Hello! The saved game might be finished but there’s still lots more to come on CM9798.co.uk. Here’s a look at where each of the current crop of managers plying their trade in the Premier League can be found on CM9798.

Eddie Howe

Before Eddie Howe was deemed the best young manager who ever stepped foot on planet Earth (we’ll all ignore his stint at Burnley), young Eddie used to play a bit too. His stats aren’t that bad for a centre half – decent position, heading & strength but Division 2 Bournemouth are having none of it. He’s on the transfer list. If only you knew what was coming lads.

Arsene Wenger

We all know where Wenger is. Where he’ll always be. Manager of Arsenal – nothing to see here, folks.

Sean Dyche

Dyche, Dyche baby. The versatile Sean Dyche moved to Bristol City for the 1997/98 season and plays alongside such luminaries as Paul Tisdale, Brian Tinnion and Shaun Goater. The whereabouts of his goatee and the graveliness of his voice are not include in the stats unfortunately but that flair stat seems unlikely.

Antonio Conte

Now, this is a player. Conte is a vital part of Juventus’ all star squad, sharing a midfield with Davids, Deschamps, Zidane…and a young Fabio Pecchia, who went on to be Rafa Benitez’ assistant at Real Madrid. Pointless fact. Anyway, Conte sits top of the Premier League as of this writing but whether he celebrates every goal with as much vigour when he was playing, I am yet to find out.

Alan Pardew

Currently hanging onto his job at Crystal Palace, the Pardy man was clinging on to his playing career to start 97/98. Having left his role as player-coach at Barnet the previous season, he went on to move to Reading with manager Terry Bullivant. Wisely, looking at his stats, he never made an appearance. He’s nursing a bruished thigh here – someone else’s fault, of course.

Ronald Koeman

Koeman retired at the end of the 1996/97 season so he shouldn’t be in CM9798. However, luckily for me/you he’s in the database just in case he had decided to carry on.

I’ve therefore un-retired him for the sake of this article. His stats are feast or famine, but really this is a guy who is one of the top scoring defenders of all time who spent most of his career playing at sweeper, you’d be fairly daft to use him as an out and out centre back as he apparently can’t run or head. Maybe that is why he called it a day.

Mike Phelan

Mike Phelan has an England cap!? Apparently he got it in 1989 against Italy – mamma mia. Worryingly, Wiki seems to think he retired in 1995 and went into being assistant manager at a variety of clubs, most famously Manchester United. I would like to buy him a pint for the time he popped that balloon next to Fergie, fair play for that. Hull are a bit of a mess and Mike was the only man who’d take it on. Brave or stupid? We’ll know in May, but I won’t be signing him on 9798.

Claudio Ranieri

Ranieri is 65 and retired in 1986. He’s on the game, managing Valencia, but even on CM9798 he didn’t win the league with Leicester.

Jurgen Klopp

Klopp started his career as a striker but gave that up to be a defender in 1995. Even in the mid 90s he was being a bit zany. In all seriousness, Klopp’s style of football is great but I don’t think anybody saw it coming back in 1997. His stats are quite average and I’m disappointed they don’t have him as a defender/striker, like a German Dion Dublin.

Pep Guardiola

Ah, Pep. Or Josep as he was back then. Guardiola was a world class midfielder in 1997 and it should come as no surprise that he went on to be a great manager. The Barcelona team on this game also includes Luis Enrique, who is one of the managers to succeed Pep at Barcelona, but also Juan Antonio Pizza who has gone on to be the manager of Chile. Of course. I can’t tell you anything about Guardiola you don’t know already, I’m afraid.

Jose Mourinho

The Special One was the Special Number Two back in 1997, being an assistant manager at Barcelona having worked with Sir Bobby Robson the previous season. You don’t need me to tell you about this man.

Aitor Karanka

I’m not really sure what took Aitor Karanka to Middlesbrough but he was assistant to Jouse Mourinho at Real Madrid before that. Having achieved his first cap for Spain in 1995, that somewhat surprisingly was the only time he played for his country, although he was largely a backup at Real Madrid. Before he was randomly walking out his players before leading them to promotion months later, Karanka was setting a trend by finishing his career in 1996 in the MLS at Colorado Rapids. With his aggression and strength at 20, he might have been better suited to a career in UFC.

Claude Puel

Southampton boss Puel retired in 1996 and went on to manager Monaco in 1999. He spent his whole playing career but I can’t find him on 9798 in any capacity

Mark Hughes

Mark ‘Sparky’ Hughes was in the twilight of his career in 1997, but as shown by his injury proneness of 1, he was still very durable and went on to play until 2002. I’m going to go out on a limb here – Mark Hughes is under appreciated as a player. Maybe it’s because he is a very irritating manager, but here’s a guy who played for Man Utd, Barcelona and Bayern Munich amonst others in a 22 year playing career. On 9798, Hughes is a useful foil for Gianfranco Zola and/or Gianluca Vialli, but his determination and influence of 20 show why he went on to be a manager. Some people are made for it.

David Moyes

David Moyes was born in Glasgow. He has a Scottish accent and…likes kilts. Anyway, he’s not English and I have no idea why he is English on the 9798 database. Sack the researcher. Handily, you can help me track this man down as the game names and shames him

Are you Gary N? If so, come and have a chat. Talk me through it. Moyesy though…the Sunderland boss became Preston manager during the 97/98 season and was a player/assistant before that. It’s good that he has high adaptability, that’ll serve him well if he has to work at a big club or abroad. Oh.

Bob Bradley

Bob was out of work in 1997, even if he wasn’t it would have been a leftfield inclusion. He’s been managing since 1981, which seems a long time.

Mauricio Pochettino

Poch spent much of his career playing or managing Espanyol and that is where we find him here. He went on to get 20 caps for Argentina, his stats are fairly solid with good heading and strength and he’s no slouch either. To think, many were outraged when Southampton ditched Nigel Adkins for this guy. Then again, Poch went on to ditch them for Spurs so maybe they were onto something. An undoubtedly astute manager but avery useful centre half in his day.

Walter Mazzarri

The Watford boss wasn’t managing in 1997, having retired in 1995.

Tony Pulis

Pulis was manager of Gillingham in 1997, no doubt setting up with 4 centre halves and 3 holding midfielders just to be careful. Great set pieces though. Usually gets sacked by Gillingham in the first few seasons, however if they ever find themselves in a Premier League relegation fight you can guarantee they’d want him back.

Slaven Bilic

West Ham manager and apaprent legend (49 league appearances…) is at Everton in 1997. He’s a very useful centre half with good defensive stats, and of course went on to the World Cup semi finals in 1998 where he ruined the tournament for Laurent Blanc. I like Bilic, he was a good pundit during Euro 2016 but fundamentally he did sign Zaza, and some things can’t be forgiven.