Rockhill Interview II

Rockphil has smashed his way into his third English Cup semi-final in four seasons, and here answers a few questions we asked before Rangers knocked out rbir's Hairy Chinese Kids...

We last interviewed you (18083) just before you were knocked out in the semi final by TPUV (483242726), who went on to win the Cup and the Masters. This was in June of last year, but you bounced back, making it into the semi-final again the following season only to be beaten by eventual runners up Glencoe Rovers (498013816). Last season, you were knocked out in the quarters by h00ligans (512369745) who went on to win the double. You posted 513 hatstats in the last round (526744726), and your midfield looks to be in fantastic shape. You've clearly been knocking on the door for awhile, please tell us your thoughts about these games and experiences?

The first semi against TPUV I played CA and it looked promising when the teams lined up but then the game started and bang, bang, bang I was 3-0 down in no time. With malk’s glorious run to win the Masters though, I guess it is actually an honour to have been one of his victims in the cup! In the second semi Glencoe were a better team all round and at their peak. That game made me re-question my team’s stamina levels as we were overrun late on after a close start. Then, against Hooligans last season, again I was obviously up against a top team who went onto win the double (although probably having to CA again didn’t help me when his keeper got carried off). The problem was that my defence couldn’t keep the ball out of my net long enough to trouble his striker playing in goal! Playing FC Nowhere Man in the semi this time around will be another really hard game. The managers I’ve always seen as the best are those who can stay in the top league for a long time, rebuild the team on the go and stay competitive and Derim is one of a select few in that group of managers.

You gained promotion from III.15 last season into II.3 (515), and are still in contention to win the league and get promoted into the Prem. Last time you told us about your strategy for using solid leadership players lucking into a cash bonanza with the rule changes concerning hoarder teams. With the recent announcement concerning changing the ME from a side attack dominated game at the top level, how well placed are you in terms of flexibility to take advantage of the as yet unspecified proposals to increase the viability of central attack strategy?

My concern is not so much that side attacks are nerfed but rather because of my defensive coach, that my central attack won’t improve enough to benefit. With the changes in mind, it’s probably fair to say this season will be my best chance to reach the Prem, so I had hoped to be better placed but The Boondocks (956957) have been very strong. As my team was planned around its defence, I expect I'll have to think about my coach if the changes conspire against my defensive coach to kill my attack ratings. I did actually buy a Normal forward about 6 seasons ago, anticipating changes to boost central attack, but sold him again as I got bored waiting! This time I hope to be reactive to the changes and have crossed my fingers that there’ll be enough money in the bank to do so.

The recent staff changes have clearly encouraged more polar approaches to training/building resources, with minimal training effect using fewer assistants and a higher stamina share for teams competing at the top level. As an example of the latter, please could you update us on your current back room set up, in terms of the mix you use of staff and stamina, and your thoughts as to whether this sort of polarization improves the game experience?

I’ve been above 30% stamina for a while now. Several teams I've come up against seemed to be have been very successful with it, notably Glencoe in the cup game mentioned above and also Nicks Nobodys (60774) had great stamina when they beat me to the III.15 title. Ironically, as we speak I am less convinced than I have been over recent times, as to how essential it is to maintain a very high stamina level, but I’ll have to wait & see how the effectiveness varies over the coming 2 seasons, as it’s been less than a season that I've experienced using as many high stamina players. All my staff are dedicated to keeping my form as high as possible (Ed. that's attempting to counteract the negative effect on form caused by this high stamina) and I’m pretty sure this is costing the club a fair chunk of income as it’s fair to say that I've opted to neglect the direct financial boost from such staff. I would prefer a staff system that rewards a more balanced approach, and at the same time perhaps rewards managers for taking risks, encouraging bolder decision making. I’ve no idea how that could be engineered, as admittedly, I did think this staff system would help this when it was implemented!


You do not have supporter, and last time you told us that you thought it would be an improvement if managers could choose to buy individual components of the supporter features, stating that the cost of gold or higher was already too expensive for you. Recent announcements have gone the other way, making supporter much more expensive than before, although additional forums available to non supporters are also being made available. Would you use these forums, and do you have any further thoughts about the way the game is being financed at present?

I did splash out on gold supporter recently and did enjoy it. It was the first time I’ve had it for ages and I especially appreciated having the extra information it provides. Ironically, had the price not gone up I’d have kept it as it had become more affordable for me to buy, but the new price rise has put paid to that. I would buy a form of supporter in an instant if you could buy individual components but I think I read that was a non starter as it would cause more downgrades than it would encourage new supporters. For me, supporter isn’t too important an issue as I’ve always found Hattrick perfectly playable without it, and I guess not having had it much in the past means I’m used to getting by without it. I would honestly really like to have it, primarily as I would like to support the game. I want it to still be here in 10+ years time. That’s probably where HT are missing the point, as there must be loads of us who just want to help do our bit for the game income, but genuinely can’t afford to do so at the moment.

