Hello! It’s been a while…

No challenge, no database edits and no Neil Warnock blog… Instead, I thought I’d tell you what this little corner of the internet, and the game behind it, actually means to me.

When Championship Manager 97/98 came along, 11-year-old Zachary already had his eyes wide open thanks to CM2. But this was different… This was the first game proper that I got properly, completely, hopelessly addicted to. If Championship Manager 2 was the gateway drug, then CM 97/98 was the opening to a deep pit of longing that would last nearly 30 years…

The Weekends

Once the big box was, well, unboxed, long weekends were spend with my brother, Rik, and my cousin, Tom. Three of us crowded around the Packard Bell (8MB of RAM), arguing about whose go it was, or who was going to sign Graeme Tomlinson or Robert Page.

After school the saves were at Seth Mitchell’s house. Him Arsenal, me Man Utd. Keane vs Veira. When we weren’t playing the game itself, we’d be deep in the editor, building our “Mousehole” team, inserting ourselves and our friends into the game, and all with all 20 ratings. Because why have a squad of decent players when you can have a squad of absolute gods? Nobody ever wanted to be the one to say “right, that’s me done”.

The Gems

Part of the magic was using what little football knowledge an 11-year-old had to sign the players you’d herd of. The real thrill though, was in the discovery. Not just the players you’d seen in a sticker book, on MOTD, on Football Italia, or heavily featured in your battered 501 Italian Goals VHS… those the game threw up that you went back to time and time again… Anyone from the famed Man Utd youth academy was automatically signed – Tomlinson, Twiss, Mulryne, Wallwork, Nevland… No questions asked. No scouting report needed.

Then there was Tommy Svindal-Larsen, my first CM97/98 hero. 23 year old Norgeigin Midfielder (Left/Centre). A cheap signing from Stabaek who could boss the midfiedl for 10 years and cost less than a £1m. He had to be signed. Every. Single. Save. Tactics, budget and common sense didn’t matter. Tommy was coming. As an 11 year-old I never joined the Bjorn bandwagon, never fed off the Andrew Duncan buffet or joined Tom Youngs fan club. But other cult heroes were forged… Trevor Steven, John Curtis, Robert Page, Richard Wright, Kieron Dyer, Mike Duxbury, Freddy Leon, Rai and many MANY more…

The game was absolutely immense. Simple as that.

The Education

Here’s a confession: I learned more about finance and budgeting from this game than I ever did in any of those “key skills” lessons at school. Wage bills, transfer budgets, balancing the books while trying to land the next Svindal-Larsen… it all sank in without me noticing. No worksheet ever made me care about a budget the way a stubborn chairman and an empty bank balance did.

Moving On (Sort Of)

Of course, the years rolled by and so did the games. CM3, CM01/02, CM4, then onwards into the Football Manager series and adulthood.

Then, in Twenty Twenty came the first lockdown.

Lockdown and the Blogs

I found the CM 97/98 community on twitter. From there I started reading the blogs, and through the blogs I found @davetin9 and a bunch of like-minded dads looking for a nostalgia hit… Friendships were being formed, like-minded souls stuck indoors with the same itch to scratch. I downloaded the game, and dived back in!

A few of us joined Dave’s “Blog Squad”. A WhatsApp group was set up, ideas exchanged, encouragement garnered. We spent Wednesday evenings on Zoom, watching a screenshare of @kingoftherooks’ laptop whilst simming a version of the Scottish league. (Anyone remember the Cup Winners Cup winners…) We learned the power of Phil Neville, and the keeperless formation. We learned that a squad of Paul Scholes’ is better than a squad of Schmeichel’s and that Peter Beardsley can play into his 60’s… We also ran a lockdown challenge – 30+ people simultaneously playing with me and Dave keeping score on an excel spreadsheet and @nickrowe85 making MS Paint scoreboards. Bliss.

I haven’t looked back since.

The Point

That’s what gets me about this game. It gave me so much as a kid: the late nights, the sticker book signings, the cult heroes and even a few life lessons. And as an adult it has given it all back. The nostalgia, the fun, the rediscovery, and somewhere in between, a whole bunch of friends I never expected to make.

Not bad for a bunch of pixels and an excel-based database, eh?

Thanks, team. Seriously.

Over to you! What does CM 9798 mean to YOU? Who was your Tommy Svindal Larsen, the player you had to sign every save? Drop it in the comments below!

See you soon, Zak