As people shape their new squads on Football Manager 2024, one man is spending his nights ensuring this year’s cohort of managers will soon have an even deeper connection to the game.
Delucas Stoltze, better known as ‘tHeMAdSCienTiSt Fm’, is one of a few creators of retro databases on Football Manager. He uploaded his first onto the Steam Workshop, where players can find game modifications, in 2017 and has made them every year since.
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Recreations of the 1992-93, 1998-99 and 2003-04 seasons are his highlights. They pinpoint historic moments in football history like Manchester United’s treble-winning season and Arsenal’s Invincibles. His nine databases have amassed 700,000 downloads, and work on reviving the 2007-08 season for this year’s edition is already underway.
But where did this all begin? How does someone get the urge, time and resources to serve an entire online community? Well, let’s rewind 30 years to Randers, Denmark.
“I played the very first versions of Championship Manager back in the mid-’90s,” Stoltze tells The Athletic.
“Already back then, some friends and I made small programs where we could edit very simple information on the game like player names. When my favourite players retired, I always re-added them to the game. So I always had that nostalgic feeling in me.”
Stoltze does not come from an IT background. He began regularly modifying Football Manager games with the help of some more technology-savvy friends and the in-game editor tool. The 42-year-old has been able to edit full-time since November 2022, which has meant 10-hour workdays have become the norm during a database’s creation.
“It is a grind, but I love it!” He adds. “I’m not complaining! On average it takes five to six months to create a database from scratch to a level where I can call it playable. That means more than eight playable leagues with the complete squads — youth teams included.
“When I start a new database, I need to delete all the staff and player profiles from the current game because they weren’t around at the time. That takes three or four days in real time. Then I have an empty canvas to add players and teams and realign the different leagues. For the players, I copy all the attributes from the original game. Then I can stay unbiased and it’s not my opinion on how good Michael Owen was, for example.”
Steve Bruce and Bryan Robson lift the Premier League trophy for the 1992-93 season – a Stoltze favourite (Shaun Botterill/Allsport/Getty Images/Hulton Archive)Stolze is a self-confessed ‘Nighthawk’ who is on American time despite living in Denmark. He does dip away from his screen to take dog ‘Homie’ on three walks a day.
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In the two weeks before his 1998-99 database released for Football Manager 2023, he ended up working 12-hour days. Despite thinking respite would come immediately after release, it did not. Instead, the intensity grew. Stoltze’s notifications ‘exploded’ and he was answering more than 100 direct messages a day while also speaking about his new release online. Overworked, he fainted and suffered a concussion. It took months to recover but “having learned the hard way” he has been doing much better with his new dog-friendly schedule a great aid.
For many, someone working full-time by editing a computer game might seem strange, but the demand has made it possible. tHeMAdSCienTiSt was already creating these databases when he was a radio DJ, but when shows shut down after COVID-19 hit in 2019 he had more time to make them as comprehensive as possible. He had already set up a Patreon account for those who wanted to download his databases that year. Patreon is a subscription-based platform where content creators can be supported by fans of their work.
“When that reached a certain level, I realised going full-time could be a possibility and I felt so privileged,” the 42-year-old says. “I took a leap and it’s been going for close to a year now.
“No matter what database releases, we all have a golden era, so there are always people messaging me saying: ‘Thank you for letting me relive my youth’. That reception just gives me more motivation. I love it when people contact me about their saves.”
While Patreon is his main source of income, Stoltze also earns by streaming on Twitch. Most of these streams involve playing the game, but there was a slight change to that while the world waited for Football Manager 2024.
He started work on this year’s 2007-08 database two months before last week’s official FM24 release. Although he planned to return to streaming gameplay upon the new release, a request surfaced: “‘We know you’re editing already, why don’t you just livestream it?’,” he recalls being asked. “I thought that must be the most boring thing to look at, but I gave it a go and gained viewers.
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“It’s been very pleasant. I hang out with the guys in the chat and people had the chance to ask questions on how I build the databases, and I could show them.”
Stoltze’s database for the 2007-08 season – which saw another United victory – will be his 10th (Paul Ellis/AFP via Getty Images)Already a few months into this year’s cycle, he expects to release the 2007-08 database in March 2024. “People will DM me for the next few months saying: ‘Come on, just release the database!’. But myself and the computer can’t work any faster and I won’t release it until I feel it’s playable,” he jokes.
Stoltze does understand that clamour for a new database is a compliment. When the 2007-08 database releases, it will be his 10th since 2018. Those who have downloaded them will all have their favourites. The Dane has his own.
“They all mean something special to me, but it’s not that difficult to pick a favourite,” he says. “I played the very first version of Championship Manager back in ’92, so when I saw FM23 would be the 30th anniversary, I thought, ‘It’s time to make the 92-93 database’. That is the golden era for me, so I heavily enjoyed making and playing that database.
“We all have those golden eras when you started watching and playing football and Football Manager consistently. Even so, it’s still mind-blowing that so many people want to play retro databases. Back in the day I only made them for myself and my friends.”
(Photo: Getty Images)
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