FM2006

SI announce changes to FM2006, due out at the end of the year.
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LONDON, UK -- May 6th, 2005 - SEGA Europe Ltd is proud to announce the next step in Sports Interactive's genre-defining Football Manager™ series. Boasting a multitude of new and upgraded features, Football Manager™ 2006 is set to release on both PC and Mac in Winter 2005. The first set of new features being announced today are a small selection being implemented into the game. Football Manager™ 2006 is bursting with many more features that will be unveiled throughout the year.

"The new game is destined to build on the outstanding commercial and critical success of the last," Matt Woodley, Creative Director of SEGA. "Football Manager? is now the genre benchmark and once again our colleagues at Sports Interactive are creating a game which their fans will be delighted to play."

"Just like the real-life game, Football Manager™ continues to evolve as each new season comes and goes," says Miles Jacobson, Managing Director of Sports Interactive. "As has become traditional over the years, the changes that we've made this time around have been inspired not only by events and trends in the real world, but also by changes which have been suggested by our ever-keen fan base."

One of the many fan-inspired features to make it into FM 2006 will be that, for the first time, managers will be able to negotiate with their board of directors - not only for a better contract for themselves, but also for improved player wage budgets and increased transfer budgets or even stadium expansion. Be aware though, if you push too hard and don't reach the heights that the board specify, you'll soon be looking for a new job.

Half-time team talks add the ability to tell your players individually or collectively exactly what you thought of their first half performance, via the tactics screen. Will you be able to keep your players motivated, or will you cause a collapse in the second half?

Another welcome feature is the ability to manage players on a personal level. Unhappy players can cause huge morale problems for the whole squad and result in bad performances, so the new Player Interaction feature will help you to manage your team more closely.

A completely revamped training module simplifies training schedules and players' training progress, with your coaches becoming far more important members of backroom staff. New media items and expansion of the media module have been implemented, including but not limited to, cup draw news and man of the match news.

Want to know how many yellow cards the ref looking after your Saturday match has given in the last few matches? Now you can, with referee profiles and league tables, which add an extra element to tactics of the game. Maybe hard tackling is not a good idea for this Saturday's match!

Also adding an extra tactical element to FM 2006, the player positions feature has been taken one step further. A player position indicator will not only show you the best positions for your player and where to play on the pitch, it will also show player preferred moves for those players in your team. As well as this, the Player Positions display format has been upgraded, making it easier for the manger to pick the team.