Details[]
Interviewee - Stephen Martin (Broughton Citizens FC)
Interviewer - Johan (IFK)
Forum Post Date - 17th September 2009
Original Thread - Click here
Interview[]
A quick return to the Prem and a little talk with my GT colleague Broughton. Interview was made earlier if you look at question 16 even though he’s already struggling after only one game played S17 :)
1. Who is Stephen Martin?
Stephen Martin is a 30YO Contracts Manager from Salford, England. I am a father of two girls aged 1 (almost) and 4 and I support Manchester City FC.
2. When you started out in TM did you have any early plans and did they go like you wanted?
I made the mistake of not bothering to get to understand the game as I played Hattrick and didn't think that TM would be any good. I stupidly built up my stadium which meant I had to sell my best players to stay out of debt. I did however invest in YD & TG from day 1 and am glad that I did.
3. If you started again with a new club would you do the exact same things?
No, as mentioned above I stupidly built a stadium that I did not need, this led to debt and resulted in the need to sell my two best players.
4. Any advice for a new manager starting the game today?
Be patient, read the user guide, visit the forum, ask questions and a good way to get ahead of your fellow noobs is to get a mentor.
5. Happy with your YD so far and the results from it?
I am happy so far, the selling of youths that are not of good enough standard for my team has enabled me to purchase players that are good enough for my team, I get around 5-6 players per season that I can sell for decent money and of those 6 usually 1 player who might be able to make the 1st team.
6. YD or TG what’s the most important in your opinion and why?
I suppose it all depends on your strategy for playing the game, and obviously the higher up the divisions you go the more they become equally important in my opinion but TG is important to help develop players, with no training facilities you are losing a big chunk of your players potential.
7. How much time do you spend on TM every day/week?
Some days less than 1hr, other days I can be online most of the day, it depends on my mood, workload and if I have anything better to do. When I first got into TM I would spend 5-6hrs each night online but I have since cut that right down.
8. If you could hack Thomas account for a day and change TM at your will what would you change and what things would you implement?
I would make it so that B-teams are in separate leagues so that they do not affect the results of other user’s main teams. I would also make the 5 foreigner rule a 3 foreigner rule, thus making the game a little harder for all involved and also causing a massive sh*t storm on the forum :o)
9. Tactics do they matter or is it only down to having the best players available?
I am a believer in playing to your strengths rather than to counter an opponent, I also believe that the overall team strength is more important than altering your formation and tactics to fit a player in, if that means your best player becomes redundant then so be it, sell and move on.
10. What is the most important position and why?
GK's have always played a massive role in TM, a good GK can win you games and a poor GK can win you games :o) I think that having balance throughout your team is what you should aim for, a good OMR or OML can be a match winner as much as a OMC or FC and your DMC is as important as your DC so if you have good players throughout rather than a weaker team with a couple of superstars then you will do well.
11. What key skills is needed for that position(s) and why?
GK's need the 3 main skills for a start, Handling, One on Ones & Reflexes, in addition good skills to have are the physical skills and Arial and Jumping. It goes without saying that if you can get a GK with good skills throughout then you are laughing.
12. You have any training tips to share for your players?
A short question yet a long answer, but I will not go into the ins and outs of training, what I would say is read the manual, read it again and try to get coaches that can train the relevant skills you need to improve your team. I have coaches that are ideal for training GK, DF, DM, MD, OM, FC and my first aim is to get the youths key skills up as high as possible, having a separate coach for each 'link in the chain' you can also swap players about to get secondary skills up. But you need to do what you feel best suits your team and as each user is different then there will be different advice necessary for each.
13. TM is a great game, what do you like most about it?
I would have once said the community but I don't think that is the case anymore both locally and internationally. My favourite element of the game is the youth development and training aspects of the game, this is what keeps me most interested.
14. New ME on the way are you looking forward to it?
I am looking forward to it, I love the speed at which TM develops and it has improved so much since I started playing that each change they make I see as being positive rather than take the negative view.
15, You are the longest serving team in the Prem, what have you done differently to all the rest who have been relegated over the years?
Luck has been on my side, luck and persistence. A lot of team simply lose interest and stop playing but for me I got involved in the forum and in teamster duties as well as creating logos, this kept me interested and kept me logging in.
16, Struggling this season, any idea why?
I finished 5th the season before and strengthened my team in the pre season sales, but I then had a stinker of a season and finally had to go through a play-off to survive in 1.1, I cannot explain why I have had such a bad season but I know that I need to score more goals, this is a big part in my lack of wins. As you can see looking at the table I have conceded 38 goals, the only teams better than this are the top 5, my problem is that I have only scored 38 goals and this is not good enough.
17. If the worst thing happens and you are relegated do you have any plans for next season like cutting down on costs or big squad changes?
Luckily I survived, I had no contingency plans for relegation and have no idea what I would have done had the nightmare been realised.
18. How has the Prem changed over the years, more competitive and interesting and are the managers more active now than they where say 10 seasons ago?
The main difference between season 3 and 16 is how competitive it is, you cannot have too many off games or you end up getting relegated, look at the league table, only 10 points separate 6th and 13th and it is this strength of teams and competitiveness that makes 1.1 so good and challenging.
19. You have played them all, any certain games you see as a must win like we do with derby games in real life?
Every game for me, I have no rival and no 'derby' so every game for me is a must win.
20. Your a GT, is it happy days always or mostly a pain in the backside?
GT work is easy as the ACS does the hard work of collating relevant information, the hard part is the grief that comes with the role, you become a GT and suddenly you are a target and people start to distrust you, strange but that is the way I feel about it.
21. What’s the best part being a GT?
The best thing about being a GT is the satisfaction of banning teams who are blatantly cheating, these people ruin the game for others and it is good to see so many get caught in the act each season.
22. What’s your happiest day in TM so far? Was it a special game, season or a certain youth pull?
The best day had to be the winning of the Premier League, especially as it happened around the same time as my daughter was born.