Dutch Delight in Deutschland

Posted on February 7, 2016 by David Black

There’s so much going on in today’s update I don’t know where to start. I mean, I do, I’ll start with the pointless Cup as always but humour me for a moment. We’ve got Newcastle’s battle for promotion, World Cup 2014 and an all English UEFA Cup final. Take a breath, calm yourself and read on…

League Cup

Oh look we’ll start with the League Cup. I’ll even be polite and call it by its proper name. Who’s having a nice day out this year?

Ian Snodin! That’s who! Darren Huckerby tastes Wembley defeat but he’s got bigger problems to come. Everton though maintain an interest in the double

FA Cup

Semi final time first, Huckerby is here too. However it’s an old stager who grabs the headline

Roy Evans will take Palace to the final, where he’ll face Alvin Martin’s Wolves. Bryan Robson continues to be a nearly man.

The final then, Evans or Martin? Urgh.

It’s 0-0 first time around, which I bet was a thriller. The replay is a more chipper affair though, and Roy Evans won. So isn’t that nice for Roy. Weirdly, it’s Palace’s 3rd FA Cup win of this game.

Champions League

Moving on to the Champions League, the last 4 is just all over the place

Bologna win the battle of Italy whilst PSG knock out Ajax. It means we will have a first time winner

Bologna it is! Milan win the Cup Winners Cup too, so it’s great times to be Italian. The UEFA Cup is a different story though

Matt Le Tissier has been in charge of Arsenal for 11 years but this is his first trophy – and to think he got Arsenal relegated in 04. Can he add the league to his CV though?

Premier League

With one game to go, it’s Arsenal’s to lose

Ian Snodin’s Everton are the only team that can stop them, with both guaranteed to take the Champions League places. At the bottom, Huckerby has taken West Ham down and Norwich are long gone (sorry again lads). Chelsea, Wimbledon or Sheff Wed will join them – Unsworth hasn’t really had much of an impact at Sheff Wed, despite them having a great side.

The results are in..

Sheff Wed get out of jail free, and Wimbledon are gone. Everton fail against Haslam’s Blackburn so the title is Arsenal’s regardless, but they win to condemn Wimbledon at the same time as they win the league. Le Tissier, what a guy.

Final table for prosperity

Ok, ok, Wolves have to play Palace the following day and I forgot to screenshot the table but I can tell you they drew and finished 6th.

It’s curtains for Wimbledon though, so much for 40 points being a safety mark.

Before I go on to my promotion campaign, look who is back in work!

What’s odd here is that Rotherham were relegatedo ut of the football league in 1999, so have only just come back now. They’ve got no real players (except Beardsley now) but I’m surprised Beardsley has had to drop down this far, he was only in the Premier League last season. He is, however, still playing aged 53.

Division 1

With one game to go, we’ve got a tricky looking home fixture with Charlton where we’ve got it all to play for.

Remarkably, we win and finish 4th to secure a playoff place

Bristol Rovers are our first problem

We just about slip past them, on to a final meeting with QPR. Ian Holloway has been QPR’s managed since 2002, it’s an update for the long time servants.

Anyway, unlucky Ian. WE’RE GOING UP!

I’m obviously delighted but can’t help but feel we will get destroyed in the Premier League. The average ratings weren’t exactly great

Oh well, future Dave’s problem. Right now, it’s World Cup 2014! In Germany…not Brazil

World Cup

Wilkommen! Marcello Lippi has picked the following squad

Hardly a household name in the squad. I had Sansome at Darlington, and Neil Finn is sitll knocking around. Sevilla goalkeeper Jepson is still a hero it seems, whilst Colin Young went from my back up keeper at Darlington to AC Milan’s number 1. Sometimes, I want to smash my head off the desk.

Anyway, Lippi has added some Italian style to this team. By that, I of course mean they are dull but effective.

Timmy! The Portugese are too strong though

It would be a great shame if England went out in the groups. Now that is sarcasm. As it is, a draw will see England through, and Timmy comes up trumps again.

Whilst the last 16 beckons for England, another Englishman is out of luck

Oh, Gerry. I think the Spain job is a step too far for your beauitful mullet. Here’s the group tables for your perusal.

Hosts Germany are also out, meaning both 2010 finalists are gone. Denmark are also quite high profile absentees after their success in the European Championships a while back.

The last 16 has kept a lot of the favourites apart, which bodes well for later in the tournament. Brazil vs Italy is the blockbuster fixture.

Lippi re-discovers that winning habit, it’s another gung ho performance

No such luck for Scotland, they’re out in tough circumstances

Brazil find themselves 3-0 down inside 10 minutes. Van Gaal was good as Barcelona manager, but he seems to be bloody brilliant as Italy boss.

What’s going on here?

The Moo brothers at the back there getting the job done. Good lads.

