Championship Manager 2001/02

[Dan2501]

https://twitter.com/x/status/1099339119132585985

This DB is so damn good. Being able to play FM19 but with the nostalgia of the 03/04 DB is great fun. I've just taken on Los Galacticos and forgot how bad their defence was in this era. Makelele has just gone to Chelsea, Hierro has just left for Saudi Arabia, so I'm left with Ivan Helguera and Francisco Pavon at CB. Luckily I've got a massive transfer budget though, so I can go in on Cannavaro. The attack is crazy though, just look at this lovely little assymetric formation:

Zidane, Beckham, Figo, Raul and R9 all in their primes. Ronaldo in particular looks ridiculously good....

19 finishing, 18 composure, 20 dribbling, 17 acceleration and pace. His natural fitness is pretty low due to all the injuries but he should still bag a hatful. This is great fun.

 

[Orikoru]

Just had a massive result with Sassuolo. 4-0 away win against the side that was in 3rd - having been 2nd most of the season we've just gone top at the half way point in the season. A young Cypriot striker I signed on a free who has 5 for finishing has banged in 13 goals in 15 starts somehow. Best signing has been my 33 year old French CDM, also signed on a free (we don't have any money), and has averaged 8.13 over 15 games!

 

[Orikoru]

We had a horrible run of form and lost 3 in a row, but luckily other teams dropped points too. We've recovered and we're now 3 points clear at the top with 8 games to play! #squeakybumtime Not bad for a budget of zero! Enjoying this save a bit more I think since I couldn't just go out and buy Madeira, Duff etc.

 

[SteveW86]

Playing a Sunderland save at the minute, which is going decently. Bit of squad building but I think I’m getting there. Need to find a good CM to play alongside Kerr and I also need to replace Sorensen in goal.....any recommendations?

 

[Orikoru]

Playing a Sunderland save at the minute, which is going decently. Bit of squad building but I think I’m getting there. Need to find a good CM to play alongside Kerr and I also need to replace Sorensen in goal.....any recommendations?

Chiotis is the best cheap goalie on the game. He's the one people always used to buy anyway. His club sells him pretty cheap and his stats improve very quickly. If he hasn't moved already you'll be able to sign him easily. I'm not sure about CMs because I tend to buy AM's instead due to my formation.

 

[Beezerk]

Chiotis is the best cheap goalie on the game. He's the one people always used to buy anyway. His club sells him pretty cheap and his stats improve very quickly. If he hasn't moved already you'll be able to sign him easily. I'm not sure about CMs because I tend to buy AM's instead due to my formation.

I picked up Pinheiro early on for cheap, good goalie and well regarded but he went in the huff when I eventually bought Chiotis

 

[SteveW86]

Chiotis is the best cheap goalie on the game. He's the one people always used to buy anyway. His club sells him pretty cheap and his stats improve very quickly. If he hasn't moved already you'll be able to sign him easily. I'm not sure about CMs because I tend to buy AM's instead due to my formation.

Fixed the CM problem with getting frank lampard from Chelsea. Will look up the keeper.

Finished season 2 last night strongly and ended up 8th in the league, so pretty happy with that. I’m getting there with the first team, it currently looks like this:

Sorensen

Lauren. Mexes. Burdisso. Arca

Kerr. Lampard

backircioglu. Selakovic. Alex

Madeira

 

[Orikoru]

Fixed the CM problem with getting frank lampard from Chelsea. Will look up the keeper.

Finished season 2 last night strongly and ended up 8th in the league, so pretty happy with that. I’m getting there with the first team, it currently looks like this:

Sorensen

Lauren. Mexes. Burdisso. Arca

Kerr. Lampard

backircioglu. Selakovic. Alex

Madeira

I would advise using a DMC in the formation. It's very over-powered in this game.

 

[Orikoru]

We've done it! With two games to spare, Sassuolo seal the division Serie C2/B title! Not bad for a budget of £0. 7 points clear of 2nd place at the minute. Finding C1 quality players on a budget of zero might be tough but we'll see how we get on.

 

[Orikoru]

Heartbreaking news on the eve of the new season. Mihalis Christofis, my young Cypriot striker who I signed on a free and went on to score 26 goals to fire us to promotion (despite having just 5 for finishing), tore his ankle ligaments and is out for 5 months! I've had to sign some old duffer on loan to cover him. That's a huge blow.

 

[Orikoru]

I briefly started a new save last night, because I had this crazy idea of a 2-at-the-back formation with no wide player whatsoever that I thought would work, but didn't want to bugger up my existing saves if it didn't. I picked Betis since their only requirement is to be clear of relegation, and you get about £10mil to play with. Immediately bought Maxim Tsigalko, which is finally the first time I've been able to get him. Now see what the fuss is about. His debut was a friendly, he scored a hat-trick. Then we had another friendly, and he scored another hat-trick. One of our first few league games we battered Tenerife 5-2 and he got yet another hat-trick. Ridiculous.

