The Divided Cities
One thing that has always fascinated me behind a Football Manager save is a story. Can there be a narrative behind a specific team?
During FM24 – still feels weird to talk about the last release that has spanned over 2 years – I managed Servette; looking to become bigger, richer and more powerful than BSC Young Boys. Rosenborg were a dominant force during my childhood and have massively fallen off; was it possible to rebuild them and perform well in Europe?
And well, I complete this post on the 21st October; just two days out from the eventual release of Football Manager 2026. It may seem strange that a FM24 blog series will be coming out so near to the new instalment, but there is reasoning. Firstly, I have a fair amount of commitments between now and the end of the year, that starting this save on FM26 would never be logical. Coupled with my own reservations over the game — no slight on SI — I just want to live the game through the vast content creators in the community and get a sense of where the game is at and what needs improvement.
Perhaps in the new year, I will be looking to pick up my eventual copy of the game, but for now, FM24 will be my safe haven.
Now, where was I? Oh yes, narratives were there, but it was sourced from more household name clubs. This time I want to stretch it out a bit further afield.
The inspiration behind the save?
Kevin Pogorzelski’s Divided Cities. Comes under mixed reviews, but expected when you will only appease a certain fan base when talking about city derbies.
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But it got me thinking to my own homeland, Scotland. Glasgow & Edinburgh are home to 4 & 3 teams in the Scottish pyramid, and are dominated by Celtic, Rangers, Hibernian and Heart of Midlothian.
In Scotland, fans usually support the big two from Glasgow, and the likes of Patrick Thistle and Queen’s Park (Championship) tend to be forgotten. Edinburgh City are the new boys on the block through in Edinburgh (League 2), and suffer the same fate.
And that got me thinking. Would it be possible alla journeyman style, to overthrow the city’s biggest teams? But with the lowest ranked team from city?
Well, I thought long and hard about the countries, and whilst wanting to keep a fresh aspect to a 2-year-old game, I want to tackle countries where I haven’t managed before.
First leg — The Americas.
The vanilla database of 24 contains 9 countries in the Americas for me to choose from. Yet the most appealing ones are Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia and Mexico. And where better to start than with the World Champions themselves.
Most interestingly, Buenos Aires is a city filled with as many as 24 professional clubs, all lurking in the shadows of the big 5 — Boca, River Plate, Independiente, Racing Club and San Lorenzo.
And it is the perfect setting for the start of a new journey. A new lease of life on FM. A new beginning for this account.
Thanks for taking the time to read my rambles. It is appreciated as always.