The last 8 line up is a mix, with England vs Holland an attractive prospect on paper but now that England have been Italianed, I’m not so sure

Oh well

Foeke indeed. The semi finals are as you would expect, with Holland getting the better of Argentina. Good old Jaliens.

Whilst LVG continues his great form

So it’ll be Dutch vs Dutch in the final. The German hosts will be pleased. First though, who’s third?

Portugal edged that then. Let’s get to the main event – Dutchman Loius van Gaal leads his Italy side against Holland. Conflict of interest?

Jaliens! The former Ronald de Boer does it again. Don’t forget who signed you.

Only 4 years later than scheduled, I bet 2018 isn’t in Russia though!

So we’ll look forward to that. Lippi will be 70 by then, just retire please.

Some awards to finish this epic update off

Magic. Well done Matt le Tissier.

Kieron Dyer has retired, fortunately I saw that coming and screenshotted him before his hung his boots up.

122 caps is close to a record. A favourite of mine retires

Internationally renowned gaffer Brian Flynn also calls it

I’ll never understand how that happened. Anyway, the good news is that Peter Beardsley has decided to carry on. As it stands, he is the only player on Rotherham’s books, and he is the player manager. We’re all rooting for you Pedro!

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Champ Man & Me: Paul from FM Central

Posted on February 2, 2016 by David Black

After a short absence, I’m delighted to say we’re back with a new edition of Champ Man & Me. We’re joined by Paul from FM Central, a resource site for all your Football Manager needs. I spoke to Paul about the site, his favourite memories of the series and the new #Wearethecommunity initiative

Hello Paul, thanks for taking the time to join me. FM Central is a tremendously popular resource site for not only FM content but there’s also some real-life analysis. Can you sum it up for us as a starter?

FM Central was born due to a burning love for Football Manager, we wanted to create a home for people to feel happy whilst talking FM, setting up the website we knew we needed to make a base for the followers we hoped we would get so setting up a facebook group we never knew it would explode how it did and now we are closing in on 6000 as we speak.

FM Central is a community based site, we focus on making sure people in our community have what they need, from guides to stories, from Graphics to the Online League. My main aim was to always make FM Central feel like a down to earth place, somewhere people wanted to be and wanted to discuss FM and in all aspects myself and my admin team try to do that, be it talking to myself on twitter to posting on the group.

How did you come to be involved with the site? Is this your first role within such a project?

I had set up a site with a previous group I helped on but the group was unfortunately on a downward spiral so I decided I wanted to make somewhere better, bigger and stronger. Looking into it and talking with some lads who wanted to make the move with me it became simple, I messaged them within minutes knowing the name I wanted to call the site and everything went from there, I am proud to be the owner of FM Central and I know the lads who help on it have the same passion for it which is great to know and see.

What are your thoughts on FM16? How does it stack up to other versions of the game?

I love this FM, the detail is fantastic, the additions to the game with prozone and making sections like the tactics easier to navigate in my opinion, it is nice they listened to views and implemented them.
I am a fan of the online additions but also wary of the need to please the younger generation in my view with the fast paced draft mode. As long as it does not effect the making of the full detailed version I shall remain happy.

When did you first catch the CM/FM ‘bug’?

The bug hit early, in 98/99 it took control, the early mornings before school getting up at 5am to get some games played, running home to finish a season, it was a time of my life I remember well, my teacher at the time also was a fan of Champ Man and he used to print off his team and bring it in when he made new signings, the old paper, with the holed paper strip on the side, classic paper for a classic game.

Obviously I’m a big fan of CM97/98, do you have any memories of this particular version?

This was my first ever Football Manager, my brother had built me a computer and he had borrowed the game off a friend, I was the only football fan in the house so games like this did not get purchased randomly and I had not heard of it, I was moving up to the older school at the time and they wanted a way to keep me from mixing with the wrong crowds it seems, well it worked.

I had no idea what I was doing when firing the game up and made many mistakes but it was the first time I played it, I remember I had played for two or three months straight when his friend wanted it back. I cried myself to sleep that night hoping my parents would hear and get me it back, little did I know my brother had already planned on the following version being in my stocking along with a new computer.

Everybody has a favourite save – what’s yours?

A save that lives long in the memory, Cork City, a visit to the Irish league in FM08 which would turn my management style forever. Taking charge I had always being save before that, Italy, England, Scotland, Spain etc but I wanted to try to and expand, i was now hitting the age of 19/20, I had got sick of the late nights drinking and replaced it with pretending to be at Turners Cross, I think it held about 7,500 but when I was done, that place rocked like it held 90k.

It started well, Andy Jackson, I still remember him now, I am sure he plays in Scotland and I signed a Polish winger, his name slips my mind but he was amazing, with the core sticking together we romped to 7 titles in a row, in that time bringing players like Alex Bruce to play in Ireland, the big issue was signing Irish players who had not come from Ireland so they did not count as home grown for the European Squads, I did get some good youth but not to many.

