So it's August 30th and I've got new mail from Cleon. I received an early copy of the first issue of Clear Cut Chance and had a quick look throughout its pages. Then I had another closer look at the individual articles. I honestly think it's something that has been missing from the scene. It's well conceived, inspiring, motivating for people who like to think and delve deeper into the game.
I replied asking for an interview and prepared my questions as fast as possible because I wanted to have this article ready by the time CCC's 1st edition was made available for download (today, September 1st). As you can tell, that went well. So let's get to the interview. I hope you enjoy it
Stam: You've been around since the birth of the Football Manager Scene. What are the main changes between the 2 decades? Going into the 3rd decade, how do you see the future of the scene?
Cleon: I’ve been around that long I’ve seen quite a few changes to the scene in that time. I think the biggest change I’ve seen though if the death of the so called ‘SUPER SITES’. While sites still exist they're not as active as they used to be during the early 2000’s when thousands of people would be using the forums and getting involved in discussions. Nowadays sites seem to be more off topic rather than FM related (not all but a large amount are) but I put this down to blogging. Those who want to talk about the game do so from blogs rather than using forums which in turns makes the sites look less busy. The people are still around discussing the game but it no longer exists on sites as much. So for me I’d say blogging is the biggest chance I’ve seen in that time.
There are a few things I don’t like about the FM community though and that is the big sites who won’t help promote blogs. I’m not sure why but the bigger sites turn their noses up and won’t acknowledge they exist and offer no help. I don’t like this because after all we are supposed to be a community aren’t we not? But too many people seem to be out for themselves. I’d like to see more sites/blogs come together and all help each other out and work together rather than against each other.
I think the future of the scene looks in great shape, twitter, facebook and youtube have took over now though and I expect this to continue until the next generation of social media occurs, whenever that’ll be.
Stam: Is tactics the aspect of the game you're most passionate about? Do you think FM tactical system is realistic enough? How do feel about the announced tactical overhaul that's coming in FM14?
Cleon: I used to be passionate about the tactical side of the game but its become a bit boring and tedious for me nowadays. In all honesty I only play the game to develop players, so its more about training and development that keep me interested these days rather than tactics. If it wasn’t for that side of the game I don’t think I’d still be playing FM and would have quit a few years back. The only reason I write about tactics still is to try and help other people out and show them how the game works in the hope it leads to them having a better experience when playing the game themselves.
I’m not sure how I feel about the tactical overhaul for FM14 yet, I guess I’ll know more when I play the pre-order BETA or Demo. I think the actual ME will be very similar to FM13 so I don’t expect to see much difference in that sense. It’ll be interesting to see how the new roles are implemented though and if they offer variety on the current roles as some of them seem quite similar to each other. So I’m intrigued to see how they play out in the ME and see if they give the feeling of ‘playing different’. I hope it does because I think more roles are needed but they have to be done right so the user can see the difference between a shadow striker, attacking playmaker and a treq etc.
Stam: Which new / improved feature of FM14 are you looking forward to with excitement, and why?
Cleon: If I’m being honest none of them have caught my attention yet and made me feel excited. It all feels a bit underwhelming in all honesty.
Stam: How well do you think the series has progressed from game to game? What's your favorite FM version(s) to date, and why?
Cleon: Quite a few times I’ve gone back to older versions for nostalgia reasons and its then you realise just how far the game has progressed and how far its come. I’d have to say FM13 is the best version for me because its the one I’ve played the most. The last time I checked I had played 87 seasons which is a ridiculous amount for me as I don’t normally get past season 10. But in terms of pure game enjoyment I’d have to choose CM 01/02 as the best version. I don’t know why it was more enjoyable but it just was, atleast for me.
Stam: Clear Cut Chance just had its first issue released. It should have taken months of planning and preparation to get to this point. Could you provide some details in a timeline fashion of all the steps / stages from getting a team together to having an e-book ready to go live?
Cleon: Well it all started around 18 months to 2 years ago. I was reading The Blizzard which is one of the best football publications around imo and just thought ‘wouldn’t it be great if something like this was available for FM’ and it all started from that. I actually made a e-book myself without the help of anyone and was going to release that but someone got hold of it somehow and released it as their own. Looking back it was a blessing in disguise as it was rubbish compared to what we’ve created with Clear Cut Chance.
After it got passed off as someone elses I was pretty pissed off for a while and stopped writing and took a break. But after awhile I decided I’d not let them beat me and start again, so I decided to approach Jad from pushthemwide and told him what I had in mind to see what he thought. Luckily for me he liked what I said and the vision I had, so we teamed up and spoke quite a bit trying to sort out the finer details. We decided we could use some more help, so we approached Foxo and Naks. I knew Naks from the SI forums and had spoke to him on a few occasions mainly about the training module, so I knew what he could offer to the team. Jad knew Matt really well and knew what he could offer to us, the great thing is each one of us is good at different things so we’ve created a really vibe and all bring different things to the team.
