FM Fanboys Discussion | Football Manager Forums: Friday Night with Julius & Friends | S2 E1 P3

Julius: Welcome back to the third and final part of Julius & Friends. Up next we have the more coherant Scene blogger, Levo. Levo is the man behind FM Pundit, the site who are running commentary on Football Manager 2010 and the FM Scene in general. So, without more time wasting, put your hands together for Levo!

[the stage door opens and the main camera moves towards the now emerging Levo. He's dressed in a snazzy outfit that can only be described as "brave". He calmly walks over to the sofa and takes himself a seat.]

Julius: Hey Levo! How's it going matey?

Levo: I'm recovering from a hangover from last night's Christmas party, but went and see Paranormal Activity, it is a scary film and a great watch as well worth going to the pictures to see that film.

Julius: Ah, I see you have the hobby of all the great writers, alcoholism. So you've just started a blog called FMPundit, how is that going? What's the main aim of your site?

Levo: FM Pundit has been open 3 weeks and we are seeing positive numbers of traffic coming to view the site which is still growing with every week that goes by. The main aim of the site is to take what I have learned over the past year in terms of social media, writing and interaction and put it into my own blog that aids discussion about the subject matter itself. I think so far it is going well, I want to see more comments on the site and people interacting with me more on twitter and facebook, but it is early days at the moment. But the bottom line with FM Pundit is discussion and interaction around the topic of Football Manager. Content is king and therefore I hope to keep up a high standard of quality, by myself but I hope that we manage to uncover some other great bloggers that can contribute to the site.

Julius: Yeah, you're all over Twitter, Facebook and you're networking as much as you can. How do you think that's going to benefit you as a blogger and do you think this is the way of the future?

Levo: I see the majority of my traffic coming from Twitter, interaction in this generation of the web is key to success when you are trying to compete for the attention of people and you are competing with Facebook, other websites as well as everything else that is going on.

Julius: Are you feeling under pressure to produce content and keep your readership entertained on a regular basis?

Levo: I am, it is key for the site to keep updated on a regular basis, trying to think up the subject matter and then writing something of a good quality has taken over my life. But I enjoy what I am doing and I don't mind that at all the amount of time and effort it takes, I just hope to reap the awards.

Julius: I have the same problem here too, it's tough to think of things to write, forcing creativity never really works for me, it seems to be a spark that sets off my writing, a flash of inspiration.

[camera three pans to a drunken old man, suspected to be Levo's father, who shouts "yeah! but you're shit!". Fair point Levo's dad, fair point.]

Julius: So, Levo. Speaking of Football Manager, what do you think of Football Manager 10 in comparison to it's predecessors? Are you enjoying it?

Levo: I love Football Manager 2010, it has been the game that has allowed me to actually get a grip of tactics, I fully understand what I am doing and what I need to do. I might not have perfected everything yet, still waiting to gain promotion with a top Southport side but I am seeing progress, where as before now I was often downloading other peoples tactics and making small changes to them.

Julius: For me, FM10 is a massive improvement on FM08 and FM09. I'm very happy with it. What's happening in your current FM game? How's that going for you?

Levo: I am Southport FC my first lower league game I am loving it as well, I might not be having things go my way all the time but that is adding to the joy of the game that each achievement means a little more. I am currently in my second season and pushing for promotion again and looking good for it and a good FA Cup run.

Julius: What's your favourite FM game of all time? - not the FM title but the game you've played on FM.

Levo: In Football Manager 2008 I edited a game where by my team St Helens FC was put into the game with a tough chairman and £70m on the table, no players were in the squad so out of that money I had to build a team to compete in the Premiership, but I had the reputation of Derby FC. It was a top game and my greatest achievement in the 5 seasons I played the game was qualifying for the UEFA cup, I may not have won anything but it was good times.

Julius: I recall that, you had a blog about that too. You're a serial blogger! Would you say Football Manager 10 has ingited your passion for the game and the FM Scene?

Levo: It definitely has, I know what I am doing now which is nice then to pass that information on to other people. I love to write and really do enjoy discussing things with the Football Manager community and interacting with people mainly.

Julius: How do you feel about the Scene?

Levo: I would like to see more blog and less forums. What good is a forum that discusses the same as the other forums around. Where as blogs do force people to write about a focused subject, done well it can build and aid discussion and people can learn. It must be one of the things that people come to the scene for and that is to learn, because they are doing badly or they want to do a little better than before. From learning they go and discuss and learn more and then become part of the community.

Julius: I personally feel like the Scene is in reverse at times. I don't think it provides the community with as much as it could because of that. I can't imagine there being a point in time where we see less forums, the reason being that people need them to feel good about themselves, their purpose isn't always just to discuss the game, I don't believe so anyway. How would you improve the Scene if you had the power to do so? What measures would you take?

Levo: I would want to see more blogs, more interaction and a little thought to actually providing great content instead of trying to massage egos. Either that and I would get rid of them all apart from FM Pundit and make us the one stop shop for everything, because I have an ego too

Julius: I echo that. Get rid of all those forums and replace them all with FM Fanboys, couldn't have put that better. Kudos. So what does your Scene history look like? Where are your favoured places to visit et al?

Levo: It is a long history that has spanned around 9 years this month. I started life as a writer with Project CM I picked up a few of my articles on the waybackmachine and I was a terrible writer. But Dan obviously seen potential. I have had various amounts of blogs of my own Chronicles of FM with a funky pink design, Life in FM aswell as FM Pundit which in terms of quality content is the best so far. I have wrote a few articles for FM View in recent times, something that gave me the spark again to start my own blog. But I post anywhere on the scene where I think there is a good base for discussion, one thing you need to learn as a blogger is that you need to go to where the people are don't expect them to come and find you. I will discuss Football Manager topics all over the place.

Julius: I do remember that site - I think. It certainly rings a bell.

[a bell does indeed sound. It's the fire alarm. Backstage Jordo has taken it upon himself to start a fire and smoke pot. For obvious reasons we must proceed to wrap this up, let's hope that The Killers can play their instruments really fast!]

Julius: What is the man known as Levo like away from the Scene and the game? What do you get up to in your time away from FM and the internet?

Levo: I am a Business Studies graduate with experience in student recruitment and bloody boring administration. But I am looking to find work in Marketing. Away from the scene, I am a confident and funny fella very laid back and enjoy my football a drink and any type of social occasion I can get too.

Julius: People who say they're funny are often as funny as 'knock-knock' jokes on a long car journey. I won't judge you though Levo, I don't roll like that, homie. Last question, before the place burns to the ground. How would you describe yourself as a person - on the Scene. Do you feel you offer a lot as a member and do you feel your contributions make a difference?

Levo: I hope that I add some quality and discussion to the scene and this does make a difference in a small way and there is plenty of other people that add their own bit thats helps build a fantastic discussion, but without a few of us we would have alot of rubbish knocking around.

Julius: You've sadly failed. So ladies, gentlemen, firemen. I give you The Killers! Thanks for tuning in and we'll see you next week from a new location - I'd imagine.


[url="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TsZN8OuiS1I"]http://www.youtube.c...h?v=TsZN8OuiS1I[/url]

[and with that, the credits roll, and so do a number of people who are on fire! Jordo, what have you done this time?..]