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Championship Manager 2 97/98 Walkthrough/FAQ v 0.2
By Penguin
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Table of contents
-What is this for?
-What do I need?
-Walkthrough
-Transfers! Buy! Sell! (Free em too!)
-First match!!
-OWN GOAL!!! (Oops)
-More general stuff (and it's random)
-Tips & Cheats
-Strategies for certain teams (None so far)
-Q & A
-Legal Disclaimer
-Update
-Final Words
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What is this for?
This FAQ/Walkthrough is to use a certain team as an example to lead you
throughout the first (or so) seasons. After the first season, don't use this
FAQ/Walkthrough as a reference anymore, things would change DRAMATICALLY.
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What do I need?
You'll need the game CM 2 97/98, patched to the newest version (Version 2.93).
I also suggest that you go here to download the newest roster:
http://members.nbci.com/penguin_100/download.html
Actually it's my roster update (shameless self promotion), which is updated
like 3-4 months ago. So newest firing/transfers aren't included. But I'm
pretty sure it's the newest roster update out there (tell me if you know a
newer one).
OR you can go to http://www.sigames.com/ because they got some roster
updates.
**Note that you'll need to update to ver. 2.93 to use the update, else problems
arise and you'll be crying and all that.
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Ready? Go!
Now I'm not gonna teach you how to install and stuff (including the update),
because I assume that you know all this.
**This is a walkthrough/scenario/example**
Start CM 97/98, and start a new game. Choose Italian League, then choose a
slot you'd like to use. Name it whatever you like, press [Enter] and let the
game load while you wait for the action to begin.
After the game loads, choose Juventus. I'm most familiar with Juve, and Juve
is easier.
Name yourself, then press [Enter] again. Wait for the game to load.
Since I've also edited the standings and promotion/relegation for last season
(99-00), Juventus will play these cups:
Champ League (need to play 1st round)
Coppa Italia
SuperCoppa Italia (vs Vicenza)
Soccer fans may ask why is Juve facing Vicenza in SuperCoppa Italia? Well
too bad, but I can't edit that for the game. Please bear with it.
Now, go to your team (Juve) and look around the roster. 1st problem in hand:
You need a backup goalie. Rampulla's getting old and all that (not that he's
bad), and Isaksson is not a good goalie (as of that season). Transfer list
Rampulla (and free Isaksson if you want to save roster space) and some team
would be interested, but they won't strike a deal so quickly. Think of 2
goalies that'll fit nicely. Van Der Sar is one of the best goalies in the
game, no need to change that. Starting goalie set.
On to the defense! Ferrera, Iuliano are good stuff, so don't touch em now.
You can also save Montero as well, but keep in mind that he loves getting
cards (as in real life). Pessotto isn't that bad, so you can save the DL space
for him as well. Maybe your defense line is set by: Pessotto, Iuliano, Montero
and Ferrera. But I usually look for a DR and oust Montero out of the starting
lineup.
What about Ivano Trotta, Marco Zanchi, Igor Tudor, Paramatti, Tacchinardi
and Birindelli? Trotta is crap in the game, release him for extra space that
you'll need (despite the reaction of the board). Loan Tudor and Zanchi to
other teams (save Tudor if he got REALLY nice stats), and Paramatti &
Birindelli can be 'made available.' It means that the player can be up for
negotiations. Tacchinardi is more of a backup player, because he can play
3 spots(SW/D/MC). So maybe buying a few backup defenders won't hurt much.
Find a backup DL and DR.
Next is the midfield. What do you do with this star-filled midfield? Well
for starters everybody know Zidane, Davids and Conte are pretty much
untouchable. Zambrotta, well, is definitely a starter in the game. So
basically the starting 4 for the midfield is set. However you may want an
extra (A/D)MR, so that when Zambrotta gets inconsistent or low, this guy can
take his place. Athirson (if he's in the roster, I forgot if he's in the team
in this update) and O'Neill can do a pretty well job with the ML backup. So
the placing is: Davids, Conte (MC), Zidane (AMC) and Zambrotta.
Ah, the forwards. Inzaghi, Del Piero and Trezeguet are untouchables.
Esinaider is a good backup. But what about Fonseca? You won't play much
Fonseca when the 4 forwards are around. Sadly, you'll have to put him on
Transfer List. As for Zalayeta, it's up to you but I usually boot him from
the club. Find a good prospect that doesn't take a lot of money. Oh yeah,
Del Piero and Inzaghi as starters please.
Now, all this is set, on to the transfer market.
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Transfers! Buy! Sell! (Free em too!)
According to my 'ingenious plan' up there, you'll need to find:
2 goalies
2 defenders (DL, DR)
1 midfielder (MR)
1 forward (if you want to store good prospects in your team for whatever
reasons)
Go to the Player Search & Transfers and choose Player Search.
What do you need for goalies? Well there is always the nifty little "Skills"
and "Search" buttons. Go to "Skills" and look around.
**What goalies need are: Rushing Out, Aerial Abilities, Shot Stopping,
Positioning**
That's pretty much easy to identify, because these abilities are only for
goalies, and the "Skills" function accommodates both goalies and non-goalies.
So for example Rushing Out is Pace/Rushing Out.
Now set the min for Rushing Out 20, and others around 16 or so. You may want
to limit injury proneness, so make the max 10 or so.
Click [Done] and press the "Search" button. Wow, a huge list of goalies came
up. Buffon, Toldo, Peruzzi and all that. But you may notice that aside from
adding them to your Shortlist (kinda like "I'm interested in this guy" thing),
you can't buy them. That's because they're unavailable for transfer.
So at the Player Search screen you go to the bottom of the screen, and click
on "Including Unavailable." And Viola! Changed to "Excluding Unavailable."
Press "Search" again.
Now the list has trimmed down, like into 1/10th of what it was. Wow. And all
the big names are gone.
Fear not! For thee has started thee longest search for quality goalies! Look
at the goalies, and see which ones are good and which isn't.
Now you may find some "Buffon type" of goalies (my friend named it). What's
a "Buffon type" goalie? Basically that goalie fits your requirements (and
pretty high for some stats), but all other stats are constant at low digits
like 6 or 7 or what have you. Don't buy those guys unless absolutely needed,
they usually aren't that good.
It's best that you choose cheaper goalies, and it won't cut down your transfer
budget as much as bigger names. And big names don't like being numba 2.
