Hello! Or maybe that should be hola! I’ve pitched up in Seville to manage Real Betis in the latest short story series. Why Betis? Well, just look at this squad!
Alfonso and Oli, Finidi and Fernando, Jarni and…Prats. It’s got the makings of a title winning side. But can they do it? Can this lot upset the traditional big clubs and win La Liga? Let’s find out.
Welcome! The CM9798 Academy are doing me proud in the Premier League, getting off to an impressive start before slightly levelling off towards the end of last week’s episode. The adjustment to the top flight has not stopped us scoring goals but we are leakier than ever, and leaky is never a positive adjective. The table looks healthy though as we pick up in October 2001.
Well hello there. Welcome back to the CM9798 Academy where we’ve just about come down to earth after securing promotion to the Premier League. A great run of form to finish the season saw us steal the second promotion spot and save us the lottery of the playoffs, but now reality sets in. How am I going to survive in the Premier League with this set of morons plus the next batch of young freebies? Let’s hope those freebies are good…
Chris Woodcock was good in the Newcastle save. I consider this a good deal.
In other news, the stadium is bigger! Our finances are ridiculous and Ike realises he can seat 5,000 more scouts this way.
The new youth intake. Make your own jokes about Willi Serena.
Brabin and Lukic can go out on loan, Fulvio looks good enough to play now whilst the others will be squad backups. It’s hardly going to win us the league but frankly survival is the aim for now.
The season hasn’t even started man!
Obviously he goes. Snake.
Life imitates art.
Anyway, free transfers assembled, it’s time for the opening day of the season. We’re off to the Reebok where Jeff Brazier is a sub. Our team is the same as what finished last season with some new subs available. It’s a novelty being able to name 5 now.
Some things never change as we play out a 6 goal thriller. We did lead for a bit before going 3-1 down but Irwin jnr and Ugo Howard earn us a point.
Chelsea pipped us to the First Division title and it’s a return to the Arena for Michael Twiss. Well he’s a sub anyway. Denis Deary nicks us all 3 points and this Premier League lark is easier than you think.
Even at Wolves, we score three times in the opening 20 minutes. Falco gets his first for the club – rock me amadeus. It could have been 8.
It’s rarely dull as we contrive to go from 1-0 up to 2-1 down in three stupid minutes. We’re soon 3-2 up again only for it to finish 3-3. If we could defend we would be dangerous.
Remarkably we’re still unbeaten, and a trip to Nottingham Forest sees us frustrated by Peter Schmeichel. CM legend Erik Nevland briefly equalises before Billing slots past big Pete to get us the win. Unbeaten and top of the table, somehow.
West Ham are our next visitors and that’s where we find Anthony Betterton. We can’t handle Emile Heskey though Buckley levels immediately, only for Renou to…renew fears that we aren’t good enough for this league.
Look who gets man of the match
Grumble. We ship 4 at Old Trafford the following week – yes, that is Norwich City failure Marc Libbra – I never really expected to win here so we’ll move on.
League Cup time and we have a bye to the 2nd round for the first time. Oldham are in the third division and frankly I just want to get back to winning ways. Naturally we blow a 3-1 lead and lose one of our strikers to injury. I even had to play Nicky Byrne here due to a lack of available right backs.
Uh oh, bids ahoy. See you later, Chris.
Sometimes I hate the rules I have in place.
We’re short of attacking options for the visit of Tottenham. Chris Woodcock is on their bench as if to rub it in. We injure two of their stars (one of which sees Woodcock introduced) before falling behind. Makeshift striker McBride earns us a point. Phew.
Sam Shilton also leaves for £275k. He barely played and I don’t care. He’s replaced by Paul Perry.
Two goal lead after 9 minutes? Doesn’t matter. Lose 4-2. That is Robert Dunn, by the way.
Oldham time again and I’m desperate for us to end our bad run, so it’s our strongest team plus newcomer Perry. We thrash them but Heritage gets a red card. That will mean a league debut for Willi Serena.
Newcastle are somehow reigning champions, though Kenny Dalglish left to manage Italy. Yes, really. He was replaced by Des Walker, who was at Chelsea, and as you can see it’s thrilling.
Serena makes his league debut at Ewood Park. We lead for a minute. Dion Dublin, Danny Murphy and Chris Sutton inspire a media based comeback and despite us briefly being level at 2-2, we end up 4-2 losers. Boo.
Unsettled by having to use Nicky Byrne, an injury to Irwin junior has lead me back to the free transfer market. Gary Dods, come on down. We’ll try and find you another D.
He might be our good luck charm as he makes his debut in a delightful 2-1 win over Liverpool to end our indifferent run of form. Get us to 40 points as soon as possible.
All of that leaves us 12th after 12 games. TWELVE. We are top scorers and worst defenders in the top half.
…and the bottom half. We’re as midtable as it gets, perhaps unsurprisingly given those facts.
Survival is the aim and on our current ratio, we’ll just about do it. We’ll just keep plugging away, at least with goals in the team we’ve got a chance. The nightmare scenario would see somebody come in for Billing, as I just don’t know how we’d fill that gap from the free transfer market. At least with the two new strikers out on loan they might be ready in a season or two.
I’ll be back as usual next week with part 15 so once again I bid you farewell. Have a pleasant week.
Happy birthday CM9798! Our beloved game was released 21 years ago today and to celebrate you have been voting in your hundreds for the greatest CM9798 team. I’ve got the envelope open and it’s time to reveal the team…
Welcome to the final category of our CM9798 Greatest Team vote. There are only right backs & wingbacks left to consider and I need you to pick one from the 6 candidates if could be so kind. Remember, the results are revealed tomorrow so today is the day to get your votes in.
