Wonderboys chairman on how the Wonderboys are affected by TM changes, in the second part of his BWW exclusive.
Trophy Manager has undergone some major changes in the last couple of months. Firstly, the old TM has been disposed of, and a brand new version released in time for the beginning of this season. In this version, TM 2.0, numerous elements of the game have been updated - some for the better, some for the worse. This week, it has also been announced that clubs can now create an additional team in a foreign league, to increase the challenge for club managers. Today, I'll try and summarise what these changes mean for us as a club, and how we will attempt to use these changes to benefit our long term position in the game.
The new Trophy Manager version has had very mixed reviews. Many threatened to quit the game, and some have. The lack of communication the MTs had with the public during the construction of TM 2.0 was very disappointing in my opinion, and the result is that many feel unhappy about the wholesale changes to the game.
As a club, we still feel that the original TM was better, and we have failed to really 'click' in the new game. It feels like a total new football world, and one in which we are not quite at home. However, we are not naive enough to think that a moan and a whinge will change months of planning, and we are having to come to terms with what TM 2.0 means for us.
It is envisaged that the user numbers during the Euros next summer will break the 200,000 mark. While not all of these 200,000 will stay for good, this represents a huge opportunity for those who choose to grab it. We must be prepared for the influx of new users, and use this situation to our advantage. One main bonus will be that sellling players should become easier. The markets should become more competitive, driving up prices, with will help us maximise revenue when it comes to players sales. Buying players will become more tricky, but we plan to be fully prepared in that department, and I will write more about how the club will function off the field over the coming seasons in my next installment.
The TM community will become flooded with new users asking for help, and, with us having newly acquired a mentor status, we will look to play an active role in this. Our mentorship duties have been placed on hold this season, due to the current unpredictability of the new TM, yet over the next couple of months, responsibilities will return, and we will continue to help new clubs get to grips with Trophy Manager. We as a club believe that the English community should take a leading role in welcoming these new users next summer, and be ready to deal with their questions, and the fact that we will have many more people actually on the forums!
We, as a club, will therefore be looking to ensure the forums are as well equipped as possible to deal with this, be it with more help topics, or simply more FTs. There are many interesting characters in the English forum, and it would be fantastic if all new users coule instantly feel part of a fun and helpful society, here on Trophy Manager.
Secondly, the introduction of multiple teams is a major shake up. We decided this week that we will not have a second (or even third) team competing in a foreign league, for a number of reasons. Primarily, we are against the idea at this stage. While we will be happy to change our minds if it becomes a roaring success, we are not convinced that this route is the best for Trophy Manager to go down - it purely seems a money making exercise. We also believe that all bugs in TM 2.0 should have been eliminated first, and the assistant manager tool finally completed, and the match engine totally working as planned, before working on multiple teams.
Perhaps most importantly, however, is the fact that we think it would be against our best interests as a club to create a second team. At the minute, as I wrote yesterday, we are working very hard to realise our potential here at Shitters Palace, and we want to ensure that our current 'project', if you like, is working 100%, and at the minute, we're at the very early stages of that. Once our current strategy becomes a little more self-sustainable, and the workload on our non playing staff eases a little, then we can take a view on a second team. This also gives us the chance to see how other clubs have done with their teams abroad, and we will have a better idea how to make ours as successful as possible, if we decide to go down that road.
A large number of clubs are creating second teams in England, for the challenge presumably, as it is probably the most competitve country in Trophy Manager! This will undoubtedly result in the price of English players rising, which again, is something we will try to capitalise on in the future, and once things have become a little clearer.
Jack Richardson,
Chairman of Billy Whizz's Wonderboys
On Monday, Mr Richardson will write about how the club plans to operate off the pitch in the short and long term.