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This Championship Manager page covers every version of the game, from CM3 through the seasonal updates to CM4 and beyond. Expect to find the following on this page:

An introduction to the game (for those who don't already know)

The team Selection screen from CM1

Championship Manager (otherwise known as CM) was born way back in 1992 as the pet of brothers Oliver and Paul Collyer. I would at this point lavish praise on them for their fantastic ingenuity, but they are Everton fans and such gatherings of lowly organisms should be drowned in the Mersey at birth. Then again, if they did that there wouldn't be anyone to take the piss out of. Except Norwich fans. Anyway, I better stop before I drive too many people away (I'm not sure if that's a bad thing - there's only 7 of them). So, the original game was a bit slow and the depth wasn't great, at least compared to today's standards. The player and team database was, for the time, fairly accurate (Ian Rush is no longer the God he once was). Downloadable versions of CM1 and CM2 are available on our downloads page. The game progressed through version and obligatory seasonal update (93/94, CM2 followed by 96/97 - the first one I ever played), with the game engine showing some improvement and then, BAM! CM97/98 hit the shops. What a game.

The front of the box for CM97/98

 A PCZone review at the time rated it at 97%. A review listed it as "the most addictive game to date...110%". Every computer user I have ever known has installed a copy of CM97/98 on their humble machine at some point. The end of the following season saw the release of CM3, which saw the first major overhaul of the interface and engine, and is the dawn of the game's adulthood at which we join. CM3 was one of the most advanced games in terms of the sheer size of the databases used. I don't think anyone has yet managed to use every function of the game to it's full extent. A review at the time in December 1998 claimed it to be "stupidly deep...impossible to get into...the developers have gone for realism and forgotten about the need for gamers to be able to understand it. Apart from that, still a better than average game."  Around this time, probably because of the peak of domestic web use, Championship Manager websites took off.

CM3 inspired many a computer geek to quickly scribble instructions to Notepad in angled brackets, simply to pay homage to such an awesome game. Prior to CM3, there weren't nearly as many CM sites. The year trundled on, Manchester United won the treble and not much happened over the summer in the way of international tournaments. A four-year schedule for CM was released, telling fans what would come next. Obligatory seasonal updates (99/00, 00/01, 01/02) would be released in the September of their appropriate years and then, in September 2002, a radical restructuring of the game's interface and engine would again take place. CM4. Before we get too carried away, though, let's take a look back at the CM3 seasonal updates. 99/00 was released on Friday December 3rd, 1999. There were a few extra features: Increased media involvement; a couple of extra leagues; a new font and, of course; players had been shifted around to their new clubs and their ratings updated. Nothing special, and certainly not worth splashing out another £25 if only a year before you had bought CM3. CM00/01 was released the following season and disappointment had decided to stay away this year.

 This version showed little change in the appearance of the game. However, media involvement and a little less reliance on heavy statistics meant that CM's original appeal was starting to return. This version also includes a data editor - a feature that had been left out since 97/98, but is much easier to use. September 2001 saw the last update in the CM3 section to be released.

 CM01/02 is an addictive game, featuring more leagues than ever before, 26. The game is quicker (so the makers claim) and there is the universally useful option of starting a game with totally made-up players and staff, which eliminates the opportunity for players to hone in on the big names before looking at their stats.

CM01/02 - Issue an ultimatum to the board

At around Christmastime 2001, SportsInteractive (SI), who make Champ Manager, released "Championship Manager Quiz" as an attempt to spin-off from the success of the football management game. The game hasn't sold very well at all and, while it is worth playing, a critic at the time rated it at 56% and did not recommend it as worth buying. After CM4 and it's related seasonal updates, it is not known where the game will go. SI are welcoming suggestions on improving the game on their website, and you can also vote on our TalkBack page. When we get a large number of requests for one single improvement, we will email the petition to SI.