England NT seem to be having a good season for a change. ADGHD has put us top of Group 5 in Q1 by 5pts with 6 to play, and he's also in charge of the U20s until the end of the season. You've a couple of external internationals in your team already, presumably for the wage reduction benefits? Can we expect to see you with an England International at your club anytime soon?

The wage reductions are a bonus for sure but the internationals in my team really just came as a consequence of the high stamina training. Soares (312324153) was if I recall, only a fringe squad contender, but I lucked out with signing him on an upward form swing and that combined with improving his stamina, which got him in. I’d love to have an England international one day. I had Alan Martin years ago who played a few games but I didn’t train him myself, so yes that would be fun. At the moment I doubt I’d ever have the money to buy one nor the dedicated training plan to train one. Maybe, trying to train an England player while staying in a high division would be a nice goal to aim for in a few seasons time.

Do you play any other games, what are they, and how do they complement your hattrick manager skills if at all?

I played battrick for about three months last year but then I had my first good cup run on hattrick and I just fizzled out on battrick. With Fantasy Premier League I had a pretty good season, and made it into the top 100,000 which was good for me. With Norwich back in it next season though, I shall ruin that good result as I usually crowbar three Norwich players into the squad regardless of form!

Do you have a favorite piece of art you could share with us?

If I still had it I'd share my GCSE Art coursework. I got an A with a piece based predominantly on the use of thick black marker pens :) Apart from this my art knowledge is sketchy (no pun intended) other than knowing that Art Malik the actor (http://www.ejumpcut.org/archive/jc50.2008/Seige/seigeJCimages/12-ArabVillain-Aziz.jpg) shares the same birthday as me. (Ed. Imagine how he'd feel if he ever found out?)

When was the last time you kicked a ball, and what happened?

Actually the last time I kicked a ball we won a cup so I probably won’t beat that by kicking another one again anytime soon! About 5 years ago now, my 6aside team won a league and cup double, I was in goal. I think I would like to kick another one again soon though, as it’s been too long and at 35 I should probably try and recapture some of my past glories before the onset of mid-life crisis.

In our last interview you mentioned a bad experience in Ibiza in the late 90's, citing this as a reason for not drinking alcohol ever again. Most of us have sworn to never drink ever again after waking up with an almighty hangover, but are usually drinking again within 24 hours. You didn't explain exactly what happened?

We were playing a drinking game called G’day Bruce. I believe you were meant to drink when reciting something, if you got it in the wrong order. The game was ridiculously easy and it seemed a strange type of drinking game because getting it right all the time meant that you never got to drink, yet you go there on holiday on Ibiza primarily to drink so this all seemed very backward. I ended up just having a vodka based drink basically every time I spoke. Before I knew what had happened I was feeling very unwell, so much so that I still felt awful the following day, on which we'd planned on a trip to the water park. I couldn’t go on anything except the water equivalent of a teacup ride for fear of er, contaminating the water. The killer for me was that I loved water parks and my 19 year old self was distraught that I’d ruined the crucial bit of the holiday that I was most looking forward to. Couple this with the fact I don’t actually like the taste of beer it wasn’t that hard to make the decision that I just would not get drunk again. If I actually liked the taste of beer, I’m sure I would definitely have been drunk since!

Your manager page states that you are a Norwich supporter. Norwich are in the Championship Playoff final against Middlesboro, having finished 3rd this season. Is it all down to Alex Neil, and which players have been the stars for you this season, that you'd expect to help you stay in the Prem if you get there?

Happily, since this question was asked Norwich won the play-off Final. Alex Neil has done an immense job and it’s fair to say we wouldn’t have gone up without his coming in. The squad was strong for Championship level but we lacked leadership under Adams or Hughton or on the playing side, after Grant Holt left. With decent leadership, I still think the squad had the playing ability to stay up in the Prem last season, so I am optimistic about next season. Ruddy, Johnson, Tettey, Howson, Jerome etc give us a good spine and Redmond (if he builds on recent improvement too) should mean we can compete with the other lower half teams. We need 2-3 shrewd signings and no more Van Wolfswinkels (http://www.eveningnews24.co.uk/polopoly_fs/1.2796684.1379945379!/image/2856018368.jpg_gen/derivatives/landscape_630/2856018368.jpg). I could be spectacularly wrong but I don’t think the leap to the Premier League is that huge at the moment if you have good management and reasonable backing. Alex Neil is capable enough to take the team forward next season and if he can we should stay up. I would love Norwich to have a cup run, Wembley again would be nice.

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