The First Championship Manager

A thought occurred to me the other day...so since i have to find some way of recovering from a hangover...i decided to dedicate a part of my weekend to locating a copy of the original, very first, championship manager :L

apparently you can get it for the guts of 50p, awesome, so i now have a copy in the post, should b interesting to see how the game has progressed

so just thought id see who, out of all u hardcore football manager players, actualy is hardcore enough to be there from the beginning:P

anyone got a copy to prove it?

i must confess, im not a starter i started with the 2nd installement in the series...still pretty early on

I remember playing it i think even the most harsh critic would accept things have developed quite well. I wonder that peoples favorite version was i have a fondness for champ manager 97/98 which i still have, thanks for the memories of the wasted youth SI

Think you need win 98 or earlier to play it. Do not think you will be able to run it on XP unless SI has released a XP upgrade. just forget running it on Vista. You should have gotten CM 93 and not the original. The original CM (92) didn't even have match ratings on the players.

Just don't fall for the old trick of playing 2-4-4 longball. You win every match like 15-3. Nigel Clough used to score 80-120 goals a season for me in my spoof games when I played 2-4-4 long ball.

Compared to the original Football Manager from the '80s, the first Champ Man would seem modern!

which version did you have to select your personality type and if you entered your name has mr bulgaria u got extra cash for your club?????

CM 93 through all CM2 based versions I think you chose personality.

I say get CM 93/94 as it has real players. I have been playing it regularly recently, continuing my Man Utd game. I'm in the 2008/2009 season. My other save is Brighton and Hove Albion (home town), which I promoted up to a yo-yo Premiership club from Division 2. Nogan is awesome! That's in the late 90s though.

Once I played a game up to the 2030s, so about 40 years. Even the managers had all retired.

The European Cup is much more ruthless in format and competition, especially as the game starts only just after the ban. In the Man Utd game I reached the final in '99 or 2000 but lost it and thus The Treble to, yes, Bayern Munich. I won the Euro Cup finally in 2005, beating Porto.

Also I won the Premiership 7 times in a row after the first season.

Be fine with providing any screenie requests of pics for my 2008/2009 game, or perhaps the other save for any Seagull fans out there.

The Man Utd save has a couple of records gone before the last few seasons as I moved the save game from one comp to this one.

It works fine on XP, although for some reason it's stopped working now so I use DOSBox.

:L awesome...i had CM 93...i think i played it solid for about a year...i loved it

i didnt think id see the day when celtic were unbeaten for about 3 seasons and winning every competition they played in...they were simpler times:L

yes..i definetely did use the 2-4-4 long ball tactic...jorge cadete was quite teh hero of the time...

and to think it sparked the revolution that created this website, never mind the whole of SI...

does anyone know of any site that documents the history and development of the different versions of the games, i for one one would be very interested maybe SI could put somethink on the next game or on the website they could talk about the history of the product. Not sure how much the spilt from eidos would hamper this though, i'd pay extra for this as part of a collectors pack next year:)

I cannot believe you've been playing it regularly recently! Crazy man

Have to say I used to hate Champ Man, tried it once and could never get into the game. Used to be one of those Premier Manager players

History

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Championship_Manager_series

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Football_Manager

Man where can I buy it? that brought back memories.

SI should put all versions up as DD for a small fee. I want to try CM 93 again

The best was CM97/98,I found it for 1 euro at a market and was so excited I didnt even think and just bought it,it wasnt till I got home I knew I would have problems as I have vista and after trying every trick in the book still cant get it to run.

i had to resort to some really dodgy website im afraid...i risked it just for memorys sake :L

i would tell u the website, but i didnt bookmark it im afraid

i dont even know if its reliable, il have to wait a couple of days to see

i agree with nemesis, if someone could post a link or whatever id b very interested, as well as the collectors pack idea...sounds interestin to see the changes

I cannot believe you've been playing it regularly recently! Crazy man

It's got a good pick-up-and-play thing going on. The game is basic but still difficult and solid and you can do a season within a couple of hours too. It's something new (old) to try, something you can do while MSNing or whatever.

Even when you're the greatest team in England, there's still always a challenge - beating the sheer might of the Dutch, Spanish and French teams in the European Cup with your puny English title winning side.

I got it as a compilation of this, Sensible Soccer, Striker and Goal from a school sale in '98, best way to get it now would be either Amazon or Ebay probably, or something like eMule as it'd be a small download. Downloading a game as old as this surely can't be illegal after this long, is it?

I had the original CM published by Domark. It came on five 5.25" disks iirc.

My computer wasn't really up to spec to play it, but I had a go anyway. Loved it, even though it took over an hour to play a game because my PC was so rubbish.

hey just a thought but if they put an older version of the game in a collectors pack we'd have something to play on release day while we wait for authenitication

I will hold Miles cat ransom until they release a nostagy pack with all the oldies. Hmm comes to think of two things. Made they can't sell the old CM games since Eidos own the CM brand. And second, hope Miles has a cat so I haven't snagged his neighbours cat

Man this brings back memories.

