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We all know plenty of professional footballers play Football Manager. In fact, there’s so many players and managers in love with the game that we’ve made a list! The game is so good that even after spending hours on the pitch, they still find time to dive into the virtual dugout. But among this group, few are as “obsessed” as Adam Le Fondre.
The striker doesn’t just dabble in the game—he’s streamed his exploits, tweets about it with regularity, and even appeared in the Football Manager documentary. And it’s not like he’s been short of things to do in real life either. Across a stellar playing career, Adam has turned out for teams in England, Australia, and India, gracing leagues from the Premier League to non-league. If anyone’s qualified to weigh in on how the beautiful game stacks up to the virtual world, it’s him.
So, I sat down with Adam for a chat about all things Football Manager. We discussed the Football Manager 2024 delay, the other players who share his passion for the game, and what’s realistic (and not so realistic) when comparing FM to actual football. Oh, and there’s plenty more where that came from.
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Adam Le Fondre on his history with Football Manager
Out of Context Football Manager: “Before we start, I’ve got a friend who’s a big Rotherham fan, so he was absolutely buzzing about this.
Adam Le Fondre: “Yeah, I had a great time there as well!”
OOCFM: “So, what got you into football manager in the first place? Where did the obsession start… if that’s the right way of putting it?”
Adam: “Yeah. I think anyone who plays Football Manager is obsessed. It [started with] Championship Manager 97/98. My brother brought it home. Natipong Sritong-In was his striker. We obviously had an old computer and I made my own save whenever I could get on the computer and it started from there really.
“So very much a veteran when it comes to Football Manager, or Championship Manager, as it was at the start. I’ve loved it ever since. I think they do a great job at Football Manager, making it as real as possible. There’s a lot of similarities to real life football as well. So it’s a fantastic game and you get obsessed with it because of how good your save goes, if you can save a team. I think everyone goes through the same struggles with it.”
OOCFM: “That’s the thing running this page you realize, a lot of the situations you think that it’s just you that’s experienced it, so many other people have encountered the same situations. I constantly get very similar messages like – “I’ve got an issue with this or this is winding me up.” So I think that’s what brings everyone together around Football Manager, it’s the shared experiences.
Adam: “Yeah. I think no experience is the same as well. I think that’s what the game does brilliantly. It has great variety from save to save. A big team goes into administration in one save, and in another save they’re so good, which makes it so random.
“There’s also nothing better than getting a regen and finding them in a youth team and turning them into that 100 million-pound player.I think when you’ve got things like finding a player in Latvia, Lithuania, or whatever obscure European country or South American country, or wherever you find them… and nurturing them into one of the world’s best.
“Everyone has one of them player names, it’s just a random name, of a random guy or random regen… but you make them your own and I think that’s what Football Manager does fantastic. Your journey on Football Manager is your own, but you can share certain things with everyone, because you’ve all got that 18 year old. They’ll all have different names, but you’re all trying to nurture him into the best player. That’s what they do fantastically it’s what really draws you into the game.”
OOCFM: “100 percent. When you get a regen who is from an obscure country, it’s just way better. If I get a regen who’s from Andorra, it doesn’t even matter if they’re slightly worse than the others, they’re getting first team action every week”
Adam: Yeah, you have to force them through. Then you follow their backstory. Are they the captain of Andorra? Are they scoring for Andorra and stuff like that? How quick can you get them to the national team? Really you take an interest into obviously the fictional characters on the screen, but you take an interest in the players to try and progress them, and obviously try and resell them when they get a bit older.”
COVID just meant more time for FM
OOCFM: Spot on. So, how much Football Manager would you say you play per day? How many hours a weeK, if it’s not an everyday thing?
Adam: “It depends how engrossed I am. There’s times…
OOCFM: “Ok, what’s the most you play per day?
Adam: “Well, when I was in India. Just all day. Literally like I’d get up at 11 o’clock in India. And be on it until two o’clock. I’d then go and do gym, train at four, come back, and then in between evening meal and play again for another hour. Then from maybe half past seven till probably three in the morning, I’m on FM. That was probably my routine for about two or three months.
