Have you heard of the Blyth Spartans? It is a traditional team from England, from the Newcastle region, which competes in the National League North – equivalent to the 6th division of English football. Thanks to Tony Jameson, the self-proclaimed biggest Football Manager fan in the world, Blyht can say they are “Champions League champions”.
This is just one of the exploits of the former teacher who lives in England and now makes a living with stand-up shows. The guy is so into Football Manager that, in an interview with Sport Bible, he assumed he’d spent somewhere around 32,000 hours on the game – much of his life since 1992. And it was during this period that he led the Blyth Spartans to glory. , with Premier League and Champions League titles.
The successful campaign of the club founded in 1899 was celebrated in grand style. “When you win a European title, you want to celebrate with your fans. You won for them. So I bought a ticket for those buses that tour the city, sat with my laptop in the front row and sang ‘We Are The Champions’ the entire way.”
Of course, the title walk also revealed great players. According to Tony, the highlight of the team was midfielder Derek Reynolds, raised at the Spartans’ base and athlete with the highest number of appearances for the Norwich team. “There was also a great striker, Andrew Henry. He broke the club’s goalscoring record which, until 2030 (the year corresponding to the season in the game), was held by one of the Spartans’ idols in real life, Robbie Dale.”
To end this love story between Tony Jameson and Blyth Spartans, nothing better than an object of remembrance. The Champions League champions coach went to a sporting goods store and bought an official Spartans shirt, with the name Reynolds on the back. “The attendant was a little confused, as the team never had a player with that name,” he said.
“I explained to her that the boy was the biggest legend of the Spartans in Football Manager, creates the youth categories and faithful to the colors of the only club he played for. I think that created more questions than answers,” she joked she.
