The FM Library

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Creator name & what made you choose it?

I did not think too much about the name, nor did I give much time to contemplate the future.  I simply chose Grasshopper Club Zürich as an FM16 save and thought blogging would be a one-season thing: hence FM Grasshopper.  Then I got the bug of blogging, if you can excuse the pun, and here I am 8-9 years later.

Real name?

Tony, after a certain one-club-captain…

Favourite football team?

The Arsenal.  For the first 11 years of my life I grew up in London, where it was either Arsenal or West Ham.  My dad was West Ham, along with my two older brothers, and my mum was Arsenal.  I think I chose well.

That said, I actively follow foreign clubs now too…primarily due to falling in love with them in FM.  Estudiantes, Inter + Inter Miami, Peñarol and of course…Grasshopper Club Zürich!

Talk me through your FM journey – where does it start?

Soon we were at it too.  CM97/98 was my first edition that I owned and I would say Jari Litmanen, Robert Pires and Tommy Svindal Larsen were probably my favourite players.  I think I have owned every edition since, although during the last couple of CMs I was very busy studying and did not have much time to play.

Ok, you’ve been playing the game, what made you jump from “player” to “creator” and how have you found the journey?

I think a lot of people now start creating content quite young, or at least that’s what it feels like.  But I actually only had time ‘to create’ once I had children.  It feels weird to write that, because post-children I had a lot less free time.  But before children I was doing a lot of competitive Karate and Football…computer games were very low down on the agenda.

However, that all changed one year into being a parent where I thought I would start writing about Football Manager.  Life slowed down a bit, I was playing the game a lot more now into the cycle…why not start sharing my stories?

Also, answering these questions has made me reflect on my creator journey.  In a lot of ways, I was already a creator to an extent at 10-years-old…carrying my print out from CM into school to show my friends in the playground.  “Guys, check out this player etc…he has an AvR of 8 and 30 goals”.

Sharing my save just makes me enjoy it a lot more.  Since FM15 (my first edition of blogging on the old fmgrasshopper.com) I have not looked back…obviously the name has stuck, but my writing has evolved and continues to.  I have made good real-life friends through the game, met some wonderful people incl. fellow writers/creators and those from the SI studio itself.  I have co-hosted a podcast (GrassNGear) for 5 years and brought a few fellow writers together under one roof (coffeehousefm.com) and co-edit a Football Manager magazine (Latte Quarterly).

The journey has meandered into something a lot grander than I could ever have imagined!

What’s your style of play? Within the library we have a couple of guys who plough through seasons letting the Assistant Manager’s do the vast majority of stuff, mainly getting into the late 2060’s trying to complete bizarre and random challenges, but we also have guys who are very much into the finite detail and will manage every aspect and would consider a save done after 5 or 6 seasons. Where do you fit within the scale? There is of course, no incorrect answer.

I do play relatively slow.  A good save is one where I reach 7-8 seasons, and I’m usually one main save for the whole cycle.  That is not to say I do not delegate tasks/responsibilities though, I have not conducted a press conference in game since about FM19…and I have used Recruitment Focuses a lot since they were added over more traditional Player Search deep dives.

The time for me in the game is sunk into the match engine.  Extended, Comprehensive…damn I’m not even afraid of Full Match mode.  I enjoy tweaking, seeing the combinations of roles behave and experiencing the highs and lows of the game.  I have always said the quality of the game hinges on the match engine, and if FM24 Early Access is anything to go by…we’re in for a treat this year.

Favourite version/save? Any particular bittersweet/comic/down right depressing memories?

Love this question.  But it is also very hard to answer.  If I can cheat, I would say FM20, 21 and 22 are my favourite versions…because I did something I always wanted to do: tell a story across multiple editions of FM.  I called it The La Plata Trilogy, and it features a number of ‘characters’ interacting with each other.  It also grew into a beast by FM22 as I opened it up as a network save with a good friend (FM Eadster).  In its entirety the story covers FM in Uruguay, Mexico, Colombia, America and Brazil.  Incidentally, you can do this kind of thing a lot easier now with the FM24 Save Compatibility Feature, where saves can roll into new editions…perhaps I was a couple of years ahead of the curve?

Which bloggers do you always make sure that you read?

I am very passionate about the FM writing community, so much that I managed to coax a few that I like over to a site called CoffeehouseFM to join me blogging.  I do not want any of them to be jealous by shouting one of them out specifically, so sorry if it offends…but FM Rensie has always been a guy that I take time to enjoy reading.  I am incredibly proud of him writing so well in another language, and he will always reserve time for those that ask nicely for help/advice.

Outside of the coffeehouse, there are some great writers.  I am glad to see Cleon Hobson back writing about the game, alongside my podcasting co-host Dan Gear.  They are both knowledgeable about the game and between our site and theirs (ViewFromATouchline) I think the written word on FM is in a strong place.

Outside of those sites, you have the likes of FM Stag and Madd FM who always have a great story to tell.  Then there are those that I wished could be brought back from apparent writing exile: FM Pressure, Diego Mendoza, Il Mediano FM…they are like my lost children.  Please come back.

Who within the community, seriously impresses you – produces the type of content that you just think “Wow, I couldn’t even contemplate producing stuff to at that level?

Personally, words come easy to bloggers and I.  So, although I love blogs…the stuff that is way beyond my creative capacity is the visual side of FM.  I would implore you to check out people like Mustermann FM, who seem to play like a ‘blogger’ but have a skill to visualise it succinctly and creatively on YouTube.

Unfortunately, the likes of Mustermann FM are few and far between.  A lot of the visual side of FM does not excite me these days, there is a lot of duplication of content and creators are not taking risks like Mustermann FM is.  It is why you should go and show him some love, if you have the time.

What puts you off reading other creators blogs – what makes you click that “X” button in the top right of the page?

People blog for different reasons, I’ve come to accept and respect this.  Some want to tell a story, some would just like to keep a record of events and some want to go all in and explain game mechanics.  5 years ago I would have had a strong opinion in my answer to this question, now I just accept that blogs are inherently different.

That being said, if you blogged a serious Tottenham save…I would not give it a single second.  Sorry, but we hate Tottenham, we hate Tottenham, we hate Tottenham.

Ok, final question.. I have 5 minutes and I have a list of blogs in front of me – In 100 words, why should I click on your blog…

Also, before leaving, thank you to FM Burt for allowing me to have a period of self-reflection on this site.  I have enjoyed it and I hope you enjoy the richness of what the FM Blogging has to offer, keep up the good work.

Tony / FM Grasshopper

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I’d like to thank Tony for taking the time to answer the questions, turns out he actually enjoyed doing it!!

Please make sure to follow the accounts linked in the intro and check out, as he requested, all the blogs over at CoffeehouseFM, and if that means doing his last then so be it.

As always, if you would like to take part in our 11 Question Series then please either leave a comment here, follow us on Twitter, or join or Discord Server and ask one of the team!