Category : Football Manager - Posted on 17/12/2009 - Author(s) : Unkle P & Misaki
In the past there have been players who, even if they didn't always do so in real life, have made a deep impression on Championship Manager and Football Manager aficionados. Here, FM.net and its community offer you a nostalgic trip down memory lane, by turning the spotlight on the most notable stars of previous editions of FM.
Nom : Maxim Tsigalko (ou Tsygalko)
Game version : Championship Manager 2001/2002
Nationality : Bielorus
Position : Striker
Age : 18 years old (born 27/05/1983)
Club : FC Dinamo Minsk, Biélorussie
In the game
This legendary goalscorer is cheap as chips and available for a move to any European top flight club. Tsigalko made a name for himself with his incredible knack for scoring goals, sometimes racking up over a hundred in a season. He will be ready to race out of the blocks from day one, and you won't find a better finisher out there.
In real life
In 2001, Maxim was just 18 and, having just broken into Dinamo Minsk's first team, his prospects looked excellent. The previous year, he made his mark for the Dinamo reserve team, in the Belarus second division, scoring 14 times in 15 appearances (a scoring ratio that has undoubtedly played a part in his excellent ratings in the game). His debut season for Belarus' leading club was something of a failure. He didn't get much time on the pitch and failed to find the net. The following year, however, he found his feet and, handed a regular starting berth, registered 11 goals from 18 matches (putting him fourth in the list of top goalscorers). It looked as if this could be the start of a great career. In 2003, he was once more a regular starter for Dinamo and enjoyed a respectable season (eight goals in 19 matches), earning him a call-up to the national team (he marked his debut with a goal). He didn't know it at the time, but our virtual star had at this point reached the pinnacle of his real career.
The following season, Dinamo Minsk were runaway winners of the league, but Tsigalko played only 12 games, though he still managed to bag five goals. So what went wrong? Did he succumb to injury? Or did he simply realise that he would never be as good as his Championship Manager alter ego? We’ll never really know… But the fact remains that in the 2005 season he was firing blanks. Ahead of the 2006 season, he left Dinamo to sign for another first division club, FC Naftan Novopolotsk. Unfortunately, his scoring abilities seemed to have abandoned him, and he just couldn’t find the way to goal, scoring only three times in 24 matches.
Half way through the 2007 season, Tsigalko left Belarus in search of a fresh start. He resurfaced in Kazakhstan, where he enjoyed limited success at mid-table club, FC Kaisar Kyzylorda. During two seasons in Borat’s home country, he managed just seven goals in 21 matches (that was still the kind of goal average that would have made Bakayoko proud!). Perhaps out of disappointment, or following a reckless bet made on a drunken night on the tiles, Tsigalko then moved to Armenian club FC Banants, who had been runners-up in the domestic championship the previous season. Four matches and two goals later, Maxim realised that the brothels of Yerevan were not such a great attraction after all. He made an abrupt exit, changing clubs for the third time in 2008.
His last stab at top flight football came back in Belarus at newly promoted FC Savit Mogilev, though he couldn't help them avoid instant relegation. Our favourite striker did manage to score two goals from his six appearances, before disappearing back to the Belarus second division, whence he had emerged six years earlier.
Now 26, Tsigalko is still with Savit Mogilev. To date in his professional career, he scored a total of 55 goals in 134 matches. And while he still has a good few years left in him as a professional, he will probably never live up to the hopes once placed in him. Promising beginnings, a place in the starting XI of his country’s top club, picked for the national team at 20… then nothing. He got out of shape, agreed to some strange transfers, all to end up back in Belarus, playing for a second-rate club. A good player playing in a mediocre championship.
In short, Tsigalko was a totally failed prediction from the CM01/02 developers, who turned him into a superstar before he had really managed to prove himself. He still enjoys a pretty decent following on the internet (check out his Wikipedia entry), and remains one of the very few players to be more popular for his performance in a video game than on the pitch.
An interesting footnote: Maxim has a twin brother, Yuri, who is a goalkeeper. To a lesser extent, he has also enjoyed a degree of popularity in the CM series. And his career path is similar to his brother's: after a brilliant start, in which he enjoyed some success as a first-team regular and played twice for the national team, he then moved to Kazakhstan, had a stint in Romania, before returning to Kazakhstan.
Nom : Cherno Samba
Game version : Championship Manager 2001/2002
Nationality : England (Gambia)
Position : Striker
Age : 16 years old (Born 10/11/1985)
Club: Milwall, GB
In the game
Cherno Samba is only 16 at the start of the game, but he is nonetheless an excellent investment for the future. If you loan him out, initially to lower league clubs, and then gradually integrate him into your first team, he will end up terrorising your opponents by the time he is 21 or 22.
In real life
Cherno Samba was born in Gambia. His father played in goal for the national team. When Cherno was seven, he moved to England, and by the age of 13 he was already starting to attract attention, after scored a staggering 132 goals in just 32 matches. He was, by that stage, already blessed with impressive height and physique. Top English clubs including Manchester United and Liverpool appeared keen to recruit him, but in the end he signed for Millwall. Millwall subsequently rejected a £1.5 million bid from Liverpool, persuading Samba to stay by guaranteeing him a two-year run in their senior team. Unfortunately, that never happened, as the impressive physique which had made him stand out as a youngster, was no longer such an advantage.
In 2004, when still just 19, Samba went to Spain, to play for second division side Cadiz. They earned promotion that season, but he managed just one appearance. Cadiz decided to loan him to Malaga’s reserve team, who were also playing in the Spanish second division, but once again he failed to make his mark.
In 2006, Samba came back to England to sign for Championship outfit Plymouth Argyle. He enjoyed a stunning debut, scoring after just eight minutes on the pitch, but, overall, he had a rather disappointing season. He started just twice, and netted just that one goal from his 12 appearances. Instead, he was sent on loan to League Two side Wrexham part way through the season. But after an unsuccessful spell at the Racehorse Ground, he returned to Plymouth.
In September 2007, his contract was terminated, and he was left searching for a new club again. Finally, in August 2008, Haka FC in the Finnish first division offered him an 18-month contract. But in February 2009, he was released after making only four appearances. According to the coach, Samba had failed to contribute anything since his arrival. Samba, meanwhile, claimed that he had left by “mutual agreement”.
He then had to wait until the summer 2009 for another chance to prove himself, this time at Swindon in the English League One, but they decided not to sign him, claiming that he added nothing to their current squad. More recently he spent some time on trial at Portsmouth, before finally signing for Greek second division club Panotelikos FC.
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