OOCFM: “So more Football Manager than actual playing?
Adam: “Yeah, definitely. Because I was in quarantine in a bubble at that point of time. I had a gaming monitor, my PS4 and I had my laptop. So I was alternating between two, but then once I got stuck into my laptop, it was like, ‘I’m on this now, let’s go.’ I went through, I want to say, about six or seven seasons there, just in India.
“Like I say, once you get into a good FM save or you stick your teeth into it and you’re like, ‘Right, I’m going to try and make this work’ – there’s nothing better and more rewarding. I think that’s got me through a lot of times where I’ve been on my own, I’ve been in quarantine. And obviously as a footballer traveling around and away days and that sort of thing.
“And obviously sort of waiting for the new one to come out. I know they’re trying to change the game engine, so there’s been a bit of a delay. But I can’t wait for when the new one actually does come out with the new game engine. I think the guys do a great job. And even with little things they fix and stuff like that, they do fix them really fast.
OOCFM: “Well, that leads on to my next question, what improvements would you like to see in Football Manager 2025?”
Adam: “They do such a good detailed job, but I do actually think that the graphics were due an upgrade. I think the game engine has been very similar for a while now and needed to be improved to move in line with the game. Because the game is that detailed, I think it was doing a little bit of a disservice to it. I don’t want to put the game down, because the game’s fantastic, but the match engine didn’t quite match up with how detailed everything else was. Hopefully when it does come out again, it’s more in line with the game.
OOCFM: Yeah, for most hardcore Football Manager players, the graphics don’t seem that important. But for a casual fan, that sort of thing can be incredibly important. So if they got it up to the same level as the rest of the game, which is detailed, that will take it to the next level, with how many people play it. But you also don’t want them to just focus on the graphics and then the rest gets neglected.”
Adam: “Exactly. The game is in a great place at the minute. The game is that good. There’s things in the football world that you shouldn’t be able replicate in a game because it’s a simulation… but they do… let’s say out of 10 it’s a 9.5… for everything. Some things they’re going to miss, some things they’re not going to get quite right, but I don’t think you can get 100% of things right. I don’t think you can get it to the absolute 10/10.
“I think what they do is unbelievable and just because the graphics can improve, it doesn’t take away from the rest of the game. I watch in highlight mode anyway, so it doesn’t really bother me!”
OOCFM: “Yeah, watch in 2D, with the old-school graphics so it doesn’t affect me!” But, I think it’s something like 90% of players play with 3D. I thought it’d be kind of reversed, but yeah, a lot of people do [play in 3D].”
The wait for Football Manager 2025
OOCFM: “So what did you think of the delay? Did you think it was the right decision to delay it?”
Adam: “I think so, yeah. I don’t see the point of putting out a game if it’s not ready, and having a mark against what is, and what has been, a great franchise. They’ve had great games over the years. What’s the point of putting out a half-baked one which isn’t ready? Then people will complain all the time, and they’ll end up forever fixing it.
“Obviously, it’s bad for us as gamers that we miss out on that game, but ultimately, if the one after it’s even better, then I guess we’ll just have to suck it up. Is it really that much of a trade-off to do that? For me personally, I don’t think it is.
OOCFM: “I think as long as it doesn’t affect Football Manager 2026, I don’t mind a delay, if the next couple are actually good and you can see the improvements.
Adam: “If they’re spot on the timing for Football Manager 2026 it will just be like “All right, fair enough, Football Manager 2025 didn’t quite work out with the time scale, but we can now push full steam ahead with Football Manager 2026. It’s going to come out in November, it’s a good game and I don’t doubt Miles and the team will do that because they’ve been fantastic over the years at doing that.”
“Ultimately, if that means we have to miss out on one iteration, which might not have been the greatest version, it might just have been a touched-up version of Football Manager 2024, then for me, I don’t really care about that. I just obviously look forward to the next one that comes out and the leaps and bounds they make from there.”
