How many times have you shouted at the TV that the manager should have made that substitution? In Caen, in northern France, some fans actually got to decide.
How it worked
United Managers is a French startup, founded in 2017, that partnered with Avant Garde Caennaise, a club in the French 6th tier. In the app, users (the “Umans”) voted on the formation, tactics and substitutions. Whatever the majority decided was passed by the assistant coach to the head coach, Julien Le Pen.
And there was a very FM detail: the more active you were in the app, the more weight your vote carried. You could use it for free or pay for a premium version.
In February 2019, more than 2,000 people had signed up to “manage” the club.
Did it work?
According to Sky Sport Italia, since the partnership began the club had been promoted and was top of the table. One midfielder, Nicolas Suzanne, even said the partnership weighed heavily in his decision to join the club.
Not everyone found it amusing. The French league issued warnings about partnerships that could influence the season, but United Managers insisted it had never been contacted by the federation.
Would you like to try it?
It is every armchair manager’s dream, with an obvious risk: if the team loses, 2,000 people are to blame at once. Would you hand your club over to a fan vote?
