Goodbye, Sports Game Cover Man, You Will Be Missed

While other sports games change their cover athletes every year, strategy stalwart Football Manager has for over a decade stuck with the same basic template: Show a man from the nose down, usually in a suit, usually with a scruffy beard, standing around looking like the boss. For this year’s Football Manager 2019, though, he’s gone.

This brings to an end his 14-year tenure in front of one of the biggest-selling video game series on Earth. It of course isn’t literally the same model/man, but the concept — helped by the fact that you never saw his entire face — led to him becoming something of a character, known simply as “Manager Man”.

At least his departure has been handled with the appropriate gravitas. In a statement sent to Eurogamer, developers Sports Interactive say that with a new COO and new office in the last year, the team thought this was “the perfect opportunity for us to have a think about our branding”.

“Fans of Manager Man shouldn’t be worried though”, they stress. “He’s currently sitting on a beach in Santorini, sipping on a delicious cocktail, deciding what his next career move will be. He’s likely waiting til Xmas to get a new job - the bonuses for keeping clubs up for experienced managers will likely tempt him back in.”

FM2019 will instead feature a shot of some players walking out of the tunnel: