ALS contributor Mark Duell is going back in time to play the retro Championship Manager to see how well he would do as manager of Sunderland AFC. This is Season One Episode One: The Background.
How many times have we all thought there sitting, wondering, 'I could do better than that'? The joys of being an armchair manager. Yet some of us take that obsession that bit further, don't we? Well, that's in the parallel universe known as computer football management.
For me it all started in the 80s with my trusty Commodore 64. The noise of the game loading with multi coloured bars flashing constantly until the game was ready to play. Those days, games loaded really slowly like which is a comparison on how they do these days. My first ever football management game was the original Football Manager, for those old enough: it was the one with the guy with the beard on the front - Kevin Toms. Many hours were spent trying to get the Lads to the top. If a new game came out, I had to buy it and do the same thing.
So where are we now? These days, the newer named Football Manager is proper technical like with this and that. We're not going into go into that one as it will take ages just to run half a season. Instead, we're going to 1996-97 and the game Championship Manager as we aim to go back in a time machine with the Lads. This was when the game was simplistic, and you could complete seasons rapidly. It was also limited to a maximum of 30 seasons so we're going to see how far we go.
In that season, in reality it was the final season for the Lads at Roker like. I remember fondly standing on the Fulwell for one game that season, tears streaming down me cheeks knowing I wouldn't be doing this for much longer. Roker, a proper old school ground, had its charm about it. But as times changed, so did it for the Lads with the impending move to the SoL happening.
The Lads were in the Premier League, or as it was then known: the FA Carling Premiership for sponsorship reasons. And that is where we begin. Can we build a dynasty and last the whole 30 seasons that the game feasibly will allow us? Or will we resigned to be failure in the world of football management?
Join me next time out for Season 1, Episode 2 of "The Time Machine" where we feature the squad and start the pre-season friendlies. Ha'way the Lads!
