Taribo West, Kim Kallstrom, Tonton Zola Moukoko, Julius Aghahowa, Cherno Samba – we could go on forever. Anyone who played Championship Manager will never forget these living legends.
Long before Football Manager, ‘Champ Man’ was the computer game that had fans hooked like heroin. Hundreds of hours were spent pouring over player databases, tinkering with tactics and simulating matches from the comfort of your bedroom, whether managing your favourite Premiership team or taking a random side from the Third Division all the way to the Champions League final.
On this incredible journey, the unlikeliest of heroes were born. In reality, Ibrahima Bakayoko was a £4.5m Everton flop who Toffees fans would rather soon forget. But if you signed him from Montpellier in Championship Manager 97/98, the Ivorian striker was a football god. And by the time the 01/02 version came around, you couldn’t sign Falkirk midfielder Mark Kerr quickly enough. Talk about a ‘cheat code’!
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Now, we all know that accurately predicting which young prospects will make it to the top of the beautiful game is an extremely difficult task for football scouts and pundits in real life. So you could hardly blame programmers Sports Interactive for occasionally misjudging a rising talent’s true potential.
But they were completely fooled when it came to one of the best bargain buys in Championship Manager 01/02 – Woking FC’s Kevin Mofid.
The 18-year-old Canadian/English DRC (Defender Right/Centre) was one of the brightest youngsters in the game – available for as little as £170,000. With stats including 17 for decision making – and a whopping 19 for aggression – the Football Conference fullback was a very shrewd buy indeed.
Before long, Mofid would develop into a world class defender, earning caps for Canada, and gaining a transfer value in the millions. You couldn’t go wrong with him in your squad.
Even now, a quarter of a century later, fans still playing the game recommend signing him on internet forums. “Kevin Mofid plays for Woking, bargain defender always performs for any team and he keeps getting better every year,” one dedicated gamer wrote.
So what happened to this standout prospect? Because by the time Championship Manager 3 came out, he was no longer in the database and had vanished without a trace.
One fan posed that very question on another forum. They “In the late 90’s there was a young Canadian defender at Woking called Kevin Mofid.
“As far as I’m aware he lasted only the one season, during which he was a regular in their reserves side. Does anyone know what happened to him or if he’s still playing?”
No one replied. Because seemingly, no one knows what happens to this footballing prodigy. Until now – as the man himself explains.