Copyright scotsman
Plenty of football fans across the world will have asked AI what the future holds for their clubs and if they can dream of lifting silverware in the future. However, the original AI for football loving gamers has always been the vastly popular Football Manager series, which returns next month after a two year hiatus. FM26 is officially released on November 4 with developers Sports Interactive having had to scrap the 2025 addition of yearly update. The Edinburgh Evening News has been provided with early access to the BETA release and the first thing we had to do was obvious. We let the game run, uninterrupted, for a full decade to see how the next ten years of Scottish Premiership football played out. After investing in the Tynecastle club, Tony Bloom was famously quoted as saying he believed they could win a league title within the next ten years. This is what the results of our simulation said: The game begins simulating at the start of the 2025/26 season and clearly did not expect the Jambos to get off to anything resembling the start they already have. In fact, Derek McInnes’ side only picked up 11 league wins in our simulation, just three more than they already have in real life. That was enough for a fifth place finish with Celtic having comfortably lifted the title on 91 points, Rangers way behind in second on 75 and Edinburgh rivals Hibs in third on 70 points. Hibs also won the Scottish Cup that year, beating Falkirk in the final, while the Jambos arch rivals were defeat in the League Cup final by Rangers. Hearts splashed the cash, spending a total of £2.8 million in transfers with their highest fee of £850,000 going on Rwandan international midfielder Samuel Gueulette from Belgian side La Louvière. However, a disappointing start to the season saw the club’s hierarchy part company with Derek McInnes in November. His replacement? That was former Jambos player James Fowler who left his role with Rangers’ academy to take the job. He managed to steady the ship but could only finish eighth in the Premiership with Celtic again storming to the title on 95 points, Rangers finishing second on 70 and Aberdeen picking up third with 54. Celtic beat Aberdeen in the final of the League Cup and did the treble when the overcame the Dons in the final of the Scottish Cup. It was truly a season to forget for Hearts. Could new manager James Fowler turn things around in his first full season in charge and get Hearts back on the track to challenging at the top of the table? Sort of... the Jambos managed to equal their league finish from two seasons prior by coming fifth with the same top three as the previous campaign of Celtic, Rangers and Aberdeen. Hearts spent £1.2 million in transfers with the bulk of that going on a £900,000 fee for former Celtic midfielder Luca Connell from Barnsley. Celtic beat Rangers in the final of the Scottish Cup while Hibs added more silverware to their cabinet by beating Ayr United in the final of the League Cup. Hearts spent another £1.4 million in transfer fees. Their biggest individual spend was £750,000 on former Chelsea youth left back Zak Sturge from Oxford United but did that translate into success on the pitch? Not really but it was enough to remain consistent with another fifth place finish while Celtic picked up the Premiership title but only by a four point margin over second placed Rangers while Hibs finished third. Celtic beat Falkirk in the final of the Scottish Cup and Rangers in the League Cup for another treble. At last our simulation has provided a season worth talking about for Hearts who improved on the previous campaign with a fourth place finish. Rangers also managed to overtake Celtic and win the league title with a seven point margin as Hibs again secured third place but it at least showed we weren’t getting an unmatchable decade of dominance from the Hoops. Hearts spent £2 million in transfers including a significant £1.2 million on Norwegian striker Richard Ferrington from Stabæk. It was four in a row for Celtic in the Scottish Cup as they again beat Rangers but it was Hearts who celebrated at Hampden first as they beat the Hoops in the final of the League Cup to lift that trophy for the first time since 1963. Time for Hearts to kick on now surely and, at the very least, climb above their Edinburgh rivals and get back to finishing third... Oh boy, not at all. The Jambos slumped to a disappointing ninth place finish with Celtic regaining the trophy from Rangers, who finished second, and Livingston coming out of nowhere to pick up third. James Fowler’s League Cup success clearly caught the eye of chairmen down south and Leicester City poached him from Tynecastle before the season started. Hearts turned to club legend John Robertson, 25 years after his last spell as gaffer, but decided to part company with him at the end of the campaign. Rangers beat Celtic in the final of the League Cup and Celtic in the Scottish Cup final. However, there was something to be optimistic about as the club raked in £7.5 million in transfer fees throughout both windows including £4 million for Ageu who returned to his native Brazil with Fluminense. They reinvested £5 