Newark Hitmen

Newark Hitmen

Newark Hitmen badge sporting the Coppa Annoni
Club Details
Club Name:	Newark Hitmen
Nickname/s:	NH, Newark or The Hitmen
Established:	09-09-2004
President:	MickL67
Current Series:	Template:Flag/SCO II.1
Previous Season (26):	Champion of II.1
Region:	Strathclyde
City:	Glasgow
Country:	Template:Flag/SCO Scotland
Symbol:	Hitman, Bret the Hitman Hart
Fan Club:	The Port Brigade
Match Kits
Achievements
Coppa Annonis:	2 (CA1 & CA5)
Titles:	5
SPL Titles:	0
Scottish Cup Titles:	0
Hattrick Masters Appearances:	0
Top Goal Scorer Awards:	10
Stadium
Port Glasgow Jungle (70.000 seater)
Company
Newark Hitmen PLC

Newark Hitmen

Newark Hitmen are a Hattrick club owned by MickL67 who play in Series II.1 of Scotland. Since the clubs formation at in September 2004 at the end of Season 11 (Scotland) they have won 3 titles in Series IV, 1 in Series III and last season their first title in Series II. They traditionally play in a White Home top featuring 1 green band accross the chest, green shorts and white socks. Recently, the club have added a pink and black away kit after having a number of different designs. All away kits have featured the Chest Band.

Last season they challenged for a place in the Scottish Premier versus INCHES ATHLETIC in a playoff but lost 3-2 after extra time courtesy of a controversial penalty kick [1]. MickL67 admitted however that INCHES had been the better team in the match and probably deserved the victory.

The Hitmen are sworn enemies of ISSoldati (formerly known as ItalScozia) owned by TdiGriminale. Together they make up the Coppa Annoni Rivalry, arguably the fiercest derby match in Hattrick Scotland.

The club are renowned for playing attacking football and training wingers.

Formation & Early Days

The original Newark Hitmen were formed around February 2004 whilst MickL67 was living in Toronto, Canada but the team played in Scotland. Mick was introduced to the game by TdiGriminale. This original club went by the name Newark Celtic and had a short lived history of just 8-10 weeks before going bot due to lack of net access. Griminale also left the game around the same time for similar reasons.

Around May 2004 Mashup, owner of The Fighting Irish Celts encouraged TdiGriminale to return to the game which, he did with the team ItalScozia. 3 months later, August 2003, Griminale encouraged Mick to return. Mick advised he would once he was back in Scotland the following month. In September 2004, Newark Hitmen were born. The name Newark was in honour of Port Glasgow, the clubs hometown with Hitmen being a trubute to Bret "Hitman" Hart. (later Micks support of boxer Ricky Hatton & liking of the game Hitman cemented the name).

Its all started well for the Hitmen with the club surviving in Series IV.63, the league they started in. Goals from Roger Hogborn & John Dybvik along with midfield performances from Frederik Hasselaar and Scott McCutcheon proving vital. Mick was under the mentorship of TdiGriminale at this stage and initially things went very well. Things changed however upon the signing of Swedish midfielder Joakim Aspenbrant. Griminale slated the signing and said "You are a clown, from now on in, I want a 5 page dossier on all Newark Hitmen signing." Naturally MickL67 declined the request with some choice words and thus the ItalScozia (ISSoldati) v Newark Hitmen rivalry was formed.

The Hitmen and IS faced off in an end of season 2 leg matchup called the Coppa Annoni. The Hitmen won 10-4 and things looked as if they were really on the up after they finished 3rd in IV.63. Great games with teams such as Werder Allstars, Rioja, Heart of Skeetlothian, Audaces & MIAS made IV.63 a great league to be in.

Over the next 3 seasons though, despite some very good wingers coming through, the Hitmen stagnated. ItalScozia gained revenge by hammering the Hitmen in Coppa Annoni 2 & 3 followed by a great comeback in Coppa Annoni 4, where despite being 2-0 down, IS came back to win 4-2. In the league the Hitmen could only finish 3rd or 4th season after season.