It’s not until the last 3 months or so that Clear Cut Chance began to pick up speed. My original plan was not to release it until after FM14 came out but we’ve made great progress and was in a position to be able to release it before. We could have easily released a version a lot earlier if we wanted too but there is no guarantees that it would have been the best product we could make. We decided to take our time to ensure we have a proper plan and a system in place that allows us to release them every quarter. We’ve really thought long-term about this and planned in such a way that all the foundations and support are in place to allow us to do this. We’ve already got some stuff for edition 2 and beyond already that is how far forward we’ve been thinking about stuff and planning.
Stam: A lot of people were asking how much your e-book would cost, but you're releasing it for free. Is there a chance to go premium later on? Or at least looking to find a way to monetize your efforts?
Cleon: The digital version will always be free because we want it to be accessible to everyone and hopefully provide them with good quality content that they won’t find on other websites or blogs.
Stam: I suppose you remember The Bootroom fanzine which had its first issue published around late 2007. Did that influence the birth of CCC at all? TB published 4 issues and then stopped due to lack of time of the key editors. Are you worried about having such a scenario strike the CCC team in the future?
Cleon: I do remember TB yeah but it had no influence on us. TB was a mix of FM and real life football articles and we’ve tried to stay away from that. Instead we have tried to offer articles that are about FM but with a real life spin on the for some. I think when you start allowing articles that have nothing to do with FM and is about real football then you stray away from what you’ve set out to create. That isn’t me having a dig at TB because I don’t know what their aim was and it clearly worked for them but for us its not what we want. We have tried to stay true to Football Manager and make it easy for the person reading it to follow rather than having it feel a bit all over the place. Hopefully this will come across to those who have read it.
Stam: The magazine's tagline says "The FM Magazine for thinkers". How many types or divisions of FM players have you come across?
Cleon: I wouldn’t say there are divisions but there are managers who play the game in different ways. Over the last few months I’ve spoke to quite a few famous people who play FM ranging from comedians, professional footballers, entertainers and even a music producer. But when talking to them you’d not think they were any different to us, they get just as passionate talking about the game as we do, which is great. I see it more of FM bringing everyone together and giving us all the same common goal regardless of how we play the game.
Sure peoples styles and game play varies but that’s the great thing about FM. Every single person plays the game different and does stuff in their own way. You can interpret FM any way you want and be successful with-in reason. There isn’t really a wrong way to play and whether you enjoy player development, tactics, media handling, buying/selling players FM allows for all these different styles.
Stam: When's The Patch Lads. Where can someone find the contents of your first go at a FM magazine? What did you learn from that experience besides it was too much work for one person and people failing to deliver stuff they have committed to?
Cleon: It got a bit messy when it was passed off as someone elses, luckily I managed to get everything removed though from the site that hosted it. I don’t know if there are any more versions currently on the internet, but all the ones I had were deleted out of frustration. It was 6 months of work down the drain, not only for myself but for those who helped and contributed.
The thing I learnt the most was not to be as trusting when working on a project like this and don’t reveal too much too early. Jad and myself have wanted to scream about CCC for months and tell people what we had done and show them but have had to restrain ourselves at times haha.
Stam: You joined the official SI forums 10 years ago and you're currently a moderator, having made more than 31k posts during this time. How long you've been a moderator? How difficult is that role? What would be your advice to newer members who want to become a moderator there?
Cleon: I joined the site when it first opened which was the late 90’s I think? But I changed accounts due to wanting a name change long before name changes were possible. My post count has dwindled over the years with forum changes and pruning, I think at one stage I had around 240k posts. It sounds a lot but it isn’t really considering the years I’ve been posting.
I became a moderator in the early 2000’s so maybe 10 years I’ve been a mod now give or take the odd year. The role isn’t difficult as such but can be demanding, you need to be really thick skinned to moderate on the official forums. You know you’ve made it as a mod though when you get hate mails, PM’s and abusive threads haha
I’m not sure what advice I could give to someone wanting to be a mod other than just be helpful and try and be detailed when you can be. Sooner or later someone will notice you if you keep plodding away. The best way to become a mod is to not focus on it and just be yourself.
Stam: Can you share some of your plans for the future in regards to FM? Do you have a specific goal that drives your motivation? Is getting feedback for your writing from like-minded individuals more important that having idle readers?
Cleon: I don’t have any real motivation other than helping others out and trying to help them understand how the game works or why something works and something doesn’t. I don’t mind idle readers but it is nice for people to let you know someone is actually reading the content you create from time to time. I’ll always write as long as people need the help. I know writing isn’t a strong point of mine but I give it a try like everyone else
Discussion: Clear Cut Chance - Interview with Cleon Hobson
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