During the FM22 cycle, saves took my managerial career as far and wide as Indonesia, Peru, Croatia and Andorra. Yet, despite logging over 3000 in-game hours, it doesn’t stop the creative juices flowing and thinking about the best clubs to manage in FM23.
Among out FM23 saves ideas, are clubs who have never been in the game, newly promoted side, historic clubs needing. rebuild and some Fallen Giants.
Who are you going to pick for FM23?
Oldham Athletic
They haven’t quite fallen to the lower league available in Football Manager 2023, but Oldham still need your help.
After 116 years in the Football League, the unthinkable happened and after horrible mis-management, protests and crazy scenes at the end of the season, the former Premier League side dropped down to the Vanarama National League.
The Latics become the first-ever former Premier League team to drop down to Non-League and it is set to become a very popular save in FM23 and one of the best clubs to manage in FM23.
Abdallah Lemsagam has gone, with new owner Frank Rothwell is in. There is a sense of optimism around the club now. Fans have returned — the recent fixture against Wrexham saw the biggest attendance at Boundary Park since they faced Liverpool in 2012.
After becoming the new manager at Oldham, can you guide them up the table and back to Premier League glory?
FC Versailles
It was one of the most bizarre stories from last season. FC Versailles surprised everyone to reach the latter stages of the Couple de France, but couldn’t play their big game against Rennes at home.
This was not due to infrastructure or demand, it was down to the location of their Stade de Montbauron ground and it’s proximity to the famous Palace of Versailles.
Although France has no royalty and no one lives there, an ancient rules decrees that no light must be visible from the bedrooms at the Palace. Therefore their evening kick off with beaming floodlights had to be moved.
Cup heroics didn’t stop them winning promotion from the National 2 to France’s third tier, but the prospect of evening kick offs being a normal feature this season has meant they will have to play home games at the Stade Jean-Bouin in Paris for the 2022/23 campaign.
Take over the French minnows and continue their upward trajectory. Where will the board build a new stadium — which seems inevitable — and then can you challenge Paris Saint-Germain and do what Red Star and Paris FC have failed to do, and become the best team in the French capital.
Taunton Town: Best clubs to manage in FM23.
This is a season of firsts for newly promoted Tauton Town. Promotion from the Southern League Premier Division South as Champions will see them play in the Vanarama South for the first time, and then included in the Football Manager database for the first time in their history.
Where’s Taunton? I hear you ask. Well, it’s down in the South West of England. Bristol is to the North. Exeter, Bournemouth and Plymouth to the South. There is a hot bed of football around and rivalries to be made.
First job is to keep them in the sixth tier. Build, grow and begin to push up the table and the divisions.
Eventually, you will want to become the biggest team in the region, and take The Peacocks into Europe.
Get ahead of the game by reading our best FM22 wonderkids to watch.
AS Saint-Etienne
Les Verts remain one of the biggest and most successful clubs in France.
Ten titles remains the joint most of any teams in the country. Add in six Coupe de France victories and a finals defeat in the 1976 European Cup final and the pedigree is there.
In the last five seasons they finished seventh, fourth, 17th, 11th and finally, last season, 18th — which meant relegation down to Ligue 2 for the first time in 20 years.
In modern day football, it’s unthinkable that Michel Platini’s former club would be playing in the second tier.
To make things worse, at time of writing, the former French football giants, sit 18th in Ligue 2. They need help.
You almost can’t go wrong, any success at the start will see you climb back up and put this club back on it’s feet, making them one of the best clubs to manage in FM23.
Holding just under 42,000, the Stade Geoffroy-Guichard is one of the loudest and most atmospheric grounds in Europe. It needs to be hosting top level football.
The stands will remind you of a proper British ground, so you can imagine what passionate nights in Europe are like. That’s where they need to be and you need to stop PSG from pushing away with over 10 league titles.
Schalke 04
Just like Saint-Etienne, Schalke were once a giant of German football and as Bayern Munich and their bitter rivals, Borussia Dortmund pull away S04 have floundered.
It was only one season in 2. Bundesliga, but it still shows the gap between them and the elite German clubs. They went up as Champions and now they will want to see progress.
Since Roberto Di Matteo was sacked in May 2015, Schalke have seen seven managers come and go. The club needs stability and a plan for the future.
Perhaps this is where you grow for the future with youth and a homegrown core. Could you do that AND take them back to the Champions League?
Gelsenkirchen has hosted a European Cup final, can you bring the trophy back there for good?
Which club will you manage in Football Manager 2023? Lets us know in the comments.
