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| Want to know how Brexit will work? Play Football Manager | Want to know how Brexit will work? Play Football Manager |
| (35 minutes later) | |
| While the government struggles over Britain’s future relationship with the European Union, fans of the video game Football Manager are to get a taste of what hard or soft Brexit would actually mean in practice, as the processes are simulated in the newest edition of the game. | While the government struggles over Britain’s future relationship with the European Union, fans of the video game Football Manager are to get a taste of what hard or soft Brexit would actually mean in practice, as the processes are simulated in the newest edition of the game. |
| Football Manager 2017, the 13th version of the hugely successful series, allows players to carry out all the regular duties of a managing a football team, from running training sessions to signing players and attending press conferences. But what differs this time round is that a Brexit simulator models some of the consequences of the UK triggering article 50. | |
| “With Football Manager we try to create a living, breathing world, so everyone’s game is already different,” Miles Jacobson, director of Sports Interactive, the makers of Football Manager, told the Guardian. “This was just too important to ignore; it’s something that’s going to affect people in the UK massively, and it’s something that’s going to affect football massively.” | “With Football Manager we try to create a living, breathing world, so everyone’s game is already different,” Miles Jacobson, director of Sports Interactive, the makers of Football Manager, told the Guardian. “This was just too important to ignore; it’s something that’s going to affect people in the UK massively, and it’s something that’s going to affect football massively.” |
| The decision to include Brexit in Football Manager was made the day after the EU referendum vote. “I’d done a lot of research into Brexit before the vote, because obviously it’s going to affect my business,” Jacobson explained. “After the vote, I thought, how is this going to affect football? When I went through all the different scenarios that could happen I realised this is really interesting and will affect the game in quite major ways. I went into the office on Monday and said that I’d designed this and it’s going in, and everyone was like: ‘OK, great’.” | The decision to include Brexit in Football Manager was made the day after the EU referendum vote. “I’d done a lot of research into Brexit before the vote, because obviously it’s going to affect my business,” Jacobson explained. “After the vote, I thought, how is this going to affect football? When I went through all the different scenarios that could happen I realised this is really interesting and will affect the game in quite major ways. I went into the office on Monday and said that I’d designed this and it’s going in, and everyone was like: ‘OK, great’.” |
| He said that the decision was partly down to a desire to educate people on the different possible outcomes. “I still believe there are too many untruths coming from both sides – the pro leaving the EU side and the wanting to stay in the EU side – to actually be able to see what the facts are,” he said. | He said that the decision was partly down to a desire to educate people on the different possible outcomes. “I still believe there are too many untruths coming from both sides – the pro leaving the EU side and the wanting to stay in the EU side – to actually be able to see what the facts are,” he said. |
| “From a design perspective it’s been fascinating as well, because the percentage chances have been changing on a regular basis. The Conservative conference showed that hard Brexit is now the most likely option, so the chances of that happening went up in the game. I had a big argument with one of the guys in the studio, who’s actually based in Scotland, about the possibilities of Scotland having another referendum off the back of the vote. He was saying: ‘No, it’s never going to happen’, but we put it in there with a tiny percentage chance, and then of course Nicola Sturgeon said last week that she’s pushing for a second referendum, so the chances of that went up in the game.” | “From a design perspective it’s been fascinating as well, because the percentage chances have been changing on a regular basis. The Conservative conference showed that hard Brexit is now the most likely option, so the chances of that happening went up in the game. I had a big argument with one of the guys in the studio, who’s actually based in Scotland, about the possibilities of Scotland having another referendum off the back of the vote. He was saying: ‘No, it’s never going to happen’, but we put it in there with a tiny percentage chance, and then of course Nicola Sturgeon said last week that she’s pushing for a second referendum, so the chances of that went up in the game.” |
| Players of Football Manager will be alerted at some point between two and 10 years into the game that trade negotiations have begun. A year later a news bulletin will reveal the exact extent of Brexit. “There are three different scenarios in the game,” Jacobson said. “The first is a soft Brexit option, which allows for freedom of movement of workers inside the EU. The second option allows for freedom of movement for footballers, which is similar to the special exception in place for entertainers, whereby it is easier for them to obtain work permits than other people. | Players of Football Manager will be alerted at some point between two and 10 years into the game that trade negotiations have begun. A year later a news bulletin will reveal the exact extent of Brexit. “There are three different scenarios in the game,” Jacobson said. “The first is a soft Brexit option, which allows for freedom of movement of workers inside the EU. The second option allows for freedom of movement for footballers, which is similar to the special exception in place for entertainers, whereby it is easier for them to obtain work permits than other people. |
