A couple of years on from TNT Sports’ YouTube documentary series, where Bromley offered a Football Manager player the chance to be a part of their backroom staff, we caught up with the winner Nathan Owolabi to reflect on his time at the club and what he’s up to now.
In January 2024, amidst a promotion battle in the National League, Bromley FC teamed up with XBOX and Football Manager to mark the video game’s 20th anniversary by offering its players the chance to become an official Support Performance Analyst at the professional football club.
The winner? 23-year-old Wembley Stadium tour guide Nathan Owolabi, who became a part of Bromley’s backroom staff for five months and helped the Ravens earn promotion to the EFL for the first time in their 132-year history.
Two years on, Bromley currently sit at the top of the League Two table and are on course to achieve another historic promotion… but what’s life like now for Nathan? Below, I managed to catch up with him as he reflected on his time at Hayes Lane, gave an update on his current progress towards working in football and also discussed all things Football Manager 2026.
It has been close to two years since the first episode of “The Everyday Tactician” series was uploaded onto TNTSportsFootball’s YouTube channel. Can you recall your reaction to the whole collaboration between XBOX and Bromley and how you felt after winning the role?
“My initial reaction to the whole collaboration between XBOX and Bromley was that I was actually surprised. I never expected an opportunity like this to be a thing, and I didn’t expect it to be a thing with a non-league team at the time. So, I was initially surprised but also just quite intrigued about where this would lead and what it would entail.”
“After winning the role, I was just in shock, if I’m honest. I left the interview that I had with the gaffer (Andy Woodman) and CEO Mark Hammond kind of proud that I did it at least, but not really expecting to win the role. But when I did, it was just pure surprise. I was kind of disoriented, if I’m honest, but then that just turned into elation really because it seemed like it was a step towards achieving my goal of working in football.”
What did it feel like being part of a highly intense and focused environment where everyone at the club was eyeing, and eventually earned, a historic promotion?
“It was great! Generally, it was probably the most fun I’ve had in any workplace. I really enjoyed working in the environment, had a lot of fun with the gaffer and with assistant manager Dunney (Alan Dunne) at the time and with basically everybody that was all pulling along the same length and same lines to earn a historic promotion.”
“I met a lot of great people and really really enjoyed it- especially the intensity of the environment and just being focused and working in football 24/7.”
You seemed to have got on well with the Bromley coaching staff. Do you still keep in touch with any of them, in particular boss Andy Woodman?
“Sparingly, but through no fault of their own, it’s just personally, I felt afterwards I got hit with the biggest wave of imposter syndrome that I’ve ever had. I sometimes find it difficult to start speaking back up with them just because personally, I don’t really feel like I effectively earned my way there in the same way that they did.”
“I have messaged them, spoken to them, emailing a couple of times, and it’s fantastic, and yeah, I had a very good relationship with them all.”
If you had to sum up your experience at Bromley FC in 3 words, what would they be and why?
“It would be surreal, relentless and historic.”
“Surreal because it’s probably a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity that I had, and I didn’t expect to get there in the first place, and from every moment it was like a dream come true.”
“Relentless because that is just what Bromley is as a team on the pitch, as a team off the pitch and relentlessly striving for success and improvement. That was something that I was surrounded by every day that I was there.”
“And historic because I mean, at the end of it all, they made a lot of history! The Bromley and XBOX partnership was historic, as well as Bromley themselves getting promoted up into the football league for the first time- a historic feat that you could just see was thoroughly deserved with what they’re doing in the football league this year and even where they finished last year.”
What are you doing now career-wise, and have you received any offers within football since being at Bromley?
“Currently, I’m just a tour guide at Wembley Stadium, and I went back to that job in order to keep making money. It allowed me the flexibility I needed to kind of work on my own time to progress as a coach.”
“So, I am a volunteer coach at my old sixth form which is good and it’s fun, and as an aftercare package from both Bromley and XBOX, they helped me register and fund my UEFA C licence, so I’m a C licence coach as well!”
“I’ve been looking for roles for the last year and a bit now that will allow me to use that qualification and progress in the world of coaching.”
“I didn’t get any job opportunities (after the documentary and whole experience), I did obviously get lots of connections on LinkedIn and people just trying to message me and keep in contact with me to see what I can do in the future- but in terms of job opportunities, as a result of the documentary, none at all.”
“That’s absolutely fine, just been working away and improving myself and, even if it’s not paid, just coaching so I can keep improving my skills and hopefully in the near future try to get a paid role which then helps me progress to be a career coach at the highest level I can possibly do!”
Finally, do you still regularly play Football Manager and if so, what are your opinions on FM26?
“Of course I regularly play Football Manager! It’s been effectively the architect of my biggest achievement in my career so far, so I can’t just leave it to the wayside- I still enjoy it massively.”
“I think that it (FM26) was a good step forward, which was unfortunately undercooked. I think loads of the improvements to the gameplay worked well, the in possession and out of possession shapes that you can use and the key flagships that they very much advertised throughout their launch period- fantastic!”
“I do think though that the overall experience is a little bit worse than it has been in past years, and that very much does have an impact on the game, how it plays, how you receive it. So, although I am enjoying the game and still playing it quite regularly and doing online saves with a couple of friends of mine, it’s not my most played Football Manager and it does just fall a little bit flat in comparison to previous years.”
“It’s still a game that I enjoy very very much, and I look forward to seeing where the series goes in the future with quite a bit of refinement from what is a good step forward from the technological and gameplay standpoint.”
