TM Ireland - Trophymanager Ireland

Been a long time between trophies for Elland Rovers, but in Season 22 he picked himself up the Cup...

Firstly congratulations, well done and all that, always nice to win a trophy, but pinching the Cup half of Shark's double that must've been pretty satisfying...?

Cheers. To be honest, although I was thrilled to have won it, I did feel a little guilty at the fact that I took the double away from him. Our games over the years have been pretty even (apart from the most recent league game) but I've been very impressed by the way that Le Sharks has rebuilt his side over the last few seasons. He's made some excellent purchases and, even though he's had the funds to spend big, they always appear to be well researched purchases that can either fit into his side immediately or will grow into the side. The fact that the rest of us in LOI were so tightly packed together all season, with him way out in front shows that his side is by far the best in the country at the moment and I think that side deserves a double. However, in saying that, the cup win is pretty much my high point so far in the game and I'm absolutely delighted that I will now appear on the Wall of Fame thingy with a cup win :-)

... Yes, you have been duly added to the 'Great Irish Clubs' thing too... Been a while since Elland lifted a trophy, back to season 13 in fact, was this something of a relief?

Ah, come on now. I have a couple of silver and bronze medals and some friendly league trophies. Surely they matter, no?

OK, a couple of 2nds and 3rds...

Can you elaborate a bit on how the ME has affected your performances?

I think it might be to do with technique which wasn't something that I felt was that important in the old ME so hadn't given a lot of focus to in training or when buying players. I've also suffered from keeper injuries, where my sub keepers haven't been as competent.

But also, other than LES, I think all of the LOI teams (and the top division 2 teams) have got a lot closer together in quality. That can be seen by how close the LOI was for the whole season, culminating in PNDU, who has been one of the stalwarts of LOI since I started this game, losing his place and the results in the playoffs. The sides that are coming up look strong so I think it's only going to get harder, but that's great for the game in Ireland.

Where do you stand on the whole cup/ injury love it/ hate it argument?

I enjoy the cup. I swap my subs bench into the earlier rounds against lower league opposition and then just take out anyone who is close to suspension in the later rounds. If I pick up injuries, so be it. That did hurt this season when after one cup game I was left with 6 of my regular first team out injured or suspended for the next league game which happened to be against Le Sharks. I couldn't even fill my subs bench for that game without using some recent YD signings and I was promptly (and expectedly) whipped 5-0 by a LeS side that had even rested some players for the next round of the cup!

Did you learn anything new about the game this season, tactically or otherwise?

I'm sorry to say, not really. I do have some suspicions that goalkeepers are having more of an impact in the new ME but I'm not sure. I've given a lot less time to the game this season due to RL issues, and also (I'm afraid to say) due to the fact that I've been getting a little bored with it. Some of the changes have been great but I just don't like some of the others. For example, the new live feed (or whatever its called) - I hate it. If I don't get to the computer by a certain time, I can't find my match so have to hide bits of the screen to find it without seeing the score. Cup games and friendlies don't appear as upcoming half the time, etc.. Also, they introduced it by getting rid of the history, where I liked to keep a personal hall of fame and historical info about my team.

I've also never really gotten to like the changed training system and I find it more difficult to track who is improving where.

I'm all for progress but, in my opinion, some of these things never needed to change and have added nothing to the game.

How's youth development treating you this weather?

It's been terrible. I've had very few players coming through that I'd consider to be future LOI stars. The changes to the transfer system also mean that it's now much more difficult to use the youth system to fund the running of your club. I've had to drop to L9 YD as I just couldn't afford to stay at L10 when nothing is coming from it. I'd love to know whether the youths were pre-assigned to clubs each week, whether the system hands out players in a pre-defined order meaning that it's down to the luck of when you press the button or if it really is a randomly generated player for everyone, every week.

In saying that, I've managed to buy a few youngsters off the TL and to bloom them myself but I've also had one or two lemons that way, when my scouts have all mis-read the amount of bloom left.

Just on 'youth development', any news on the baby front by the way...?

Hehe - Number 3 will be here any day now - certainly by the end of week 1 of season 23. Number one is now 8 and is starting to show an interest in TM (although I think I'll bring him to the optician as he seems to think my team is called 'England Rovers'). Before I let him sign up I'll have to figure out how to avoid getting myself banned as I've seen a few mentions of bannings recently where two sides are managed from one PC by two different people.

You're one of Ireland's old hands, relatively speaking, what is it about the game you enjoy the most, keeps you logging in?

It's just a nice escape a few times a week. I'm not one for joining in the discussions during live matches as I don't have the time to give up for it. I used to spend a lot of time between games on the international forums and on the TL but don't really do any of that anymore. I do enjoy reading the Irish forums when I get time - there's a few characters out there (along with the odd mentaler!).

I think the game needs something else though. Very few teams can actually win anything substantial and with the lack of quality coming from YD and the removal of the finance limits, the richer teams who are already at the top are going to sow things up completely. I'd love to see some of the other aspects of running football clubs come into it which could bring people back every day and could give the opportunity to make real money. For example, at the start of the season, picking a sponsor could actually be made into something where there is negotiating to get the best financial deal, using the facilities that have been built up for other fund raising activities, etc... The finances of the game have always been focused on transfers and the lifting of the financial restrictions have now just re-enforced that.

How excited are you about Europe next season and how do you think you'll do?

I love playing in Europe and built up my stadium to accomodate European nights a few seasons back. I've done ok in the past but it's down to the luck of the draw. I hope I get a decent group and I'll be doing my best to make it to the knockout stages. I can't see myself getting beyond one or two knockout rounds though. A challenge of Europe is the extra suspensions and injuries it brings - I think that is another reason that I've had poorer league seasons when I've been in Europe.

What do you reckon about all these bot attacks, have TM pissed off Wikileaks?

I actually have some professional experience in that field so have some experience of DDOS attacks. Unless there's someone else big hosted in the same webfarm, I reckon the TM guys are probably getting ransom type demands from the bot masters. It's a fairly common tactic these days as it's so difficult to defend against. I'd be surprised if it was wikileaks related but if their hosts can't get a big enough pipe to cope with the traffic volumes, we could be in for further downtime in the coming weeks and months. I hope they can get it sorted as something like this, targetted against a small online company could destroy their revenue stream (from advertisers and potential new pro-subscribers).

So go on then, give us your predictions for next season, will anyone catch that Shark bloke...?

I think Le Sharks probably has the league now for the forseeable future and think he'll be close again for the double. LOI will be tougher again, with other big names (including myself) at risk of the same fate as PNDU. For a longshot prediction, myself and Cavan will survive tough group draws in Europe, both get to knockout stages and will miraculously make our way through that minefield to meet in final, where it will come down to a penalty shootout and...... sorry, got a bit carried away there.

Anyway, I'm glad to have finally done something in the game to get the opportunity to wax lyrically for a while. Thanks for the interest.

Nah, thanks to you and I hope you re-ignite your interest in the game with a top showing in Europe.  You can give me six league points tho...