Non-League Manager

Non-League Manager is a football management simulation covering over 2,000 real English clubs, from the Premier League down to Step 7 of the pyramid. Clubs have real grounds, kit colours and local rivalries. You can choose a club you support or enter your postcode to find a nearby team.

Managing a non-league club

Your players may have day jobs, so late shifts can make them miss training and work can keep them from Tuesday away games. Availability changes from week to week, and you need to build a team around who can actually attend. Geography matters as well as ability: you need players who can get to training and are good enough to win.

Transfers include 7-day approaches, dual registration with professional clubs, free agents and occasional dealings with agents. You can also sign non-contract players on £20 a week.

Grounds and finances

Promotion depends on meeting your league’s ground-grading requirements, including standards for floodlights, hard standing and covered seating. Plan investment in advance, because finishing high enough is not sufficient if your ground does not qualify.

Gate receipts help pay wages, while sponsorship and other matchday income keep the club running. A cup run can change a season financially and emotionally, whether you play in the FA Cup, FA Trophy or FA Vase. Drawing a League One side in the FA Cup first round proper can become a defining occasion for the club.

Matches and rivalries

Matches use a purpose-built engine with live, move-by-move commentary. You follow the action in real time, make substitutions, change your team’s shape and adjust its mentality, including when you are trying to hold on in the final ten minutes. Derby matches have their own crowd and intensity, which affect how players respond.

A changing pyramid

Clubs can overspend, receive points deductions, enter administration, fold and reform as phoenix clubs at the bottom of the pyramid. Other clubs continue through their own seasons, with their own relegation battles and financial problems, while you manage yours. Each summer, contracts expire, boards set new budgets, managers lose their jobs and youth players emerge, reshaping the pyramid.

Your management career

Build your reputation and earn the board’s trust to receive offers for bigger jobs. You can also lose the dressing room and have to start again at a smaller club. Each job you take affects what comes next.