FM-Britain’s community roundup takes a look at the recent happenings around the Football Manager scene - informing our readers of the latest and greatest FM2010 content posted on the web. We’re committed in promoting the highest quality material, even if it’s not here at FM-Britain!

We may have cornered the market on the most in-depth tactical information, but definitely support our friends in the community who provide you with great downloads, guides, articles, graphics and more. We’ll try to give a shout out to as many of our scene partners as possible, but don’t feel bad if something wasn’t included this time… there’s always next week!

The Away Stand: FM2010 For True Fans

In the aftermath of a new Football Manager release, excited & eager users scour the web for the best resources, graphics, guides and discussion. Adding to the already potent mix of high quality sources for this information, the community has added a brand new player to the fan site scene. The Away Stand - FM2010 For True Fans and TAS 2010 Forums have just opened their doors to a blazing start with a heap load of fresh, unique content for the obsessed FM’er.

While I don’t necessarily agree with the moniker of the site being for “true” fans (sounds a little egotistical to me), you can’t refute the great amount of activity in their forums and posted content in only their first week of business. Useful for new Football Manager gamers, I applaud their start of an FM encyclopedia where they have posted some easy-to-understand help files for functions that us experienced users have grown accustomed to. From to explaining current and potential abilities to having real players in the German and Japanese national teams, it’s a good starting point to answer some of the most common questions about Football Manager 2010. I hope to see this section expanded more at TAS over the next few months and really be a go-to resource for newbie help!

In addition, TAS has also started producing custom FM2010 databases, some user-created tactics as well as some editorial pieces by members giving personal takes on issues related to the game. In What did Sports Interactive do right?, Zoli takes a look at the differences between the marketing and development of FM2010 over that of last year’s version. Definitely check out his thoughts and post a comment!

From an overall perspective, some people in the Football Manager community may think the market is already saturated with content and forum discussion as it is… but I really think there’s always room for more quality resources and more user participation. You can’t deny the fact that over 1 million people play the game we love - so let’s get as many of them involved and help them out using our experience to help the masses! The Away Stand is a great place to start your journey!

FM2010 Free Transfers For The Scouting-Impaired

This past week I’ve been getting barraged on Twitter @FMBritain with requests for good free player recommendations. Although we always promote the “do it yourself” mentality when playing Football Manager, I’m not going to alienate those who don’t embark in their FM career the same way we do.

That being said, the True Football Manager blog has a very detailed list of Football Manager 2010 Free Players that can help you when on a tight budget - which is especially true managing a lower division side or a club with an insurmountable debt on their books. They highlight up to the 10 best options at each position, including the player age, nationality and even a few screenshots thrown in with several player’s full attribute sets. I’d highly recommend this list for anyone needing a little extra nudge in their squad quality on the cheap. (but why not “man up” and do your own scouting?!)

Play The Name Game at the Official Football Manager Website

To celebrate the release of Football Manager 2010, Sports Interactive made T-shirts commemorating 4 of the world’s greatest ever managers on Earth. Of course, there were some heavyweight contenders for this honour but after a few heated ‘discussions’ and several broken tea cups they decided on: Busby, Shankly, Clough and Stein. They’re now giving you the chance to get your hands on one of five of these limited edition, must have fashion items!

In order to have a chance to win, they’ve posted up attribute screenshots of three players in FM2010 - just e-mail your answers, with the title ‘The Name Game’ and your postal address, to: [email protected]. Work on your player filters everyone, it’s not that hard to figure it out once you set them up properly! The contest ends on November 25, so definitely get your entry in right away for chance at the prize!

FM-Britain’s Follow Friday

This is our chance to give a “shout out” to some of our friends in the Football Manager community across the social media landscape. If you aren’t on Twitter or Facebook… have you been hiding under a rock the past few years?!?! Sign up and get with the times!

I’m on both platforms all the time chatting about FM2010 and FMLive, sharing links from around the scene and helping users out with their Football Manager related problems. I humbly suggest you follow us on Twitter @FMBritain or become a fan of ours on Facebook and join in the conversation! In addition, here’s a few more quality members to check out:

@FMView - the guys from www.fm-view.com, regular tweeters on all things FM related.

@allthingsfooty - Kevin McCauley from “All Things Footy” on Blog Talk Radio. He’s always on Twitter actively discussing the latest in the world of football!

@FM2010Drewster - a newbie on the scene tweeting his highs and lows playing Football Manager 2010. (currently managing Man Utd though - try a tougher club Drew!)

Do you run a blog/website? Did you write a good FM-related article or uploaded an entertaining video? Have you created an awesome graphics pack? Let me know! E-mail me! Maybe next week your content will be featured here in the FM-Britain community roundup!