HB Gaming 71 brings you a blast from the past....

The Introduction

So we have decided to go retro with our first steps into online gaming, and with it one of the best games ever produced: Championship Manager 2001/02. Released in October 2001, it is still as popular now as it was then. So who are we going to manage in our quest to be the best?

Looking at it, it would be easy to choose a big name team and have star players at your disposal. So why not instead, start lower down the pyramid and into the reaches of Division Three where pretty football is not normally seen. This is the level where central defenders kick lumps out of strikers and sometimes you have to sell to survive unless you have a super rich chairman who will give you whatever you want.

We've chosen to head to my native North East and to the town of Darlington to try and make them a footballing superpower.  With one-time criminal turned chipboard business owner George Reynolds as chairman, there's already intrigue in the air. Can we make a team that was in non-league football in 1999, a force to be reckoned with?

Playing at the 9000 capacity Feethams, we certainly should have no problems expanding or at least moving to a new stadium if we outgrow our current surroundings. That's if George is serious about making the Quakers a Premiership force to be reckoned with. George has been apparently quoted that he wants to be in the Premier League in five seasons, yeah right of course. That would be the stuff that dreams are made of but you have to be realistic here, perhaps the Chairman is a bit of a fantasist and prone to daydreaming like we all are in some shape or form.

That's it for now, tune in next time out where we meet the squad for the very first time. There are some very famous names from the 80s and 90s in there plus a smattering of young talent who have been picked up by the Quakers.