Chris Fuller

CM99/00 Revisited: Now Or Neverkusen – Part 8

Published on 13 January 202011 July 2026 by Chris Fuller

I’m glad that you’ve joined me again for the latest stage of my German journey on Championship Manager 99/00. Bayer Leverkusen have made a promising start to the 2001/2002 season, but it’s too early to tell whether this will be the year that we finally win something.

In today’s chapter, Leverkusen will compete in all three major competitions as we go through the final three months of 2001. Don’t forget that you can go back to Part 7 if you want to catch up first – or even if you just want to have another look at our new signings. I wouldn’t blame you; our new Colombian striker really is a delight!

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CM99/00 Revisited: Now Or Neverkusen – Part 7

Published on 6 January 202011 July 2026 by Chris Fuller

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Happy new year, dear readers! And what better way to celebrate the start of 2020 than by… erm, going back to the summer of 2001!

Yes, folks – it’s time to begin the third season of my Bayer Leverkusen project on Championship Manager 99/00. If you’ve not yet read Part 6 to see how we ended the 2000/2001 campaign, make sure you’re up to speed before stepping into 2001/2002.

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CM99/00 Revisited: Now Or Neverkusen – Part 6

Published on 23 December 201915 July 2026 by Chris Fuller

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It’s almost Christmas, which means we’re all getting some more quality time with the people we love – and perhaps also the things we love. Yes, it’s time for another installment of my Championship Manager 99/00 blog career!

This latest chapter will see us go through the second half of the 2000/2001 season with Bayer Leverkusen. If you want to catch up with the story so far, you can revisit Part 5 here.

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CM99/00 Revisited: Now Or Neverkusen – Part 5

Published on 16 December 201911 July 2026 by Chris Fuller

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My three-year Leverkusen project on Championship Manager 99/00 has now reached its halfway point. Though I’ve yet to lift any trophies with the men in red-and-black, my second season at the BayArena has started brightly. Just don’t ask me what happened in the DFB-Ligapokal.

You can revisit Part 4 right here if you haven’t caught up yet. In that chapter, you’ll meet our big new signings for the first time and see how we got on in the opening fixtures.

This latest post will take us all the way up to the start of 2001. If our strikers continue to underperform, though, there’s a good chance I might delve back into the transfer market before 2000 is out…

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CM99/00 Revisited: Like Father, Like Son

Published on 13 December 201911 July 2026 by Chris Fuller

If you’ve been following me on Twitter, you might know that I had some wonderful news on Wednesday night. My sister had a baby son, making me an uncle and adding some much-needed light to what has otherwise been a very dark 2019.

To celebrate the start of our family’s next generation, I’m going to play a ‘generation game’ spanning 20 years of football.

For this article, I’ve found 20 Premier League players in the Football Manager 2020 database whose fathers were on Championship Manager: Season 99/00 as players themselves. I’ve taken screenshots of all the dads on CM99/00 and written a little bit about their careers before and after the turn of the millennium.

There’s a good mixture here of dads who’ve already been upstaged by their lads, plus some very famous fathers whose offspring are taking their first steps in professional football.

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CM99/00 Revisited: Now Or Neverkusen – Part 4

Published on 9 December 201911 July 2026 by Chris Fuller

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I’ve now completed the first season of my three-year adventure in Germany on Championship Manager 99/00. My efforts to deliver success to Bayer Leverkusen have thus far been… er, without success.

After that agonising end to the 1999/2000 season (which you can read about here), I’m hoping it’ll be second time lucky in 2000/2001. As you can probably gather, I’ve spent big in my attempts to win a Bundesliga, a DFB-Pokal, or even a Champions League (okay, that last one might be a big ask).

So… let’s see who I’ve brought in! (Expect to see a CM99/00 cult icon or two.)

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CM99/00 Revisited: Now Or Neverkusen – Part 3

Published on 2 December 201915 July 2026 by Chris Fuller

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Welcome back to my Championship Manager 99/00 blog career. My first season at Bayer Leverkusen is coming to an end, and while our European expedition hasn’t gone too well, we’re still fighting on two fronts. Can we add the DFB-Pokal and/or the Bundesliga to a trophy cabinet that’s not received so much as a second glance since 1993?

This next post will take us through the entire second half of the 1999/2000 season, so an advance warning: it’ll be quite a long read. You can revisit Part 2 right here if you want to catch up first.

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My thoughts on Football Manager 2020

Published on 29 November 20197 July 2026 by Chris Fuller

As you might have noticed, things have been a little quiet here at Fuller FM lately. I took about a month away from blogging for health reasons and then started a weekly career series on Championship Manager 99/00 (you can find Part 1 and Part 2 in the links provided).

Why nothing about Football Manager 2020 yet? Well, unlike with Football Manager 2019 (and Football Manager 2017 as well), I didn’t pre-order the latest version or play it on launch. Instead, I held fire and waited for the demo, which came out alongside the full version on the evening of Monday 18 November.

So, for the past week-and-a-half, I’ve been getting to grips with FM20 while taking the reins at Birmingham City for six months. Here are my thoughts on the latest installment of Sports Interactive’s hit franchise…

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CM99/00 Revisited: Now Or Neverkusen – Part 2

Published on 25 November 201911 July 2026 by Chris Fuller

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Welcome back to my latest trip down memory lane – or Gedächtnisspur, as they would say in Germany (according to Google Translate, anyway).

I’m managing Bayer Leverkusen on Championship Manager 99/00 and trying to deliver success to a club that endured far too many near-misses in real-life. You can catch up on Part 1 right here, but in today’s chapter, we will continue our Bundesliga title pursuit and attempt to qualify for the second phase of the Champions League.

So, as I believe the saying goes in Leverkusen, “Ich werde im grab deiner mutter kotzen!”

(Sorry? WHAT did I say about your mother?)

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CM99/00 Revisited: Now Or Neverkusen – Part 1

Published on 18 November 201911 July 2026 by Chris Fuller

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Guten tag, und willkommen to a brand new series on Fuller FM. Over the coming weeks, I’ll be bringing you updates from my new save on Championship Manager 99/00, to celebrate the 20th anniversary of that game’s release.

A couple of months ago, I was thinking about teams to manage on CM99/00 that would provide interesting short-term challenges. After racking my brains throughout the evening, I suddenly had a Eureka moment… which took me off to Germany.

It’s the summer of 1999. The United States have just won their first FIFA Women’s World Cup, and Brandi Chastain has become an icon for female athletes everywhere. Alex Ferguson has been knighted after winning an historic treble with Manchester United. The UK Number 1 single is “9pm (Till I Come)” by ATB, which will soon become familiar to anyone who plays the critically-acclaimed FA Premier League STARS.

Oh yes, and I am the new manager of Bayer Leverkusen.

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