Category: Now Or Neverkusen

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And so it’s come to this. We’ve reached the finale of my Championship Manager 99/00 career with Bayer Leverkusen – football’s princes of heartbreak.

It’s April 2002, and my three-year contract at the BayArena expires in just three months. The DFB-Pokal and Champions League have eluded me, so if my reign is to end successfully, we need to turn on the style in our final seven Bundesliga matches. Anything less, and we shall remain ‘Neverkusen’ forever more.

There will be obvious spoilers from the start of this final chapter, so if you want to catch up before reading on, then please go back to Part 9 first. Continue reading “CM99/00 Revisited: Now Or Neverkusen – Part 10” →

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It’s time for some more Championship Manager 99/00 action, folks! I’ve made it halfway through my third and final season at Bayer Leverkusen, and a new calendar year kicks off with ‘Die Werkself’ still in the hunt for all three major trophies.

If you’ve not read Part 8 yet, you can go back there and see how we fared in the final few months of 2001. Once you’re ready, we’ll move on into 2002… Continue reading “CM99/00 Revisited: Now Or Neverkusen – Part 9” →

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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! Continue reading “CM99/00 Revisited: Now Or Neverkusen – Part 8” →

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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.

Continue reading “CM99/00 Revisited: Now Or Neverkusen – Part 7” →

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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. Continue reading “CM99/00 Revisited: Now Or Neverkusen – Part 6” →

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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… Continue reading “CM99/00 Revisited: Now Or Neverkusen – Part 5” →

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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.) Continue reading “CM99/00 Revisited: Now Or Neverkusen – Part 4” →

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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. Continue reading “CM99/00 Revisited: Now Or Neverkusen – Part 3” →

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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?) Continue reading “CM99/00 Revisited: Now Or Neverkusen – Part 2” →

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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. Continue reading “CM99/00 Revisited: Now Or Neverkusen – Part 1” →