You can expect a journey through the old Romanian Times, through Bucharest and the very well-considered strategies of this SoccerProject-manager…

Name: Marius

Age: 28
Living place: Bucharest, Romania
Favourite team (in real life): Steaua Bucharest
Favourite team (on SP): none, since X-tenzo left the game: D

Started playing on: July 21^st 2006
Picture: not yet available

- Hi Marius. First of all congratulations on winning the C.6-title this season! How has season 24 been for you?

Thank you… It was probably, the best season ever for my team (and the luckiest I suppose). I have managed to reach the B-division and also strengthen the team by buying some key players and reducing aggression. Also, it was the most time-consuming season ever; I have spent many hours trying to take care about player’s morale and condition, looking for the right tactic and aggression.

– Can you tell us some more about who marius_p is?

I am an SAP consultant/programmer living and working in Bucharest. I am very interested in football, and this is why I am playing SoccerProject. Besides SoccerProject, I really enjoy having a drink or a barbecue when I find some spare time. Unfortunately, there hasn’t been so much lately because of the very time consuming regular job. I like spending my week-ends away from the big and (very crowded) city.
I am a big fan of Steaua Bucharest, also because I live nearby their stadium. I hope this year I’ll see some games in the Champions League (if they will manage to qualify).

– Where does your teamname come from?

Well, when I started to play I didn’t take it very seriously, so I named my team with the first thing that came into my mind. The “geto-dacii” were the ancient inhabitants of the actual territory of Romania. The capital of their kingdom was the city called “sarmisegetusa” (which is the name of my stadium). The team name rings a bell only to the Romanian managers; one manager took it seriously and suggested to change the teamname because 2000 years ago the football wasn’t invented. .

- Next season you’ll be playing in B.2, what do you expect there; what position will you be aiming for?

Sincerely, I don’t know. Now I have internet access fulltime at work, so I can prepare
all the games. In the next season period I don’t know if this will happen and also I’ll be in vacation for a week or two; I guess I’ll have to find someone to look after my team in this period.
Next season I’ll try to increase my budget by selling and buying as much players as possible, but also avoid relegation because I’ll face a tough competition there. Making money is one of the most interesting parts of SoccerProject, but next season will be different because I’ll have to be extra-cautious with the teamspirit. My team is not yet good enough to challenge for the promotion; I hope the season after the team will be ready to achieve this.

- You’re playing the game for over 2 years now, and you’ve reached the B-division already. What achievements do you wish/expect, are still to come?

Well, when I started playing I didn’t even think that I would reach the B-division.
I always want to have better players. I always look on the transfer list for a “bargain-buy”.
I tried constantly to replace the old players with better and less aggressive-ones and when I had the chance to promote to a higher division I did it.
I guess the maximum that I can achieve with this team is to promote in the A-division and to stay there a couple of seasons, unless, of course, SoccerProject will not be the subject of a major change.
If a year ago I would have the SoccerProject-knowledge of today, maybe the situation would have been different.

– One last question Marius… If you could control the game for one day, what changes would you like to implement?

Well, I feel that the score calculation algorithm plays some tricks sometimes. I mean, the game ends into a draw, even if the difference between the two teams’s performances (aggression, team-spirit, player’s morale, etc.) is very high.

Of course the random is (and should remain) a key factor. But I would introduce some milestones out of which the result shouldn’t be influenced by random factors (Example: a team always wins the game if the team’s performance is 15% higher than the opposite side).

Thanks and good luck to you and to all managers in season 25!

ByBB

To be honest, we simply can’t complain anymore about simulations. There are hardly no problems anymore (a problem can always occur of course), and the length is very acceptable. The situation has evolved enormously in the positive way, something which earns a big applause to developer Sjarel!

To get a better view on those simulations overnight, I’ve kept all my emails I received from my league games. When you receive these emails the site isn’t accessible for somewhat 5 minutes, but that doesn’t make such difference. I’ve put all data into a graph…

(The vertical ax presents the time from 4 AM until I received the mail in my mailbox)

(The horizontal ax of course presents the matches)

There are some conclusions you can make, but this graph of course doesn’t tell it all.

- The average length of a simulation in the end is somewhat 45 minutes longer than one at the beginning of a season.

- The difference between the shortest (day 1) and longest (day 30) simulation is 88 minutes.

- Although there is a clear growing trend, not every simulation is longer than the earlier one.

