Greetings! We’ve been building towards this moment since I got back on the blogging horse in the summer after a short break. We’ve had a lovely time, but with the final of the CM9798 Cup imminent, that means we are just days away from the 20th anniversary of the release of CM9798. I’ve given away a couple of prizes so far, but this is the main event.

If you want to win, all you need to do is predict this Sunday’s final between Ajax and Borussia Dortmund. You need to predict the score, then the first goalscorer and finally the time of the first goal. To give you a chance, here are the starting lineups:

How to Enter

To win my retro bundle, full of 90s goodness, all I need you to do is re-tweet this tweet (below) and reply with your prediction, e.g. 5-5 Curtis 26. If you don’t retweet, your entry won’t be counted. Entries close at 12pm Saturday 28th October.

WIN: RT this tweet and guess the score, first goal scorer and the time of the first goal for Dortmund vs Ajax for a chance to win the lot pic.twitter.com/WCWpO0rcVL

— Dave Black (@cm9798) 23 October 2017

Here’s the prizes within said bundle:

• £25 shirt voucher courtesy of Classic11.com (not pictured)
• Mousemat of the 2026 World Cup Final courtesy of P302
• 90s mug courtesy of @90sfootball
• Peter Beardsley Corinthian figurine (still boxed)
• The World According to Championship Manager 97/98 signed by Bjorn Heidenstrom
• Poster of John Curtis
• Packet of Premier League 97/98 stickers
• Footix Tamagotchi
• CM9798.co.uk branded pen
• Footix keyring
• Ibrahima Bakayoko shiny sticker
• All the Goals DVD of World Cup 98
• Three Lions ’98 CD
• Premier League 97/98 Official preview book
• Three Lions – PS1 game
• Footix soft toy that sticks to the window.
• David Ginola & Chris Bart-Williams ‘Squads’ cards

Warning! Boring explanation below:

How the tiebreak works

Let’s say two entrants predict the correct score. Everybody else is essentially eliminated at this point, leaving just the two correct entrants. If either entrant has got the correct first goalscorer, they will win. If both do, or indeed neither of you do, then it’ll go to your time of first goal guess. Whoever is closer will win. In the event that both entrants are equally incorrect (e.g. it is 80th and entrant one said 75th and the other 85th) then the winner will be decided by a coin toss and I will question ever running something like this again.

Entrants must follow @cm9798 on Twitter or like cm9798.co.uk on Facebook.

With huge thanks to Classic11.com

We’re down to the final four in the CM9798 Cup, as we look to celebrate 20 years of CM9798 by crowning a winner and giving away a load of stuff from the era. If you don’t follow our Twitter page, you’ll have missed that we gave away France 98 Monopoly this week. People love France 98 Monopoly. Anyway, here’s the semi-final lineup and we’ll get through both matches today

Without further padding, let’s get straight to match one.

Ajax vs Barcelona

Ajax won the toss so they are the home team here. Ajax were impressive in their demolition of Real Madrid in the previous round, with Batistuta netting a hat-trick. Mark has been dealt a blow though, Ronald De Boer is out injured, so Andrej Demtsjenko is in on the left with Laudrup switching to the right. Demtsjenko made our Community XI shortlist so he’s obviously got some talent. Let’s get a word from the recently married Mr Carruthers

Mark, do any of the quarter final results surprise you?
Yes! Our win over Real Madrid was a big surprise. I think it’s safe to say we were outsiders so to beat such a great side is a major boost

Will you do anything differently here to cope with Barcelona?
Barca is the biggest test we could have had at this stage and they’re one of the favourites but we will give it our all and stick to what we know we are good at. I think we’ll be a handful for anyone but we will have to be at our best to win.

Meanwhile over in the Barcelona camp, Rivaldo is out injured so Ivan De La Pena is in the 11. Barcelona came through a tight match with AC Milan in the quarters, but how will they get on away from home?

