TM Ireland - Trophymanager Ireland

"I feel it’s only fair to warn those of you about to embark upon reading this interview that it might be a while. I’ve been waiting to do one of these for 16 seasons so I’m getting my money’s worth!!!"  Faterword United

Starting in Season 11, you’ve been around a bit, but if you excuse the cheesy opening question… making the League of Ireland, how does it feel?

Fater to Take the LoI in...?

I wasn’t following the battle for the 2.2 title, but you looked to have a very decent run of form in the run-in, how close was it?

Yeah, it was very close alright. I effectively gave the leaders a head start as I stuck with the young keeper, Mannion, who’d come through my youth academy for way too long. I’m a sentimental bastard at heart you see. Once I finally bit the bullet and replaced him, I started to string together some good results and gain ground. It looked like Serenity was going to dominate from start to finish but he slipped up a few times towards the end. Hoops had a few bad results, everyone at the top took points from each other and it ended up that I was two points behind Serenity with two games remaining. I thought that was it and was hoping I could hold off a late charge from Hoops and get the playoff place. Then Serenity lost his second last game, Hoops drew and I beat Barking Drogs. That put me a point up with one game left. I was in the pub with a friend last Wednesday when the final game was on. I was playing Big Meaty Chud who had beaten me earlier in the season. I’d actually completely forgotten to check how it was going when I got a text from Munster saying “Nice one”. I hadn’t a clue what he was on about but it dawned on me within a few seconds. I had won 2-0. Serenity had also won so he pushed me all the way but I won the 2.2 title by a single point.

A very capable looking keeper there in Vance, how much of your win do you put down to him?

To put it simply, my win is almost entirely down to him. My team has obviously been getting better for the last few seasons but there was such a marked improvement from when he signed, it’s almost unbelieveable. In terms of the move from being comfortable in 2.2 to winning it, he was the difference. Anyone who reads the forums may have seen me say this already but, for those who don’t, here it is again: I changed from Mannion to Vance after 9 games. I conceded 12 goals in those first 9 games. I lost 2, drew 3 and won 4. In the remaining 25 games, I only conceded 12 more and lost another 2, drew another 3 and won 18. It's an absolutely amazing difference by changing one player. My team had basically become solid enough and a lot of the young lads I’ve brought through had started to get routine but all that progress was negated by playing a keeper who either wasn’t good enough, didn’t have enough routine or some mixture of both. In Vance, I found the exact keeper I wanted. He had good skills and had enough routine but he also had the thing I regard the highest in terms of buying players – a good record. He’d played in the top league in Norway for a number of seasons, hadn’t ever conceded a ridiculous amount of goals and had good ratings. You can never be sure when making signings but I had a feeling this one would work out.

What other players were key to your success last season?

There were a number of them. My three in midfield - Blair at DMC, Thomas, at MC and Holland at OMC - did very well. I suppose Blair’s performance is especially pleasing as I felt he finally came into his own after threatening to do so at times previously. He had 10 goals and 6 assists from DMC to go along with with a 5.6 average rating. Thomas is a player I love as he’s my best ever buy. I paid 38 million for him back in season 16 and he’s been a star for us ever since. And Holland is another one I’ve had from a pup so it’s nice to see him doing well. But my standout was a name you know very well, Seán Dooley. He scored 27 goals – more than he ever scored for you in a season! It’s all well and good conceding less than normal but that old hurling adage proves true in TM too – goals win games. Special mention for the old man of the group, Ronnie ‘The Flying Machine’ Forkin. He may have just turned 34 but he put in a great season on the left wing and got his reward by returning to the LOI for at least one season before he retires. He was bought from Le Sharks all the way back in season 14 and has played 409 games for the club. He’s told me he’s looking forward to the 6th game of the season already.

Ah yes, Sean Dooley, he does still feature on my club history page.  Did you make any tactical changes last season?

Nope, not a single one. My tactics suit the team I’ve assembled so I don’t meddle. I didn’t even implement a single conditional order. No doubt I’ll have to do more this season but I mostly think that if you set your team up to play in the way you think suits them best, then whatever happens happens. You could spend your life tinkering with stuff in this game and not know whether any of it makes a difference so I don’t really bother.

What are your thoughts on the rocky road that Season 26 saw with the introduction of TM 2.0, what are the best changes…?

Let’s face it, TM 2.0 is a load of balls in a lot of ways but I’ll save that for your next question! I like the new forums for the most part. I do think that you should be able to navigate to the last page of a thread from the main forum page but, compared to the old forums, they’re excellent. There have been a lot of nice graphical changes, I guess. Also, the history and stats part is pretty good but I wish I could look at my transfer history as a whole rather than by season.

…and the worst…?

