TM Ireland - Trophymanager Ireland

In the era where HD technology is finally taking a stranglehold of the electronic world, Trophy Manager has at last brought itself up to date... no I'm not talking about the release of TM 2.0, I am of course welcoming the Premier Division's newest HD addition, Hertha Dublin!

-Firstly, a huge congrats to you. 14 seasons after your debut you can finally say Hertha Dublin, LOI Premier side. How’s it feel?

It feels really good. Getting a chance to do one of these interviews is what’s kept me going over three, long years...!

-Flattery will get you everywhere! So what keeps you coming back to TM after all these seasons?

I had been completely addicted to Football Manager years ago. TM doesn’t give me the same high but there’s enough of a buzz to keep me interested and I’m less likely to lose a job because of it. Basically, TM is methadone to FM’s crack. ( TM = Trophy Methadone... nice! )

There was a point where my total squad was stuck around 300k or so and I used to look at the LOI teams and think “How have they got all those 40K-50k players?”. I didn’t really appreciate the exponential nature of ASI.

It’s only when I started hanging onto decent players for a few seasons that my 10k players become 20k ASI players and 20k players become 30k players, etc. And then I was hooked.

-After last season’s 10th place finish what were your expectations for this season?

I expected two or three teams to run away with it and that I’d be there or thereabouts with the next group of teams.

-So you must be surprised with the relative ease of your title win?

I’m very, very surprised I won the division.

-Surely there there was a point in the season where you had to think… “This is mine to lose now”?

I never really thought I’d win it, until it was mathematically impossible to lose. At the halfway-point, I thought Greenpark, Serenity and Buzzing Hornets would push on and I’d fall away.

I did have half a feeling that Lakeside would be the ‘dark horse’ to come from the pack. I think he had some bad injuries at the start but was really solid for the rest of the season so I think it’s great that he’s got to the LOI too.

-Speaking of dark horses, your thoughts on Welsh All Blacks LOI win at the first time of asking?

It’s a fantastic achievement. It really is. He identified a strategy and he executed it perfectly. And he seems like a nice bloke too, so that’s always a bonus!

-Can you emulate his achievement in season 26?

No. I’m looking forward to blooding some blooming youths in the LOI and just trying to evolve the squad a little more. I think the team I have is good enough to get back up from Division 2 in Season 27.

In FM, I used to concentrate on youths and sell them once they’d had a few seasons at the top, just turning the team over gradually from season to season, happy to make no changes if none were required, so that’s fairly much how I like to develop the team. I don’t like having a high turnover of players because you can end up being dependent on the transfer market.

-Is the era of total domination now over in the Irish leagues? Has the gap between the old guard (LeS and co) and the up and comers finally been breached?

I’m not sure…I think it depends entirely on how the economy of the game develops over the next couple of seasons.

If the transfer market picks up soon, the old guard will probably regain their advantages. If it doesn’t, the gap will definitely have been closed.

I think it’s interesting that KitKat’s strategy has come up trumps in a number of leagues at a point when the transfer market is as depressed as it is.

There’s a cohort of clubs in the LOI who are committed to their original strategies and there’ll be a group of clubs who want to mix it up with a more dynamic trading strategy. The question is, whether or not the KitKat strategy will be sustainable if the transfer market ever picks back up?

Intriguing. What are your own thoughts on the market?

Currently, there’s much more value in buying high-routine fully-developed players compared to unbloomed youths. Even the 19* and 20* youths are overpriced relative to the return you’ll achieve once they’ve finished blooming. That’s why I like buying late bloomers. They’re underscouted and, after training them, there’s a very decent return.

The difficulty is that I don’t think TM 2.0 will bring in a shedload of new teams and I don’t think the change in how routine works makes the older, high-routine players less valuable, so I’m not sure where the market lift is going to come from. Especially with all the teams in financial trouble. Not us, I should say. We have a conveyor belt of late bloomers that play in the b-team, bloom, get routine and then get sold.

-Speak of the devil... What are your initial thoughts about TM 2.0?

I really don’t like the new design. If they wanted to attract new customers, they probably should have prioritised usability testing and had a proper look at the design.

-So you would agree with those who see it as a step backwards in terms of the games progression?

I could see a lot of teams falling away this season. It’s a natural break for people who might have been getting less interested.

I’m not sure the transfer market will pick up with TM 2.0 – there’s going to be a drop-off of old teams, who just don’t make the changeover. And, from what I saw of the test site, I don’t think it has been tested enough to be advertised heavily to bring in new teams.

-And your thoughts on the game additions?

Generally, I don’t think adding complexity necessarily makes a game better. If anything, it could turn a lot of the older teams off. You run the risk of just adding more stuff that can be exploited, in the same way people identified how much of an impact routine has on the game. By the end of the season, Bobz is going to have a list as long as your arm of stuff that doesn’t work the way it should, or that has no impact at all.

I’ll miss TrExMa.

-Back to the LOI. Who are you most looking forward to facing in S26?

Everyone! Obviously, it’s going to be great to be playing legends like LeS and Teabag in the league. And I’m also looking forward to facing some of the HD youths that went to the LOI (McKernan & Scott).

-Who was your player of the year?

Player of the Year was Jack Kinsella - 16 goals and 12 assists from 29 games for a winger isn’t bad. He was the first ever Irish youth that I spent a decent chunk of change on (purchased from Beech for 73m). Have to mention my captain, Karl Lawless, too. 19 goals from OMC and second top-scorer in the Division. Great free-kick taker

-Do you have any up and coming youths we should keep an eye on?

Darragh Ó Mhaolain: mid-bloom DMC, 21K - there’s a good chance he’ll get a few games in the LOI next year. My reserve keeper, Leo O’Brien, has just finished blooming and has higher ASI than my first-choice GK had when he finished blooming. I’m hoping he won’t have to play in the first-team until Season 32 or something like that. My first high-ASI early bloomer, Darragh Dunne, is already at 3.5k ASI and training at 30-odd TI so I expect him to be playing in the LOI in Season 28, if I manage the yo-yo correctly!

-Yo-yo is the only way! :) Predictions for next year?

I’ll probably finish bottom but if I can break into the relegation play-off spots, I guess I could have a chance. Could be the first season that I focus on the cup.

-Well I look forward to watching how it pans out for you! Cheers lad and best of luck for season 26:)

Same to you. Good luck with the yo-yo-ing.