Championship Manager 4 was released in the UK on Friday March 28th 2003. The cheeky bastards are selling it for as much as £35, which is disgusting considering how loyal CM fans have been, paying £15 to £20 on average for the latest release in the past. A demo is available to download from our CM4 page; it is the usual 6 months of the first season (English quickstart only).

The game itself has both advantages and disadvantages over its predecessors. Some of the increased detail with regards to transfers and the media are a step in the right direction. However the game does seem to have been "newbified", that is all the intricate tactical instructions that could previously be given have been simplified or completely abolished in favour of pretty curves and skins. Definitely not worth £35, and I am pretty disappointed that the game has been released so close to the end of the season (the initial reason I didn't pay for it). If you have played the demo and weren't impressed with all the bugs and sloppy layout (all those annoying little problems) then not to worry, they have been fixed for the full version. There is also a patch (sorry, "enhancement pack" as SI like to call it), version number 4.0.3, which can be installed on top of the full game version 4.0.1 (and, presumably, 4.0.2, though I haven't come across that version yet). This apparently fixes some unrealistic game operations. The patch can be found on the CM4 page.

Information will slowly be added for CM4, but please bear with us as we are still receiving lots of emails regarding the previous versions.

The CM4 page has loads of stuff for you to see; screenshots, demos and more.

All the screenshots, demos and wallpapers for CM4 as well as what info we have is on the CM4 page now!

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Reviews on each version of CM

CM3: Fantastically detailed database. Interface is more user-friendly than its predecessors. Enjoyed playing the game, but an enormous let-down after CM97/98 - may be due to the addictiveness of the last game or the lack of something in this one. Currently available for £5 from Electronics Boutique and Game.

CM99/00: Hmm. Nothing new here. Looks like it was a tad rushed. The only thing that's changed is a new font. Waste of money if you already have CM3, if you haven't then consider buying the next one.

CM00/01: Great game, a mixture between the addictiveness of CM97/98 and the simple-to-use interface of CM3. Because it is not the latest game, it can be bought for only £10. recommends this game as the best buy, though if you can afford to buy CM01/02 then go for it - it's marginally better.

CM01/02: The best version of Champ Manager after version 97/98, released in the season's opening. Incorporates great features such as the ability to issue an ultimatum. It's not as difficult to win games either. Just about beats CM00/01 in enjoyment of gameplay, but is that bit more expensive (around £25).

CM4 (demo): Some great new features, the most obvious being the ability to watch your team's matches in 2D plan-view. Massive enjoyment from this game, with heaps more that you can take charge of, such as training schedules. Palm off some of the menial tasks to your assistant manager or look after them yourself. Another step towards realism within the football industry. Down-sides tend to be the niggly things like the team selection screen jumping back to the top every time you click something (really annoying when looking at strikers' stats). Still quite a few long periods of time waiting for the match engine to churn out results for other games. Overall, we're impressed (though not with the release date being so late in the season) and just hope that the small problems are ironed out for the release of the full version.  [top]

System Requirements

The game's makers state that the following is required to install and run CM:

NB: These specifications only allow the user to select and play one league and to run the minimum database.

These specs are totally off-course as far as I can figure out. You can get away with the following on your computer: Win 95/98, Pentium 100, 16MB RAM, 4x CD-ROM, Graphics card must support 800x600 resolution or else the game will not run (anyway, 800x600 looks way better), your mouse must be 100% compatible with Win95/98 , but the hard disk space required gets me. It only took up 54MB on my computer with the minimum (compact) installation. If you have 200MB or so spare, use the custom installation to add sound etc. A tip: If you're short of space, Don't bother with the picture editor. If you have bags of room, who cares about compact installations? The NB bit is total garbage too. I have tried it on a machine with lower than the above specs and ran three leagues at once with an extra 5 in background.

I suggest the following as recommended although the game will run on my suggestions above.

Of course, the beefier your computer, the better the game will run.

Subsequent versions require the same, although there are variations with DirectX requirements (this software is included on the disc). [top]

Tips on Speeding up your machine

These tips will speed up your machine specifically for Championship Manager, while the others will work with any software.

