For managers keen to send just the right kind of message to press or players, it was ideal. Smaller but devilishly entertaining was the new tone system, which allowed you to choose from six different styles of speaking to modify your team talks and conversations. And a new 'Manage Anywhere, Anytime' feature meant you could add or take away playable nations on your saved game as you pleased.

The 3D Match Engine was bolstered by new animations, a whole new crowd system, improved weather dynamics, more stadiums, and the ability to adopt 'Behind Goal' or 'Director Cam' views of the action. Everyone benefited from a new overhauled interface, too, with an adaptive layout that used more or less of your screen resolution depending on the size of your display, with new filters, custom columns and other widgets to help give you the most comfortable dashboard. New players were given a brand-new standalone tutorial and supported by in-game hints and tips as they began their debut season. While none was quite as profound as something like the 3D Match Engine had been a few years earlier, every little helped.

For Football Manager 2012, we found ourselves adding over 800 new features. Most years Sports Interactive manages to cram in well over 100 improvements to Football Manager, some large, some small.

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