Hello and welcome to the 2024 CM Cup! As ever, I’m not certain how much interest there is to anybody outside of the 23 participants so we’re sticking with the presentation from last year. Thank you to everybody who took part, the format was very different this year but hopefully it didn’t detract too much from the competition.

2024 CM Cup

The 2024 CM Cup is the 8th edition of the Championship Manager Cup, more commonly known as the CM Cup. Matches were played out on Zoom in December 2024 because Dave is an unorganised fool and left it too late.

The 2024 edition saw a format change away from the usual Group Stage into Knockout tournament. Instead, all 23 players were randomly assigned an entrance number and a team. The players drawing one and two would play each other, with the winner staying on and playing participant 3, so on and so forth.

The last surviving team will play a one off final against the team that clocked up the most eliminations to determine the 2024 champions.

Qualification

There were 23 competitors in the 2023 CM Cup. Qualification was achieved by invitation and was issued to a mixture of site contributors, fans of the game and all round good eggs. It was the same invite list as last year but three people didn’t reply, so missed out.

Teams this year were the top 23 clubs by reputation, then sorted by average ability.

Final Draw

The draw to match the participants to a football team was made on 5th December 2024. Myself (Dave) and professional hype man Ross Bell oversaw proceedings. You can watch the draw here but it will spoil the entrants order, so if you want to be surprised then maybe give that a swerve.

Player	Team	Twitter/X	Previous Appearances
Andrew Chapman	Bayern Munich	@KingOfTheRooks	7
Dan Williamson	Deportivo	@winkveron	7 (2017 Winner)
Ross Bell	Ajax	@RossBell__	6 (2019 Winner)
Deano	Lazio	@Emsonite	3
Nathan	Monaco	@FMCM_FC	4
Tom Rostance	Juventus	@TJRostance	5
Nick Rowe	Parma	@NTR9798	4
Zak	PSG	@CornishZak	4
Nikolai	Real Madrid	@9798Nikolai	4
Andrew Walker	Atletico Madrid	@footballacumen	4
Dan Williams	Porto	@S4ooter	5
Jakob	Arsenal	@Williewrap	4
FPLHints	AC Milan	@FPLHints	6 (2018 Winner)
Matt Wills	PSV	@Matt_C_Wills	6
Rob Tait	Man Utd	@Taitanator	6 (2020 Winner)
Dave Mathieson	Liverpool	@DaveMathieson84	5 (2021 Winner)
Charlemagne	Chelsea	@9798V2	3
Gary	Newcastle	@Retrofootballnw	2 (2023 Winner)
Gavin Greaves	Barcelona	@goatnmcl	1
Tom Robinson	Benfica	@tomwjrobinson	1
Shales	Rangers	@PES_DNA	2
Stu’s Footy Flash	Dortmund	@Stusfootyflash	2 (2022 Winner)
Philip Verbist	Inter Milan	@Verbist_Philip	3

We shall now hear The Quinn’s Speech to officially begin the tournament:

The Results

Starting us off were Gavin and Tom, who were unlucky to draw numbers one and two.

Barcelona (Gav) vs Juventus (Tom Rostance)

I suppose one school of thought is you are playing with a better team so more likely to clock up consecutive wins but in a winners stays on format, it cannot be good news to be a low number.

Here’s how Gav lined up

And Tom:

An almighty pummelling to start with, Gav won the toss and at home, Barcelona are going to be a tough nut to crack. Juventus were never really in it.

Tom Rostance is eliminated

Nikolai in at 3…

Barcelona vs Real Madrid (Nikolai)

If the winners tactics stay the same I’ll just post the new entrant. Nikolai has been cooking…

Despite winning the toss for home advantage, some poor finishing from Suker helped Barcelona take another big scalp and eliminate Nikolai’s Real Madrid.

Nikolai is eliminated

2018 winner Ash/FPLHints in at 4

Barcelona vs Milan (FPLHints)

FPLHints (Ash) is the Tinkerman. He’s starting with this but it won’t finish this way.

Ooft. The Barcelona train is showing no signs of stopping. It’s an absolute thrashing in the end. The 2018 champion derailed at the first attempt of regaining his crown.

FPLHints is eliminated

Time for some blog squad input, here’s Belgium’s finest Philip Verbist.

Inter Milan (Philip) vs Barcelona

It’s an impressive side as you would expect as Ronaldo loos to damage the side he left just months earlier.

He does land a blow but his replacement scores twice.

Not pretty at all for Inter.

Philip is eliminated

Up next is another blog squad member and man of the people, King Of The Rooks!

