‘NUTMEG!' Brings ‘Balatro'-Style Retro Football Manager To PC In 2026
Developer Sumo Sheffield and publisher Secret Mode have pitched NUTMEG! as a card-based football management game that draws on the heady days of English league football from the 1980s and 1990s, long before the Premier League was even a thing — when you could park your car on the touchline, have a cigarette or five during the game, and don a replica of some of the most questionable kits in history. Who doesn't want WANG on their bright yellow shirt?
NUTMEG! puts players in charge of a Fourth Division team, and you need to guide them through two decades of competition as you play for promotion to the top level, while securing legendary players before anyone realizes just how good they are.
Success is a balancing act: management duties unsurprisingly include transfers, training, ticket pricing, and PR, but the meat on NUTMEG!'s bones is with its deck-building mechanics. Cards are earned through training and deployed in fast-paced, strategic battles at key moments on the pitch.
Along the way, NUTMEG! promises to keep things exciting in the longer term, unlocking new teams, tactics, and abilities along the way. All the while, both die-hard football fans and newcomers alike will get the chance to relive the game's most iconic eras through classic kits. Who doesn't want PLEASURE ISLAND on their fever dream shirt?
NUTMEG! also proudly follows in the footsteps of classic International Superstar Soccer games with its evident lack of licensing. All teams that aren't straightforward place names (e.g. Newcastle, Oxford) are a little more creative, meaning that Arsenal become Artillery, Nottingham Forest are Sherwood FC, Tottenham Hotspur transform into North London, and Everton are Mersey Blues. If anything, it gives it even more retro charm.
This sideways glance at the soccer management sim may not arrive until next year, but fear not — Kevin Toms Football Star Manager, a faithful remake of the very first Football Manager game from 1982, lands on Steam in mid-August, and you'd better believe that I'll be taking Hartlepool United all the way to the top of the English football pyramid.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Yahoo
22 minutes ago
- Yahoo
Bradley Barcola transfer would throw up crucial Alexander Isak and Marc Guehi question for Liverpool
Liverpool's 2025 summer transfers will be remembered for many years to come as a whirlwind window, one that FSG seemingly unshackled itself of the usual constraints, flexed its muscles and showed that the Reds are among the biggest on the planet. Few could have seriously predicted a summer spend of just under $400 million, or around £300M. The arrivals of Florian Wirtz, Jeremie Frimpong, Milos Kerkez and Hugo Ekitike are statement signings on the back of such a convincing title win - and they could still be eclipsed by Alexander Isak's potential deal. Should Newcastle United's stance soften, then Liverpool is likely to make its move despite already landing a new No. 9. But for all the hype, the squad remains light in two key departments. Center-back is the most obvious given Trey Nyoni, Andy Robertson and Wataru Endo all started at the heart of defense during Monday's double header against Athletic Bilbao. READ MORE: Liverpool 'admires' Marc Guehi transfer alternative as Reds face Tottenham competition READ MORE: Everything Eddie Howe has said on Alexander Isak as striker banished amid Liverpool transfer saga Arne Slot's resources in the wide areas should also raise a few eyebrows. Luis Diaz's departure and the expected exit of Federico Chiesa leaves the Reds with just two recognized senior wingers in Mohamed Salah and Cody Gakpo. Rio Ngumoha is expected to play a bigger part at first-team level this term, although Slot will be wary of placing too much onus on a 16-year-old's shoulders. Ben Doak could also be an option, but is open to leaving this summer, while Frimpong, Dominik Szoboszlai and Ekitike can all be utilized out wide. But it's still an area of concern for the Reds. Rodrygo has been mentioned as a possible solution, Anthony Gordon's name has again cropped up in media whispers, and Malick Fofana was briefly flavor of the month. On Wednesday, with less than four weeks of the window left, another name emerged. Bradley Barcola will need no introduction to Liverpool supporters. The 22-year-old played in every single Paris Saint-Germain Champions League game en route to winning the competition last season, including the last-16 matches against Liverpool, and provided 21 goals and 21 assists in all competitions. They're staggering numbers, so reports in L'Equipe that the Reds are considering a move for PSG star, while not ruling out a move for Isak too, will have been well received on Merseyside. Transfer reporter Sacha Tavoleieri has since claimed Liverpool is planning a 'concrete offer' and wrote on X that any transfer would be north of €100M ($117M/£87M). Should it happen, it's a deal that would make sense for Liverpool given its lack of options in the wide areas, while Barcola would fit into the age range and talent required to pique FSG's interest. That he has fallen out of Luis Enrique's first-choice XI is another factor worth considering. On the surface, it seems more practical to add a winger above a striker - although that stance could shift if Darwin Nunez leaves in the next few days. A common question over recent weeks has been how Liverpool can afford such a lavish outlay this window. Those in the know on the complex topics of PSR, SCR, and FFP have repeatedly insisted Liverpool's finances are so healthy that concluding a deal for Isak remains possible. The bigger question, perhaps, is whether Isak, Barcola, and a center-back—let's say Marc Guehi—could be acquired in the coming weeks while Liverpool remains within the financial regulations. If so, that really would be a summer for the ages! For now, it seems a bizarre verdict on a title-winning squad that has strengthened to such an extent in the market, but Slot's group does still feel a little light in certain areas. Barcola would undeniably help and provide FSG with another statement signing.
