The new Championship Manager 3 ( Out on the 26th of March ) is the best Championship Manager yet. The addition of seven more leagues will give fanatics a more wider selection of leagues to play. The new leagues include Argentinean, Brazilian, Danish, Japanese, Norwegian, Swedish and American with ability to play all 16 leagues at once. There could also be upgrades of other leagues available for buy at a later date.

    Every domestic and international league and cup competition, plus special events such as the World and Confederations Cup are included in great detail. The players data is now deeper than cm97/98. From the Vauxhall Conference to the African Nations Cup you can search for bargains and big money signing.

    There is a new match engine which retains the radio-style commentary from its predecessor but it now plays out every single pass, tackle and shot for the viewer. The addition of more monthly and yearly awards help you judge your team and player performances better than ever. There is also the addition of a more accurate statistical and tactical analysis. Players can be given detailed instructions each match to man mark a certain player or to run down the line and cross the ball more often to help stop their opposition from defending or attacking.

    There is a a more in depth tactical options including the off-side trap, positioning forwards to beat the off-side trap, hitting the opposition on the break, controlling possession and chasing the game. This gives a more realistic match and tests the tactical skill of the manager. There is the addition of interacting in the media to find out how players and managers are being analysed by the media.

    Championship Manager 3 has an overwhelming 40 players stats ( compared with Championship Manager 97/98's 25 ). This allows you to judge every aspect of a players game including reflexes, marking, selfishness and even how many languages they speak. A modern scouting system has been introduced. This is handy to separate the potential bargains from the bums.

    A downside is that to run all 16 leagues at once a minimum of 64 megabytes of Ram and a Pentium 400 is required.  A pentium 133, 16 megabytes of Ram and 100 megabytes of free hard drive space is the minimum requirements.

    A sumptuous football spread and the ultimate soccer stat festival awaits all faithful followers of the game. It promises to be one of the best ( If not the best ) managerial games ever produced.
 
 

3-1-3-3 (Ajax)

This formation is effective against some formations but not all. 4-3-3 with a direct style combats the formation. The 3-1-3-3 formation only has 3 defenders. With 3 attackers the defence is vulnerable. The biggest mistake you can make when playing against this formation is playing a lot of midfielders. Rating 50%.

4-3-3 (Wimbledon)

This is a good formation for a second rate team but does not does as well with the big teams. It lacks width and does not create many chances in front of goal. It can be an awkward formation at times to beat but usually ineffective. Rating 30%.

3-5-2 Attacking (Brazil)

This formation is very attacking and exciting. You need the right players to do it though. The player in front of the forwards has to be world class and have good flair and creativity. The two centre midfield tend to abandon their defensive duties by running wide to give the team width. The formation is very effective but I would recommend using it at one of the best teams than the worst teams. Rating 70%.

4-3-1-2 (Custom Formation)

This a formation which I use most often. Again the player in front of the two forwards has to have good flair and creativity. This formation doesn't have as good width as 5-3-2 Attacking but is more defensively stable. The lack of an anchor in 5-3-2 Attacking gives opposition a chance to dominate midfield. This formation has 3 centre midfielders. It can be unreliable for a spell in the season but not for long. Rating 80%.

Diamond ( Real Madrid )

This is a very effective formation. It does not have a vulnerable defence, it does not have a weak midfield or an uncreative forward line. I would recommend the attacking midfielder running in the opposite direction to make the play more attacking and exciting but if you don't have an excellent defensive midfielder, it might be wiser to anchor the attacking midfielder or keep him running back. Rating 70%.

4-4-2 Attacking ( Juventus )

The formation is defensively stable and does not have many weaknesses. The formation does not rely on a specific player to create chances or hold the defence. It is a good idea to play at least one forward in this formation with good heading ability. A downside to this formation is that not a lot of chances fall to your forwards so when they do fall, they must be taken. Rating 70%.

Ultra Defensive ( crap teams )

This is completely ineffective. This formation has only ever one conclusion. It is only a matter of time before the opposition score. If you go to half time without conceding, you're doing well. If you want to hang on for dear life, a custom formation is more likely to succeed. Adapt your formation to counteract their formation. Rating 20%.

