Miles Jacobson, the man behind Football Manager, has admitted he received death threats from furious fans after he took the tough decision to cancel last year’s game
The man behind the Football Manager games says he received death threats from furious fans after cancelling last year’s edition.
Miles Jacobson made the revelation in an interview with GP after the launch of the new game. The Studio director of Sports Interactive said some of the threats were so credible they forced him to abandon his attendance at a live football match.
He was speaking to the magazine about the fallout from the decision to scrap last year’s edition of Football Manager for the first time since 2003.
Jacobson, a lifelong Watford FC fan, said the plug was pulled during the Christmas period last year, following an initial delay from the game’s traditional November release.
“The game was completely hollow,” he told GQ.
Jacobson also spoke of the cost of the cancellation to his business, Sports Interactive, as well as parent company SEGA.
He said the decision cost Sports Interactive a full year’s revenue, while knocking a whole four per cent off SEGA’s stock price.
Jacobson said: “Knowing that I’ve failed to ship a game entirely… it hit me hard.”
The 54-year-old revealed he received death threats after cancelling the game last year, and that one was so credible he was forced to pull out of attending a match at Watford’s Vicarage Road, where he has held a season ticket for most of his life.
He told GQ: I found that really f****** odd. I needed a hug, I didn’t need a kicking.”
Football Manager 2026 was released earlier this month.
The game was Watford FC’s shirt sponsor during the 2012-13 season, partly due to Jacobson’s love of the club.
The game has continued to be associated with the club in some capacity ever since.
In July, the Hornets played a pre-season friendly against AFC Wimbledon that was billed as the ‘Football Manager Cup’, due to the two clubs having both shared the sponsor.