Football is home to many fallen giants, big clubs who have lost their way. Who might be a good club to restore to glory in Football Manager 2023?
Football is home to many fallen giants, big clubs who have lost their way. Who might be a good club to restore to glory in Football Manager 2023?
If you are looking for a save that takes you to the home of a genuinely big club, it is always best to give yourself a proper challenge. Here are some of the biggest clubs in Europe who have, through their own fault or otherwise, fallen on hard times and made major mistakes – or require a complete root and branch squad rebuilding session.
1. Juventus
The Old Lady might have won nine titles on the spin, but at least the last three were won under a cloud of discontent. Now, they sit waiting for the good times to return. Juve are in a poor spot as a club at the moment, are in need of a complete rebuild. An aged squad paired up with a dreadful transfer record, and mounting losses, means you need to be smart.
While you have some young talent to build around, you mostly have an old squad on big, expensive contracts. Can you restore glory without skipping a beat?
2. Manchester United
This could have been written for just about any FM edition since 2015, but Manchester United are a mess. They have a decent group of players, but they also feel completely lacking in balance. United have a team that needs to be ripped up and started again, and while the funds are there to do so the patience is not.
You will be expected to win something as early as season one, whilst essentially building a plane whilst flying it. Good luck, because the Red Devils job is one of the most challenging in the English top flight!
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3. Bordeaux
One of the original big boys of French football, Bordeaux have been under challenging ownership for years and have since been relegated. They have a humdrum squad, and they have no money to spend. You need to win promotion in your first year, or you will almost certainly get sacked: the club can barely afford one season in Ligue 2, never mind two!
They are in a poor state, but they are a properly big club with a large support. If you can earn the trust of the board, which isn’t easy, this could be a truly gratifying long-term save.
4. FC Schalke 04
The original third power of the German game, Schalke, have been a joke on and off the pitch for about half a decade – if not longer. It has been years since they were a meaningful force and have accrued more heavy defeats than arguably any other big name in European football over the last five or six years.
They have a terrible squad, a 2. Bundesliga squad hiding in the top-flight, and lack any kind of funding. Your only saving grace is a solid academy that could bare fruit when it comes to getting a few gems coming through the door.
5. Hamburg SV
The ‘Dinosaur’ has been made extinct in recent years, having fallen from a period of major success to becoming a complete also-ran. They have been stuck in the second tier of German football for four seasons, and are showing no real signs of getting promoted again. HSV are an easy club to root for as they have such a massive support and history; they are former European Cup winners, after all.
The modern equivalent, though, is a joke. You need to win promotion with a mess of a squad, and expectations will balloon quickly – without any reason or financial backing – very quickly. If you want to build a big club in Germany, though, few are bigger than HSV.
Conclusion
The above clubs all make great starting places for you if you want to try and build something that could be sustainable as a big club. However, the pressure is on from day one and none of the above giants have any patience left for more failure. If you want to turn things around and build a genuine powerhouse, you will need to be smart about how you do it. Can you take on any of these challenges and succeed?
READ ALSO: 3 Long Forgotten Sleeping Giants to Manage on Football Manager 2023
