Football Manager 2014: The Top Five Teams to Be on the Game

Football Manager is a game of contradictions. Simple yet fiendishly hard. Impressively realistic but prone to the outrageously far-fetched. Easy to pick up and nigh-on impossible to put down.

With each consecutive release, the simulation becomes ever more entwined with reality. All across the world armchair fans turn the air blue with boasts of self-supremacy, safe in the knowledge that their claim to be "better than that joker in charge" will, realistically, never be tested.

Football Manager seeks to put money where mouths used to be.

The annual release is set for this Halloween, October 31. A coincidence that it falls on a day so tied up in nightmares? Or a prophecy from the good chaps at SI Games about your decision to spend £200 million on a 17-year-old Bulgarian?

The beauty of football manager is that you can write this chapter yourself: Nothing is set in stone.

Unlike many games, there is no distinct path. You are the trailblazer, the pathfinder, and you will live and die by the decisions you make.

So this Halloween, when you hear a ring on the doorbell, let’s hope it is an innocent trick-or-treater, as the alternative is far worse. 

Look closely. Behind the skeleton mask of that kid who seems just too tall, it just might be a smiling Russian oligarch, handing you your P45. Shudder.

1: England

With consistent aspirations of world supremacy, despite possessing what is largely a second-rate side, the English national team supporters are both deluded and admirably loyal. 

With no offence intended—and as an Englishman myself—Germany would not have to resort to Rickie Lambert...EVER!

England do have clutches of true world-class talent. Wayne Rooney is fantastic, Steven Gerrard comes alive in the shirt of the Three Lions and Jack Wilshere has boundless potential.

Yet this is mitigated by the mediocrity of players such as Tom Cleverley, Lambert and Ashley Young, to the extent that England cannot possibly be called a true force.

Easy is boring, however, and with sad reality comes realistic potential. Taking England to World Cup supremacy on Football Manager, while possible, will also be a challenge.

1966 was the last time this proud nation held aloft the Jules Rimet Trophy. This was a time before the internet, before mobile phones; hell, this was a time before Ryan Giggs!

Can you end the wait?

Difficulty 3/5

2: Belgium or Switzerland

Two sides with little national footballing pedigree, Belgium and Switzerland head into World Cup year as the fifth and seventh highest-ranked teams in the world.

With Belgium’s highlight being a runners-up spot in the 1980 European championships, and Switzerland never passing the quarter-finals in a World Cup, success with either would be their finest-ever moment.

To many, this is what Football Manager is all about, building success in a foundation failure.

Both have excellent squads that far supersede their nations' reputations.

Belgium have arguably the second strongest team in Europe after Germany, with the likes of Eden Hazard, Romelu Lukaku and Vincent Kompany on their roster.

Switzerland, meanwhile, can draw on a young, hungry squad with Xherdan Shaqiri one of the world’s most exciting young players.

With either side a World Cup victory in 2014 or 2018 would ensure a lasting legacy.

Difficulty (Switzerland) 3.5/5

               (Belgium) 3/5

3: Monaco

For Paris St. Germain in last year’s list, read Monaco this time around.

While PSG remain a banker's dream, their success has ensured their transition into a realistic world contender. Monaco, after a summer of eye-watering spending, are just starting upon their journey to financial autonomy.

With an incredible squad, even a novice player will gain success with relative ease. However, the omnipotent presence of PSG will prove an obstacle that will take some surmounting for the simple reason that they are Monaco, just a few years ahead.

Champions League, a luxury that will not be available in your inaugural campaign as Monaco (due to their recent promotion to Ligue 1), will provide an even sterner test.

Yet with huge sums to lavish on unnecessary acquisitions, success will not take too long.

For a relatively relaxed game, you can take a team with little history of success and turn them into champions and maybe even bankrupt an oligarch along the way.

Difficulty 2/5

4: Seattle Sounders

There are two distinct reasons why a career with the Seattle Sounders in the 2014 game would be an engaging experience. 

For one, the US League is not a particularly popular game choice and most players will have relative inexperience of managing in what is a very unique league.

The second is Clint Dempsey.

In a highly confusing transfer, Dempsey, who is arguably still in his prime, was sold to the Sounders in a £6 million deal funded partly by the MLS League.

A relatively new franchise, the Sounders were only formed in 2007 and the capture of Dempsey is undoubtedly the highlight of their short history.

It probably wouldn’t be a long career with Dempsey already the wrong side of 30, but as an introduction to MLS football, it is perfect.

Difficulty 2.5/5

5: Newport County

After a 25-year exile from the football league in which the team went under and were then reborn, Newport County finally returned to the football league for the 2013/14 season.

Only the third Welsh club—after Premier League sides Swansea and Cardiff—in the Football League, Newport are hardly a hotbed for world-class talent.

With former Tottenham player Justin Edinburgh as their manager, and owned by Les Scadding, a former petrol tank driver who won £45.5million on the Euromillions lottery draw, Newport are back.

In the sterile world of football finance, Newport are a breath of fresh air. A fans' club, owned by a fan and run with a deep-seated sense of community, it is a blueprint that warrants success.

Personally I can think of nothing better than letting a bloke who used to drive petrol tankers hold aloft the Premiership trophy.

Difficulty: 4/5