The World According to Championship Manager 97/98: Football, Vindaloo & Michael Owen - World Cup 98 Champ Man style Paperback – 30 Nov. 2015

Takes me back to the winter of 1997 when my friend got this game on CD-ROM, and cue the many many hours lost playing it. In those days Desktop PC specifications were vastly inferior to today's, naturally. I think I had a 500MB hard drive, extremely erratic Windows 95 'Packard Bell' (Sponsor of Leeds Utd in those days) PC that crashed all the time and couldn't handle the most basic of programs, however that was just the way it was. The CD-ROM went from friend to friend to install on their respective PC's and it became a very cult game. The original CD-ROM still sits on a shelf somewhere and has been copied and backed up for prosterity.I found a free service online called 'dosbox' which is a windows emulator that simulates the Windows 95 MS DOS environment (MS DOS no longer exists on Windows operating systems from probably 2000/Millenium I guess?) so with dosbox it is therefore possible to install cm9798 and play it, and save it like all those years ago. There's also the option of editing the data to either bring it upto date or to improve inferior sides beyond recognition, in other words 'cheat' lol. There's a few dedicated fansites on the game with updated databases etc, but that's for your own perusal.Onto the book, a terrific trip down memory. I won't give away any spoilers but a finely written piece of work by David Black and any contributers which gives a fantasy experience of how one instance of the season 1997/98 including the World Cup of 1998 went. Some of the transfers that occur will be familiar to frequent players of the game. After reading the book, you'll want to rush online, get hold of the game and play it on the available platform as described above. Enjoy the nostalgia trip.

Very easy to read and a nice laid back style from the author albeit with a few too many mistakes in there which could have been avoided.You'd have to be a fan of Championship Manager to get any value out of it but if you were/are then there is a lot to enjoy.

I played this game alot at the end of the 90s..... and I mean a lot! Lots of team and player editing was done to keep the game up to date for a few years before it became too much for my old creaky PC. This book is a relatively short but very enjoyable reminder of a 1st season playing this game. Not as a manager of a league club but as the England manager. Therefore the league season is given just a quick overview for each month (key & strange results, transfers, injuries & team selections) rather than an in depth study which helps the book move along at a brisk pace. The England games are given more details and a reminder of what an actual great team the country had at the time. Overall, if you loved this game, this is a great book which reminds of the addictive quality the game had and the many quirks it threw up.

As the previous reviews have stated, this is a great trip down memory lane for those who invested hours of their youth on Champ Man. I finished it in two days - I found myself invested in it from start to finish. I would like to see a book based on a club career on this version of the game, encompassing all of the niche players that were so good.

I used to play a lot of Champs back in the day so I thought this would be right up my street, which it was.Without giving too much away, I like the style of the book and the reminders of the "quirks" of the game are amusing. I think the premise of following "the England manager" throughout the season and seeing how they get on at France '98, Championship Manager style, is a great idea, although it does feel it's a little thin on the detail that you expect if the book had followed a club; after all, most people would have a club team and then manage an international team "on the side". Having said that, I think unless you were the most ardent Champ fan, you'd get very bored following a club season. None the less, the details around squad and team selection are very, very thin. Tactics too. There's also very little detail in respect of the England players in the squad who are picked for the World Cup. There are some surprises in the squad that travels to France and there's some discussion around players who travelled and who didn't in real life but seeing as the World Cup doesn't actually get underway until quite far into the book, I feel the coverage of the England team is a bit disappointing. The other gripe I have, which isn't a major issue, is that the book talks from a 3rd person perspective when talking about England games. The writer is the England Manager, so I hoped he'd have channelled his inner Glen Hoddle (or maybe Eilene Drury would do the channelling for him) and talk about it from his perspective; like we all did, back in the day. Perhaps this book should have just been about Championship Manager nostalgia. Despite all this, I did find it to be a good read. I read it in less than two days and I'm not a heavy reader, which I hope demonstrates its appeal. Not bad in my opinion but could have been better.

This was great fun. Could not put it down - would recommend if you are CM fan. Can't wait for the sequel.

A must buy fans for fans of the greatest version of CM2. Has made me want to go back 18.5 years to play the game again myself. Great bit of Nostalgia for those with fond memories of the late 90s era too.

I can't stop reading and I don't know why. It's a guy writing about simulated football games played in a game from 1997/98. It shouldn't be this compelling. But it is (assuming you've played the game). A light-hearted, thoroughly enjoyable read.

Cute and nostalgic, if not enjoyable.

Nice read,goof fun. Funny. Superb nostalgia. Will surely buy more from him. Thanks a lit for driving me through memory lane

For anybody who was a big fan of the game growing up, this is an interesting trip down memory lane!