The formation went as expected, we stuffed a few teams, but conceded a few chances. Particularly as I only have three centre backs in the squad and two of them were unavailable for a couple of games. I've signed some big names from the past, but unfortunately I missed the deadline and they won't join until December - Jay-Jay Okocha (who weirdly is a DMC), and Abel Xavier! Next one I have lined up is Jean-Alain Boumsong. I was really trying to sign 19-year-old Joe Cole as well but West Ham weren't budging on that one.

So anyway, here's the formation:

    ST
  ^    ^
  |    |
  AM  AM
  ^    ^
  |    |
  MC  MC
^    ^   ^
|    |   |
DM  DM  DM


  DC  DC

So with ball it has effectively has 3 strikers, without ball it essentially has five at the back as the DMs drop in. It seems to work about as well as the other formations I've used, despite looking a bit ridiculous. I don't think I'm going to stick with this save long though, I want to get back to my Sassuolo lads.

 

[Orikoru]

We've done it! With two games to spare, Sassuolo seal the division Serie C2/B title! Not bad for a budget of £0. 7 points clear of 2nd place at the minute. Finding C1 quality players on a budget of zero might be tough but we'll see how we get on.

Betis didn't hold much interest so I went back to my Sassuolo game. Secured the Serie C1/A title at the first time of asking. Only 1 league defeat all season and finished 9 points clear of Treviso! Signing Serie B level players for £0 is going to be nigh-on impossible so the real challenge starts now!

 

[Orikoru]

Ok, I know this was just me talking to myself in the end but I just had to bump it and update you on my Betis squad, which is now the perfect blend of CM legends and real life blasts from the past! I'm now using a kind of 2-3-2-1-2 with wing backs...

GK: Eleftheropoulos - CM legend, fans were happy that we signed a 'big name' and they don't come much bigger than 'Eleftheropoulos'.
CB: Rustico - apparently in real life he retired at 29 to become a politician, on CM he's got near-perfect stats for a CB though.
CB: Marcel Desailly - he's about to turn 35 but is still a beast and still captains France! Ridiculous.
LWB: Seth Johnson - words can't express how good this man is. He just came 2nd in La Liga player of the season, averaging 8.04.
RWB: Fernando Varela - he was at Betis at the start, has poor looking stats but weirdly smashes it with an average of like 7.8.
DMC: Joey Gudjonsson - also starts at Betis and is insanely good.
CM: Joe Cole - new signing for season 3, looks phenomenal.
CM: Mark Kerr - CM Legend of course, seems to specialise in rebound tap-ins, but also in disallowed goals weirdly.
AMC: Denilson - starts at Betis and is really good. You may recall him being the world's most expensive player for a while in real life.
SC: Maxim Tsigalko - 35 goals the first season, 41 goals the second. Now says he hasn't settled in Spain and that it's 'time to move on' - unfortunately his 5 year contract says otherwise!
SC: Louis Saha - another new signing, from Fulham, his stats are unreal haha.

Other players:
Abel Xavier - Everton and Liverpool legend. You may remember him for his bright white hair and beard combo.
Danny Mills - Plays great at RWB but loves a red card. He just got a straight red in a friendly against our B team actually.
Jay Jay Okocha - strangely he is a DMC on this game but I just played him at MC because his stats suit it better.
Kiegan Parker - I think he was meant to be decent on this game but he's not done much yet.
Stefan Selakovic - another supposed CM legend who actually hasn't uprooted any trees, but he's kind of back-up for Denilson.
Joao Paiva - just picked him up, he's very raw looking though so giving him a season in the B team first.

First season we finished 2nd on goal difference, second season was disappointing as we came 3rd, but did win the Spanish Cup. Now I've brought in Joe Cole and Louis Saha, we should be unstoppable! (Sounds like something Harry Redknapp could have said back in the day, haha)

 

[Dan2501]

https://play.acast.com/s/quicklykevin/dccad0c0-f76a-4c89-a5a4-08c7ff10d69d

Thought it was worth bumping this thread for this podcast episode, which is fantastic. Love Quickly Kevin, and this is one of my favourite episodes, well worth a listen!

 

[ColchesterFC]

I'm still cracking on with FM2005. Although I might have to consider my position due to the restrictions the board are placing on me in the transfer market. How am I supposed to compete with this budget....

 

[Orikoru]

I'm still cracking on with FM2005. Although I might have to consider my position due to the restrictions the board are placing on me in the transfer market. How am I supposed to compete with this budget....

View attachment 27619

Ha! Great game FM05. I've got that at home ready for when I get bored of CM0102 (hasn't happened yet though). What season are you in there? I trust you have Freddy Adu up top.

 

[ColchesterFC]

Ha! Great game FM05. I've got that at home ready for when I get bored of CM0102 (hasn't happened yet though). What season are you in there? I trust you have Freddy Adu up top.

