Football Manager 2014: 12 New Features To Be Excited About

10. More Manager Options

Board When you consider a game built around pretending you€™re a football manager, you€™ve got to welcome any additions that let you behave more like the suited (or tracksuited) individual, even if they make you out to be a money-grabbing arse. Yes, it appears that much like players, you too can now claim a loyalty bonus, only in your case it only happens after you turn down a rival club and it revolves around expanding your budgets. As well as meaning you can put the board€™s balls in a vice (something no self-respecting player would turn down), it means you can actually see a tangible reward for turning down a big club to stay at your small-town project. As someone who pathologically attempts to take Shrewsbury Town to the Premier League, I can€™t tell you how much I love this. The other cathartic addition is to hold an end-of-season meeting where you can yell at your charges and tell them their targets for next season. While that might seem like a trivial addition to proceedings, the ability to ruin a player€™s holiday by telling him a comatose hamster could€™ve had a better season appeals to me somewhat. After all, something€™s got to ruin their holiday, and if it€™s not going to be a romp with a prostitute, why can€™t it be my harsh words?
Contributor
Contributor

Durham University graduate and qualified sports journalist. Very good at sitting down and watching things. Can multi-task this with playing computer games. Football Manager addict who has taken Shrewsbury Town to the summit of the Premier League. You can follow me at @Ed_OwenUK, if you like ramblings about Newcastle United and A Place in the Sun. If you don't, I don't know what I can do for you.