Well season 8 came round, we were in Europe again, the Champions League, we had touched the groups before but never settled in them and the draw was made… Tottenham, Inter and arghhh it slips my mind. Anyways I had no hope, we were tired by the kick off of the groups with our season coming to an end but we pushed on, picking up points and before we knew it, we had got to the knockout rounds! This dream continued till the last eight of the competition before going out 2-0 to Barcelona. We never reached the heights again in my four further years but it was a journey with the Irish minnows I loved and lived every minute of it.

#Wearethecommunity is a new initiative launched by the online FM Community, can you explain what the goal of this movement is?

When I approached a group of my close FM community friends with an idea I never thought it would take off, with support from the likes of Guido at strikerless I knew we would do well, his friendship is a reason that FMCentral does so well, support from friends in the community is vital in motivational ways more than anything.

The idea of it is a starting point in reminding Sports Interactive who the community is, the new fondness to promote FIFA Youtubers, Stats sites and others is something that we are not against but it seems that promotion of FM Content is down, the interest to share and promote the community was down so we needed to take a stand and do it ourselves. Now I am not saying it does not happen, we have the likes of @Cleon81 who I think many if not all would agree is a community leader in terms of giving back, he does so much and we can all strive to take a leaf from his beliefs in community giving.

The # is there to give people a chance to share work in a group, you select the # and you see a list, now is it about self promotion, maybe a little as you always want people to know you have a site, you do videos etc but the main reason I want this # and wanted to do this is I love content, I watch Second Yellow Card Daily, I read Cleon81 weekly when posts are out, I check out TheFMWhizzkids on facebook daily but I wanted more and at times it was a struggle where to start, who to see, who did others suggest. Now I can go on the #, see a recommendation and check it out, it is about people recommending others, if you see something you like, hashtag it and tell us why you like it, this will get others viewing. If you hashtag your own work it might not appeal but if your recommending others who you genuinely like, it has an influence and its more than a RT, it is a statement of: I like this, check him out and give him a follow if you do too.

If you could introduce one change to the FM Series, what would it be?

At the minute, I would fix prozone as for starters having both sides coloured the same on the screen is just stupid, who ever passed that through in design should be buying the beers for a month or two.

Many thanks to Paul for taking time out to answer my questions, head over to Twitter to check out the #wearethecommunity articles – you may as well follow FM Central whilst you are there!

If you’d like to feature on Champ Man & Me, please get in touch on twitter or by e-mail to davetin9@gmail.com

Señor Francis

Posted on January 31, 2016 by David Black

Welcome back to the madness – we’re catching up with real life at an alarming pace, but as we reach March 2014, things are about to be shook up to a whole new level. Newcastle are still scrapping away in Division 1 but prior to all of that, there’s more managerial stupidity to contend with.

You may recall the previous update ended with West Ham still looking for a new manager. That search has taken them down the rather odd route of Darren Huckerby

Huckerby brought Blackburn up from Division 1 and they sit in the top 8, so dropping down to relegation threatened West Ham is somewhat surprising. Having said that, West Ham were in the Champions league just 4 years ago, so maybe he can work his Huckerby magic.

Anyway, that pointless anecdote was not without good reason. Who’s in at Blackburn!?

Yet another of my Darlo greats is in the management game! Coming in at the top level is a big test for the former England defender, but then he did win the Champions League so nothing fazes him. Good lad. This is only the start of the stupidity though

Spain have had enough of David Unsworth successfully qualifying for tournaments, they need somebody else. But who? WHO!?

Oh for crying out loud. Gerry is going to win the World Cup isn’t he?

Darlo need a new gaffer, and they opt for local-ish lad Bryan Robson.

Oddly, Sheff Wed decide I am the man – I like to think Batistuta junior put in a good word

I’ve never been a fan of Wednesday’s though so I’m staying at Newcastle. David Unsworth returns to England to take the job on

Happy New Year! One more piece of news for you comes from Division 1 though

The World’s oldest player is on the free transfer market! I imagine he’ll find managerial work before long.

Over at Newcastle we’re having another late run at the playoffs, we’re just 3 points outside with 7 games to go.

As you can see, progress has been steady

It’s frustrating in many ways as we have Zidane, Weah & Ronaldo re-incarnated leading the attack but they are still developing. The problem is we can’t defend. We are the leagues top scorers though, so that’s nice.

Away from the rough and tumble of the football league, the league cup has got finalists!

Huckerby! Oh and Ian Snodin. It’s just all so odd.

The FA Cup will see both teams have a dress rehearsal for the final as they meet at the Quarter Final stage.

Alvin Martin is now at Wolves so it’s a potential grudge match for him if he goes up against West Ham. Roy Evans is still Palace manager, he’s got a decent cup record in recent times.

