Cup Semi-Final Interview

10 real-life years, one good cup run!

1 Your team, Rockhill Rangers, is facing Thought Police's Unfortunate Victory in the cup R12 (semi finals) on Tuesday. This is the furthest you've ever been after making the Last 16 in s40 & s41 (back end of 2009 and early 2010). How does it feel after those disappointments to finally get to the semi-final, albeit on neutral ground without home advantage?

The cup has always been a good competition for me as I’ve normally had runs that have been around par for my league position and I’ve not been royally stitched up too many times. As yet then I have no reason for feeling any bitter snarling resentment towards the match engine! This season has been fantastic, obviously, after winning away at Alie Land (which I thought would be my last game) in R8 (482706480), especially as it coincided with going top in the league. The games since have just been great fun. Middle division journeyman teams like mine don’t get to play Prem teams too often, so I am enjoying it immensely and I hope I can make it through to the Final.

2 If you have a favourite tune of 2014, please provide a link to vimeo/utube/soundcloud for us to listen, but an old timer's classic tune would be just as good?

In 2013 my favourites were "Blurred Lines" by Robin Thicke and "Roar" by Katy Perry but I am sure your HT Press readers do not wish to sit through a four minute video of topless girls writhing around nor of Katy Perry prancing around the jungle in a leopard print bikini and fig leaves. So I have instead chosen a classic tune from the 80s which is pumped into the Rockhill dressing room before every important match. The players are required to participate and sing along while I play the part of the frog with the flute. It was a struggle explaining to some of the foreign lads what they were required to do, but they enjoy it now. I tell them all English clubs have rituals like this. Any players caught lurking in the bushes like Rupert Bear get transfer-listed. (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gpevZ0-wUYQ)

3 You took over your team on 28/10/03, taking 10 seasons to get promoted to IV, and 8 to III and 8 more to II before opting to rebuild 7 seasons ago, taking you down to V before bouncing straight back to now be in III in consecutive seasons. You've been around the block then, so please tell us about your rebuild and what you did that ensured such a swift bounce back up?

I am pleased my incompetence looks like a strategic rebuild! The name Swindon Phones United still brings me out in a cold sweat from when I got relegated to V after losing a qualifier having been 2-0 up (425250854) . I’m not a big fan of intentionally dropping down to the bottom divisions as I think it’s more realistic to football to try and fight with the resources you have to stay at the highest level you can so rebuilding low down and then swiftly bouncing back wasn’t a plan.

My trip around the block… elmosfh (manager of Helme Hoppers (63526) who I think made II and got close to the Prem) helped me out a lot in the early days with understanding training plans and all the basics. I was in V.177 for ages behind elmosfh and Sarnie another good manager; that was a cracking division with good forums and the most fun in any division I’ve experienced. I followed Hoppers progress towards the higher divisions and thought it would be nice to get there too one day. When I finally did get to II, the resale value of my squad was about to fall off a cliff, so after maxxing out to finish 3rd in II, I then sold a few players and this got me relegated. I was trying to rebuild in III, and my aim was to ensure that I could hold onto my players for longer, the next time I promoted to a higher division, so I decided to sign mostly solid leadership future coaches, hoping they will hold value better. So, whilst my managerial nous managed to get me relegated twice, the overall idea worked pretty well, as my squad value has endured and thanks to the great hoarder panic (ed. transfer prices for solid leadership players with high xp still seem to be over triple that of equivalent passables) at the end of Season 54, I was able to cash in two players for more than I felt they were worth. This has probably been the prime reason for my improvement this season as I was lucky with the game changes to hoarding teams' finances, which meant that the rich teams felt compelled to give me lots of their money! I’d like to get to II again, though I think I may miss out on promotion this season.

4 If a fan wanted to buy you a pint, which pub would it be easiest to find you in, and what's your poison?

It would be really hard to find me in a pub so if a fan found me in one it would be only fair that I bought them one. If I was in the pub I would be drinking Diet Coke, which is a sure fire way to guarantee that everyone else in the pub thinks you have an alcohol problem! (I don’t, I just drank too many vodka and lemonades in Ibiza 14 years ago and it put me off!)

5. This season, Benno was voted in to be the England U20 coach. After 9 games he's top of group 11 on 21pts. Did you vote, do you follow any Friday night National games, and what do you make of all our recent front page attention to the U20 England set-up.

I didn’t vote in the latest one, though I have voted more often that not in recent years. I keep an eye out for the England results and I had a spell some time back where I regularly read the Friday NT/U20 threads, I think that was when nuttybongo, Matt- and Ville were running our teams. I do read election threads, as I like to try and cast a vote that is at least a little informed.

6 What skill are you training at the moment and why?

At the moment Playmaking, but I have also done some Passing, SP and a longer stint of Winger (at the end of last season/start of this season). I usually change week to week depending on the upcoming matches formation needs combined with which players most need the training.

7 You currently do not pay for supporter, what would the devs have to do in order to make it worth your while to fork out for it?

I’d really like to get supporter but there is not an option for paying for it in a way that I feel is affordable. I don’t feel the cheaper package gives much value, and the Gold/Platinum versions are just too expensive for me. I would prefer it if managers were able to pay individually for whichever bits of the supporter features they found most useful/desirable. For example, if I wanted to make Press Announcements or have the ability to bookmark players, I would like to have the option to just buy those features. HT is a great game and I like the idea of supporting its continued existence so I’d like to be able to contribute within my own means. For me that would be by having the opportunity to pay for selected individual features.

8 According to our internet research, Rockhill is a caravan park in County Donegal, inspiring the naming of a city in York County, South Carolina; a hamlet of New York; a city in Missouri; and a borough of Pennsylvania. So it is. Now then, just how big is your caravan?

Wow! I never knew Rockhill had such a rich international heritage! When I was growing up and got into football I used to make up pretend football teams. One of these was called Rockhill Rangers and their star striker was a player called Geyser White who was always age 28. He was like a Kanu or Obafemi Martins, and played on into what would have been his 40s, but in official eyes he remained aged 28. My stadium in Hattrick is named after this legend of my own invention, and the magic continues for any fan that sits in any of the 72,000 seats in my stadium, who will instantly become 28 again (but only for the 90 minutes). The older members of my crowd are for some reason very reluctant to leave after matches! For the record, in case I never get to do another interview again, I would just like to say that my caravan is massive and the workmanship is quite exceptional.

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

The last time I had an other half was October 2003. I started my HT team on 28/10/03. Co-incidence? I think not! I assumed this was a sacrifice all HT managers made?

10 What was your favourite movie of 2013/14?

Anchorman 2 (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1229340/) . I believe Ron Burgundy’s talk with his son should be an essential part of all 'careers education'.

Ron: Walter, listen to me. Life isn’t a fairy tale, it’s not a bunch of jumping rope and grabbing ass. It’s complicated. What do you want to do with your life? What do you want to be when you grow up?
Walter: I want to be an astronaut or a cowboy!
Ron: You’re never gonna be any of those, okay?
Veronica: Ron!
Ron: You’ve gotta set the bar a lot lower. Service industry, fry, cook, prison guard. Maybe you’re a lighting guy at a porn shoot. Which basically means you hold up a flashlight while adults do things.
Veronica: He is a child, Ron!
Ron: Nah, nah, nah, nah! He’s got hair on his nugs. He’s old enough to hear this.

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