Football Manager 2020, developed by Sports Interactive and published by SEGA, is a football-management simulation about running a club, shaping tactics, developing players, managing expectations, and living with the consequences of your decisions.
This guide covers the historical desktop Football Manager 2020 release on PC and macOS. It is not a Football Manager 2020 Touch guide, not a Football Manager 2020 Mobile guide, not a demo guide, and not a later Football Manager guide.
FM20 is friendly enough to start, but its depth can still overwhelm new managers. Treat this as a beginner path through the busiest systems: board expectations, youth development, playing time, staff advice, scouting, tactics, and match-day review. Its database, licenses, transfers, storefront status, and online services belong to the 2020-era edition you are playing.
Essential Tips
1. Pick a Club That Teaches the Game
The best first save is readable, not glamorous.
FM20 can put you in charge of clubs across a huge football world, but beginners learn faster when the pressure makes sense. A familiar league, a stable club, and clear expectations help you understand why the board, fans, and players react the way they do.
2. Read Club Vision Before Transfers
Your board has a long-term idea of what the club should become.
Club Vision is one of FM20’s defining systems. It connects club culture, ongoing objectives, and multi-season expectations. Before you buy players or install a style, check whether the board expects youth development, certain transfer habits, a particular playing identity, financial discipline, or specific competition progress.
3. Keep the First Window Boring
A calm first transfer window gives you time to learn the squad.
It is tempting to rebuild immediately, but FM20 rewards planning. Spend the opening weeks reading reports, comparing roles, checking contracts, and identifying obvious depth problems before making major moves.
4. Use the Development Centre Early
Youth development is easier when you check it before a prospect is stuck.
The Development Centre gives you a central place to monitor young players, loans, youth candidates, and reserve or youth squad direction. Even if you do not micromanage every youth session, visit it regularly. Look for players near first-team readiness, loans that are not producing minutes, and prospects who need a clearer next step.
5. Treat Playing Time as a Promise
Contract language can become a squad-management problem later.
FM20’s Playing Time Pathway gives players a clearer standing in the squad. That helps long-term planning, but it also means careless promises can become morale issues. Do not offer starter-level expectations to a rotation player just to win a negotiation. Match the promise to your real plan.
6. Delegate Tasks, Not Responsibility
Staff advice reduces overload, but you still own the direction.
Backroom staff can help with team selection, tactics feedback, responsibilities, player development, and loan recommendations. Use them. A beginner does not need to control every screen manually. Still, keep the big calls for yourself: tactical identity, transfer priorities, playing-time promises, and which young players matter most.
7. Scout for Roles, Not Names
A famous player is not automatically useful in your save.
Set scouting assignments around positions, roles, budget, age, and squad need. Then compare recommendations against your tactic and finances. FM20 is built around planning and knowledge, so rushing from a headline name to a transfer bid can leave you with a costly player who does not fit the job.
8. Make Tactical Changes Small
One clear adjustment is easier to learn from than a full rebuild.
When results go bad, resist the urge to change formation, roles, mentality, team instructions, and training all at once. Use staff feedback and match analysis to find the main problem first. If the issue is chance creation, width, defensive spacing, or a role mismatch, adjust that area and watch what changes.
Start With a Save You Can Understand
Your first serious FM20 save should be small enough to process mentally. Pick a league you can follow and a club whose board goals are understandable.
Before the first match, review three things: squad depth, contract pressure, and tactical fit. Squad depth tells you where injuries or suspensions will hurt. Contract pressure shows who may need renewal, sale, or careful handling. Tactical fit tells you whether your preferred formation actually suits the players already in the building.
Do not judge a player only by one attribute screen. Compare role suitability, age, wages, promises, personality clues, and squad status. A veteran may be valuable because he stabilizes the team now. A prospect may be worth minutes because the Development Centre shows a realistic path. A high-ability signing may still be a bad move if he breaks the wage structure or blocks a role you already cover.