Europe’s elite is all over the place, I mean look at La Liga

I like Atletico Madrid’s chances – they are managed by former Man Utd player Matteo Pelatti and haven’t won La Liga during this game.

The Champions League quarter finals see most of the favourites bow out, including holders PSV.

The semi final line up is a bit unusual as a result

The all Italian semi final is one nobody saw coming.

World Cup 14 is just around the corner, this time being held in Germany. Just 8 years later than scheduled. Marcello Lippi’s England have a decent group.

~~I hope he loses every game and gets fired.~~ Good luck to him, I hope England win.

As ever, here’s the Premier League table to finish

It’s looking like an exciting finish to the season, the league seems to have averaged out a bit but Matt Le Tissier’s Arsenal lead the way. Darlington used to finish strongly under Gerry, whereas Sheff Wed always fell away under Bryan Robson so we’ll see if that is the case.

Oh Norwich. I am sorry. Huckerby has games in hand that might save West Ham but Man City & Sheff Wed have both been heavily involved at the other end of the table in recent times, so it would be a shock to see any of those 3 relegated. I’m predicting a massive shake up at the end of this season either way.

Hopefully by then I will have managed to guide Newcastle back into the elite but who knows – joins me next time, won’t you?

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5 Things you didn’t realise could happen in CM9798

Posted on January 26, 2016 by David Black

Hello!

Well if it isn’t the return of the 5 point list. Seeing as we’ve been running for a year, I’ve encountered a lot of strange things in this game, but what’s great is that you lot have also sent some odd things over. So, without further Freddy Adu, let’s countdown.

We’ve got a whole lot of history

Player histories are a great thing, but if you create a player in the editor you can’t add in any history unfortunately, but ho hum. In great news, there are certain “hidden” histories in the game, all you have to do is create that player with the right date of birth. Here’s Eric Cantona

cantona history

Are there others? Well, maybe. But I don’t know who they are. And neither does Google. Lionel Perez was mentioned but he was added into the game anyway after inexplicably missing out pre-patch. Let’s move on.

You’re Barred!

Anderlecht got caught out being naughty boys and, with no detail missing, their resulting ban in Europe was built into CM9798

Screenshot courtesy of @obsoletelyfab

Of course the eagle eyed amongst you will see the ban is for 1998-99, meaning anybody unaware flogged themselves to death for a season, got into Europe only to learn they wouldn’t be allowed to play with the rest of the elite. Nightmare.

Winner takes it all

Ok we’re cheating a bit here but I genuinely didn’t know this was a thing. Seemingly, neither did half of twitter. In Italy, if the top two finish on the same points, none of this goal difference malarky – it’s a playoff to determine the true winner.

Serie A playoff

Apparently this really happened in Serie A up until 2005/06, though I can’t find any record of the last time it actually transpired that way, mainly because my Italian leaves a lot to be desired. So there you go – another great bit of a detail.

Unrateable

We all know the stats in CM9798 range from 1 – 20. Right? Wrong. When a player declines so badly, their stats can actually fall of a cliff and be essentially zero

beardsley 55

Here we have blog favourite Peter Beardsley, still player-managing at 55. Pace? Slow. Stamina? He’s practically dead. Strength? Floppy. He’s really determined though, so that’ll help.

That’s all folks

Don’t you just hate it when you’re finally hitting your stride, 30 seasons in, and the game tells you to move along

end of game

So if we get to 30 seasons, and to be fair we are just 10 short seasons away from that, I can call it a day. I only hope I’ve achieved all I need to by then, or I’ll be livid.

Golden Balls-Up

Posted on January 24, 2016 by David Black

Hello! Welcome to yet another new season – the 17th, if you are counting. I’ve taken Newcastle up to Division 1, after a 10 year absence, and we’re just showing signs of adapting. I am in demand elsewhere though, whilst a famous name is sacked and then hired elsewhere. Let me explain…

Obviously there’s a need to improve the squad to do battle in a higher division, and such is my want I’ve gone for re-gens. You don’t get much better than Zidane and Ronaldo’s reincarnations

The best news is a few weeks later I was able to get Ronaldo junior on a permanent deal for a measly £210k. Lovely!

The squad looks a lot different to the one I inherited 12 months ago

Davidson is the usual number 1, I had him at Norwich towards the end of my tenure and he was excellent backup for Pascual. Bird & Horlock are full internationals for Wales & Northern Ireland respectively, and Nigel Heskey is a former England Under 21 international who I also had at Norwich. I’ve essentially got Zidane, Weah and Ronaldo of the future so patience is key!

It’s been an average start, knocked out of the league cup over 2 legs by Man Utd and just into the top half of the table

Anyway, away from Division 1 there’s a Charity Shield to be won

Sheff Wed excel when it doesn’t matter but they’re getting reputations as chokers when it really matters. They did however get a creditable draw with Sevilla in their Champions League group, but it’s taken it’s toll on their league campaign. More on that later.