Time Magazine
24 minutes ago
- Time Magazine
'Wednesday' Season 2 Is Secretly a Gift to Weird Adults
When it comes to youth culture, nothing is more mainstream right now than outcasts. This is not an anecdotal observation—it's a fact, borne out by the immense popularity of the teen-focused Addams Family spinoff Wednesday, whose first season tops Netflix's list of its most-watched English-language shows of all time, with more than 250 million views. (The next two titles, Adolescence and Stranger Things 4, lag by over 100 million views apiece.) Melding horror and mystery with YA drama, it has made a global star of its 22-year-old lead, Jenna Ortega, whose cannily placed dance scene immediately broke TikTok. Wednesday Addams cracked the top 10 kids' Halloween costumes the year after it debuted, second only to Barbie among name-brand female characters. All of which might suggest to adults that Wednesday is strictly for Gen Z. Its first season certainly supported that impression. The setting—Nevermore Academy, a boarding school for paranormally gifted misfits—recalled Harry Potter's Hogwarts. The plot put a dark but too rarely novel spin on standard coming-of-age tropes, as Ortega's icy, psychic Wednesday navigated roommate troubles and a supernatural love triangle (see also: Buffy, Twilight, The Vampire Diaries). While those elements remain in Season 2, Wednesday, having saturated the Gen Z market, now feels like it's working harder to entertain older viewers—particularly those of us who fondly remember '90s pop culture. Well, it worked on this elder millennial. Parents, don't tell your tweens, but the new episodes of Wednesday are secretly a gift to weird adults. After a speed run through Wednesday's summer vacation, which she naturally spent taking out a creepy serial killer played by Y2K spooky-kid icon Haley Joel Osment, Season 2 (whose first four episodes are now streaming, with the last four to follow on Sept. 3) opens with her return to Nevermore. Having vanquished the murderous alliance of her love interest Tyler (Hunter Doohan) and teacher Marilyn Thornhill (Christina Ricci), who had been conspiring against the school's outcast denizens, she's hailed as a hero. Which only makes her grumpier than usual. Adding to Wednesday's foul mood is her family's increased presence on campus. Her little brother, Pugsley (Isaac Ordonez), has matriculated as an awkward underclassman. And Addams matriarch Morticia (Catherine Zeta-Jones) has been recruited to raise funds for the academy—meaning, of course, that Morticia's adoring husband, Gomez (Luis Guzmán), won't be far away. Eventually there's a spectacular grandmother in the mix. More on her later. Although Wednesday's perky werewolf roomie Enid (Emma Myers) inherits the love-triangle plot, while Pugsley and his roommate Eugene (Moosa Mostafa) get wrapped up in a deeply silly storyline involving a pet zombie, the family stuff is a nice respite from a Nevermore social scene that was always the show's least inspired element. It also gives the wonderful Ortega, whose deadpan yet somehow tender performance carried the first season, a chance to play off of many talented older actors. This isn't an entirely new thing for Wednesday, whose executive producer and director Tim Burton helped discover so many offbeat Gen X-ers. Season 1 also featured Zeta-Jones, Guzmán, and Ricci (a previous generation's Wednesday Addams in two cult-classic '90s movies), as well as Fred Armisen in the role of Uncle Fester and Gwendoline Christie as Nevermore's principal. But this time, the adult Addamses are more integral to the story. Now that it is, by many measures, the biggest show on TV, Wednesday creators and showrunners Alfred Gough and Miles Millar have the clout (also the budget) to really go wild with their casting choices. So Christie's disgraced administrator is replaced by Steve Buscemi's Principal Barry Dort, an outcast-pride advocate who craves Wednesday's approval. Buscemi is, of course, famous for playing weirdos and alternative types; in one of his most beloved roles, he starred opposite Ricci as a lonely record collector in the 2001 film adaptation of Daniel Clowes' sardonic coming-of-age comic Ghost World. The fantastically versatile Billie Piper, who has charmed geeks in Doctor Who and goths in Penny Dreadful, makes an intriguing foil for cello phenom Wednesday as the school's new head of music. Her relatively minor role in the early episodes of the season seems likely to anticipate an increased presence in its second half. Gough and Millar have moved to liberate the show from teen-drama clichés by expanding its world beyond the dating woes and questionable authority figures of Nevermore. Tyler's imprisonment at the nearby Willow Hill Psychiatric Facility—whose grimy environs recall Batman's Arkham Asylum, One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, and so many other fictional houses of psychological horrors—is the site of a promising new (but easily spoiled) subplot. There, Wednesday meets the unorthodox doctor overseeing his treatment, Rachael Fairburn, played by Westworld standout Thandiwe Newton. Appearing as Dr. Fairburn's officious assistant, Judi, is none other than Heather Matarazzo, who entered the oddball hall of fame in 1995 with her portrayal of Welcome to the Dollhouse's middle-school reject Dawn Wiener. It's all pretty delightful for those of us who are old enough to appreciate not just the referential