10 Championship Manager Cult Heroes
5. Tó Madeira
Is the story of Tó Madeira the most Championship Manager story of them all?
A Portuguese striker at a club called Gouveia who would quickly get snapped up by a bigger club fairly quickly, Madeira was another who scored goals for fun. He also scored for money, for pleasure, for reasons. Whilst many Championship Manager cult legends didn't live up to their potential in the real world, the difference between Madeira in the game and Madeira in real life was by far the biggest.
This is because Tó Madeira does not exist.
Yes, he didn't exist. As the story goes, he was the creation of the chap who was in charge of researching the Portuguese leagues, and he was given incredible stats and potential which of course he met. Madeira was available for less than a million and was worth every fictional penny.
The advent of the editor made this a frequent story (I once created a French midfielder called Sebastien Bourgeois who was incredible), but Tó Madeira will always be the one true original.