million of that back into the squad including £2 million on defensive midfielder Jesus Bueno, a Venezuelan international from MLS outfit Portland Timbers. With more money to spend and a squad now embedded, will there be significant improvements to come? The head coach chosen to lead Hearts into the 2031/31 season was former Tottenham Hotspur midfielder Tom Huddlestone who has previously had a spell in charge at Cardiff City in our simulation. Could the four times capped England international get things truly up and running at Tynecastle? Well... he got them to fifth in the league again, so there’s that. Celtic retained the title by finishing six points ahead of Falkirk. That’s right, Falkirk. The Bairns seemingly making the initial inroads that Hearts fans would have been hoping to see by now. Rangers were third. You wait nearly 70 years for a League Cup win and then two come along in the space of three season as Huddlestone lifted silverware in his first season by beating Celtic at Hampden. Meanwhile, Falkirk added to their runner-up league finish by lifting the Scottish Cup after beating Motherwell. Here’s the really interesting thing though. Despite a transfer income of just £3.4 million, the club spent a whopping £21.5 million in transfers including a ridiculous £19 million on centre back Adamo Nagalo from Spanish outfit Vigo. They might not have been matching Celtic and Rangers on the pitch but clearly decided they wanted to match them in a transfer fee at least once. Okay, let’s recap, we’ve had two League Cup wins and a highest league finish of fourth so far all while maintaining a healthy transfer spend of a few million the past few seasons. With the exception of that frankly ludicrous outlier which can surely only be put down to some sort of bug in the system. Could Tom Huddlestone finally be the Hearts manager to build on a top half finish and get them up the table. He has a near £20 million centre back to rely on so why not at this point. The answer... no, because he was sacked in October after a disastrous start to the season. We won’t sugar coat it dear reader, we’re getting a bit exasperated here. Hearts appointed Danny Röhl as his replacement. As this simulation began before Russel Martin’s sacking he was never Rangers manager and arrived at Tynecastle after spells with West Brom and Chesterfield. In the end, he managed to get them to a seventh place finish in the league as Rangers turned things around from their previous disappointment to lift the league title a whopping 23 points ahead of Celtic. Livingston managed another third place finish while Falkirk, runners up the previous season, dropped to fifth. Rangers beat Dundee in the Scottish Cup final after the Dens Park outfit had conquered them at Hampden in the League Cup final earlier in the season. As for transfer spending the Hearts board clearly decided the debacle of blowing £19 million on one defender just to finish fifth and then seventh was more than enough for them to pull their backing. They spent just £85,000 on transfer fees with the highest individual of those being £15,000 on a Scottish regen (an invented player by the game as real life players age out) from Ross County. If changing manager once in a season wasn’t enough for you then this campaign will come as a treat. Danny Röhl was poached by Bundesliga outfit Hannover 96 in July and replaced by Connor Townsend who, in real life, currently played for Ipswich Town but in our simulation arrived on the back of spells in charge of Blackburn Rovers and Huddersfield Town. Like so many ex EFL gaffers before him though, the Scottish Premiership proved a step above his capabilities and he was gone before Hogmanay. He was replaced by Barry Ferguson who, in our simulation, had St Johnstone flying high in the Premiership at the time following a lengthy stint as Raith Rovers boss. Hearts recovered from the poor start under Townsend to make the top six which which was a decent enough achievement considering they’d been unable to spend a single penny in transfer fees. Rangers won the league on 87 points, Celtic came second on 81 and Hibs were back to third with 60 points. Rangers beat the team Ferguson had left to manage Hearts, St Johnstone, in the final of the Scottish Cup. They lost to Dundee in the final of the Scottish Cup. Okay, let’s give this one last go shall we? Fifth again. What an anti climax. Rangers win the league three points above Celtic and Aberdeen come third. They beat Falkirk in the Scottish Cup final while Celtic overcame St Johnstone in the League Cup final. Hearts spent no money on transfers for the second season running. A seemingly fitting damp squib to end this entire simulation on. At the end of the day though, what does seem more realistic to you after seeing Hearts start to the 2025/26 season in real life? That they can go on and, at the very least, challenge for a league title in the next decade or that they spend ten years finishing no higher than fourth and also decide to spend £19 million on one player apparently just for a laugh? Your next Hearts read: Hearts' Alexandros Kyziridis reveals his life-changing week in Scotland - new baby, Celtic win, burst lip
