In Football Manager you can be the fair, thoughtful manager you always wanted to be. But you can also use it to settle old scores. English streamer HoodGamingUK went for the second option. In an FM24 save, he found an old schoolmate he did not like in his squad and released him on the spot, even though it cost £12,000.
Who is HoodGamingUK
HoodGamingUK is Steve Hood, who makes Football Manager videos and streams. He has around 28,000 followers on TikTok and 38,000 subscribers on YouTube. Also, he usually shows his saves from start to finish, with every decision in full view of his followers.
In one of those saves, in FM24, he took over Weston-super-Mare, a National League South club in the sixth tier of English football. Then, while going through the squad, he spotted a familiar name: Marlon Jackson, a striker who had been in his year at school.
The Weston-super-Mare ground. Photo: Roger Cornfoot, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons
«Sorry, Marlon. Bye.»
The decision took seconds. First, he told his followers that he went to school with Marlon, in the same year. Then he said he always thought he was a bit of an idiot, to put it politely. Finally, he signed off with «sorry Marlon, bye» and terminated the contract.
However, the joke cost the club: Weston had to pay £12,000 in compensation. Even so, it paid off, because the video went viral.
Marlon Jackson in FM24, in numbers
Marlon Jackson in FM24
To be fair, Jackson was not exactly a star of the squad. In the game, he had 55 current ability and 68 potential, which works out at one and a half stars. Also, his personality was «fairly professional», his best role was target man and he earned around £250 a week. In short, a squad player no manager would fight hard to keep.
And the real Marlon Jackson?
The real Marlon Jackson was born in 1990 and came through the Bristol City academy, where he played just five times. After that, he went on loan to Hereford, Aldershot, Northampton, Cheltenham and Telford. So his career was built in the lower leagues, with spells at Hereford, Bury, Halifax, Tranmere, Newport County and several non-league clubs.
He also had two spells at Weston-super-Mare. In the latest, he scored 39 goals in 85 games, not bad for someone released out of spite. At 35, he is still playing, now for Yate Town in the Southern League Premier Division. So far, he has not replied to his old schoolmate.
When FM meets real life
This story is only possible because FM has real players right down to the lowest leagues. So it is not unusual for a non-league footballer to find out that someone manages him on a computer. For example, real players have replied by message to people managing them in the game. In this case, though, Marlon never said a word.
Our take
Is it petty? Of course. But it is also one of the most human things we have seen in a save. Who has never sold a player just because they did not like his face, without ever meeting him? At least HoodGamingUK had a reason. Still, with 39 goals in 85 games for Weston, maybe Marlon deserved another chance.
Sources
- SPORTbible, 2 November 2026
- HoodGamingUK video on his Weston-super-Mare save (FM24)
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