{"id":104103,"date":"2025-08-29T11:28:13","date_gmt":"2025-08-29T11:28:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/104103\/"},"modified":"2025-08-29T11:28:13","modified_gmt":"2025-08-29T11:28:13","slug":"where-did-football-manager-go-plus-mourinho-leaves-fenerbahce-chelsea-agree-garnacho-fee","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/104103\/","title":{"rendered":"Where did Football Manager go? Plus: Mourinho leaves Fenerbahce, Chelsea agree Garnacho fee"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Athletic FC \u26bd is The Athletic\u2019s daily football (or soccer, if you prefer) newsletter. Sign up to receive it directly to your inbox<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Hello! We\u2019re here to explain how one of gaming\u2019s biggest soccer brands went sideways for a season and how it\u2019s trying to bounce back.<\/p>\n

On the way:<\/p>\n

\ud83d\udcc5 Football Manager\u2019s torrid year<\/a><\/p>\n

\ud83c\udd95 Mourinho\u00a0leaves Fenerbahce<\/a><\/p>\n

\ud83e\udd1d Chelsea agree fee for<\/a> Garnacho<\/p>\n

\u26be Son pitches for the Dodgers<\/a><\/p>\n

Game over: Why Football Manager 25 was cancelled\"\"<\/p>\n

(Photo: Alex Livesey \u2013 FIFA\/FIFA via Getty Images)<\/p>\n

University was where I nurtured a solid addiction to Championship Manager. In pockets of free time, I\u2019d think about leaving the house and going to lectures.<\/p>\n

Championship Manager spawned Football Manager in 2003 and under that title, it soon became a market leader for gamers everywhere; virtual coaching for the man in the street. But at the start of this year, something peculiar happened. Football Manager\u2019s 2025 edition failed to appear<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Delay after delay led to a complete cancellation, which, commercially, was as good for business as the Champions League taking a 12-month recess. Beyond an apologetic but light-on-detail statement, the gaming community was in the dark about why development had hit the wall, and whether the entire franchise was in trouble.<\/p>\n

They\u2019re in the dark no longer because The Athletic has an interview today with Miles Jacobson<\/a>, studio director at Sports Interactive, the firm that creates Football Manager. The good news for the likes of me is that the 2026 version is on the way, and if you\u2019re thinking that Art de Roche\u2019s meeting with Jacobson might be advertising fluff, think again. It\u2019s a full-on mea culpa<\/a>\u00a0and an explanation for why one of the planet\u2019s biggest gaming brands suffered the embarrassment of a year off.<\/p>\n

\u2018It was pretty embarrassing\u2019<\/p>\n

Football Manager\u2019s problems haven\u2019t caused it to shed much of its popularity. An online teaser for FM26 on X drew 1.4 million views in an hour. But it has affected its reputation and, inevitably, the decision to pull FM25 rattled the stock market value of the parent company of Sega, which publishes the game.<\/p>\n

Jacobson spelled out the reasons for the cancellation, of which there are several. One was that Sports Interactive underestimated the laborious job of switching to a new game engine (like switching from Windows to Apple, to use his analogy). A second was that when Jacobson first tested FM25, certain features, such as youth team systems, were hidden from view. \u201cI couldn\u2019t find things in my own game,\u201d he said. \u201cIt was pretty embarrassing.\u201d<\/p>\n

A third reason was a legal issue that he\u2019s restricted from saying a great deal about. A fourth was a further development that he can\u2019t discuss publicly at all. Hold up piled on top of hold up and in February, Sports Interactive called the whole thing off.<\/p>\n

Jacobson described the saga as a \u201cdisaster\u201d financially, but said FM25 could not have been allowed to go to market. \u201cYou can\u2019t just put s**t in a box and expect it to sell,\u201d he said. He retained his job but concedes he would have been \u201cfirst out of the door\u201d had FM26 not shown shoots of recovery. \u201cI don\u2019t think I\u2019ll be allowed to forget what happened, and I shouldn\u2019t be either,\u201d he told Art.<\/p>\n

