The Football Manager legend who ended up at Plymouth Argyle: View | OneFootball

Cherno Samba was a goalscoring hero in a virtual life, but it was a much different story in reality

You always knew the drill, head into the Millwall youth team, find the goalscoring sensation that was going to fire your team to glory, and you’d be a regular in Champions League finals for years to come.

It always panned out that way once you got Cherno Samba in your team while playing Football Manager, but the reality couldn’t have been much further from the virtual future the game had panned out for him.

With a promising youth career under his belt, there was a time when Samba was representing England at youth level and wanted by teams all over the country, before that all came tumbling down.

So there was plenty of nostalgic furore some years later when he reemerged at Plymouth Argyle, and despite a promising start to life as a Pilgrim, the nomadic star wouldn’t be around for long.

Cherno Samba career stalls after failed Liverpool move

Samba was regarded as one of the finest young talents around when he was starting out as a teenager, with 132 goals in 30 games for his school side proving he was a step above anyone in his age range.

Having been picked by England schoolboys at 14, the star was one of the most-wanted players in the country, with Manchester United, Liverpool and Leeds United said to be trying to lure him away from Bermondsey.

But once a proposed move to Anfield failed to materialise, Samba’s life seemed to fall apart around him, with all the hopes and aspirations he had dissipating in front of his eyes.

By the age of 19, he had been released from Millwall, and sought sanctuary oversees, as he looked to escape past history in England with a move to Cadiz.

But even the new surroundings couldn’t help a human who had experienced such highs and lows at such a tender age, as the player admitted himself when speaking to The Guardian about his career.

He said: “I felt I’d failed in England and I had to run away to Spain. The Liverpool deal was constantly on my mind. It was a dark time in my life and being alone didn’t help. Everything just escalated.”

Cherno Samba arrives at Plymouth Argyle after year in the wilderness

After his career was on the brink of taking off, Samba was soon left wandering the wilderness that is the football backwater, with time at Cadiz and Malaga B preluding a return to England as Plymouth Argyle came calling.

Whether it was a keen gaming enthusiast that pointed him out to Ian Holloway or the Argyle scouting team remains to be seen, but by the August of 2006, Samba was a Green.

If ever there was a man who could put an arm round a player and get the best out of him, Holloway would have been it, with the outspoken Bristolian never short of a quip when he needs one.

And so it proved with Samba, who paid testament to the former Argyle boss for helping him rediscover his love for the game while in Devon.

The striker said: “Ian Holloway [pictured] was a big factor in me coming to Plymouth, as was (Argyle coach) Des Bulpin, who knew me when I played for England under-15s.

“I have been really impressed by the way the manager goes about doing things. He puts your mind at ease.

“I knew he was the one I wanted to work under and try to improve myself as a player. He has got that hunger to do well.

“A lot of things have happened to me, with Liverpool wanting me and Millwall not letting me go, but that’s all in the past.

“Now it’s time for me to get my career back on track and, hopefully, under Ian Holloway I will do that.”

Memorable Cherno Samba debut proves to be false dawn

Argyle fans had to wait a month to see their new striker in action, but only another eight minutes to witness his everlasting impression during his time as a Green.

Having been brought on in the closing minutes of a tense stalemate against Coventry City, the one-time wonderkid rose to meet a delivery into the penalty area and head home, sparking pandemonium in the away end as the Pilgrims claimed all three points.

After all the hope, the aspirations, the setbacks, the depression, it looked as if Cherno Samba was back, not virtually this time, but in pure footballing reality, Plymouth Argyle had breathed life into a dying soul.

But as time went on, that opening promise proved to be a false dawn, with game time proving to be hard to come by at Home Park, with Holloway only throwing him in from the start once before he was shipped on to Wrexham the following January.

Despite having signed a two-year deal, Argyle were willing to let the player leave after just 12 months at the club, although it took a bit longer to get a settlement sorted, with Paul Sturrock getting the job done after replacing Holloway.

It is a transfer that will still be looked back on by those of an Argyle persuasion with pure confusion, and people of a certain age with a stunning sense of mystery, as their virtual goalscoring hero merged into their reality.

only throwing him in from the start once

While it wasn’t the most lucrative of spells, it will always be one that the Green Army will remember, and they’ll always have that goal at Coventry to look back on.