Now for DL and a DR. Press the "Reset" button, and click the "Including
Unavailable" button again. Since you need to find a DL and DR, more stuff
are required to do. Go to "Any position" and keep on clicking until you reach
"Defenders." Then go to "Left/Right or Center" and click until you found your
desired side, as for this example we're gonna have "Left sided."
Now go to "Skills."
**What defenders need are: Positioning, Heading, Stamina, Strength,
Tackling**
If you are really picky, the Passing and Pace skills are good too.
Now set Positioning and Heading to around 15, Stamina and Strength around
10, and Tackling around 17 as a min. If you're the picky type, make Passing
and Pace 10.
Now not a lot of people shows up in the list because you're so specific, so
maybe you can loosen some stat requirements like setting Tackling to 16 as
a min.
The same goes for DR, but of course you'll set the position to "Right."
For midfielders, reset the players search thingo. Then choose position and
side to "Midfielder" and "Right." (as in this example)
**What midfielders need are: Passing, Pace, Stamina**
If you're looking for the defensive type, you may want to consider: Tackling,
Strength, Heading and Positioning
If you're looking for the creative/passing type, you may want to consider:
Creativity, Dribbling, Set Pieces
So set Passing to 16, Pace and Stamina to around 12.
For the defensive type you may want to set the stats to something like a
defender. Lower passing as well, maybe around 12. Determination is optional.
For the creative/passing type you may want to set Creativity to 16, Dribbling
to 14, Set Pieces to 17, and maybe lower the Heading if you want him to kick
corners and stuff like that. But in this scenario, Del Piero will be our corner
kicker. So no need for that.
For forwards, you can't negotiate with them now. Why? It's because you reached
the 5 negotiation limit for every teams. So you'll have to Shortlist the
forward.
Anyway, there's a few types of forwards, but it's actually REALLY two types.
They are: 'Passers (Baggio type) and 'Receivers' (Vieri type).
**What the Passing type forwards need are: Creativity, Dribbling, Pace,
Stamina, Passing, Shooting, Set Pieces**
**What the Receiving type forwards need are: Pace, Stamina, Strength,
Shooting, Positioning**
For Passers, set Creativity, Passing, Shooting and Set Pieces to around 17
or so. Maybe you'd like to crank up Shooting a bit. Dribbling and Pace can
be around 13 or 14, and Stamina above 10. You may want to limit heading if
you want this guy to take corners, else you'll waste his heading ability.
For Receivers, set Shooting to around 18, Pace, Stamina and Strength to around
13, and Positioning to 15. You may want to set passing above 10 as well.
I personally recommend players that can play more than 1 positions. A good
player is Jiri Novotny, who got nice stats and his position is D/MRLC. Yup,
6 positions.
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First match!!
Okay, it's the first match, and you're playing some team for a spot in the
Champ League. Usually it's a random team from some other country, but if
you're facing a team that has more than 1 REAL players, they usually got some
reputation in Europe.
Now for the first match, you'll need to distribute positions. Unless you want
some crazy number distributions, usually the lineup (according to the number)
is (note this is in default 4-4-2 formation):
1-GK
2-DR
3-DL
4, 5-DC
6-MC
7-MR
8-MC
9-FC
10-FC
11-ML
12-16 Reserves
And the formation on the field will be like:
10 9
11 6 8 7
3 5 4 2
1
They have arrows, but I'm too lazy to draw it. Besides, I'm bad at drawing.
Now throw in the players to the lineup by dragging the numbers on the right
to the little blue boxes on the left of their names. Do it for all players
that you want to be in your lineup. It's a bit tedious, but hopefully you'll
only do it a few times in the game.
Now remember the starting lineup I told you for Juve? Here's how you put em:
1- Van der Sar
2- Ferrera (or a newly acquired DR)
3- Pessotto
4- Iuliano
5- Montero (or Ferrera if the #2 spot is taken)
6- Conte
7- Zambrotta
8- Zidane
9- Inzaghi
10- Del Piero
11- Davids
Now for the reserves (#12-16). What to do? Well the logical thing is to put
a backup goalie in the reserves just in case your goalie gets injured in the
game. Every team in CM 97/98 does that. Then place a player into the reserves
for each positions (so 3 spots taken here), and there's a final spot. Put
a guy who can play lots of positions and/or sides. He'll definitely help.
Here's what I'll put for reserves:
12- Backup goalie (if Rampulla is good then give him this spot)
13- Tudor/new defender (or Montero if Ferrera is DC)
14- O'Neill
15- Trezeguet
16- Tacchinardi (or Novotny if you got him)
Now on to the "Match Tactics." The formation is the default 4-4-2, and if
you're happy with it, cool. But this is my favorite formation (never changed
much since then):
10 9
8
11 6 7
3 5 4 2
1
Again, I don't make arrows here, but the arrows are:
11 and 7 going straight up
3 and 2 going a little bit up (not reaching the positions of 11 and 7)
8 going straight up (between 10 and 9)
5 and 4 going to the direction of 1 (GK), but not touching it
***How do you make arrows? You right click on the player, drag it to the
desired place and release. It's that easy.
My friend has a similar one to my formation, but his # 11 and 7 are closer
to #6 than my formation. You may create your own formation as well, or choose
one of the preset formations the game provides.
Passing style - You have 3 choices here: Passing style, Long ball style and
Direct style. The first one is a "Mixed style" which the latter 2 are used.
Long ball style is the way of Norway and Wimbledon, passing long balls to
the front. Direct style is more like Italy and various teams in Serie A. They
uh....pass the ball directly on the ground, and make short passes.
Now it's time to set roles. There are 4 roles for you to set: Captain, Free
Kick taker, Corner taker, and Penalty taker. I'll explain this a bit:
Captain: Leader of the team. The skill Influence is very important here. The
guy who has the highest Influence can be the captain, BUT it's better to have
a guy who's in the team for AT LEAST 3 SEASONS AND WITH HIGH INFLUENCE. Oops,
typed in caps.
Free Kick taker: This is the guy who takes all the free kicks. Passing,
Shooting and Set Pieces are important here. But somehow sometimes the guy
who's not designated may take the FK in games. I don't know why.
Corner taker: This is the guy who takes all the corners. Unless you changed
the designated player, it's gonna be that specific player who takes it.