- During the season the data that the site has to carry from the earlier days makes the simulations longer, but there are other factors that influence the length (server speed, number of transfers that have to be performed, …).

- Before 7 AM, you should be able to check your score every day.

- We don’t really have to mind about the simulations, everything’s running smoothly!

ByBB

T-man and el stino

It’s always hard to find a good opening line, when you’re looking to write a report of a certain event. Let’s try it anyway and simply say: “Hi, I’m el stino”.

It kind of happened like that on Sunday August 3rd when a bunch of SoccerProject managers came to Brussels for the 4th SoccerProject Meeting. Not only did it happen at the Meeting, but also on November 8th of last year, if I recall correctly. Managers Cantagallina, T-Man, Celtic and el stino came together that Thursday night, for the first time, in the pool café where the meeting came to its end. Some time ago, manager Celtic had to pull out of the organizing team because of his busy schedule.

We had to move on, however. The pitch was quickly found, an ideal location to host our game. We therefore want to thank the people of football club Nossegem for being allowed to use their grounds.

The weather really didn’t favour us too much, but we didn’t let it bother us. We had a roof over our heads and BBQ-ing provided the summer spirit anyways.

El stino took care of the meat, Canta was the veggies-man and T-man went about tagging everyone with their manager and team names.

The soccer game proved to be a success and playing snooker and pool afterwards was tons of fun as well.

For me, Canta and T-Man it was the first time we came to a SoccerProject meeting and it definitely makes us want to do this again.

Despite the fact that most of us only see each other only once a year, it felt like we all knew each other for years. A really great group, true friends, we finally saw all those managers in the flesh: from our little Isis to tall Hoevi, everyone with their own personality and the perfect combination to keep on playing this game for many seasons to come.

If I want to write down everything I did that day, this report will soon grow into a full size novel. Let’s just finish with a friendly note by saying thank you to all who came down, and….

Hope to see you all at the next meeting!!

El stino

For more and uncensored pictures see http://media.soccerproject.com/Meeting_2008/

And finally: when Sjarel meets Lord Random ….

Official name: 中華人民共和國

Capital: Beijing

Location: China (as it is commonly called) is the largest country in East Asia and its neighbouring countries are Afghanistan, Bhutan, India, Kazakhstan, North Korea, Kyrgyzstan, Laos, Mongolia, Myanmar/Burma, Nepal, Pakistan, Russia, Tajikistan,Vietnam,India,Iran and Indonesia.

Area: 9,598,086 km²

Highest mountain: Mount Everest (8848 metres)

Population: 1,321,851,888

Number of SoccerProject managers: 243

SoccerProject translation: 爷就是个神话 ( pronounce as [u][di][tfen][hua:])has taken over the translating job from the original translator tnds who finished the translation on March, 3rd 2008. The Chinese SoccerProject was translated in is Beijing dialect.

Soccerproject survival tip: 我在哪我可以找到年轻的协调员 [wc:][zai][na:][ke][i:][zau][dau][niai][tring][de][siei][tiau][iue:n] Which means: “Where can I find a good Chinese youth coordinator?”

In the news: China is never out of the news nowadays. The 2008 Olympics take place in Beijing. The western world has probably learned more about China the last year than it had ever before. But it is still hard for Chinese people to learn about the rest of the world. SoccerProject for example is virtually non-existant in the ‘Chinese google’ Baidu and when I refer 爷就是个神话 to our Newsletter blog, he is unable to reach it. No single chinese server has wordpress on it ….

However, an effort of making SoccerProject more popular has been made. You can find it on several Games websites, for example.

Maybe we can try to make our vote?!

Manager: ~dardar_3~ (Diavolo, E.12)

Name: Dragos Ivan
Age: 24
Living place: Bucharest (ROM)
Favourite team(in RL): AC Milan
Favourite team(on SP): Diavolo
Picture:

- Hi Dardar, how are you doing? Can you tell us some more about who you are?

I’m fine, thanks. Every day I want to explore at maximum the time. I know very well that ‘time is money’ but usual I use my free time for fun.(seeing a football matches, watching a movie, drinking a beer and also playing Soccerproject).

- Since almost two moths you’re a sheriff now. How does it feel, and what does it mean to you?

It is a pleasure to work for SP. It is only a game and most of the managers don’t understand that. I don’t feel GOD of Soccerproject. I am a normal manager who has the same dream like all who plays SP: winning the A division.