I remember comming home from the nightshift as a 24 year old at 6am and logging into cm97/98 and come 2pm thinking I should have a shower and get myself ready for work that night,ahh good times.

Man this brings back memories.

I remember comming home from the nightshift as a 24 year old at 6am and logging into cm97/98 and come 2pm thinking I should have a shower and get myself ready for work that night,ahh good times.

man they sound like long hours if u got off work at 6 and started think about get ready to go back eight hours later

man they sound like long hours if u got off work at 6 and started think about get ready to go back eight hours later

I used to work 12 hours on and 12 hours off back then.

I had the original CM published by Domark. It came on five 5.25" disks iirc.

My computer wasn't really up to spec to play it, but I had a go anyway. Loved it, even though it took over an hour to play a game because my PC was so rubbish.

So naturally you posted again and again about how it was a disgrace that the game wouldn't work really well on your pc, right?

Think you need win 98 or earlier to play it. Do not think you will be able to run it on XP unless SI has released a XP upgrade. just forget running it on Vista. You should have gotten CM 93 and not the original. The original CM (92) didn't even have match ratings on the players.

Just don't fall for the old trick of playing 2-4-4 longball. You win every match like 15-3. Nigel Clough used to score 80-120 goals a season for me in my spoof games when I played 2-4-4 long ball.

The original version d id have average ratings - these were the only thing that mattered, stats did not.

I have played them all right from the begining. Remember the original used to take ages to start a game. They have come a long way since. You can run them on xp you just have to run compatability mode on them, not sure about vista you would need to check.

these where the day when the games came in a big cardboard box with manuals an inch thick, if all the games i have now all had these boxes i'd need a warehouse instead of shelves

I had the original CM published by Domark. It came on five 5.25" disks iirc.

My computer wasn't really up to spec to play it, but I had a go anyway. Loved it, even though it took over an hour to play a game because my PC was so rubbish.

I had it on the Amiga - that took about an hour and half just to get a new game going!

I remember we had a cobblers who used to sell games as well - those sort of shops are all gone now. Anyway went in there to buy a game called Birds of Prey, think it was by electronic arts. I had saved up for about 4 weeks from my paperround money to buy this game. When I went in the shop I found CM however, and have never looked back. Only problem was I had to take the 1st copy back as one of the floppy disks was damaged.

Ah memories...............

Ooh Birds of Prey was good. Knights of the Sky was better though

I used to play that game every night after school with my mate. It was amazingly addictive, despite the fictitious names and bizarre sideways tactics screen. I just remembered that you also had to wait hours and hours for the end-of-season update to compute. Crazy. Didn't those earlier games have a 25-season limit, too?

One day, I should look up all those players who were young in the next version of that game (the one with real names) that became amazing - see how they turned out in real life. I know players like Nii Lamptey never made the grade, but some like Neil Lennon didn't do too bad.

Good times.

EDIT: Hey, whatever DID happen to the insurance??? Gone are the days when you could fine players just because you felt like it, too. That makes me sad, I loved forcing players out. Ozzy, besides remarking on the 25-season limit thing, could you post a screenshot of Giggs in 2008/09? Has he retired? Do you even still have him?

93/94 was up for free download from the SI website for a while. When did it get taken down?

my personal favourites are cm3, 00/01 and 01/02. cm3 you could a team for under 10million from the lower leagues and still win the prem, the later ones were the hayday of leeds united so i were happy to be wallowing away in the champions league double group stages

I had it - Incomparable to now - the game has come a long way even if the progress from FM06 - FM07 was minor IMO.

I say get CM 93/94 as it has real players. I have been playing it regularly recently, continuing my Man Utd game. I'm in the 2008/2009 season. My other save is Brighton and Hove Albion (home town), which I promoted up to a yo-yo Premiership club from Division 2. Nogan is awesome! That's in the late 90s though.

Once I played a game up to the 2030s, so about 40 years. Even the managers had all retired.

Loved that game, played it for ages.

Chris Bart-Williams was a god in that game.....

Chris Bart-Williams was a god in that game.....

That's right, he was! Haha, this is great nostalgia. Besides him and Lennon, who else do you remember that were great players from those games but weren't actually in real life??? Stefan Beinlich?

I would love to play these games. Probably any of the series from 1994-1988. Taking the Gers to glory with Gascoigne, Laudrup and McCoist.

How were those 3 in the series if anyone knows or remembers?

The earliest game I played was that of 2005 Before that I had a playstation game, Guy Roux Manager 2000 I think lol. It did have 3d though.

I would love to play these games. Probably any of the series from 1994-1988. Taking the Gers to glory with Gascoigne, Laudrup and McCoist.

How were those 3 in the series if anyone knows or remembers?

