You mean I wasn't the only Coventry fan on CM 97/98 last night?!? Awesome. I think that was the best version of the game, and in one of my favourite eras of football. And I played it to death at uni instead of doing any studying...I decided to fire up Championship Manager 97/98 the other day and start a new game with City. Having finished 9th (Dion Dublin banging them in, Oggy and Magnus keeping them out....mostly) the board decided to expand HR to about 30,000 seats. This got me thinking about how 'realistic' that would have been at the time? Even if we were getting the attendances to justify an expansion would it have been physically possible to do so?
Obviously this is all irrelevant now but i was wondering if the club ever put much out publically about expanding HR before opting to build the Ricoh?
You mean I wasn't the only Coventry fan on CM 97/98 last night?!? Awesome. I think that was the best version of the game, and in one of my favourite eras of football. And I played it to death at uni instead of doing any studying...
I've posted about this before, but I'm working on an update of the 97/98 DB to make it slightly more realistic-Man C relegation strugglers in 2nd tier rather than winning it every time, Mendonca and Phillips lethal in that division, John Eustace with an actual playing position, Paul Telfer not instantly given a free transfer before the season starts by Strachan every time, rating any youngsters that go on to be stars higher, adding missing megastars like Eto'o, making Arsenal challenge Man U for the league stronger, that sort of thing. I've given all the Japan players their real positions and skills instead of random skills and am doing the same for South Korea, some African teams and Jamaica. I'm using ratings in the CM 01/02 db and a screenshots of ratings from some later ones as a basis, plus adding my own opinions and research, of course. It's quite a big project but I'll maybe upload a basic version in a couple of months for anyone who wants a bit of nostalgic fun.
How did you find the City squad? The GK's are highly rated in the DB. Dublin and McAllister should be better though I reckon?
I'm glad you get ground expansions as I've been playing the 95-96 version for the last year or so and it's bloody impossible!
This is a fun site with some good articles on it: About
Council blocked expansion requests didn’t they?
The seated capacity of HR was less than 24000. They could possibly have done some compulsory purchase orders on the row of houses behind the WT and made that stand bigger. But I think the lure of a shiny new ground and redevelopment of the old gasworks area seemed more cost efficient and would have been more appealing to the council as it acts as a multi purpose arena and they could meet housing targets by building on HR.IIRC there was a suggestion of filling in the corners either side of the West Terrace (moving the press-box & scoreboard). This may have got the capacity from 26500 to nearer 30000. Another possibility would have been to lower the pitch and extend the stands forwards like they did at Ibrox. HR was a large pitch and fairly “high up” above the surrounding water table so drainage may have been easy (maybe the name “High Field” alluded to this).
I do remember a plan to remove the seating from the lower WT to increase capacity but the Taylor Report ended that possibility.
The seated capacity of HR was less than 24000. They could possibly have done some compulsory purchase orders on the row of houses behind the WT and made that stand bigger. But I think the lure of a shiny new ground and redevelopment of the old gasworks area seemed more cost efficient and would have been more appealing to the council as it acts as a multi purpose arena and they could meet housing targets by building on HR.
Oh man, Christanval. In one of the late 90s versions he was the closest player I've seen to football perfection.
Council blocked expansion requests didn’t they?
Nah Thornton was an awesome AM in about 05-06 version, had loads of Player Preferred Moves-I built the side around him! The most wounding part of that version was that not only did Kyle start the game listed as a fan's favourite (how about that for research! Where on earth did they get that notion from?!?), but he's also one of our best players...I bet none of you have just whacked FM Genie on and sold Kevin Thornton to Barca. Far too serious
I finished 9th in the first season and Dublin was probably key to that (probably thanks to a small boost i gave him in the editor). I did edit Boateng too but he's still not performing as well as i think he did irl. McAllister did ok but i sold him to Wilmledon at the end of the season, Dublin decided to be a big judas snake and ship out to Arsenal too so i've replaced him with a disappointing Stoitchkov (if only!!).
The 2nd season hasn't gone well so far, they simply refuse to defend properly and so i've conceded something like 1.8 goals a game. I did manage a 9-2 victory over Sunderland but i'm sat about 14th presently. Current line up is as follows;
GK - Dida/Hedman, DR - Adi Viveash, DL - Christanval, DC - Mark Fish, DC - Willo/Shaw, MC - Heidenstrom, MC - Boateng/Gattuso, AMC - Cavaco, AMC - Johansen, AMC - Mulryne, - FC - Stoitchkov
I've got about £14m left to spend but nobody decent seems available/interested in joining which is frustrating. No idea where Paul Telfer is, didn't appear when i started the game and neither did Svindal-Larsen!!
Ah man I hate it when Svindal-Larsen doesn't come through! I tend to check at the start and then restart. He tends to appear more often if you pick 3 leagues, oddly-as does Maradona, who I have put the reputation up a tiny bit to make sure he does. Want that Maradona regen in a year or two...
Good to see you have a couple of bargain legends from this version though in Sir Heidenstrom and Mulryne!
I can remember putting McAllister up in the 90's and he still underachieved...I think the engine just wants DM's to be able to tackle, which aint his game. Might try him as a MC instead.
And I think an upgrade for Dublin is utterly necessary: it's the year he shared the Golden Boot with Owen and should have gone to the WC, which has to make him at least the 4th-5th best English striker in the DB on ability, but he's about 9th or 10th on ability at the start. He still does well, but has to be rated better than Stan Collymore FFS...
Same goes for Boateng seeing as he's a mediocre RB at the start....
Telfer sometimes doesn't come through as he's a player with no skills and no ability at the start. That might sound realistic, but I have to have Strachan obsessed with picking him, so I shall see what I can do with the editor!
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