Good morning to you, I haven’t contributed to the CM community for a while so thought I’d do something before they kick me out of the group.

Top 10 Hidden Gems? Okay not so much hidden gems, more like underappreciated gems. But Hidden Gems is a catchier title. Style over substance isn’t always a bad thing. The Bjorn’s, The Twiss’, The Tomlinson’s always get a lot of mentions, but if I’m working my way up in the leagues these are some of the lads that have served me well over the last 25 years. Gaining promotions, raising funds etcetera, etcetera. 

Views are my own. So, in no particular order…

1. Chris Kiwomya 

Cost: Free 

Pick up: Immediate 

Resale Value – £1.5-2.5m

Cash Cow Rating – 7/10

Ceiling: Div 2 

A no-brainer if you’re starting out in Div 3. Kiwomya will score 30+. After 6-8 months his value will shoot up, and a host of Div 1 clubs will battle it out for his services only to realsie he’s not good enough for that league.. If you can get north of £1.5m – sell. Good enough to get you promoted early doors but not a long-term hold. Cash in & pick up someone better and cheaper. Decent part-ex options too. 

Fun Fact: Chris managed the British Virgin Islands between 2021-2024.

2. Shaun Teale 

Cost: Free 

Pick up: Immediate 

Resale Value – £500-£750k 

Cash Cow Rating – 3/10

Ceiling: Div 2 

A solid centre half who will get you a 7.5+ average. Great enabler to bring on younger defenders. Decent captain option too. And a wonderful moustache.

Fun Fact: In 1997/98 he played in Hong Kong for a team called Happy Valley, which is coincidentally the same name of my local Chinese takeaway. Happy Valley does excellent Beef & Mushrooms. £5.95. Other Chinese takeaways are available. 

3. Nikola Milinkovic 

Cost: £1m

Pick up: Immediate if you’re in the premier league. Grab him whenever he is interested otherwise. 

Resale Value – n/a

Cash Cow Rating – 2/10

Ceiling: Premier League

This guy is seriously underrated. Great goalscorer. 6’4 in real life. Best position in the hole. I always imagine his goals to be brilliant ones. Mr Consistency. Just a shame about his age. Can still get a couple good seasons out of him though. 

Fun Fact: Nikola is the father of Serbian Internationals Sergej and Vanja Milinkovic-Savic. Top shagger. 

4. Peter Van Vossen

Cost: £500k-£1m

Pick up: Season 2 usually. 

Resale Value – £1-2m

Cash Cow Rating – 4/10

Ceiling: Premier League

Beetlejuice himself. What he lacks in looks he makes up for in goals. Lots of goals. A fantastic striker. Good enough for the Premier league but he’s a promotion hunters dream. Will get you into the Premier League but you can sign him in Div 2 or even Div 3 sometimes, in those scenarios he’s a cheat code.

Fun Fact: Van Vossen signed for Rangers in a swap deal with Oleg Salenko. 

5. Mark Atkins

Cost: N/A

Pick up: N/A

Resale Value – N/A

Cash Cow Rating – N/A

Ceiling: Premier League

Bit of a controversial pick here as he never seems to be for sale. Managed Wolves before though and he’s comfortably their best player. Good enough for England too if you do the Glenn Hoddle trick. DM, DMR, MC – always does a job. Makes everyone else better and pops up with goals. It’s no wonder he’s not for sale at any price. 

Fun fact: Blackburn signed Atkins for £45k, and was part of the title winning side in 1995. Sold to Wolves for £1m shortly after. Shrewd business. 

6. Roger Freestone

Cost: £375k

Pick up: Whenever you got the money

Resale Value – Depends

Cash Cow Rating – Depends.

Ceiling: This guy actually has no ceiling. Signed him for Man Utd before for an experiment and put him on £50k a week. He was world class. 

Thought I’d stick a goalie in the list. Having a good keeper between the sticks is the difference between joy and despair in this game. Freestone is your guy. Welsh too – Iechyd Da.

Fun Fact: Only ever played 1 game for Wales. Against Brazil no less. Wales 0 – 3 Brazil. Goals from Cafu, Rivaldo and Elber. Talk about getting chucked in at the deep end. 

7. John McGreal

Cost: £500-600k

Pick up: Soon as you can afford him

Resale Value – £1-1.5m

Cash Cow Rating – 4/10

Ceiling: Div 1 

Not much to say other than John is good at playing football. Jolly nice chap. 

Fun Fact: Couldn’t find one. He’s got a nice smile, that’ll do.

8. Adie Mike

Cost: Free

Pick up: Immediate.

Resale Value – £4-6m

Cash Cow Rating – 10/10

Ceiling: Div 1 

Pretty much the same as Chris Kiwomya but has a much higher value. Randomised stats can be hit n’ miss but if his shooting is above 15 you’re in business. Cha-Ching.

Fun Fact: Mike is now a managing director at Falcona Private Jets in Manchester. So you could say that whilst his footballing career took a nosedive, his retirement profession really took off. Life is fraught with turbulence. I’ll stop now. Did he play on the wing. Oh brother. 

9. Alexander Fernadez

Cost: £60-100k

Pick up: Season 1 if he’s interested. 

Resale Value – £2m

Cash Row Rating – 7/10

Ceiling: Div 1 / Premier League 

Quality centre half and serial promoter. The Colombian is cheap as chips. And these chips are the tasty ones that really hit the spot after a few hours at the seaside. 

Couldn’t find a picture of Alexander but I think this is his uncle. 

10. Danny Murphy

Cost: £1.5m

Pick up: Season 2

Resale Value – £5-6m

Cash Cow Rating – 9/10

Ceiling: Div 1 

Danny boy usually gets Listed for Loan where you can buy him for most Div 2 clubs. Decent set piece taker. He’s dynamite in Div 2,  watch his value soar. Cash in when he’s nearing the £5m mark as he’s not a long-term hold for the Premier League, on this game anyway. 

Fun Fact: Not much to say about a public figure that’s not already known. I didn’t realise he was a deadpan comedy genius though until recently. RIP Bob. 

That’s it, that’s my list. Who would make yours.? 

Thanks for reading. Cheerio for now. 

There’s a new Championship Manager podcast – listen to Last Match Then Bed hosted by Tom Craine here