There are many hidden gems in the CM9798 database and
“Alfred” is one of them, with a potential of -1. Natipong spent his youth
career in France eventually making his professional bow at Olympique
Noisy-le-Sec where he scored 3 goals in 21 appearances. In 1994 he signed for
Thai Farmers scoring 66 goals in 89 appearances.
He won 55 caps for his Country scoring 25 goals in two years
and winning the gold medal at both the 1995 and 1997 Sea Games. Wikipedia
suggests that he retired from football to take up golf! He was last noted as
managing the Royal Thai Navy FC but appears to have left after they were
relegated to the Thai League Two.
You may recall Andrew did the impossible and kept Barnsley in the Premier League. Not satisfied with one miracle, he’s setting about keeping them there using only the players Barnsley really signed. Catch up with how Andrew kept them in the Premier League here.
Hello and welcome back to another adventure in deepest darkest Yorkshire! Last time out you found us dreaming of and delivering on the impossible; turning the clock back to 1997, unpicking the mistakes of Danny Wilson, and ensuring Barnsley’s survival against the odds in their debut Premier League season with the original squad only.
As you’ll no doubt be aware, it all ended so tragically in real life. So, to follow-up with a rather more impossible feat again, we’ll be looking to repeat the feat, only allowing ourselves to sign players whom John Hendrie’s Barnsley signed for their First Division season of 1998-99.
This means, the list of possible signings are;
Fumaca, Bruce Dyer, Alan Moore, Deon Burton, Don Goodman, Craig Hignett, Mike Sheron, Robin van der Laan, Clayton Blackmore, Scott Jones, Pirri, Chris Barker, Jon Parkin, Brian O’Callaghan, Rory Fallon, Paul Bagshaw, Marc Heckingbottom, Paul Kennedy, or Richard Siddall (if they exist in the database anyway).
And to top that off, the players we must sell, or release (or just plain ignore) are;
Neil Redfearn, Andy Liddell, Jan Age Fjortoft, Jon Perry, Neil Thompson, Laurens Ten-Heuval, Govo Bosancic, Deane Bullock, Rory Prendergast, Dean Jones and Ashley Ward.
That…seems like it will inevitably end in pain. We can play Fjortoft and Andy Liddell until we sell them given they went mid-season in reality, but Redfearn mustn’t be played.
We’ll try our best to offload the players for sale in player exchanges to avoid offending the board/destroying our budget if we cannot shift them.
So far our preparatory mission is going great guns…
No thanks. Meanwhile Hristov has had his work permit declined. And we have shifted Ashley Ward.
Pre-season rings some massive alarm bells. If we manage to survive then this will be the biggest escape on record. However, I have a feeling we’ll be propping the table up/getting sacked. Okay, that confirms it, we’re done for…
F****** hell lads I said to keep it nice and sensible! Well we make our way to Filbert Street with absolutely ground zero expectations, and to my surprise we dominate proceedings, have three cleared off the line and come away with a respectable 0-0 draw against a Leicester side that finished 10th last season.
Our first game at Oakwell and we earn another shut-out where we’ve kept West Ham down to just one chance all game. I’m calling that another point in the bag!
We make our first signing of the season as Mike Sheron becomes available for a cool £1.1m, a proven goal scorer in the First Division (that will keep the punters happy…), can he help us survive in the Premier League?
Looking at the positive, we have our first goal! We follow it up by dropping points to 9th placed Sunderland. Sheron spurned a 89th minute open goal too.
We get off lightly at Stamford Bridge:
It seems that, for love nor money, we cannot buy a goal. Tottenham practically begged us to win and we stubbornly (how very Yorkshire of us) refused.
Onwards and downwards we march. Brad Friedel prevents us from getting a point. Kluivert, Sevchenko and co squeeze over the line.
Sandwiched in-between our absolute epic failures in the Premier League we manage a 1-0 win over Bury in the League Cup. Next up Derby County come-a-calling and it has all the trappings of the Sunderland game, 1-0 up, cruising, throw it away.
