THE BAND STRIKES UP: WHAT’S NEW BEFORE LAUNCH
Ten days before release, the last big update before launch has gone up to Steam. Most of it came from a long look back at what English football was actually like between 1959 and 1989, and what a manager of the day would have seen, heard and had to deal with.
The matchday, season by season. Before kick-off in the 60s a brass band marches across the pitch, drum major and mace in front, with the bass drum banging in step. When the game starts it marches on and fades away. The ball, the keeper’s jersey, the collars and the shirt sponsors all change with the years. The half time scoreboard slots in the other scores letter by letter. Rattles, rosettes, wrist scarves, toilet rolls, the fences, the police, the inflatables, straw on a frosty pitch and a few plastic pitches all turn up in the seasons they turned up in real life. When one of ours goes down, the trainer runs on with his bucket and sponge.
Club status, in pictures. The last six results, the league position and the home gates game by game, the trophy cabinet with the years engraved, and the club’s story drawn season by season. Finances & Board shows where the money comes from and how the bank is doing, with the chairman’s face to match.
The rules and the money of the day. The three-day week of 1974, bookings that add up to a ban, the visitors’ share of the gate until 1983, the cup tie gate split and the replay’s gate, the club lottery, the safety bills of 1975 and 1985, and the ban from Europe in 1985.
The manager’s year. The cup draw on the radio, manager of the month, the transfer deadline in March, the Christmas do, the supporters’ player of the year, testimonials, the summer tour and the August shield.
And the rest. A sound switch in the settings. Every banned or injured player tells you when he’s back. The weather and the birds come to the streets outside the club. The training ground runs the drills of each decade. The handbook inside the game has a new chapter on all of it.
THE GAFFER is out on Steam on 30 October 2026, for Windows, Mac, Linux and the Steam Deck.