⚽ Championship Manager - Adventurers from a classic saga ⚽

[etb10dmk]

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Indeed, what a great football narrative world was packed into those words: Championship MANAGER

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I was thinking for some time to create a thread where users and enthusiasts can dive deep into those magical moments of a long lost great franchise. Initially I want this thread to be exclusively related to Championship Manager versions made by Sports Interactive (actual developers of Football Manager series). That could include discussions from the first versions of the game until their last released version CM 03/04. From that particular moment SI Games parted ways with their former publisher Eidos and from 2005 they started the Football Manager project in collaboration with SEGA.

Now the big question: What made me so hooked to this particular franchise and why I think it's so special? Well, in that period 1997/1998 I was playing mostly lots of football videogames like ISS, FIFA, Actua Soccer, fully controlling a team on the field but also thriving to play those matches from a different perspective. Enjoying football moments live or on TV, I was always curious how was that feeling when a manager is in charge of a club by making with such responsibility those tactical decisions that could lead to memorable moments, discovering by himself some wonder kids like Ronaldinho, or trying to evaluate critical actions when a club had a small budget, lots of injuries, a negative view by the press, or not being sacked by avoiding relegation in some inspiring moment. Such things are like great football stories involving managerial drama and poetry.

Those were particular aspects from football that I wasn't able to discover or experience in videogames until that day when a friend offered me a copy of CM3. In that period were released some managerial games on the market like Ultimate Soccer Manager 2 or Premier Manager 97, but those lacked so much in presentation or mechanics, mostly feeling like playing some tycoon versions of football than raw football management. CM was so uniquely and seriously designed for its time, being executed like a big database encyclopedia platform where you could play and learn at the same time about football, involving narratives while navigating a simple and quick interface. The most interesting part of CM can be related to its fundamentals, where the game pushes you to experience the role of a manager by using your free will, adding day by day weight on your results with interactions regarding that particular database (news, fixtures, transfers, tactics screen, training, players, boardroom, staff...).

Nowadays SI Games expanded and evolved so much with the Football Manager formula creating even deeper and positively acclaimed experiences where you can micromanage so much that in the end the management itself feels so time consuming like a real job. From my own perspective, I still prefer more Championship Manager, not because the franchise itself was better in the past in any way, but because has a simplistic design, a very intuitive and quick user interface format, focused just on squad management and counting with a database very nostalgic to me during that period. Even if Championship Manager finished its line of successes after the abandonment by SI Games, the good part is that those original versions are available to be experienced as freeware, but also CM 01/02 is still backed up by an active community releasing fresh seasonal databases and improvements year after year. (https://www.champman0102.net/index.php)

That being said, this thread can be described as a tribute to Championship MANAGER, but at the same time could be a place for any interesting discussion, memory from the past, or even written stories about gameplay sessions involving this great franchise...

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[Pagi84]

I remember my first time playing CM, pretty sure it was CM3. I was literally astonished at the level of detail and control you could have. I remember seeing that you could be any team, play any team and buy any player from all over the world and I knew I was in Heaven.

I liked playing CM so much I once bought a big ass extremely heavy PC monitor like 5-6 miles from my house and then put the monitor in a shopping trolley I found outside and pushed it all the way home. My family were on holiday so I was alone.

I also was addicted to CM00/01 so much that I literally ignored EVERYONE AND EVERYTHING. I only slept a few hours, went toilet, 10 minute food breaks. Other than that I was playing CM00/01, ALLDAY, EVERYDAY for months on end. I don't regret it either, as the sense of achievement when you take Hammarby to CL glory using only youth players and cheap players/bosmans with your own designed tactic. It was so satisfying. The stories and adventures were so fun, I still remember details now over 20 years after!

Even the lack of 3D matches and just reading the action was engrossing, as it made you use your imagination. The 3D matches now just can't compare.

I played recent Football Manager games, they are good, but too much unnecessary nonsense, not as fun.

 

[etb10dmk]

Apart from being able to chose any team and being able to interact with any data, the other great aspect in CM was that realistic approach. When you tried to manage a mid table or lower valued club the game made you thinking for real that you should prepare somehow against Arsene Wagner's tactics or that you'll get an unstoppable Cole/Yorke duo coming in the next weeks, so using squad rotations or preparing certain transfers was a common thing.