Will you approach this game any differently being away from home?
I’m not approaching this game any differently to the last; you have to treat each team with the respect it deserves, which is why I’ve tried to work to the strengths of the players and maintain an attacking formation.

Do any of the results so far surprise you?
I suppose I was surprised to beat a Milan side that was such a complete team, I think I was fortunate their attacking prowess had an off day.

Here’s how Barcelona are setting up:

It was that man Demtsjenko who gave Ajax a first half lead with a header from a corner – Ajax have proven surprisingly proficient from set pieces in this tournament. At half time, it was one of the more one sided contests we’ve seen.

KingoftheRooks got the hairdryer out at half time and Barcelona were much improved for the second half…but theyc ouldn’t find a way through!

That has to go down as a shock, especially to Fernando Couto who takes man of the match.

It was pretty much all Barcelona in the second half

Poor finishing from Barcelona has cost them though, Sonny Anderson played like Jason Lee and so it’s Ajax who advance. But who will they face?

Dortmund vs Juventus

Dortmund won the toss, so we’re off to Germany for a repeat of the 96/97 Champions League final. Dortmund are managed by Dan, or @winkveron if you prefer Twitter handles, and enjoyed an entertaining 3-2 win over Man Utd in the Quarter Finals. But how do you prepare for Del Piero, Zidane and now Alan Shearer? Tell us, Dan…

Are you sticking with the same system or do you have anything up your sleeve to combat Juventus?
We’re setting up the same, hopefully with a few less injuries this time!

We’re down to 4 teams now, who are favourites in your opinion?
Juventus were my pre-tournament favourites and they still are! This will be a tough game.

Lovely stuff. Dan piling the pressure on the visitors, but what does Ross make of it all? He’s got Alan Shearer back from injury to add to his wealth of attacking talent…

Ross, will you be changing your setup at all for this game?
Well Super Al is back. He’s sure to get me a goal and has settled well.

Do any of the results so far stick out in your mind?
I didn’t expect Man Utd to go out, that came out of the blue. Mainly because I have Twitter on night mode now.

Har-Har. Who would you pick as winners from the final 4 if not you?
The team we are playing are dark horses with their noses coming through.

The seagull follows the trawler, yeah? Prophetic words from the Juventus manager, but will it inspire his team? It’s line-ups time!

Two similar systems with just one change for both sides. Lars Ricken is back in for Dortmund whilst Shearer replaces Inzaghi for Juventus. Scott Booth is also back for Dan but he’s on the bench. Let’s football.

Dortmund came flying out of the blocks and got their reward on 24 minutes when Ronaldo rammed home after Sammer’s shot was parried by Peruzzi following a corner. Juventus barely got a sniff as Dortmund overwhelmed them, indeed Ross will have been grateful for Peruzzi or else it would have been far worse.

Steffen Freund went off injured, but that was as troubling as it got for Dortmund

Ross gave his side a good old rollicking at half time and were level on 56 minutes when Shearer seized on a loose backpass from Cesar and slipped it beyond Barthez to make it 1-1. The game was back in the balance and Ross was like a shark smelling blood.

Against the run of play though, Dortmund struck. Kirovski slipped in substitute Scott Booth, who had replaced Chapuisat, and the Scot kept his cool to put his side back in the lead. Why was Scott Booth at Dortmund? I have no idea. Ross reached for the kitchen sink

Julio Cesar limped off for Dortmund, and with Feiersinger not as solid, Juventus were able to pile on late pressure. On 82 minutes, Shearer hit the post and substitute Inzaghi fired the rebound over the bar, but Dortmund were able to cling on and book their place in the final. Quite the game!

Peruzzi may have got man of the match, but Dortmund only managed one shot in the second half…

With that, our final is set – Dortmund against Ajax, with the venue to be decided. Ooooh it’s squeaky bum time

Ahead of the grand final next week, I will be giving away this here prize bundle (plus some vouchers from our kind sponsors Classic11):

All I need you to do is predict the score, the first goal scorer and the time of the first goal for the final. Look out for the Tweet and Facebook post during the week to get your entries in. See you next week, suits on.