Passing and Set Pieces are important. Also a low Heading would help to. Why
isn't Shooting a factor? Well I haven't seen the corner taker scored by a
corner all by himself.
Penalty taker: The guy who takes the penalty. The one with highest Shooting
should take this, but sometimes a guy with 19 Shooting fares off better than
a guy with 20 Shooting. Hmm.
Anyway, since Conte has a longer experience than Ferrera, he'll be the captain.
But if Conte's injured, Ferrera can be the captain. Then designate every other
roles to Del Piero. Yup, that's it.
On to the match.
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OWN GOAL!!! (Oops)
Now all things are set, click [Done] at the roster screen. Unless you screwed
up some place, it'll ask you if you wanna start the match. Click [Yes], or
[No] if you're still unsure.
If you found out that it has some warning signals, these may be the possible
reasons:
1) You got a player who can't play the match. What you can ONLY do is to remove
that player from the lineup (including the reserves). It's usually that
they're injured, suspended, or got an international game.
2) You left out a player. Unless you wanna give the other side a handicap
or something, click [No] when the game asks if you wanna start the match.
Fill the number with a player, and go on with the match again.
3) No manually designated captain. The game will automatically designate a
captain for you, but it's usually a weird choice and you may want to change
that by clicking [No] when the game asks if you wanna proceed with the match,
go to "Match Tactics," and re-designate your captain.
Maybe there's more, but these are the ones I can get from my head now.
On to the match, you'll have to click the bar at the bottom (called "Kick
Off"). Now you'll get a few information, the time counter, the score (at the
top), the 'message bar' and the possession bar. Here's a few explanations:
Time counter - Counts the time, stops when the game ends, the first half is
finished, or you paused it by clicking your mouse or pressing a key (except
[Space]).
Score - The left team is the home team, and the team on the right is the away
team. A number that indicates the current score is at the right of each team's
name.
Message bar - Shows you how the game is playing, cards, injuries, corner
taking, and all that. Oh yeah, it flashes when a team scores too.
Possession bar - It's the possession for the last 5 minutes. Indicates on
which team is gaining possession, and increases your urge to win the match
and all that.
Now the game is slow as hell when you clicked the "Kick Off" bar. Press [Space]
(provided in your keyboard) to speed it up. You can pause the game by pressing
any button (except [Space]), or clicking with your mouse.
At the pause screen it shows you how the players are performing. You can go
to the "Match Tactics" screen too, and you can sub players. How do you do
a sub? Drag the little blue box or the name of the reserves, and release it
on the name of the player you want to be subbed. Same can be done for starters,
you can drag them and release them on the player you'd like to be on the field.
Click [Done], and click [Yes] in the next screen if you're sure you want to
sub the players. If you click [No] nothing happens.
Have fun with the match...
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More general stuff (and it's random)
How do you know how well do you perform in the season? Well aside from the
league table, you can click "Board Confidence" in the main screen. Another
screen pops up, and it shows you the profit/deficit of the team's balance
and the board's confidence in you. If you're performing very bad, and they
aren't happy with you, you'll get the boot.
Now you got the boot. What you can do is to check out "Job News" in "Manager
Info." You'll have to wait for a manager to get fired if there's no team in
the list of "Job News." If there's one, you may choose to apply. They may
accept or reject you.
Injuries are bad, everybody knows that. They are pretty random, and it can
strike you at anytime the computer wants to. Well you may have to deal with
it...*wink wink*
**
In-game injuries are classified into these:
X is injured. (default injury message)
-He'll be OK.
That means nothing much happens, you're fine but the player will be injured
at most, a week.
-He's struggling.
The "Match Tactics" screen comes up. Now he can play if you want, but it may
prolong his injury (unproven). If the game's not important, sub him out.
Usually the duration is around a week or so.
-He's unable to continue!
Bad stuff, the player must be subbed unless you want to play with 10 guys
(or whatever you had minus 1). Usually these type of injuries will last from
a couple of weeks to a month.
-He's been stretched off!
Ouch. This is major! The injury can last from a few weeks to ten years or
more (I'm not joking). The player must be subbed unless you want to play with
one guy less.
**
What about the non in-game injuries? Usually they are random, so anything
can happen. But actually, here's two that you must avoid...the Flu.
The Flu is bad. It spreads around the team, causing everyone injured and
cannot play in a match unless they recover. But it usually recovers pretty
fast. But this is bad because there can be like 6 or 7 (or more) starters
getting injured. And that's bad, mmmkay?
Forgot the other one, and it's a (near-)season ending injury. I usually quit
the game without saving if the injury takes 3 months or more. It takes a REALLY
long time for the player to recover, even if it's 3 months.
In the game your players can receive three types of warnings: Verbal warning,
Yellow card, Red card.
Verbal warning - Nothing much. Really.
Yellow card - One more yellow card, and it's a red. Adds 3 disp. points to
the current total.
Red card - Ousted from the match immediately. Adds 6 disp. points to the
current total. Suspension as well.
Your players usually receive a red card for deliberate handball. They can
also do stupid stuff like kicking the ball away, and thus receiving a card.
Red cards kinda depends, but if it's an important game (like a Cup), the player
can receive up to a 5 match suspension. If your player's disp. points reaches
24, he'll be suspended for 3 games. If the disp. points reaches 32, he'll
be suspended for...I think it's 5 games. I think there's one for 36 points
as well.
Transfer status is transfer status of the player (duh). Here are the statuses:
Unavailable - You cannot negotiate with the team who holds this player.
Available - This guy can be negotiated, but it depends on some teams (like
Roma not letting me offer a price for Totti and lets some other teams
negotiate)
Transfer listed - This player is not needed OR he requested to be transfer
listed.
For loan - This player is available for loan (but sometimes not for sell).
Free - This player is in the free transfers market.
Retired - This player has retired (not shown in the game).
The little symbols next to their names in the roster:
Unh - This player is unhappy for some reason. He'll request to be placed in
the Transfer List sometime.
Lst - This player is transfer listed.
Loa - This player is available for loan.
Req - This player is transfer listed by his request.
Inj - This player is injured.
Int - This player has an international match to play and can't play for your
team.
Ctr - This player's contract is about to (or has) end(ed).
Fgn - This player is a foreign player (non EU).
Wnt - This player is wanted by other clubs.