Also during those matches the awareness was so real... when you tried to accomplish and score against some higher rated club the wariness welcomes you to be always on your toes using different tactics every ten minutes looking the clock or so to adapt to those substitutions or decisions made by the opponent. It was like in a survival mode staying vigilant during texts like "The player is alone with the keeper... he shots..." or feeling some relief when you can see more times your own team colors texts than opponent's during those narrative events, imagining or approaching things differently especially if a match involves high stakes. Managing higher teams was also somewhat a challenge, because if you don't use certain players adapted to the right tactics or if you overuse them, CM lets you fail for real (Imagine being Real Madrid being smacked by Tenerife , you did things that you shouldn't and the board being more than pissed).

Another satisfying part was when as a manager you'll use your main squad during a match but mostly nothing happens, a player gets hardly injured, you'll get very angry because you don't have the right substitution for it... but somehow you'll change tactics by introducing some fresh new youngster in a different position. Then that match converts into a crazy narrative event in your favor, and you could make use of that playstyle during even harder matches where he develops into a solid winger or a goal machine, the press going crazy and you as a manager feeling so satisfied by going up on that table or to sell it years after at some ridiculous price. In CM everything was so greatly done and simulated so well, taking that approach like you were a significant part of that football world...

 

[Pagi84]

Exactly, that's basically it, CM simulated a world so well and made you truly feel part of it. I think this is exactly the thing that separates a good or great game from a bad one.

 

[bsmaff]

I still occasionally to this day play CM94 EOS data edition as it is still very good quick fun to get through a season quickly.

However recently tried CM 01/02 and did a couple of seasons with that and didn't think too much of it.
The problem with these games are they have moved on a long way since the Championship Manager days and for the better, they aren't like old football games like FIFA 16 that when modded they are better than the present day equivalent.

The old CM games lack so much detail and all have cheat formations that let you dominate the game with pretty much any team.

Don't get me wrong, I am SI Games biggest fan as purchased every single game since CM 93/94 and CM Italia but personally these games are best left to the past.

 

[Pagi84]

I agree with most of what you said, but I purposely have never used or read about cheat formations or cheat players. I never even sign players I don't know from real life or that my scout finds naturally. As to me I see no point in playing these abusive tactics and cheat cheap players, as it takes no skill and you basically aren't even playing the game then.

 

[etb10dmk]

I still occasionally to this day play CM94 EOS data edition as it is still very good quick fun to get through a season quickly.

However recently tried CM 01/02 and did a couple of seasons with that and didn't think too much of it.
The problem with these games are they have moved on a long way since the Championship Manager days and for the better, they aren't like old football games like FIFA 16 that when modded they are better than the present day equivalent.

The old CM games lack so much detail and all have cheat formations that let you dominate the game with pretty much any team.

Don't get me wrong, I am SI Games biggest fan as purchased every single game since CM 93/94 and CM Italia but personally these games are best left to the past.

Yes, I mean comparing both franchises FM feels lights years advanced to its classic CM formula, and I never stated that those old games were superior in any way, shape or form. I even have all FM purchased on steam to date, but the problem is I just can't get into them now, especially thinking on my free time.

I've tried during those last years to take the plunge again into FM but it's like I'm wasting my time. Don't get me wrong not because I don't like FM, on the contrary I like it very much, BUT... the there is the main problem: first I'm getting into that character customization screen to pick my look, clothes, adding all the personal data possible, photo, your cat's name, your mother's in law name, then finally you get to chose your managerial nations from hundreds, then picking your club, then finally I'm getting into the game. But wait, first I'm going into the news menu where I'm greeted by every person from that club (chairman, all those directors, training staff, janitors, you name it), then I need to go through those 100 messages to see what's important or not that have inside them other messages with different hyperlinks to other messages, then having a word with the press, then some meeting with my squad, then talking with every individual in private who isn't happy with my hairstyle or manipulate his best friend to do so (like in crusader kings), then some small talk with your boss, then go to see what contracts expires but first you should see how viable is the accounting ballance or the fiscal year, sponsors, then the recommendations of the scouts, and finally after so many "thens" I'm getting into what I enjoy the most: my main squads to pick tactics, positions, transfers, training and analyze fixtures. So until that last part I need to just go through 90% of other parts of the game that I don't want to waste my time on. Of course I know that I can automate some things, but that's too much for me, feels like I'm doing a real full time job and being scammed without being paid. I think that's the only gripe that I have with the actual FM formula: my free time. I want to play also other things or go outside. What I like about CM (and that's the reason I still play it) is that the game runs very quick and was developed on point: I just type my name, pick my club, a little bit of press news, go through fixtures, matches, transfers and that's it, plus I still prefer more the narrative formula during matches (but that's me). If I want for example another season in CM I just get in one click the 100mb database copy it into the game and puff it's 2010 or 2023 now, then I can change it back in the same way.

