Breaking World Records with Football Manager

To some Football Manager is just a game and to others it’s a glorified spreadsheet. Yet, a few devout players, those to whom the phrase "just one more game" is utterly familiar, consider Football Manager an obsession. It’s a game that requires dedication to master and an iron will to tear yourself away from. Its fans are die-hard, passionate and dangerously addicted to the seminal management series.

It’s perhaps for that reason that I found myself waking up at 6:30AM in the morning on a Saturday. No, I hadn’t been woken up by a sudden revelation on how to play the perfect 4-4-2, I was taking the first weary steps in my journey to Football Manager world record breaker status. Sports Interactive and the National Football Museum in Manchester have teamed up in order to create a challenge for the Football Manager community – 100 players, 100 hours, 100 days. Ostensibly an attempt to create a record for the most amount of contributors to one game’s save file, the challenge also throws the gauntlet down to the 100 chosen players – work together to get AFC Wimbledon as high up the football pyramid as possible.

After a two-hour journey – in which I played Football Manager for the entirety on my laptop – I arrived at the National Football Museum to take up my place. I arrived as manager number 56, and was told in no uncertain terms not to accept any job offers I may get – evidently some of my predecessors had ideas above their station.

As the timer began and I settled down, I noted the season – 2022/23 – eight years had come and gone and Wimbledon had struggled to find their way up the ladder. The club was still in the Vanarama Conference, the fifth tier of English football. My immediate predecessor had had an average pre-season, with a smattering of draws and losses, and had set up the team in a flat 4-4-2 formation.

With a scoffing noise I’m not too proud to admit making, I clicked the ‘reset’ button and started from scratch on the team. My go-to formation was a bit alien to the players of Wimbledon but they just about managed to fit the shape and roles. I set myself an ambitious target – to be the only player in the 100 to have an unbeaten hour.

My first game, against a surprisingly far-fallen Bolton Wanderers, started off poorly as one of my players was sent off in the first ten minutes. With a small audience gathering around me I began to feel the pressure. Thankfully, the computerised members of my team rallied with my encouragement and my first match ended with a 1-0 win.

I started to get into the swing of things in the following four games, winning three and drawing one. My team was playing great possession football, but previous managers had left the playing staff slightly thin on the ground in some areas, most notably out wide, key positions in my choice of formation.

That lack of cover was felt when one of my wingers was injured and Wimbledon crashed and burned in a 3-0 defeat. My undefeated run was over before it had properly started. I spent the next few (in-game) days scouring the market for some young players to get on loan – securing some wingers from Birmingham and Burnley. The new signings paid off as we bounced back with a 4-0 win straight away.

Three more draws in succession meant that my Wimbledon side, who had been in 13th when I took over, were now top of the league. Not only were we winning and keeping clean sheets we were playing with style, my team keeping between 65-75% of the possession in every game. Feeling (overly) confident I pushed on, gaining two more wins (one of them in the cup).

With the clock ticking down and my hour almost up, I pushed myself into another game, trying to grab one more win. Unfortunately, Football Manager is a cruel mistress and my last game on the day ended up as a 1-0 loss to Gateshead.

After my hour as caretaker of the club, I had the record of twelve games played, seven won, four drawn and two lost. I’d also signed some good young players for my successors to implement and left the club nine places higher than when it had started. What the managers who come after me did with my squad and tactics remains to be seen. With my turn coming around halfway in the challenge, it’s also a mystery how well the team did in the days following.

After the challenge had finished I was given the option of playing for a bit longer in some free time but declined – I had a train to catch. Before I left, though, I was allowed to have my picture taken and superimposed onto the Football Manager 2016 cover. Taking up what can only be described as an inspiring pose, I collected my prize and left, one manager among 100 record breakers.