4th placed Aston Villa are the next side to add to our shame at the foot of the table as the only winless team in the division (it was 2-0). That said, the gap to safety isn’t as bad as I thought it would be.
It’s a classic top vs. bottom, and we pull out all the stops, dominate the game, but our inability to score continues to plague us. Note again, the opposing ‘keeper getting man of the match. The positive…we’re now 19th (unlucky Coventry).
We advance thanks to a draw in the League Cup vs. Bury. John Hendrie gets scythed down and is out with a groin injury for three months, the last thing we needed after putting in a great shift at Man Utd. No doubt he’ll be out on the hoy too and come back in a fine shape…
Another action packed Yorkshire derby…at least we didn’t lose, but that’s more points pissed away. Mike Sheron still to set the Premier League alight. In other news, Art imitates life as Malcolm Crosby takes over from Denis Smith…
Oh my I’ve gone all dizzy…we double our goals tally in one game as Boro get terrorised by the Tykes! Sheeeeeeeeeeeeeron!!!
We follow up with a predictable 1-0 loss to mid-table Blackburn having spurned chance after chance, normal service has been resumed! A break from the stress as we visit Division 3 Macclesfield to secure a 3-0 victory and reach the League Cup 4th round. But the big end to October is a battle at the bottom as we take on 20th placed Coventry in a real 6 pointer.
It started so well, and we dominated the game, but it was all ruined in a very short spell.
And with that, October comes to a close. I would estimate our chances of survival as 1 in 100 at this point. That said we’ve improved and taken 5 points from the last 15 which is over half our total to date. We’re also only 4 points from safety despite our abysmal form.
Defensively we are actually very sound, and it’s no wonder big clubs are circling for the man from Leek Town (Tony Bullock) and Adi Moses who are phenomenal. Up top Sheron is certainly no Shearer, and as the shortlist goes, only Clayton Blackmore remains available when I could desperately do with Goodman, Burton or Dyer to mix things up in front of goal.
The board have a clear understanding that I’m trying to keep a team that finished 13th in the First Division in real life in the Premier League. So, please stay with us and we’ll see you next time to see if we can make it through winter within touching distance of our ridiculous goal!
Little is known about the career of Anthony Betterton, he
doesn’t even have an entry on Wikipedia. The little data available suggest he
spent some time at Swindon Town, before signing for Highworth Town, Swindon
Supermarine and Shrivenham before moving back to Highworth Town at some point
(Only known thanks to an online Wooton Bassett Town FC programme from 2012).
However, in 2006 he made a report in the Swindon Advisor on
a non-league match between North Leigh and Shrivenham where he was written to
be involved in a “farcical mix-up” with a defender costing his side a goal to
former Nottingham Forest player Chris Allen.
Andrew is back again with some Scandinavian tinkering. He’s made the Norwegian league playable which is summarised below. You can download the database here.
So, you probably noticed by now that I have a small obsession with the Scandinavian content of CM9798. But isn’t the most infuriating thing, that, despite all these hidden secrets, the teams remain unplayable? Well, fear not any longer, as my itchy editing finger has been hard at work.
Scotland is the victim, and I have traded their clubs out and replaced with the Norwegian structure. The nature of the Norwegian leagues in 1997 means this isn’t an exact replica, but largely adheres to the previous seasons finishing positions. We’ll watch the season pan out so, let’s meet the new Norwegian Premier League:
I’ve allowed the season to play out without interference and to see how the AI deploys the players on offer. The big challenge will be the volume of dreaded big-club release clauses due to the relatively low ranking of the Norwegian clubs. There are also some players on offer that I have NEVER seen in an active game. Haugesund have two Nigerian’s Garba and Adimole who look fantastic. So how did the season end up? Let’s see.
Norwegian Premier League
In a surprising turn up for the books, Molde were crowned the inaugural champions of the newly formed Norwegian Premier League. Stabaek were relegated following the sale of Tommy Svindal-Larsen mid-season which saw their form drop through the proverbial trapdoor with them.
