One day I sat down at work and glanced at the newspaper (we still read them then). Where he never got to play game, because Peter Schmeichel was still a God at Manchester United. Good enough to make the bench for the Danish International team. I had been playing a Danish Goalkeeper for a couple of seasons, he was young and good. One of my most embarrassing memories in gaming comes from Championship Manager 97/98. Having ‘been there’ during the period and having your hunch on a player’s stats being backed up by Match of the Day. I really believe the strength of the connection is knowing the faces and stories of players. I have been astounded at transfers that mirrored life, even managers moving to the same clubs. The connection to the real world ups and downs of the players and clubs is tangible. Getting angry at the stubborn keeper sent off two games in a row, because you didn’t put a reserve Goalie on the bench. Praising your favourite players and swearing at the injury prone as they go down. You can’t help but talk to yourself when you are balls deep into a session of Champo. Letting it unfold as it does, feeling a connection to the data that connects these dots. Purists will swear they can control the flow of the game with the tactics, I just love the drama. No pretty match engines, games were played out by a text commentary and a possession statistic. It had basic aesthetics, a spreadsheet to an outsider, but these days more like a clean website design. The late nineties weren’t much to look at, Champo fit right in. I have never had a game give me euphoria like when Lincoln City snatched the F.A.Cup from Manchester United, with an injury time goal by Tom Youngs. Attending Premier League games over the years, feeling the joy of Aston Villa lifting the League Cup and more likely just needed a fantasy world. This was my late twenties, and probably the period when I was most interested in football. Maybe it was the time of my life that etched the game so deeply into my brain. Yep, I’m in like Flint with a quick and subtle CM97/98. Whenever somebody Tweets up a best game ever poll or which game would you take to a desert island. Born in a time where it strained an Intel 486, the game now runs like Ryan Giggs used to on any platform. I can’t say exactly why, but like many of the converted it really is the equivalent of pulling an old sweater on. Championship Manager 97/98 is an evergreen to me.
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