We’ve got 5 nominees for the right back slot in our ultimate team, and with your help there’s some kind words about each of them below to assist you in making a decision

Gary Neville (3rd, 22%)

Before Gary Neville was a Sky Pundit, he was actually a very good right back. Aided by an excellent Euro 96, by the time 97/98 rolled around Beckham’s best mate was one of the first name on the Man Utd team sheet. Starts the game relatively young and goes on to get plenty of England caps – indeed he bowed out with 100 caps on the blog game. Not bad as an emergency centre half too

Christian Panucci (2nd, 24%)

Panucci is another one who starts at a great team, in this case Real Madrid, and sustains that level for many years. Panucci’s all round greatness is summed up nicely by @_markreynolds

“Great going forward as well as at the back – fantastic as a wing back. Scored lots of goals from corners as well with his heading ability”

Dario Simic

Perhaps a lesser known name than the previous two, fans of the game will know Dario Simic. Firstly, as a defender RLC, he’s a great utility man to have around. Secondly, he’s at FC Croatia (Croatia Zagreb to you and me) so enticing him to your club is not much of a problem. Finally, for the real nerds amongst us, he has a negative potential ability if you’re into your data editing, which basically means given the right nurturing you’ve got a star on your hands. Ker-ching.

Omari Tetradze

What can you say about Omari Tetradze that hasn’t been said already? Well, according to wikipedia, he was arguably the best right back at Euro 96, where he represented Russia. He could be picked up for relative peanuts in the game, as @fishmanmart will testify:

“Always worth having in your squad as he could play right side of defence or midfield and also centrally in both positions as well. If he was contracted to Roma, 75k would secure him, and he’d always come.”

Javier Zanetti (1st, 41%)

A true legend of the game, back in 97/98 Zanetti was a spritely 36 year old. I joke of course, he was in his early 20’s and rivalling the ageing Guiseppe Bergomi for the right back slot at Inter. In game, there was no competition, and Zanetti’s flexibility is a right sided midfielder made him an ideal candidate for a right wing back slot. The only drawback for Zanetti was his status as an “FGN” of which you could have only 3 in your matchday squad, and because I was young and reckless I often favoured the ridiculous attacking talent at Inter’s disposal of Javier, but then it was Ronaldo, Kanu, Recoba and Simeone, so you can forgive me, right? Anyway, in summary, Zanetti was mint and durable, you can’t say fairer than that.

Please place your vote for your favourite goalkeeper in CM97/98. If you need a hand making your mind up, there’s a bio for each below:

Bengt Andersson

This Swedish stopper starts at a poor Tenerife side and is notoriously busy as a result. As his average rating soars, so does his stock and he usually ends up at a middle of the road Premier League side

@fajlovesyerma says:

A real coup, top class keeper and played for ages

Dida

Starting in the Brazilian leagues with Cruzeiro, this youngster is available for relative peanuts. I’m talking about £500k. He turns out to be almost unbeatable, and for those following my career game his worth to my Auxerre side cannot be underplayed. A real beast.

Mickael Landreau (Winner – 42%)

Landreau had several nominations and I’m obviously a fan since I’ve signed him for Leeds & Liverpool during this career, and was my France goalkeeper when winning the World Cup. He starts at Nantes, where he regularly denied Auxerre when I faced them.

@Paul_Redfern82 says:

Realistically the only true top drawer goalkeeper on the game that you could attract away from his base club before he got too old to be worth bothering. Almost instantly as good as the top goalkeepers like Schmeichel and Van Der Sar, he would usually stay loyal, keep his wage demands low and serve you for over a decade.

Peter Schmeichel (3rd, 15%)

No words needed really, Man Utd’s number 1 was practically unbeatable in season 1 & 2, before the decline begins and he’s usually sacked it all off by 2000.

@_markreynolds says:

He may only stay at his best for about 2-3 seasons at the start of the game but he would be like a brick wall, beating Man Utd was so goddamn difficult

Neil Sullivan

The Wimbledon goalkeeper is ever so busy, the Dons aren’t the best but Sullivan’s hands are very warm. A midtable favourite of many.

