Coach Interview # 2

[Cruiseon]

After an overwhelming response to our first coach expose on Ossie we now come to the second edition of Cruise News and as promised it's another big name from FF. Whilst technically not a coach names don't get any bigger than this bloke in these parts. So sit back and enjoy some time with the man they call Monty.


So Monty, welcome to the second edition of FF Coaches interview, how have you been handling the copious amounts of football at the moment?

Thank you very much, Cruise. I don't mind it when games get strung out like this, it's easier for me that way. The annoying bits are when you have two games starting at the same time, with one of them not on live, so I'm watching Foxtel for one game and listening to the other on the radio, and trying to get matchups for both and doing scores for the blog. It gets rather hairy at those times.

Monty as co-creator of FF you must spend an enormous amount of time on the site. How many hours a week do you invest on FF and, whilst you are not a huge contributor as a poster, what areas do you tend to browse on FF the most to keep track of what is going on?

My entire weekend from Friday to Sunday is devoted to the site in a normal week, as you'd know. Thursday nights are teams night so that's busy, plus the Coaches Box takes up most of my Wednesdays with pre-show research and the show itself. Plus of course I browse the forums, update databases, fix bugs in my code, and all of the other functions that I'm the only one qualified to perform. Mondays and Tuesdays are my weekend, pretty much, then it's back to work. I guess when you add it all up it's probably not a full 40-hour work week, but it's enough to leave me exhausted on a Sunday night. Then of course I've got this new Mr Football project to work on... though as I feared, I'm struggling to get the mental bandwidth together to work on it much. 




What are the things you've seen on FF that have made you most proud and what are the things that if you had your time again you would change or do differently?

The most rewarding times for me are when the live chat during a game is in full voice with no trolling, and they're all on message but also making with the funnies. Of course, the chat often descends into childish gags and abuse. When it works, though, it makes me very happy and proud to watch everyone enjoying themselves on a site I built from scratch.

If I had my time again I wouldn't waste my time on bits of the site that didn't end up working out. Or perhaps I'd go back and try to make them work better the second time over, like the private leagues. Then there was that Tinfinger project that was almost a complete loss... though I did gain a lot of knowledge and confidence as a programmer out of it. I definitely would have had Mr Football up and running by now, not to mention the bloody mobile apps!

Let me set a hypothetical for you, you are in the country side or at the beach for a weekend, there is no internet connection and your computer is many miles away at home. Once you recover from the withdrawal shakes how would you spend the next 48 hours?

If it was the beach I'd spend all the time soaking up the rays and swimming, that's a no-brainer. If it was the country side it would be less fun. I'd probably play golf, catch up on some reading, and go out exploring the local sights. I'm not that much of a nerd that I'd stay inside all day!

With all your time online, how many games do you get to a year? Can you name your 3 current favourite footballers & your 3 favourite of all time?

My parents moved interstate over summer, but when my Dad was here we'd catch one or two games a year - he's also a Hawks supporter. If we make finals I'll probably go to those, but I think it's probably not a good idea to leave the site alone during the regular season. That is one thing I do miss about doing FF, I love going to games and soaking up the atmosphere. I only had one year in my younger days where I bought a membership and went to all the games, but luckily for me it was 1991 which was a flag year. Good times. 

My three current favourites would be Cyril, Buddy and Balla. All time it would be Jason Dunstall, John Platten and Shane Crawford.

I don't like the 'hate' word but if you had to name one player who over the years drove you nuts who would it be and why?

Darren Bewick always gave me the irrits, the arrogant little bugger. There were a number of Essendon players through the 80s who annoyed me actually. Funny that!

Monty I'm not sure how much attention you pay to those who reach coach and beyond on FF. Who are the characters who make you laugh, who have helped you and with whom you'd like to have a beer with?

Prospector is the obvious one here, he's been a great help over the journey and I couldn't have done it without him. Even if he does sometimes deserve a ban on the live chat! 

If there was a meet up of the coaches I'd certainly enjoy going along and meeting a bunch of you. Though I'd probably have to leave early because you'd all be there to dog about me anyway! 

On behalf of many, my thanks for all your work on FF and the pleasure it gives us all. What vision to you have for FF and in 2 years time how do you think it might differ from what we all see today?

It has been my pleasure.

I think a lot about the future. Obviously with the new broadcast rights deal the landscape in the industry is going to change a fair bit. I can see a lot of opportunities in many areas, but to a large extent it's not up to me. The most likely outcome in two years is that I'm still here doing the same thing, but the site just keeps getting bigger and bigger, as it always does. Less likely is some sort of deal or buy out, but I'm not holding my breath on that one. That would make sense to me, but I'm not the one making the decisions about that sort of thing.

Finally is there a website other than FF, that you use alot and think everyone should be aware of?

I use a lot of Web sites. One you might not have heard of but I use a lot is NetVibes, which is a feed reader through which I consume a lot of blogs and podcasts. I like the interface a lot.

Thanks for your time Monty, keep up the good work.

Not a problem!

[HillHero13]

Gret Stuff getting m0nty to do it :)


can't wait for me to do it.

[roo boys!]

*crickets*

[DazBurg]

awesome work Cruise i'm loving these interviews

well done mate ;)