Stromsgodset survived a relegation play-off to stay up and can probably lay claim to the best export as usual.
Rosenborg shone on the European stage, making the semi-finals of the UEFA Cup, bowing out 1-0 over two legs to Lazio, underwhelmed in the League.
The biggest exporters of the season were Brann. The fact they finished second after their squad took a battering is some achievement.
The top goal scorers’ charts were a bit of a surprise. Kjetil Lovvik has a shooting rating of just 10, whilst Kristian Sorli only 12. Clearly Mons-Ivar Mjelde would have took the gong having scored 16 in 15 before leaving for the Bundesliga.
A fairly similar story in the assists table. Garba and Adimole in the top 10 assists though, suggest Haugesund have potential. Kjetil Lovvik again playing beyond the capability his ratings would suggest.
Norwegian Division One
Moss grows fat on a rolling stone, and they would have been drinking plenty of it in celebration back in 1998. Stian Neset and Erik Bakke relegated at Sogndal. Skeid went downhill after selling Christer George to Genoa.
Eik-Tonsberg also fell away after selling Christian Bye Andersen to OB Odense.
Byasen’s goals against is…just wow!
Valerenga scored 62 goals, and Kaasa scoring over half of them.
Jo Tessem breaking the top ten, again with limited finishing ability. Bye Andersen might have surpassed Kaasa, but I guess we’ll never know!
Ulrik Balling may well have done better playing in a stronger side.
In the assist charts Kaasa must have been setting himself up! Unlike the Premier League this mixes things up a bit. Moss’ lack of players in either chart is astonishing for the league winners.
Norwegian Division Two
Bryne took the league title by 7 points, leaving Ham Kam a bit salty in their wake. Mjondalen didn’t impress as much as I thought they would with Anders Rotevaten in the sticks, Kim Pedersen at the back and Bollerud creating the chances.
In the goal scoring charts a familiar face pops up, having signed for Ham Kam, but 6th? Poor effort.
Good to see Vidar Hasund up there with 14 goals.
Looking at the assists chart, GT has become an assists man. Rune Medalen the perennial runner-up.
Norwegian Division Three
Drobak-Frogn will be disappointed to fail on goal difference especially as they managed to make it to the Norwegian FA Cup final (losing 3-1 to Rosenborg).
The top goal scorers chart shows just how Sarpsborg managed to sneak ahead of Drobak-Frogn.
Sulja couldn’t get his shots off in the FA Cup but he’s tore a hole through division three that’s for sure.
Sarpsborg are a talented squad for such a lowly side:
The top three dominate the proceedings, but, given between them they scored 197 goals, that’s not surprising. Harstad would have had another in the standings had he not been so good he was snapped up early doors.
Soderlund and Sulja showing themselves to be clinical and selfless all in one.
The Cups
A showdown between eventual runners-up of the top two divisions. Unfortunately for the Odd lads it was all Brann.
In the Norwegian League Challenge Cup, Christer George settled the game for Skeid.
And as we’ve already said, lowly Drobak-Frogn made it to the FA Cup final against Rosenborg. Despite taking the lead, it collapsed pretty quickly.
And with that, I leave you with a gift. The gift of the three required databases to play the Norwegian season out to your hearts content! Just add these databases to your file (make sure to back up the old ones!) and you too can have a Norwegian adventure.
As with many of the Zambian players in the CM9798 database,
Litana’s date of birth is incorrect and he was actually 9 years older than
suggested. Litana was part of the Zambian AFCON squad that reached the 1994
final, going on to win 31 caps and scoring 2 goals and even captaining the
national side.
