If you've suddenly found that you have more time on your hands than you know what to do with, why not reacquaint yourself with the inimitable Championship Manager 01/02 during this coronavirus lock-down?
It is some time now since Off The Ball's Nathan Murphy had the required down-time to pursue once more his dreams of Championship Manager 01/02 success.
"I used to be an addict as many of our viewers undoubtedly have been over the years," he admitted on Monday's OTB AM. "When I first met my wife, I got her to break the CD just to stop me from playing it.
"But part of me actually thinks, maybe the best thing now is to get back into Championship Manager! You can get so into it that it will just take your mind off everything else.
"Suddenly, I'm not worrying about the real world, I'm wondering is Cherno Samba going to be fit?"
If you, like Nathan, are countenancing the idea of making a return to the Championship Manager 01/02 universe, you'll be thrilled to know that you can download it and play it for free right now!
"When I first met my wife, I got her to break my Football Manager CD - just stop me playing it!" | #OTBAM
With so much time at home, is it time for @nathanmurf to finally get back at it? Is there another season left in Cherno Samba?! | @FootballManager pic.twitter.com/191td1WSYG— Off The Ball (@offtheball) March 16, 2020
How to play Championship Manager 01/02 for free
Through the likes of FM Scout and FM Blog fans of the game have been able to relive or recreate their past glories for years now. The inventiveness of some keen players even allows you play with today's players in the old format.
Without even requiring the burden of locating a copy of the CD, the game is perfectly legal to download and only needs fairly minimal work to get up and running on your modern laptop.
England's Cherno Samba is comforted by ex-England international Clive Allen as France's goalscorer Anthony Le Tallec is congratulated on their 4-0 win by a team mate.In light of Nathan's fond recollections for the game, fans of the game have already been showing just how clearly they remember the events of almost 20 years ago.
Won the champions league with Colchester on championship manager. Possibly on the 97/98 version. Raul just loved banging them in at Layer road. https://t.co/Aw02Wg7JcV
— Donnchadh Boyle (@depboyle) March 16, 2020
Doesn't top it but worthy of note nonetheless, Glen Crowe scored the winner in the Champions League final for Manchester United for me in the 01/02 version many moons ago.
— martin heavey (@martyheavey) March 16, 2020
Won 6 European Cups in a row with Everton. Beat Liverpool in the final of the last one to bow out with 2000 days unbeaten.
They've never had it so good at the 'Ciaran Bradley Stadium' pic.twitter.com/FMdKCnWv5q— Ciaran Bradley (@ciaranbrad) March 16, 2020
Won the lot with Rusden & Diamonds. Even built a 70,000 seater stadium but only had an average crowd of about 2,000 per game!
— Patrick McCarron (@pmcarron) March 16, 2020
If you can bring yourself to kick back off your love affair with Championship Manager 01/02, be sure to let us know how you get on!