casting, but also the just-campy-enough performances that Buscemi, Matarazzo, and the rest deliver. In that respect (and with apologies to Lady Gaga, who's slated to appear in the back half of the season), no guest star is more apt than Joanna Lumley. Best known for her long-running role as the debauched, aging fashion victim Patsy Stone in the era-defining '90s British sitcom Absolutely Fabulous, Lumley turns the diva dial to 11 as Morticia's mortuary-mogul mother, Hester Frump. (Fun fact: Her Burton connection dates back to his 1996 adaptation of Roald Dahl's ooky children's book James and the Giant Peach.) Not that the performance is pure fluff. One of the season's more resonant themes is mother-daughter strife; Grandmama's estrangement from her daughter and affinity for Wednesday adds another layer of intergenerational mess. Also? For Patsy fans, it's also nice to see Lumley back in a beehive. Speaking of camp, the most enjoyable of the four episodes that dropped this week is one big Addams Family Values Easter egg. Riffing on Wednesday and Pugsley's gloriously destructive journey to sleepaway camp in that 1993 movie, 'Call of the Woe' sees Principal Dort shepherd his students to an overnight wilderness retreat he dubs Camp Outcast. (Gomez and Morticia are also present, as chaperones. You have never seen a tent like the one they construct.) The Nevermore kids soon encounter their ideal nemeses in a troop of normie paramilitary Boy Scout types who've reserved the camp for the same days. The only possible resolution to the double booking—because the two groups have no intention of sharing space—will be obvious to anyone who's ever seen a summer-camp movie from the late 20th century: a color war. I have no doubt that plenty of Gen Z Wednesday viewers have already devoured Addams Family Values and its predecessor and will get the callback. I'm sure they'll also eat up all the new characters and settings, whether they recognize them or not. At the same time, I don't think the new season quite resolves Gough and Millar's confusion about what they want their series, which has its fingers in crime and horror and teen soap and family drama and dark comedy, to be; with such an overcrowded surface, it's hard to achieve much depth. In its second season, however, what was once a show that relied almost exclusively on Ortega now has many more things going for it—one of the most welcome of which is genuine cross-generational appeal.
Yahoo
an hour ago
- Yahoo
Liam Neeson's Longtime Manhattan Penthouse Sells for $10.3 Million
Photo: Krisztina Crane Liam Neeson has officially split with his New York apartment. City property records reveal that the Irish actor has offloaded his Manhattan pad for $10.3 million—about a half a million dollars short of the Upper West Side home's asking price from earlier this year. The buyers are listed as Martin Zetterberg and Joanmarie Zetterberg, per the New York Post. The Taken star initially listed his Manhattan dwelling in 2024 for $12.75 million. He later pulled the residence off the market before re-listing it with a discount to $10.75 million in March 2025 under a different brokerage. Neeson has maintained the Lincoln Square pad since 1999. He originally purchased it for $4 million and resided there with his late wife, English actor Natasha Richardson, and their two sons. Built in 1994, the modern high-rise contains 56 floors. It has become a celebrity enclave over the years, with Howard Stern and Jon Bon Jovi among its past residents. Neeson's unit is situated on the 28th floor; he lived in a 4,524-square-foot space with five bedrooms and five bathrooms, which were assembled by merging three separate units into one. His compounded luxury apartment opens to a lofty foyer, a corner family room, and floor-to-ceiling windows with sweeping 360 views of the Manhattan skyline. The dwelling boasts an open concept chef's kitchen outfitted with luxury appliances, a pantry, and a large dining area. The main bedroom hosts two spa-like baths, a gym, and a home office-slash-library with views of Central Park. The rest of the abode features custom built-ins to showcase Neeson's extensive art collection. The Oscar winner divides his time between a few dwellings in his portfolio, including a 6,000-square-foot country home in Millbrook, New York, and properties in his native Ireland. Neeson revealed to People that he plans on retiring from Hollywood in the near future. He's been making headlines lately both for the release of The Naked Gun as well as for buzz around a budding romance with his co-star, Pamela Anderson which is 'in the early stages,' per an anonymous source to People. 'It's sincere, and it's clear they're smitten with each other,' the unnamed source continued. 'The relationship blossomed out of a mutual appreciation for the simpler things in life. They've bonded over their shared love of nature, classic films and a slower pace. Neither of them are chasing the spotlight and they value their privacy at this point in their life.' Matthew Coleman at Coleman Real Estate Group held the listing. Originally Appeared on Architectural Digest More Great Celebrity Style Stories From AD Dakota Johnson Rejects the Accent Wall, Advocates for Lying About Liking Your Friend's Ugly Decor Let's Talk About Pee-wee's Playhouse See Inside The Phoenician Scheme, Wes Anderson's Zany New Film The Most Delicious Kitchens in AD Open Door History Solve the daily Crossword