| “The third option, hard brexit, moves EU players into the same work permit situation that non-EU players face at the moment, and that is a points-based system, where you get points based on your salary, based on the transfer fee, based on which national team you play for and where they are in the Fifa rankings, and based on the club that you’ve come from and how good that club is.” | “The third option, hard brexit, moves EU players into the same work permit situation that non-EU players face at the moment, and that is a points-based system, where you get points based on your salary, based on the transfer fee, based on which national team you play for and where they are in the Fifa rankings, and based on the club that you’ve come from and how good that club is.” |
| What was shown before Brexit, he added, was that 150 footballers who are regularly playing in the Premier League or Scottish Premiership from the EU would not have got work permits under the current non-EU system. “That includes players like N’Golo Kanté and Dimitri Payet, who were two of the best players in the Premier League last season. They would not have been given work permits because neither played enough for France to have qualified.” | What was shown before Brexit, he added, was that 150 footballers who are regularly playing in the Premier League or Scottish Premiership from the EU would not have got work permits under the current non-EU system. “That includes players like N’Golo Kanté and Dimitri Payet, who were two of the best players in the Premier League last season. They would not have been given work permits because neither played enough for France to have qualified.” |
| The knock-on effect of this would be that the quality of players in the top league would start to drop, but it would also mean that more British UK players would be playing regular football at the highest levels. | The knock-on effect of this would be that the quality of players in the top league would start to drop, but it would also mean that more British UK players would be playing regular football at the highest levels. |
| “There are various different scenarios that could kick in if we go down the hard brexit route. It might be that the work permit system changes slightly to make it easier for players to get permits. It could also be that we use a system that’s currently used in Italy for non-EU players, where you don’t have to get a work permit but each club is limited by the amount of foreign players that they could have – in Italy it’s two players outside the EU. | “There are various different scenarios that could kick in if we go down the hard brexit route. It might be that the work permit system changes slightly to make it easier for players to get permits. It could also be that we use a system that’s currently used in Italy for non-EU players, where you don’t have to get a work permit but each club is limited by the amount of foreign players that they could have – in Italy it’s two players outside the EU. |
| “Another scenario we’ve included is the hardest of all Brexit options – if Theresa May and the government are not able to negotiate for UK nationals to be able to stay in the EU if they’re living there currently, and decide that the current foreign nationals are living in the UK also have to go through a work permit system. That could see a lot of players having to leave the UK as well while still under contract.” | “Another scenario we’ve included is the hardest of all Brexit options – if Theresa May and the government are not able to negotiate for UK nationals to be able to stay in the EU if they’re living there currently, and decide that the current foreign nationals are living in the UK also have to go through a work permit system. That could see a lot of players having to leave the UK as well while still under contract.” |
| Football Manager 2017 will be released on 4 November on PC, Mac and Linux with a mobile version for iOS and Android devices following on 17 November. The game is highly time-intensive, and the average player spends around 240 hours on the game each year. So accurate is the level of detail that some football clubs are now using it as a resource to help scout players. | |
| While Jacobson, who was awarded an OBE in 2011 for services to the computer game industry, has factored in every Brexit scenario he can think of, he tries focus on the positives as well. “I think that a hard Brexit would be potentially bad financially for football, unless the football authorities work very closely with the government to be able to get the freedom of movement, because if the players that are playing in the football leagues aren’t as good anymore then the value of those leagues could go down when it comes to the next round of TV deals. | While Jacobson, who was awarded an OBE in 2011 for services to the computer game industry, has factored in every Brexit scenario he can think of, he tries focus on the positives as well. “I think that a hard Brexit would be potentially bad financially for football, unless the football authorities work very closely with the government to be able to get the freedom of movement, because if the players that are playing in the football leagues aren’t as good anymore then the value of those leagues could go down when it comes to the next round of TV deals. |
| “But even in the worst-case scenario, there are glimpses of hope, because the more British players that play at the top level, the better chance England, Scotland, Northern Ireland or Wales have at international success. “If you need your silver lining, then that is it.” | “But even in the worst-case scenario, there are glimpses of hope, because the more British players that play at the top level, the better chance England, Scotland, Northern Ireland or Wales have at international success. “If you need your silver lining, then that is it.” |
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