The Legends meeting in Linköping  I, Eirik aka Hanzinho was one of the lucky ones to be chosen as a legend for this meeting, together with esteemed managers from around Europe. Picture to the left is me, way back when, when I used to be happy.
I decided to travel from Oslo to Linköping by car, despite plane being a hot option. The trip took around 7 hours, and involved car mechanics, a GPS which didn't want me to take the highway, 5 cans of Red Bull, a couple of road kills, and at times very high shoulders. During this adventerous trip I learnt how to do advanced errorseeking of a battery all while simultanously driving in 110 km at the highway. I also learnt that Sweden might have the highest density of speed cameras in Europe. I guess this is what my GPS tried to show me when he/she/it guided me politely off the highway and onto the more curvy roads in the Swedish forest.
I made it to Linköping around 5PM on Friday. My GPS caught a second wind and managed to direct me all the way to the doorsteps of the hotel. A quick SMS message to Patrick and 4 minutes later he appeared by teleportation. It is like Patrick says it, why walk when you can teleport. Since I was the first legend to arrive I was given a solo tour of the offices, where I saw numerous sketchboards on the wall with Patricks handwriting and ideas. Even his office contained these boards filled with information, some looked to be from the top of his head. One thing that stood out more than anything else, exept his terrible handwriting, is that Patrick lives and breathes the game. He is genuinly interested in making the game even better, and constantly push development. He is also very focused on the community, which the Legend meeting itself is a testiment of.
Next up was a trip to a Thai restaurant, I insisted, where the talk was loose and the food was both plentiful and tasty. Patrick wanted to talk about Carlton Palmer, but we decided this would be a hot topic for a much later discussion. He did however share his background, everything from BBC to his work with EA. Combine willpower with drive, grit, stubborness, chronic sleep deprivation. Now add a full beard and a Yorkshire accent, and you have Patrick.
 Keith aka Whinsy was the second to arrive. Patrick imagined he would have a mustache, while I imagined he would carry a few extra pounds. We were both wrong. Whinsy was more than happy to have a few beers instead of food, so the three of us went to the town square in search for a "waterhole". Loud music did not hinder us to talk about ManagerZone and the importance of a good community. Keith told me he would love to see a global TZ, and I told him "I am working on it, it will be released in a week or two". I got the impression he did not believe me at that point. Great minds think alike? He also told me he had been nervous about the trip, and that it was his wife that convinced him to go. I did not play with open cards, as I had some of the same thoughts going through my head prior to the trip. I feared I would be in the company of 6 geeks, but luckily I was the only geek to appear. Patrick on the other hand seemed to have his hands full coordinating the arrival for both Methos and Civilu, as there were some flight delays. Methos only made it to the hotel this Friday, while Civilu joined up with us in the town square. He is tall, and he talks alot. Imagine an erratic person having just drunk 20 cans of red bull within an hour, AND without peeing.. That is Civilu. He would move his entire body when he talked. I asked him if he had won any Anniversary Cups with 22k users lately. He became silent.
A few hours later and the all so familiar sound of the alarm on my cellular phone. I am suppose to get up. 3 snooze buttons later and I see the zoombie appear in the bathroom window. It is 09:30 AM Saturday and time to prepare for the major event, the legends cups. All of us joined up outside the hotel where I met Methos for the first time. I knew we would have lot of things to talk about. He is abit like me, without all the anger and bitterness. Patrick took us to the PowerChallenge building. We all received a tour, which for me was pretty much repetition. Manguel, Mosmosmos and Aikaik joined us around lunchtime, so the event could then be kicked off.
Deja vu. The swedes won it, how original. Anyways.
 Some of us needed to drink away our sorrow after the Legends cup competitions, and aikaik needed to celebrate. Manguel was at this point probably busy drinking tequila in Stockholm, having already forgotten about his victory. All six remaining gunslingers visited the kind of restaurant where you will be thrown out if you mention "salad" or "freshly squeezed orange juice". Patrick insisted on ordering first. I have seen crocodiles which has not eaten for 7 months being less hungry than Patrick was at this point. I myself went safe and ordered just fries with the beer. The guys around the table consumed an entire cattle and two of its cousins. Patrick looked at his watch and decided it was about high time to talk about Carlton Palmer. All evening he had been like a restless race horse inside its box stall, just dying to tell great tales about this not so gifted footballer. Being a Leeds United fan myself I was among the few people who had any idea who he was talking about. Carlton definately was no Bremner, to put it mildly. The other guys watched youtube clips at the table, and realized that Carlton was indeed as rubbish as they come. At this point Methos decided that he would create a Friendly League to honor this footballer, while Whinsy suggested we should all rename one of our youths to Carlton Palmer. We looked at him, and the laughter stopped. That would just be a really evil thing to do to the selected youth player.
After all the meat and talk about the worst footballer in mankind it was time to visit the town square and its regular "waterhole". We had to scare away some locals in order to get a table, so we sent in the Civilu. It was effective, as it took him less than 40 seconds to free up a table. At one point I realized that I had more things in common with my bitter rival than I would like to admit. This was also around the time where I was thinking "I vlery tipsy am now". All things said, meeting someone face to face gives you a crystal clear picture of who that person is. My impression of Civilu improved greatly after the meeting, he is actually not as bad as the wast majority of the forum users think. Give the man a chance. After consuming some of the local beverage we got to learn that a blonde female the age of 45 can appear quite hungry when seeing a table full of virtual football managers. This was the only time I saw Civilu scared. A few hours passed, and the place closed. To say that the talk during this evening had been casual and light would be an understatement.
