“Those were the days.”
It’s 1997.
The Spice Girls dominate the charts and children’s favourite The Teletubbies is now on TV; kicking off twenty-plus years of every adult baffled as to why kids find it so hypnotic.
Tony Blair is the Prime Minister, the first Harry Potter book is in book shops and Titanic is the biggest film ever.
Oh, and Championship Manager 97/98 was released on Halloween.
It was only the single greatest game of all time.
I was 11 years old, and first saw “Champ” in action on the PC of my mum’s friend’s son’s computer. He was a couple of years older than me and one time when visiting, I was allowed a go.
One burned CD-Rom copy of the game later (Sorry SI, I was 11. I’ve definitely paid you back over the years) and the rest, as they say, was history.
Denilson, Bakayoko, Heidenstrøm, Nevland. They were all in there.
But there was one player that caught my eye, and blew my mind more than the rest combined. Hermán Gaviria.
Outside of having his name incorrectly spelled as Hermán Garivia in CM97/98, the Colombian could do no wrong.
This was pre-internet (at least for me) so there were no published lists, forums or articles to point you to players of interest. You had to do all the hard work yourself. As well you should.
Those were the days.
Fate delivered me discovering Hermán one day playing for Atlético Nacional, and he instantly became my ‘go to’ for that key central midfield role across ANY team I managed in CM97/98. Cheap enough to be obtainable, quality enough to captain your team to Champions League glory.
In real life, Gaviria had a fairly nondescript career, largely remaining in Colombia with the exception of a short stint in Japan. He had 27 caps for his national side. Sadly, Gaviria passed away in 2002 at the age of 32 after being struck by lightning during a Deportivo Cali training session. A freak accident.
The virtual Gaviria, however, would always lead my teams – Barcelona, Manchester United, Glasgow Rangers; you name them and I probably managed them – to endless hours of unbridled joy, virtual trophy lifting and countless record breaking, breathtaking performances.
Incredible influence made Gaviria the perfect captain, outrageous flair made him explosively unpredictable for opposition defenders. His passing, technique and shooting also made him a technical wizard on the ball. He was like Zinedine Zidane, but Colombian. And he was mine.
Despite the tragedy of his real-life story, and perhaps a little because of it, Hermán Gaviria will forever live long in my memory as a hero of the Championship Manager era. Thanks Hermán, for all the hours of virtual joy and success.
Thanks for reading.
FM Stag