There are seasons when football reality seems to have been written by a Football Manager player with a sense of humor. 2019 was one of them.
When the appointments look like they came out of a save
That summer and at the start of the following season, the English managerial market became so unbelievable that the press began comparing reality to a game of FM. Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, still midway through his transition from dressing room legend to coach, took charge of Manchester United. Frank Lampard took the Chelsea hot seat, at the club where he had been an idol as a player.
John Terry, Chelsea’s legendary captain, became assistant manager at Aston Villa. Ryan Giggs was in charge of Wales. Joey Barton, with a past that was anything but calm on and off the pitch, took over at Fleetwood Town. Robbie Keane and Jonathan Woodgate, former international teammates, both turned up on Middlesbrough’s coaching staff.
Former players learning the trade live
The common thread was always the same: players fans had seen on the pitch until recently, suddenly on the other side, giving instructions instead of receiving them. It is exactly the kind of cycle any FM player recognizes from their own saves, when an iconic player “retires” only to reappear a few years later as manager of another club in the same league.
The difference is that, this time, there was no user pressing “advance season”. It was reality moving too fast to be a coincidence.
Life does not always imitate art, but in 2019 it almost did
For anyone who spends hours managing fictional careers, seeing so many former teammates becoming managers at the same time has a touch of déjà vu. That year, for a few brief months, English football seemed to come straight out of a fast-forwarded Football Manager save.
