Football Manager Have Only Ever Changed The Ratings Of One Player Who Asked

Football Manager often get asked by footballers to upgrade their overall rating but throughout the years, only one player has managed to get his in-game stats changed through a request.

Sports Interactive director Miles Jacobson has spoken about the time a player questioned his pace and acceleration on the popular game during The Athletic's new podcast The Football Manager Show.

That particular player is said to have gone above and beyond to prove that his real life speed should match up to Football Manager's stat - and eventually managed to persuade the game's creators after sending across a video.

Image: Football Manager

When asked whether they get messages from footballers 'griping' about their ratings in the game, Jacobson opened up about the story.

"We have only changed them once and that was when a player, who was at a club that I cannot mention, reached out and said he was unhappy with his pace and acceleration stats." he said.

"He compared himself to another player at the same club, who had better stats, and said "I'm faster than him, I'm faster than him", so I just turned around and said okay have a race, film it and send me the video.

"They had a race, and he filmed it, and he sent me the video. He proved he was right but to be fair, he also turned around and said 'you've also said that my dribbling is better than his and he's a much better dribbler than I am'...so we made that tweak.

"Sometimes players do reach out but they normally say 'LOL' at the end because they know it's cheeky.

"There have been times when people have been pushy on it and I've said there's one way to get your rating up - play better when our scouts are watching you."

Jacobsen went on to talk about how football agents have, in the past, tried to bribe Football Manager into giving their players better ratings.

"I've had agents that have tried to bribe me to put stuff up." he said, "And the ones that have asked me that know to never ask me that again. Because, I'm not one for bribing."

"It's the just fact that so many clubs use our data that people do want to be represented positively in the game."

Topics: gaming news, Football News, GAMING, Football Manager, Football

Jack Kenmare

Jack Kenmare is a writer at SPORTbible. He's interviewed some of the biggest names in sport, including Zlatan Ibrahimovic, Pele, Carles Puyol and Tim Henman. He dabbles in all things sport but football is his biggest passion. He was once hit in the head by a wayward strike from Nicky Butt and lived to tell the tale.

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