Towards the end of Season 16 things started improving. Midfielders Atte Raikka, Richard O'Kelly & Andrew MacNee started to dominate games and with goals up front from Peter Robertsson proving vital, the Hitmen won the IV.63 title and gained automatic promotion to Series 3. Whilst the team did not set the world on fire in Series 3, they were hanging in there, until disaster struck..........

Black Saturday & the Rebirth

On September 23rd 2006 MickL67 tried to log into Hattrick only to find he couldnt. After many emails to the HT staff to find out why, 2 days later an email arrived advising Newark Hitmen had been locked for their own protection and that access would be granted the following day, 26 Sept 06 which, as promised it was.

MickL67 logged into to find the club a massive £2 million pounds in debt along with approximately 1000 doctors, 1000 physios, 1000 Assistant coaches and 1000 Sports Psycologists hired. Several coaches had been hired and fired, team spirit was at Cold War and Youth team was down to Passable. The cost to fire all these staff was around £4million.

The entire first team except player coach Richard O'Kelly & 2 diddies Luke Mallaghan and Joe Kiernan had been put up for sale. Their cash began coming in early that day so by 4pm the club had just over £7million in the bank. It was estimated that the club had lost half its value, but enough cash was left to restart things.

The club sadly went down that season despite earning a playoff spot. James Leitch, Bob Garner and Tiemen Bergen had came in though and the show went on!

In this season, the Hitmen were saddened by the departure of the clubs traditional rivals ItalScozia, thus ending the Coppa Annoni.......... or so we thought! TdiGriminale made a triumphant return ISSoldati in Season 27. A new era of rivalry, banter and guestbook madness is likely to resume between the 2 rivals!

IV.49, Mixed Fortunes, Promotion & Relegation

The next 5 seasons where a mixture of success and disappointent. Lying 6th after 6 weeks of the season and facing predictions by some that the Hitmen would go down to Series 5, the club turned it around and claimed top spot with just 3 games to go. A win was snatched from the clubs grasp in the final minute against Gravy Spoons that ultimately proved costsly. The title was then lost on the last day with the club falling to 3rd place. Further disappointment came in the Celtic Supporters Cup where the Hitmen lost 6-0 to Irish Premier League team Top Dogs. Despite these disappointments, the season was viewed as a good one.

Season 20, the Hitmen finished 3rd and despite not threatening for the title (won by respected league rivals Kings Park Rangers) the club were doing fine and a Championship winning team was being built. The following season the club won the title and gained promotion via a playoff win against Bonhill Celts.

The following season the club finished 6th in III.10 and lost a playoff thus going back to Series 4. The season has been wrecked by some massive injuries to key players so things still looked hopeful for the Hitmen going into IV.13. This was highlighted by the club winning the Barca and Celtic Fed Cup.

IV-III Back to Back Titles

The club won IV.13 in Season 23, losing only 1 game. James Leitch was an inspiration in Midfield and Bob Garner was scoring for fun. The Club won the Celtic Supporters Cup with a 1-0 win in the final over respected Australian friends Celtic Springs, managed by Jonesy. The fact that 2 teams both hacked a few seasons earlier had made it to this final was fitting.

The following Season the club win III.6 without losing a game. Progress was being made in the Scottish Cup also with the team regularly reaching Rounds 5/6.

Achievements

Coppa Annoni

Coppa Annoni is a seasonal 2-leg match played between Newark Hitmen and ItalScozia Soldati. It is regarded by MickL67 as the highest possible honour available to the Club. Odd Coppas, eg CA1,3 and 5 are played on a home and away basis with one leg at the home of each club. Even Coppas are played in a foreign country, eg CA2 was played in Ireland & Italy with CA4 in Japan.

So far there have been 5 Coppa Annonis. After CA5, the Coppa was suspended for 9 seasons due to ItalScozia leaving the game. The return of ItalScozia as ISSoldati meant the rebirth of the Coppa Annoni.

