It's a game I've been in love with for a while, it started out when I must have been about 10 years old. Me and my old friend Dean would spend hours playing as all the glorious teams; Man Utd, Real Madrid, the Milan teams winning all the top trophies with the worlds best players. I went on to play a number of management simulators on PC or PlayStation, some of them where pretty good, LMA Manger-the one with Martin O'neil on the front- some where pretty awful- UEFA Champions League 2003. The modern games are very good but nothing can stop me coming back to play Championship Manager 2000/01 and 2001/02. Partly due to nostalgia but mostly they really are good games. The main dashboard is in-depth allowing you to perform a number of tasks but is far less complicated than modern screens. For the tinkermen, and women, amongst you there is plenty you can change with tactics too. The game really became an obsession when I came to be friends with my now brother in law. Hours would turn in to nights, serious all nighters have been held on many an occasion, and nights would turn in to weeks. Many a beer would be drunk and many a cigarette smoked trying to get one over each other. I think he probably leads overall much to my dismay. As I touched on the game has many great players in the peaks of their powers; Figo,Vieri, Zidane etc and as the seasons go on Ronaldinho and the up and coming gang get better and better.
But then there are those players who where great assets on the game. Players we would rush to sign as soon as possible. Players who would guarantee clean sheets or if used right bag you 30+ goals a season. For most of these players life didn't turn out quite the way it did for them on many a CM season. Players who instead of winning the European Cup are plasterers or just always consigned to the lower leagues. These are the players I owe a lot to, or hold responsible for wasting hours of my life and not my not reaching my own potential, but lets keep positive.
Gareth Laws: A fresh faced, I assume I actually have no idea what he looks like, 19 year old striker plying his trade in the Torquay reserves. Most of his stats are hidden except his finishing which at the start of the game is 18, usually goes on to reach top marks (20). My aforementioned brother in law, Dan, signs him near on all the time and turns him in to one of the Premier Leagues deadliest strikers. He will get goals and help win trophies. In real life his playing career never quite reached the heights that he does so frequently on the game. He never even played a game for Torquay but he is now, after playing at a very low non league level, back with Torquay working with the youth team after becoming a qualified physio.
Eifion Williams: A name that might be remembered amongst some of you league football fans. He racked up over 300 league appearances. He played at Wembley, scored in a Champions League game and twice broke a clubs transfer fee to sign for them, but on CM2000 he is another potential world class striker. He starts the game at Torquay, they have a few decent players on the game, and can go on to be top European striker. He retired in 2007 but came out of retirement to play non-league for Jarrow Town. He now works with Hartlepools Youth Offending Service.
Taribo West: His real life career started brightly, 73 games at Auxerre earned him a move to Inter Milan before he jumped across the city to AC Milan. The game starts with West out of contract, he will sign for almost any team you are no matter what league you are in. He will come in a do a great job at almost any level. Given time he will shore up even a top teams defence at home and in Europe. After leaving Milan, real life, he spent a year at Derby then Kaiserslautern, two seasons at Partizan, Al-Arabi Doha, then one season at each of Plymouth, Julius Berger and Paykan. There was a strange ending to West's career when he claimed to sign for Xerez but three days later the president flat out refused the rumour leaving many confused. He racked up many international caps and even won the Olympics! But could have achieved a whole lot more according to CM.
Tó Madeira: A Portuguese striker who one of my scouts uncovered. The complete forward for me who scored bags of goals and attributed plenty of assists. Even better he was cheap and young! His real life career never got of the ground and this was the last game he featured on. The reason for this is he wasn't real. He was created by on of the CM scouts, more specifically a chap named Antonio Lopez. His career was cut short by his studies, his task for CM was to gather information for a Portuguese team named Gouveia, a team he represented at youth level. He decided to write himself in to the history books and achieve all that he missed out on and the name, well he enjoyed going on holiday To Madeira.
Jonas Lunden: This classy centre midfielder becomes a staple in most if not all my CM teams. My teams play everything through him, he can set up or score goals and can normally be bought on the cheap. Jonas has retired now, only 31, after playing a number of games for IFK Goteborg, IF Elfsborg and GAIS. Unlike the game he only played 6 games for Sweden U21 and 1 full cap. Graduated from the incredible CM Sweden U21 team.
Maxim Tsigalko: The best young striker in the game, soon to become the best striker in the game regardless of age. This man can score. Guaranteed to score 25+ every season. Normally can be bought for only £1 million as well from Dinamo Minsk. He is on of my favourite CM players as he will score if you play him up from by himself, with a partner or as part of a top three. Now 29 and retired Maxim is another one who reached his CM potential. He played for a number of Belarusian teams but not all is lost as he has won Belarusian league and cup whilst also scoring in 1 of his 2 international caps. Unfortunately having a small amount of international appearances made a work permit to the UK all but impossible.
So that's my shortlist of my favourite CM players who never lived up to their in game potential. Maybe the game set them up for falls by getting the stats way off maybe they did have this great potential and like Mads Timm, everyone must remember him due to the name, disciplinary, injury and lack of motivation stopped them from achieving. There are hundreds more so feel free to discuss where your favourite CM players have ended up. And remember we all owe them a lot of happy memories.
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