5 things you need to know about Football Manager 2014

by Chappers  1/11/2013 | 10:36 0 Posted in FM 2014, Hype n News 

The Beta is well and truly bedded in and we are on the verge of having the full game hit our shores but many FM’ers are yet to discover the joys of Football Manager 2014.

If you haven’t pre-ordered the game and so have not seen the Beta yet, there is loads you need to know about the game we all love and loads that you have missed out on so far.

So we thought we should wet your appetite before you get your hands on the game over the next few days, heres 5 things that you really need to know about Football Manager 2014.

1.Get an exclusive 26% off the game!

First up, if you haven’t bought the game yet, you should do so now and there isn’t a better place than over at our friends DL Gamer, they have given us an exclusive discount for all our members, you can get the game with an awesome 26% off! That means you get the full game, plus early Beta access if you buy it in time for less than £26, bargain. Click here to buy it.

2. Last years’ wonderkids suck

One thing that has really struck me about the game is the amount of old-school wonderkids from FM 2013 who are now really poor, even some of the more popular youngsters from the likes of Fifa are bad as well, Bakalli, Ademilson, Fierro, Vrsajiko to name a few big names in the 2013 version of the game who do not cut the mustard in this.

Luckily it seems most of the English stars of yesteryear are still prominent, apart from Nick Powell. Luke Shaw, Will Hughes and co are very good but the one thing that I really love is the pure epic-ness of James Ward Prowse and the master that is Adnan Janazaj, who so far in my game is the best youngster money can buy, he’s also available for a measly few mil off the bat, good news!

3. Save some money for 2nd and 3rd season

So far I have played a full season with the Gunners and 2 seasons with Southampton and believe me the Saints’ game was far more exciting, being the same team as I did in FM 2013 felt like I was playing the same game, there isn’t a massive difference in UI on this version and one criticism I have for the games’ makers is precisely that, the change-over is a bit too easy.

But anyway, going in to the 3rd season with the saints…

I had scraped 4th in my first season and nailed a 3rd position spot in the second so I had plenty of money coming in and a plethora of young starlets attracting decent wedges around Europes elite but what amazed me was the sheer number of world-class talent that I could now buy for a few million.

I bought Ozil, Cazorla and Song but could have had Wilshere and Ramsey too and felt I had to turn down the likes of Fabregas, Higuain and Alexis Sanchez because I already had too many players.

Unfortunately as always with my FM games, once I have that sort of talent in my team it becomes a fantasy-league and I quickly get bored, but thats another subject for another day.

4. Make sure you change your staff responsibilities.

For me young-players are the be all and end all to the success of any particular FM save, 2014 is no different.

Every game I have I aim to have a team full of 21 or less year olds by the 2nd season, I nearly always get there with a bit of experience thrown in but FM 2014 isn’t too keen on you achieving that goal.

By default you will not be in control of offering the youngsters you bid for a contract, it took me a good in-game month to work out why all the youngsters I was bidding for were turning down my contracts or joining other clubs.

One of your staff is assigned with offering these young players a contract and of course has no sentiment for offering anything more than a few grand a week to the next Zidane so you need to change this straight away, just change the role in the staff responsibilities section on the menu.

5. The new kids on the block

As i have mentioned above, youngsters are for me the biggest and most exciting part of the FM franchise and with Football Manager 2014 comes a new wave of kids that are set to take the world by storm.

Of course it is far to early to tell who will exactly be the next Messi but after 3 seasons played I have found a few gems that you should not miss.

One thing that really grates on me about online wonderkid lists is the pain in the arse time consuming effort of separating those players that will actually join your club and won’t cost the earth from the others. So these ‘kids’ are all available at the start of the game, will all join ‘decent’ European teams and none of which will cost you more than £10m, if that.

• Will Hughes
• James Ward-Prowse
• Pierre-Emile Holdbaerg (Search ‘Pierre-Emile’)
• Adnan Januzaj
• Gabriel Barbosa
• Nathaniel Clyne
• Angel Correa
• Luke Shaw