CM99/00 Revisited: Fitba’s Coming Home – Part 5

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I’m back with another chapter from my Championship Manager 99/00 adventure with the Scotland national team. I’ll admit it’s still a little strange as a Londoner to be managing our neighbours north of the border, but I’m really getting sucked into this career now.

Of course, our recent exploits at the 2002 World Cup in South Korea and Japan have played a big part in settling me in – and answering my biggest critics. I won’t spoil anything in this intro, but if you haven’t yet caught up with the story (or you just want to relive our Asian journey), you can read Part 4 right here.

In today’s post, I’ll be playing through the first half of our Euro 2004 qualifying campaign. Again, no spoilers, but excitement levels are about to kick up a notch…

Continue reading “CM99/00 Revisited: Fitba’s Coming Home – Part 5”

CM99/00 Revisited: Fitba’s Coming Home – Part 4

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My Championship Manager 99/00 adventure with Scotland continues right now on Fuller FM. And let me tell you – things are about to get very, very spicy!

Remember the last chapter, where we had to get out of a World Cup qualifying group with Denmark and Spain? Well… if you’ve read that, you’ll know what’s coming up in today’s post. If not, then please check that out first, because there will be obvious spoilers below…

Continue reading “CM99/00 Revisited: Fitba’s Coming Home – Part 4”

CM99/00 Revisited: Fitba’s Coming Home – Part 3

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Welcome back to my Championship Manager 99/00 challenge with the Scotland national team. Last time round, I began to rebuild the team after our failure to qualify for Euro 2000 – and now it’s time to find out if that work has reaped its rewards.

I’m subtitling this article “2001: A Scotland Odyssey”. I don’t like to exaggerate, but if today’s story sees the Tartan Army successfully qualify for the 2002 World Cup, it would surely rival even Arthur C Clarke’s greatest epic fiction.

More likely, though, is that it’ll end in the sort of British ultra-violence you’d expect from another classic Stanley Kubrick film.

Continue reading “CM99/00 Revisited: Fitba’s Coming Home – Part 3”

CM99/00 Revisited: Fitba’s Coming Home – Part 2

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Welcome back to the second chapter of my new retro challenge – or “fàilte don dàrna caibideil den dùbhlan retro ùr agam”, as Scottish Gaelic speakers might say on BBC Alba. Sadly, I’ve just found out that BBC Alba isn’t a TV channel dedicated to the actress Jessica Alba, so you’ll have to put up with seeing Don Hutchison’s pretty face instead.

In this challenge, I’m managing the Scotland national team on Championship Manager 99/00. I’m hoping to erase 20 years of hurt by leading the Tartan Army to success – which, in their case, would be getting out of the group at a major tournament.

In Part 1, I took the reins for the closing stages of the Euro 2000 qualifiers. Today, we’ll be entering the new year, where you’ll find no millennium bugs – except the one that turns Championship Manager goalkeepers into supermen, perhaps.

Continue reading “CM99/00 Revisited: Fitba’s Coming Home – Part 2”

CM99/00 Revisited: Fitba’s Coming Home – Part 1

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Hello, folks, and welcome to a new Fuller FM story. It’s been a while since I last wrote about Championship Manager 99/00, so I’ve now started another challenge to mark the game’s 20th anniversary.

After my earlier exploits with Bayer Leverkusen, I’ve gone international this time around. As you know, Euro 2020 should have been starting this evening. Then you-know-what happened, and it was pushed back by 12 months. With no international tournaments to occupy us doing the summer, I thought I’d do my bit to fill the void.

Although I’m from England, the first national team I ever managed on Championship Manager was actually Scotland. I got the job early in my first proper career, but my tenure ended early as the Tartan Army were knocked out of Euro 2000 after two group stage defeats. (I was about 9 at the time, to be fair.)

Two decades on, it’s time to give the Scots another shot at glory Continue reading “CM99/00 Revisited: Fitba’s Coming Home – Part 1”

CM99/00 Revisited: Now Or Neverkusen – Part 10

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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”

CM99/00 Revisited: Now Or Neverkusen – Part 9

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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”

CM99/00 Revisited: Now Or Neverkusen – Part 8

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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”

CM99/00 Revisited: Now Or Neverkusen – Part 7

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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”

CM99/00 Revisited: Now Or Neverkusen – Part 6

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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”