Bayern Munich (KOTR) vs Barcelona

Poor Andrew, having to try and manage this shower again.

It ends like it always does. Sonny Anderson has been great.

Andrew is eliminated

Here comes former winner Ross Bell. This is basically the Honky Tonk Man in the 2001 Rumble coming to see Kane.

Barcelona vs Ajax (Ross)

Ronald De Boer gets the early strike in but then Barcelona come with wave after wave after wave of attack. Van Der Sar repels them all, and helped by some wayward finishing, it somehow finishes 0-1. He’s a honky tonk man…

He’s cool, he’s cocky and he’s bad.

Goatnmcl is eliminated

5 wins might take some beating. Here comes Rob Tait for a Bald-off with Ross.

Man Utd (Rob Tait) vs Ajax (Ross)

A whole new chapter of two bald men fighting over a comb

It’s an incredible match though, separated by the odd goal in 5. De Boer strikes early again but Sheringham and Solskjaer turn it around. Litmanen restores parity and we are heading towards a double elimination until professional nuisance Paul Scholes wins it for Rob.

Ross Bell is eliminated

2022 Champion Stu is next.

Man Utd vs Borussia Dortmund (Stusfootyflash)

Stu comes with the intention to win but Rob’s side dominate the game. The only problem is, the finishing is atrocious with only 4 shots on target out of 20. Kirovski makes a difference from the bench but it finishes 0-0 and both former champions are over the top rope together.

Stusfootyflash and Rob Tait were eliminated

That means we need two new competitors. At number 10 it’s Nath, and Andrew Walker is 11 with Atletico Madrid.

Monaco (Nath) vs Atletico Madrid (Andrew W)

Nath’s gone for a twist on a classic.

Whilst Andrew has just gone with the classic.

Monaco will have some fun with their attacking players. Atletico’s attack is quite fearsome but Juninho is stretchered off (after scoring) and their challenge dies out. Ikpeba and Henry is a promising partnership.

Andrew Walker is eliminated

Here’s your favourite Friday morning blogger Nick Rowe.

Monaco vs Parma (Nick Rowe)

The box defence from Nick backs up Chiesa and Asprilla. Again though. Monaco are a great attacking side and despite Parma taking an early lead, Monaco turn it around again and survive a late onslaught to get their second elimination.

Nick Rowe is eliminated

Here’s another blog squadder, Zak, trying to stop Nath who is gathering momentum.

Monaco vs PSG (Zak)

Nath is doing well with winning the toss for a home game.

Poor Zak, deprived of Leroy due to injury his side can’t get going and the rampant Ikpeba is loving it.

Zak is eliminated

At number 14 it’s Tom Robinson

Benfica (Tom Robinson) vs Monaco

Can Nath take this winning run on the road? Tom’s got what I would say is the roughest draw – Benfica in the midst of being Sounessed.

Ikpeba takes his tally to 8 with a double here, poor Benfica dared pull one back only to concede two more within 5 minutes.

Comprehensive and Nath is now one win away from matching Gav for eliminations.

Tom Robinson is eliminated

Here comes another blog squad member as Matt Wills takes a break from making Leeds all African to manage PSV.

Monaco vs PSV (Matt_C_Wills)

A return to winning tosses for Nath and a heavy favourite to make it 5 wins.

The thing about PSV is they have an immensely talented forward line and if you don’t take your chances, this can happen. I haven’t seen this formation before but Matt has made it work. Nath’s run stops at 4, Gav breathes a sigh of relief.

Ikpeba and co have an off day.

Full credit to Matt though for the win.

Nath is eliminated

Why can’t we be friends, why can’t we be friends? It’s Dave Mathieson’s music!

PSV vs Liverpool (Dave Mathieson)

Dave plays the formation.

What a ding dong this is. Both players flirt with elimination but Gilles De Bilde keeps pulling Matt back in. Professional turd Michael Owen settles this 9 goal thriller though and Matt bows out.

Defences not on top here…

Matt_C_Wills is eliminated

Jakob is next in, with Arsenal.

Arsenal (Williewrap) vs Liverpool

Jakob is dealt an early blow as Tony Adams is ruled out.

Long ball style is a brave call but it just might work. Then again, it might not as Dave surges into a two goal lead. Wrighty keeps it interesting but Dave M marches on.

Probably the right result

Williewrap is eliminated

The Champ. Is. Here. Retrofootballnetwork is next in, trying to defend his title.