Players retire when:
1) They are getting too old (and they know it)
2) They are getting old and their contract ends
3) They got a career-ending injury
Players will not come out of retirement when they retire, but a 'new' version
of them will appear at the next season. I.e. players reincarnate themselves.
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Tips & Cheats
I'm against cheat codes, there's almost none in CM 97/98 anyway. But here's
a nifty thing: Press [*] when you need to quit the game immediately. It's
good when you're in a bad situation and would like to 'change the fate,' a
season-ending injury for your player, or just to 'escape' in time so that
you boss won't find out that you're playing this game.
Here's a neat trick for maxing out players' price when other teams (more than
3) are bidding for one of your players:
When somebody wants to negotiate with you for a player (say Pessotto, he's
not too expensive and teams like this guy), they'll usually give a price lower
than the player's actual price. IF and only if there are more than 3 teams
that's interested, you can click [Consider] for the first team who bids
Pessotto. Then, the second team will come and ask for a deal with the same
price. Reject it. Then the 3rd, reject it. You'll notice the 3rd team would
pay a higher price than the last 2. Still, reject it. For the 4th team, click
[Consider] so that you'll have at least 2 teams that will go into a deal with
you. For the 5th (if there's one), click [Consider]. Now Pessotto has a higher
market price now, depending on his skills. You can sell him with the maxed
out price. A neat little trick to squeeze their wallets.
You can also be the manager for a national team. Just type in their respective
names when you choose a national team (like Ericksson for England etc.)
--------
Strategies for certain teams
Inter Milan - Like in real life, they don't cooperate well. First thing in
hand is to strengthen the defense. Don't hesitate to transfer list most of
the defenders. The offense is too good to be dumped.
Bologna - The defense (except the keeper) should have a facelift. Get better
midfielders since yours is only average. Dump most forwards except Signori.
Use the first season as more of an 'experiment,' but your team should shine
in the second one.
Parma - Assuming that Thuram isn't gone, you got an extremely steady starting
defense. Buy some backup defenders, grab a midfielder at the left side, and
you're pretty much done.
Lazio - It's a small mess. Too many good foreign players (3 non-EU max), so
maybe dump Simeone. The defense isn't bad, but you might want to dump an
excessive DR or two.
AC Milan - Too many midfielders. Uh, do something about it. I reckon that
you can throw away some crappy midfielders. Get some good defenders. Try a
3-5-2 formation. You're pretty much set.
Fiorentina - First, you don't need 5 goalies. Dump some. The defenders are
around average.
--------
Well that's pretty much what I could think of right now. Here's a Q & A section
for you guys who need questions. Feel free to send me questions (non technical
please) to penguin_wong@hotmail.com, and I'll put it up here if I can answer
it.
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Q & A
How do I slow down the match after I speed it up?
Press [Space] again.
Can I do multiple substitutions at one time in a match?
Yes, you can.
I designated *a player* for *certain role* when playing in a match. After
the game it's resetted.
That's how the game works, say if I have Baggio as captain after Conte was
subbed (who was the default captain), after the game Conte will resume his
captain job. Baggio was only captain of that game. Same for other roles.
How do I get *a certain player that's not in your team*?
It depends if the player's interested in your team or not, and if he's
available or not.
I gave *loads of money* to *a certain team* for *a certain player* but he
won't come even though that team lets me negotiate with him!!
He's not interested in your team, or he's happy with his current status.
I can't add more players to my roster by negotiations.
You have reached the max number of players in your team, free some unwanted
guys if need be.
Why does some player have darker names? And why I can't do anything about
him (transfer list etc.)?
Those are temporary players. The game generates temporary players when you
don't have enough players for a certain position. But you need roster space
for temporary players to appear. They'll disappear when you have enough
players for that position.
Why does *a certain team* has 12 players instead of 11 players in a match
after they subbed a guy out?
That's a bug, SI still can't find the reason behind it. They have stopped
development in the CM 2 series anyway.
What are scouts?
Scouts are officials who finds the best players in a certain place. There
are three types of scouts: League scouts, EU scouts, and World scouts. There
are 3 league scouts, 1 EU scout and 1 World scout. The league scouts look
for good players in the league and recommend them if they think it's good.
EU scout goes around Europe, and World scout goes around the world. Note that
EU scout doesn't cover the league you're in, and World scout doesn't cover
Europe (and the league you're in). They also "highly recommend" certain
players as well. But their judgements aren't so good, else it's dead obvious
(Del Piero is highly recommended etc).
What if I play without a GK?
Just got the news from my friend. #3 (usually the DL spot) will take place
as goalie.
Are you going to use another team instead of Juventus as an example?
No. Juventus is a good team for starters, and it's best to work with a
'starters' team, then move on to the other teams on your own.
Are you REALLY good at this game?
I'd say I'm between 'pro' and 'good' because my scores haven't cranked up
to the millions yet.
Your roster update isn't working.
Don't ask me here, the update has a readme.txt that kinda explains it all.
Where can I download your roster update?
See top of FAQ.
I got more stuff to add for your FAQ. How can I find you?
penguin_wong@hotmail.com
Blah blah expletive expletive curse curse...
Thanks for your concern.
--------
Legal disclaimer
All this is written by Penguin himself. Anyone cannot post or edit this FAQ
without the consent of myself. If you were to post it, please give credit
to me after asking for my permission. If you were to rip this FAQ and put
it under your name, you have violated the laws and will be reported. This
document is for private & personal use only and cannot be
distributed/reprinted/edited for commercial purposes.
Any further questions can be e-mailed to penguin_wong@hotmail.com.
The Championship Manager series is developed by Sports Interactive and
published by Eidos Interactive.
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Update
V 0.2: Wrote down some team strategies as well as minor changes.
v 0.1: Wrote the FAQ
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Final words
Shameless self-promotion:
Aero Fighters/Sonic Wings 2 FAQ
I hope my 'guidance' (more like making you do things) has helped you in your
way of the Championship Manager 97/98. Hopefully you will become a
full-fledged manager with your own style and players.
Thank yous:
Kenny - Soccer guru, CM fanatic, the man who introduced me to the CM scene.
Sports Interactive - Thank you for making me addicted to this game, but CM
3 is a bit too complicated for Oog. Oog bash! *bonk*
You - For reading another long FAQ of mine. You made it to the end. You must
be all over the game.