- Do you feel it’s important to represent the Romanian community, as being the first Romanian sheriff ever?

I think the Romanian community deserves a sheriff because it’s an important community of SP. I’m proud to be the first Romanian sheriff.

- How is your team doing at the moment, and what are the future plans?

My team is on the first place in E-division and with 11 matches until the end of the season is almost promoted in D division. (one week later, with only 7 matches to, he leads with 15 points, and the title hardly can’t slip away anymore)
I like very much this strategy:
- buying 4-5 good players on each season with age between 27 and 29.(~7M)
- selling 4-5 players with age 30(~3.5M)
- make a team with some experienced players and also with young players.
- the schedule for every day is very important. If you play 4 friendly matches per day, continuous for 3 days with league matches it is 99% chance to have minim 1 injury player.
- friendly cups are also important.(I choose some cups for the money and some cups for player rotation).

With a good schedule I can make 40 transfers on a season(20 in and 20 out).

Manager bunicutzu wrote on SP forum:”Promote when you can. It doesn’t matter if you will gain second place”.

- How did you get into contact with the game itself, and what makes you play the game every single day?

I found this game on Onlinesport forum. I used to play Championship manager a lot from my PC. This game attracts me because it is more interactive that other online games. I am lucky because I have a job where I can access the global network every day.

- One last question; if you got the absolute power over SoccerProject for one day, what would you do/realize?

I will leave Soccerproject like it is now.

Manager: Winters (SK Scrabble Ostrava, C.2)

Name: Marián Viochna
Age: 30
Living place: Bystřice (Czech republic)
Favourite team (in RL): Baník Ostrava, Celtic Glasgow
Favourite team (on SP): Sokol Oldřichovice
Picture:

- Hi Winters, how are you doing? Can you tell us some more about who you are?

I am married and I have a 4 year old son. I live in a village under the Beskydy mountains. I work as an investigator at industrial company. My most favourite hobby is a desktop game named Scrabble. Many other Scrabble players play SoccerProject too, and I am pleased of their successes. I used to play basketball and floorball before, but now I would rather go cycling or hiking with my family.

- Since one month you’re a sheriff now. How does it feel, and what does it mean to you?

I am surprised how many cheaters there still are on SoccerProject. Thanks Raynook for supporting me in the beginnings. I think that 10 additional sheriffs could be useful too.

- You have replaced Foxir as sheriff. How did you get into touch with the ‘job’?

I am co-operating with Foxir from the very beginning of my SoccerProject career,
especially in organizing Czech national league. We both live in different parts of our country, but last year we have personally met in Prague. Foxir is the legend of Czech SoccerProject community! And it was Foxir, who recommended me for the post of sheriff.

- How is your team doing at the moment, and what are the future plans?

I lead the C.2-division with a slight advance. I hope I could promote and if so, I would
like to keep up there. I am not thinking about further promotion at the moment.

- How did you get into contact with the game itself, and what makes you play the game every single day?

I had some footballmanager experience before I started playing SoccerProject. I was drawn to this game by my friend BartSimpson. When I am at home, I play for one or two hours a day.

- One last question; if you got the absolute power over SoccerProject for one day, what would you do/realize?

I think something like the World Cup is a wonderful idea. The players would be nominated from particular teams by a national couch for each nation. And of course, I would like to extinguish all cheaters, too J

Thanks to both of you for your time and words!

BB

Hello Sjarel

First of all, thank you very much for cooperating on this interview. We have had quite a few questions from the forum-members, and we also like to thank all the people who contributed!

To start off the interview, we will ask you some personal questions.

Turns out the people want to know WHO you are. So, can you tell us something about yourself?

Sjarel: I’m a 29-year old programmer from Belgium. My nickname simply was the first thing I could think of when I first had to choose a nickname on the Internet, I’ve been using it ever since. I don’t have many hobbies besides SoccerProject, but I do play some chess, participate in a contest similar to pub-quizzes and enjoy having a drink with my friends when I have some time. Lately that hasn’t been much however since my wife gave birth to a baby-boy just last month. A few years ago I moved to my own place, but before I lived in Westerlo, which is why I’m a fan of football club KVC Westerlo, a Belgian Premier division team which even won the national cup a few years ago. I try to visit a few games each year, but this year I’ve seen only one so far. Lately I’ve picked up reading since I’ve been in the train a lot for my regular job and I do enjoy a good glass of wine. I think that’s it

How were you as a kid. Were you a good boy or a little rascal? How and where did you grow up?

