NEW TO CAREER MODE…

Manager Roles
Another notable difference is the significant restructure of the manager’s staff and a revamp of their roles. The most obvious is that we’ve introduced the position of Director of Football into the game for the first time, which will allow managers to pass on some of their workload, such as contract negotiations, if they choose to.

In addition to this, we’ve also increased the number of specialist coaching roles within the game and given the manager greater flexibility to choose which coaches offer advice and when. The manager can also choose to complain about boardroom interference – although that particular option should probably be used sparingly.

Training
This year sees a total revamp of team training, with a new simplified overview panel combining general training and match preparation. Choose your weekly team weekly, give the lads a rest after a big win or drag them into training the day after bad performance. You can now even send your coach to acquire more training badges to improve their skills and send the whole squad away on a training camp.

NEW WAYS TO PLAY…

Classic and Challenge Modes
Football Manager Classic is a less time-consuming way to enjoy Football Manager. The essence of the game is exactly the same – the manager still takes charge of a squad of players and competes at whatever level he or she chooses – but they will now find that a number of their responsibilities have either been taken over by their support staff or have disappeared completely.

For example, while the player still takes charge of training in FMC, this is carried out at a 'full team' level only – there's no individual player training. And when it gets to matches themselves, there are no team talks or opposition reports... you just go straight to a game using the same 3D match engine as Career Mode. The games are played out in a quicker 'highlights only' fashion, but you can even speed this up by going straight to ‘Instant Result’.

Players who opt for Football Manager Classic will also find that they have a couple of further options in terms of how they play the game; they can either play a full open-ended ‘Career’ or they can choose to play in the new ‘Challenge’ mode.

In Challenge mode they’ll find themselves in a particular situation which will test their management skills over a shorter game time – usually half a season. Can you win a trophy with a team consisting almost entirely of kids? Or could you guide your club to safety despite being bottom of the table at Xmas?

We first introduced Challenge Mode in Football Manager Handheld 2012 and it proved to be so popular that we’ve decided to include it in FMC too.

The game will come with four free-to-play challenges, each of which feeds in to a global leaderboard.

PLUS MUCH MORE…

There are more than 900 new features, most of which will be announced via a series of video blogs. The key changes include a revamp of the loans system, a major overhaul of scouting, new press conference tones and an international management revamp.