We need a challenge that’s just casual, a real manager career mode. No objectives, just pure FM managing through the managerial career of Tom Kelsey to try and become the best manager in the world, better than pep or ancelloti. A dedicated series would be so fun to watch and you can ask for opinions from the comments as board members.
I’m was trying the same thing with my current save. But the journeyman turned into a one club save after I got Dartford from NLS to L2 in just 3 seasons. I’ve just begun Season seven. This year we’re really pushing for promotion to the prem after losing the playoff final last year. Wish me luck guys!
It would be fun to watch a series where you start from scraps and cant apply for better jobs. Only move teams when headhunted. How far can you get in 10-15 seasons :)
its always comfortable to know that this game is challenging for everyone. No matter how many hours and how well you move yourself tactically, there will always be stuff that we might not achieve and that is valid for a beginner or an experienced player. I think we need to see this and not only the big wins, because everyone can lose in FM, even the world champion. for something like this,my route probably wouldn't be england, perhaps a country with just two divisions like switzerland or czechia.
15:30 i love how luiz henrique i signed from brazil and was a saint for me at crystal palace finishing 2nd in 2025 and he’s casually just here playing your strasbourg… i love fm also additional note, i originally signed him to play on the right whilst we sold olise but i scrapped my tactic and made a beautiful front 3 and tweaking it and he was put on the bench due to him being somewhat capable of those roles, with us finishing high i brought in cunha who was much better at that role so henrique was sold and flipped for 60m+, what a hero
If you want to metagame it, I believe the best road to take is to take one Vanarama north/south team into the championship. That could be done in 6 seasons and you'll get attention from some great teams
100% the way its done, I've completed this challenge many times including on fm 24, the other best strategy is to manage in smaller European leagues. i.e Russia/Ukraine/Belgium/Switzerland/Austria. They have two to three leagues, the lower ones with poor reputation but the top leagues with decent reputation. You can build up your reputation by seasons 3-5 and look to move to a top European club with plenty of seasons left. Tom actually messed up by moving clubs so often imo.
This is my save basically every year on FM, I usually win the Champions League after about 7-8 seasons. I find it incredibly easy to end up at a top team in Europe after about 5 or 6 years because of the way progression with the coaching licenses works. The only thing that can delay you is a team that won't pay for you to get the next level of license, which only really happens with very small clubs early on. Usually once you are at a top team the Champions League is winnable within two or three years, although you can always get unlucky. I tried a single club save this year and found it way more challenging than the journeyman save. Even starting from a professional club in the third Bundesliga it took me 15 years, so around twice as long, to win the Champions League. I think the progression/coaching license system in FM could use an overhaul, because right now it's too easy to go from the worst clubs in the game to the top of Europe.
0:42 Not necessarily the same challenge, but I am being "ruthless" in my career too. Started with no coaching badges, and the longest I've stayed at a club so far is just 2 years. I want to keep moving and advancing upwards.
when you posed the question at the end of the video i had to check whether i'd actually done this in my journeyman save. my real sociedad beat PSG 4-2 in the 33/34 final - so the last possible opportunity, too!
I love your content coz of the transparency if it were a different content creator he wouldve won the UCL at the end. But the fact that u could show u came close. I love it bro keep on doing such content giving us the reality of FM especially for newcomers🎉
I have an idea for a challenge. Start with a club, go all the way to the end of the contract. Leave, continue your career, however, from the moment you have a new club (2nd club in your career), every time your first team has the manager position open, it is mandatory you try to get the job back and take them to glory. And start the cycle again. Leave, new club, come back. You can call it the "Black sheep comeback".
I did a Preston North End any% run to the CL. It took so long, but my boy hood team after 14 seasons was able to finally bring football back home. I'd love to see just how quick you could make it happen. Getting any money was impossible in the championship, and I bounced between the prem and Championship for about 5 seasons before finally finding footing mid-table.
I still feel a good challenge would be Pentagon, but you are locked out of managing at any nation in the top half (round down for difficulty) of the regional coefficients. Win something like the UEFA Champions League with Slovenia, AFC with Malaysia, CONEMBOL with Uruguay, CONCACAF with Canada and CAF South Africa due to playable reasons.
Nice vid. My best was 9 seasons and I got lucky. I got the Liverpool job in the 9th season and the squad was stacked. I just signed Alfonso Davies and won everything without doing anything special.
Could be fun to visit a longer save, where you have made lots of money, and then use that money to help smaller clubs get bigger. For example, if your career earnings are 70M, you are allowed to spend 1% of that to help improve a smaller club you are coaching, so 700k. And use your reputation, and your money, to push the club up the ladder.
I don't watch football at all, never cared for it. I've never played Football Manager either. But you are a great story teller and I've enjoyed this video quite a lot!
