The Football Manager Football Show

Between the January transfer window, winter break and African Cup of Nations, it's Ken getting to plough on with some games this week as we hit the business end of the FM22 cycle.

There are some South American prospects on their way to South Africa, reinforcements arriving at Toulouse to try and shore up a mid-table position but as the Coupe de France moves into round ten with Marseille, league leaders PSG and Lille around the corner, the winter break looks like it might not have too much of an impact on the team.

So, with games on the quiet in South Africa this month, Shane's been filling his time with WrestleMania VII and a longing for living in 90s California.

Plus, we wind up in a discussion about some FM22 bug-bears we're hoping to resolved and fixed with the release of Football Manager 2023 on 8 November. 

Contains strong language.

Shane's back from his travels and brings with him four games in nine days from South Africa. Who knew he had a penchant for late nineties TV programming...

It's another week in the world of Football Manager and we're back on top of our network save world as we hurtle towards the end of the Football Manager 2022 cycle (for us at least).

We're back in South Africa and France this week as we wrap up the calendar year heading into the winter break. There's plenty of league and cup action as we plan for the January transfer window and we get ourselves ready to introduce player three to the game.

Sure there's some strong language here and there but there's a very special musical interlude courtesy of young (now adult) Mr. O'Keeffe.

Tweet us during the week @FMFShow, if you like what you hear, tap that 5* review rating in your podcast app or catch up online at FMFShow.com.

Without so much as a swear word uttered or a bad word said against Gwyneth Paltrow, this week it's Ken flying solo to bring you up to speed on where we're at with a mid-season break in South Africa, France and Scotland.

The headline features have been revealed for Football Manager 2023 so what are they and how will they impact your career choices in Football Manager 2023?

And with the beta release of the game just a few weeks away, I've got some tried-and-tested Football Manager 2023 save ideas for you to dig into when the new game drops.

If you've got your own to share, Tweet the podcast @FMFshow and we'll be back next week with some league action for Toulouse and Orlando Pirates.

It's been another busy week in the world of Football Manager.

The game's next edition, Football Manager 2023, is set for release on 8 November which means out intrepid managers are under pressure to finish out their FM22 adventures in South Africa and France.

Having opted to divide and conquer, splitting continents as well, it turns out that there's quite a lot of football to be played in South Africa, especially when you've got a team like Orlando Pirates who are involved in every cup competition known to man.

This week sees Shane's Pirates in two cup outings and a few league fixtures with a certain Mr. Ndolvu getting himself some new intro music.

In France, Ken can't buy a win, is suffering from low squad morale and trying to address playing issues all while out-performing the team's expected early season relegation scrap.

The bad news there is that there's nobody stopping PSG who are dominating proceedings.

We've been keeping our solo saves updated as well with Ken's fortunes at Hibernian turning around slightly while Shane's got the Premier League all wrapped up.

We'll look at all of these, plus get updates from community members on their saves and early plans for Football Manager 2023.

There's hassle at Hibs, goals galore at Old Trafford and on the network stage, it's all go in South Africa as France barely gets a look-in this week.

Have you noticed as we edge towards the release of Football Manager 2023 that your time invested in Football Manager 2022 has gone up and not down?

That's what it's been like this week as Shane continues his Multiverse of Madness with jobs at Man United and Preston in the same side while Ken's experienced his worst run of results in Football Manager in this version, maybe even in years as he can't buy a win on his solo adventures in Scotland.

For the podcast save, Shane's inundated with cup competitions in South Africa, beer tokens or not, while Ken does well to squeeze in three games in France with mixed results, but will they be enough to keep the board and fans interest or is the gloss already starting to come off?

We also touch on tactic development when it comes to player selection - do you pick a player for the role, or build a role around the player?

Contains strong language.

Football Manager 2023 is on the way, there's cup action in South Africa, mixed results in France and Shane wonders can he track down Alan Curbishley on this week's podcast.

Contains strong language.

With a yo-ho-ho and a bottle of rum, there's barely a mention of a pirate reference in this week's episode of The Football Manager Football Show.

We've closed the transfer windows so look at changes and upgrades to Orlando Pirates and Toulouse, there's even more cup competition action in South Africa while in Ligue 1 it's about getting points on the board while dealing with early season injury problems.

As we're both running solo saves as well with Shane's multiverse of Man Utd and Preston, Ken's gone back to hibs for a second crack at the Scottish cherry.

Sure what could go wrong?

It's tough trying to be a pirate. Or at least for one of us trying to be a pirate.

On this week's podcast we're finishing out a lengthy pre-season for Orlando Pirates, Shane's new employer in South Africa, while Ken has missed pre-season with Toulouse by all bar one game so has to crack on and worry about Nantes, Marseille and PSG all in the space of a week or so.

We're discussing staffing woes and trying to get the right personnel from performance analysts to coaches and assistants when nobody really wants to make a move.

As we move through the South African season, one thing becomes very apparent - it's going to be *really* tricky to get some viable staff in and making any player adjustments. On the plus side, Shane is in yet another competition before the season properly kicks off.

And if you missed it last week, we wrote an actual blog post about what actually happened in Scotland. Give it a read.

Contains strong language.

After 80 episodes, tens of thousands of downloads, millions upon millions in transfer fees, awards, rivalries, insults, and so much more besides, we've got some news.

Ken has left Hibs, officially.

Shane has left Hearts, officially.

Season seven ended with Hearts finishing second, Hibs in third and Ken named the Scottish Football Writers' Manager of the Year. That's as good as it got with Rangers double a league and cup double.

We've rolled the dice and we're breaking up the band.

It's been some craic...

Contains strong language, as usual.

It's time to draw our Scottish adventure to an end, so on podcast day, in 31-degree heat, we've rattled through the end of the season and it can't come soon enough.

This week we manage to get through the final two games pre-break and the full championship stage run, so it's the last seven games of the league in all. Plus, Shane's still in Cup action as Hearts get the unenviable task of facing Celtic in the semi-finals of the Scottish cup.

There's added tactical talk this week as Hearts and Hibs square off against each other twice and someone's been paying attention to how player conversations are going.

We'll get through the final league standings, finances, end of season awards and more as we stick a pin in Scotland and figure out where to go next!