with rockets. So, to be fair, my current knowledge of the soccer landscape is very limited to that which is told to me by the circle of family and friends who follow it.
Football Manager 2024 is the 20th instalment of the Football Manager franchise, so it is very safe to say I am a youth prospect, and I certainly will not pretend to know what I’m doing, but I can confidently say that you are about to read the most honest review of Football Manager 2024 from the perspective of a new player with no real sports background.

The plot of Football Manager 2024 is simple – Create an avatar to represent you as the soccer manager of your selected club and manage it, and this time around, veterans of Football Manager can bring their 2023 progress with them, making for an exciting level of longevity to a simulation I have yet to see elsewhere.

With each iteration of Football Manager, the team at Sports Interactive adds new features, innovates on existing features, and brings a level of accurate and realistic information to simulate what it would be like to manage a soccer club. Football Manager 2024 is no different, bringing many upgrades like a new league and improved agent and player interactions, to name only a couple. Unfortunately, being new, I can’t eloquently express how much of an impact this has, however, I am confident that veterans of Football Manager will not be disappointed with the lineup.

Dribbling my way into the beginnings of Football Manager 2024, I was completely and expectingly overwhelmed. The sheer volume of information on hand and the depth in which it goes into is staggering. Like failing a header, I was confused and dizzy, and luckily, the incorporated tutorial for youth prospects, like me, is exceptionally thorough, but without a more fundamental understanding of current teams, players, and standings, the tutorial, unfortunately, for me wasn’t completely helpful.

If you have a core understanding of soccer, the tutorial will give you the basics to get you underway, and from there, the longer you spend with Football Manager 2024, the more you will learn about its depths, making for a very immersive simulation. Thankfully, with such a massive community in Football Manager, I was able to tap into some much-needed insight to get me on my way.

Those immersive depths I’m talking about are deep, like, the deepest of fathoms of an ocean deep. The amount you can take on as your role of manager is entirely in your control, and with so many tasks to undertake, you can delegate or take on as much as you like. The flexibility of Football Manager’s system allows you to craft the simulation in a way that is tailor-made for your enjoyment.

If you want to plan all the training, assign that task to yourself, and if you have no interest in talking with the media, delegate it. In the same way, if you want to scout the players, assign it to yourself, but if you don’t want to worry about transferring, delegate it.

These are just a small example of how much customisation you can make to the simulation, and the veterans I spoke with while learning had individual tasks and goals they wanted to accomplish within Football Manager 2024. The passion and stories they had were nothing short of speaking with a sports enthusiast about their team reaching the glory of perfection or the lowest of defeats.

It was at this point that my realisation of what Football Manager 2024 is switched on, like the classic light bulb above the head. The biggest draw to this game for its community is not just the managing of a soccer team, but the pride of accomplishment in completing your goal with the simulation.

Graphically, Football Manager 2024 isn’t going to blow your socks off, but it isn’t that type of game. You will be looking at spreadsheets, figures, data, and reading for the most part, but everything that you will be looking at is colourful and clear, making it easy to read, identify changes, and find what it is you’re looking for. There are nice little touches on some screens where sponsorships and jerseys can be seen, adding to the realism of being the club’s manager. When you have managed everything and game day rolls around, you then get to reap the fruits of your labour. You can watch the match unfold from high above the pitch as your team plays out the game.

From the sidelines, you can continue to direct your team, if you want, and watch their reactions. Even though the graphics aren’t fully realistic, what you get to watch is certainly just as exciting as watching a real game of soccer on television, and I would say more so, as your investment into your team will easily bring on the fist-pumping highs of success, as well as the face-covering woes of failure.

The audio, unfortunately for my time reviewing Football Manager 2024, was practically non-existent. The options I found allowed for not only game sounds but also music, meaning that my entire time playing, not a single tune played, and game sounds were exclusively played within soccer matches. The sounds that were played were very basic, consisting of only a whistle being blown and foot-to-ball contact, but I am certain that this was only a glitch or bug, and I hope that will be sorted out by the time of release.

My time with Football Manager 2024 has allowed me to know that the Football Manager franchise is not a game for me. It hasn’t convinced me to continue playing or start watching soccer, and that’s okay. What it has done though is given me a deeper understanding and respect for those that do. For the veterans of Football Manager, Football Manager 2024 will not only bring you what you love but more of it, as I am sure you have come to expect. For new players who have an interest in soccer and want to try their hand at managing a club, I highly recommend Football Manager 2024. It may be daunting at first, but trust me, your time and effort will be rewarded, and the existing community are more than eager to help, which is.

Rating Football Manager 2024 is a difficult task for me. I have no bar to which to compare it, but I can vouch that I have never experienced a simulation so realistic before. As such, my rating is completely reflective of my time with Football Manager 2024, the community I interacted with, and what I will be taking away, both educationally and emotionally.

Written by: Ashley Barnett-Cosgrove