Is that a bird, is that a plane? No, it’s Adam Le Fondre playing Football Manager on a train
OOCFM: “Agreed. So, what’s the strangest place you’ve played Football Manager? You said about playing in quarantine in India, are there any other situations that spring to mind?”
Adam: “When I was at Wolves on loan, I used to play on the train in the morning. I used to travel by train to Wolves and I’d play every morning. I’d get people looking over my shoulder and watching while I played.
“To be honest, anywhere I can get my laptop… flights to games in Australia… whenever I can get my laptop out and put it across my knee, I’ll be playing it.”
OOCFM: “I guess it’s quite normal for someone to get it out on the train and play, but maybe not a professional footballer. If I saw a pro footballer on the train playing it, on the way to playing football, well that’s dedication to the sport!
Adam: “That just shows how good a save I must have had!”
OOCFM: “Now you see those pictures of people playing in the hospital, or at the birth of a child, did you ever get Football Manager out at a time like that?
Adam: “My wife delivers babies really fast, so never had the time! Maybe, I’d get my daughter on as assistant manager as she’s coming out, getting her to press the space bar hahah. But no, I’ve never had time to do that. To be fair, I’d probably get my head ripped off!”
OOCFM: “Yeah, that’s fair enough. I think most people would probably load it up, take the picture, and then immediately close it.
OOCFM: “So, are there any other footballers you know that play football manager?”
Adam: Yeah, loads. Absolutely loads. I think you see on obviously Twitter and stuff, there’s a guy in Sydney, a German guy called Alex Baumjohann who played it. Nicky Law, who was my roommate. Jem Karacan. A lot of my roommates have. We’d sit there, he’d be on his bed, I’d be on my bed, and we’d be talking about our saves. With Nicky, we’d be saying stuff like “Can we get the stadium named after us?
“The game is so interesting that I think a lot of footballers who’ve got a keen eye for football and stuff like that get really interested. It’s a great game, and loads of footballers that I know have played it and still play it now because it is a great way to to pass the time, especially when you’ve got a long journey”
Adam Le Fondre on playing with himself
OOCFM: “Have you ever signed yourself on Football Manager?”
Adam: “Occasionally, yeah. Depending on what year and what team I am. I always put myself on the short list, but I don’t actively go out looking for myself. I just follow what I’m doing, and then when I retire, I end up trying to sign myself as a coach or get myself a job after football. Even if the attributes aren’t very good. Get myself developed up and then see if someone poaches me and go into a manager job.
“I think that bit’s quite funny and interesting when I see myself retire and what role they have me doing.”
OOCFM: “Is it a different job each time?”
Adam: “Yeah, I’ve seen it when I’ve been a manager, I’ve seen it when I’ve been head of youth development, I’ve seen it when I’ve been assistant manager. Then I’ve seen it when I’ve been recruitment as well, head of recruitment, so it is always interesting to see stuff like that.”
OOCFM: “It must be weird. Is it kind of weird seeing yourself pop up in Football Manager? Do you ever get over that?”
Adam: “The best thing about being on it, is when people message me. The amount of people who message me on Twitter, “Oh, had you on Football Manager 2013, Football Manager 2014, you were great on this, blah, blah, blah, you were fantastic here. You did this for me, you did that for me. That’s probably the best thing about it. It is quite surreal seeing yourself in a game, no matter what game it is.
“But the fact that people have been successful with me and I’ve been good for them on the game and they’re telling me about their stories when I’m playing that game as well is also probably the most surreal thing about it, because we’re both enjoying the game, but I’m helping them enjoy the game as well, which my fictional character on the game is helping them win promotion etc. It’s very surreal and a nice feeling really as well.”
OOCFM: “It must be a conflicting feeling if your in-game person comes and asks for more money, or starts making demands around the training ground. You would be annoyed with them… but also… that is you.
Adam: “Yeah, I’d get rid of me if that happened. I hate it when players do that. I have such a strict wage budget with my squads and stuff. No matter who the player is, if they start arguing and stuff, I just lose iit with them and sell them.
OOCFM: “Yeah, fair enough, you might make a great manager sticking to those skills.”