The CM9798 Cup is sponsored by Classic11

Welcome back! The CM9798 Cup got underway last weekend, and we gave away our first prize in midweek. You could say it’s hotting up, but I won’t as it’s October and it’s actually starting to get a bit chilly. Temperatures aside, I’ve got two more quarter finals for you. But first, a look at the tournament so far

Yes, I updated Mark’s Twitter name. Please keep your names people, I’m very lazy. Anyway, let’s get on with it.

PSG vs Juventus

Before PSG were owned by a nation, they had a smattering of superstars that made them a difficult proposition on CM9798. The random draw saw @StackingtonCMFC be paired with the French giants – Stacko will be bringing you a blog on his custom tactic in the near future, but here’s his vision for this game

Sadly there are no quotes from Stacko at this point in time, but if I get them I will edit them in later. Here’s the squad:

In the black and white corner, which is a thing, is long time supporter of the blog @riddley82. Juventus are a strong side from back to front and went from losing Champions League finalists in 1997 to losing Champions League finalists in 1998. Still, I’m sure Ross can work with that…

Ross, you must fancy your chances having been given Juventus?
I’m very happy with Zidane, er I mean Juventus. Defence is very strong and as long as my attack can poach the odd goal we are up there with the favourites.

Talk us through your wildcard picks – opposite ends of the spectrum I think!
Worns from Germany fits nicely into my three at the back formation. He was a legend on the game. Then I picked Shearer – Super Al scores goals and I need a hit man for Del Boy and ZZ to feed off. Plus with the host being a Geordie I’m hoping for some brownie points. Yeah?

We’ll see. Who’s going to win it?
Man Utd are my favourites, they are strong in all departments. But saying that, Barcelona are just as good.

It should be pointed out that any players who started with an in-game injury had their name altered to free them of their injury hell. In Ross’ case, that meant Al Shearer was a great pick…

This was on the final ‘done’ before the game too! PSG were more or less at full strength, formation and all, whilst Inzaghi for a reprieve for Ross.

PSG were dealt an immediate blow as Marco Simone departed on a stretcher 5 minutes in. Things went from bad to worse as on 37 minutes Del Piero opened the scoring after Davids put him in behind the defence. Thus commenced the great Italian shape, defending and time wasting like their lives depended on it.

A goalkeeper in inspired form, despite Paul Le Guen running the game from the sweeper role (sweeping the entire pitch) the French side couldn’t find a way through, so it was Ross who advanced to the semi finals…

…somehow. Peruzzi is one of the best goalkeepers in the game and it really showed. Stacko ended up playing this formation trying to find an equaliser

Afterwards, Stacko said: “So many chances but it wasn’t to be. I am a Juventus fan for the semis!”

Meanwhile Ross couldn’t quite believe what had happened. “Wow, how Italian was my team? Unlucky, Stacko”

As the pair embraced in a cuddle that lasted a little too long in length, I headed off to Germany for the remaining quarter final.

Borussia Dortmund vs Manchester United

Dortmund are an odd side. They’re the reigning European Champions but they’re a bit average. It’s not helped that in the original game they had Paulo Sousa, but he moved to Inter by the time the game was patched and Dortmund were weakened by his absence. Still, @winkveron (Dan, to you and I) has two wildcards to try and improve them, so what’s to worry about?

Look at the date! The game hadn’t even shown me the home screen and Ricken is…stricken. But what does the manager think?

Dan, are you looking forward to working with Dortmund?
I’m happy enough with Dortmund although feel that their squad, on paper at least, doesn’t look like defending European champions.

How did you decide to use your two wildcards?
I immediately identified the need to strengthen up front and in net, so was delighted to get Barthez and Ronaldo, my first picks in each position. I’ve got a very experienced team and although it’s perhaps light on youth, hopefully will be enough for a short tournament format.

Name me a winner…
I’d say Barcelona or Juventus are favourites.

Sure, Ricken is a big loss, but how about this?

