The FM Library

---

Creator name & what made you choose it?

The Irish FM. I tried to keep it simple, I’m Irish, and I play FM. 

Real name?

Steven.

Favourite football team?

Liverpool F.C. 

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

It started with FM Handheld on the PSP. I had many nights where I’d stay up until the early hours with these games, and I’d often hide the PSP under my pillow (while it would be processing the game) when the parents would come in to see if I was asleep! 

The First PC version I remember owning was FM2008. But I still played the PSP version until the 2013 version. It wasn’t until 2010 when I really started getting into the PC version as the family had bought our first Laptop and I had access to Steam. Ever since then it’s been my go to game to play, I dabble in fifa and other games from time to time but FM is the one consistent game I play. This has led to over 5,500hrs of gameplay on my steam account for Football Manager games. 

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

It’s something I’ve always really wanted to do. I always wanted to share my experiences on FM in some shape or form but I never really knew how to do it. Until the Athletic posted the article about the Benfica Youth Academy. That made me want to do it even more, see if i could realise their dreams and take people with me in the form of blogging. 

In the Early Access of FM24, I started tweeting about my Liverpool save, but the character limit was an obstacle I needed to overcome. I sent a tweet asking how to start blogging, and MaddFM shared his article on how to start blogging for FM, so I looked into that. After reading that, I sent him an email and joined his discord and got talking to him and the process of me beginning to blog started. 

I’m enjoying it so far, spending a lot of time getting the blog posts right but that will come easier as time progresses. Getting used to screenshotting and taking notes as I go for future posts means I’m playing the game a lot slower than I usually would, but yeah, so far I’m really enjoying it.

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.

Ehm, usually I’m a middle of the road kind of guy when it comes to how I play, but it can change on a save to save basis. In the majority of saves I’ll create my own tactics, complete the media duties, organise transfers, and discuss contracts while allowing the assistant to look after training and opposition instructions. Other times I will try and sort the training out, although it’s something I probably need to spend more time getting a proper grasp of. 

Scouting is usually something I will leave to my head scout to organise but then again I will normally do my own scouting for youth players or look at the players in range if I need a first team player. 

Most of my saves will normally last 6-10 years before I change it up, but sometimes they can go on for much longer and it’ll be a one save game cycle. I have a feeling this year may be one of them years where one save will see me through until FM25. 

Favourite version/save? Any particular bittersweet/comic/downright depressing memories?

Not a great idea answering this after a long day’s work and my brain is like mush. I don’t think there’s one particular save I would say is my favourite. In a lot of the early games I would play as lower league teams and aim for european glory, in the last few years it’s been more a case of starting with a local north east Irish team and trying to make my way to the elite level.

In FM2022 i had a career path of Drogheda Utd (won the LOI) – Walsall (promoted to Championship) – Blackburn (Promoted to the Prem) – AZ Alkmaar (sacked after a short period for leaking a backroom meeting)- West Ham( Qualified for the Europa)- Juventus (won Serie A and runners up in UCL)- Spain (winning Euro Championship)- Finished up with Liverpool (won it all). The end goal of recent saves seems to be Liverpool. 

In terms of favourite versions, FM12, 21, and 22 are my favourite past versions. Although I am really enjoying 24 so far, I’ve over 100 hrs played so far and I work full time and coach my local sides youth teams so to have that amount so far must mean I’m liking it. The Match engine and some of the animations are fantastic this year!

Which bloggers do you always make sure that you read? 

The lads over in View From The Touchline always have top quality blog posts out and it’s not just all save updates. Some of the insights they give into the game are second to none!

Also, Paul’s (TheFMU) graphics are insane! 

MaddFM: I knew about Paul’s blogs before he replied to my tweet about starting my own from The 5 Star Pod. His posts are always top quality and always suck you in to getting invested in them. 

There are plenty of others too that I will save their posts to read later in the day, but Madd FM and all the lads from View From The Touchline are the ones that once I see a new post, no matter what I’m doing I’ll click in and read. 

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 that level? 

For the blogging community it has to be the lads mentioned above in the previous question, the quality of their content is incredible. There are so many others with top quality blog posts and save ideas, the Italian Stallion FM, FM RocknRolla,Jenna(The FFM), and FMTahiti are just a few names off the top of my head.  

For the youtube community, the likes of RDF, Clayts, Omega Luke, 2nd Yellow Card and Bust The Net are my go to creators, but there’s so many who produce top quality content.the ideas some of them have are brilliant and the execution of these videos is as good as you will see. 

Also have to give a shout-out to all the add-on developers in the scene too. The skins, facepacks, logos, views, schedules and databases make the game unique for each and every one of us, and it’s a credit to them the time and effort they put into their creations. I hope that even with the changeover to unity, which I cant lie is going to be very exciting, there will still be add-ons that will be compatible with the new game to allow these creators continue their fantastic work. 

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

Anything to do with Manchester United!

Ah no, i’m only messing, if the content is good and it reels me in, I’ll not close the blog, even if it is Man united related. 

Obviously, the likes of layout, grammar, and images are extremely important, but if you can’t get me hooked with a good story or save ideas I probably won’t read any more than the first one or two blog posts.

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…

As this is my first year of blogging on FM, it’s hard to solidify a reason for clicking on my post rather than someone else’s as I don’t have a portfolio of recent saves from previous renditions of the game to flaunt. 

What I will say about my saves is generally they have a reasoning behind them. “The Factory of Dreams”, my save this year, had its objectives decided based on an article published by The Athletic. I try to merge real world events/articles with the game content to give it a bit more of an authentic feel. 

Hopefully those who have read my first few posts can attest to the above and I’m not living purely in a fantasy world.

---

It’s always refreshing to see quality content coming from people new to the blogging world and @TheIrishFM certainly sticks out on that front so make sure to give him a follow on Twitter and subscribe to his blog to ensure you don’t miss any of his posts when they go live.

As always, I’d like to thank Steven for taking the time to complete, and wish him all the best on his blogging journey!

If you’d like to take part then feel free to message us either on Twitter, @TheFMLibrary our on our Discord Server. If you are not a blogger but there is somebody you’d like to see answer the 11 questions then please tag them on this tweet and we will make sure to try and get them onboard!