The Nostalgia of FM09

[Grgunoks]

FM09 was the first version I ever played. It was FAR too hard for me at the time. I simply could not make sense of the tactical sliders, and while I did put a lot of time into it, I was glad when the newer versions introduced player roles and simplified things a bit.

However, I got sick of FM around 2016, and decided to go back and check out FM09. In all honesty, it wasn't even about the game. It was about revisiting a time of my life when things were simpler. Pure nostalgia trip.

Aston Villa had a team that could challenge for Europe back then - Gareth Barry, Curtis Davies (yes!), Reo-Coker (when he was considered good), Agbonlahor, Ashley Young, James Milner.

My team, Rangers, still had some very good players. Champions League level players. And a little 16 year old wonderkid by the name of John Fleck.

This year's breakout stars (or those who were rated far too highly for realism), were Yuri Zhirkov, Vagner Love, Miguel Veloso, and maybe the likes of Andres Guardado, Artem Milyevski and a couple of others.

Riquelme had just left Villarreal, but they still had Guiseppe Rossi, a prime (overrated) Matias Fenrnandez, Robert Pires, Nihat Kahveci, Diego Godin and Marcos Senna.

As I wrote in another post, Valencia still had a wealth of attacking options, guys like David Silva, David Villa and Juan Mata (all with extremely generous attributes), plus Joaquin, Vicente, Morientes and more.

The Italian league, while nowhere near its prime, is still loaded with quality. Shevchenko has been nerfed, and is back at AC Milan on loan after a failed stint at Chelsea. But Milan still have the likes of Kaka, Maldini, Nesta, Gattuso, Pirlo, Pato, and had just signed Ronaldinho (who's still only 28!). Inter have Patrick Vieira, Cambiasso, Adriano, Crespo, Ibrahimovic, Luis Figo, Javier Zanetti, Maicon, Walter Samuel, etc. Picking any of those Italian sides is really a major challenge, because in just a couple of years you'll need to replace some of the best players in the world.

Juventus fall into that category too. Del Piero is class, but is 33. Trezeguet is 31. Nedved is 35. Camoranesi is 31.

Barcelona have just hired Pep Guardiola, and the final 9.3 update fully reflects how amazing that team was in 2008. I don't need to describe that team, but it's cool to see a prime Rafael Marquez still there. Perfect ball-playing defender, or deep-lying playmaker. Serious competition for the likes of Pique, Busquets, and Yaya Toure.

I've probably started around 200-300 saves on this game. Probably started a save with every team in the top five or six leagues. I admit that I do have a bit of the old restart-itis, but somehow I don't get sick of it. However, I do worry that I'm living in the past sometimes.

If anyone wants to know about a particular team, or wants some screenshots, feel free to ask. I've got the game loaded up right now playing as Juventus (a genuinely difficult team to start with. Very unbalanced and old).