Adam: “I run a really, really tight ship when I’m the gaffer.”
OOCFM: “Nice, and what tactic/formation do you usually go for? What’s your go-to?”
Adam: 4-2-3-1, you’ve got two Inverted Wingers, Advance Forward, bombing full backs, Box-to-Box, a Deep Lying Playmaker. Then with the number 10 it always depends. I either play a sitter or I go 4-1-2-3, depending on how good my 10 is.”
OOCFM: “OK, that sounds like it’d be a good tactic to be honest.”
Adam: “It does alright, it just depends on personnel. There was a point in when I watched Work the Space – I watched his videos and I got inspiration from him, so I managed a local team near me. Because it was tier 10, we’re going long, we’re going to have three strikers up front, I’m just booting it up to them, the only attributes they had was speed. We scored like 130 goals, we overwhelmed the league. But then, I needed to start changing it as I get higher It was battering the non-league but when I got up to about league one, I had to evolve. When I got to the higher leagues I changed back into a more normal shape.”
OOCFM: “Yeah, it’s such a different experience managing lower leagues compared to the Premier League. not just the match and the tactics, but how you sign players. When I’m in the lower leagues I just offer trials to every single person under the planet. It’s interesting how the game completely changes just based off what team you choose or the different levels, how much money you’ve got, that sort of thing.
Adam: “Yeah, definitely, I think I’ve had a good varied experience as well. I had a save in Bulgaria, I was in the second division in Bulgaria. I spent 10 years there and ended up winning the league seven years in a row, got into the Europa League, but it was so hard qualifying for the Champions League. It got to a point where I’d win the league with ease by 10 points, but I couldn’t do anything else. I couldn’t do anything in Europe because the players I bring in are on like five grand a week, which against decent teams in qualification I’d get battered.
“So I ended up just being like, “Right, I’m going to have to leave here now, because I’ve done all I can.” I couldn’t sell people for money either as well because of the market price of players there, there was no real value and my chairman was just going over my head, which you lose your head at.”
OOCFM: “Yeah, I’ve got exactly the same thing in Argentina at the moment because I am the best team in the country by far, but I’ll get a world-class player and he’s valued at like £7 million. I just can’t sell him for that but that’s the only amount they’ll bid for him. It just felt so wrong giving him to Man United for £7 million and then he immediately changes value to like £100 million.”
Adam: “Yeah, it’s hanging, isn’t it? That’s the worst thing about it because you look at the player and you’re like, “I’ll take 10 million,” and they come in at like £1.5 million, you’re like, “Eh?” And then they’ll end up finishing on £2.3 million and the chairman will go, ‘It’s too good to turn down.’ You’re like, ‘What do you mean? We get £5 million at least, don’t we? I think you can sell him.'”
OOCFM: “Yeah, it’s more the principle, you just don’t want to let them go for that little.
So what would you say your greatest ever save is on Football Manager? The one that stands out the most?
Adam: “I’d have to go back on my old laptop and have a look. ..I’ve been quite lucky that every year I play I always had a great save where I’ve spent like 10, 12, 13, 14 years building something. I don’t normally go with top teams, but I did one with Juventus. Back then normally they’d win the league, but we won the league like 15 years in a row and won five or six Champions Leagues.
“And then my regens were coming through. I had a young regen come through and just automatically made my number nine at like 18. Mateo Coresi. And I was just like, ‘I’m in love.’ He had 20 for finishing, and I was just like, ‘You’re going to win me the league.’
“I had a good one with Taunton last season, where I did really well with them from the Conference South. I had one with Stockport Georgians, which is the one from Work The Space’s Park to Prem. They’re from literally where I’m from, round the corner, and I took them from tier nine or 10 to league one, and built them up as a club. I did really enjoy that.”
OOCFM: “Did you get them up to the Prem?
Adam: “No. I think we got to the Champ and then.I don’t know what took me away from it, actually.”
OOCFM: “Which football Manager was this in?”
Adam: “I think that was 23. I’ve got it on my Twitter, because their Twitter got really involved with it.”