Richard Wright (2nd, 20%)

Beginning at Ipswich, Wright is nearly always snapped up by a Premier League clubs within a few weeks of the game starting. With him being 19, you can get almost 20 years out of him for about £4m. I just hope for your sake he turns out better than he did in real life after his big move.

Throughout this blog, I’ve made reference to a number of players who are well known as being “wonderkids” who go on to be heroes in the game. Here, we take a look at how those players are getting on, 7 seasons in, as well as a few of your suggestions from our twitter page

Firstly, you may remember way back when I wrote this article about players in the game who are better known for something else. Of these 5, Gavin Peacock, Scott Minto & Vinny Jones have retired, though Vinny is on the available managers list so beware. Nicky Byrne is still available for free, but Jeff Brazier has played for England Under 21s and now finds himself at West Ham

Anyway, on to some proper players

Emile Heskey

Heskey starts the game as a young forward at Leicester but routinely gets his big move. In this game, it’s been a little more laboured

You may recall from earlier entries, the £6m move to Norwich was a drop in divisons and he had a non-promotion release clause. Norwich were 15th in March when he joined, so that ended badly. He excelled in 02/03 under Joe Kinnear but has since lost his place to Danny Cadamarteri.

Niclas Alexandersson

Alexandersson featured in another early article due to him being able to play every position. This normally makes him a must have, however it’s all gone a bit wrong for Niclas

That big move has never really transpired, and despite some impressive average ratings, the fact he’s only managed 15 caps for Sweden says it all.

Robbie Keane

Keane starts the game as a 16 year old at Wolves. I took him to Wimbledon early doors and a couple of loan spells later, he was starting to look the part. Then I left and others took overh is development, only for him to be waiting for me at Leeds. He’s just fired Man City to promotion but will be part of my squad now as Shearer is very old.

To be fair to the lad, he’s scored goals in just about every divison so he’s earned his chance.

Rio Ferdinand

Rio is just breaking into the West Ham team as the game starts, he should go on to be great but again, it hasn’t really happened. He was good for me at Wimbledon but it’s been very average for the would be England captain

With Everton in Division 1, it’s hard to see Rio emulating his real life career.

I also opened this up to followers on the twitter page, here’s the best of the suggestions.

Jody Morris

real_c_inwood was wondering what happened to Chelsea hero player Jody Morris.

Well, he’s had more loans than Phil Tuffnell before settling in the North East with Sunderland, who have just been relegated and sacked the manager. Ironically, the team he left have just been promoted. Those average ratings don’t look too clever though…

Freddy Leon

This Colombian legend was on the mind of mikepatty14

Leon nearly always gets his big move after his average ratings attracts the attention of scouts, and this game is no exception. Unfortunately for him, he joins Sunderland and is now team mates with Jody Morris. To be fair, the 23 goal season of 99/00 was pretty good, but it’s been steadily downhill from there. Maybe the drop in divisions will help Freddy get firing.

Michael Twiss

darrensmithhrfc was a big fan of Michael Twiss in the lower leagues.

Unfortunately for Twiss, he starts on a free transfer and it took 5 years for Wycombe to take a chance on him. 34 goals in 2 years earned him a move to First Division WBA, so he could be a late bloomer.

I’m saddened to report Tommy Svindal Larsen is not in this game, I wish he was as he’s a definite favourite!

Thanks for reading, be sure to tweet me @cm9798 with any requests and come back soon for the first update of the 04/05 season.

7 Glorious seasons have passed us by, and we sit on 16th July 2004. We’ve laughed, we’ve cried, we might have even learnt some things, but the purpose of this post is to pull it all together. So whether you’re brand new to this blog or you’ve been reading since day one, this should make sure you’re up to speed with the runners and riders. You may have noticed over the last few seasons, the game is getting more and more abstract.