Sjarel: I think I was a good kid, never had any complaints

I grew up in a small rural town. Did a bit of athletics and played some basketball. I never did anything bad, or at least nothing I would like to share with the community

As for my dreams, I never imagined to be a programmer. I guess that word didn’t even exist at that time!

You are married for a few years now, right? And you became a father recently. How is it to be a father?

Sjarel: Yes, I married in 2006. Me and my wife were together for 10 years already, I guess you could say we married as a 10-year anniversary

I also just became a father. It’s a completely new experience, but so far it has been all positive. I’ve been getting less sleep, but that’s the same for all parents I think.

Your wife, how does she feel about SoccerProject? Does she sometimes feel like she is married to SoccerProject instead of to Sjarel?

Sjarel: My wife has learned to live with SoccerProject. Although she would like me to spend less time on my PC and more with her, she understands and hardly ever complains. Nowadays she sometimes even likes the anecdotes I share with her, maybe she’s even reading my blog…

What was the reason you started SoccerProject? The market is loaded with soccer managers, so what made you and ReesinG decide to make another one?

How much time do you spend on SoccerProject on average?

Did SoccerProject change your life a lot, and did you ever think it would be such a success?

Sjarel: When we started working on SoccerProject the market wasn’t loaded yet, and we never even heard of games like Hattrick and others. We were playing another game ourselves and felt we could create a better game. When the other game stopped to exist, we put our words into deeds, and one year later SoccerProject was released. We never had any expectations and could only be glad to see it grow so fast. I also never expected it would take this much time from me, but so far I am able to keep it going. I really hope we’ll never have to end like www.roekoe.be, a game about pigeon racing that grew so fast that the plug had to be pulled.

According to my wife I ‘m spending about 20 hours on SP every week, and she might be right

So, yes it has changed quite a lot for me. Not only has it taken a lot of time, I’ve also met a lot of new and interesting people, be it mostly online only, and of course I’ve learned really a lot during the years. Not only technically speaking, but also about marketing, advertising, languages all over the world, etcetera.

Do you think you will ever be able to generate enough income from SoccerProject to stop working? Would you even want to be in that situation?

Sjarel: All depends on the numbers of managers, which countries they are from and the numbers of paying SPFA-members. On the other hand I also like my current job, so that is not necessarily one of my goals.

After three years of SoccerProject, and all the good and bad times that come with it, did you ever feel like you had enough of it, like you wanted to quit it? Has it become a duty or is it still a lot of fun for you? And did you ever consider starting another online game?

Sjarel: Sometimes it’s a duty, if the website is down it’s a must to get it online asap. Also solving problems in the community and fixing very minor hard-to-find bugs are not really what I call ‘fun’. But most of the time I enjoy working for SoccerProject.

Creating something completely different could only be done, if managing SoccerProject would take less time. At the moment I’m not adding really much new features, yet it still takes me a lot of time. A week has only 7 days for me as well.

In your position, you have to try to stay neutral and keep some of your thoughts to yourself. Does that drive you crazy sometimes? Managers as well as forummers do stupid things and behave badly, but you have to behave good at all times. Does it ever want to make you scream? Do you have a special something where you can release such frustration? Like a sport or a computer game?

Sjarel: Not really, I only find myself telling about such occasions to people I know IRL, I think that’s how I cope with it.

Many managers are competing for Isis’ love and affection, yet she seems only to have eyes for you. What is your secret?

Sjarel: She has been begging for player portraits ever since I told her about SoccerProject. By delaying the introduction of this feature I guess I just keep her ‘always wanting for more…’

To finish this part about you, how do you picture your own future and the future of the game?

Sjarel: I have no idea really, no long-term plans. I take it day-by-day and always try to do what’s best for SP imho. By that I mean what is best for SP in the long term of course.

The T-shirt is a gift from reesinG.  It is actually an acrostic with the letters of my son’s name.  It says: SoccerProject fan, caressable, natural talent, little rascal, angel, mess maker

Now for something different. Some managers are pretty interested in what it takes to create a website like this. Would you like to share some knowledge about this? Are you educated in web-applications?