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Written by Penguin (da P)
penguin_wong@hotmail.com
By Penguin
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Table of contents
-What is this for?
-What do I need?
-Walkthrough
-Transfers! Buy! Sell! (Free em too!)
-First match!!
-OWN GOAL!!! (Oops)
-More general stuff (and it's random)
-Tips & Cheats
-Strategies for certain teams (None so far)
-Q & A
-Legal Disclaimer
-Update
-Final Words
--------
What is this for?
This FAQ/Walkthrough is to use a certain team as an example to lead you
throughout the first (or so) seasons. After the first season, don't use this
FAQ/Walkthrough as a reference anymore, things would change DRAMATICALLY.
--------
What do I need?
You'll need the game CM 2 97/98, patched to the newest version (Version 2.93).
I also suggest that you go here to download the newest roster:
http://members.nbci.com/penguin_100/download.html
Actually it's my roster update (shameless self promotion), which is updated
like 3-4 months ago. So newest firing/transfers aren't included. But I'm
pretty sure it's the newest roster update out there (tell me if you know a
newer one).
OR you can go to http://www.sigames.com/ because they got some roster
updates.
**Note that you'll need to update to ver. 2.93 to use the update, else problems
arise and you'll be crying and all that.
--------
Ready? Go!
Now I'm not gonna teach you how to install and stuff (including the update),
because I assume that you know all this.
**This is a walkthrough/scenario/example**
Start CM 97/98, and start a new game. Choose Italian League, then choose a
slot you'd like to use. Name it whatever you like, press [Enter] and let the
game load while you wait for the action to begin.
After the game loads, choose Juventus. I'm most familiar with Juve, and Juve
is easier.
Name yourself, then press [Enter] again. Wait for the game to load.
Since I've also edited the standings and promotion/relegation for last season
(99-00), Juventus will play these cups:
Champ League (need to play 1st round)
Coppa Italia
SuperCoppa Italia (vs Vicenza)
Soccer fans may ask why is Juve facing Vicenza in SuperCoppa Italia? Well
too bad, but I can't edit that for the game. Please bear with it.
Now, go to your team (Juve) and look around the roster. 1st problem in hand:
You need a backup goalie. Rampulla's getting old and all that (not that he's
bad), and Isaksson is not a good goalie (as of that season). Transfer list
Rampulla (and free Isaksson if you want to save roster space) and some team
would be interested, but they won't strike a deal so quickly. Think of 2
goalies that'll fit nicely. Van Der Sar is one of the best goalies in the
game, no need to change that. Starting goalie set.
On to the defense! Ferrera, Iuliano are good stuff, so don't touch em now.
You can also save Montero as well, but keep in mind that he loves getting
cards (as in real life). Pessotto isn't that bad, so you can save the DL space
for him as well. Maybe your defense line is set by: Pessotto, Iuliano, Montero
and Ferrera. But I usually look for a DR and oust Montero out of the starting
lineup.
What about Ivano Trotta, Marco Zanchi, Igor Tudor, Paramatti, Tacchinardi
and Birindelli? Trotta is crap in the game, release him for extra space that
you'll need (despite the reaction of the board). Loan Tudor and Zanchi to
other teams (save Tudor if he got REALLY nice stats), and Paramatti &
Birindelli can be 'made available.' It means that the player can be up for
negotiations. Tacchinardi is more of a backup player, because he can play
3 spots(SW/D/MC). So maybe buying a few backup defenders won't hurt much.
Find a backup DL and DR.
Next is the midfield. What do you do with this star-filled midfield? Well
for starters everybody know Zidane, Davids and Conte are pretty much
untouchable. Zambrotta, well, is definitely a starter in the game. So
basically the starting 4 for the midfield is set. However you may want an
extra (A/D)MR, so that when Zambrotta gets inconsistent or low, this guy can
take his place. Athirson (if he's in the roster, I forgot if he's in the team
in this update) and O'Neill can do a pretty well job with the ML backup. So
the placing is: Davids, Conte (MC), Zidane (AMC) and Zambrotta.
Ah, the forwards. Inzaghi, Del Piero and Trezeguet are untouchables.
Esinaider is a good backup. But what about Fonseca? You won't play much
Fonseca when the 4 forwards are around. Sadly, you'll have to put him on
Transfer List. As for Zalayeta, it's up to you but I usually boot him from
the club. Find a good prospect that doesn't take a lot of money. Oh yeah,
Del Piero and Inzaghi as starters please.
Now, all this is set, on to the transfer market.
--------
Transfers! Buy! Sell! (Free em too!)
According to my 'ingenious plan' up there, you'll need to find:
2 goalies
2 defenders (DL, DR)
1 midfielder (MR)
1 forward (if you want to store good prospects in your team for whatever
reasons)
Go to the Player Search & Transfers and choose Player Search.
What do you need for goalies? Well there is always the nifty little "Skills"
and "Search" buttons. Go to "Skills" and look around.
**What goalies need are: Rushing Out, Aerial Abilities, Shot Stopping,
Positioning**
That's pretty much easy to identify, because these abilities are only for
goalies, and the "Skills" function accommodates both goalies and non-goalies.
So for example Rushing Out is Pace/Rushing Out.
Now set the min for Rushing Out 20, and others around 16 or so. You may want
to limit injury proneness, so make the max 10 or so.
Click [Done] and press the "Search" button. Wow, a huge list of goalies came
up. Buffon, Toldo, Peruzzi and all that. But you may notice that aside from
adding them to your Shortlist (kinda like "I'm interested in this guy" thing),
you can't buy them. That's because they're unavailable for transfer.
So at the Player Search screen you go to the bottom of the screen, and click
on "Including Unavailable." And Viola! Changed to "Excluding Unavailable."
Press "Search" again.
Now the list has trimmed down, like into 1/10th of what it was. Wow. And all
the big names are gone.
Fear not! For thee has started thee longest search for quality goalies! Look
at the goalies, and see which ones are good and which isn't.
Now you may find some "Buffon type" of goalies (my friend named it). What's
a "Buffon type" goalie? Basically that goalie fits your requirements (and
pretty high for some stats), but all other stats are constant at low digits
like 6 or 7 or what have you. Don't buy those guys unless absolutely needed,
they usually aren't that good.
It's best that you choose cheaper goalies, and it won't cut down your transfer
budget as much as bigger names. And big names don't like being numba 2.
