10 Football Manager Legends Who Flopped In Real Life

In the game:

Championship Manager 01/02 holds a special place in the hearts of the series' fans as arguably the peak of the original ChampMan era, the perfect mix of detail and simplicity. With mods and patches its hardcore faithful still play it to this day.

And one of 01/02's greatest gems was Bakircioglu, the 21-year-old playmaker for Sweden's Hammarby. Even at that age he already had an 18 rating for technique and before long he would excel, pulling the strings behind your forwards as you won title after title.

In reality:

A trial with Man United following their treble winning season hadn't worked out, but big things were still expected of the real Bakircioglu when the game came out.

In 2001 his combination of creativity and goals, along with a knack for a thundering free kick, had propelled his club Hammarby to an unlikely first Swedish title and Bakircioglu into the national team.

Various big transfers fell through, though, and Bakircioglu would miss the chance to leave Sweden for one of Europe's major leagues until late in his career, instead squandering his potential peak years in an undistinguished period in Greece.

He did go on to spend three years at Ajax (where he was on the books at the same time as Kerlon). But, despite moments of magic, his talents were too mercurial ever to build up a consistent run of form or hold down a regular starting spot.

At least Bakircioglu is as much of a legend to fans of Hammarby as those of Football Manager. Beginning and ending his career at the club, the skillful playmaker played over 250 games there across two spells before retiring in 2018. Memorably, in one of his final games, he scored a spectacular free kick and celebrated by drinking a beer thrown from the stands, a little bit of that old ChampMan magic in the real world.