Sjarel: I’m just your regular 13-in-a-dozen programmer, but there is one thing I learnt over the years. The only way to learn stuff, is to try it yourself. At least that’s how I learn new stuff, also for SoccerProject.

SoccerProject is completely written in PHP, and the data is stored in an MySQL-database. Currently 2 public web servers and 1 database server are sufficient to fill the needs of this application, but we have been looking intensively at DB-replication, which means we are ready to add some extra DB-servers if needed, for example if we would have to add an I-division. Adding an extra web server shouldn’t be too hard either, as we already have a load balancer set up to divide traffic between the two current web servers. In total we have 4 dedicated servers all running Gentoo Linux.

Sometimes the website gets into trouble, like the server-crashes last season. Are these crashes mostly to blame on external factors, or are they also human errors within SP or programming errors? What can you do to prevent this from happening in the future?

Sjarel: Crashes mostly have different causes, because most causes are fixed after they occurred once. Last month for instance we had problems with the hard-disk. Of course some crashes are caused by human (programming) errors, I guess you can’t rule them out completely. There have been some changes however in the process. Hard to explain exactly, but it would take even longer after a crashed simulation if it wasn’t for these changes.

But external factors can happen as well, we’ve had badly-plugged-in cables causing severe troubles as well in the past. I can tell you it’s really hard to find that out being hundreds of kilometers away from the actual data center.

Lots of managers are curious about what the future will bring. First of all, do you read all the suggestion-posts in the Requested Features forum? Do you give them a lot of thought?

Sjarel: I do, at least I try. Some of them are really good. If possible I implement them immediately. Otherwise I write them down. Unfortunately my list has become very long. Other suggestions are not good, those I ignore.

As you noted, the Romanian community badly wants a Sheriff of their own. This would solve a lot of communication problems, since not all Romanian managers speak English.

Do you plan to improve this situation in the near future?

Sjarel: I just have

Talking about Sheriffs, what is your opinion on the current system of fighting and punishing cheaters? Did you think al lot about changing the system?

Sjarel: Any good ideas are welcome, but so far it turns out really hard to make good additions. The sheriffs have made some suggestions of their own, but not all of them were possible.

A few managers were curious about the staff- and stadium-options.

Both are fairly limited in diversity and function. Do you think this will be improved in the future?

Sjarel: We might change that a little, but it really should not become to complicated for new users. I think SP is hard enough already for newcomers. On the other hand I don’t think that is the part where SP needs improvement the most.

Discussions on this subject always show lots of people for it and fairly many against. However it always generates a lot of interest: do you see National Teams in the future of SoccerProject?

Sjarel: I would really love to implement this, but the consequences are huge. How to handle injuries, fitness, moral and costs for example. Can a manager be obligated to give his player to a National team risking an injury. Or who will be the National manager and what are his options ? This will really take some thinking, implementing and testing…

Some managers think the tactics in SoccerProject should be improved. What is your opinion in this matter, and are there any ideas to make SoccerProject even more challenging?

Sjarel: I can agree with them to a certain extent, but tactics only really matter if teams are more or less alike. The A-division would be a good example for this, but I’m not sure in how many games this would be influential enough to change the outcome of the games.

Do you have great changes planned in the near future? Would you like to share some of them with our readers?

Sjarel: Except for the IBP (Instant Buy Price, already implemented), raising my son will be my most important concern for the near future. I will be very glad if I can keep SP up-and-running during this period.

Maybe I can share one future feature in this interview. One of our translators is busy translating the site into Persian. Just another one, you might think, but it’s not as simple as that. Apparently these guys want their texts from right-to-left instead of from left-to-right like we do. In order to be able to create a complete Persian (or in the future e.g. Hebrew) version of SoccerProject, almost all pages will need to be adjusted.

Were there ever big changes that you wanted to make, but couldn’t due to technical problems or a lack of time/resources?

Sjarel: Only lack of time. So far nothing else, except maybe for the money to advertise during the Olympics

And now a question that worries lots of addicted managers: What if, for whatever reason, you and ReesinG are unable to continue your work on SoccerProject. Did you ever think about that? Do you have a back-up plan for this? Would someone take over, or would the plug just be pulled? Needless to say, many lives would be destroyed if this would ever happen.

Sjarel: Chances of both of us giving up at the same time seem very small. There is no backup-plan, but like one of our former prime ministers used to say: “I only try to solve existing problems, not the ones you make up”. What I mean is, we’ll do our very best not to let that happen.

