Good day! Usually at this time of year I pose the question of where the current Premier League managers can be found. I also fancied doing an updated list of where the 20 current managers can be found in CM9798, so with time at a premium I have decided to combine the two this Sunday morning. Let’s get to it.

Arsenal – Mikel Arteta

Last year I wrote this article when Unai Emery had just been binned and Freddie Ljungberg was running the show. Both were in CM9798 and life was easier. Arteta was just a boy in 1997, in Barcelona’s academy and nowhere near CM9798. Instead, here’s the Under-23 manager Steve Bould. Talk about second prize…

Aston Villa – Dean Smith

Here we have Dean Smith, now Aston Villa manager, Like most of the Leyton Orient team he is very handy, his high stats for heading, tackling and positioning making him far better than a 3rd division defender.

His influence of 20 makes him captain material and no doubt will help him in a managerial capacity also.

Brighton – Graham Potter

Graham Potter hasn’t exactly taken the traditional route to Premier League management. Honing his skills in Sweden, he is now doing a good job at Brighton. Back in 1997, he was a young left back at West Brom.

He doesn’t really amount to much in game with very average stats but most importantly, he shares my birthday!

Burnley – Sean Dyche

Voice of an angel Sean Dyche is up next. Flair of 16. Just let that sink in. Dyche was apparently quite the utility man in his day and was part of that Chesterfield team that made the FA Cup semi finals the previous season.

Again I’ve never really seen Dyche end up in management in the game but you’d be looking at 10 or so seasons for that.

Chelsea – Frank Lampard

Frank Lampard is a Chelsea legend as a player and is well on the way to backing up his playing achievements as a manager. It’s easy to forget though that way back in 1997, he was a West Ham lad.

Lampard is a funny one in game, he has some incredible stats mixed with some fairly poor ones. As a result his development is not always brilliant and you don’t really know which one you will end up with.

Crystal Palace – Roy Hodgson

Ah Roy. He’s always here. After replacing Frank De Boer as Crystal Palace managera few years ago he has turned Palace from relegation scrappers to mid table scrappers. Back in 1997 he’s Blackburn manager and from experience usually ends up at Chelsea when Vialli quits. He doesn’t make Tore Andre Flo take the corners though, so that’s something he developed over time.

Also, I’ve never seem him end up with the England job. Just a passing comment.

Everton – Carlo Ancelotti

Ancelotti can be found in CM9798 as the Parma manager. This was only Ancelotti’s second management job, returning to the club he started his professional career at.

The Parma squad is amazing due to Ancelotti guiding them to 2nd and Champions League football in 96/97. Parma actually finished 6th and he got sacked but in game they are a danger (but he usually gets sacked anyway)

Fulham – Scott Parker

Parker actually made his debut for Charlton in 1997 but he isn’t deemed worthy of a spot on CM9798. They could have even added him on the patch, but whatever. There’s a real lack of options here so the best I can do is their Under 18s manager, Mark Pembridge.

Leeds United – Marcelo Bielsa

It’s a bit of a crime that Bielsa isn’t in CM9798 but he was at Velez Sarsfield and Argentinian club sides aren’t particularly well represented. His club staff are equally obscure so Leeds are the only team I can’t offer you anything for. Sorry.

Leicester City – Brendan Rodgers

There’s no Brendan Rodgers in game so…here is his goalkeeping coach, Mike Stowell.

Sorry Leicester fans, it is as good as I can do.

Liverpool – Jurgen Klopp

Jurgen Klopp is doing great things at Liverpool but as a defender in CM9798 he is average at best. That aggression of 10 is kind, we’ve all seen mad Klopp. Also stamina of 8 is ironic given his gegenpressing ways. Klopp did go on to manage Mainz which lead him to Dortmund where he really came to flourish as a coach.

Manchester City – Pep Guardiola

Guardiola was excellent as a player and somehow even better as a manager. He is quite possibly the best player we have in the list today. As you’d expect, creativity, passing and technique are all very high. What else can you say really?

Manchester United – Ole Gunnar Solskjaer

Another barely still in a job is Ole Gunnar Solskjaer. He manages the club he plays for in 1997 which is about the only positive I can say about this man. I don’t like him but I will concede he was a bloody good finisher.

I don’t think anybody would have predicted 23 years ago that he would go on to manage the club but how long he remains in charge for is an ongoing debate.

Newcastle United – Steve Bruce

Bruce has managed just about everybody and always goes into management in the game, so I guess many will have predicted that Geordie Steve Bruce would end up in charge of Newcastle eventually.

He’s a defender at the end of his career in game and would go on to manage Birmingham along with most of the football league.

Sheffield United – Chris Wilder

Chris Wilder the manager is very highly thought of. He was doing a great job at Sheffield United but it’s started going awry recently. He also performed well at Northampton. Chris Wilder the CM9798 right back is not held in the same regard, though he isn’t awful. There’s quite a few high stats in here:

You can guarantee if he was a centre back he would be overlapping.

Southampton – Ralph Hassenhuttl

I really didn’t expect to find Ralph Hasenhuttl in the database…especially not at Lierse in Belgium. I’m quite impressed by him, in that he is some sort of creative beanpole target man.

I guess he is 6 foot 3 so I suspect he was good in the air in his day. He played for Tom Reed’s Austria in our Euro 2020 earlier in the year.

Tottenham Hotspur – Jose Mourinho

Mourinho himself isn’t in CM9798 so I’ve had to cheat and offer you Tottenham’s Head of Coaching (how grand) – Chris Powell.

Powell collected 5 England caps (Sven.) but is now the Head of Coaching from the Under 17-23s age groups.

West Brom – Sam Allardyce

Well look who’s big in the back time

If somebody could go back in time and stop Big Sam becoming a blight on football that would be most handy. He’ll probably keep West Brom up, let’s be honest.

West Ham – David Moyes

Everybody’s favourite in-game error

Glaswegian David Moyes is a 34 year old Englishman here. He can head a ball though. I don’t think I’ve ever seen him become a manager in the game though.

Wolverhampton Wanderers – Nuno

I’ve made so many safe pair of hands jokes about Nuno which nobody gets (or maybe people have just grown tired of me, you can’t rule that out) so here he is. A GOALKEEPER. SAFE HANDS. He’s only 21 back in 97/98 and hadn’t really gone on to much but his stats suggest he could be good in future…though really who wants an injury prone goalkeeper? That’s just asking for trouble.

If nothing else, he now has a big grey beard and I tell you what, he looks a lot older than 45. Because he is. That date of birth is wrong and he’s actually 47 in January.

That’s the managers done but is anybody still playing from CM9798?

The most obvious one is Gianluigi Buffon, who is just making his way at Parma. He is still at Juventus in real life after a brief spell at PSG.

Another favourite, albeit a little less conventional is Kazuyoshi Miura in Japan. He’s 30 in the game but 53 in real life but is still turning out for Yokohama FC. 275 appearances in 15 years does not exactly equate to being a regular any longer but at 53, I think it’s great he’s stil

That’s it for the professionals though, previous stalwarts of this list such as Bywater, Hughes and Keane have all called it a day. I imagine there are a lot more at non-league level, such as Jamie Cureton who is player-manager at Enfield

Do you know any more? Get in touch!