You made it. We all made it. The final post of today’s 25th Anniversary celebration will see us countdown our top 5 CM9798 players. There’s still time to recap if you need to:
And now…the top 5.
5. Ibrahima Bakayoko
Starting off our top 5 is Ibrahima Bakayoko. My love affair with Bakayoko starts more or less on the day I got the game back in 1997. Newcastle are shorn of Alan Shearer for anywhere between 6 to 12 months and I needed to buy a replacement. Near the top of the interested foreign based players was Ibrahima Bakayoko of Montpellier. Unlike his real life stint at Everton, he hit the ground running for me and later went on to partner big Al on his return from injury. Did all his running. Marvellous it was. Ever since then I’ve tried to find a home for Ibrahima, even after his ability was slightly toned down in the patch. Yes, I told all my mates he was going to light up the Premier League for Everton and no, he didn’t even come close. But I forgive him for scoring me hundreds of virtual goals. Welcome to the top 5 Ibrahima.
4. Robert Page
The rise of Rob Page is always quite curious. His ability is only 94 yet he performs extremely well from the outset. His -1 potential obviously helps but he’ll always get a big money move in the first season and if they don’t play him you might be lucky enough to snap him up, like I did in the Barnsley adventure. As a proud Welshman, Deano pays tribute to the great man:
Rob is from Tylorstown in the Rhondda, a place I know very well. Like most Valley folk, Page is straight-talking and down to Earth. Currently working wonders with the Wales National side as we punch above our weight. CM9798-wise, Robert also punches above his lowly Division 2 starting position. Easily gettable from Watford and after a few seasons often blossoms into a world-class centre half. With an influence of 19, he’s a great captain choice as well.
3. John Curtis
In at number is John Curtis. Good grief I could write a book about this man. One of my few regrets from 8 years or so of this website is not being able to get the right honourable JC on for an interview because he is simply a must get. In the out of the box version, he is usually on a free after Man Utd’s over inflated squad can’t take any more. In the patched version, he’s at Man Utd but will inevitably be available for loan if you’re a lower league side and usually available for transfers one or two seasons down the line. With regular game time, he will only get better and usually ends up captaining England. If you’re looking for centre half attributes, JC is your man. Heading, Positioning, Tackling with pace thrown in for good measure. He was some boy in real life too as you can see from this extract from Kieron Dyer’s book – unfortunately he was never able to fully achieve his CM heights but maybe, just maybe one day he will stop by to tell his side of the story.
2. Marc Emmers
Narrowly missing out on the top spot is Marc Emmers. This guy is just a fantastic performer and available for very little at the start of the game. His rating is fitting for an experienced Belgian international but his performances are even better than 137 ability would suggest. Quite what was going on with Emmers in the research remains somewhat of a mystery. When the game his the shelves, Emmers is supposed to be at Perugia. Except, they’ve called him Mark Hemmers and he has 0 for everything including position. The real Marc Emmers obviously already existed in the database and was left on a free transfer.
Don’t worry though, they tried to fix it in the patch. Hemmers became Emmers, still at Perugia and still with 0s for everything. The real Emmers got put at Peruggia…which is not a real team. So he’s at minor team. ‘Sakes. Here’s fellow Belgian Philip to talk him up further.
When Dave asked the Blog Squad to make our Top 25, my fellow countryman Marc Emmers was an obvious one on my list. Would my fellow bloggers think the same? They certainly did. And rightfully so, he is a true icon of the CM9798 game.
I honestly cannot remember the first time I had him on my squad. As a Belgian I played the Belgian league way too many times. You’d imagine he gets picked up by Anderlecht or Brugge, but they are never interested. He ends up at a 2nd tier squad, like Antwerp or Gent, and becomes their star player. As captain he leads the team to a good result.
If you sign him, you get the same effect, doubled if you’re playing 123122 direct. Position him on the 8, make him captain and you’re set for at least 3 seasons. There is one tricky thing to remember: sign Marc Emmers and NOT Mark Emmers (who starts at Perugia)!
And when he retires, search for and pick up his regen.
- Bjorn Heidenstrom
Bjorn is the winner! Not only is Bjorn an absolute baller in CM9798, he’s an absolute gent of a human being. Bjorn will do a job for just about any team and will cost you very little. I think part of his charm as a true CM legend is that it’s all inexplicable. He played 4 games for Leyton Orient in 96/97 and yet is still at the Londoners in the game with incredible stats. His ability is a meagre 85 but he plays well above and beyond that and we love him for it. Nathan also has some nice words to say:
Bjorn is, in my opinion, not just the best player on 9798 but the best player in the entire CM Series. The main reasons for this are that his stats are incredible, He can play in multiple positions, He is cheap & he can cut it in any division. Any team you start a save with that needs help in defence or midfield and Bjorn is the man. He’s so good he’s even had a rock song created just for him! If you want to win Division 3 or the Champions League Bjorn will be a standout player in any team.
A worthy winner and a great chance to plug my interview with him or his appearance on our podcast.
That brings an end to our celebrations today, thanks for sticking with us and we’ll see you for the CM Cup.
Jesper Ljung And Tommy Svindal Larsen deserve to be in the top 5 imo
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