Now to finish the interview, is there any message you would like to send to the managers?

Sjarel: I suggest you all invite 1 extra manager to SoccerProject, if that works we’ll soon be able to create that I-division I was talking of.

Thank you for the Interview, and infinite thanks for SoccerProject J

Contributors to the questions:

Ultimate, Wojt, bats1903, robstje, saman13, Woko, Sex Pistols, snowflake, Maximoesje, el stino, Lexicus, mcmagik, oslicek, SBroccoli, Ivo08, and speaking for a bunch of Romanian managers: Bunicutzu. Thank you all!

Official name: România

Capital: Bucureşti

Location: Romania shares borders with Hungary and Serbia to the west, Ukraine and the Republic of Moldova to the northeast, and Bulgaria to the south. Romania has a stretch of sea coast along the Black Sea.

Area: 238,392 km²

Highest mountain: Moldoveanu Peak 2544 m)

Population: 22,276,056

Number of SoccerProject managers: 3757

SoccerProject translation: The Romanian translation was the second official

SoccerProject translation. It was finished on January 2005 by budist. He was the first non- Belgian moderator as well. Nowadays the translation is kept up to date by diamon.

SoccerProject survival tip: “Te rog nu imi da ban, dardar, cealalta echipa ii apartine fratelui meu” (Don’t give me a ban, dardar, that other team is my brother’s.)

Community: The Romanians have a very lively community with al kinds of initiatives.

Manager Bunicutzu is the highest ranked Romanian and he will (together with Decebal-Traian) enter the A division next season.

In the news: Romania has been in the SoccerProject news lately for their brand new sheriff. ~dardar3~ is the sheriff the Romanians have been crying out for for such a long time. Outside SoccerProject Romanians play soccer as well. This week Victor Piturca announced that he renewed his contract and will stay coach of the national team for two years longer. Romania shares a group with France, Holland and Italy for the next European Championship.

Name : Geert Duynhouwer
Age : 14 years old
Living place : IJsselmuiden (Holland)
Favourite team (in real life) : Feyenoord, Liverpool
Favourite team (on SP) : Purple_White, SVV and IJsselmuiden
Picture :

- Hi Geert! Since December 10th you are the manager of IJsselmuiden, in what way has the club developped sof ar?

The club has developped wel sof ar, everything is going well! And we keep on training, until they are fully trained of course.

 - Every SoccerProjectmanager heeft wel een bepaald doel voor ogen, welk doel heb jij je vooropgesteld?

We make sure first, that all players are fully trained, and we’ll see what kind of youthplayers come out of the youth centre. Afterwards I expect us to promote to G, F, and so on. Step by step.

- They often say SoccerProject becomes an addiction pretty fast? How do you experience this after three weeks, how has SoccerProject already become part of your life?

Soccerproject has already become an important part of my life, due to its marvellous forum, many managers experiencing the same kind of addictness as I do, it really is a fantastic game! The management is wonderful, and the other managers are also very kind

Interview with Sjoerd1991 (SVV), who’s already playing his 11th season so far

Name : Sjoerd Verest
Age : 16 years old
Living place : Naarden, (Northern-Holland)
Favourite team (in real life) : RKC Waalwijk
Favourite team (on SP) : +30 and FC Bruggenhof
Picture :

- Hi Sjoerd! Untill November 2006 you were known by another name, where did that name come from and why ndid you change it?

Hi Badbuffalo! My original name, Xunky, is derived from Kitkat Chunky, a snack I liked very much back then. I was 14 years old, and I didn’t dare to use my real name in some kind of way. That name bothered me pretty fast, and when I was at last able to get SPFA-membership, I changed my managername into Sjoerd1991, what I still like very much.

- This season you’re playing in division D.2, after a short step back in E.5 where you became champion. What do you expect from this season?

To me, this season really is a transition-season. Although the team at the start of the season was pretty good and young, I wasn’t completely satisfied. I had a nice team to compete in the D-division, but I wouldn’t reach much further with it, which still is my ambition. That’s why I managed some sales and buys, and the rest of the season I will try to maintain myself in D.2, what should be possible. I don’t expect anything this season, any place higher than 10^th is nice, and next season the way up will be continued..

- Has your team already got the potential to grow further and play in higher divisions?