In CM9798 he is attached to ‘Minor Team’ as his Saudi side
Al-Hilal were not in the database. He stopped playing professionally in July
2000 after being involved in a firearms accident in which he shot himself in
the kneecap whilst ‘cleaning his pistol’…
Andrew’s Rosenborg experiment is reaching an exciting finale. Nobody relishes the trip to Norway, especially in winter, but here we are in the spring and there’s the chance of European football – whether it be via league or cup…
Hello and welcome back to the final part of Viking Invaders Premier League Raiders. Last time out we had a mid-season melt down and couldn’t beg steal or borrow an away point. The whole idea of a Viking invasion was in chaos as we preferred our home comforts. But we had a late surge in form and have picked our way back to 5th place, 7 points from 2nd with Man Utd too far out of reach to be caught. *Searches for any kind of last-minute prize* at least we can say we are responsible for a third of Utd’s goals against column. A reminder of our run-in:
Rosenborg in the Premier League? The Viking invasion got underway last week and the Norwegian’s are acquitting themselves well in unfamiliar surrounds. How will the winter months work out? Catch up with part 1 here.
Hello and welcome back to Viking Invaders! Last time out we’d bolstered the squad with Norwegian talent and after a strong end of August-September we were hit with an injury to Svindal-Larsen and fell apart, crashing out the League Cup to Stockport. Our away form has been woeful, the travelling from Norway every other weekend taking its toll on the lads. Let’s take a look at the stats so far;
KingOfTheRooks is back with a new series! It’s a little known fact that all of the Scandinavian teams are in the CM9798 database so Andrew has got his experimenting hat on. If you’ve ever wondered how Rosenborg would get on in the Premier League, you’re in for a treat…
Hello and welcome to the latest experiment, Viking Invaders!
Rosenborg BK won thirteen consecutive Norwegian titles from 1992 to 2004 and also qualified for the Champions’ League group stages on eight consecutive occasions between 1995-96 and 2002-03. In 1996-97 they reached the quarterfinals, bowing out to Juventus. The question is, how would a team of such dominance cope in the Premier League? Let us find out… (The unfortunate victims to this act of heresy are Southampton who have been demoted to non-league where they will join Rosenborg 2, our B team).
We’ll also look to bring in some of the keenest talent from across the North-Sea to bolster our assault on the Premier League.
Andrew is here with the final instalment of the European Super League. Can he guide PSG up the table? You can also download the files for the Super League here. All you need to do is copy the three .db1 files into your CM9798 folder but remember to backup the current files from your CM9798 folder if you ever want to use them again. My thanks to Andrew for all his efforts in creating this for the blog!
Hello and welcome back to the UEFA Super League adventure! We left you last time having made a strong push at closing the gap to Man Utd following a formational tweak that saw us deliver four 5 goal results, only having fallen foul of Juventus and then returned a poor showing at Club Brugge to fall off the pace of the leaders again. With 11 games to go and a 6 point gap to the leaders, it isn’t unachievable.
Let’s take a look at the run in that we have over the next few months:
6 of the 11 remaining fixtures against top 10 opposition, 3 against other clubs in the top 5…that is going to be just the run in the TV companies had in mind! Despite being the biggest spenders in the league, we are running a tight ship and outside of the core players the ratings are woeful…
Patrice is going absolutely loko at the lack of game time, but I just can’t allow him to move on with the squad so small. Gava is still 8 months away from recovering from a knacked pelvis, he’s spending the whole time listening to Dire Straights I would imagine.
Rai-less for the derby with Monaco, his boy Leroy returns to the side. Silly silly Willy! Sagnol gets himself sent off for a deliberate handball, Henry gives us a scare, but we do the job and win the money bags derby.
That said, the space cowboy has had one too many bookings and will miss a game of the run in after hitting 22 disciplinary points. Hopefully it’s not Man Utd on the 4th April! The gap remains 6 points.
After dominating the opening period in Portugal, Revault has an absolute madness and gets himself sent off. 4-1 down we come back to 4-3 and after 20+ shots, should have had a point. Now Revault and his boy Leroy will miss the Utd game (who extend their lead to 9 points with 9 games to go…
A 89th minute equaliser as Leverkusen pepper our back-up stopper at the death see’s us drop more points. Utd are cruising 11 points ahead of us and they are our next opponents. Denzil’s two goals might seem good, but it’s a poor return from his 10 shots on goal…
Despite pushing Utd all the way with key players missing, money is no match for 4-4-2.