Something tells me the franchise will bounce back because it\u2019s too big not to. Whether consoles are your bag or not, there\u2019s a lot to take from the story of a huge football brand veering down a mountainside<\/a>. It brings to mind one of the sport\u2019s oldest cliches: that you\u2019re only as good as your last game.<\/p>\n

News & transfers
\nHe arrived to huge crowds and an almighty fanfare, but after one full campaign, Jose Mourinho has packed up and left Fenerbahce<\/a>. They fell short of Champions League qualification this week.
\nThat\u2019s the second big change in Turkey in the past 24 hours. Besiktas head coach Ole Gunnar Solskjaer was sacked last night, a consequence of them failing to reach the Conference League<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

The Champions League group-stage draw got there in the end yesterday, after the usual messing about on stage. You\u2019ll find every cough and spit on this section of our website<\/a>. Our writers have had their pick of the ties (above), and for me, it has to be Real Madrid away at Kairat. File that under \u2018out of their comfort zone\u2019.
\nAlejandro Garnacho from Manchester United to Chelsea is on. United have accepted a bid of \u00a340m ($54m) for the winger<\/a>. That one\u2019s been bubbling all summer.
\nKobbie Mainoo wants to leave United, but not permanently. He\u2019s asked to go on loan (which, if nothing else, would buy some time before another potential change of head coach). The club don\u2019t look like granting his wish<\/a>, though.
\nChampagne corks are popping at St James\u2019 Park: Newcastle United might just have landed themselves a centre-forward<\/a>. They\u2019re lining up to pay \u00a365m for Stuttgart\u2019s Nick Woltemade, which, looking at his record, strikes me as quite a lot of money.
\nTottenham Hotspur want RB Leipzig\u2019s Xavi Simons, who equally wants out of Leipzig. Spurs offered \u00a351.8m last night and the Germans gave them the thumbs up<\/a>. It suits all parties.
\nShow Viz<\/p>\n

\"\"\/<\/p>\n

Nothing sums up Manchester United\u2019s general cluelessness better than them turning up at Grimsby Town on Tuesday and asking where the manager\u2019s changing room was<\/a>. If you\u2019ve ever seen the inside of Blundell Park, you\u2019ll know why that\u2019s funny.<\/p>\n

They\u2019re also in the process of negotiating with Royal Antwerp for goalkeeper Senne Lammens<\/a>, but as cover for Andre Onana, rather than a replacement. What Ruben Amorim definitely needs is a different goalkeeper on the bench. Don\u2019t worry about the elephant in the room.<\/p>\n

But what of Amorim himself? Because the tide is turning against him and after the debacle of defeat at Grimsby, Oli Kay is questioning United\u2019s faith in him<\/a>. The idea that another managerial switch would cure Old Trafford\u2019s ills is blind to their years of malaise, but one glance at the graphic above shows how feeble Amorim\u2019s Premier League record is. His stoic devotion to 3-4-3 isn\u2019t proving to be a virtue.<\/p>\n

Frankly, I don\u2019t see how binning him changes much. It just invites another soul into the meat grinder. But awful results, confused thinking and moping comments from the Portuguese? It\u2019s not a cycle that can continue indefinitely.<\/p>\n