Now for DL and a DR. Press the "Reset" button, and click the "Including
Unavailable" button again. Since you need to find a DL and DR, more stuff
are required to do. Go to "Any position" and keep on clicking until you reach
"Defenders." Then go to "Left/Right or Center" and click until you found your
desired side, as for this example we're gonna have "Left sided."
Now go to "Skills."
**What defenders need are: Positioning, Heading, Stamina, Strength,
Tackling**
If you are really picky, the Passing and Pace skills are good too.
Now set Positioning and Heading to around 15, Stamina and Strength around
10, and Tackling around 17 as a min. If you're the picky type, make Passing
and Pace 10.
Now not a lot of people shows up in the list because you're so specific, so
maybe you can loosen some stat requirements like setting Tackling to 16 as
a min.
The same goes for DR, but of course you'll set the position to "Right."
For midfielders, reset the players search thingo. Then choose position and
side to "Midfielder" and "Right." (as in this example)
**What midfielders need are: Passing, Pace, Stamina**
If you're looking for the defensive type, you may want to consider: Tackling,
Strength, Heading and Positioning
If you're looking for the creative/passing type, you may want to consider:
Creativity, Dribbling, Set Pieces
So set Passing to 16, Pace and Stamina to around 12.
For the defensive type you may want to set the stats to something like a
defender. Lower passing as well, maybe around 12. Determination is optional.
For the creative/passing type you may want to set Creativity to 16, Dribbling
to 14, Set Pieces to 17, and maybe lower the Heading if you want him to kick
corners and stuff like that. But in this scenario, Del Piero will be our corner
kicker. So no need for that.
For forwards, you can't negotiate with them now. Why? It's because you reached
the 5 negotiation limit for every teams. So you'll have to Shortlist the
forward.
Anyway, there's a few types of forwards, but it's actually REALLY two types.
They are: 'Passers (Baggio type) and 'Receivers' (Vieri type).
**What the Passing type forwards need are: Creativity, Dribbling, Pace,
Stamina, Passing, Shooting, Set Pieces**
**What the Receiving type forwards need are: Pace, Stamina, Strength,
Shooting, Positioning**
For Passers, set Creativity, Passing, Shooting and Set Pieces to around 17
or so. Maybe you'd like to crank up Shooting a bit. Dribbling and Pace can
be around 13 or 14, and Stamina above 10. You may want to limit heading if
you want this guy to take corners, else you'll waste his heading ability.
For Receivers, set Shooting to around 18, Pace, Stamina and Strength to around
13, and Positioning to 15. You may want to set passing above 10 as well.
I personally recommend players that can play more than 1 positions. A good
player is Jiri Novotny, who got nice stats and his position is D/MRLC. Yup,
6 positions.
--------
First match!!
Okay, it's the first match, and you're playing some team for a spot in the
Champ League. Usually it's a random team from some other country, but if
you're facing a team that has more than 1 REAL players, they usually got some
reputation in Europe.
Now for the first match, you'll need to distribute positions. Unless you want
some crazy number distributions, usually the lineup (according to the number)
is (note this is in default 4-4-2 formation):
1-GK
2-DR
3-DL
4, 5-DC
6-MC
7-MR
8-MC
9-FC
10-FC
11-ML
12-16 Reserves
And the formation on the field will be like:
10 9
11 6 8 7
3 5 4 2
1
They have arrows, but I'm too lazy to draw it. Besides, I'm bad at drawing.
Now throw in the players to the lineup by dragging the numbers on the right
to the little blue boxes on the left of their names. Do it for all players
that you want to be in your lineup. It's a bit tedious, but hopefully you'll
only do it a few times in the game.
Now remember the starting lineup I told you for Juve? Here's how you put em:
1- Van der Sar
2- Ferrera (or a newly acquired DR)
3- Pessotto
4- Iuliano
5- Montero (or Ferrera if the #2 spot is taken)
6- Conte
7- Zambrotta
8- Zidane
9- Inzaghi
10- Del Piero
11- Davids
Now for the reserves (#12-16). What to do? Well the logical thing is to put
a backup goalie in the reserves just in case your goalie gets injured in the
game. Every team in CM 97/98 does that. Then place a player into the reserves
for each positions (so 3 spots taken here), and there's a final spot. Put
a guy who can play lots of positions and/or sides. He'll definitely help.
Here's what I'll put for reserves:
12- Backup goalie (if Rampulla is good then give him this spot)
13- Tudor/new defender (or Montero if Ferrera is DC)
14- O'Neill
15- Trezeguet
16- Tacchinardi (or Novotny if you got him)
Now on to the "Match Tactics." The formation is the default 4-4-2, and if
you're happy with it, cool. But this is my favorite formation (never changed
much since then):
10 9
8
11 6 7
3 5 4 2
1
Again, I don't make arrows here, but the arrows are:
11 and 7 going straight up
3 and 2 going a little bit up (not reaching the positions of 11 and 7)
8 going straight up (between 10 and 9)
5 and 4 going to the direction of 1 (GK), but not touching it
***How do you make arrows? You right click on the player, drag it to the
desired place and release. It's that easy.
My friend has a similar one to my formation, but his # 11 and 7 are closer
to #6 than my formation. You may create your own formation as well, or choose
one of the preset formations the game provides.
Passing style - You have 3 choices here: Passing style, Long ball style and
Direct style. The first one is a "Mixed style" which the latter 2 are used.
Long ball style is the way of Norway and Wimbledon, passing long balls to
the front. Direct style is more like Italy and various teams in Serie A. They
uh....pass the ball directly on the ground, and make short passes.
Now it's time to set roles. There are 4 roles for you to set: Captain, Free
Kick taker, Corner taker, and Penalty taker. I'll explain this a bit:
Captain: Leader of the team. The skill Influence is very important here. The
guy who has the highest Influence can be the captain, BUT it's better to have
a guy who's in the team for AT LEAST 3 SEASONS AND WITH HIGH INFLUENCE. Oops,
typed in caps.
Free Kick taker: This is the guy who takes all the free kicks. Passing,
Shooting and Set Pieces are important here. But somehow sometimes the guy
who's not designated may take the FK in games. I don't know why.
Corner taker: This is the guy who takes all the corners. Unless you changed
the designated player, it's gonna be that specific player who takes it.
