From The Archives: My Football Manager Forum Stories

Published on by Chris Fuller

I’ve been writing stories around my Championship Manager and Football Manager saves for a very long time. Since I was 13, in fact.

When the Fuller family went online in 2003, one of my first visits was to the Sports Interactive forums – and its Championship Manager Stories sub-forum (now known as Football Manager Stories, or FMS for short). As someone who has always enjoyed writing, I was so enthralled with some of the narratives other players were creating around their saves that I wanted to do the same.

So, I started writing about my Championship Manager 4 career with Millwall, in which I took the Lions from Division 1 to the Champions League in just two seasons. Looking back, the story was pretty badly-written – after all, I was only a teenager – and should never see the light of day.

Over the next few years, I gradually became more competent and confident in my writing. By the summer of 2014, I was finally ready to take the plunge – and publish my first story to FMS.

That story was “Welcome To Romford” – the first of several stories that I wrote about my long-running, 31-season career on Football Manager 2013. That was followed by more tales about my other FM saves… and some of these were so popular that they won several ‘FMS Awards’, as voted for by other members of the FMS community.

In October 2018, I launched this Fuller FM blog as the new home of my Football Manager stories. I subsequently stopped writing on FMS from 2019 until 2021, when I returned with a new long-term story celebrating the 20th anniversary of Championship Manager 01/02. That story is called “25 Years” and is currently ongoing.

Until now, these stories have only been accessible to anyone who has signed up to the official SI forums. And due to a problematic forum migration in 2016, some of my older FMS stories are either missing several chapters or have even disappeared completely.

Now, I have decided to make all my completed forum stories available to download as PDFs right here on Fuller FM.

Just a heads-up: these stories are generally quite long, quite wordy, and they read much more like epic novels than the shorter, screenshot-heavy blog stories you’re probably used to seeing here.

FOOTBALL MANAGER 2013

WELCOME TO ROMFORD

This is the FM story that started it all for me. Ahead of the 2012/2013 season, I take over as manager of my hometown club Romford, who play in the Isthmian League Division 1 North – at the 8th tier of English football. This tale follows my progress over the next decade, as I aim to lead the Boro through the divisions and into the Football League.

ONGI ETORRI EUSKAL HERRIA

After leaving Romford in 2022, I embark on a new adventure in the Basque Country, taking charge of Elgoibar in the Spanish third division. While serious problems on and off the pitch make this my shortest ever FM story, it serves as a precursor for the epic tale that follows.

HOUSE OF FLYING DAGGERS

Having failed so miserably in Spain, I return home later in 2022, with Dagenham & Redbridge giving me the chance to resurrect my management career. The Daggers had just been relegated to the Conference Premier, were losing money fast, and desperately needed a rebuild.

This is my longest ever story, running for over 20 seasons (and close to 2,000 pages!), in which I set out to transform the Daggers’ fortunes and build a legacy in east London.

BYGMESTER FULLER

In 2033, about a decade into my Daggers tenure, I am given a surprise opportunity to manage the Norway national team on a part-time basis. The Norwegians had not qualified for a major tournament since 2016, but could I be the man to change that? Erling Haaland does not exist in this universe, so it’s easier said than done!

ANOTHER NIGHT IN ISTANBUL

During my Romford tenure, I also wrote this one-off short story about the Euro 2020 Final – told from the perspective of broadcaster ITV. Istanbul is the venue for England’s date with destiny against world champions Spain. Your commentators are Andy Townsend and Clive Tyldesley…

FOOTBALL MANAGER 2015

THE NEXT GENERATION

Every autumn since 2014, The Guardian publish its Next Generation list – a list of 20 Premier League academy players (one from each club), and set out to track their progress over the following five years. I always find it fascinating to see how these first-year scholars get on as they pursue professional careers.

My FM15 story takes this concept to the next level. The inaugural list includes the likes of Marcus Rashford, Dominic Solanke and Hamza Choudhury – and I follow all 20 players for every step of their careers, from debut to retirement. Which players will become Premier League stars, and which ones will waste their talents?

FOOTBALL MANAGER 2016

JEUX SANS FRONTIÈRES

For FM16, I made a custom database that replaces all existing international competitions with a new-look annual World Championship. 216 nations compete in a two-legged knockout competition, culminating in a spectacular ‘finals week’ at the Stade de France.

JSF tells the tale of what might happen if this fantasy became reality. Written in the wake of the 2015 FIFA corruption scandal, it touches on some hard-hitting subjects – including terrorism, match-fixing, and even murder.

SOMETIMES LOVE IS NOT ENOUGH: THE TRIUMPH & TRAGEDY OF GARY O’HARA

My other FM16 story begins with another murder mystery. The controversial former Arsenal manager Gary O’Hara is found dead in suspicious circumstances… and having made several enemies during his tempestuous reign at the Emirates, there is no shortage of potential suspects.

This story follows O’Hara throughout his only season as Arsenal manager in 2015/2016 – a season full of tremendous highs and incredible lows, both on and off the pitch. Interspersed with an eclectic musical soundtrack, this is one of the stories I am proudest of writing.

FOOTBALL MANAGER 2017

AN IMPOSSIBLE MAN

After England’s humiliating exit from Euro 2016, the country needs a new footballing leader. The poisoned chalice is handed to former Three Lions midfielder Mark Catterall – a straight-talking Mancunian socialist with some unusual traits and a dysfunctional family life.

At the heart of Catterall’s rebuild is his “remote managment” concept, which allows him to manage England’s Under-19s and Under-21s alongside the senior team. Can he juggle all this responsibility and bring home a major trophy, while dealing with various shady characters who could jeopardise his dreams?

CHAMPIONSHIP MANAGER 00/01

HEART OF ASIA: GOING BACK TO THE 2002 WORLD CUP

While Russia 2018 was going on, I played through the entire 2002 World Cup on CM00/01. This follows every match from the qualifying stages to the finals tournament in Japan and South Korea.

This story takes a VERY light-hearted look at Championship Manager’s various quirks, with references to a myriad of football and cultural events from past and present – the more obscure, the better! I also aim a few jibes at the Scotland team… or maybe a few dozen.

So there you have it – those are all my old Championship Manager and Football Manager stories from the SI forums. Maybe you’ll find something in the Fuller FM archives that takes your fancy?

If you do decide to read through any of my stories, please feel free to provide any feedback you might have. I’d be happy to take any feedback on board for any future tales I write on this blog.