One place down, two to go? All of us started walking, some in a more direct line than others, and I figured we were heading to a tequila bar. All of a sudden we were all back at the hotel, even before I had the chance to reveal to Methos how to beat the infamous Argentinian team. The following morning I was very happy with that decision. You do not want to drive 573 kilometers with a terrible hangover.
Sunday morning me, Whinsy and Methos was picked up at the hotel and taken to the PowerChallenge building, where the main agenda was chilling and setting up a killer tactic for Whinsy. Methos took care of the latter, I took care of the first. Peter aka Thunderexpress did what he had done all weekend, took very good care of us and brought sandwiches. The hospitality throughout the weekend was second to none. Even at this day we had great talks with both Patrick and Peter regarding the game, and the promising future that lies ahead.
I had so much fun all weekend that I forgot I had brought with me a camera. Here is atleast a picture of Methos at work, setting up a killer tactic for whinsy. His methodically approach in front of the screen was impressive. He probably tweaked the tactic 20 times and watched an equal amount of games:
 12 years of ManagerZone
2001 – 2005 The new frontier
2006 – 2007 Civilization stagnates.
2008 – 2010 Decline of the Empire?
2011 – today A new dawn!
<-- Patrick, Johan, Marcus. The latter is the creator of ManagerZone, and he teamed up with Johan to release ManagerZone back in 2001.
Below you will see a picture of ManagerZone in its very early days. It must not be mistaken for a regular home PC, as this baby was beefed up. Rumour has it you could play both Wolfenstein 3D and simultanously create the trainingreport for all of the 17 managers who existed back then:
Today ManagerZone looks like this:
(You might be interested to know that the simulator is installed on the open box in the very center of the picture, blue label, lowest of the pair. Any managers visiting this room are being given a full body search by Patrick himself. You are not allowed to carry any sledgehammers with you)
This is the recreational room for Crew. It also contains a fussball table to the right. Alltough a room for R & R, Patrick admits they have been using these games to come up with new ideas for simulator improvement, hence both a football and hockey version on the table.
Patrick giving a tour around the offices.
Hey Civ, talk to my hand.
A very happy bunch of people. From the left: Whinsy, Methos, Civilu, Mosmosmos, Thunderexpress, Hanzinho, Aikaik.
What we (Crew) want to do:
Improve presentation and share more data
- League stats
- Manager stats
- Who are the greatest
- Store more historical data
Community
Improve existing aspects of the game:
- Transfer market
- Training 2.0
- Personalise the game: it is your team, share what you wish, read what you want to read
- SIM stats
Improve the experience for new Managers
Evolve the game
New platforms
StatZone
1,000,000 matches simulated on league days
10,000 forum posts per day
15,000 message board posts per day
3,000 player transfers per day
63,000 players transferred by Swedish teams with 25,000 traded internationally! (2012)
Training 2.0
Much faster training for Youths (16 - 18) and faster training for young players (19 - 25)
Faster deterioration (phased in and not before season 48/40)
New training Camps.
More Youths.
More training field places.
More training camp places.
Tougher decisions for choosing which players to train.
More opportunities to compete in U18 - U23
More training decisions.
Good Managers will identify the best players
Personalise the game:
it is your team, share what you wish, read what you want to read
Notifications are the first in many steps:
- Guest Book access for example
- Share your player information if you wish
SIM stats
Share more match stats. For example we would like to share:
- Who passed to whom
- Why did a shot miss?
- How far did a player run?
Improve the experience for new Managers
New Beginners Guide to replace the tutorial
New teams should have a core group of good players
These players are loyal and cannot be sold
A better experience for new Managers will improve the game for everyone!
Conclusion
I can hardly think of any better way to spend a weekend than meeting other people who has the same passion for the game as I have, it be regular legends or the Crew themselves. The weekend was nothing short of magical.
I want to especially thank Patrick and Peter, but also all the other Crew members who spent some of their valuable off-work time together with a bunch of virtual managers.
If you ever get an invitation to meet up with these fantastic guys through similar events in the future, accept! You will by the end of the stay know how it is to have royal blood as you will have been treated like a noble king.
Inspired by Whinsy and his article I also decided to present the legends in a unique way:
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Patrick and Roy Keane
100% match (beard). |
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Thunderexpress and Matthew McConaughey
Peter just need to work on his tan, and Hollywood next. |
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Methos and Robert Downey jr
Near identical, except the glasses and the bank account. Whinsy's pick was Rob Lowe. Like Methos would have said it: "Cooome oooon...!" |
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Manguel and Matt Damon |
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No match found. Civilu is unique. |
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Aikaik and Woody Harrelson
I agree with Whinsy on this one. They are like twins, except for the hair of course. |
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Whinsy and Sean Penn
This is Whinsy with a mustache. |
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Mosmosmos and Peter Crouch
"Slight" height and reach advantage to Crouch, everything else near identical. |
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