Games like Football Manager strive to become more and more intricate and to provide near realism in terms of the interface of the game, from tunnel interviews to player interaction and training tactics. Every year there are new complexities to the game. I have seen a pretty significant decline in conversation in this forum over the years, and I wonder if people have stopped playing the game with regularity, and if so, has the whole thing just become too complicated? It has for me. I don't enjoy the near realism of the game as much as I enjoyed the more "arcade" version from a decade ago. It was simpler, and much easier to move through a season and to me, much more enjoyable. I have tried a few times in the last few years to get into the latest versions of FM, without success. Maybe the genre of management versus actually controlling the players in a hi-def competitive gaming environment has lost ground? Previously, I enjoyed playing FIFA as much as I enjoyed manager games. I always thought the marriage of the two would have been the ultimate game, but I can't see that happening unless EA buys whoever produces FM.
I'll be honest in saying that I just stick to the classics. CM 97/98 and CM 03/04 were always be favourites. So many different ways to play but never felt so intense that you would have to spend 3 months to get through half a season.
I miss the days of FM2005. I also used to play the versions called Worldwide Soccer Manager 2006 and 2007. FM has become so bloated. I bought the cut-down FM14 and FM20 on Steam, only because my old WSM discs won't run on Windows 10. I don't understand why anyone would want to play a soccer management game where it takes you a RL month to get through a season.