The established stars are starting to fade away, with newer players coming to the fore. I appreciate the newer generation are less fun to read about, as you can’t relate to them. We all laughed when Alan Rogers turned up at Atletico Madrid and then Man Utd, not to mention Steve Haslam at Real Madrid, so to ensure we keep laughing, here’s a look at where we stand. Here are the most expensive players in the world as it stands:

Some real likely lads in there, the top four are not all that surprising, after that it’s all very odd. If England have Haslam, Curtis & Rogers to call on it’s a wonder they ever concede. Anyway, World Cup 2006 is in England so maybe that’ll be our year.

Premier League

The honours board:

It’s telling that Man Utd have finished in the top 2 every season until me and Colin Todd got in the way this season just gone. Now that Man Utd are out of the Champions League, I’m intrigued to see how they get on without the money. They still have a strong, but ageing, squad With Fowler out for a year, I’d expect them to buy a striker. The other constant name in there is Aston Villa, who have just won the UEFA cup. I don’t know why they bought Andy Gray from me or why he keeps Michael Owen out of the team but whatever. The FA Cup

Honours board:

It’s a lot more varied in here, with 6 names on the trophy in 7 years. Birmingham are a first division side managed by Ron Atkinson and will play in the Cup Winners Cup as a result of Bolton’s Champions League place. Spurs, Newcastle & Man Utd will all be in UEFA Cup action. Bolton are still managed by Colin Todd and have had a mixed time of it, I’m interested to see if they are a one hit wonder or not (and whether my Leeds side will be too!) The League Cup

The most pointless of the cups, as there is no European place reward, here’s who’s won it Liverpool were unvincible for most of the first 4 years, losing only one match. Villa and Chelsea have dominated in recent years, but Gordon Milne has since left Chelsea so that might not continue under Tony Adams.

Champions League Are we seeing a shift from Spain to Italy? Well, maybe. Barcelona and Real Madrid really dominated this tournament but recently it’s been the Italians. Interestingly, no English winner yet.

La Liga

This seems like a good time to drop over to La Liga… Neither team has been able to retain the trophy, remarkably. Their squads are decent though to say the least For completeness, here is Ligue 1 Marseille have really taken over since I took Auxerre close in 2001. Here are the best managers in the World at this point in time: Brian Little is the best manager in the world. Interesting to see Maldini, Shearer, Zidane & McManaman on the list despite having not yet retired. Quick look at the International scene, we’ve had 2 World Cups: World Cup 2006 will be in England. The European Championships meanwhile:

As you can see, Denmark are the form nation, being in 3 of the 4 finals and winning Euro 2004. To finish with, here’s the best of the individual awards handed out each year

European Footballers of the Year PFA Players of the Year They are all goalkeepers!

PFA Young Players of the Year

Managers of the Year Football Writers Players of the Year Top Goalscorers Still amazed at Robbie Fowler’s 51 in 97/98 – in 53 games. Anyway hopefully you’re up to speed with where we are in this game, and here’s to the next 7 seasons.

If you feel old playing this game 18 years after release, imagine how some of these guys feel. Take a stroll down memory lane as we look at some of the current day dugout dwellers still putting their shinpads on at 3pm

Young Monk

I find it disgusting that Garry Monk is 18 when this game starts yet he now manages a Premier League club. That stat of 18 for determination is probably a good reason why he is the Premier League’s youngest manager and doing a very good job all things considered. In the game, he is a very average young centre half who sadly amounts to very little.

Senor MartinezRoberto Martinez is a central midfielder at Wigan in the lower leagues of the English game, but he is loaded with potential ability and inevitably gets a decent move to a La Liga team. Again, at 24 it makes me realise how much time has passed that he has gone on to win the FA Cup as a manager already, but he doesn’t usually make the transition to management in the game.

