The Big Interview: Christian Michel

..with Christian Michel, one of the new members to the XEFA this season and a total beginner to the world of FML. Still, he's sitting with a chance of promotion to Division 1.

Dennis Moberg: Christian, you're new to Clough and the XEFA this season. How has your experience been so far?
Christian Michel: Pretty Good so far. I might have made some mistakes, but I think I can manage to survive them. XEFA is pretty cool though, lots of helpful people. (You have to mention that im new to FML, too )

Dennis Moberg: Has your FML experience been satisfactory so far?
Christian Michel: Lets call it overwhelming. Never played a "game" lilke this. It rocks

Dennis Moberg: About your team name. Me and a few others followed you when you put german after german in your initial squad - but then you stopped. What happened, did you give up?
Christian Michel: I figured that its very hard to play a "theme team" if you are a complete newb to a game like this. So I did not give up, I put it on hold till I made some money. There are only a few real good Germans out there, & I cant afford them atm. But beware, we are coming. But to bring some light to my team's name, it's actually based on a movie called 12 angry men from 195x. Look it up in IMDB and try to watch it, the movie is great! But I try to get as may players who play in the Bundesliga as I can. My complete offence is playing there atm (Grafite - Wolfsburg Sestak - Bochum and Petric - Hamburg).

Dennis Moberg: How do you feel your season has gone so far, are you happy with your current position of 4th?
Christian Michel: I wish I could turn back the time and play my first 10-15 games again, I made some horrible choices. I hope I can achive top 3, because I'm not good in cups and playoffs, never have been, so I hope I can avoid this. But if you asked me 15 days ago, I would've taken 4th immediately, and I hope you correct my typos by the way.

Dennis Moberg: Nope, I wont [but the Cloughite will] - you've got quite the striker Partnership up front. Mladen Petric and Grafite. They avarage at 32.5 years of age, but still score a lot for you. Think they'll last a couple of more seasons?
Christian Michel: Experience is priceless. They know what to do. I hope I can [reduce] their wages by any chance, but I think I will keep both, because as you said they have a pretty good scoring ratio. But to be honest, in some games I want to kill both, but I think they still have a few good games in them.

Dennis Moberg: How do you feel about the fact you are 3 divisions away from the top flight? Do you feel that it would be better if we had a Pyramid Tier with two Division 1's? It makes us unique and I must say, it looks like the teams in Div 2 have been of the same quality this season.
Christian Michel: Not at all. We use the Same system here in Germay, and I think we have maybe the best second division in Europe because if you are in Div 2, you are Top 36, and it's the same here. If you have 40+ Players in a 2 Division League there are 20 teams wo are just cannon fodder to 20 others. It makes the higher leagues "better".

Dennis Moberg: If you do get promoted - do you feel your team could achieve successive promotions? And what areas do you feel you need to strengthen?
Christian Michel: I can't tell. I think with my fresh achieved knowledge I can manage to build a good team. I'm pretty happy with my team at the moment, I need a stronger defence, maybe a playmaker -- and I have to thin out my squad. I have 22 players under contract atm, and I already fired 4 and sold 3. I want to end up with 16-18 players. Maybe 20.

Dennis Moberg: Last question - are you planning in staying with us for a while in GW Clough? We're hoping so at least.
Christian Michel: Yes of course. I did not put so much effort in my team just to abandon it or to leave the UFFA, and -- by the way -- 12 Angry Germans - Senior Squad - ALMOST EVERYBODY IS FOR SALE!! If you are interested in anyone, just let me know!!

Dennis Moberg: Alright, a bit of shameless advertising here, but I'm nice this time and won't remove it -- good luck with the remainder of your season!
Christian Michel: Thank you.