Coppa Annoni 5

Coppa Annoni 1

Honours

Scottish League Titles

Season 26 - Champion II.1

Season 24 - Champion III.6

Season 23 - Champion IV.13

Season 21 - Champion IV.49

Season 17 - Champion IV.63

Federation Cups

Season 22 - Barca & Celtic Cup Winners (B&C 3)

Season 23 - Celtic Supporters Cup Winners (CSC 14)

Top Scorer Awards

Season 26 - Phil Mulcahy 15 goals, II.1

Season 24 - David Magnusson 16 goals, III.6

Season 23 - Bob Garner Template:Flag/USA 16 goals, IV.13

Season 22 - Bob Garner Template:Flag/USA 10 goals, III.10 (Joint Award)

Season 21 - Bob Garner Template:Flag/USA 15 goals, Scottish Cup

Season 19 - Bob Garner Template:Flag/USA 20 goals, IV.49

Season 17 - Peter Robertsson 18 goals, IV.63

Season 15 - John Dybvik 15 goals, IV.63 (Joint Award)

Season 14 - Roger Hogborn 19 goals, IV.63

Season 13 - Roger Hogborn 19 goals, IV.63

Rivalry with ItalScozia 'Soldati'

The club shares a unique, heated and often very bitter rivalry with ItalScozia Soldati (ISSoldati) who currently play in Series 5.

(Current) Season 27

The club suffered a shock in the cup and are losing their II.2 crown faster than Brown stuff through a goose!

(It was Mick who typed this! Honest its me!)

National Team Players

Kyrk McDougall is the only player to gain international honours whilst playing for the Hitmen. He gained 2 Scotland U-20 caps in the position of winger.

Phil Mulcahy (Ireland U20's) and Maynard Stoner (Trinidad & Tobago NT) both earned International Caps but none of these where when playing with the Hitmen.

List of Coaches

Season 11-13: José Londoño, Chile (12650806)

Season 14-mid16: Glenn Elliot, USA (10910924) - Coppa Annoni 1 winner

Season mid16-mid18: Richard O'Kelly, Ireland - IV.63 Championship

Season Mid18-20: Haro Smeets, Belgium (36328313) - CSC 10 Finalist

Season 21-23: Manuel Benz, Germany - CSC 14 Winner - IV.49 Championship - IV.13 Championship - Barca & Celtic Cup

Season 24-25(week 10): Kenneth Rusk, Scotland - III.13 Championship, Season 24

Season 25 (week 10)-Present: Paul Hagan, Ireland - II.1 Championship, Season 26

Player of the Year Awards

Season 11: N/A, just played 2 games

Season 12: Frederik Hasselaar, IV.63 Survival! -Young player: Scott McCutcheon

Season 13: Roger Hogborn, IV.63 - Young player: Ciaran Bartholomew

Season 14: Ciaran Bartholomew, IV.63 - Young Player: Ciaran Bartholomew

Season 15: Richard O'Kelly, IV.63 - Young Player: Marcus van Fart

Season 16: Andrew MacNee, IV.63 - Young player: Tjeerd Goris

Season 17: Peter Robertsson, IV.63 Title - Young player: Heine Skogstad

Season 18: James Leitch, III.10, Black Sat/VOI - Young player: Gary Scarrow

Season 19: Bob Garner IV.49, CSC 10 Final - Young player: Gary Scarrow

Season 20: James Leitch IV.49 - Young player: Francis Ó Braonáin

Season 21: Tiemen Bergen, IV.49 Title - Young player: Matthew MacGilvray

Season 22: James Leitch, III.10, B&C Cup - Young player: Neil Dunphy

Season 23: Paul Hagan, IV.13, Title/CSC 14 win - Young Player: Jeffrey Snyder

Season 24: David Magnussen, III.6, Title - Young Player: Brendan Forbes

Season 25: Pedro Luengo, II.2 - Young Player: Brendan Forbes

Season 26: Adam O'Shannachan - Young Player: Kyrk MacDougall

Celtic Supporters Federation

MickL67 holds the Admin position of Tommy Burns in the Celtic Fed (CSF). He organises the Celtic Supporters Cup, now in its 18th Season.

Buy Scottish Federation

MickL67 founded the Buy Scottish Federation in mid-2008 with the aim of making it easier for Scottish HT Managers to find good Scottish players.

The Fed is recognised for its general positive nature.