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Interview with our NT-Coach

Written by Michael__

Today, Meet the wonderful National coach of Oman: DrMoose (1848465).

He's already 1 seasons the National Coach, and in a Man vs. Man interview with Michael__ (9145817), he tells everything about himself, his team, and the Job called NT Coach of Oman. Meet the man behind the face, hear from him what he likes at being a coach, and hear his story about his and the Oman team.
Let the questioning begin.

Okay, Hello DrMoose
First of all, who are you?

Hello, Michael__, I'm DrMoose
I’m a 29 year old PhD-student born and raised in the city of Amsterdam.
On the 9th of November in 2004 I joined this lovely game and somehow I was able to entertain myself with my own team up till today.

You play Hattrick.org since 09-11-2004. Which/what thing made that you began to Play?

I began playing Hattrick when I got a link from an old highschoolfriend. He is still playing the game btw. Haven't spoken him in ages though

In all of your years playing Hattrick, you finished just 1 time lower than the 4th place. That was your second season, since then, you finished 1 time 4th (season 4) and since then always, 3rd, 2nd of 1st.
What is your secret that you play so well, and demoted just 1 time?

Thank you, I'll try my best of course. I'm not sure if finishing 2nd 6 times in one same league on a row is an achievement, but apart from that part of my success lies in the fact that I always try to anticipate on my opponent so that I can optimize my own line up.
That and my solid defense helped me out over these years

You play most of the times 3-5-2, I assume you Train Playmaking. Why have you chose this type of training, and which types of training do you have already tried?

Wrong assumption Sherlock Holmes, with the current age of my players on the midfield it would not been very wise to train playmaking ;)
After 19 seasons of training defending I switched to wing training this season, although I have trained some set pieces as well in most of the in between season.

I saw you've got a youth-academic. There I saw some 7-star players, but they are already 17. Do you spend much time for your Youth-academic, and what is your best sell with your youth-academic?

Yup, talent is a bit scarce at the moment although I spend some time to get the most of them anyway.
My biggest sell was (236062943) btw, mostly because he was sold at the beginning of season at the age of 17 years exactly.

Had you ever had the famous HT-bored-time? What kept you playing at that time?

Yes, several times I had experienced a bore-out. This usually is gone within a week, mainly because I was a fanatic flaghoster.
When that couldn't help me enough I started flagchasing as well.
Three seasons ago I shifted to the scouting with Oman as a step to keep me going so I guess you will always need to look for new challenges to keep you motivated.

A little more than 3 seasons ago you became the National Coach of Oman. What/which things made you decide to become a National coach, and why chose you Oman?

I already met GM-Assim (59773442) in the GB of ATF-Jolien99 (2597044) (where else… ) some few seasons ago, a regular spammer as well. When he got elected as BC of Oman he asked me for some advise and within a week I became part of the scouting team of Oman. When Assim decided not to go for a second term and asked me to step up to the plate as his successor I thought about this idea for a bout a week.
For me it was a new step in the game as after 17 seasons I had learned most stuff I could from my own team and now I had the chance of applying it on a team with 23 better players than I could ever assemble with my own cash (without blowing up my budget that is…), so I agreed and the rest, well that is history.

You're a much seen player in the tiny Oman society, and you're always friendly, and willing to help. Also you give the Omani managers the change of letting to play a game in their stadium, or let select a player of their team for the national team.
Now is my question, is it difficult to implant such things in a full-time job like being coach of Oman, and do you think that there is more you can do?

Awarding those friendlies or selecting their players is just something I picked up from the Dutch BCs as it is easy to implement and it wont cost me days to hand out, so no it is definitely not one of the most difficult tasks of my job as BC. In addition I’m thinking of letting them make a line up for me as well, so they can learn the ropes of being a BC without taking the blame if it backfires.
As I’m not allowed to threaten or force managers (thank god for that) I don't think there are feasible other alternatives to get the Omani interested.

I've already said that you're the coach, and you're a helpful man. Now I want to know you're impressions about Oman. What do you think of the society, the people inside the society, the interaction and communication?

Well Oman is not the biggest community in Hattrick, but those that are involved mostly make up for that. Besides that it is fun to see and interact with such a diverse group of international manager supporting the cause or just passing by to play the magnificent OPC game of Asthfghl (4437971). Communication wise I find the Oman Federation working pretty well. Those that do help out the NT are in it and usually respond within a matter of 1-2 days.

You're leading the Oman National team, and they play always a good match. But how does the person behind setting the match up feel about being a coach? How do you feel being a coach? And what makes the job still fun to do?

Well I don't consider losing 9 of my 16 matches that good, mainly because I‘m just not used to losing that much in a season.
But than again given the potential of our players I do have made the most of their skills for about 12 out of the 14 qualification matches.
As for being a coach it feels like a part time extra job I forfill. It has pros and cons but in real life that is pretty normal as well in your job.
I took great joy of playing the qualification matches as it was a great challenge to annoy the big guns in our league with our strong line of defense.

You've already told who you are, and told something about being a NT-coach. Can you also give some tips for the beginning, and already experienced managers?

Geez, for beginners I would say be patient. Hattrick is a game for the long term vision.
Every beginning is hard and I suggest reading the forum, installing a help program such as Hattrick Organizer and try to get a feeling of the game engine.
Make mistakes and learn from them, instead of 2 or 3 super players in your squad create a team of multi-skilled evenly matched players so you are less depending on those 3.
Try to train one line for several seasons and upgrade your other lines with steps of 2-3 (solid -> formidable/outstanding -> brilliant/magnificent) etc.) with the revenues you get from your trainees.
Aim for as much home grown players in your non training lines as it saves a lot of money if the players become better and more expensive to maintain. And for those that do have experience already do you expect me to help you beat me? Think again ;)

We're now ended with this interview, is there still something you wanna say to the Omani managers?

I would like to thank you guys for this opportunity. It’s a pleasure to learn more about the culture of Oman during this season. It has broaden my horizon so thanks for that.
As I wont be running for a second term due to work related issues (don’t worry I’m not leaving, I’ll stay put as a scout) I’m calling up all of you Omani guys interested in this job to join the OF (74844) so I can learn you the ropes of being a BC and prevent a loss of knowledge.

2010-08-26 01:15:18, 2543 views

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