Inside Football Manager: From the managers using it to train to the Porto employee who got his big break thanks to the game... Sportsmail speaks to one of FM2017's creators
* Sportsmail spoke to Sports Interactive's Tom Davidson about FM 2017
* He spoke about his favourite innovations on the new edition of the game
* Davidson revealed that the company work with the LMA for training
Speak to the wrong person and Football Manager will conjure up a certain image in their minds. It's a video game and has all the associations that come with that. The dark room, the bright screen and the unfortunate person who has become addicted to it.
That is not the case. Sports Interactive's constantly evolving magnum opus has moved beyond computer screens and into the real world. Clubs trust it as an initial source of information when it comes to signings. Andre Villas Boas, famously, loved the game before he became part of the database. Every year a new story comes out about a job that has been secured in football with Football Manager playing at least a small part in the recruitment process.
The newest edition of the game is, as the creators would inevitably claim, the best edition yet. Sportsmail sat down with Tom Davidson of Sports Interactive to discuss why that is the case. Immediately it was obvious that he was both an enthusiastic maker and enthusiastic player.
Sports Interactive's Tom Davidson spoke to Sportsmail about the new edition of the game
Davidson discussed his preferred tactics on the new edition and how he has adapted
As much as Football Manager has began to inform football, football still informs the game, and every season it tends to follow the trends seen around the world. He explains some of those changes.
'We looked at the top five European leagues and looked at every result. The big thing now is that possession does not win you matches, it's all about having counter-attacking and what they call penetrative movement into the final third,' he said.
'That's been replicated in the game as well. The AI is more adept at dealing with you going out attacking, they are going to hit you on the counter more easily than before.'
Think Leicester last season or Jurgen Klopp's table-topping Liverpool side. In fact, Davidson himself has taken inspiration from the German: 'I tried to replicate Klopp's style of play, fluidity, players dropping and moving. Lots of closing down. Playing very narrow as well. Getting the wing-backs to bomb forward. It's just goals. I can't put my finger on it. It doesn't quite work - we either win, or last night in the Europa League I got absolutely battered.'
The nature of how people play Football Manager has followed real world trends
Not that he sticks rigidly to that idea. He continued: 'As real football's moved on, even the best teams change. Guardiola's Man City… the way they play against Barcelona in Europe is completely different to the way they play against Southampton in the league. They are tweaking it based on the opposition.
'Although they have a week of real life time to prepare for a game, you have the same tools as them - scouts, data analysts, backroom advice. Use it.'
The game has changed in other ways. The idea of an Alex Ferguson coming into a real life club and staying for 20 years seems like it belongs in the realms of fantasy. Football Manager has tried to adapt to reflect that: 'In terms of the way the game works, we've seen a trend. It's always been set up to enable you to (move around) - you're not tied into one club, you have every feature set available to you no matter the length of reign.
'Once people get beyond their first three or four seasons, when you get newgens (players the game generates) coming through - once they have done that once, they want to do it again because it gives you a whole new challenge. It gives you a whole new perspective. We can see, to an extent, how people play the game and you can see a lot more hopping around.'
Davidson highlighted some of his favourite challenges - including Mario Balotelli's Nice
For Pep Guardiola or Klopp it was about the new challenge and the idea of a new country. Even the most experienced Football Manager player can take inspiration from a new environment.
Picking where to move can often be a problem, however, and Davidson has some advice as to where it might be best to manage next.
'Nice is a great challenge this year. They're doing so well in Ligue 1 but they've got characters like Balotelli, Dante's there. You've got players who are notoriously difficult to manage. You've not only got the challenge of trying to get the best out of them, but also the challenge of expectations and hitting the same level you're doing in real life,' he said.
'There are some really big teams in Europe's second divisions. There's Leganes in La Liga, Eibar as well who are defying expectations. There's Elche who were cruelly relegated. Take revenge - there's always a story there. Do a bit of research and look at their history and what appeals to you.'
He also highlighted the fact that the LMA will use the game to train managers and other staff
It's no longer a mystery that clubs use the data to begin recruitment processes or use it to analyse their own talents, but there are fascinating alternative uses of the game within the game.
Davidson spoke about the LMA using Football Manager as a 'Pass Plus' to follow up the formal UEFA qualifications. He recalled: 'When we say, "show us what you can do", they are confused as to how the game will work. When we take control and they just tell us what they want, they play it in a completely different way to the way you or I would play.
'A League Two club's head of recruitment, the first thing he did was say, "Defender? He has to be 6 foot 2." I went, "why's that?". He said in that league you have to win headers.
Davidson spoke about his favourite stories of clubs hiring players of the new game
'That will then determine how lower league clubs (in the game) will look at players. If you look at lower league clubs and the conference, you might see teams who may want to sign a talented left winger who is 5 foot 6 but their priority is to get some physical presence at the back.'
And when the opposite occurs, when a fan of Football Manager becomes employed by a club, it's no longer a huge surprise. Davidson has his own favourite story: 'We had one guy who was our researcher for Porto. He was just hanging around again, training ground, stadium, reserve matches, youth team matches… every week of the year.
'Eventually they were like "what are you doing, why are you always here?"
'He told them he was researching for Football Manager, built up a relationship and eventually he was telling people who they should sign, who fits into the team, what role they should play, who should get the armband. Eventually they offered him a job as a scout. That's one of the biggest clubs in Europe.'
While he did not reveal which players to sign, he did discuss how to approach the market
Our conversation concluded with the question on everyone's lips - which young players should be signed? Sports Interactive have one rule - don't answer that question. It ruins the fun of the game, as far as they are concerned. But Tom himself has a word or two of advice: 'A lot of the old guard - wonderkids from two or three years ago - they're not old, they're still good.
'It's about using your real world knowledge.
'The players you see breaking through in real world football, have a look in the game.
'It's a lot easier to find them (than before). We almost don't need to tell you where they are.'
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http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-3929830/Inside-Football-Manager-managers-using-train-Porto-employee-got-big-break-thanks-game-Sportsmail-speaks-one-FM2017-s-creators.html