With Man Utd not qualifying for Europe they find themselves in the rare position of having to balance the books

I am proud of what I built at Sevilla, and Darlo for that matter. Anyway, a legend of the game has walked from Leeds, just a month into the new season after overseeing their relegation.

For some reason, another relegated club thinks “I’ll have some of that”

Leeds and Coventry sit 16th and 20th respectively. Oh dear.

Fiorentina saw fit to sack Cesare Prandelli and, because they are wise, offer me the position. I didn’t even apply!

It’s a similar situation at Man City, as Father Phil hands in his notice

I don’t want this on either

Thanks anyway lads. It’s nice to be offered high profile jobs but fundamentally I won everything there was to win and now I’m managing in the First Division, it has to be the right job. Mark Hateley takes the job, meaning Wolves are on the prowl for a new gaffer

Time for one more sacking

But his successor has yet to be appointed – and yes, I did turn it down. Time for the tables

Man Utd are back on top, free of any European commitments, whilst Matt Le Tissier has been showing signs of getting Arsenal together for some time now. Where are Sheff Wed?

Oh Bryan. That defence is…leaky. Wimbledon have been as much a yo-yo club as any whilst Chelsea have lived a very average existance, which has continued under Nick Barmby.

It’s still early days of course and I’ll be hoping to turn midtable obscurity into at least the playoffs, whilst I’m sure Bryan Robson won’t be panicking just yet. Mind you, if they go down there’ll be a scrum for Rotchen…

So join us next time as we see what 2014 brings to this already mad time.

One for Sorrow, Two for Joy

Posted on January 17, 2016 by David Black

Good day to you. It’s the end of the 2012/13 season and there’s all sorts to play for. My Newcastle side go looking to secure a 2nd Division playoff place, Bryan Robson is trying to win the league for Sheffield Wednesday and Man Utd try to stave off relegation. What? You read that right. Let me elaborate…

But first, who wants a trophy?

League Cup

Bryan Robson gets one over his former club with an impressive, ultimately pointless win

Take that, Leigh Townsend.

FA Cup

We may as well stay with the cups. Palace knocked us out in the quarters but my old club Darlington ensure they go no further.

There’s a replay needed for Liverpool vs Arsenal though, which is a bit of a classic.

Brian Little wins, as always. Except in the final, where he doesn’t.

Windscreen Shield

I don’t normally bother with this but it was an all Magpie affair at Wembley.

With a minute to go we were loving life, but an equaliser took it to extra time and 2 minutes later a sudden death golden goal won it for Steve Bruce’s Notts County. I bet he bloody loved it.

Still, I have other things to attend to…

Division 2

In the last update I brought you the news that we had somehow turned things around and crept into the top 6. We just about manage to cement that place to book a two legged tie with Kettering.

For those wondering, Kettering have Michael Bridges. We just about get the job done.

Sunderland and Newcastle at Wembley on the same bank holiday weekend? London police will be delighted.

Although Sunderland lose to the cobblers, it isn’t an omen for us as we brush Watford aside with one of our best displays

Get in. Ibrahim finishes with 36 goals, whilst Joni gets 33 but a mighty 29 assists. We end as the divisions top scorers, which is nice. It means the club are back in the First Division for the first time since the 2002/03 season when they were relegated.

Champions League

Bit of a change of pace now, as we look at Europe’s Elite. Both of my former clubs are left stunned as Juventus and PSV will play out the final

Remarkably, PSV win it

The Dutch League isn’t even loaded, so quite the achievement.

Sevilla have to settle for La Liga whilst Bologna beat Hellas Verona to the Serie A title, so no Champions League at all for Juventus.

Premier League

It was turning into quite an interesting race for the title when I left you last, and it all boils down to the final day

It’s not just an exciting title race either, the relegation zone looks fairly tight

So 3 teams can win the title (mathematically at least) and 5 teams are in risk of relegation. Sky would be going ballistic. The fixtures:

Amazingly all the teams involved have avoided playing others involved. I’m sad to see Pedro’s Middlesbrough relegated but no doubt he’ll be preparing to rip up Division 1 as a player. Anyway, here’s what happened:

Sheffield Wednesday just needed to win, and they failed. Gerry wins again. Beckham’s Leeds have blown it, a home loss to already relegated Middlesbrough seals their fate and makes the rest of the results meaningless. The First Division is going to be tough for me to get out of next season!

Here’s how it ended

Scott Colcombe (who?) has done a great at Derby, the league has been very random here.

Confirmation of the bottom:

Bryan Robson’s week goes from bad to worse

Pick the bones out of that. Rotchen (Batistuta, remember) misses two penalties in 20 minutes and all his team mates catch the curse, allowing Napoli to win the Cup Winners Cup. Cagliari win the UEFA Cup in a good year for Italy.

