Football Manager 2024 is here! The latest edition of the game is released in the UK on November 6th and players of the franchise will be making that difficult decision. Who to start a save with?
Turning around the fortunes of a fallen giant is often one of the most rewarding saves in Football Manager, as managers revive a previously successful side that has fallen on harder times.
Unsure on where to start a save? Take on one of these challenges.
Football Manager 2024: Five fallen giants to rescue
Leeds United
Leeds United have spent much of the last two decades being called a ‘fallen giant’. Marcelo Bielsa’s appointment appeared to have ended that status as the Argentine guided Leeds back into the Premier League in 2020.
That upward curve failed to last however, with Bielsa departing and a succession of managers failing to stop a slide towards the Championship last season. Jesse Marsch, Javi Gracia and Sam Allardyce all tried and failed in 2022/23 alone, with Leeds dropping back into England’s second tier.
Another rebuild is now required and taking charge at Elland Road could be a rewarding save in Football Manager 2024. Leeds have a squad strong enough to challenge for instant promotion back into the Premier League, a group of valuable assets out on loan, and a collection of exciting young talents that includes Crysencio Summerville, Archie Gray, Wilfried Gnonto and Illan Meslier.
Remembering the Leeds team that reached the 2001 Champions League semi-finals
Deportivo La Coruna
Two decades ago, Deportivo La Coruna were bloodying the noses of Spain and Europe’s elite.
Deportivo were crowned La Liga champions during the 1999/2000 season and across the following four seasons never finished lower than third, while reaching two Champions League quarter-finals and a semi-final. In an era where Diego Tristan and Roy Makaay fired in the goals for ‘Super Depor’, trips to the Estadio Riazor were daunting.
However, the Galicians have fallen on much harder times across the last decade and currently find themselves in Spanish football’s third tier.
⚪️🔵 Deportivo record one of the greatest comebacks in #UCL history #OTD in 2004…
😱 AC Milan 4-1 Deportivo (Agg: 4-1)
🤯 Deportivo 4-0 AC Milan (Agg: 5-4)#OnThisDay | @RCDeportivo pic.twitter.com/VQfw2EbmTI— UEFA Champions League (@ChampionsLeague) April 7, 2020
Two relegations in just three seasons have seen Depor drop to their lowest ebb in 40 years. The club were almost relegated to the newly-formed fourth division, Segunda Federación, in 2020/21 after escaping relegation by just one point.
Noughties Nines: Roy Makaay – The Phantom
Parma
Parma are a favourite of the football hipsters with the club’s team of the nineties one that evokes real nostalgia.
In an era where Serie A was the dominant division in world football, Parma boasted a team packed full of cult figures and Italian football icons.
Juan Sebastien Veron, Hernan Crespo, Faustino Asprilla, Fabio Cannavaro, Gianluigi Buffon, Lilian Thuram, Gianfranco Zola and Enrico Chiesa were among the leading names to adorn the yellow and blue colours of I Crociati, who won three Coppa Italias, two UEFA Cups and a European Cup Winners’ Cup between 1992 and 2002.
These days Parma are rebuilding in Serie B, having bounced between the top two divisions in recent years after being declared bankrupt in 2015.
Nineties Nostalgia: The rise and fall of a cult Parma side
Schalke
Schalke are back in the second tier of German football after relegation from the Bundesliga last season.
The Gelsenkirchen outfit had spent almost three unbroken decades in the Bundesliga before being relegated in 2021, with a second relegation following two years later after initially bouncing back at the first attempt.
Schalke were Champions League semi-finalists as recently as 2010/11, and runners-up in the Bundesliga in 2017/18. Financial issues have impacted the club badly, who revealed they were close to bankruptcy in 2020 after struggling during the Covid-19 pandemic. During that period, Schalke set a new unwanted club record of 16 league games without a win.
The current team are in the process of bouncing back, but in Assan Ouédraogo have one of German football’s brightest talents. The 17-year-old can be built around, or developed and sold to fund your rebuild.
Bordeaux
The six-time French champions dropped down to the second division in 2022 after finishing bottom of the Ligue 1 table. Bordeaux were then threatened with demotion to the third tier due to administrative issues, but won an appeal to remain in the second tier.
Bordeaux were last crowned champions of France in 2008/09 and competed in the Champions League the following season, but are currently struggling near the bottom of Ligue 2. Last season the club controversially missed out on promotion back to the top tier, after French football’s governing body handed them a loss for an abandoned match with Rodez.
The game was called off when Rodez goalscorer Lucas Buades was pushed over by a pitch invader, with the result meaning Bordeaux finished third, three points behind second-placed Metz.
