Football Manager is extremely popular and has been an escape from real life for football fans across the world for decades.
The game has been on the go for 20 years now and releases an updated version every year. All that time the forums have been full of supporters discussing wonderkids and their potential. So, just for fun, we went back into our Steam library and downloaded Football Manager 2014 and set the game to simulate for ten years, bringing us in line with present day in real life.
We took a look at how the game expects Scotland to line up for their opening match of Euro 2024 and while quite a few players will be familiar to the Tartan Army there are plenty names who had fantastic virtual careers but didn’t hit the same heights in our world. Here is how FM14 thought the Scotland starting XI would look for their Euro 2024 opener:
(As anyone who has played the game will expect, the squad did feature a number of re-gens - computer generated players created by the game to replace real life players who age out. We did not include these players in our starting XI and replaced them with the next best player in the squad in their position)
21. ST - Jordan Rhodes (simulation)
Has had a quite frankly incredibly goal return at the highest level. Norwich signed him from Blackburn in 2015 for £8m and he has scored 134 goals in 293 Norwich City appearances including hitting over 20 Premier League goals in three consecutive season... wow. | Getty Images
22. ST - Jordan Rhodes (real life)
Was last capped in 2017 and has spent his whole career in the EFL. After leavening Blackburn the ex Huddersfield Town man played for Middlesbrough, Sheffield Wednesday, Norwich City (not to the same success as our simulation) and is now at Blackpool. | Getty Images
23. Manager - Unai Emery (simulation)
He was sacked by Sevilla and went to Athletic Bilbao and did enough to end up back at Sevilla four years later who eventually sacked him again and again he went back to Bilbao before taking the Scotland job in 2022 and leading them to the EURO 2024 finals. | Getty
24. Manager - Unai Emery (real life)
One of the most respected coaches in world football - he has managed PSG, Arsenal and is now taking Aston Villa into the Champions League. | Getty Images