OOCFM: “I bet they were really shocked to see anyone playing with them on Football Manager”
Adam: Yeah, they got a mock picture of me holding a Taunton shirt saying, ‘Here’s your new Gaffer on FM!’ It was actually pretty funny. Some of their players, when I got rid of a few of them were messaging me on Twitter saying, ‘I can’t believe you’ve done that Gaffer!'”
OOCFM: “I’d never played football at a professional level, obviously, but in Division 10, there were teams that I’d played against and I was like, ‘How can I manage these guys on Football Manager!?’ They’re just people who go to a nearby school! I love those kind of just crazy databases where they go down loads and you can manage in the Estonian fifth division.”
Adam: “It’s hilarious. I would say that was when I just tried to overwhelm teams with launching long balls.”
OOCFM “At that level, If they’ve got pace, just boot it up for no reason every time get a few runners going.”
Adam Le Fondre reacts to his Football Manager profile
OOCFM: “So I’m going to send you your profile, I want to say it’s you in your prime, but when you played on Football Manager, to say which attributes you disagree with or agree with? What you think is realistic or what you think needs to be improved.”
“This is you at 31 years old. So maybe a bit past prime, but getting to the end.”
Adam: “If I had me at 31, I would have sold myself.”
OOCFM: “If you’re in my team, you’re gone at 25. Let me tell you, unless you’re a superstar, at 28 you’re done. What’s your age limit, the oldest player you’ve signed?”
Football Manager got it right. You’d have to get me at 26/27 years old.
PROFESSIONAL STRIKER ADAM LE FONDRE
Adam: “It depends how good they are and what league I’m in. Sometimes you can get a really good one, at 34, who’s stupidly good, and you can just get him on half-decent wages on a free in the Championship or something like that. But normally I wouldn’t really go after older players. I like to keep it under 30. Maybe I’ll have two or three over 30 depending on how good they are, and maybe one being a keeper.”
OOCFM: “It depends what you’re trying to do because at the moment I’m trying to win trophies quite quickly. And sometimes you just need the older players who just know how to get it done.”
Adam: “I’m quite firm with what I do, but if they’re too good to turn down them, it doesn’t matter on the age. If they help you do it in one season then just take them. If they start asking for extra years, then no, I’ll just bid them off!”
Adam: “For 31 I’ll take that. Yeah. I actually think that’s pretty good for me.”
OOCFM: “To be fair, Football Manager’s usually pretty accurate. Yeah.”
Adam: “Yeah I don’t mind it, If anything, I’d say my off the ball would be higher, but other than that, I can’t really find too much wrong with it. Like 13,12,13, not bad! Football Manager got it right. You’d have to get me at 26/27 years old. Football Manager 2014, I’d say.”
OOCFM: Have you ever save scummed? You know, if you’ve lost a match, would you ever quit and play again?”
Adam: “I Try not to. I probably did it when I was younger, for sure. But it dampens it. You feel a bit dirty afterwards”
OOCFM: “Yeah, no, it just, it winds me up too much. if I do it, I just can’t stop thinking about that time I did it. It feels like you’ve not done it like properly then, do you know what I mean? If you’ve not failed a few times, then, you know, when you are successful, it doesn’t feel as sweet.
“Yeah, when you’ve absolutely smashed the league come 2nd, missed out by two points and your 10 points above, fifth who end up beating you in cup the final, four-nil, you’re just like, how is that even right? But it happens, it happens in football, that sort of thing.”
OOCFM: “What’s your favourite wonderkid, and just player full stop from any Football Manager that you’ve used?”
Adam: “I used to love Kim Kalkstrom. About 50 grand and he was yours.”
OOCFM: “That’s a throwback. That’s a name I hadn’t heard in a while.”
Adam: “I like the Norwegian winger who went to Benfica, Andreas Schjelderup? I liked Goncalo Ramos when he was at Benfica, but everyone knew about him, so it wasn’t exactly like I discovered him. You get half the good ones from Scandinavia, don’t you, really? They’re a bit cheaper and the ones that you don’t really hear too much about as well.
