With the impending arrival of Football Manager 2022 and the will-it-won’t-it nature of the beta release occupying most of our minds, it’s a good time to ask some of our favourite writers here at Dictate The Game about their experiences on FM21.

JohnnyGamesFM

Number of hours: 1103
Favourite Save: FC Stockholm
Favourite Signing: Vilmer Persson Ahstedt
Most Used Tactic: 4-3-3 DM Wide
Biggest Success: Promotion in our first season at Stockholm, defying all expectations
FM22 Beta Plans: Probably Atalanta
Overall FM21 Thoughts: this was the best version of the Game of all time. Some bugs here or there I’ve noticed throughout but overall a very enjoyable immersive Football Manager. Looking forward to even more improvements in FM22!

Craig Thompson

Number of hours: 474
Favourite Save: Sunday League to Legend with Leyland Albion
Favourite Signing: Wilfried Zaha
Most Used Tactic: 4-1-2-2-1
Biggest Success: Supporters’ Shield with Austin FC stands out because we should have never even been anywhere near top of the league.
FM22 Beta Plans: Halifax in the Canadian Premier League
Overall FM21 Thoughts: The next step in the evolution of the most immersive computer game that there is. I really enjoyed the additions such as the end of the season highlights and recap. Above all, the game continues to be such great value for money. I don’t know of any other game in another genre that continues to freshen and regenerate itself. Just when you think you have a firm grip on the title or the youth players you’ve had your eye on for years are blossoming, another club will strengthen or a few losses happen. A new job at a new club will tempt and its time to go again.

Craig Walsh

Number of Hours Spent on FM21: 572 hours
Favourite Save: Unemployed to Legend in England, starting in
Favourite Signing: Paul Friars – a RW/ST signed on a hunch from Cliftonville (NI) for £140k. Turned into a Premier League and Europa League goalscoring machine.
Most Used Tactic: 4-2-3-1, for the last time sadly.
Biggest Success: FA Cup with Norwich City in 2025. Yeah, I didn’t stick with a save long enough for Champions League glory.
FM22 Beta plans: 1-2 season save with Newcastle (after their takeover of course)
Overall FM21 Thoughts: Loved the game, but match engine makes my defence look like clueless children.

Fernando

Number of Hours Spent on FM21: Well over 1500
Favourite Save: RFC Liège
Favourite Signing: David Faupala
Most Used Tactic: Don’t really have a big one. I shift quite often per the requirements of the team
Biggest Success: Taking RFC Liège from the third tier of Belgian football to the 1st Division
FM22 Beta plans: Probably Juv… Zebre
Overall FM21 Thoughts: It was a fantastic game. I took some time to settle, as there were many differences to previous ones UI-wise, but once things clicked, I enjoyed it lots. The ME was fantastic, the new features were fun, and I got to meet great people in the community. Loved every bit of it and looking forward to FM22.

Ryan Atkins

Number of Hours Spent on FM21: 2,288 hours, and counting
Favourite Save: Haven’t really done many saves on FM21. But, I did enjoy my Man Utd save where I was able to test a lot of asymmetrical formations.
Favourite Signing: Youssoufa Moukokofor a fee of £36m
Most Used Tactic: I don’t really have a ‘most used tactic’ due to the AI adapting to tactics quicker on FM21. But, as most will know I like to push tactical boundaries so most of my formations have been asymmetric.
Biggest Success: Even though I have only managed Man Utd on FM21, I enjoyed the development on the game so for me success came when the U23s, U18s won a plethora of trophies.
FM22 Beta plans: Usually for the BETA, I play as Coventry so that will most likely be the plan for FM22. I’d like to test out a few teams though like Barcelona following their financial situation.
Overall FM21 Thoughts: FM21 was a great addition to the Football Manager series, the game is becoming more detailed with each addition to the series. This for some, makes the game a chore, but for me that loves reviewing data I feel that this addition has been excellent. I look forward to even more data on FM22.

Seattle Red

Number of Hours Spent on FM21: 1892
Favourite Save: The FM21 iteration of my Fourth Glass series, in which I took Duruji Kvareli from the Georgian 5th tier to the pinnacle of club football, capped by winning the 2050 World Cup with the Georgian national team.
Favourite Signing: Miguel “Katchip” Katchipwisayla, a world-class centerforward who we deployed as a libero…as one does.  He was eventually sold for $225M plus a “50 percent of next sale” clause.
Most Used Tactic: PM Draugr, a strikerless 523 featuring an aggressive libero, that turns into a 2323/2314 in possession.
Biggest Success: Winning the CAF Champions League with Étoile Filante de Lomé, in the African Nearly Men.
FM22 Beta plans: Tactics testing, with a variety of “big” European and Polish Ekatraklasa clubs.
Overall FM21 Thoughts: Another brilliant edition of the series that — while not quite reaching the high-water mark for me (that would be FM17) — nevertheless found me as engrossed in my saves and the community as ever.