Champ Manager tips:

Turn off Flashing text in Game options

Select Off for Background Games/Leagues

Select the lowest number (5,000?) in matches stored

Select Minimum database

Make sure you manually delete any folders for previous installations of CM that you don't use anymore - Uninstall does not delete these (can be found in "Program Files" folder)

General Tips:

Defragment your hard drive at least once a week (email to find out how)

Run ScanDisk and Disk Cleanup at least once a week

Select "None" as your desktop background - this does speed things up by freeing RAM

Close all unnecessary background applications by pressing Ctrl, Alt, Del together and clicking End Task on all programs EXCEPT "Explorer" and "Systray" (these are crucial to the running of your PC). All of these programs will restart when your PC does. In Windows XP, expose all of the programs running in the background (system tray in bottom-right corner of desktop) and right-click each icon and close the program. Don't forget that some of the programs need to be left running in order to operate certain parts of your system (e.g. hardware drivers, the time and the volume icon)

When deleting old files - make sure you empty the recycle bin afterwards or no space will be freed up.

When deleting old software, use the Uninstall feature rather than deleting the folder manually as this will not delete registry entries, start menu entries etc (email to find out how). [top]

Tips and Cheats

This cheat will enable you to become a national manager without applying.

Choose the league which houses your chosen national team (e.g England). Click on Add Manager. Choose any team in that league who has a player who was born in the country you wish to manage (e.g, Man Utd. and David Beckham). Click on the player's name so his stats come up. Click on the nationality (e.g English - it's next to the player's age etc). The national team will now come up, click on 'Take Control' in the top right corner to take control.

 This cheat will enable you to get any player you want for nothing.

Say you are manager of Liverpool and you want David Beckham but can't get him going through the usual channels. There are two ways of getting him for nothing.

If you type "Jimmy Rules" as your name, you should get unlimited money. This does not work on all versions of CM.

(on 00/01 or 01/02): Go to a player and then to 'Set Nickname'. Set the nickname as one of the following names and then request a coach report. It isn't what you expect.

NEW! Choose a team to manage but do not select "Take Control". Instead, select "Tactics". The game will respond that no tactics are available. Type "champions", then select "Take Control". Your team will now have better performance. Reported as for CM00/01 but may work on others.

 Finding good players. Enter the "/cm0102/editor/" folder and run the cm0102ed.exe file to start the game editor. Use it to open your data file, which should be in the "/cm0102/data" folder. Use the filter to find any player who has ability over 180. These players are very good but usually are very expensive and famous. However, some of them are not -- for example, some players from South America. You can use filter to find any player with potential over 180. Some of them, especially the younger ones, are not expensive and will develop into very good players in a few years. The same can be done on other versions with an editor.

 Play only second half of season. Select the nation of the team you wish to manage and USA as foreground leagues at the start. When selecting the start season, choose USA and allow the game to load. When selecting your team, change the nation on the pop down menu to that of the team you wish to manage, and select your team. You will now take control of the team in mid-January, with the first half of the season simulated. CM01/02, but may work on other versions of CM if they have the American league. This isn't so much a cheat, more to do with the stupid yanks starting their season in the middle of winter.

Tip: If you obtain three unrealistic bids/prices notices from your board, you will be sacked.

If there are any more tips or cheats that you know of on the game then mail them to me here, or leave them on the guestbook [top]

Best players, staff and teams

The page below holds our huge collection of recommended players. You can scroll through them using the scrollbar on your browser or, if you know what you're after, click the appropriate link below to take you straight there.

Please note: Some names have been written specifically for a particular version, but you would be a fool not to look at them on your version. Also, some names crop up more than once. This is because my information is gleaned from different sources.

Use this form to suggest good players, staff and clubs. Alternatively email or put them in the guestbook.

Best Goalkeepers

[Best players top]

Best Defenders

Also:

Best Midfielders

Also:

[Best players top]

Best Attackers