Up to 13/14 season. I had Freddie Adu but sold him (with a buy back clause) as he wasn't playing. Got Rooney, Robinho, Nilmar, a couple of promising youngsters Thomas Finke and Jon Jairo Mosquera. Can't remember who the other strikers are as they're injured so I dumped them in the reserves. Have had players like Ibrahimovic, Torres, Tevez etc but have sold them on as they got old. Need an overhaul of my squad as have a lot of players in their early thirties.

 

[Orikoru]

Up to 13/14 season. I had Freddie Adu but sold him (with a buy back clause) as he wasn't playing. Got Rooney, Robinho, Nilmar, a couple of promising youngsters Thomas Finke and Jon Jairo Mosquera. Can't remember who the other strikers are as they're injured so I dumped them in the reserves. Have had players like Ibrahimovic, Torres, Tevez etc but have sold them on as they got old. Need an overhaul of my squad as have a lot of players in their early thirties.

I think my favourite 'unknown' player from that game was Lebohang Mokoena, he was awesome. I always shoved Hitzlsperger and Guarin in my midfield as well, guaranteed one screamer per game.

 

[Orikoru]

I'm bumping this again purely to brag about the strikeforce I've assembled at Norwich. I've had Anelka all this season, and he's been incredible, up there with Tsigalko as the best strikers I've used on the game. They've programmed him to get unhappy at the slightest thing, but I've managed to keep him settled so far so it's all good. Have him backed up by Roman Vasilyuk, who's great, and Cherno Samba who hasn't fully developed yet.

Last night though, Fernando Torres renegotiated his Atletico contract and added a £10mil release clause, so I promptly stuck in a bid, expecting it to go nowhere really. He had quite high demands but I made an offer and left him to mull it over. Meanwhile Zlatan Ibrahimovic was stated as being unhappy at Ajax because of his contract, so I stuck in a cheeky low bid for him as well. Somehow Zlatan was happy as a squad rotation player and only 16k a week (obviously they haven't programmed him as accurately as Anelka), so I got that one over the line pretty quickly, thinking that Torres would turn down my offer. But he didn't - Torres signed a week later! Sadly Samba is back with the reserves as my strikeforce now consists of Nicolas Anelka, Fernando Torres, Zlatan Ibrahimovic, and the slightly lesser known Roman Vasilyuk. We are top of the league with less than half of the season to go, having finished 8th, 7th and 3rd in my first three Premier League campaigns.

Current squad (back-ups in brackets)
GK: Costanzo (Maik Taylor - Jamie Langford joining on a free next season though)
DR: Prutton (Gavilan)
DL: Cicala - think he's a regen (Solari)
DC: Mellberg (back-up is some regen I nicked from Man Utd)
DC: Okoronkwo (Ashley Lythe)
DM: Cambiasso (Appleton)
MC: Mark Kerr (Stephen Pearson)
MC: Nicolas Medina (Aarsheim, some Norwegian feller)
MC^: Zola Moukoko (Zegarra)
ST: Anelka (Zlatan)
ST: Torres (Vasilyuk)

Joao Paiva and Justin Georcelin are also languishing in the reserves with Samba. I should probably stop buying strikers. I nearly signed Diego Forlan as well!

I've got one eye on Ronaldinho, he has a relegation release clause of 4.1m at PSG, and they're currently 17th! The other guy I really want is Clint Hill, because for some reason, on CM01/02 he is one of the best defenders in the world. It's mental.

 

[Dan2501]

Back playing FM19 here, playing as Burnley. In my 2nd season just getting to Jan and it's safe to say I've made a few improvements to the squad:

Matt Lowton > Rasmus Nissen Kristensen
Charlie Taylor > Rico Henry
James Tarkowski > Abdou Diallo
Kevin Long > Duje Caleta-Car
Ashley Westwood > Mohamed Elneny
Jack Cork > Sandro Tonali
Matej Vydra > Ryan Gravenberch
Robbie Brady > Javi Ontiveros
Johann Gudmundsson > Andrija Zivkovic
Ashley Barnes > Odsonne Edouard
Chris Wood > Carlos Fernandez

Building quite a squad. Totally dismantled Sean Dyche's squad but my net spend over the 3 completed windows so far is only £19m with replacing Gudmundsson with Zivkovic this coming transfer window costing me a further net £17m once all instalments on Zivkovic are paid up, but Hendricks, Jay Rodriguez and Lorenzo Tonelli are also departing to free up some transfer funds.

Results starting to come too. Finished a solid 11th last season and seem to be building on that this season currently sitting 8th going into the first week of Jan having played 21 games. This season we've already picked up wins over Chelsea, Liverpool, 2 wins against Leicester, a dominant win against Wolves and a draw against United, going strong and only going to get stronger with Zivkovic coming in at RW.