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Interview with Kozzy1701

Автор Martynas_

Are you tired of routine of Hattrick? Are you looking for somethink new? Or maybe you just love this game so much, that you want to experience everything? If yes, just read this interview and you will learn about something, you, probably, didn't heard earlier. Also, this is the interview with intresting person, so... lets meet Kozzy1701 (5314186)

- Hi Kozzy, at first, please, tell us a little about your personal life.

- I am 49 years old, and will be 50 on the 17th January, although I still feel like I am a 25 year old, even if my body is telling me different.
I am married, to a wonderful lady, called Helen. I have two step children, a son called Fabian, who is 24, who is a painter and decorator, a daughter called Martella, who is 21, and a department manager, in a retail store. We also have a daughter called Emily who is 11, and is in her 1st year at senior school. She is certainly the boss in the house, and we spend our time running around after her.
I was married before, and had a daughter with my 1st wife, however Brady passed away in December 2011, aged 18, and that has made me cherish my family, and has made me a better father.
I work as a support worker, working with adults that have learning disabilities, trying to ensure they live as normal a life as possible, it's a fantastic job, and very rewarding, and I am happy to have been given the opportunity to work with them.
Previously I have worked in the recruitment industry, finding people jobs, I have been a salesman, selling Hand and Power tools, and have done office work.

- Your main team have won IV division 3 times, but now, it looks like you decided to take a timeout – you sold your players. Why?

- I made it up to level III, and got hammered every time I got there. I trained mono skilled players, with little multi skill and didn't have the finances to buy top rated players who would give me the chance to survive and challenge for a place in the higher leagues. So I have decided to try and build a homegrown team, to build up my cash reserves, and to then buy a team that will take me back up to III, and possibly higher.
That's the plan anyway.

- You are a succesfull flag chaser: all home game flags and 106/128 away games flags. Was is hard to collect them? How long did it took?

- I got my first flag in week 10 (season 30) so that's 23 seasons ago, however I didn't start seriously collecting them until Week 11 (season 33).
I have been very lucky, my competition has enabled me to get a lot of the rarer flags.
In the beginning I would run my competition in flag chasing federations. So I would run 7 mini competitions each season, and for doing this in the federations, the managers of those feds would help me with my flag collecting, so I picked up a lot of flags like that.
However I would also like to thank jan-figulf (5757826) who has over the past 3 or 4 seasons, enabled me to get the majority of flags in my away collection.
Flag collecting is addictive, and my real life friend, FatBoyOs (5314246) manager of Osborne AFC (60512), who started playing HT the same day as me, got me into it, after he started collecting. We now have a race to see who will be 128/128 first.

- OK, lets go to the most important part: you are organizing a big competition for HT players in Global forum. Is the idea of the competitiont yours? If yes, how did you made it? How long this tournament is going?

- It has been running now for about 15 or 16 seasons. It all began, when a post in the forum of one of my flag chasing federations, asked if anyone had any ideas for games, that could generate the interest of it's members. I have always enjoyed organising things of this nature, so it didn't take long to come up with a format.
The game just started in one or two of the federations, then expanded to all the federations I was a member in, I even set up my own federation for the game at one point, before it migrated to the Global (English) forum, so I could give both supporters and non-supporters the chance to play.
It started with anything from 30 players to 100 players in the federations, with players playing more than once in each of the federations, however last seasons total of 579 teams in the Global (English) forum, was my record to date.

- Tell us, shortly, about the basic rules of competition?

- Basic overview of the rules:
Each player chooses 5 of their starting line up (league games only) to enter the competition, they post them in the forum, and if those players score goals in your league game, they score points for your total.
Each week to score a points total, and for the first 7 weeks of the game, your total points, will be collated in a league table.
If you qualify from your group, you enter the knockout stage, which begins in week 8 with the round of 128.
If you score more points than your opponent, you will go through to the next round. The final is played in week 14.
all rules you can read in (16434024.1). you can also register to competition here.

- How long it tooks, to count the results of the competition? Are you doing it alone, or you have some assitants to count it?

I do everything myself, I have no computer program to help me, it is all done manually, I check every single team, every single goalscorer, and collate all the scores, without the help of an assistant.
My only help is Microsoft excel, without excel, the competition wouldn't exist.
The first results are known about 8.00am on Saturday morning, with the final results known on Monday morning at about 2.30am. So my entire weekend is spent sorting out all the scores and scorers, putting the tables together, posting them in the forum, and then sending emails to the players with a weekly update.
During the week, I then spend my time updating players substitutions, so it's a full time job really.
It's a massive undertaking, especially in the first few weeks, but it's something I enjoy doing, and when the knockout stages arrive, it gets a little bit easier.

- In my opinion, this competition is perfect for any team, becouse everybody have chances to win, it doesnt matter if your team plays in top division, or you are new to the game: you still can win Kozzy‘s Competition. Am i right? Tell us more, that makes it so good?

- It has taken many seasons to get the format right, but I agree with you, anyone can win.
You need to have a bit of luck along the way, but that's the same in most competitions.
The attraction for me, is it gives everyone something else to enjoy on a weekly basis. Even I, 15 season's in, enjoy watching my game on HT live and seeing if I have scored some points every time I score a goal. I do get a little annoyed if one of my goals is scored by a player who is not one of my 5 picks.
I also look forward to the league tables being produced, and seeing if I have made a qualification spot, though this is still to happen, as I am not very good, at my own game.

- What‘s your opinion for new supporter prices? Will it be more difficult to find people who donates prizes for the competition?

- The new prices are unfortunate. However for me, it's a price I am willing to pay, as I love the game, and cannot imagine my life without it.
The monthly payment plan, may make it easier for people, but the way HT was managed by it's previous owners, leaves the current owners with no option but to increase prices, as the number of supporter days is at an all time high, and the revenue stream has practically dried up.
Its an unfortunate set of circumstances, but it will resolve itself eventually, let's just hope the game is still a viable proposition at that time.
As for prizes being donated, I think it will make it difficult for people to donate freely, however I think the game will still be popular, even if there was no prize for 1st place.

- And finally, wite some recomendations for everybody who wants to create something as your competition, but have no idea how to start.

- The advice I would give would be to, make sure you have a plan, have a clear set of rules, and try to be flexible, and not too rigid.
Try it out in a federation, for a season or two, to iron out any problems, and if it generates enough interest, then I would say go for it.