Explore 5 football films that fuel your FM save ideas, from Green Street to Fever Pitch. Perfect for football fans and Football Manager players!
Discover football movies that ignite your love for the game and inspire
epic Football Manager adventures.
Sports are inherently a great setting for great films. Whether following a fairytale cup run, a star player with a crisis of confidence, or a kid with magic trainers that give him superhuman abilities, football films can be incredibly entertaining and exciting. For those of us who love FM, the best football films inspire a need to start a brand new save with our new favourite clubs. So if you’re stuck for a save, here’s a list of my favourite football films for inspiration.
1. Green Street
Arguably the most famous film on this list, Green Street follows Elijah Wood as he delves into the world of football casuals of early 2000s England, particularly the GSE of West Ham. While the film starts as a slightly cheesy and glamourised take on the violence that plagued terraces at the time, it turns into an emotional and hard-hitting example of the darker side of football fandom.
Some will watch this film and be inspired to take West Ham to the very top, giving their fans the football they deserve. Others will take Milwall, and show Matt, Pete and the Major who the biggest club in London really is. Either way, this film brings out the tribalism of any football fan.
2. The Damned United
Forty-four days isn’t enough time for anyone to successfully manage a football club. Yet that’s all Brian Clough got at Leeds United in 1974. After taking the reins at Derby County in the 60s, the Rams are drawn against Leeds United in their heyday in the FA Cup. Leeds are the biggest club in the country at the time, and stroll the cup tie 2-0. What comes next is a fictionalised version of Derby County’s rise through the divisions of English football, culminating in a run to the semi final of the European Cup. Clough is sacked after one too many disagreements with the Derby board, and is offered the job at Leeds United to succeed his arch-rival: Don Revie.
The Damned United is a fun look at football from a different time, when a club like Derby could go from battling in the basement of the second division to European upstarts in less than 6 years. Now that Derby County are in tough times again, this film is the perfect prelude to your FM save where you launch Derby back into the conversation at the top of the pyramid.
3. The Bromley Boys
Do you support the worst team in Britain? It might feel like it sometimes, but true pain belongs to the supporters of Bromley FC. Set in the late 1960s, a young boy is forbidden by his father from supporting any of London’s bigger clubs due to his hatred of football. Instead of staying away from football, Dave Roberts becomes a devoted fan of Bromley FC, obsessing over every detail of every game. What follows is a comedy of errors as misunderstanding leads to a funny and satisfactory ending.
This film will remind any football fan of the simple joys of their younger days, when obsessing over their club was all that mattered, and anything seemed possible. It’ll also inspire a great need to take over at the lowest levels, and drag the Bromleys of this world into footballing relevance.
4. Fever Pitch
We’ve all heard the most frustrating sentence in the world at some point. “It’s only a game” is fired at any football fan when our club lets us down or our emotions get the better of us over this game. For everyone who’s ever wanted to know the response to that, this film is based on Nick Hornby’s semi-autobiographical account of following Arsenal to the title in 1989, and features a fantastic rant from Colin Firth as he answers that statement perfectly.
Watching this film reminds us all why we love this game and what football means to the fans. If it doesn’t inspire you to grab your favourite club by the scruff of the virtual neck and lead them to glory, nothing will.
5. There’s Only One Jimmy Grimble
A cult classic for British football fans of the early 2000s, Jimmy Grimble tells the classic tale of a hopeless youngster who stumbles across a pair of magic football boots that make him play like his heroes. Set in Manchester, Jimmy is a Man City fan in a time when Man United ruled the world, and City were very much the poor neighbours. As well as navigating the dangers of a school full of Man U fans, Jimmy finds the school’s hopes of winning the Manchester Schools’ Cup rest on his shoulders - or more accurately, his magic boots.
This film won’t win any awards, but is fondly remembered by a certain generation of football fans, and is surprisingly star-studded for a relatively minor film. While City are no longer the scrappy underdogs they’re portrayed as at the time of this film, Jimmy Grimble is the perfect inspiration for an Espanyol Challenge to take over a small club and conquer their far bigger city rivals.
Conclusion
Fictionalised football tales are fantastic fun for fans of all ages. But for FM players, they’re the source of inspiration for some of our greatest saves. I hope the list above gives you inspiration and you enjoy watching some of my favourite football films.