Liverpool vs Newcastle (Retrofootballnetwork)

Attacking lineup from Gary, but Anfield is never a happy hunting ground for the mighty mags. It’s a typically goal laden affair but Newcastle don’t appear for the second half and two quick goals kill them.

A difficult result to argue with.

Gary will not retain, we have two formers winners still in or will it be a new name on the cup?

Retrofootballnetwork is eliminated

Here’s S4ooter to try and upset the Mathieson express.

Liverpool vs Porto (S4ooter)

The 4231 is underrated, the Porto side is headlined by Jardel and Artur.

S4ooter, or Dan if you’d rather, make a great start and at 2-0 up, they must fancy their chances. At 4-2 down, that feeling is probably less so. The kitchen sink is thrown and it becomes 4-4 which sets up a grandstand finish which ultimately ends with nothing happening…and both teams waving goodbye.

Carnage. That result not only eliminates both contenders but it puts Gav in the final for sure as nobody can pass 5 eliminations now.

S4ooter and Dave Mathieson are eliminated.

That means we need two new contenders.

Chelsea (Charlemagne) vs Deportivo (Winkveron)

Number 21 is Charlemagne, a good toss to win this and a strong side. Look at the little arrow on De Goey!

Dan Williamson, our first ever champion, is actually number 20 just to confuse you slightly.

One of the more one sided affairs, Deportivo really are not that strong and if Chelsea’s attack bangs then all bets are off. They bang, they boom, they’re Ricky Martin.

Winkveron is eliminated

In at 22 is PES_DNA. Into the last three now (last 4 with Gav)

Rangers (PES_DNA) vs Chelsea

PES_DNA (Shales, as you may prefer), has gone for Gazza in the hole. He’s got 1 for support so I’m curious to see how he gets on.

The answer is, remarkably well! Despite Chelsea taking an early lead, Gazza takes control of the match and turns it on it’s head. Rangers actually finish with 9 and despite a number of efforts from Flo and friends, they can’t get back into the match.

Maybe not the result you’d expect from the stats.

Charlemagne is eliminated

Number 23 is Deano!

Rangers vs Lazio (Emsonite)

As ever, Deano isn’t going to die wondering. A place in the final is up for grabs!

This is the last match of the Rumble so we must have a winner.

I knew this would happen.

Replayed like the old FA Cup days…

Both over the top rope again.

One more replay and Uncle Albertz loses his head and the boat is sunk. Deano is the last man standing!

Deano through to the final.

PES_DNA is eliminated

Final

The final was contested between the last man standing (Deano – Lazio) and the team with the most eliminations (Goatnmcl – Barcelona).

A reminder of the lineups:

It’s all a bit USA 94. No goals in 90 minutes and we go straight to penalties.

Deano’s decision to stick with the default penalty takers…does not pay off.

Emsonite is eliminated

GOATNMCL WINS THE 2024 CM CUP!

Statistics

Entrance	Manager	Team	Eliminated By	Eliminated #	Eliminations
1	Goatnmcl	Barcelona	Ajax	6	5
2	Tom Rost	Juventus	Barcelona	1	0
3	Nikolai	Real Madrid	Barcelona	2	0
4	FPLHints	AC Milan	Barcelona	3	0
5	Phil Verbist	Inter Milan	Barcelona	4	0
6	KOTR	Bayern	Barcelona	5	0
7	Ross Bell	Ajax	Man Utd	7	1
8	Rob Tait	Man Utd	Dortmund	9	1
9	Stusfootyfl	Dortmund	Man Utd	8	0
10	Nath	Monaco	PSV	14	4
11	Andrew W	Atletico M	Monaco	10	0
12	Nick R	Parma	Monaco	11	0
13	Zak	PSG	Monaco	12	0
14	Tom Rob	Benfica	Monaco	13	0
15	Matt Wills	PSV	Liverpool	15	1
16	Dave M	Liverpool	Porto	19	4
17	Williewrap	Arsenal	Liverpool	16	0
18	Retrofnw	Newcastle	Liverpool	17	0
19	S4ooter	Porto	Liverpool	18	0
20	Winkveron	Deportivo	Chelsea	20	0
21	CM9798V2	Chelsea	Rangers	21	1
22	Shales	Rangers	Lazio	22	1
23	Deano	Lazio

And yes, the first entrant and the last entrant contested the final and we could have saved ourselves the matches in between…

Summary

That’s it all over for another year. I hope you enjoyed or at least tolerated this new format. Next year will likely be back to normal. Thanks as ever for taking part and/or reading not just this today but the whole year round. We’ll be back with more fun next year. Have a great Christmas everybody, all the best.