@TomReedwriting would have to manage without the future England captain on his quest to topple the European champions. The wildcards were already in the bank by this point too…

Talk us through your transfers Tom, there’s a lot of young talent at Man Utd but what have you done for the here and now?
Bakayoko speaks for himself as a legend of the game and a complete powerhouse. The bloke is a monster of CM 97/98 instantly improving any team so I’m going with the ‘blast the opponents’ out the park route with a strong forward line and just hope on the rest.

My other wild card is a sore point with Alfonso, another Champ Man legend being injured for the 1st game with a stubbed toe of all injuries. I never managed to sign him when I played before and I hope I get through and his visit to a toe specialist pays off.

If Man Utd aren’t the favourites – who are?
I’ll go PSG as I know what a strong team they have with the likes of Patrice Loko, Paul Le Guen, Jerome Leroy and Rai.

As Tom mentioned, Alfonso was only bloody injured…

So neither team was at full strength but there was still an awful lot of talent in the 22 fielded. Dan opted for the popular 5-3-2 attacking whilst Tom stuck with tried and tested 4-4-2, with Terry Cooke the main beneficiary of Beckham’s injury.

Standby for an absolutely mad first half…

Forgive the picture quality on this one, it’s a long story. Anyway, I guess the real talking point here was Barthez was only booked for conceding the pen. We were in for a belter of a second half

Nope. Nothing happened. Dortmund controlled the second half and Schmeichel actually kept Tom in it at times.

Was this a shock? It’s hard to say, take Beckham and Alfonso out of any team and it will make a difference. But it was Dortmund’s day.

A very happy Dan said, “Shut up shop second half #Mourinho”. There is some debate about whether the word hashtag was actually uttered.

Tom took the defeat in good grace, adding “I’m selling Alfonso on a free if anyone wants him, the sick note”

Our semi-final lineup is in place

Join me next week to find out who will be competing in our grand final. Keep an eye on Twitter during the week as we are giving away France 98 Monopoly!

The CM9798 Cup is sponsored by Classic11.com

As we continue to celebrate CM9798’s 20th anniversary, it’s finally time to give away a prize to one ‘lucky’ reader. We’re starting with a mystery prize to get you in the prize winning mood – consider it a starter, an appetiser, the undercard…I could go on. All I’m saying is, please take this in the spirit it is intended – a bit of fun from the 90s.

How do I win?

If you follow us on Twitter or Facebook, you’ll know I quite often play guess who where I present you with a profile of a CM9798 player and cover their date of birth and ask you to guess who it is. We’re doing that for tonight’s prize, all you need to do is:

• Correctly identify the four players
• Like the tweet/Facebook post

The tweet can be found here:

COMPETITION: Correctly identify these four CM9798 players and like this tweet to be in the draw for tonight’s mystery prize. Closes at 9pm pic.twitter.com/iaIAKV8O4j

— Dave Black (@cm9798) 11 October 2017

The competition closes at 9pm with the winner announced tonight (Wednesday 11th October). I’ll also reveal the prize when the competition closes, because everybody likes surprises.

Terms (in case anybody is taking this seriously):

• Your first guess will be taken as your answer, no multiple guesses
• One entry per person
• All correct entries will be entered into the prize draw and a winner will be drawn at random
• Entrants must like the tweet – this is not for vanity but it just makes it easier to see who has entered
• Please note this prize has NOT featured in any of my tweets or blog posts to date.
• There will be more competitions throughout the month. This isn’t it.

Good luck!

Dave

It’s finally here! CM9798 turns 20 this month so we’re having ourselves a little tournament to celebrate. If you didn’t read the preview last week, this will make little sense to you. Read it now and pop back, we’ll wait for you…

Caught up? Good. I’ll be bringing you the first two quarter finals today, or the top half of the draw as it should really be known. Here’s the draw in full:

Remember, every manager has two wildcards to add to their squad. Let’s get straight into it.