Don't want to deviate too much from the subject because I don't want to compare CM with FM here (shouldn't be fair), it's like comparing a Bettle to a Ferrari , you get my point. I have lots of great memories playing CM, were such solid and advanced games for their time and I still enjoy playing them to this day because of those reasons mentioned above. I think it's also a matter of perspective on what people wants or desire in a favorite football managing game.

 

[Madmac79]

Man, this thread is wonderful! CM 97/98 was my first love, it came togheter with the first season I started seriously following football and it was the stuff of magic to have, as you guys put it, a living football world simulated to interact and play with. Just seeing the font brings me on a serious nostalgia trip. I still remember Bakayoko as THE broken youngster of that season, and all the little touches that happened here and there, like I don't know, me adding a manager to sell a player to my team, only to find the board refused to let him go for the misery I offered/accepted

Then, yeah, the match with the text thing gave such a tension. You had the impression somebody was truly playing behind the scenes.. or at least in my mind it was really easy to picture .

It was a solid game, but still a bit of a prototype in many things. One thing that stuck with me until today was that some made up young player (distincted by existent ones by the transparent name) used to spawn when you had some injury spree or shortage of roster.. only to disappear again later lol, probably to compensate for the lack of youth team. But the rest was fine and such a lovely experience. I often had a good sensation transfers made sense and teams had some proper purpose/attitude.

Then, played like crazy CM 98/99, which was a great jump forward all around and another masterpiece, for some reason skipped 99/00 and played loads of all the sequent chapters, with the peak of 03/04, which was the first one with the 2d match iirc?, anyway I remember me and one of my best friends were crazy with it, to the point sometimes we phoned each other just to discuss transfers and careers , one of my most played in absolute (although there was that thing that your club often would go bankrupt as in some kind of random event.. it kind of pissed me off lol).

Anyway, after the SI/Eidos schism, for some reason I completey lost interest in managerials. Maybe it's also cause the magnificent Pes of that age made me realize how much I preferred to directly control players.. or that with Sega I just couldn't feel the previous flavour.. go figure. I try to get in modern Football Manager from time to time (got 2020 when it was free on Epic), but while I recognize it's surely, objectively amazing.. can't manage to stay interested. I start a career, play like half an hour and completely lose the will. So.. no success so far.

 

[bsmaff]

Anyway, after the SI/Eidos schism, for some reason I completey lost interest in managerials. Maybe it's also cause the magnificent Pes of that age made me realize how much I preferred to directly control players.. or that with Sega I just couldn't feel the previous flavour.. go figure. I try to get in modern Football Manager from time to time (got 2020 when it was free on Epic), but while I recognize it's surely, objectively amazing.. can't manage to stay interested. I start a career, play like half an hour and completely lose the will. So.. no success so far.

You probably lost interest for the same reason most lost interest in the CM/FM series - The game turned too in depth, which left the casual managers who used to love playing a season of CM in a couple of nights.
FM now takes about two weeks to complete a season when playing 2-3 hours a night.

 

[etb10dmk]

Man, this thread is wonderful! CM 97/98 was my first love, it came togheter with the first season I started seriously following football and it was the stuff of magic to have, as you guys put it, a living football world simulated to interact and play with. Just seeing the font brings me on a serious nostalgia trip. I still remember Bakayoko as THE broken youngster of that season, and all the little touches that happened here and there, like I don't know, me adding a manager to sell a player to my team, only to find the board refused to let him go for the misery I offered/accepted

Then, yeah, the match with the text thing gave such a tension. You had the impression somebody was truly playing behind the scenes.. or at least in my mind it was really easy to picture .