Awards time!

So that’s all, another season has come to a close. We’ve had 16 seasons now so thank you for staying with me, hopefully there’s a lot more to come! See you next time as I go head to head with Peter Beardsley (but I’m not putting my boots on, I promise)

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Joni Be Good

Posted on January 10, 2016 by David Black

After coming to the realisation of how big the job of re-building Newcastle United is, things have actually taken a bit of an upturn as our form has lifted us into the upper echelons of the table. Too little too late? Or the start of something big? Let me tell you about it…

As we drift into the winter months, everybody’s favourite cup competition has started. We’ve used it as a bit of a springboard and we’ve been given the toughest tie possible – away to the Premier league leaders.

We love a big game

Ridiculous emotions to miss a pen at 2-1 against 10 men to conceding an equaliser immediately. Oh well, back to St James’

Goodness me. What a result! It doesn’t end there either, and before long we’ve found ourselves in an FA Cup quarter final

Sadly that is as far as we go

However, there are other cups

Who fancies a trip to Wembley?

It will be a Magpie vs Magpie clash at Wembley in April.

Seeing as we are here, here’s how the FA Cup semi finals have shaped up.

Back to the more pressing matters of our league form, we’ve really turned it round. Just look at the reverse of the opening day fixture!

Get in. This lovely graph sums up how mint we’ve become

Very up. Ok, a slight blip in the middle but now we’re right in the playoff mix. The main reason is this man, the George Weah re-gen who I’ve somehow been allowed to loan but he’s not for sale

His strike partner knows where the goal is too, but he was here when I got here.

60 goals between them. One slight blemish is that the old big club release clause has struck again and my left back of 5 months is off.

The top of Division 2 is still toight like a toiger, 7 games to go and we’ve reached the top 6 for the first time.

With a trip to Wembley to come too, it might be a canny end to the 12/13 season.

Away from the rough and tumble of Division 2, there’s a pointless cup to be won

Gordon Milne is the old unflushable turd, 3-0 down from the 1st leg to stun Brian Little. Sheff Wed continue to be involved in the important matters, that Argentine striker makes all the difference.

There’s also the Champions League, many worlds away from where i currently am

Juve, Darlo, Sevilla…you could argue they are the biggest 3 clubs in the game. The semi finals make for 2 good games.

With that, let’s look at the Premier League

Sheff Wed’s games are piling up so it’s the old conundrum of whether you’d rather have the points on the board or the games in hand. Really I’d say any one of 4 teams could win it, with Darlo clinging on with that game in hand. Look at Man Utd though…midtable.

At the bottom, Norwich have began to slide, as have Beckham’s Leeds. Beardsley is back from his broken leg and is picking himself for Boro at the age of 52, it’s not doing them any favours though. Villa appointed Damien Johnson as player manager in the summer and that seems to have been their undoing – they have never been relegated on this game but they’ve got a lot of work to do to get out of this one.

So another update has come to a close. Join me next time as I hopefully tell you about a great season end for Newcastle – but I wouldn’t bet on it! Tata for now.

Happy Blogday

Posted on January 4, 2016 by David Black

Today marks one year since I launched this blog and in the absence of a party, balloons or a cake, I’d like to take the time to reflect on the last 12 months.

Before I move on though, this seems like as good a time as any to thank you all for reading, commenting, tweeting and generally putting up with me for the past year. If nobody read this, it wouldn’t be anywhere near as fun. This is a game from getting on 20 years ago and I’m humbled by the amount of nice words sent in my general direction for the memories this blog has evoked. I hope I can continue this in 2016.

What a 12 months it has been though. Right the way from my very post through to yesterday’s offering, we’ve been through a lot together. You’ll be glad to know what I’m not going to re-write every post from the past year, but I do have some highlights. The first save on the blog saw me go from Wimbledon to Deportivo, but my abiding memory will always be the outcry on Twitter when Steve Haslam went to Real Madrid, including one kind soul tweeting the man himself:

haslam tweet

Alan Rogers to Man Utd also raised some eyebrows. That first save saw me move to Auxerre at the start of season 3, and one thing that didn’t make it to blog was that things got so bad I had the “David Black to go?” graphic. I was petrified I was going to be sacked and have to blog my failure, plus a period of being unemployed. Let me tell you, I studied that game to make sure my form turned around and fortunately, it did! Then of course, the dreaded save game corruption happened.