We are playing for our top 5 lives now, as we appear to have well and truly lost our spark. MIND THE GAP.
We belt Bayern 4-1 in Germany, Denzil gets a hattrick. We’re back on fire, but it’s a case of too little too late. With 6 to go Barca and Juve are chasing a determined Utd down but it might just be too much to make up. That resolute Utd defence continues to be their best area even in Super League land.
We have our say in the title race (over to you…ve…) and then crash and burn with the lethargy of a bunch of millionaires who have nothing to play for against PSV.
It really doesn’t matter as we sweep aside a Celtic team with Van Nistlerooy and Larsson up top. The race at the top hots up without us.
No biology jokes this time. A fairly lacklustre win as we hold off a late onslaught to squeeze home 2-1. Elsewhere Juve top on goal difference, Utd with a game in hand, Barca clinging onto an outside hope.
Man Utd take their break from the league in their stride as their rigid belief in 4-4-2 wins them the UEFA Cup. Meanwhile in the UEFA Super League, its all change as Barcelona go top (for now).
A pointless victory against Sporting sees us all but wrap up 4th place. Meanwhile the title race is thrown into Utd’s hands as Barca play their last game and Juve give it up to second bottom Brugge.
Barcelona need penalties to beat plucky Middlesbrough in the Cup Winners Cup
And the only thing now standing between Man Utd and UEFA Super League glory is Gordan Durie and the Blockheads at Old Trafford on the last day of the season. A nail biting finish down to the final day, Barca could win the league without kicking a ball.
We close the season with a draw at the money bags Newcastle Utd. However, in an absolute shock, Gordon and the Blockheads defeat Man Utd 1-0 at Old Trafford and Barcelona lift the inaugural UEFA Super League title without a kick! They also destroy Juventus 5-0 in the UEFA Super League League Cup. A treble for Barca.
In typically for PSG, we’ve ended up well off the pace, having had an end of season collapse as some players imploded, and Maurice the space cowboy lost his pistol like accuracy and it got all too much for the pampered expensive squad.
Okay, so, lets take a look at the final UEFA Super League tables;
Club Brugge’s shock victory over Juventus keeps them in the top tier at the expense of Feyenoord, a brutal, brutal end to their stay in the top. Just as brutal as the twist at the other end. Meanwhile in UEFA Super League Two;
A largely straight-forward affair for Ajax with Ronaldo out for a lot of the season, Inter couldn’t keep the pace. It’s goodbye to Vitesse and Aberdeen. Over in the Premier League Chelsea pull away from the pack and take the title, Spurs the perennial runners-up.
La Liga you say? Let’s see;
And in the secondary European competition, Chelsea romp home.
Whilst we await the result of the World Cup, the financial safety of TV revenue has passed our exuberant spending by…
A single goal from Omar Assad wins the World Cup for Argentina in an all South American affair. Denzil and Alfa Romario in tears.
All that’s left now is the end of season awards. Denzil takes a well deserved bow:
What an adventure…despite our own season coming to an unspectacular anti-climax in the back end of the season, what a rollercoaster it turned out to be for the fight for the title in what is quite possibly the most brutal league assembled. As the TV money rolled in, we overspent and underdelivered, only to be bailed out by our wealthy owners at the close of the season with a financial injection to erase our debts.
I did not want to enjoy this season as much as I have, but would I like to see it in real life? Absolutely not. That said, who knows what the future holds…I hope you have enjoyed following our journey.
The notion of a Super League killing football is very real but you have to say, it makes things quite interesting in the entirely fictional world of CM9798. King Of the Rooks is back to continue the madness whilst managing PSG. Catch up with part 1 here.