OOCFM: “That’s always a good feeling, when you find a wonderkid and then he actually starts playing amazingly in real life”
Adam: “Yeah, it’s brilliant.”
OOCFM: “But what’s worse is when you find a wonderkid and then in real life they never quite hit that level, like Freddy Adu
Adam: “Ah yeah, we all had Freddie Adu, didn’t we?”
OOCFM: “Oh yes. So, what realistic feature would you like to see added to a future Football Manager?” And then, what unrealistic feature would you like added? Something that won’t get added but you’d love to see it anyway”
Adam: “Obviously it’s football manager but I’d love to have a chairman mode. Or like a mode where you can be sporting director or something like that. I think that would be another good step.But obviously it’s football manager, it’s not football director, is it? But something like that where you can have a little bit more control over how you get money into the club and get money out of the club. That would be a good, additional mode.”
OOCFM: “You can kind of do it already. If you delegate all the responsibility to your assistant but then it’s not that good as the assistant manager’s are never that good.”
Adam: “No, it’s not quite the same, is it? The assistant manager never does the things you want him to do”
“I’ve sort of grown with it and grown old with it. It’s a fantastic game.”
ADAM LE FONDRE ON HIS LOVE OF FOOTBALL MANAGER
OOCFM: “What’s the most unrealistic thing about Football Manager? What doesn’t link well to real football?”
Adam: The part that annoys me the most is how you’ll get an unhappy player and their reasons for getting unhappy are ridiculous. Like if someone puts a bid in, you might be unhappy and but then they’ll come and ask for a contract, and the contract will be four times as much as it realistically would be. And then they go and get unhappy for ages, whereas realistically, that wouldn’t happen. You might be annoyed, but they wouldn’t get annoyed as some of them get in the game. They just literally quit on you, don’t they, straight away, which doesn’t really happen in football.
“If a new teams offered 20 grand and then your guy’s on 10, when he comes for a new contract he wants 50 grand you’re like “Come on, that wouldn’t really happen, like, you’d probably give him 20 if you wanted to keep him. I think that sometimes the figures get a bit skewed.
“Also some of the things they get unhappy with, like in the meetings, there should probably be a few more responses. It feels a bit like a lucky dip where you click on one response and you keep him happy, but if you click on the wrong one he runs off tells a few of the boys and you have to call in a meeting”
OOCFM: “Yeah, I think the interactions with the AI are very limited. Sometimes you’re stuck in a situation. Even just knowing how people talk to each other, you know that it isn’t how it would happen.”
Adam: “Yeah probably maybe down the line AI gets involved, or chat GPT gets involved. And then you have, you can type the conversation with AI. I think in like five years, AI could be like a big thing, even for like the social media. It could generate completely unique stuff, perfectly linked to what actually happened.”
OOCFM: “So do you worry that if AI is introduced in, obviously people are chatting with the player that represents you in the game, WHAT the virtual version of you is like a massive a**hole”
Adam: “No, I’ll be long gone by then. So don’t worry about that hahaha. No, I always find them sort of things funny. When people tell me how great I’ve been for them or when some people tell me how crap I’ve been for them.
That’s, that’s the varied experience of Football Manager . People have sent me all the time ‘I had to let you go because you asked for X amount’ or ‘you wanted to leave because of this’ I just think it’s funny. I think that’s gives good interactions between players and fans sort of thing. That can bring people together through Football Manager being the conduit.. Because, now I think that’s what fans want. Fans want to get closer to players. And Football Manager does a great job of bringing them closer together.”
The realistic difficulty of FM
OOCFM: “So, what would you say is the most realistic part then? Are there bits where you’re just like “Oh that is actually spot on for how it works?” I’m guessing there must be a lot of times like that, because it’s very realistic.”
Adam: Yeah. I think obviously the way, just the way it runs as a whole, I think it is obviously very realistic. There’s certain things that can’t be simulated, but as a whole, I think it does a fantastic job of it. When you’re building a squad, you build the right squad with the right characters of players, and you get a successful squad. And I think that works hand in hand in real life.