As I said, they prettied it up a little and implemented a few nice features but they also made a fuck of a lot of things that didn’t need to be changed. Everything takes an extra couple of clicks to find. I absolutely hate the REC rating system and don’t get me started on the youth development changes. How anyone with the mental capacity for logical thought reckoned that was a good idea is beyond me. It’s fucking awful and has changed my favourite aspect of the game into something I don’t really give a shit about anymore. The worst thing is that no changes were made in the developer’s attitudes. Ever since I started this game, their communication and interaction with their customers has been deplorable. The hundreds of thousands of people that play this game are the ones who know where change is necessary but the devs seem to go off on flights of fancy and decide to change things that don’t need to be changed.

There has been something of a 'dumbing down' of the game and my theory is that investors are pushing for more money making elements as well as a greater appeal to a wider audience.  Kinda makes it crap for the rest of us, but I digress - what major changes in especially the match engine did you notice this season?

I noticed that my team started winning. :D If this was 6 or 7 seasons ago I probably would have been reading every discussion on the match engine and trying to figure out what was different but I don’t have the time to give, nor the desire to give it, to TM like I used to. I just found something that seemed to work ok and stuck with it.

As a fellow ex-Football Identity player (unless you’ve gone back there), how come you flagged that game and yet continue with TM, what’s TM got that other games lack?

Yeah that game really went to shit from a promising start. I think the beauty of TM is that you can give it as much or as little time as you want. Also, you build an entire club from scratch so you’ve got an emotional attachment to it and the players, especially if you go the youth development route. I often check up on players who’ve left the cluband see how they’re getting on and it’s that kind of element that keeps me coming back. Even though I give it less time than before, I don’t see myself quitting. And you do build up friendships over the years too. I was disappointed to see Hotspur leave and Biff’s taken a step back but I’m still in contact with both of these guys who I only know because of a little online game that I only found out about because of a post Xavi made on Boards.ie. It’s mad when you think about it.

They’re talking about advertising for new managers again, what will this do for the game?

It’s hard to tell. If the advertising works and they get a lot of new managers in then that will mean a lot of new money being introduced. That could play havoc with the economy for a while. I hope that they’ve found a way to have a higher retention rate with new users though as this has been a problem before. New blood can only be good for the game though. I’d love to see a load of new Irish managers come in and re-invigorate the community. I still think we’re one of the best in TM but new people could give it a little boost and it’s always fun to try to help ohters out while they’re finding their feet.

Any major transfer (in and out) plans for Fater as we move into the new season?

Well, there are 6 bloomed youths on the list at the moment. If they all sell, I should be looking at a nice bit over 100 million coming in. There are another couple of players that I’m considering what to do with. When I see what state we’re in financially I may make one or two signings. Realistically, there are a number of players on my team that aren’t cut out for this level but I’ll have to prioritise. I’d like to get in a top class centre half but I rarely buy at the start of the season as there’s very little value. If I find a player I really like, I’m happy to break the bank but I’ve never been one for signing a lot of players. I prefer to plan long term and see how that plays out. I’ve done ok so far.

How have you found youth development of late, any stars in the making?

Not great, really. I hate the new star rating system and, as a consequence, I haven’t been paying as much attention as I used to. In terms of future stars, my best ever youth is the lastest of late bloomers, Andrew Trant. He finally started blooming at 23. He’ll be good but it’s a shame he’ll only be good for a few seasons. Others blooming at the moment? Yet another central midfielder, Dylan Walsh. He’s got another season and a half. He’ll be ok but nothing special. A right winger who could be good, Jack Byrne. He’s got two and a half seasons of bloom left and good skills distribution so I’ll keep an eye on him. I’ve got a few other young lads who I only have scout reports for under the new system so I’ve no idea how good they’ll be. But I’m doing ok and there’s a good supply of players that I’ll sell to pay the bills that allows me to keep the good ones.

If you only beat one team in the league this season, who would you like that to be?

I don’t have a maddening desire to beat anyone in particular but it’d be nice to do a number on Teabag or Les as they were the top dogs for most of the time I’ve been around. Also, heavy is the head that wears the crown and all that, so I think everyone’d love to beat Stan. If I can manage to scrape enough points together to survive, I don’t care who they come from.

Stan and Cavan looked unstoppable last season; have we seen the emergence of a new LoI aristocracy?

Yeah they look pretty special. They were actually the two teams I kind of aimed to emulate from seasons ago. By the time I got serious about TM, Askeaton had already done very well with YD. Cav and Stan were in the middle of their projects and you were kind of starting out on that road yourself. For that reason I’m happy to see the success they’ve had but don’t much fancy the prospect of facing them. As if it wasn’t scary enough, Cav goes and buys Yahya! Reading Stan’s interview, he’s talking down his chances this season but I think they’re still the two to beat.

And finally give us your prediction – we will check this in 12 weeks…! - where will you finish in the league?

Being optimistic, 15th and a playoff place. It looks likely that we’ll end up being relegated but you just never know. I’ll be happy if we do ourselves justice and cause a few upsets along the way. Don’t confuse my realism for negativity though as I’d fucking love to stay up and will do my best to achieve that!

No worries, good luck in season 27...