Around TAFC \ud83d\udd04<\/p>\n

\"\"\/<\/p>\n

The Athletic\u2019s Alternative Premier League Table<\/a> is going to be a fun feature during 2025-26. If goals could only be scored from penalties, Wolverhampton Wanderers would be piling the titles up.
\nOld enough equals good enough, but in the Premier League, there are actual rules on fielding and safeguarding under-18s such as Arsenal\u2019s Max Dowman and Liverpool\u2019s Rio Ngumoha. As an example (and sensibly), they cannot change with adult players. Eduardo Tansley picked over the regulations<\/a>.
\nThere\u2019s some excellent insight from Ahmed Walid here<\/a> on the recruitment trends of Europe\u2019s major divisions. It turns out that the French are buying less and less from France.
\nArsenal are good at many things. Selling for a profit isn\u2019t one of them. In this window, Liverpool have clawed in \u00a3188.5m from outgoing transfers. Arsenal\u2019s income stands at \u00a36.9m. It\u2019s a shortcoming they have to change<\/a>.
\nMatt Slater\u2019s Business of Football column includes a bizarre story<\/a> highlighting the way in which things such as TV rights agreements are negotiated on WhatsApp \u2014 and how WhatsApp messages can be legally binding.
\nQuiz question: tells us which four Englishmen played in the Champions League in the 1990s, the 2000s and the 2010s. Clue \u2014 they might have worn red. Answers here<\/a> later today, and in Monday\u2019s TAFC.
\nMost clicked in Thursday\u2019s TAFC: Grimsby\u2019s famous night<\/a>.
\nCatch a match<\/p>\n

(Selected matches, times ET\/UK)<\/p>\n

Friday: Championship: Leicester City vs Birmingham City, 3pm\/8pm \u2014 CBS, Paramount+, Fubo\/Sky Sports. Serie A: Lecce vs Milan, 2.45pm\/7.45pm \u2014 Paramount+, Fubo, DAZN\/DAZN.<\/p>\n

Saturday: Premier League: Chelsea vs Fulham, 7.30am\/12.30pm \u2014 USA Network, Fubo\/TNT Sports; Leeds United vs Newcastle United, 12.30pm\/5.30pm \u2014 NBC, Fubo, Peacock Premium\/Sky Sports. La Liga: Real Madrid vs Mallorca, 3.30pm\/8.30pm \u2014 ESPN, Fubo\/Disney+; German Bundesliga: Augsburg vs Bayern Munich, 12.30pm\/5.30pm \u2014 ESPN\/Sky Sports. Serie A: Napoli vs Cagliari, 2.45pm\/7.45pm \u2013 CBS, Paramount+, Amazon Prime, DAZN\/DAZN; MLS: Cincinnati vs Philadelphia Union, 7.30pm\/12.30am \u2014 MLS Season Pass\/Apple TV.<\/p>\n

Sunday: Premier League: Brighton vs Manchester City, 9am\/2pm \u2014 Peacock Premium\/Sky Sports; Nottingham Forest vs West Ham United, 9am\/2pm, Liverpool vs Arsenal, 11.30am\/4.30pm, Aston Villa vs Crystal Palace, 2pm\/7pm \u2014 all USA Network, Fubo\/Sky Sports. Scottish Premiership: Rangers vs Celtic, 7am\/12pm \u2014 CBS, Paramount+, Amazon Prime, Fubo\/Sky Sports.\u00a0La Liga: Rayo Vallecano vs Barcelona, 3.30pm\/8.30pm \u2014 ESPN, Fubo\/Premier Sports.<\/p>\n

And finally\u2026\"\"<\/p>\n

When he landed in Los Angeles, Son Heung-min came in hot. LAFC, the club he joined for a Major League Soccer record this month<\/a>, are shifting Son shirts hand over fist. In the week when he signed, his jersey was the best seller of any athlete worldwide<\/a>.<\/p>\n

To drive the hype further, LAFC reprised a classic mash-up by sending Son to pitch at the home of the LA Dodgers (above). I know nothing about baseball, and some in my office reckon he needed to put his back into it, but to my eye, that\u2019s a good straight throw, no?<\/p>\n

\ud83d\udcec Love TAFC? Check out The Athletic\u2019s other newsletters<\/a>, including Full-Time, for women\u2019s soccer.<\/a><\/p>\n

(Top photo: Annice Lyn\/Manchester United via Getty Images)<\/p>\n