I'm sure I've done this on an old save, maybe FM 17... Started at Derry city, then won the Scottish cup with falkirk, replaced harry redknapp at Burnley before moving to Cagliari who were absolutely bankrolled and dominated Italian and European football for a couple of decades. I'm sure I left to take the Italy job before a few seasons at Real Madrid, short spells at Marseille and Everton, then a world cup cycle with Holland then Newcastle before a return to Cagliari to rebuild a fading squad.
Tom - you were speaking some truths that I have shouted at my FM saves with that statement about not having experience of fighting relegation because you are a winner 😂 Imagine a board member saying that to the likes of Guardiola, Klopp or Conte.
Hey, just curious why you don't like having the polygon display on the player overview? For me it is a much quicker way to see the overall level of a player. Specifically in a video where things are moving quickly. Love your vids Tom.
Nicely done! I'm doing this challenge (no badges but semi-pro experience), the career progression decisions and planning are interesting. I'm about to qualify for the Champions League with West Ham, with a fairly young squad, do I bolster that with better, older players or do I move to a bigger club when the opportunity comes up? I love it.
Honestly I respect you so much for making this video despite failing at the end. It shows that not all the time things go your way and you still battled to the very end! 💪
Spurs beating Barca over two legs and then losing to RB Leipzig is the most Spursy thing ever.
Most believable
As a wise man once said: “it is the history of the Tottenham”
Steal from the rich give to the poor the spursy way
@@elianwilliamsChellini 😂
I liked the Le Garrec Storyline. Would have been cool, if he scored you to the CL title.
The real question is can you take Woking from the Conference League to the Champions League in 6 seasons?
Can you lol
In this case the question should be how do Woking qualify for the Conference League from the Vanarama?
@@ChappersDavegood question thanks for taking my comment lightly hearted
Completed it mate
Stuff like that doesn’t go unnoticed
13:33 Of course Chelsea have a guy called Brighton. Taking buying Brighton players to a whole new level
It did make me chuckle!
@ Loving the constant uploads. Keep up the great work 💪
Imagine Brighton have a player called Chelsea
We need a challenge that’s just casual, a real manager career mode. No objectives, just pure FM managing through the managerial career of Tom Kelsey to try and become the best manager in the world, better than pep or ancelloti. A dedicated series would be so fun to watch and you can ask for opinions from the comments as board members.
Agreed
thats on his 2nd channel
This is how I've always played FM 😅
I think he did that but it either didn’t do well or he got bored or sth. I didn’t watch. It’s on the second channel
im guessing yes.
Having to single handedly defeat the entire EPL in the CL for your last season is absolutely perfect.
It's refreshing to see someone "fail" a challenge, although you did pretty well. Quality video Tom!
Spoiler alert!
@@EllenLambrix Oops, sorry..
Sebastian Nanasi, one of the best talents to come through the Malmö FF academy in the recent years 💙 hes tearing up the Ligue 1 irl atm
I didn't realise he was actually at Strasbourg! A legend in the making!
I’m was trying the same thing with my current save. But the journeyman turned into a one club save after I got Dartford from NLS to L2 in just 3 seasons. I’ve just begun Season seven. This year we’re really pushing for promotion to the prem after losing the playoff final last year. Wish me luck guys!
Good luck, sounds like you're done a great job!
It would be fun to watch a series where you start from scraps and cant apply for better jobs. Only move teams when headhunted. How far can you get in 10-15 seasons :)
Added challenge would be you have to move teams when headhunted no matter what
@@sean7412 both would be a fun watch
Been there done that and won the Champions league that way.
Looking like Neil from the Inbetweeners with that outfit 😂
I was thinking that 😂
Slanderous and libleous
yet not untrue@@TomFM
More like Neil's dad
its always comfortable to know that this game is challenging for everyone. No matter how many hours and how well you move yourself tactically, there will always be stuff that we might not achieve and that is valid for a beginner or an experienced player. I think we need to see this and not only the big wins, because everyone can lose in FM, even the world champion. for something like this,my route probably wouldn't be england, perhaps a country with just two divisions like switzerland or czechia.
Time limit challenges adds real stress for viewing.... love it
This video actually made me play FM for the first time in 20 years, I've started a Journeyman career at South Shields, and we will see!
how's it going?
I’m still waiting for you getting Lech Poznań job and get them the champions league. I’m counting on you Tom!
