Options to change the look and make it brighter for you to view it better are good ideas.
But I couldn’t disagree more with all of the rest of your suggestions (and I’m just as much of an old fart. I remember playing Toms’s Football Manager version on the Acorn Electron! 👴)
FMM is a game without levels. You’re dropped in at the deep end and you have to figure the game out for yourself. Other games lead players through a series of levels to give them knowledge of how to play. The fact you can do whatever you want in as many varying ways as FMM provides is one of its strengths.
As you say, it still appeals to the casual player as they load up a big club and knock out a successful season and then move on to another game altogether. An over simplified version of FMM would only appeal to the those kinds of players.
The players who get to the point where FMM becomes easy are the ones you want to stick around. They are the ones who are likely to make FMM their main game and come back for the next version. They are also the annoying ones who come on to the forums demanding changes to the game to try and make it better. 😁
They move on to doing challenges and find ways to make the game harder. This is the one area I think FMM could stand out out from its big brother. Bring options into the game you can turn on to make it harder. E.g., Limited transfers, unable to break the wage budget, etc. and a way to make your own challenges—whether player, manager or club based.
In my opinion the reason FMM has struggled in recent years is when people find they no longer have time for the full FM version they look for something less involved. Unfortunately this player base gets split between FMT and FMM. (And presumably the console version but I’ve never played it.) It’s also now split between Apple Arcade and Netflix.
Personally I think FMM hits the sweet spot better than FMT. FMM23/FMM24 have been the best versions I’ve played. But the subscription model is a big turn off. And it will mean the hardcore FMM community will probably get smaller than bigger. (I’ve just cancelled Netflix so I’m back to FMM23 for a few months at least.)
But then if FMM would have stopped being developed without Netflix then it’s a no brainer really.