The Pardy don’t start ’til Al walks in

At 36 and without a club, some would say Pardew shoud have called it a day. In reality he did some player-coach work at Barnet the previous season and got snapped up, if that’s the word, by Reading as a reserve team manager during the 97/98 season, but was still registered as a player without making an appearance. That aggression stat of 17 ended up making an imprint in David Meyler’s face (well, kind of) and coined the phrase “I didn’t headbut him, I pushed him away with my head.” Frankly, most Newcastle fans would love to have given this cretin a free transfer a long time ago, especially with the irony of a set piece stat of 19.

Brucey Bonus

Bruce’s stats, even at age 36, make him a very competent defender, especially in Division 1. With tackling and heading of 20, it’s clear Bruce’s Man Utd stats were never really erased from the database. Bruce usually plays on for a couple of seasons before moving in to management, often as a player manager a couple of seasons in. Hopefully he shows some more loyalty than he does in real life.

Paul Lambert – Champions League Winner

Paul Lambert starts the 97/98 season on the back of Champions League success with Borussia Dortmund. At just 28, Lambert should dominate the SPL but to be honest he always performs a little bit underwhelmingly. He doesn’t go into management either, which I’m sure Villa fans would prefer.

Gussy gander

Before Gustavo Poyet got fired live on TV, he turned out in midfield for Chelsea and was a pretty useful goalscoring midfielder. The current Sunderland boss usually lasts a couple of seasons before hitting a decline and not retaining his work permit, but his current Sunderland side could do with some of that creativity stat of 16.

Making plans for NigelWith 20 for influence, Pearson is another one who makes his way seamlessly into management. But look at that morale! Incidentally Pearson went on to manager Carlisle and was in charge for the famous Jimmy Glass game that kept Carlisle in the league. Currently sending Leicester towards relegation, we’ll see if his morale remains “superb”

Dyche Dyche Baby

The smooth voice of Sean Dyche starts the game as a very useful football league midfielder, with a penchant for flair of all things. Maybe he sees a bit of himself in George Boyd. Don’t be fooled by Dyche’s dulcet tones, judging by these stats he was a very silky footballer in his day.

Sparky

This one is less of a surprise, and Hughes normally finds himself in a managerial position a couple of years into the game. With an influence of 20 though, he is very suited to the managerial positino that inevitably comes his way. A very handy player to have though, Hughes competes with Zola and Vialli for a spot starting up front for Chelsea – though Vialli is the player manager, so good luck with that.

Poch n roll

Managers are definitely getting younger, I cannot believe Pochettino is only 25 when this game starts. A good La Liga defender, Pochettino is on the fringes of the Argentina squad. Rarely do I get far enough to see if he goes in to management, but I’d be happy to have him in my defence. Years later, Pochettino would foul Michael Owen and David Beckham would exercise his demons from 1998, so thanks for that.

Comments/abuse/well wishes as always are welcome @cm9798

We all know the footballers who after a hard career hang up their boots and either retire to a quiet life or being omnipresent on TV giving their opinion on all matters football. However, sometimes players don’t get that far and their football careers are left behind. This trip down memory lane looks at 5 players in the game who have gone on to something a little bit different.

Nicky Byrne – Pop irritant

Nicky Byrne is best known for being part of the annoyingly popular Westlife during the late 90’s and early 2000’s. However, before learning to stand up from a stool in unison with his mates, Nicky was on the books of Leeds United…as a goalkeeper. He was however released in 1997 for being too short and starts the game on a free transfer. For some reason, he is set as a right midfielder, but perhaps this was always his dream as Nicky went on to play on the wing in several charity matches including last year’s Soccer Aid, where he even scored. So if you’re a Westlife fan, go and sign this young Irishman up and maybe at the same time you’ll prevent Westlife from ever happening.

Scott Minto – Spanish Football Presenter

Just think those words through for a minute. Do you remember Scott Minto playing football? Me neither. Yet somehow this guy has found his way to presenting coverage of Barcelona and Real Madird every week. What’s more is, he’s really quite good at it. So whilst Gary Lineker, England’s second top goal scorer of all time, presents Match of the Day, Scott Minto, formerly of Charlton and Rotherham, presents La Liga on Sky Sports. Good lad. To be fair, Minto won the FA Cup with Chelsea in 1997 and was part of Graeme Souness’ Benfica revolution shortly thereafter, but he’s forged a totally new career for himself as a presenter rather than the traditional pundit route.