15:30 i love how luiz henrique i signed from brazil and was a saint for me at crystal palace finishing 2nd in 2025 and he’s casually just here playing your strasbourg… i love fm
also additional note, i originally signed him to play on the right whilst we sold olise but i scrapped my tactic and made a beautiful front 3 and tweaking it and he was put on the bench due to him being somewhat capable of those roles, with us finishing high i brought in cunha who was much better at that role so henrique was sold and flipped for 60m+, what a hero
If you want to metagame it, I believe the best road to take is to take one Vanarama north/south team into the championship. That could be done in 6 seasons and you'll get attention from some great teams
100% the way its done, I've completed this challenge many times including on fm 24, the other best strategy is to manage in smaller European leagues. i.e Russia/Ukraine/Belgium/Switzerland/Austria. They have two to three leagues, the lower ones with poor reputation but the top leagues with decent reputation. You can build up your reputation by seasons 3-5 and look to move to a top European club with plenty of seasons left. Tom actually messed up by moving clubs so often imo.
I think this is the first time I've ever seen you fail a challenge. You did well though, I could never! Great vid Tom, keep it up.
This is my save basically every year on FM, I usually win the Champions League after about 7-8 seasons. I find it incredibly easy to end up at a top team in Europe after about 5 or 6 years because of the way progression with the coaching licenses works. The only thing that can delay you is a team that won't pay for you to get the next level of license, which only really happens with very small clubs early on. Usually once you are at a top team the Champions League is winnable within two or three years, although you can always get unlucky.
I tried a single club save this year and found it way more challenging than the journeyman save. Even starting from a professional club in the third Bundesliga it took me 15 years, so around twice as long, to win the Champions League. I think the progression/coaching license system in FM could use an overhaul, because right now it's too easy to go from the worst clubs in the game to the top of Europe.
Very Interesting ad, Tom. I actually laughed and watched the whole thing.
Don't be like me, protect your Football Manager saves!
i wish you continued just to see how long youll actually take! felt so close to the end goal in this vid
Love the new graphics for your team sheet
24:47 is basically the World Champion tactic. It's sooo good
This FM story was amazing thanks.
This Le Garrec / coach experience looks like Thierry Henry / Wenger story
This is one of the best series ever!! I wanna do this kind of content in m home country as well :)
0:42 Not necessarily the same challenge, but I am being "ruthless" in my career too. Started with no coaching badges, and the longest I've stayed at a club so far is just 2 years. I want to keep moving and advancing upwards.
WTf bro, im french from Quevilly, i was watching your video with no idea you will play with QRM 😂😂 you make them so good im so proud of you
You game look so clean, how is that possible? The replays seem so satisfying.
when you posed the question at the end of the video i had to check whether i'd actually done this in my journeyman save. my real sociedad beat PSG 4-2 in the 33/34 final - so the last possible opportunity, too!
Would that not be season 11? Unless you started in 24/25
I love your content coz of the transparency if it were a different content creator he wouldve won the UCL at the end. But the fact that u could show u came close. I love it bro keep on doing such content giving us the reality of FM especially for newcomers🎉
We need a challenge where you win the UCL while only buying players 30+ years old
I have an idea for a challenge. Start with a club, go all the way to the end of the contract. Leave, continue your career, however, from the moment you have a new club (2nd club in your career), every time your first team has the manager position open, it is mandatory you try to get the job back and take them to glory. And start the cycle again. Leave, new club, come back. You can call it the "Black sheep comeback".
Tom you should take a team from either New Caledonia or Tahiti, and win the French cup with them
Tom dressed as Neil from the inbetweeners wasn’t on the bingo card this year
that was bittersweet... we want you to conquer this challenge Tom!
Just started, currently in season #1 with the mighty St Albans
when u do the graphic for wht formation and roles which is sick u should add ur most usd players for that club
As a Strasbourg fan, great to see you manage the team for a bit, and join the ranks of all those frustrated by the current board 🙃
I did a Preston North End any% run to the CL. It took so long, but my boy hood team after 14 seasons was able to finally bring football back home. I'd love to see just how quick you could make it happen. Getting any money was impossible in the championship, and I bounced between the prem and Championship for about 5 seasons before finally finding footing mid-table.
I still feel a good challenge would be Pentagon, but you are locked out of managing at any nation in the top half (round down for difficulty) of the regional coefficients. Win something like the UEFA Champions League with Slovenia, AFC with Malaysia, CONEMBOL with Uruguay, CONCACAF with Canada and CAF South Africa due to playable reasons.
Great vid mate. We need another go at this !
As a Köln fan I was so excited when you took the job at my club in this video haha
Nice vid. My best was 9 seasons and I got lucky. I got the Liverpool job in the 9th season and the squad was stacked. I just signed Alfonso Davies and won everything without doing anything special.
Could be fun to visit a longer save, where you have made lots of money, and then use that money to help smaller clubs get bigger. For example, if your career earnings are 70M, you are allowed to spend 1% of that to help improve a smaller club you are coaching, so 700k. And use your reputation, and your money, to push the club up the ladder.
Love seeing Welling United in a YT video
That's me with Wealdstone, until they inevitably go down to NLS (or are projected to/look like they will)
I don't watch football at all, never cared for it. I've never played Football Manager either. But you are a great story teller and I've enjoyed this video quite a lot!
