Now that the game has been out a little while and you’ve had a chance to test out the new features, we know that a lot of your attention will be turning towards long-term saves, meticulously planning out the moves you’re going to make to snap up the next big wonderkids.

Something you can’t plan for, just like in real life, is a takeover at your club. We’ve seen a couple of British clubs make headlines this year after substantial investment from overseas but as a manager it can be difficult to know where to start when the cash comes flooding in. So, to give you some pointers, Joseph Douglas has put together a list of the top five things to do when your team gets brand-new owners in FM22.

Data is becoming an increasingly popular topic in football. No longer is it just the remit of deeply analytical fans but now an important reference for fans, journalists, pundits and modern-day managers. And, of course, Football Manager players. 

It’s also not just passes, assists, dribbles and goals that are considered as data. When any action that any player or team can perform in a football match is counted and written down, that is data. Analysts all over the world review not just video highlights and pages of numbers, but also visualisations which can really bring those numbers to life.

Lots of these metrics have been recorded in Football Manager for a number of years, but after the introduction of xG in Football Manager 2021, your data experience has been completely revolutionised with the introduction of the Data Hub for Football Manager 2022. FM Stag explains how you can see these numbers come to life in new and meaningful ways, helping you better manage your team’s path to glory, squeezing out those marginal gains to tactically outfox your opponents.

It's that time of the year again. A new Football Manager launches and you can't wait to dive into it. There are so many possibilities, so many objectives to chase, so many paths to walk; but who do you play with? To try and help make that decision a bit easier for you, Rock’s End FM has devised a Football Manager Save Generator. Let’s take a closer look at how it works…

As most footballers will attest, there's quite nothing like the joy of representing your nation; every sweat-drenched shirt and every tear shed (of happiness or hurt) in the name of your country means more. Rock’s End FM breaks down international management in FM21, allowing you to lead your nation to glory and a place in immortality.

Training is one of those areas of Football Manager that a lot of us look at, think about, and then leave to our assistant. Of course, if you have a decent assistant, your team will trundle along nicely through training, certainly not regressing, but definitely not excelling. Training not only sets your team up for future success by working on players' attributes but it can also be used to fine-tune your team for big games, improve team cohesion and turn an average season into a great one.

Watford’s Christian Kabasele is perhaps the greatest example of a professional player who loves FM as much as the sport it simulates. 

Discovering the wonderkids of tomorrow and overseeing the progression of your Newgens from the academy to the first team is integral to almost every Football Manager save. There really aren’t many better feelings in the game that seeing one of the prospects you’ve developed play a leading role in a cup or league triumph.

Training can often be overlooked in Football Manager. It’s understandable; it doesn’t have the glitz and glamour of developing a groundbreaking tactic, nor does it give the same adrenaline rush you get when making a top-quality signing. Nonetheless, it’s every bit as vital to your team’s success. Without the right training schedule, that revolutionary tactical style you’ve developed won’t work as it should and you won’t get the most from your stars. Rock’s End FM details how you can maximise training by developing your own custom schedules. 

The EFL playoffs always offer thrills, spills and and plenty of drama. For the fans of the clubs involved it brings all of the tension of the campaign to a dramatic conclusion – either the dizzying high of promotion or the crushing low of missing out having come so near.

To see what might lie in store for the 12 competing clubs over the next couple of weeks, we’ve simulated the playoffs across the three divisions and can reveal who we say will be celebrating at the end of it all. 
 

The Scouting Centre… it’s the place where legendary wonderkids are found and it’s the key to taking your squad to the next level. It’s also the place where many tenured FM players have seen their scouting instructions return strong recommendations, only for those players not turn out to be quite what they seemed. Will Goddard aims to rectify those issues, detailing what the Scouting Centre is, how it works in FM21 and how to maximise the assignments you use it to create.

FM21 offers the ultimate football management experience; tinker with your tactics, complete deals in the transfer market and revolutionise training schedules on your way to success. However, with so much immersion provided by the current game and so much detail at your disposal, it’s inevitable that even the most experienced player will have missed some of the tools and information in-game. Rock’s End FM details six that you might have missed.

For many years now, the ability to edit data in Football Manager has been a vital part of the FM experience. Whether you use the Pre-Game Editor (PGE) to update your favourite team with the latest transfer movements (so that you can start a season with your club’s latest signing already in the squad), create the European Super League you’ve always dreamt of, or save yourself the hassle of asking the board for a larger transfer budget (by simply increasing it yourself), the application allows to play the game your way. Here, Luke D’Alton offers some advice on how to get the most from the FM21 PGE.