There Will Be Three Different Versions of Football Manager 2016

Football Manager, a series that once it sinks its teeth in to you, will leave your loved one neglected and your nights restless, is back for another year. It’s time for you to prove that Wenger was wrong for not paying £80m for Benzema. That you could do a better job than *insert manager of your team here*. That it is possible take Luton Town to the Champions League final.

Yes it’ll mean for another year we’ll have to hear from people “but he’s great in Football Manager” when a little known player gets linked to a Premier League club, but that doesn’t matter. The fun fantasy of Football Manager is what makes it great, and the fact it allows you to tinker with the underdogs and make them into world beaters and weave football stories of your own is what keeps fans coming back year after year… that and all those pretty stats.

We are still yet to get a version of Football Manager on the current generation of consoles and it seems we will have to wait a bit longer until we finally get one. Sports Interactive have announced three versions of the latest version of the game though, although there will be a gap between releases.

The main game, Football Manager 2016, will launch 13th November for PC and Mac. It will feature much of what makes the game popular and tweak upon things like injuries, statistics and animations. On top of that it will also introduce a create a team option, a fantasy draft option (which works very much like other fantasy football games and lets you play against friends) and a touchline avatar. Don’t be expecting a massive graphical upgrade though. There’s a lot of content in Football Manager 2016 and although it has a nice UI, it is definitely not a series known for its cutting edge graphics. Below is an example of what your touchline avatar can look like.

The other two versions of the game, due out around Christmas time, are Football Manager Touch and Football Manager Mobile. Football Manager Touch takes the streamlined version of the game, previously called Football Manager Classic, and gives it a bit of a re-brand. It’ll be available for high end tablets and also as part of the main game on PC and Mac. Not only that, but it’ll allow cross-save, helping you to carry on your games on the go and at home. It has a create-a-club feature, but is much more limited than the main version of the game.

Football Manager Mobile, formally called Football Manager Handheld, is the most basic version of the game and will be out on mobile devices. There won’t be the razzmatazz that you get with the other versions but, if previous versions are anything to go by, it’ll still be a good way to pass the time on commutes or during boring meetings. You can expect more information about the games as they near release, and hopefully a review of the main game too. Further info about the key features can be found on the Football Manager website.