Use Club Vision Without Fighting the Board
Club Vision is not just flavor text. It is the board telling you what kind of club you are expected to manage. Read the culture goals, ongoing objectives, and longer plan as constraints, then decide where you can negotiate through performance.
If the board values youth development, do not fill every path with older short-term signings. If the club expects financial discipline, avoid loading the wage bill with fringe players. If a playing style matters, build toward it gradually instead of promising one identity and coaching another.
That does not mean obeying blindly. Sometimes survival, promotion, or fixture congestion forces compromise. A short-term loan, a veteran stopgap, or a cautious tactic can make sense when you understand which expectation you are bending and why.
Build a Youth and Playing-Time Plan
The Development Centre is most useful when you treat it as a planning screen instead of a trophy case for future stars. Check which young players are close to first-team minutes, which need loans, which loans are not helping, and where youth candidates might fill future squad gaps.
Loans need attention. A youngster away from the club is not automatically developing well. Look at minutes, role, level, and happiness. If a loan is not giving the player meaningful football, consider recalling him when the game allows it or setting different expectations next time.
Playing time connects directly to this. A squad needs stars, starters, rotation players, fringe options, and prospects who know their path. When you negotiate, be honest about where the player fits. Overpromising game time creates future pressure; underpromising can lose a target or upset a developing player. Think in seasons, not only the next match.
Make Staff, Scouting, and Tactics Work Together
FM20 gives you more backroom help than a beginner can absorb at once. Start by using staff advice as a filter. Let coaches flag selection issues, tactical concerns, development needs, and loan options. Then make your own decision after checking whether the advice matches your plan.
Scouting should feed the same plan. If your tactic needs a pressing forward, assign scouts to find that kind of player within your budget. If your Club Vision pushes youth recruitment, search for younger players who fit your roles instead of buying only finished products. If your squad lacks depth, prioritize practical cover over luxury signings.
On match day, keep the loop simple. Set a plan your squad can perform, watch how the match develops, make one or two targeted changes, then review afterward. A bad result is not always a bad tactic; it might be poor finishing, tired legs, a role conflict, or one opponent exploiting one side. The more controlled your changes are, the faster you learn what FM20 is showing you.
Common Mistakes to Avoid
-
Do not ignore Club Vision before signing players - Board expectations can make a good transfer feel like the wrong direction.
-
Do not promise more playing time than you can give - Squad happiness depends on realistic roles.
-
Do not loan out prospects and forget them - Young players need useful minutes, not just a temporary destination.
-
Do not rebuild the squad before learning it - Early patience reveals who already fits your plan.
-
Do not scout without a role or budget - Clear assignments produce more useful recommendations.
-
Do not accept every staff suggestion automatically - Advice helps most when checked against your own plan.
-
Do not change the entire tactic after one loss - Small adjustments teach you what worked.
-
Do not treat youth intake as instant first-team depth - Prospects still need a pathway and development time.
-
Do not let wages creep upward for fringe players - Long saves punish careless contracts.
-
Do not use FM20 as a modern football database - The edition reflects its own release-era squads and systems.
Summary
| Category | Top Tip |
|---|---|
| Save Setup | Pick a club and league you can read clearly |
| Club Vision | Check board culture and long-term expectations before transfers |
| Transfers | Make focused moves after learning the squad |
| Development Centre | Review youth, loans, and candidates before problems drift |
| Playing Time | Treat every squad-status promise as a future obligation |
| Staff | Delegate screens, but keep strategic control |
| Scouting | Search for roles, budgets, and squad needs |
| Tactics | Build around players you actually have |
| Match Day | Change one clear problem at a time |
| Edition Scope | Keep FM20 separate from modern databases and later games |
Did this answer your question?
Your feedback helps keep the useful answers visible.Sources
8 checked for this guideEvery factual claim in this guide was checked against at least two independent sources before publication. These are the references used for Football Manager 2020.
Next answers
Community notes0
No community notes yet.
Sign in to contribute