It was a solid game, but still a bit of a prototype in many things. One thing that stuck with me until today was that some made up young player (distincted by existent ones by the transparent name) used to spawn when you had some injury spree or shortage of roster.. only to disappear again later lol, probably to compensate for the lack of youth team. But the rest was fine and such a lovely experience. I often had a good sensation transfers made sense and teams had some proper purpose/attitude.

Then, played like crazy CM 98/99, which was a great jump forward all around and another masterpiece, for some reason skipped 99/00 and played loads of all the sequent chapters, with the peak of 03/04, which was the first one with the 2d match iirc?, anyway I remember me and one of my best friends were crazy with it, to the point sometimes we phoned each other just to discuss transfers and careers , one of my most played in absolute (although there was that thing that your club often would go bankrupt as in some kind of random event.. it kind of pissed me off lol).

Anyway, after the SI/Eidos schism, for some reason I completey lost interest in managerials. Maybe it's also cause the magnificent Pes of that age made me realize how much I preferred to directly control players.. or that with Sega I just couldn't feel the previous flavour.. go figure. I try to get in modern Football Manager from time to time (got 2020 when it was free on Epic), but while I recognize it's surely, objectively amazing.. can't manage to stay interested. I start a career, play like half an hour and completely lose the will. So.. no success so far.

Glad that somehow we have this thread having some fun and sharing those memories about CM. Similarly to your experience, before CM I wasn't into football that deep, being a 13 years old kid, I was just knowing some player names in some clubs from FIFA RTWC 98, and mostly learning about real football from TV or live from the pitch. The technology wasn't so advanced like nowadays, but CM just pushed me forward to be interested in learning deeper, like positioning of players, tactics, or personal data like how old were at that time some players, nationality, navigating through clubs to see their history: how many leagues/cups they won in the past, their staff, records about signings, best goal scorers... a true encyclopedia !!! That was wonderful from a franchise to push you so deep into educating about factual or historical past of football and offering you at the same time the joy to interact directly with that "real" world.

I must admit at first being a kid it was a challenge for me to digest CM3 from the beginning because in videogames I liked more those graphical representations also controlling my players on the field. As a "niche" title was a little too overwhelming, too much data to read and spreadsheets to get into for that time. But being a game that was on point on its design was growing very fast in me at some moment that I was addicted to try different scenarios and living those moments like they were for real (I was signed for real, and I was a rival for real with Marcelo Lippi). Plus that nice news panel was keeping the track of what you were doing and offering a narrative outside of your first perspective, was very cool and very intuitive for that time.

I remember even after 22 years some great moments. One time I was picking to play AC Milan to roleplay as its manager. Well as we know the Italian Calcio in 98/99 was so fully packed with great players that all 18 teams had at least 3 or 4 talented players at its disposal and the "Big 7" well we already know how buffed it was: Juventus, AC Milan, Internazionale Milano, Lazio Roma, AS Roma, Fiorentina, AC Parma. So in AC Milan It was this squad:



Was overall very nice packed from top to bottom with great footballers like Malidini, Costacurta, Albertini, Ambrosini, Leonardo, Bierhoff, Weah, etc. Well during that season I was mostly successful until those particular matches vs AS Roma. Roma for me was a nightmare. Every time when I was playing vs them I was loosing 2 or 3 goals difference and always Totti, Delvecchio and Paulo Sergio scored. I still have in my head that orange text on the red background: "GOAL !!! Totti Scored !!!" Tried different approach or tactics, but to no avail. Because of Totti I lost the Championship and the Italian Cup. Then the next season I was analyzing Roma closely, somehow the manager was gone and Totti was injured for 6 months I was literally celebrating for real. Then I was winning Serie A like never before in the last deciding match vs Lazio just at one point. So this is for real: after I was winning that Serie A, when I was in bed before sleeping I was imagining like I was invited on some football talk shows where those journalists were interviewing me about my past, how I did it, and celebrating how great I was, then what plans I'll have for the next season. No game made me to think or feel that...

 

[Madmac79]

You probably lost interest for the same reason most lost interest in the CM/FM series - The game turned too in depth, which left the casual managers who used to love playing a season of CM in a couple of nights.
FM now takes about two weeks to complete a season when playing 2-3 hours a night.

Nah, I love depth to be fair. I think the honest truth it's just that the fact I can't control players on the field somehow detaches me from the experience too much as of today. If by some miracle Football Manager had a good, playable on field mode, I guarantee you I'd kind of lose my life to it