Sometimes I wish Football Manager was real

The Championship Manager and Football Manager brands have both brought equal measures of joy and heartache into the lives of those who play.  There are many people, football fans, WAGS and others who can't see the point of the game and constantly inform people that its just boring...however, for the chosen ones who play, it is living the dream...

I for one have racked up an obscene amount of hours across various versions of the game and with various club, my record for one game is an embarrassingly large number which better measured in days as opposed to hours.  Since first playing CM2 back in the 97/98 season, my CV has become jam packed full of success stories with more than the odd failure along the way.  The early years were dominated by the epic battles between me and my brother with the behemoths of Carlisle United and Watford on joint games, with the occasional dalliance into Serie A or La Liga for Lazio and Barcelona respectively.  I must admit, I do remember those early years being more defeat than victory, but with Rory Delap and Matt Jansen in my side I was always confident of turning the season around.

Then came my moment, my career highlight, my moment of glory...after years of hard slog, finally I got my beloved CUFC into the Premier League.  With a front pair of Andy (he was still Andy at this point, not Andrew) Cole and Ole Gunnar Solskjaer with Juan Roman Riquelme in the hole and an unknown Argentine called Castillo.  Unfortunately, my foray did not get much further than mid-table mediocrity, but I didn't care...we'd made it to the big time.

That early game was in fact so much of a classic, that when I went off to uni in 2004 I resurrected it and took it with me, leading to a very successful stint as Rangers manager.  There were so many classic players, and with the value of hindsight (since as far as the game was concerned I was from the future) I could buy them all.

Even now, the pub is a regular place for achievements to be aired and the classic stories re-told.  One old housemate of mine hijacked my CM2, accessed the Editor (why did they ever take that feature out!?) and gave Leyton Orient a transfer budget of £100m along with Luis Figo, Ronaldo, Buffon and Zidane...needless to say, he had a successful season.

There is also the brilliant urban myth of the guy who took his team to the FA Cup final, so decided to put his suit on for the occasion, whether he won or not is irrelevant, he's still a hero.

Since then I've gone through a number of different versions, from the Football Manager franchise and back to Championship Manager (when I bought it for a penny!), but if I could find my copy of CM2...I'd still be tempted.