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When Football Manager hits the shelves this Friday, fans and gamers will relish the chance to guide their team to glory.
Most players of the game go immediately to their favourite club, hoping to relieve the frustrations of reality and prove they can do better than the current manager.
But what about those gamers who fancy a different challenge? Who are the best teams to take over for a satisfying save?
Sportsmail has teamed up with Sports Interactive to bring you 10 of the most exciting and 10 of the most difficult saves from this year’s game.
The top 10 best teams to start with:
Manchester United – It may seem an obvious choice, and some would say it’s too easy, but maybe Jose Mourinho would disagree.
You’ve got big name new signings like Paul Pogba and Zlatan Ibrahimovic to integrate, a decent budget to spend, and huge expectations.
Can you deliver a first title in the post-Sir Alex Ferguson era, managing the egos and proving you, and not Pep Guardiola, are the top manager in Manchester?
Newcastle United – A relatively easy introduction into the game – you’re a big fish in a small pond, with a squad that should bounce straight back up to the Premier League.
But can you do it first time – and when you do, will you have enough to stay there?
Long term, can you take the club back to the Champions League? The fanbase expects.
Juventus – You start life with a great squad, and should continue to dominate in Italy, but with the departure of Paul Pogba demonstrating that you aren’t able to hold onto your very best.
Champions League glory is the aim, can you lift the big-eared trophy for the first time since 1996?
Rangers – It’s been a while, but you’re back in the big time. How long will it take you to topple Celtic and resume your rightful place at the summit of Scottish football?
And, once you’ve done that, can you establish yourself as a European power? A tough ask…
Guangzhou Evergrande – For the first time you can play in the Chinese Super League, and what better way to get to know the division than with the competition’s best squad – and a decent budget to boot!
Boca Juniors – A big-name club, and some even bigger players, with Carlos Tevez and Fernando Gago in your squad, but after a disappointing season last year, can you turn things around?
Money is pretty tight, but there’s talent in the first-team and the youth set-up.
PSG – Domestically, probably the easiest task in the game is to win the French league with PSG – as in real life, they should be dominant.
But, having the biggest budget on the game means expectations are higher. Can you be the first man to taste Champions League success with the Paris club?
Southampton – Not exactly an easy save, but a good introduction to the Premier League if you want to find your way around the game.
A talented squad, a brilliant academy, and a fair bit of money to spend – do you go with youth, or import success?
This is a building save, you won’t win the title in the first season, but can you grow the club into a force?
Benfica – Domestic champions, an extraordinary talent factory and a strong squad, but Benfica haven’t been at the summit of European football since 1962, and keep losing finals.
Can you lift the curse of Bela Guttman?
Belgium – After years of being dark horses Belgium finally arrived at Euro 2016 as one of the favourites… and flopped.
But the golden generation lives on – can you guide the most talented squad the country has ever known to glory?
You have two years to get it right, because you may never get a better chance than the 2018 World Cup.
The Top 10 hardest teams to start with
Crotone – The minnows of Serie A, in the Italian top flight for the first time, with a weak squad and little money.
The four most valuable players in your squad are all loanees, so long-term progress is tough, and the squad depth chart is a nightmare.
In real life they’ve picked up just five points from their first 11 games – can you do better?
Edinburgh City – This season these minnows enter Scottish League Two, and the professional leagues, for the first time.
The only problem is they’re a semi-professional outfit. Can you defy the odds and build them into a powerhouse in Scottish football?
CD Leganes – Staying in La Liga in your first season in the top flight is difficult enough without any money at all – but Leganes also start with a squad which lacks the technical proficiency you’d expect in Spain.
Fix that early on, or you’ll be going down straight away. But you have no money…
Parma – Perhaps the most romantic of these challenges, because most of us have a soft spot for the club that featured Buffon, Zola, Thuram, Crespo and so many others in the 90s.
Now starting from the very bottom again after going bust, and as promotion favourites you should be able to climb the divisions, but can you keep it sustainable and get back to the glory days?
San Marino National Team – The ultimate challenge. Only one win ever, no players of note, and the laughing stock of international football. If you can even qualify for, let alone win, the World Cup, Sportsmail takes its hat off to you!
Gibraltar National Team – The new San Marino challenge for those players who have done the former before.
There’s a shade more to work with here, but this is still pretty darn tricky. A test of your tactical nous as you try and make your way in the international game for the first time
Blackpool – It’s not so long ago that Blackpool were in the Premier League, but financial troubles, in-fighting, and some terrible performances on the pitch have seen the club crash to League Two.
Now you have to take them back – but can you maintain a relationship with a ‘difficult’ chairman and operate within the tight budget?
Dundela – There are shoestring budgets, and then there are shoestring budgets.
Dundela’s board will grant you just under £600 a week for your entire squad. Can you climb the leagues in Northern Ireland and then make a mark on a continental level?
Central Cordoba – If you think Football Manager can get complicated usually, that’s nothing compared to the realities of the Argentine second division – relegation is done on a three-season average, so to beat the drop with these minnows you not need to finish outside the relegation zone… you need to finish in the top half!
That said, you do have a decent squad, so get them performing and there’s a long-term project here.
Hungerford Town – Saving the best until last this is THE club challenge.
After 130 years as a club, Hungerford have finally reached the sixth tier of English football for the first time – and they’re favourites to go straight back down.
With a squad as thin as they come, next to no money to spend, and all the odds against you, can you survive, rise up the leagues and become a force in English football.
If you can get into the Champions League inside three decades, you’ve won the game!
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