saved game situation

What was really annoying about this was that I had Deportivo absolutely flying! Considering I hadn’t started that season particularly well, we had a lot of momentum by this stage:

la liga top march 12

I still have the save game (it’s the 3rd blank square on the above screenshot) but it’ll never work again – my laptop ran out of battery as it was saving, so I would think it is gone forever. I handled it well though:

crash2 crash

As it turned out, it was the best thing that could have happened. I reached out to twitter and gave the people what they wanted

tweets

And so the Darlington legacy was started. Everything about this save turned out perfect for a blog – I didn’t dominate every division or anything like that, but I genuinely felt the love for Darlington. Even after an early mishap regarding whether Darlington FC really still exists after their financial plight, I was politely corrected, off we went. It just felt like the stars aligned a bit, especially when things like this happened:

nono limit

I absolutely promise you that wasn’t set up either. During all of this madness, I needed ideas to keep the blog interesting, and decided to run with the live text idea. Basically, if a big enough game came about, I decided to give it the full coverage. Yes, I shamefully tweeted some prominent live texters but in my defence, they said these things:

warren tweet tom rostance shamoon tweet

So the Division 2 playoff final was my first attempt, before increasingly grander matches got the treatment. 2 FA Cup finals and a UEFA Cup later, I then wrote about 10 as part of a book. Ridiculous. You can review the live texts (and everything else) over at Season Summaries

Away from updating you on the saves I’ve tried to bring some variety to the page as I wanted this to become a one-stop shop for all your CM9798 needs. The Community XI was a load of fun, again I did fear nobody at all would vote but those fears were misplaced and you did the game proud. Even now, I can see in the site stats people search Google for the game, end up here and trawl through the nominations to try and find that bargain they may have missed. There were also a bunch of list articles in the early days that may be a little outdated now but the point still stands:

5 Players in CM9798 Who went on to Alternative Careers

5 Players in CM9798 with inexplicable positions

10 Current Premier League Managers still playing in CM9798

I could probably re-write the last one every few months, such is the modern management world. Seeing as it’s an anniversary, I do have another of these lined up.

This blog has also introduced me to a number of CM addicts through Twitter and email, and this was really the basis for the Champ Man & Me series. My original plan was to ask willing volunteers to answer a Q&A over e-mail with a view to combining it all. The problem was, more than a dozen of you sent in answers and it became a very cumbersome draft that was already 2000 words long after about 3 sets of answers. I still have the draft to this day. Instead, the series went ahead on a one-to-one basis with various people ranging from the creator of a 90s football podcast to a TV commentator. Just when I thought I’d peaked, the creators of the game Paul & Oliver Collyer agreed to answer some questions on the series, which I’m still amazed by to this day. The full list of Champ Man & Me’s are below:

Chris Darwen (Author & Editor of The Higher Tempo Press)

Ally Bain (Qualified Coach & podcaster)

Mark Carruthers (NonLeagueDaily.com editor and Pundit)

Dan O’Hagan (Football Commentator)

Ash Rose (Alive & Kicking 90s Podcast Creator)

Paul & Oliver Collyer (Co-founders of Sports Interactive)

Incidentally, everybody I asked to do this agreed with one exception, who didn’t reply. It was during the Rugby World Cup and so I asked a rugby player to take part, thinking that was good business. I would imagine he was a tad busy though, so we’ll let him off.

Of course, writing this blog has opened some doors that led to me writing a book about this great game. It started with me writing some pieces for The Higher Tempo Press and before long, Chris had asked me to write a book and now it’s on Amazon. Did I imagine that would happen when I started this 12 months ago? Absolutely not. But if you’re reading this now and you’re considering writing about something, just bloody do it. Who knows what can happen, and what have you got to lose?

It’s been a mad 12 months, to the point where I can’t remember what I did before I wrote this blog. What will this year bring? I have some new ideas that I’ll hopefully be able to roll out, but if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it. It’s still CM9798 at the end of the day. I would like to bring more interaction in though, maybe partnering up with some of the FM Community for scenarios or podcasts. There’s a bottomless pit of opportunity.

For now though, thanks for walking down memory lane with me. This turned into a much longer post than I anticipated, but then I have always had a good memory. Thank you for making this blog what it is.

Happy blogday to you all

Dave

Coming Home

Posted on January 3, 2016 by David Black

Happy New year to you all. Welcome to the 2012/13 season, or season 16 if you prefer. Last time out, we witnessed Italy win Euro 2012 and I received the job offer I’d been waiting for, or perhaps it was an SOS call. Either way, I’ve answered the pleas and now I’m manager of Division 2 Newcastle.

Division 2 is not where I want to be, I’m a multiple time Champions League winner but sometimes, you’ve just got to do what is right. To paint you a picture, look at this for a history:

Pretty grim – we haven’t even been close to getting back in the Premier League since relegation in 1999. As it stands we’re not even one promotion away…

The squad is full of unknowns…and my ex-Darlington goalkeeper Philip Humphries, who has England caps. That should help.

Celestine Babayaro is also there but I’d rather he wasn’t.

Well that works.

To be honest, I expected to come in here, sign a few players and we’d get promoted easily. I couldn’t have been more wrong though – make no mistake, this squad is absolutely diabolical. It takes us a few games to get our first win, albeit in the League Cup.

