Allow me introduce myself

I've been playing about with Football Manager and, before that, Championship Manager since the mid-90s. I think Championship Manager 2 was probably the first version I played. I installed it on my PC at work and spent every lunchtime on it, day after day, week after week. I remember managing my beloved Grimsby Town (of course), Sheffield United and exploring the lower reaches of the Italian leagues. I recently spent far too long scouring the Serie C1 league tables from that time to try to remember who I managed but I think that nugget of information might be lost now to the mists of time. All the names seem familiar, but that's to be expected when you spend hours examining the weaknesses of your opponents, I guess.

The early 2000s were dominated by Championship Manager. Most iterations of the game saw two saves. I'd start with Grimsby Town. It was hard not to. But then the second half of the year would see me finding a team in the lower reaches of the English division to raise to glory. For me there really is nothing like promotion through the divisions. I branched out one year and toyed with Belgium for a little while. Or maybe it was the Netherlands. There might have been a Scottish adventure in there too along the way. Who can remember?

One save that particularly sticks with me (CM4 perhaps) was taking Leyton Orient to the Premier League and Europe. I don't think I ever won the league but I got close. I vividly remember being sacked with the team in 4th or 5th. I'd had taken them from the fourth division to the heights of the English game. The board's expectations had outgrown their finances though and I was blamed. I don't think I've ever forgiven Orient for that. It's strange how our virtual experiences can tar our real life opinions, eh?

I made the move with Sports Interactive from CM to FM but after a couple of seasons life got in the way. I still bought the game each year (me? addicted? never!) but time in the game was significantly reduced. After some 'time off' I experimented with FM09, FM12, FM13, FM14 but only logged a combined three hours playing time in this period. According to my Steam log I bought and installed FM15 too but never even played it!

FM16 was where the bug re-bit me however. I wanted a change. Something different. I discovered custom databases and this was the hook that snagged me. As I have already mentioned I love a bit of LLM (kinda necessary when you're a Grimsby Town fan!) and the idea of loading leagues down to the 10th or 11th level was intriguing. Added to that was the attraction that I could take another of my local teams from my home-town and pilot them through the stormy waters of lower league anonymity to European predominance. I tossed up between Grimsby Borough and Cleethorpes Town and coin fell on the side of the Owls over the Wilderness Boys. I can't remember why, but anyhow Cleethorpes Town. Northern Counties East League Premier Division. Level 9 of the English football pyramid.

12 seasons later, Cleethorpes Town are in the Premiership. I finished in mid-table in 2024/25, cracked the top four in 2025/26 and am currently nearing the end of 2026/27. With one league game left I am locked in for fifth but I have two games left. My final game of the season, and probably my final game of FM17 I suppose, is the Champions League final. I can't remember where I am playing. I can't even remember who I am playing. It doesn't really matter. Win or lose I can resign from Cleethorpes Town with my head held high.

And then, on to FM18!