You don’t have a squad full of knob’eads and they do well. That doesn’t happen. You know, you have to get people to get along and, you know, when everything’s humming well and the morale’s high on FM, you can just reel off wins. Obviously, if you’ve got a good team as well, that helps. And I think that works out in real life as well. You know, there’s always peaks and troughs in football.”
OOCFM: “So would you say, Football Manager, because there’s always that debate over whether it’s like too hard or too easy… do you think it’s kind of just right, like the difficulty level? Or do you think it should be harder, easier?”
Adam: “I like it harder, I think. Yeah, because it makes it more rewarding. I think sometimes you get to a point where you can just literally reel off easy wins and I feel like you have to, you should have to earn it. Yeah, I love the fact that I remember, I can’t remember which one it was.
There was one FM, and it started, and it was so hard. I couldn’t win for two months, I was like, I’m gonna get the sack. But then you come through that period, change a few things, you know, sign one player or whatever, and it changes it all for you. And, you know, that’s the rewarding part of it. I’ve been sacked a few times on it. But I do like the challenge of it.”
OOCFM: “Yeah, I completely agree. I think the harder it is the better is because I remember I had a 20 game winless run and it’s all that occupies your mind. I was going between lessons and I was thinking like “How am I going to get out of this?! What’s going on?” And then you come mid table, you win a few games, and it’s the best feeling in the world.
OOCFM: “When you play enough, you kind of know exactly what tactics work, so I’m always trying like random tactics just to mix it up and keep it difficult really”
Adam: “Yeah I’ve seen loads of people do different things with five at the back and three at the back. And I tried to always play 2-1-2-3-2-1 or something like that. Trying score as many goals as I could but then I always always seem to revert back to 4-2-3-1”
OOCFM: “I mean, it’s definitely the best tactic. There’s a reason why it’s so popular.
Adam: Yeah, definitely.
OOCFM: “So to finish up, what type of player would you say you are? What role would you say you are in Football Manager terms? What one best sums you up?”
Adam: “I think in my prime would be either Advanced Forward or Poacher for sure. Now I’m more of a Trequartista in my advanced age.”
OOCFM: “So for FC United are you more like a central attacking mid then?”
Adam: “Yeah. I’m playing like a bit of a ten. So a bit more of a withdrawn role. I’m enjoying that.”
OOCFM: “Trying to do a bit of a Wayne Rooney towards the end of your career?”
Adam “I’m trying to do a version of Wayne Rooney!”
OOCFM: “Nice. And if you’re winding to the end of your football career, what’s your dream staff role in Football Manager? What would you want to do when you retire?”
Adam: “I like the idea of Head of Recruitment or Sporting Director. Looking for players, building squads and that sort of thing. So I would like a role in that remit really.”
OOCFM: Yeah I would just fire up the Football Manager database up and go, this guy’s great! If we play him in an advanced forward, I think we’ll be all right. But he hates big games… and he’s inconsistent.”
Adam: Yeah I mean, it doesn’t matter how good they are. If they’ve got that, they’re off!”
What Football Manager means to Le Fondre
OOCFM: “I think that’s everything I’ve got to ask! So overall, what does Football Manager mean to you? If you could just sum it up for us as something that’s been with you for so long.
Adam: “I’ve grown up with it. It’s been part of my family with me and my brother. I’ve been making teams, trying to build dynasties and it’s come with me throughout my career. I’ve sort of grown with it and grown old with it. It’s a fantastic game. Miles is a great guy as well. I was lucky enough to be in the football manager movie with a few other lads. Oli Gunnar Solskjaer was in it talking about it and I did a little interview in it as well. So I’ve been lucky to be a part of it in a little way!”
For more FM goodness, read about all the hidden attributes in the game or read about the IRL players that FM got wrong.
Football Manager 2024
- Platform(s): PC, PlayStation 5, Xbox Series S, Xbox Series S/X, Xbox Series X
- Genre(s): Management, Soccer, Sports