Barcelona vs AC Milan

Barcelona are managed by @KingOfTheRooks, a long time follower of the blog always full of helpful hints. Let’s learn a bit more about his plans for this Barcelona team.

You must be pleased with getting Barcelona, right?
Overall Im pleased with Barcelona. All the squads have their strengths and weaknesses and I guess you just have to build something that fits the players you’ve got.

You’ve made your two transfers, can you talk us through them?
From a wildcard perspective, Denilson was an absolute punt. I’ve had saves where he has been shocking and others where he’s been unplayable. Old Denis [Bergkamp] was purely to fit the formation – normally I would steal Pires from Metz but we dont have the time for him to develop. Plus, I’m of the Kevin Keegan school of thought, I’d rather lose 4-3 than win 1-0!

Who do you make favourites to win the CM9798 Cup?
Favourites, I’d say my opponents Milan, theyve got the complete squad back to front #mindgames

That beautifully segways us into the other half of this match, AC Milan. They are managed by our guest blogger @SeagullShouts – can he repeat his success with Third Division Brighton? Here’s his Milan squad

Talk us through the Milan squad – is it a good fit for you?
I’m very happy with my team. Solid at the back, the GK who is a Man Utd and Prem legend for that goal conceded through his legs by Le Tissier and George Weah!

What about your wildcards then?
Always had a thing for Brazilian WBs and with Leonardo already in the squad there was one name that came to mind right away: Cafú. Secondly I wanted someone solid in the centre with Albertini and Thomas Gravesen looked good and is quite young in this version of the game. Always solid 7 or 8 ratings when I’ve used him before.

If you were a betting man, where would your money be going?
My favourite to win has to be AC Milan. You’ve got to be confident, right?

The lineups:

Let’s FOOTBALL.

This was actually a really tight game, where Milan kept missing the target before falling behind to Denis Bergkamp’s 14th minute goal – their only shot of the half.

However, Milan couldn’t find a way through and were indebted to Taibi keeping it 1-0 in the end. It’s Barcelona who advance to the semi finals!

But who would they play in that semi-final…

Ajax vs Real Madrid

This match saw a battle between two Champ Man & Me guests, Mark Carruthers and Chris Darwen. Both talk a good game, but how would that translate onto the pitch or er, screen?

Mark was given Ajax in the draw, but would he draw inspiration from my save with the Dutch giants or would he go his own way? He had two wildcards first…

Right then Mark, you’ve picked Javier Zanetti and Gabriel Batistuta. Two fine choices. Talk us through them please?
I was desperate for a right back as I didn’t actually have one in my squad. Zanetti is a Championship Manager legend and exactly the sort of player I wanted. Batistuta though… I have a lot of strikers in the squad but none that really excite me. I love Jari Litmanen and wanted a top class player to go alongside him. Batistuta was one of the great strikers of this era.

Do you think you can take Ajax all the way?
Ajax were a great side in the 90s but I always felt were on their way out by 97:98. It won’t be easy, especially against the side I think are favourites to win it

So why does Mark rate Real Madrid as favourites? Well, they actually won the Champions League in the 1997/98 season, so that seems fair enough. But what does Chris think?

Chris, you’ve picked Martin Djetou and Mickael Landreau. Will they improve a Champions League winning squad?
Djetou was going to be more Marcel Desailly than Marcel Desailly, wasn’t he? In real life he was going to become part of a world that had Desailly, Viera, Petit and, er, Lebouef leading France to World Cup 98 glory. That’s why. Meanwhile, Canizares always had a Mignolet moment in his locker, and Landreau (I seem to recall) matured quickly in the game. Hopefully by mature quickly we mean in time for the semi final after we see this lot off. 

You must be pleased with Real Madrid though?
It’s blatantly fixed. I mean, what are the chances of me getting the squad that won the actual Champions League that season? Yes, I am happy except Real Madrid go against everything I care about in the real world. Galacticos my arse. They have Christian Karambeu for crying out loud.