I like that you didn’t cheat and reset lol like many other channels do (they think we don’t know lol)
I love the loyalty between you and Sami Le Garrec
My local club Welling, honestly think your interview is how they employed managers in the past.
26:52 Liverpool 🤝 Champions League comebacks
Welling United were the nearest club to where I grew up, though Dartford weren't far away either.
i can already tell this is gonna be a great video
I love the fact he went to Köln but sad he didnt take em all the way. Well.... it is what it is.
Me hoping Tom takes over Auxerre, my fave French sid- oh god damn it lmao.
Sorry!
Thoroughly entertaining! Might send me back into FM soon
I'm sure I've done this on an old save, maybe FM 17... Started at Derry city, then won the Scottish cup with falkirk, replaced harry redknapp at Burnley before moving to Cagliari who were absolutely bankrolled and dominated Italian and European football for a couple of decades. I'm sure I left to take the Italy job before a few seasons at Real Madrid, short spells at Marseille and Everton, then a world cup cycle with Holland then Newcastle before a return to Cagliari to rebuild a fading squad.
15:46 i think that ref is Davide Cotê
Dunkirk (a) has always been a tricky fixture
That transition into the Nord ad was class 😂😂
One of my favorites saves to do.
Just so much to do in fm it's taken the fun out of it imo. The last one I actually bought was 06/07 lol.
who needs therapy when you can just get stoned and watch tomfm
Coming so close is amazing!
You should do another season
Got to the Championship playoff final wih Ebbsfleet in 10 seasons Tom, fair to say I was just a little bit off!
sponsor transition was fantastic 😆
Incredible how a game from 2024 has physics same like 2004 games
I love these kind of challenge videos!
Fun video. Great commentary
Tom - you were speaking some truths that I have shouted at my FM saves with that statement about not having experience of fighting relegation because you are a winner 😂 Imagine a board member saying that to the likes of Guardiola, Klopp or Conte.
I love the idea of the Southampton board sitting down with Carlo Ancelotti and telling him he's not up to the task
@@TomFM that is probably the exact conversation the Leicester board will be having with Ruud van Nistelrooy
Your jumper suits you, it looks nice.
Tom fm huge fan of your videos bro
Hey, just curious why you don't like having the polygon display on the player overview? For me it is a much quicker way to see the overall level of a player. Specifically in a video where things are moving quickly. Love your vids Tom.
26:30 you got the anfield special 😭
Took me 4 with Oxford and then Fulham. Had my badges tho, I might try this challenge, I doubt I'll do it in 10 seasons
Marvin Wattiau, the legend in everyones fm saves
Hilarious segue into the ad, NordVPN got good value here
25:29 Prime Mudryk 2012 is becoming a reality😭🙏
I signed tristan abraham om a dag and red save and he was phenomenal for me. He became the top goalscorer for two seasons
Non-league legend, will look to sign him again in the future!
That is epic, how do you play 10 years so quickly!? Ten years of my save has taken me 5 months!
Plot twist: in your 11th season, your RB Leipzig actually go and win the Champions League to make u regret ending your video at 10 seasons
35:40 Just Tchouamenie being Tchouamenie
This seams like an awesome challenge. What leagues did you load?
Collins at Barca was funny, wish we’d still got him.
what on earth was the gk doing for liverpool at 26:27. Great vid. 👍🏼👍🏼
Just for your knowledge, don't call Quevilly-Rouen just Rouen as thats a different club and they are rivals 😅
Any longer series coming soon? Also, an experiment idea of a team full of siblings/relatives, can they get from league 2 to the prem?
writz and gyokeres at liverpool is insane
What a fantastic video!
26:52 made the 2019 comeback
Am shocked, 1st time have seen you not complete a challenge, was unlucky had to face city though on final match of the 10 years
City with a team of wonderkids!
@ must have missed that 1, which surprising, had thought had watched all your videos now, but must have somehow missed that
lol 30:38 Sesko and Kroupi??? What is this my Benfica save?!?
Nicely done! I'm doing this challenge (no badges but semi-pro experience), the career progression decisions and planning are interesting. I'm about to qualify for the Champions League with West Ham, with a fairly young squad, do I bolster that with better, older players or do I move to a bigger club when the opportunity comes up? I love it.
I can't stop thinking that you look like Neil from the Inbetweeners 🤣
NO WAY, you are managing my club STRASBOURG !
That transfer budget in Ligue 2 was wild.
Do a Sparta Praha rebulid, Please🙏🙏
Hi Tom, what kind of Dayabasw should we select to try a challenge like this?
Honestly I respect you so much for making this video despite failing at the end. It shows that not all the time things go your way and you still battled to the very end! 💪
As a French I'm really happy to see some French clubs!
Noel Buck is a very decent signing!