The FM Library

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Creator name & what made you choose it?

Simply put, it’s my name and year of birth.

Real name?

Dan Gear

Favourite football team?

Manchester United

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

CM 97/98 was my first, Obviously with Man United. I can remember playing it in our family dining room and the PC tower was hidden in a wooden sideboard with the monitor on top. 

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

I don’t see myself as a creator, personally I view myself as a FM content sharer. Whether it’s a sharer of my save updates or my knowledge of the game that I’ve built up over the years. Some of the best discussions around FM come from sharing opinions and knowledge of the game. 

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.

Slow lol! I tend to micromanage everything I can in terms of realism. I play the game to be the manager, changing my outlook on the game over the last few years with more delegation and utilising staff like Director of football has actually improved my experience 

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

I tend to play only 1 save an edition so they’re all memorable but the one that stands out is the Bolivia club and country save where it took me 7 years to win a competitive game with the international side.

Which bloggers do you always make sure that you read? 

Obviously all the  ViewFromTheTouchline ones and FM_Grasshopper. But anything that is the writer explaining how they play the game interests me. 

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? 

I don’t think there’s a single person but there are some blog posts one offs where I just think wow that was a great read. 

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

Generic save updates, 

“September we played 4 and won 3 drew 1.” 

FM written content has really evolved the past few years and the generic stuff feels outdated. I feel the reader (i certainly do) wants to be told a story or taught something. 

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…

You’ll learn something you didn’t know before about the game, or at least be inspired to try something different to the current way you play. 

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It’s nice to have another one of the guys from the most popular blogging sites about in ViewFromTheTouchline share their insights into the how, what and why the they play the game and their memories of it. I’d like to thank Dan for taking the time out of writing about his Sporting save to do this for us.

As always, if you are a FM Blogger and would like to share your experiences of playing the game we all love with us then feel free to either send us a message on Twitter @TheFMLibrary or hit us up in Discord.