That’s followed up by our first league win

After this start, we really needed reinforcements

George Weah’s re-gen isn’t available for transfer, but oddly they will loan me him. He makes a big difference!

The goals against column is a real concern though. It feels like every attack against us ends in a goal, and none of my goalkeepers are able to make a difference.

This is a good result

This is a bad result

Coventry are a Premier League side though, read into that what you will. I’ve tried all 4 of my keepers without success.

This game loves to put you in pressure situations too

Great, neither side want a derby in their current states. Sunderland are in Division 3 whilst we concede 3 a game! We get away with it with a late turnaround.

Phew. We’ve rallied a bit and we’re as midtable as it comes.

Only 3 points from the playoffs though! Goals against is a concern – I’m just not sure how to stem the flow though.

There’s been the usual array of stories away from Newcastle, starting with the Charity Shield

Batistuta broke my heart…and now Gerry’s too.

You’re probably (not) wondering who replaced me at Norwich. Well…

First division leicester have their manager pinched – they’re now bottom of that division. Norwich meanwhile…

Oh, Gerry. I say that a lot. The table is randomised I’m sure

Blackburn have just been promoted under Darren Huckerby, and now this. Sheff Wed have got to be a good bet for the league because of their Argentinian goal machine, whilst Liverpool are probably the strongest side over the last few seasons. Darlo aren’t going well but this is how Gerry does it. Where are Man Utd!?

15th! Gordon, what are you playing at? Boro prop up the division, 51 year old Peter Beardsley still a few weeks away from returning from a broken leg but it’s probably hampered his managerial ability. Wolves have also collapsed after some decent seasons.

Whilst I try and figure out the best way to stop leaking goals, I’ll look forward to seeing you all again in the next update. Tata for now.

The World According to CM9798 is available on Amazon now

Vi-King Louis

Posted on December 20, 2015 by David Black

It’s the end of the 2011/12 season but before we pack our bags for Norway for Euro 2012, so much has happened. We’ve got a never before seen playoff, an old favourite back in the dugout and guess who’s got a new job? Well let’s find out.

League Cup

It wasn’t to be for Bryan Robson, there will be no pointless cup for him.

Rotchen (Batistuta junior) was banned for this and they really felt his absence. Oh well, Brian Little adds the League Cup to his cabinet.

FA Cup

Onto more important matters and Robson will fancy his chances here as well. Man Utd will always be favourite though

They’re going to have to do it all again – I’m sure Man Utd loved having to play at Anfield. Sheff Wed do get the job done and will await the winners

WHAT! Unheard of. Gordon Milne, hang your head in shame. It’s great news for Bryan Robson though

Oh wow. What a great game. The replay will be better…

Rotchen! He’s back in form and wins the cup for Sheff Wed.

Champions League

The Champions League final ended up being on the same night as the FA Cup final replay, that would make an interesting ratings war. Anyway, there were semi finals to decide first

Sevilla destroyed by Gordon Milne, meaning this is the first final in 4 years they won’t be in. The holders are out too, Monaco are back with a bang and send Juventus packing. So it’s a final that wouldn’t be out of place in 1998

Some great games about isn’t there? Pignolet wins the Champions Leageue for Gordon Milne, turncoats Townsend, Notman and Betterton also on the board. Makes me sick.

Juventus might have lost out on retaining the Champions League, but they’ve won the league despite scoring a measly 38 goals. Haven’t they!?

I’ve never seen this in 18 years of playing this but if the top 2 are level in Italy, it’s a playoff!

The reaction to this on twitter was about 75% “wtf man” and 25% “yeah that happens all the time” so there you go, some of us are still learning.

Whilst we’re in Europe, Sevilla have retained La Liga

Wonder how my other former club is getting on?

Premier Division

It seemed like it was going to be Man Utd or Sheff Wed, but their other commitments are catching up with them. Here’s a particular highlight

So it is somewhat of a surprise when Gerry gets a second wind and pulls Darlington through to win yet another Premier League. Good lad.

It makes the last day of the season meaningless, but Man Utd keep Sheff Wed out of the Champions League for the sake of it.

My Norwich side get 10th, which I’m fairly happy with on our first season back in the Premier League

Obviously the game doesn’t remember the mid 90s. Anyway, great times in East Anglia. Let’s see which clubs were less fortunate

Southampton, Cardiff & Wimbledon. Gillingham survive! Pedro’s Middlesbrough slip down the table, and Pedro himself is in bother

Surely he will retire now!?

His old manager is still on the hunt for work

Anyway, from one extreme to another, let’s see how Euro 2012 panned out

Euro 2012

With no England, there’s nothing too exciting going on. Here’s how the groups worked out

Hosts Norway made a swift exit, whilst Scotland get revenge on the Czech’s for dumping them out of World Cup 2010. France are the big losers, being edged out by Austria in a tight group.

Pick your winner from these 8!