The FM Library

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Creator name & what made you choose it?

Fuller FM. My surname is Fuller, and I play FM. Simple.

Real name?

Christopher. Most people call me Chris for short.

Favourite football team?

I’ve supported Arsenal since I was 8 – partly because of their 1998 Double-winning team, but more because they’re my dad’s team. I’ve also followed Millwall as my second team since watching my first ever live match at The Den aged 12.

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

It started in 1999, aged 8 or 9. I found the Championship Manager 3 demo on a CD that came with PC Review magazine (which my dad used to subscribe to). I randomly started a save with Shrewsbury Town in Division 3, and I was hopeless – losing eight league games in a row. But my first session on CM3 got me hooked, and when my parents bought me Championship Manager 99/00 a year later, my addiction began in earnest.

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

I have been writing Championship Manager (and later Football Manager) stories since I was a teenager, and I started posting them on the official Sports Interactive forums in 2014. I’ve been part of the FM Stories community for almost a decade now, and though it isn’t as big as it once was, my stories still have a healthy following.

Once I discovered there was an FM blogging community, I tried my hand at that too. After a false start with my first blog in 2016, I decided to give it a proper go with Fuller FM in 2018.

One important lesson I’ve learnt while blogging is that “less is more”. The long-form stories and play-by-play match reports I used to write on the forums don’t work quite so well in blog form. When I was starting out, my posts could be as many as 4,000 words long. Now, I try to keep them below 2,500 words.

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’m fairly hands-on and like to take control of most things – yes, even press conferences. I’m quite a slow player too, so it generally takes me about 3 weeks to complete a season.

My blog saves tend to last between 3 and 6 seasons, either reaching a natural conclusion or ending with me hitting a wall (usually the latter). The longest save I did recently was a journeyman series on FM21, which ran for 11 seasons.

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

My favourite and by far my longest save was on FM13, which I played for 31 seasons in-game (and nearly 5 years in real-life).

I started out at my hometown club Romford FC in the Isthmian League, took them to the Conference South, and then had a very brief stint managing Elgoibar in the Spanish third tier. After that, I spent the next two decades leading Dagenham & Redbridge from the Conference Premier to world domination. I wrote about the entire journey in much greater detail on the SI forums.

My worst experiences were probably on FM19 – specifically when my Shrewsbury team lost in the League One play-offs for three straight seasons. The most painful season was the final one, where we were set to win automatic promotion on the final day… until Portsmouth scored an injury-time equaliser against Bradford (and then a winner for good measure) to take 2nd place instead. Not that I’m still bitter or anything.

Which bloggers do you always make sure that you read? 

MaddFM, FM Grasshopper, Rensie, FM Stag – they’re the big ones I look out for. I still enjoy the older Championship Manager games too, so Dave Black’s CM97/98 blog is another must-read.

I also want to mention Hypo FM (@RedOwl14 on Twitter). Every year, he runs a Draft World Cup, with players representing the countries they are based in (e.g. Harry Kane plays for Germany in the FM24 edition). He runs continental competitions as well before each Draft World Cup, and I love seeing how they all pan out.

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 am not great at tactical analysis (my areas of expertise are more squad-building and people management). As such, I really admire those bloggers and content creators who can discuss FM tactics in detail while still making it fairly easy to understand. I won’t single out anyone in particular, but they have my respect.

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

Spelling and grammar are big things for me. I can forgive a few mistakes here or there, but too many “could ofs” or apostrophes in the wrong places make me lose my interest.

I also can’t stand it when writers have big walls of text instead of cutting them down into smaller paragraphs.

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…

I’m not the world’s greatest Football Manager, nor its most eloquent storyteller, but I do try to inform and entertain. If you enjoy reading about a man losing his mind as he attempts (and often fails spectacularly) to turn 11 footballers into a coherent team, feel free to stop by at Fuller FM. And if you like Simpsons memes or alternative music, you might be in for a few treats too!

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That’s us for this edition, from this post onwards we will be moving to a fortnightly releases on a more consistent basis with the next two posts already lined up for you!

Make sure to give him a follow on Twitter @Fuller_FM and click that subscribe button over at fullerfm.com

If you would like to see any of your favourite bloggers or authors of your favourite forum career threads featured then please let us know who and we will try our utmost to make it happen.

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