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Journey of Northern Irish Generation 39

Written by LA-Sor3na

Join the journey of Northern Ireland Generation 39, everybody! ( And join the conversation here: (17590021.1) )

Hey everybody,

I’m back with yet another press release. This time I would like to invite all of you to join me on a journey. Somewhat like Gandalf invited Bilbo Baggins (Lord of the Rings reference for you non-nerds out there, but like, what's wrong with you if you haven’t read/watched any Tolkien yet?). This journey I will call the “Journey of Northern Irish Generation 39”. Almost two seasons ago, the more active members of the U-21 national team decided to hand over this responsibility to me. To be honest, not having much experience with national teams at the time, I had to read a lot and go through numerous forum posts, bothering some knowledgeable folks with a lot of questions. But finally, at the start of this current season, I could consider myself at least decent enough to lead this generation. Now, after a whole season of working on it, I can proudly say that I’ve become very proficient at this particular task. To tell the truth, this has been my top (note that I didn’t even say one of the top ones) best experiences in Hattrick. Managing and caring for a whole generation of players, contacting coaches, planning their training, managing lists, and organizing all the information. To some of you, this might just sound like a lot of busy work and not at all fun. But let me tell you, this has been a great experience, and that is why I felt selfish to go through it all alone. Hence, I’m writing this article to invite all of you to get on your imaginary horses and follow me in this journey to wealth and pride. Accept me as your Gandalf and let us re-activate our community around this generation. We can all work together to make this a great experience for everybody, regardless of the final result. I say that not because there is a lack of potential; in fact, the complete opposite. There is a lot of potential in this generation for great success in both the Europe Cup and hopefully the World Cup afterwards. Maybe even new peaks that we can reach, like not only qualifying for the World Cup but also advancing out of the group stages to further our success. However, I don’t like to base my experiences in Hattrick solely on the end result and enjoy the journey instead, as a lot can go wrong that may or may not be in our hands. Now, you might think to yourself, I want to join in this journey, visit mountain tops, fight Goblins, befriend elves, but what can I contribute? Don’t fret, my brothers. I will provide a list of things you can contribute. You just have to read and choose as many as you want and contribute however and how much you like.

1- Youth Team: This actually won’t directly help Generation 39 as it is already kinda late for new players to enter this generation's lists. However, I felt uneasy not mentioning and putting it first because Youth teams can help our national team regardless of the generation. If you own a team in Northern Ireland, please think very seriously about developing a youth team. Even if you are busy and don’t have time to do a lot in Hattrick, you can still spare 15 minutes a week to scout 3 times in your youth team until you find a good 15-year-old (or a very excellent 16-year-old), hopefully with specs and good skills to develop. After that, you only need to spend another 10 minutes a week to check on his progress and choose a training accordingly. And if you are not busy and looking to do more in Hattrick, Youth Team can offer more; you can train more and get more out of it by spending more time. There are a lot of guides about Youth Teams, so I won’t go further into it.

2- Trainer: You can also become a trainer for the national team and help Generation 39 that way. There is already a good number of trainers currently training our young players into future superstars. Contact me in forums or by message and let me know your situation and your willingness to help. Provide me with information on what you can train (for example, I can train defending for 50 weeks), how many free training slots you have on your team, and what your budget is. I will then add you to my list of trainers and will hook you up with a young prospect to train when one is available. After that, you can decide to keep him and train him further or sell. I almost sound like a broken record saying this in all my messages, but I always feel like it's not repeated enough. Being a prospect does not guarantee a spot in the national team or playing time in national games. The best a trainer can do is provide the best conditions for his players and hope that a lot of other important factors go right so he gets invited and gets some playing time. Again, this will be about the journey and community, more than the end result.

3- Scouting: I don’t really need any help in the scouting part, as I have already done the difficult part of creating the lists and I’m in contact with more than 50 coaches, including some of you who are reading this article. However, I won’t say no to less work, and I welcome you wholeheartedly to help me in scouting. This will be done through a whole takeover of a position, meaning that for example you will be responsible for all the forwards in Generation 39, both for the Continental Cup (Europe Cup) and the World Cup. However, note that if you do apply to help as a scout, I expect you to at least match my energy and love the players at least as much or more than me. Your tasks will include checking up almost weekly on your top players, monitoring their training, and keeping active contact with their trainers so nothing goes off the rails. If you are busy with other stuff in Hattrick or just busy in real life and can’t be as active as you should be, please do not apply for this position. I’m not saying this to scare you off, as I said already, I would welcome any kind of help. But I also don’t want all my effort and time that I’ve already spent on this generation to go to waste due to inactivity. So what I want from you is passion, not experience or anything else. I will take the time to guide you through this experience and teach you what I have learned to perform your tasks. I will provide you with reading materials so you can learn as much as I have about the subject. (This is, of course, if you need learning; if you are already somewhat familiar, you can start right away, and I will leave you alone with a list of players xD)

4- Criticism and Suggestions: I already said that I think I know decently enough about national teams, but I’m not at all cocky about this. I know there is a lot more to learn, and I accept that there might be something that I’m doing wrong or should be doing better. If this is the case in some aspects and you know better or more, present your argument, and I will gladly read and analyze your comments. I don’t shy away from criticism; neither am I hurt by it. I actually would like to hear it to better my own knowledge and experience and also to be able to lead the generation in the best way possible. For this, you don’t even have to be part of the Northern Ireland community. Hit me up in the forums or in messages, and let’s just talk.

5- Participation: Your mere participation in the conversation and your activity, especially in forums, can be more helpful than you think. A more active community can motivate a lot of other people to join in, as I know it will motivate me greatly to know that there are a group of friends who are reading what I’m saying, who are actively participating in the conversation, and who are even arguing about what steps to take next. If you are busy and can contribute in any other 4 ways that I have mentioned above, just join in the forums and write a post or two about your opinion about how things are going and not only about this generation but everything. Let’s talk more and build a stronger community.

I have started a topic in our public (Northern Ireland) forum that you can join the conversation in: (17590021.1)
You can also always message me using HT-mails.

Best, Sor3na