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Interview with babaganoush

Written by babaganoush

An interview with babaganoush whose Les philosophes take on Asgard in tonight's final of the English Cup.

You started your team in September 2006, s30, and just 12 seasons later (in s43) you promoted into II.4 where you spent the next 4 seasons, with a best finish of second (in s44 behind Phi's Fire) with a Cup quarter final (losing to Bedworth) in s42. How did you discover hattrick, and what did you learn from this first experience of scaling the pyramid that has helped you build your current team?

Christ, this question made me realise just how long I’ve been playing this game. As with many other managers I suppose, I was introduced to Hattrick by a couple of friends that had been playing for a while. Both were entirely useless managers and have long since left the game. This is not to say that I’m not fairly useless as a manager myself, but unlike my friends I’ve got some patience …

I’m actually not sure whether my current team is any better than the one that reached division II a few years ago. On the contrary, I put more time, effort and thought into the first one: competition was harder then though, and I have probably also had a better pact with fortuna this time around. If I’ve learned anything from my first climb it is the virtue of patience: both teams are very similar in the sense that the core was trained by myself rather than bought in ready-made. I’m not so sure whether this is a particularly great strategy if you want success – I really should sell my IMs for instance and buy older, higher skilled ones on lower wages – but gradually developing a team is what I like most about Hattrick.

You and your Cup final opponent Sellas have the 6th and 7th highest wage bills in England this week (approx £340k pw). They've just shy of £9m in the bank, and you have just shy of £5m. Just how much has this financial muscle contributed to the two of you reaching this seasons final, do you think?

I’m surprised that my wage bill is comparatively so high to be honest. There are a lot of teams that can pull up higher ratings than I can with lower overall wages. I think there are a few reasons for this: there are managers much better than I am in terms of getting ratings out of wages by training/buying their players to optimal specification; I have a relatively large squad; and maybe most importantly the spine of my team is still relatively young, and, therefore, does not greatly benefit from the age-related wage benefits.

Having some cash in the bank of course helps. But despite surface appearances to the contrary I don’t actually think that I can be accused of buying success. I’m bad at playing the transfer market and pretty much always pay over the odds, and I am useless at maximising income etc. by exploiting all the small loopholes that exist in HT. As said, I’ve slowly built my team and my healthy bank balance is in many ways still a legacy from when I sold off my first team. Having said all of that, I would not be writing this if I hadn’t been able to buy in a goalkeeper before the quarter finals after my regular picked up an injury.

You've chosen the user name babaganoush. In honour of this relatively unsung dip, I have bought a pot to eat whilst watching your final this evening. What you recommend I eat it with to optimise my enjoyment of your match?

Good choice for a dip, and I’m pleased to hear that you’ll be watching the game tonight (I won’t be able to as I’m going out for a meal with my better half).

Lebanese flatbread is what you want with the babaganoush. If you want to make a meal out of it rather than a snack, I’d suggest some nicely marinated, skewered and barbecued chicken. If done just right the result will be the closest approximation to paradise you’ll ever experience.

(Ed. Was always going to keep an eye on this game as I'm playing babaganoush on Sunday. Flatbreads are in, and charcoal grilled skewered & marinated chicken will be on tap tonight for this one).

Your manager page tells us that you are an Arsenal supporter and a fan of Servette FC of Geneva. Please could you explain to us how your support for the latter has come about, and your views concerning Arsene Wenger's continued tenure in charge of the Arsenal?

I spent much of my childhood in Switzerland, hence Servette. They used to be good you know, but have sharply declined since mainly due to financial excesses and consequential bankruptcy.

As a north Londoner, Arsenal is an obvious (well really the only available) choice. Great club, beautiful football, and a legendary manager. If there’s one thing I would change about the club, it would be to put half of the supporters up for sale on free transfers, and replace them with intellectually upgraded models. I think this should sufficiently explain my position regarding Wenger’s future.

Have you read any good books recently that you'd like to recommend to your fellow managers?

I’m a voracious reader, but always find it difficult to recommend anything to anybody else. I know what I like, and what kind of book I need for what season, mood, time of day, location etc. Reading is such a personal thing that recommendations almost always fall flat. But if you were to press me, I’d suggest to pick up pretty much any book written in Russia during the second half of the 19th century, and you will almost certainly be onto a winner.

Please could you provide us with a link to utube/vimeo/soundcloud to any tune you'd like to recommend for your fellow managers reading this?

I’m afraid not. I’m embarrassingly old-fashioned when it comes to listening to music. By preference, I listen to vinyl or CDs if needs really must …

Have you a favourite building or architectural design?

Oh yes, the shed I’ve built in my allotment. It is a magnificent thing combining beauty and utility, and built at almost zero cost – if it didn’t threaten to come tumbling down with every gust of wind, I’d say that it has pushed the boundaries of architecture.

You've posted in the forums fairly regularly over the years, and recently indicated that you are still in favour of forwards with more wing skill than playmaking, which some managers don't seem to fully appreciate. Please could you tell us a bit about this and why you consider these players provide such good value in today's transfer market?

I have no idea whether such players provide good value on the TL – to be honest, I rather suspect they do not. I think my point was that there are still some undoubtedly misguided managers like myself that use forwards without any skills in the art of playmaking. This was issued in response to some dogmatist who'd suggested that nobody in his (or her) right mind would do that. If I’m honest, I may have been a bit unfair to my interlocutor, as it is definitely debatable whether I am in my right mind or not, at least when it comes to HT.

Are you single or married, how did you meet your partner (or last conquest) and what do they think about your interest in this game?

I’ve been together with my partner for a long time, and we’ve got three kids. I am sorry to report that her response to my playing HT is rather predictable, but as I don’t spend much time on the game anymore, I’ll mostly get away with it without too much abuse.

We met at an anti-war rally, thanks to Messrs Blair and Bush and their hare-brained invasion of Iraq. For some reason I have never thanked the two ragamuffins for their services rendered, nor added them to my Christmas card list ...

You have allowed your supporter package to lapse. What, if anything, could hattrick do to tempt you back?

Very little. I don’t spend much time on HT anymore, and I find the core game is perfectly playable without a supporter package (as long as you have a decent advertisement blocker – but this seems to be a prerequisite for using the internet nowadays, so I guess everyone’s got one). There were a couple of fora I enjoyed when I was a supporter, but I think most of these are dead now anyway. Never say never, but I’m likely to end my days on HT as a non-paying manager. This is not a rant against the HTs by the way, I actually think they do a half decent job at keeping the game alive, and I’m grateful that they let me play for free.

The latest evolution of hattrick has been announced, and will include some interesting changes to specialities and their effect and contribution. What are your thoughts about all of this, and do you think it will be make the game more fun to play?

You’re not going to get a very erudite answer to this question, as I've only skim read the editorial about the forthcoming changes. From what I can see nobody knows yet what these changes will actually do in practice, as we only have vague statements rather than meaningful data. I don’t think this is much of a problem though, and the speciality system definitely needed a good shake-up.

And yes, it is likely to increase interest and participation at least in the short-term, as managers will have to adjust their plans and squads.

There's a hattrick social event taking place in London at the end of the season. Is there any chance you might make a surprise appearance?

Thanks for the invitation, but it is rather unlikely I’m afraid – there tends to be very little time left once I’ve dealt with work, kids and the allotment, and then there’s still a girlfriend, friends and family to be entertained.