FC 07 Ratpigs

FC 07 Ratpigs (956697)
Managed By:	bobbymkii
Location:	Teesside, England
Founded:	23-05-2007
Ground:	La Stade de John Hassall (AKA the Stade Hass) Capacity: 59,200
Youth Academy:	Ratpiglets (549265)
Fan Club:	Stylish Kids in the Riot
Coach:	Panait "Panni" Vlad
Captain:	Andy Durrant
Vice-captain:	Andy Malone
Prize Shelf

Introduction

FC 07 Ratpigs are a team managed by bobbymkii. The team are from Teesside, England that was formed in 2007 and currently compete in IV.10 in England.

Etymology and Themes

There are a number of themes which run through various aspects of the naming of Ratpigs' stadium and fanclub etc. The name "Ratpigs" itself is based on a term that was thrown around during bobby's time as an A Level student amongst his peers. The term itself has no particular meaning and bobby couldn't think of anything else to name his team when it started.

The Libertines influence

Bobby's favourite band are The Libertines, an indie-punk band from London, England.

Albion Park

When the Ratpigs were formed in 2007 the chosen name for the club's arena was Albion Park, so named after The Libertines' song 'Albion.' The song was originally written and performed by the Libertines in their early days (it is also mythically the first song ever written by Pete Doherty) but did not appear on record until it was included in Doherty's post-Libertines band Babyshambles' debut album, 'Down in Albion.'

La Stade de John Hassall

Upon Ratpigs' promotion to series VI in season 33 it was decided that a new stadium be built and the club officially moved region for a short time to London. The stadium was named after Libertines' bassist John Hassall, due to him being the least publically recognised member of the band. The club still play their home matches at the stadium today, which is now back in Teesside and has a capacity of 59,200.

Stylish kids in the Riot

Based on lyrics from single 'Time for heroes;'

Did you see the stylish kids in the riot?/ shoveled up like muck they set the night on fire/ wombles bleed/ truncheons and shields/ you know I cherish you my love.

Billingham-Lincoln-London

Early in the Ratpigs' history their manager was seldom in one place long enough to decide on a permanent region for the team, which is reflected in these three locales being named below the club's logo and also influencing the logo itself. The club's logo was introduced in 2007 and has remained ever since.

Billingham

Billingham is bobby's hometown in Teesside, England where he was raised and still lives today. This is reflected in the logo at its' very core as the basis of the logo is a coarse vandalism of the logo for chemical giant ICI, who once employed tens of thousands of employees on it's enormous industrial estate by the river Tees and Teesmouth]. The letters "ICI" have been modified to read "FCR," the club's initials. The river Tees is also represented in the logo by the army green line below the "FCR" suffix, a tongue-in-cheek reference to the historic pollution problems associated with the river's location near such a high concentration of heavy industry.

Lincoln

Bobby first moved to Lincoln, Lincolnshire as an undergraduate student at the University of Lincoln in 2003. After graduating with a BA (hons) in Media Production in 2006 he stayed at the university to study an MA in the same subject and was still doing so at the time he began playing Hattrick in 2007. Lincoln is reflected in the 'FCR' logo by the green circle which forms its' base. Like the River Tees reference, it is a tongue-in-cheek reference to a body of water, the Brayford Pool. The Brayford Pool is situated near the centre of Lincoln and the University, highly populated with (infamously aggressive) swans it was historically used as a docking ground for canal boats which used the Foss Dyke navigation. The Brayford is a noticably green colour, which is reflected in the logo by the changing of the circle base colour which was originally blue in the "ICI" logo. Bobby's time in Lincoln ended on a sour note in 2009, when he had to drop out of his MA degree. Bobby has not been back since and has been known to describe returning to Lincoln at some stage in the near future "akin to visiting (his) own grave."

London

Perhaps overstated from the outset, bobby has spent a notable amount of his time since the formation of the Ratpigs in or near the capital without it ever being a permanent location. Once again, this is reflected in the logo by a tongue-in-cheek reference to water, with the lower line in the logo recoloured to reflect the brown colour of the River Thames.

