FUT FM - Opening Packs in Football Manager 2017!

Welcome to a brand new series of Football Manager 2017! This is something a little different that I wanted to try, and it involves bringing FIFA Ultimate Team Packs into Football Manager. Now I'd never do anything as blasphemous as actually play FIFA on here, but we are going to use FIFA packs to build our squad.

As a base, we're using the London Stadium and West Ham United. We've completely gutted the squad and we're going to use the in-game editor to bring the players we get in packs. We're capped at a maximum of 30 first-team players and we're allowed to buy and sell as we wish.

The game will run as a normal FM save - but - we will open one new pack at the start of each episode. The pack we open depends on where we are in the League:

Bottom Half: 25k
Top Half: 50k
Champions League Places: 100k

Each episode will run for roughly six matches to give an even spread of packs and players in a season.

This series will evolve over time, so if you have ideas and suggestions, post them below!

What an interesting concept man

Episode 1: Opening Packs in Football Manager!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N4OxfgQJ8h0

Episode 2: Goals Galore!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2z6xuqSEHLg

Today we open our second pack as we look to fill some of the areas where we're a little weaker. We pick up a couple of good additions around the center of midfield and then go on one heck of a run of matches!

We are scoring goals like nobody's business, but we're also leakier than the titanic! I'm going to keep this formation for the sheer entertainment value, but let me know if there are any suggestions you have for the rest of this series!

Episode 3: Stunning Form!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bSdSzxsCFio

We have some incredible matches today as this new team and formation seem destined to become the great entertainers. We also pick up four red cards in the process and I have absolutely no idea why!

A couple of excellent wins against Arsenal and Spurs are followed up by two desperately poor defeats against Bournemouth. The only good news is that we are in the top 10 for next episode so we'll be able to start by opening a 50k pack!

Episode 4: Terminating Contracts!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vfjsb7I5Lt8

We open our first 50k pack today but it doesn't seem to have helped us all that much as we struggle through some not so tough games! Having an unbeaten run in the League helps and I can have no complaints at beating Chelsea, so maybe it's for the best in the long run!

If you want me to keep this series going then let me know in the comments as we're getting quite a few less views in this series, but that might be because it's only just beginning. Either way, drop a comment!

Episode 5 - We Packed John Stones!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VsfkBSyvSBI

Our second 50k pack of the series has delivered us probably our best packed player yet with John Stones coming out! He's an excellent added foundation to the team with Rashford another one for the future of this series.

In terms of the football matches, we start off with a really poor defeat before finally kicking into gear and getting some wins on the board. We're also into the Knock-out stages of the Europa League, so that's something else to look forward to!

Episode 6: West Ham 8 v 1 Manchester United!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TvIWkJLp1ks

This episode was pretty spectacular as we continued our great winning streak into this episode! To cap it all off, we totally and utterly destroy a full strength Manchester United team 8 v 1 in the League!

There was a disappointing defeat to City before that game, but we reacted very well and are on course to make it into the Champions League spots next season. Our pack luck was pretty bad, but higher league places mean better packs!

Episode 7: Hunting the Champions League!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_X7yH87Ku5o

Another great episode today as we pick up three new players from our pack! We also get some great results against Spurs and Liverpool, although Arsenal do knock us down to earth a little.

Overall this season is going very, very well and with all the big teams out of the way, I'm pretty sure we can end this season in the top four positions!

Episode 8: Closing the January Transfer Window!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0fsCWG2a-9s

Our run in the cups continues in this episode and we also see out the January Transfer Window. Not too many players moving around, but we do shift on a bit of dead weight.

Our league form has suffered a little but overall we're not doing too badly. We have a good run of league games to come, which should allow us to move up into the top four by the end of the season.

Episode 9: Our Best Pack Yet!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rQrvE9SGFRE

Today we pack probably our best player of the series so far as we continue to try and push into those Champions League places. We're still not in a position to open a 100k pack, but the 50k packs are doing pretty well for us at the moment.

Our European Cup run continues in impressive fashion and keeps open our chances of qualifying the Champions League through the cup, but the FA Cup does prove trickier than we might have thought with a replay against Bristol!

Episode 10: European Quarter-Finals!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PfWd11CBh3U

Our league form fell off the pace a little in the last episode and that certainly continues today. Some very disappointing performances really hit morale and throw our league season into jeopardy.

Our attention instead switches to the Europa League and seeing if we can qualify for the Champions League by winning the competition. It wasn't the best day for packs, but we do bring Donnarumma into the team.

Episode 11: Europa League Semi-Finals!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qchYXLprk6c

The league is well out of our grasp now so attention has completely turned to our European adventure. The Semi-Final against St. Etienne is a golden opportunity to make a Europea League final and try and qualify for the Champions League.

We're helped hugely in that goal by bringing in Dele Ali and Ander Herrera in our 50k pack. Both players will be a big part of the team over the next two seasons and I can't wait to see the kind of players we pull when we open the 100k packs!

Episode 12: The Europa League Final!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WojbeeVhauw

It's the Europa League Final! After a long season and journey through the qualification rounds, group stage and KO stage, we've made the final! It's a huge game against Manchester United and we're going to need to do everything we can to scrape a win and qualify for the Champions League.

We also wrap up our end of season review and check in on where some of our released players have ended up. Next season is a fresh chance to try and win the league and improve our standing in the rankings.

Episode 13: Two Packed Players and Three Signings!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZWAXwI_UWH4

We've finally made some signings! After letting around £75m of players leave the club I decide to spend some cash for the first time to strengthen the squad in key area. I've also changed the tactic we're using which means hopefully we can get some more consistent results.

We play our first match of the season against Arsenal and I'm confident we can put in a good title challenge this season. We pick up two players from our pack and they will be very good additions to the team!