McCoist and Laudrup were almost impossible to sign, but played amazing for Rangers "abroad" (you couldn't play in other countries than England in those days).

Gascoigne could be bought after a couple of seasons and he was, in fact, brilliant.

By the way, did you mean 94-NINETY-eight? Because 1) I've never seen anyone start a time period from the later date before, and b) the games weren't around until 1992.

McCoist and Laudrup were almost impossible to sign, but played amazing for Rangers "abroad" (you couldn't play in other countries than England in those days).

Gascoigne could be bought after a couple of seasons and he was, in fact, brilliant.

By the way, did you mean 94-NINETY-eight? Because 1) I've never seen anyone start a time period from the later date before, and b) the games weren't around until 1992.

Bloody typos. thanks for that. Yes, 94-98, unless the FM series just suddenly started going back in time.

If that's the case, I can't wait for FM 66 and take England to glory.

I once had it sent to me by e mail free of charge, was a good nostalgia trip, think i had the Italia version, i remember a pixelated image of a Sampdoria player on the opening screen. Great game, Teddy Sheringham and Alan Shearer are ones for the future haha

The best was CM97/98,I found it for 1 euro at a market and was so excited I didnt even think and just bought it,it wasnt till I got home I knew I would have problems as I have vista and after trying every trick in the book still cant get it to run.

my friend, i bought it on ebay this summer and had the same problem. i also found the solution.... DOSBOX!!! download DOSBOX (google it) and copy the files into the dosbox program (im doing it from memory here, the dosbox program tells you what to do) and then your off!!

wow i seem like a newbie at when i first started playing these games! i started 99 season. i did play a game called premier manager and then my mate introducded me to that would love to see the very early versions would be a laugh to play them on a sunday recovery session.

I've got CM93 too, I might have a load up of it and see about this 2-4-4. The best formation I found on this was 1-2-3-1-3 (all central)with the middle striker having an arrow up. You could play some amazing winger in the AM position and see him play amazing.

I remember having a team who all had average ratings above 8 come end of the season. Wonderful memories.

If my memory corrects me right I first bought championship manager in 1992 round april or may that year. produced by doomark as the game publishers and there offices were based in putney or was it fulham lol. Brilliant game just remember had to keep sending back the disks as the game kept crashing and use to always lose my data and having a amiga 1200 it was unreliable sadly on that format but what a game and it started it all. Those were the days hehe

www.footballmanager2009andbeyond.co.uk

Used to play 1-2-4-3. Putting an older MC as sweeper worked like a charm. My goalkeeper would usually average about 8.6 with this tactic.

Compared to the original Football Manager from the '80s, the first Champ Man would seem modern!

Nothing beats the original. :-)

so how many people here actually remember the very first football manager on the old spectrum. i was 4 or 5 when it was out (1982?).

so how many people here actually remember the very first football manager on the old spectrum. i was 4 or 5 when it was out (1982?).

me. Played it on a C64 at relative's house. Since my English was very very limited back then, I misunderstood a great deal in the beginning.

There was even a version for my beloved C16, albeit without 2D match presentation (limited hardware resources).

I remember for first Champ experience......

Was on the Amiga 1200, i had champ, i think 92/93 shortly followed by an italian league only version as i recall or perhaps that was a demo...

Anyways first i properly remember was on the Amiga, you could have 3 leagues selected, Gazza and david platt were great players, and you could have your tea while it set up a game :)

I would really like an official answer from SI/Sega. Do you have the rights to release the old CM games now?

Think there might be a problem with Eidos (originally Domark until 1997) own the rights to the CM brand. SI own the code, but as long as Eidos own the CM brand I don't think SI can relese it without Eidos' permission. I might be wrong,

But a Nostalgy pack would rule. I have acctually bought every CM game since CM93. I even bought a pc when CM2 was released since it was not relseased for amiga 500 or Atari 1040 STE, needed cd-rom drive. First player I bought on CM2 was Stefan Effenberg to Arsenal.

Thanks for the answer Ter.

Can you please contact Eidos and make a deal. Release all CM games made before SI and Eidos parted ways in a nostalgy pack. split the profits. Just make sure they all work on XP first, Vista might be problematic and will probably need a total rewrite. But I have seen XP patches for many other old Win95 games so that should not take too much work.

I've got CM93 too, I might have a load up of it and see about this 2-4-4. The best formation I found on this was 1-2-3-1-3 (all central)with the middle striker having an arrow up. You could play some amazing winger in the AM position and see him play amazing.

I remember having a team who all had average ratings above 8 come end of the season. Wonderful memories.

Hang on. Did you read my hints and tips double-spread in that Amiga magazine??? Because I'm pretty sure I invented that tactic you're going on about.

Anybody remember that commentary on the first CM2? I quite liked it, think it was Clive Tyldsley? Not sure. Anyway, imagine how good the game would be today with realistic commentary.