Passing and Set Pieces are important. Also a low Heading would help to. Why
isn't Shooting a factor? Well I haven't seen the corner taker scored by a
corner all by himself.
Penalty taker: The guy who takes the penalty. The one with highest Shooting
should take this, but sometimes a guy with 19 Shooting fares off better than
a guy with 20 Shooting. Hmm.
Anyway, since Conte has a longer experience than Ferrera, he'll be the captain.
But if Conte's injured, Ferrera can be the captain. Then designate every other
roles to Del Piero. Yup, that's it.
On to the match.
--------
OWN GOAL!!! (Oops)
Now all things are set, click [Done] at the roster screen. Unless you screwed
up some place, it'll ask you if you wanna start the match. Click [Yes], or
[No] if you're still unsure.
If you found out that it has some warning signals, these may be the possible
reasons:
1) You got a player who can't play the match. What you can ONLY do is to remove
that player from the lineup (including the reserves). It's usually that
they're injured, suspended, or got an international game.
2) You left out a player. Unless you wanna give the other side a handicap
or something, click [No] when the game asks if you wanna start the match.
Fill the number with a player, and go on with the match again.
3) No manually designated captain. The game will automatically designate a
captain for you, but it's usually a weird choice and you may want to change
that by clicking [No] when the game asks if you wanna proceed with the match,
go to "Match Tactics," and re-designate your captain.
Maybe there's more, but these are the ones I can get from my head now.
On to the match, you'll have to click the bar at the bottom (called "Kick
Off"). Now you'll get a few information, the time counter, the score (at the
top), the 'message bar' and the possession bar. Here's a few explanations:
Time counter - Counts the time, stops when the game ends, the first half is
finished, or you paused it by clicking your mouse or pressing a key (except
[Space]).
Score - The left team is the home team, and the team on the right is the away
team. A number that indicates the current score is at the right of each team's
name.
Message bar - Shows you how the game is playing, cards, injuries, corner
taking, and all that. Oh yeah, it flashes when a team scores too.
Possession bar - It's the possession for the last 5 minutes. Indicates on
which team is gaining possession, and increases your urge to win the match
and all that.
Now the game is slow as hell when you clicked the "Kick Off" bar. Press [Space]
(provided in your keyboard) to speed it up. You can pause the game by pressing
any button (except [Space]), or clicking with your mouse.
At the pause screen it shows you how the players are performing. You can go
to the "Match Tactics" screen too, and you can sub players. How do you do
a sub? Drag the little blue box or the name of the reserves, and release it
on the name of the player you want to be subbed. Same can be done for starters,
you can drag them and release them on the player you'd like to be on the field.
Click [Done], and click [Yes] in the next screen if you're sure you want to
sub the players. If you click [No] nothing happens.
Have fun with the match...
--------
More general stuff (and it's random)
How do you know how well do you perform in the season? Well aside from the
league table, you can click "Board Confidence" in the main screen. Another
screen pops up, and it shows you the profit/deficit of the team's balance
and the board's confidence in you. If you're performing very bad, and they
aren't happy with you, you'll get the boot.
Now you got the boot. What you can do is to check out "Job News" in "Manager
Info." You'll have to wait for a manager to get fired if there's no team in
the list of "Job News." If there's one, you may choose to apply. They may
accept or reject you.
Injuries are bad, everybody knows that. They are pretty random, and it can
strike you at anytime the computer wants to. Well you may have to deal with
it...*wink wink*
**
In-game injuries are classified into these:
X is injured. (default injury message)
-He'll be OK.
That means nothing much happens, you're fine but the player will be injured
at most, a week.
-He's struggling.
The "Match Tactics" screen comes up. Now he can play if you want, but it may
prolong his injury (unproven). If the game's not important, sub him out.
Usually the duration is around a week or so.
-He's unable to continue!
Bad stuff, the player must be subbed unless you want to play with 10 guys
(or whatever you had minus 1). Usually these type of injuries will last from
a couple of weeks to a month.
-He's been stretched off!
Ouch. This is major! The injury can last from a few weeks to ten years or
more (I'm not joking). The player must be subbed unless you want to play with
one guy less.
**
What about the non in-game injuries? Usually they are random, so anything
can happen. But actually, here's two that you must avoid...the Flu.
The Flu is bad. It spreads around the team, causing everyone injured and
cannot play in a match unless they recover. But it usually recovers pretty
fast. But this is bad because there can be like 6 or 7 (or more) starters
getting injured. And that's bad, mmmkay?
Forgot the other one, and it's a (near-)season ending injury. I usually quit
the game without saving if the injury takes 3 months or more. It takes a REALLY
long time for the player to recover, even if it's 3 months.
In the game your players can receive three types of warnings: Verbal warning,
Yellow card, Red card.
Verbal warning - Nothing much. Really.
Yellow card - One more yellow card, and it's a red. Adds 3 disp. points to
the current total.
Red card - Ousted from the match immediately. Adds 6 disp. points to the
current total. Suspension as well.
Your players usually receive a red card for deliberate handball. They can
also do stupid stuff like kicking the ball away, and thus receiving a card.
Red cards kinda depends, but if it's an important game (like a Cup), the player
can receive up to a 5 match suspension. If your player's disp. points reaches
24, he'll be suspended for 3 games. If the disp. points reaches 32, he'll
be suspended for...I think it's 5 games. I think there's one for 36 points
as well.
Transfer status is transfer status of the player (duh). Here are the statuses:
Unavailable - You cannot negotiate with the team who holds this player.
Available - This guy can be negotiated, but it depends on some teams (like
Roma not letting me offer a price for Totti and lets some other teams
negotiate)
Transfer listed - This player is not needed OR he requested to be transfer
listed.
For loan - This player is available for loan (but sometimes not for sell).
Free - This player is in the free transfers market.
Retired - This player has retired (not shown in the game).
The little symbols next to their names in the roster:
Unh - This player is unhappy for some reason. He'll request to be placed in
the Transfer List sometime.
Lst - This player is transfer listed.
Loa - This player is available for loan.
Req - This player is transfer listed by his request.
Inj - This player is injured.
Int - This player has an international match to play and can't play for your
team.
Ctr - This player's contract is about to (or has) end(ed).
Fgn - This player is a foreign player (non EU).
Wnt - This player is wanted by other clubs.
