RebelClown's Hattrick Weblog » Welcome

11-11-2008 Chop chop
The hattrick universe is so big that it is not often that you can do a variation of the six degrees of Kevin bacon game. This time I could. New in the VI.280 this season is fc chopchop, who relegated from Vth division last season after finishing 7th in the V.237. That happened to be same league that my supporter Che-G played in (sadly his Fortunate Bastards went down in the same season after losing his quali match). So finally we have a connection to a new team. Of course I immediately asked Che for some insider information. His reponse was that he only has a strong midfield and central attack, so I should play 5-3-2 with my backs to the middle.
That's exactly what I did in Sunday's game against beenie's team. Well, almost exactly. Of course I always use a 5-3-2 set up anyway, and I only put the left back to the middle, with the rightback playing normal, it's the intention that counts.
The effects were marvellous. A 5-0 win means RebEleven have confirmed their position at the top of the table, with only "no dirt in the sky" having the same number of points. My goal difference is way better though, in fact a lot better than anyone's.
I'll be on holiday for 2 1/2 weeks, so no posts here. I think my boys can do without me, there are no major games during that time, so I hope I'll still be #1 when I get back.

09-11-2008 Irrasshaimase fc_rinkan
A pleasant surprise on Friday, apart from the two pops which were kind of suspected, if not long overdue. I gained a new Supporter! Manager fc_rinkan of FC Rinkan has graciously dedicated one of his supporter slots to back my team. He had some kind words to say about my blog as well, I'm glowing with pride! :)
What makes it even more special is that he is from Japan, so I had a quick look at my flag collection, because I should now have supporters from six different countries, not something I expected when I started writing way back. Sadly I was in for a bit of a shock there. It seems I have lost Borderliner from Thailand and Tado_ from Slovenia as aficioandos! :(
Well, the latter doesn't exist anymore, as good reason as any, but still I'm sad to see them go. On the bright side, I still have 20 supporters, thanks guys!

06-11-2008 Fickle fans
Since they changed the way fans react to the results I have lost touch with them. RebEleven has won six games in a row, some of them against opponent of equal or better strength, but still my fanclub, The Twelfth Rebel, doesn't think it's very impressive. The highest fan mood the supporters reached was high on life.
For the game against Swift 64 the expected that "it will be a close affair", even though that team plays 2 full leagues higher than me. At least my hope was that I could finally have a sold out stadium again, it has been 1 real year since that happened last. Alas, it was not to be. The weather was perfect for it, completely sunny, but 218 people failed to turn up to make it a sell-out. I guess it's stupid to destroy parts of the arena, but I wonder if I'll see all fifty thousand places filled again.
As a result of the loss the mood of the fanatics has dropped 3 levels to content, and today 1 follower left. Only one, I should add, as I expected it to be worse. The supporters club grew by 15 members so far this season. That doesn't sound like a lot, but at least it's growing. Here too, the over 2300 season ticker holders of a couple of seasons ago seems to be a thing from the past, never to be seen again.
I know it's probably (partly) caused by me piccing all the time, but what can I do? That's a winning strategy, and they clearly expect me to win. It's a choice between pic and win or not pic and loose. In both cases I will lose socios. Another possible cause might be my bank account, currently at around 4.5 million euros. I'm trying to spend that money, but it's just too damn hard to buy good players.

05-11-2008 Exit
I was very glad to be in the fifth cup round, but didn't believe I could beat the next opponent. Swift'64 is leading in the fourth division and has reached the 8th and 10th round of the KNVB cup in the last 2 seasons. Closer inspection learned that their average cup Hatstats were 240, which I could beat, with a maximum of 260. Even against that max I felt the team still had a chance. However, the league best was over 300, which would rather pointless to try and beat.
So I was a very interested spectator at their competition match against FC Nala United. It looked like they were playing their reserve team, which was bad news for RebEleven. Given that the squad would face an unassailable adversary my attitude was to PIC and focus on the next league contest. I'm glad I made the cup run has last this long, and just prayed that the result wouldn't be too bad.
The boys managed to stay alongside for quite a while but lost 1-4 in the end. Worse news was the 4 week injury for Pier van Dijke. That means my desire to buy a new player has become a little more urgent. On the other hand it's a good excuse to use the new transfer tool Hattrick has just released. They've finally gotten rid of the partition by continent, so no more clicking 8 times and going back and forth in the browser to try and find that special guy. Sadly the Foxtrick don't work anymore, so I'll still need to click a lot, until the next Foxtrick version comes out I assume.