The possibilities to grow further surely are present, but I can’t say if those possibilities will exploit themselves. I’ve got a young first team and the positions where my best players are a bit older, I’ve got good young replacements, only the RM-position could get me int osome troubles. My selection is formed like this; every season my line ratings will get better, as all players will gain better performances, and the positions where I’ve got some older players, their substitutes almost don’t perform worse. This includes that my line ratings will only get higher, and my team will only get stronger.

I don’t know if this will result into promotion to the C-division or maybe even higher, that depends on the strength of the other teams of course. You’re dependent from lots of other teams, if they get stronger, it’s tougher for yourself to get higher and do better. Still I only keep being focussed on myself, and I don’t mind the rest. I am interested in other teams, but not the ones in my division. Since a couple of seasons I don’t overview the other teams in my division at the start of the season, as this can only create false expectations. Another team can be worse than your team, but due to injury’s, suspensions and transfers, you can expect to become champion, but at the end you won’t be. I only watch myself and I do think I can develop myself to a mid-table C-divisionteam. I don’t think I will reach higher than C, B and A are too high I guess. At the other hand, you always depend on other teams; when half of all A-divisionmangers decides to quit, you get some more chance to get higher of course, that’s how life and SP work. To me the most important is that I amuse myself, whether I’m playing in H or A, it doesn’t matter that much, the amusement really does, because I want to play this nice game for a long, long time!

Interview with visje69 (lesbuffalos), present since the end of the first season

Name: Ian Smaele
Age: 21
Living place: Ghent (Belgium)
Favourite team (in real life): K.A.A Gent (Belgian First Division)
Favourite team (on SP): Alimanzia Cebredas
Picture:

- Hi visje! You have been playing SoccerProject for a long time now, since the end of season one! How did you see SoccerProject evolve?

I saw SoccerProject evolving from a game with about 1000 managers into a game with close to 40.000 managers right now! A huge growth if you ask me. This game has 2 great strenghts since the start of it: an enormous addictionfactor and the fast-paced competition. The addictionfactor is the result of the opportunity to see your players grow from day to day, and in how you can see your team improve which gives you the feeling that luck may come back at you in bad luck or the other way around. You are really building something that gives results later on. Even if you get those results in E or F, still it’s cool to see how your team can move through the competition as a whirlwind. Another improvement is how there are less bugs than at the start and there is less downtime than when SoccerProject was only 2 seasons old. I can remember a bug where you could downgrade your players contracts until the had you had a wagebalance of € 0. Thanks to Sjarel and ReesinG we can now play a SoccerProject that is even better then when I started.

- Will you really play for lots of promotions this time, and go further than C-division, where you have been for 4 seasons spread over your career?

This shot will be the best one, the players that are in my squad now are good enough to carry me past D, and maybe even to play for promotion in C, since I have (with 100% experience) 12 players that will have a BP 70+. And since my two oldest players are only 21 years old, it seems reachable for me.
Of course I’ll have to try to stay up to date with a continuous renewal of my squad so that I can settle in C and maybe B. My first concern though is staying in F, because it seems as this years competition started a little too soon for me, although my hopes are to stay in F. Believe it or not, within 5 seasons, I will be back in D fighting for promotion (now F, G, F, E, D would be the worst scenario), after that we’ll see what we can do or reach. If you look at the number 1 in each C-division, you can se that every team has about 5 70+ players it it’s A-squad. This would mean that with my 12 70+ players I would have to be able to maintain myself in C and even promote to B within some years from now. I’m still saying this with the needed procaution, because first they need to reach 100% experience.

- You are a wellknown member in the Belgian Community; what is it that appeals to you in there?

The band that you have with certain members. Not that you can really talk about a band, but some people in there knew me even before SoccerProject, so I think a certain band is there. But not only them, also other managers on the forum, who you get to know after a few conversations during the years, and the managers that you meet in meetings. After that you ‘talk’ to people in stead of ‘chatting’ with them. When you saw their face, it changes your point of view.
Another point is the no-limit-thing. The fact that you can be or do whatever you want too, and nobody is there to judge you for it, as long as you stay within the forum-rules.
The pronotopic is something that keeps me busy. I love it to host or organize things, as I hosted the Belgian SoccerProject meeting in July 2007. Without the community, SoccerProject would become more boring much faster, without the community I wouldn’t stand where I stand now and never with an equal enthousiasm.

Thanks guys for your coöperation and wise words!

BB