Football Chairman update is live — Squad Pass
The football chairman side of the empire just got another depth pass. Everything below is new in this build.
Pick your XI (or trust the manager)
Brand new Lineup tab. Pitch view, formation picker, set your starters, captain, and bench.
Two clear modes:
"Manager picks XI" (default). The manager auto-picks the matchday XI from your tactics directive (after compliance). Read-only preview on the Lineup tab so you can see who he is going with.
"Chairman override". Hit "Take control" and you pick the XI yourself. Formation, players, captain, all yours.
One-click "Hand back to manager" if you want him in charge again. No fighting between Tactics and Lineup any more, the relationship is explicit.
8 formations supported including 4-4-2, 4-3-3, 4-2-3-1, 3-5-2, 5-3-2, 4-1-4-1, 3-4-3, 4-5-1.
Captain bonus is real. Small win-probability nudge, MOTM tiebreaker, and a morale floor lift for starters during the match.
Auto-swap if a starter is injured, suspended, or loaned out, prefers same-position bench cover.
Match-Day Dock
New pre-match dock fires before every fixture. Shows opponent, importance tag (League / Derby / Cup / Promotion six-pointer / Relegation six-pointer), and your current lineup status.
Three CTAs: Adjust lineup, Trust the manager / Use my XI, Auto-pick.
Stacks alongside your other docks, dismissable, non-blocking.
Ignore it for a tick and the engine quietly auto-resolves so the league keeps moving.
Squad management depth
Player training modes per individual: Resting, Training, or Sharp. Each affects fitness recovery, morale, and match-rust differently.
Injury treatment plans: Cautious, Standard, or Aggressive. Cautious is slower but adds a re-injury shield, Aggressive is faster but adds a re-injury risk window.
Status pills on the Squad tab with hover tooltips, plus aggregate counts in the header (Resting / Training / Sharp / Injured).
Treatment prompts surface as news entries when a player picks up a knock.
Match results screen overhaul
Real player names on goals on both sides, no more "Home Player" as the scorer.
Formation pills under each team name on the result modal.
New "Your XI" card grouped by GK / DEF / MID / FWD, each player shown with shirt number and name. Captain starred and gold-tinted.
Bug fix while we were in there, away matches now show the actual home team's stadium as the venue.
AI teams get a representative formation derived from their manager style (attacking, defensive, possession, counter-attack, balanced).
Stadium visual upgrade
The stadium picture now actually changes a bite more when you upgrade.
Stand levels 1 to 5 each render distinctly: number of tiers grows (1, 1, 2, 2, 3), roof style upgrades from none to slim canopy to full canopy to cantilever to a floodlit modern roof.
Hospitality belt appears at level 4 plus.
Scoreboard appears on the north stand at level 3, upgrades to a video board at level 4 to 5.
Floodlight pylons in all four corners once your average stand level passes 3.5.
Dugouts appear pitch-side once east or west stand hits level 3.
Crowd density on the front rows scales with level so higher stands feel packed.
Pitch quality is visible too: brown patches at low quality, mown stripes at quality 4 plus, glossy sheen at quality 5.
Concourse footprint, penalty boxes, tier separators, all the trim.
This is just the start still, plans to have plenty more coming for the football side.
Some ideas on the table for what is next are below, but keep your ideas coming in the forum. Thanks Everyone.
Set-piece routines. Pick your free-kick takers, corner takers, penalty taker. Maybe a corner routine choice (near post, far post, short).
Player instructions. Tell your striker to drop deep, your full-back to bomb on, your number 10 to roam.
Press conferences and media. Manager interviews after big results, your responses move morale and reputation.
Manager hire / fire pipeline. Shortlist candidates by style and reputation, negotiate compensation, Director of Football to handle it for you if you want.
Youth academy depth. Coaching focus, scouting reports, training drills, more prospect personality.
Transfer window flavour. Bidding wars, agent meetings, deadline-day frenzy, transfer rumours in the news ticker.
Cup run polish. Final at a neutral venue, trophy lift cutscene, parade through the city.
Stadium signage and kit-coloured seats, plus a proper away-end visual.
Fan atmosphere systems. Ultras group, season ticket drives, chants, away travel allocations.
Stat hub upgrades. Heatmaps, key passers, top scorers across the league shown more visually.
Kit and badge designer polish, including third kit and goalkeeper kits with their own slot.
International breaks where your players go away on duty and might come back tired or injured.