3-5-2 Sweeper ( Italy )

This formation is not terrible but is not great either. The midfield is solid defensively but it lacks creativity up front. The original Italian defensive system is a sweeper and two man-to-man makers. In Championship Manager 97/98 there is no ability to man-mark so these players use a zonal system. This is unstable. There are no full backs to close down attacking wingers so a 4-4-2 Attacking formation would run riot against that defence. Rating 40%.

5-3-2 ( Rennes )

This formation is similar to 3-5-2 Sweeper but better. The addition of wing-backs defends against attacking wingers better. The wing-backs running forward adds width to the team. The 3 man defence as opposed to the sweeper system is more stable. Rating 60%.

4-5-1 Defensive (United States)

This is an excellent formation for teams who are competing wih other teams who have better quality players. I myself won the World Cup with the Republic of Ireland using this formation. A good quality defensive midfielder is required. I would recommend a passing style even though the formation is more suited to direct or longball. Rating 70%.
 

Championship Manager 97/98 Players.

Here are a few bargains and well worth expensive signings.
 
 

Forwards.

Martin Knutsen (Viking) F RC £400K approx.

Stian Neset (Sogndal) F RC £3.5m approx.

Ludwig Ernstsson (Kongsiver) F RC £1.4m approx.

Filipio Inzaghi (Juventus) S C £14m approx.

Ronaldo (Inter Milan) S C £14m approx.

Pérez Munoz Alfonso (Real Betis) F LRC £15.5 approx.

Manuel Neira (Colo Colo) F LC £1.2 m approx.

Thierry Henry (Monaco) F LC £12.5m approx.

David Trézeguet (Monaco) S C £4.5m approx.
 
 

Midfielders.

Robert Pires (Metz) F/AM LC £12.5m approx.

Román Riquelme (Boca Juniors) AM RC £700K approx.

Daniel Moreira (Guingamp) F/AM RC £2.8m approx.

Ibrahima Bakayoko (Montpelier) F/AM C £10m approx.

Claudio (Schoolboy) F/M R FREE.

Viveros (Schoolboy) S C FREE.

Ali Benarbia (Monaco) M L £4m approx.

Sylvian Legwinski (Monaco) M RC £5.5m approx.

Vikash Dhorasoo (Le Harve) DM RC £6.5m approx.

Roger Hitoto (Lille) M C £3m approx.

Marc-Vivien Foe (Lens) D/M L £4.5m approx.

Enrico Buonocore (Ravenna) M C £2m approx.

Bjorn Heidenstrom (Leyton Orient) D/M C £85K approx.

Josep Guardiola (Barcelona) DM C £9m approx.
 
 

Defenders.

Albert Ferrer (Barcelona) D R £2.7 approx.

Berjuan Sergi (Barcelona) D L £7.5m approx.

Wesley Brown (Man. Utd.) D C £800K approx.

Frank Dumas (Monaco) SW/D C £5.5 approx.

Martin Djetou (Monaco) D/M C £4.6 approx.

Sol Campbell (Tottenham Hotspur) D C £8m approx.

Viktor Onopko (Real Oviedo) SW/D C £4.8 approx.

Rio Ferdinand (West Ham United) SW/D C £7.5m approx.
 
 

Goalkeepers.

Gianluigi Buffon (Parma) £2.4m approx.

Mickael Landreau (Nantes) £7m approx.

Adolfo Baines (Logrones) £1.2m approx.

José Viega (Benfica) £800K approx.
 
 

The best advise for scouting for players is to enter the stats you require into the players search for each position and buy as much expensive players as possible. Expensive players are more likely to be consistent than bargains. But this is not always so. If you go by instinct, you'll usually guess right. Don't use your domestic, European and world scouts. They are usually unreliable. Don't just judge on the form of players. Some players will play well with a certain partnership, tactics or other surrounding players. only do so if the team the player plays in has very similar tactics with similar class of surrounding players in a difficult league.
 
 

If you want to discuss tactics, formations or anything related to Championship Manager 97/98 or the new Championship Manager 3, email me here.

Here are some downloads for all owners of Championship Manager 97/98. The first one is a patch to make it harder to get to the top of the Hall of Fame. It makes the top score 600,000 performance points. The second is for if you are tired of the foreigners rule limiting your squad to a certain amount of foreign players. This download puts every country in the world in the European Union. This download is to be loaded in the Data Editor and saved under tmdata.
 
 
 
 
 
 

Last Updated:    25th March 1999.