Players retire when:
1) They are getting too old (and they know it)
2) They are getting old and their contract ends
3) They got a career-ending injury
Players will not come out of retirement when they retire, but a 'new' version
of them will appear at the next season. I.e. players reincarnate themselves.
--------
Tips & Cheats
I'm against cheat codes, there's almost none in CM 97/98 anyway. But here's
a nifty thing: Press [*] when you need to quit the game immediately. It's
good when you're in a bad situation and would like to 'change the fate,' a
season-ending injury for your player, or just to 'escape' in time so that
you boss won't find out that you're playing this game.
Here's a neat trick for maxing out players' price when other teams (more than
3) are bidding for one of your players:
When somebody wants to negotiate with you for a player (say Pessotto, he's
not too expensive and teams like this guy), they'll usually give a price lower
than the player's actual price. IF and only if there are more than 3 teams
that's interested, you can click [Consider] for the first team who bids
Pessotto. Then, the second team will come and ask for a deal with the same
price. Reject it. Then the 3rd, reject it. You'll notice the 3rd team would
pay a higher price than the last 2. Still, reject it. For the 4th team, click
[Consider] so that you'll have at least 2 teams that will go into a deal with
you. For the 5th (if there's one), click [Consider]. Now Pessotto has a higher
market price now, depending on his skills. You can sell him with the maxed
out price. A neat little trick to squeeze their wallets.
You can also be the manager for a national team. Just type in their respective
names when you choose a national team (like Ericksson for England etc.)
--------
Strategies for certain teams
Inter Milan - Like in real life, they don't cooperate well. First thing in
hand is to strengthen the defense. Don't hesitate to transfer list most of
the defenders. The offense is too good to be dumped.
Bologna - The defense (except the keeper) should have a facelift. Get better
midfielders since yours is only average. Dump most forwards except Signori.
Use the first season as more of an 'experiment,' but your team should shine
in the second one.
Parma - Assuming that Thuram isn't gone, you got an extremely steady starting
defense. Buy some backup defenders, grab a midfielder at the left side, and
you're pretty much done.
Lazio - It's a small mess. Too many good foreign players (3 non-EU max), so
maybe dump Simeone. The defense isn't bad, but you might want to dump an
excessive DR or two.
AC Milan - Too many midfielders. Uh, do something about it. I reckon that
you can throw away some crappy midfielders. Get some good defenders. Try a
3-5-2 formation. You're pretty much set.
Fiorentina - First, you don't need 5 goalies. Dump some. The defenders are
around average.
--------
Well that's pretty much what I could think of right now. Here's a Q & A section
for you guys who need questions. Feel free to send me questions (non technical
please) to penguin_wong@hotmail.com, and I'll put it up here if I can answer
it.
--------
Q & A
How do I slow down the match after I speed it up?
Press [Space] again.
Can I do multiple substitutions at one time in a match?
Yes, you can.
I designated *a player* for *certain role* when playing in a match. After
the game it's resetted.
That's how the game works, say if I have Baggio as captain after Conte was
subbed (who was the default captain), after the game Conte will resume his
captain job. Baggio was only captain of that game. Same for other roles.
How do I get *a certain player that's not in your team*?
It depends if the player's interested in your team or not, and if he's
available or not.
I gave *loads of money* to *a certain team* for *a certain player* but he
won't come even though that team lets me negotiate with him!!
He's not interested in your team, or he's happy with his current status.
I can't add more players to my roster by negotiations.
You have reached the max number of players in your team, free some unwanted
guys if need be.
Why does some player have darker names? And why I can't do anything about
him (transfer list etc.)?
Those are temporary players. The game generates temporary players when you
don't have enough players for a certain position. But you need roster space
for temporary players to appear. They'll disappear when you have enough
players for that position.
Why does *a certain team* has 12 players instead of 11 players in a match
after they subbed a guy out?
That's a bug, SI still can't find the reason behind it. They have stopped
development in the CM 2 series anyway.
What are scouts?
Scouts are officials who finds the best players in a certain place. There
are three types of scouts: League scouts, EU scouts, and World scouts. There
are 3 league scouts, 1 EU scout and 1 World scout. The league scouts look
for good players in the league and recommend them if they think it's good.
EU scout goes around Europe, and World scout goes around the world. Note that
EU scout doesn't cover the league you're in, and World scout doesn't cover
Europe (and the league you're in). They also "highly recommend" certain
players as well. But their judgements aren't so good, else it's dead obvious
(Del Piero is highly recommended etc).
What if I play without a GK?
Just got the news from my friend. #3 (usually the DL spot) will take place
as goalie.
Are you going to use another team instead of Juventus as an example?
No. Juventus is a good team for starters, and it's best to work with a
'starters' team, then move on to the other teams on your own.
Are you REALLY good at this game?
I'd say I'm between 'pro' and 'good' because my scores haven't cranked up
to the millions yet.
Your roster update isn't working.
Don't ask me here, the update has a readme.txt that kinda explains it all.
Where can I download your roster update?
See top of FAQ.
I got more stuff to add for your FAQ. How can I find you?
penguin_wong@hotmail.com
Blah blah expletive expletive curse curse...
Thanks for your concern.
--------
Legal disclaimer
All this is written by Penguin himself. Anyone cannot post or edit this FAQ
without the consent of myself. If you were to post it, please give credit
to me after asking for my permission. If you were to rip this FAQ and put
it under your name, you have violated the laws and will be reported. This
document is for private & personal use only and cannot be
distributed/reprinted/edited for commercial purposes.
Any further questions can be e-mailed to penguin_wong@hotmail.com.
The Championship Manager series is developed by Sports Interactive and
published by Eidos Interactive.
--------
Update
V 0.2: Wrote down some team strategies as well as minor changes.
v 0.1: Wrote the FAQ
--------
Final words
Shameless self-promotion:
Aero Fighters/Sonic Wings 2 FAQ
I hope my 'guidance' (more like making you do things) has helped you in your
way of the Championship Manager 97/98. Hopefully you will become a
full-fledged manager with your own style and players.
Thank yous:
Kenny - Soccer guru, CM fanatic, the man who introduced me to the CM scene.
Sports Interactive - Thank you for making me addicted to this game, but CM
3 is a bit too complicated for Oog. Oog bash! *bonk*
You - For reading another long FAQ of mine. You made it to the end. You must
be all over the game.
--------
Written by Penguin (da P)
penguin_wong@hotmail.com