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Interview with Oldgamer

Written by Oldgamer

Interview with Oldgamer whose team is now the lowest ranked remaining in the English Cup going into R10 (the quarter-finals)

You are through into the last 8, R10 because your team, Blackburn Rovers.. last week knocked out a Premiership side, Magic Monkeys. (569012854) You played CA with 41% of the ball, had no reported CAs but you did receive 4 of the 10 reported chances in the game, including both SE chances, converting 100% of those chances. Your opponent had 4 of their six chances fall to their weakest line of attack down the right flank, converting just 1 of those. Was that the perfect storm from your point of view?

I was extremely fortunate, as you've pointed out. I took advantage of every reported chance I had despite not winning the respective sectors. The fact that all the opposition's chances went down their weakest attack sector was a pure blessing. I've been of the receiving end of similar games so was happy to take this slice of fortune for once.

You took charge of this team on 05/06/09. It took you just 11 seasons to get into Div III with 4 of your next 11 seasons spent in III and the rest in Div II. You won II.1 in s53 (your first attempt) but lost your playoff to get into the Prem (454912227) Some say II.1 has been almost as tough as being in the Prem over recent years, please tell us a bit about the experience from your point of view?

It's been a long tough journey, with plenty of ups and downs, but thoroughly enjoyable. I was disappointed not the make the Premiership when the team was at it's peak. The season I did win II.1 I did so with 33points - which more often than not is enough for auto promotion to the Prem. II.1 has been extremely tough for a number of seasons, with plenty of greatly experienced managers and teams in there and I think that in one season it was very close to actually being tougher than the Premiership. I think a testament to the strength of the division is the fact both Livercrewe and SuperFrankies are now in the top flight after demoting from II.1 and then promoting through via a different division II. Ironically, II.3 in now the number one ranked second division with a number of great teams in it!

I'm guessing that you support Blackburn Rovers. They were 9th in The Championship last season, and are currently 16th with 5 to play. Please tell us what you think is going right, and also what needs changing at the club?

To be honest, not much is going right. Things took a down turn when the Venkys came in and sacked a proven manager (Big Sam) replacing him with an unknown (Steve Kean). The ever increasing debts are a big concern and its hard to see how things are going be turned around.

If you have a favourite tune from 2015/16, please provide a link to vimeo/utube/soundcloud for us to listen, but an older classic tune would be fine too.

[I'm a big fan of the likes of Kasabian and the The Killers. Kasabian's set at Glastonbury a few years back was the best live set I've ever seen so here's one of their tracks -(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lgUSEqQUMWs) I'm somewhere in that crowd.

You get to play Matt- next, you must feel a bit optimistic about the game?

Not at all, they are one of the best, if not the best team in the country. Not getting embarrassed is my key objective here. I'll be glad of the crowd revenue though , which is paramount to keeping things going in the upper divisions.

Please tell us a bit about your plans for your 2nd team Fatal-Justice (959610)?

This all depends on supporter prices, which are severely over priced in my opinion. If I continue as I am with the team then I'll be training Keeper for a few more seasons yet to build up a bank balance and to generate a long term Keeper. After that, it'll be onto home grown IM's and DFW's and to see how far we can go. At least I've got an idea of the kind of ratings needed to succeed at the higher levels.

Please tell us how/where you met your other half (or last conquest), and how he/she feels about your hattrick addiction?

I actually met her online. We're now married with 2 kids so something went right. She thinks I'm pretty sad for spending hours on this game.

Please tell us the best clean joke you've read recently?

I love one liners, Stewart Francis (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qWH5XubGKLA) is a favorite. A couple of examples are:
I was wondering why a Frisbee looked bigger the closer it got....and then it hit me.
So what if I can't spell Armageddon...it's not the end of the world.

Kevin Engwell (325461308) is a homegrown player that has been selected for England, both at U20 and now NT level. Please tell us about him and how you've trained him to achieve this, whilst spending the last 11 seasons in III/II division football?

He came through my youth acadamy as a double passable (PM and passing) with inadequate scoring. With the Tech spec it was a no brainer to train him myself. The early seasons were 5% stamina and PM training until he hit 19. Then the stamina share went up (15% from memory) and a little passing was added to enable him to get capped at U20 level. From there it was a case of aiming for ET on PM and passing and adding a little scoring here and there. He came through with the likes of Steve Jackson who also played at U20 (although defunked's crop of super IM's were always first choice). I was proud when he finally made his NT debut. I guess he could have been slightly better had I switched back to 5% after he was too old for the U20's, but by then I was in III and its hard to be competitive without a decent stamina share.

What was your first car (or bike) and what happened to it?

It was a G reg escort, by the time it had 190,000miles on it, it was literally falling to pieces. It was eventually sold for scrap. (http://www.carandclassic.co.uk/uploads/cars/ford/2734597.jpg)