Hello and welcome back to the UEFA Super League 1997 where we are trying to see if a well assembled PSG side can have better luck than their future money bags selves in a league that never happened. We left part one having made some reasonably smart signings (so I thought):
As far the transfer round up goes, Monaco signed Jamie Redknapp, Juventus signed Jordi Cruyff, Celtic signed Ruud van Nistelrooy, PSV signed Robert Pires and Newcastle signed…
For us, Muoio was an absolute gamble, that hasn’t paid off. We closed out October in 6th place, ten points behind the leaders Man Utd, no seems to be able to find a better answer than 4-4-2 it would seem.
We open our winter account by piling on the misery for table proper’s Celtic. The only annoyance is losing Ode and Dhorasoo to injuries inside 10 minutes.
England fail to qualify klaxon!!! No doubt Eileen saw it coming. Meanwhile Chelsea pay £9m for Richie Humphreys. The transfer market is going bonkers. Our boy Leroy Jetson helps us to another 5-goal haul but Man Utd maintain the 10 point gap…it is getting tasty.
Petry dishes out enough saves in the Feyenoord goal but under the microscope it was a poor performance from the Dutch as we as we secure another 5-goal haul on the bounce thanks to Denzil and the space cowboy.
We can’t capitalise on a rare slip up from Man Utd as they lose 3-1 to PSV. We can only manage to draw with Sporting despite 15 shots. The gap is down to 9 points. Outside of Man Utd it’s as tight as Mike Ashley on transfer deadline day:
At this stage, its probably worth sharing the modification we’ve made to the ultimate formation after the few defeats, we experienced:
The toon arrive in town and future Newcastle boy Domi breaks hearts whilst only a defiant Shaka Flip-Flop prevents another 5 goal haul.
Meanwhile as Big Ron says goodbye, total football arrives in South Yorkshire and the Premier League:
A Jamie Redknapp inspired Monaco knock us out of the UEFA Super League-League Cup after extra-time as the space cowboy gets his marching orders. This doesn’t bode well for our chances of chasing down Man Utd’s 7 point lead.
Back to the glory of the Sky Sports UEFA Super League and 11 minutes in a pretty Roche challenge sets us up for a difficult afternoon, but the Kaisers kuk their penalty up and we fight on.
The gap to Utd is down to 5 points.
We turn up at the Santiago Bernabeu without the inspirational space cowboy, Domi suspended and Roche suspended. Leroy goes off early but my oh my, that was the performance of the season…
The gap to Man United is down to just 3 points.
Next up we have a crunch game vs. 3rd placed Juventus who have matched us point for point, goal for goal so far and probably have the strongest squad in the league. After making the right start to the game, it all falls apart as Juve just take hold of the game. We’ll lose Revault now too which is terrible news.
Man Utd cling onto top spot, we scrape a last minute winner as Romario comes off the bench to assist Denzil.
Pffffhhhahahahahahahahaha
Gordon Durie and the Blockheads push us but money buys us a little bit of love despite being without our main man in the sticks.
We close out February with a poor performance, only managing a draw with 2nd bottom Club Brugge. An Awfuly showing with Rai getting injured. We are woefully out of form when considering the opposition for the last two games.
We’ve made some good ground over the mid-season, and despite Cruyff’s statement that he’s “never seen a bag of money score a goal” our summer signings sure have helped a good bit. Here’s how the Sky Bet UEFA Super League stands with the run-in coming up:
Celtic have been rooted to the foot of the table all season, the bottom two are surely down. We’re 6 points behind Utd but it’s not an unassailable lead by any stretch. And now Super League Two:
Ajax currently pipping Ronaldo’s Inter and its not clear yet who will be relegated to the abyss of Super League Non-League.
Meanwhile over in the Premier League it remains as tight as Steve Bruce in a new suit…
Total football bringing Sheff Wed right back into it with a game in hand. Wide open. The new boys at Kidderminster continue to boss Division 3, thanks in no little part to signing Tomlinson.
And to wrap things up, over in Spain, Betis are in control.
That’s all for now, but please do join us next time to see how the grande finale of the UEFA Super League turns out and whether we can change the fortunes of a poor old cash rich PSG, whether Derby County can win the Premier League, and whether Salguieros can become the most unlikely Champions League winners!