Your six options…
In Dyer’s early days at Ipswich, he was a promising young full back. As he began to mature, George Burley recognised his great pace would be more useful further forwards, which is why we see him as an option for both full back and wing positions:
His potential is set very high – quite rightly, after all he did go on to play Champions League football and for his country. He’s a favourite of mid-ranging Premier League teams due to his relatively low price of a couple of million and you’re pretty certain to get more for him than you purchased him for if you are in such a position.
Is that enough for him to get your vote though?
Javier Zanetti
One of the greatest right backs ever to play the game, Zanetti had to feature in our voting.
Part of the great Inter Milan squad, he very rarely transfers away showing the same loyalty he did in the real world. I always found him to average better than Cafu, who you’d probably put in the same bracket and for that reason, he makes the list.
Peter Smith
This man is the meaning of a CM legend. You will of course remember MK’s Brighton save, where Smith was a star performer.
His stats are incredible for a third division player worth £200k but he has no big club release, which is great news if you are the Brighton manager. Brighton have operated him in central midfield in this screenshot but with a passing of 3, I’d rather seem him using that stamina to get up and down the right wingback position. Vote Peter!
Thomas Helveg
This category was quite slim pickings but Helveg usually gets a reasonable move from Udinese, so he must have something about him. Here he is enjoying a first season move to Juventus.
Available for less than £5m, I’d say he’s a good candidate for you if you are managing a top level team. Wingbacks aren’t that easy to find on the game but Helveg is a good bet. You should get a good 5 years plus out of him too.
Christian Panucci
This one isn’t difficult. He plays for one of the best clubs in the world and has incredible stats.
He quite often makes a move back to his home land but I don’t think he’s fussy as long as you are a massive club. A slight negative is that he technically isn’t a wingback but I’m sure he’d do a job there anyway. His statistical strengths lie in his defensive capabilities anyway.
Eric Rabesandratana
Fun fact for you, when my friend Ross showed me he had signed this guy I thought he had made him up on the editor. Mind you, this was in about 2003.
He often ends up at Man Utd or, in this example, Milan. The AI doesn’t sign bad players for big clubs and this guy is a bit of a marvel. Even after reading his wiki he still doesn’t ring any bells for me, I’m sure he was excellent in his day but he’s very good on CM9798 and that’s all you can ask.
There you have it then, 6 right backs or wingbacks and it is now down to you to choose just one. You have 24 hours. The results will be revealed tomorrow as we celebrate CM9798 turning 21. Woo and yay. Bye for now.
Remember to vote in every category – you can do that here
It’s the penultimate episode of our greatest team series and with just two days until the team is revealed, you better get your votes in sharpish. Today we’re looking at the central midfield option, of which there is only room for one in our 2-3-1-2-2 formation.
Let’s meet the contenders:
The Norwegian legend, Tommy Svindal Larsen has managed many a midfield in his time. Just look at his stats!
Tommy is probably the Twitter champion. Barely a mention of the game goes by without somebody name dropping this hero. It’s a bit weird as depending on what leagues you load, he doesn’t even make the cut, which is incredible really but the Norwegian leagues are packed full of brilliance. He can be picked up for a couple of million at most, but get him as soon as you can.
Jeff Brazier
Sometimes I ask myself what I was doing when I made this list. Here’s Jeff Brazier, yes TV’s Jeff Brazier.
I think I gave him the nod because his transformed the Academy from Third Division alsorans into…Second Division alsorans when he left for Bolton. I think I like the idea of Jeffrey more than his actual ability, though he is a brilliant free transfer in the lower leagues which might swing him some votes.
Marc Emmers
He’s a Belgian International who will cost you about £100k. He’s also insanely brilliant. Again, incredible stats.
Like TSL, he’ll back up those stats with incredible average ratings. He’s a central midfielder who can attack and defend which makes him, well ideal really. Obviously his age means his shelf life is relatively short but he was still useful for Waregem in season 7 so age is just a number. Will it be enough to earn Marc your vote?
Robert Dunn
It’s a while since we’ve been to Partick Thistle. Robert Dunn is here despite being a midfielder/striker.
Available for about £50k, Dunn’s value is guaranteed to increase over time making him the ideal candidate for clubs at a First Division level or maybe higher if you are willing to nurture him. Here’s Sheff Wed’s attempts after 4 years – again you can see a lot of his stats are randomised, his passing hasn’t nosedived thankfully.
Morten Bisgaard
Another hero of mine who I even found a spot for in the all star Ajax team. Morten Bisgaard, ladies and gentlemen:
A little bit pricier at about the £4m mark, Bisgaard is no good to you if you’re in the lower divisions but if you are at the top level, he’s practically a bargain. He won’t sign for just anybody though and you’ll need to get him before he gets really good. In complete contradiction to that, here he is at West Ham.
Denmark produces a lot of good players, for example Petr Degn just cost Barcelona £13m on the Academy save. Maybe he should be on this list. Anyway, vote Morten.
Gustavo Neffa
I went through a phase of always signing Gustavo Neffa. I’m really not sure why.
He’s about £1m and his contract is often expiring in the first season. This category was a slog.
So…after that inspiring run down of the central midfield options, all that is left for you to do is vote. We’ll have the right wingbacks tomorrow then the final reveal on Wednesday. In the words of Des’ree, oooh I get the shivers. Bye for now.
Vote for your Greatest CM9798 Team here
It’s the end of season 4 for the CM9798 Academy and a tremendous run of form has propelled us into playoff contetion. Is this our time to make the Premier League? We’ve got momentum on our side but we also have the leakiest defence in the top half. The problem with being good is that your players are wanted…