Jeff Brazier – TV Personality

Like Nicky Byrne, Jeff Brazier is available for nothing when the game starts so maybe you can build the career that never was. Brazier was on the books at Leyton Orient but never made it to the first team before his release, though at least he can say he was in Championship Manager, which is something. Anyway, Brazier has gone on to present various daytime TV shows on ITV and, how can we forget, won Channel 5 reality show The Farm in September 2004.

Vinny Jones – Hollywood Hardman

Before Vinny Jones was a Film star, he was a rock in Wimbledon’s midfield and won the FA Cup in 1988. He was a midfield hard man, known for trying to kick the opposition out of the game or send a physical message – you’ll all have seen the picture of Vinny grabbing Gazza by the balls. He also holds the record for the quickest booking (3 seconds) and 9 caps for Wales, though as you can see in my screenshot the game obviously fancied him a bit more than the actual Welsh manager. Since retiring though, Jones’ career has really taken off, starring in film’s such as Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels, Gone in 60 seconds and Mean Machine plus many others. Vinnie also released al album called Respect but that was less impressive.

Gavin Peacock – Pastor

Gavin Peacock enjoyed a decent career, turning out over 100 times each for Newcastle, Chelsea and QPR before retiring and moving into punditry. In the game, Peacock starts at Divison 1 QPR and is a handy midfield option, having been a Premier League player just a couple of seasons earlier with Chelsea. However, after retiring and growing tired of the punditry game, Peacock spread his wings and started to promote faith in the game, going on to present Songs of Praise on the BBC before moving to Canada to study to become a minister. According to wikipedia, Gavin is currently an Elder and Pastor at Calvary Grace Church in Calgary.

Think I’ve missed someone? Give me a rollicking on Twitter

The CM 97/98 database is brilliant, all things considered it is very accurate. Sure, the odd player has a potential rating far higher than they turned out in real life, but that is always going to happen (and has continued to do so for years since).

However, in this entry I take a look at five players that CM pegged slightly differently to what you might expect.

Robbie Savage is a right w…inger

Robbie Savage made his name as a tough tackling midfielder, with a penchant for winding up opposition fans and players. Back in 1997 though and this young Welsh ruffian was clearly down as being some sort of wing wizard, with 20 for pace and dribbling. Thankfully, for everybody, it didn’t turn out that way.

I’ll play anywhere for you boss

Quite literally. It was decided that Niclas Alexandersson could play every position, one of only two players in the game with this capability. Luis Enrique is the other, but as he was generally pretty darn good, we’ll let him off.

Big Nobby

Nobby Solano will be fondly remembered for his displays on the right side of Newcastle’s midfield for the best part of 8 years, however CM saw things a little differently. For you see, 5 foot 9 inch Solano was pencilled in as a centre half in 1997. That set piece stat of 10 is a little disappointing too, fortunately Kenny Dalglish didn’t scout using CM 97/98 and signed Solano midway through the season as a midfielder.

Harte of the midfield

We all know Ian Harte as that loveable pen taking full back, but back in 97 Harte was a scheming midfielder, apparently. Who knows if Harte did fancy himself in the middle of the park, but looking at those stats, very few would.

You’ve got to hold and give

I always remember John Barnes as the tricky winger scoring that goal in the Maracana. That and his rapping, we all remember that. When a 33 year old Barnes turned up at Newcastle in 1997, Barnes found himself playing pretty much up front and was actually the club’s top scorer that season. Not in the eyes of CM. Barnes was a holding midfielder, a calming influence, with beautiful technique and no aggression. Or tackling ability. Yes, these are the stats of a number 10, but why let that get in the way of anything?

Thanks for reading.