Can you get the job done here?
Carruthers likes to think he knows the CM land because he’s mates with Bjorn Heidrenson (or whatever he was called). That means nothing once you’ve ghosted the great Johnny Cooper’s memoirs. Ajax’s day went after all their players buggered off to better clubs. Like Real Madrid for example. We will win, and we will win well.

Strong words there. But also a strong squad

Mark rolled back the years and played 4-4-2 whilst Chris went for good old wingbacks.

I have to say I was surprised to see a 17 year old Cambiasso lineup in central midfield for Chris but anybody playing 4-4-2 on this game is brave. As it turned out, a wildcard stole the show

Ajax’s first two goals were headers from corners, before Batistuta added a third from the spot just before half time. Although Real Madrid rallied when Ajax went down to 10, it didn’t last long and Hierro’s red card for a last man foul on Batistuta sealed the deal.

Real actually managed more shots but with a less than clever conversion rate.

As Chris picked up his things muttering about UEFA, conspiracies and Ajax playing 4-4-2 and scoring from corners, Mark will advance to the semi-finals where Ajax will face Barcelona.

Keep an eye on our Twitter during the week as we’ll be giving away out first prizes, and be back here next week for the two remaining quarter finals. Cheerio!

The CM9798 Cup in conjunction with Classic11.com

It’s October and that means the 20th birthday of CM9798 is upon us. October 31st might be a scary night for some but for me it was the night 20 years ago I convinced my parents to take me to PC World to buy the new release. “It looks no different. You’re wasting your money,” advised my Dad, who to this day doesn’t really get the Championship/Football Manager experience. I would argue that I have had my money’s worth from this game…

Anyway, how to celebrate the 20th anniversary? It’s been in the works for some time and now, finally, the wheels are in motion. We’re going to have a knockout competition between 8 fans of the game to determine our CM9798 champion.

How you ask? Well I’ve taken what I consider the 8 best club sides and randomly assigned them to the 8 victims volunteers. I then gave them two draft picks each to spruce up their squads and drew the teams out. Behold, the CM9798 Cup:

I can confirm there was no expense spared on the graphics. The format is a straight knockout, with the top team in each tie being the home team. For the semis and final, the home team will be decided by a coin flip. Each match will essentially be an arranged friendly, so there’s no restrictions on non-EU players or suspensions. I’ll be hacking out as many injuries as I can to try and give the lads as full strength team as possible, but obviously some injuries occur naturally and that’s just life I’m afraid.

If this proves to be a success I’ll most likely do something on a much larger scale next year. World Cup, anyone?

Although the winner will receive a trophy, the real winner here is YOU. To celebrate 20 years of CM9798, I’ve put together a prize bundle which I’ll be giving away, and it’ll be based around the cup – not necessarily in one go, there will be multiple opportunities for you to win. The prizes range from the sublime to the ridiculous, but one man’s pain is another man’s pleasure, or something like that, so here’s what’s up for grabs:

• £25 shirt voucher courtesy of Classic11.com*
• Mousemat of the 2026 World Cup Final courtesy of P302
• 90s mug courtesy of @90sfootball*
• Peter Beardsley Corinthian figurine (still in box)
• The World According to Championship Manager 97/98 signed by Bjorn Heidenstrom
• Poster of John Curtis
• Packet of Premier League 97/98 stickers
• Footix Tamagotchi
• CM9798.co.uk branded pen
• Footix keyring
• Ibrahima Bakayoko shiny sticker
• All the Goals DVD of World Cup 98
• Three Lions ’98 CD
• Footix that sticks to surfaces and dangles. Yeah.
• Premier League 97/98 Official preview book

*not pictured

There may be more things to come too, without sounding like Harry Redknapp there are still deals in the pipeline for triffic, top top prizes. Incidentally if you want to donate or sell me cool things to include, I’m all ears.

Next week I’ll bring you the first two quarter finals, and we’ll continue with two matches per update until the final. Schedules permitting, I am hoping to record the final with the two participants but I’m not brave enough to broadcast it live.

Let the games begin!