Five Essential Things to do at the start of every single Football Manager save

You can trust VideoGamer. Our team of gaming experts spend hours testing and reviewing the latest games, to ensure you're reading the most comprehensive guide possible. Rest assured, all imagery and advice is unique and original. Check out how we test and review games here

You’ve been itching to fire up your Football Manager save, but you knew you couldn’t start until Out of Context Football Manager told you exactly what he does at the very beginning. After all, there isn’t anyone better at Football Manager than yours truly.

Alright, maybe that’s a stretch, but there are certain things I do at the start of every save, whether out of routine or just because they make sense. Hopefully, this will help if you’re new to the game and have no idea where to begin with this incredibly complicated beast. And if you’re a seasoned veteran, you might pick up a new habit—or, more likely, just laugh at my ridiculous rituals. It could go either way.

And if you enjoy these articles, make sure to check out some of the other stuff I’ve written recently, like the best obscure nations to scout in or the best Football Manager 2024 wonderkids you’ve never heard of.

🚀 Save Up to $1,200 on the Samsung Galaxy S25!

Pre-order now and save big with trade-in and Samsung credit. Limited time only!

*Includes trade-in value + $300 Samsung credit.

1. Make Sure I Have the Best Staff in the League

Unless you’re starting with Manchester City (which I strongly recommend against), your staff will almost certainly be awful. Your scouts will have a judging ability of 7, and your attacking coach wouldn’t even be able to train a group of school kids, let alone professional footballers.

So, I immediately offer the bad staff members mutual termination and accept whatever it costs to do so. Then, I go hunting for the best available staff within my club’s reputation.


🎮 Must-Listen: Publishing Manor Lords w/ Joe Robinson 🎙️


Pro tip: Offering a staff member a longer contract often means they’ll accept lower wages. This has two benefits: you save money and delay the hassle of hiring someone new. However, if you’re managing in the lower leagues, don’t tie staff to long deals—if you climb the football pyramid quickly, they’ll become obsolete, and you’ll regret being stuck with them.

2. Check Free Transfers Immediately

At this point, it’s just muscle memory. No matter what team I manage, I always check free transfers at the start of the game. Most won’t be good enough or will be far too old (see screenshot above), but every now and then, you find a gem.

To make filtering easier, don’t just sort by Contract Status = Expired; there will be way too many players. Instead, filter by reputation to weed out the duds. Adjust it based on your club’s level.

And just so you know, as it stands, Alphonso Davies, Joshua Kimmich, Kevin De Bruyne, Trent Alexander-Arnold, Mo Salah, and Jonathan David are all going to be free transfers this summer. So yeah, now more than ever, make sure you check.

3. Sort Out Staff Responsibilities

DO NOT continue your game until you’ve sorted out staff responsibilities. The default settings are atrocious.

First, make sure you’re in control of hiring and firing staff. Otherwise, you’ll get a month into your save and find that your club has hired the worst assistant manager imaginable, on a ridiculous salary. I’ve lost count of how many times this has happened.

However, you should delegate training and press conferences. Training is controversial, but I’m convinced it doesn’t have that much impact. In my last save, I meticulously managed training and had worse results than in my current save, where I barely touch it. And as for press conferences? Just let your virtual assistant manager suffer through those.

4. Check Reserves & Youth Squads for Hidden Gems (or Quick Sales)

Always check your reserves and youth squads at the start. There could be players who are good enough for the first team or at least valuable enough to sell for extra transfer funds.

For example, I just loaded up Manchester City, and they’ve got Rico Lewis sitting in the reserves. He could easily be a backup full-back from day one. And even if none of your youth players are good enough, you can usually sell some of the deadwood to raise cash.

Chelsea are the best club for this—their reserves could field a second first team.

5. Start Scouting as Many Players as Possible

Time is of the essence. Scouting takes a while, so if you’ve disabled first-window signings, you’ll want a strong shortlist by the time January rolls around.

Here’s what I do to speed up the process:

  1. Select 50 players at a time, assign them to the scouting pool, and set it to Until Full Knowledge. Keep doing this until you’re scouting around 1,000 players.
  2. Go to Recruitment Focus > Scout Priorities.
  3. Right-click, choose Insert Column > Scouting > Knowledge.
  4. Sort by Knowledge and cancel scouting on players we already have Extensive or Reasonable knowledge on. No need to waste time on them

Other Things I Do (or Don’t Do) at the Start of Every Save:

  • DO schedule extra friendlies. The default number isn’t enough.
  • DON’T bother with board requests. They always decline them at the start.
  • DON’T read about the club’s history. Let’s be real, who has time for that?

So, there you have it—the five things I always do at the start of every Football Manager save. It’s not exactly reinventing the wheel, but hopefully, it serves as a helpful reminder or gives you something new to try.

What are your start-of-save rituals? Let me know in the comments!

About the Author

William Reid

William is the admin of Out of Context Football Manager, an X account that focuses on FM news. He's worked for LADbible Group and is VG's resident FM expert.