How press conferences work in Football Manager 2021

One of the features that has been given the most attention in Football Manager 2021 from developer Sports Interactive is the media press conferences and appearances. In previous years, you were presented with a question list and some answers to pick, and it wouldn’t really impact your team beyond a single player interaction.

In Football Manager 2021, the system has been overhauled to present a more realistic approach to how press conferences work. Sat next to your club’s press officer, you will see the journalists together in a room, and each will ask questions in turn relating to the current situation. However, this year your actions and responses will affect the mood of both of the journalists and your squad more heavily.

To respond to the questions, it is laid out differently but fundamentally works the same as last year. As journalists ask you questions, there will be a set of answers at the bottom of the screen.

The toggle for the way in which you make your response has changed. The way it previously worked is that you simply clicked on the option of how you want to respond to a question emotionally. If you wanted to give your answer calmly, you would select calm and then the applicable response. If you wanted to be aggressive, picking this before answering would deliver your statement aggressively.

In Football Manager 2021, the emotional options have been replaced with gestures that work similarly, with the intended effect revealed by hovering your cursor over the gesture. These are almost identical in function to the emotional options, but it’s a realistic visual representation of how the manager would give their response.

However, there is more of a focus on maintaining a good relationship with the press to help them stay on your side. Negative reactions within the media could potentially cause adverse effects that make your position more difficult, such as adding pressure to your job security and unsettling players.

Your squad can also be more reactive to your responses, affecting morale if you are too harsh to them or make them complacent if too positive.

You may also be required to answer certain questions in a particular way by your board, so make sure you do this to avoid angering your club’s executives and putting your job at risk. If you’d prefer not to do them, you can still send your assistant manager in your stead, but you will have no control over their answers.