Anniversary Week: What CM 9798 Means to Me | @CornishZak

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…

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Anniversary Week: Championship Manager, me and Scott Lindsey | @Taitanator

The first Championship Manager I discovered was the original CM2.  After school me and a couple of mates went round a friend’s house.  He said, “You’ve got to see this new football manager game my uncle has.” 15 minutes later, once it had finally all loaded up, that was it, I was hooked and I ran home to beg my dad to let me buy it that weekend.  I still have the original red CD in the black sleeve case with the yellow DOMARK writing on the outside.

My friend and I would spend hours playing football in the park by my house only to come back to mine and spend even longer playing CM2 together. 

He ended up being my best man and we still talk about finding 88-year-old right back Scott Lindsey in CM2.

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Where Eagles Dare – Part 8: Champions Leagles

Bonjola and welcome back to multi-club mayhem which, in hindsight, was probably a more apt blog title than the whole Eagles thing. Never the less, our three Eagle themed clubs are living a tolerable top flight experience – some better than others – and if this update goes to plan, they still will be in about 900 words time.

I did receive a comment that Palace were criminally under-represented in last weeks post. Sitting second in the league with fairly mediocre investment should be celebrated more, even if I just can’t get over how good Man Utd have been defensively. Anyway, let’s see how this goes.

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I think we’re Cologne now – Part 4: Alles Klar | @Matt_C_Wills

Hello Blogseekers! Settle down, Mickey love, it’s time to delve into season 2 of my German project. As a quick recap we finished 4th in the league after a blistering start aided by Nicolas Anelka, followed by a lumpy middle and then some stability with the arrival of Oliver Bierhoff.

A a top 4 finisher, we enter the weird little League Cup thing at the start of the season and are immediately shot down by the Bayern behemoth.

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Using Championship Manager 97-98 Working Station by Zićko | @Taitanator

Everyone has their funny little quirks, one of mine is spreadsheets, specifically excel (I love it), although other spreadsheeting software is available.  I was shown this fantastic tool by fellow blog member Nick, @NTR9798.  It was created by @zickofonac on twitter, and can be downloaded using this link ZickoCM9798WorkingStation_v2.1. The tool allows us to download the database to a spreadsheet, make any changes we want to and reupload it all without having to use the actual editor. This can be a huge time saver for bulk changes!

I don’t claim to be an expert using this tool, I just want to provide some tips and pointers to help people edit the CM9798 databases more easily.  When you download the software, there is a README file that contains a lot of information on how to use this tool. Obviously the first time I read that file was before I began writing this blog, because instructions right, who needs those!  If I had read the instructions, one of the issues I noticed when exporting the TMDATA could have been easily avoided, because information about this issue was, surprise surprise, in the instructions.  I’ll explain more later.

In this blog I will cover:

  • Setting up CM9798 Working Station (CM9798 WS)
  • Exporting the *.DB1 files to make a *.CSV file
  • Things you can do in excel to make editing easier
  • Importing the *.CSV files to make a *.DB1 file
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Turf Roar: Season 2 – part 1 | @Taitanator

Welcome back to this unique journey with Burnley football club, to provide a quick recap, season one went swimmingly, thanks in no small part to the goal scoring exploits of “King” Kyle Lightbourne, who managed to score 57 goals in all competitions.  Burnley were promoted as champions of Division Two and are now embarking on a similarly long and rigorous campaign in Division 1, with a view to making it to the Premier League at the first time of asking.  

Regarding signings and rules, any player from either Ireland or Northern Ireland can be played at any time, so can any player from a country beginning with B (foreign player rules still apply).  Up to three wildcard players can feature in a match day squad, as long as they are either French or have been signed from the pre-approved Wikipedia rivals list.  After a whole season of transfer dealings, I now have enough players to ensure that each match day squad adheres to the rule requirements, and I only have a few ineligible squad members to offload.

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Turf Roar: Season 1 – part 3 | @Taitanator

Welcome back, Burnley are set for their final 16 league games, with a place in Division 1 at stake.  The Clarets have been flying so far, after thirty games they have 75 points, 24 wins, three draws and three losses.  

Kyle Lightbourne is on a personal mission to become a demi-centurion, and he leaves it late against Plymouth.  In fact we were complete dross for 74 minutes, fortunately the last 16 were much better, an undeserved home win but a definite Turf Roar moment.

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Turf Roar: Season 1 – part 2 | @Taitanator

We left the Clarets at the top of Division 2 after 15 games after discovering that Kyle Lightbourne seems to be a little bit of a league two legend.  Unfortunately he has been racking up disciplinary points even quicker than goals, and so come the first of November he will miss three matches

Determined to make the most of his opportunities before his enforced rest period he bangs in four against Wigan, including a hat-trick in four minutes, the first Turf Roar of episode two.

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Nowhere I’d Radebe – Part 18: See you later, Agali-ator @Matt_C_Wills

Hello, this is definitely the last instalment of my Leeds African odyssey. If you’ve followed my ramblings so far, I hope I can do you proud on the final episode.

Firstly, a quick recap of where we sit, top, by a small margin, with 12 games left to play. Hoping we can retain the title, as we’re definitely scoring more goals than the other title hunters. Man Utd scoring only 1 goal a game is nuts.

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Turf Roar: Season 1 – Part 1 | @Taitanator

This blog starts with a secret, a secret Santa.  I was gifted this beauty, Burnley’s 1994 Wembley away shirt. Funnily enough, my Irish grandad chose Burnley as his club when he arrived in Lancashire, so I’ve always had a soft spot for them, how did blog squad member @Matt_C_Wills know?

The challenge is obvious, try and win it all with The Clarets, the rules are these:

  • I can only sign players from The Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland (thanks Grandad) or any nation that begins with a B. (Burnley begins with a B, it’s incredibly innovative.)
  • There are a maximum of three wild card slots available in the match day squad, these can be taken up by:

i) Any French player, the Bene and Hot rule, (Burnley is the only team to serve the French liqueur Benedictine topped up with hot water, selling in excess of 30 bottles at each home game, thanks Wikipedia.)

ii) Any random player as long as they have been signed directly from the official Wikipedia rivals list. The Clarets official Wikipedia rivals are Blackburn, Accrington Stanley (not on the game), Blackpool, Bolton, Preston North End, Bradford and Leeds.

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