Current playing squad

No.	POS	NAT	Player	Acquired	Born	Age	Short Bio
13	GK		Pascal Glasson	27-03-2011	unknown, Schweiz	33	Experienced keeper bought for maiden series IV campaign
23	GK		Anker Christensen	08-12-2007	unknown, Denmark	32	Long serving goalkeeper, now reserve
1	GK		Horace Harrington	23-05-2007	Teesside, England	33	Club original, and champion Newcastle Brown Ale drinker!
3	WB		Andrew Mullen	23-05-2007	Derbyshire, England	33	The club's first ever signing. holds the record for the most appearances for the club. Inaugural 100 club member. Inaugural Sir Bobby Robson/Wilf Mannion Award winner.
2	WB		Phil Bannatyen	15-07-2008(*)	Teesside, England	27	Former academy player trained in defending and wing. Also a capable winger. 100 club member.
2	CD		Andy Malone	10-05-2010	unknown, England	32	Experienced CD and club vice captain
26	CD		Nick Hall	16-01-2008(*)	Teesside, England	29	First academy player to be promoted to senior squad. 100 club member. Also plays as wingback.
5	CD		Tommy Trainer	28-03-2008(*)	Teesside, England	29	Former academy player trained in defending. 100 club member.
8	WG		Drsalu "Salli" Nandyal	07-10-2009(*)	Teesside, England	22	Former academy player trained in winger.
11	WG		Ken McCartney	25-05-2009(*)	Teesside, England	23	Former academy player trained in winger. One of the club's most deadly homegrown weapons.
6	IM		Andy Durrant	25-11-2010	Worcestershire, England	26	Club captain and record transfer fee.
10	IM		Miguel Pinaud	22-03-2011	Bourgogne, France	27	One of few overseas players in the current squad. Free kick specialist.
39	IM		Neil Grant	18-02-2011(**)	Teesside, England	21	Former academy player re-bought after being trained at another club.
7	IM		Panait "Panni" Vlad	30-09-2008	unknown, Romania	37	Became coach on 27-11-2010, winning promotion to series IV in season 44.
18	IM		Wilfred "Wilfy" Marks	04-04-2011(**)	Teesside, England	25	Former academy player re-bought after being trained at another club. Also a capable winger.
21	FW		Christopher Young	29-08-2010(*)	Teesside, England	19	Former academy player trained in scoring and passing. Youngest member of the playing squad.
16	WB		David Clancy	18-03-2010(*)	Teesside, England	20	Former academy player trained in scoring and passing.
18	FW		Rudolph "Rudi" Hopper	29-04-2010(*)	Teesside, England	20	Former academy player trained in scoring and passing.
9	FW		Steven Clarke	02-05-2010(*)	Teesside, England	20	Former academy player trained in scoring and passing. Became a first team regular aged 18.

Notes (*) Denotes that this player joined the club prior to this date as a Youth Academy player (**) Denotes that this player joined the club prior to this date as a Youth Academy player and was also previously a senior squad member

End of Season Player Awards

Each season the club hosts a low-key and somewhat obscure awards ceremony. First held at the end of season 39 several awards have been given out for various disciplines and under various names.

Most annoying Injury

Over the course of the club's history there has always been at least one major injury blow which has in effect hampered the club's fortunes. The player whose injury has most contributed to this is awarded this prize.

Season	Dedicatee	Winner
39	Michael Owen	Andy Laing
40	No Award	N/A
41	Michael Owen	Nick Hall
42	Michael Owen	Sead Tipura
43	Wayne Rooney	Vedran Santo
44	Andy Laing	Tommy Truman

Worst Form

Given to the player who has consistently cause the manager selection problems due to dreadful form over the course of a season.

Season	Dedicatee	Winner
39	Didier Drogba	Anker Christensen
40	Didier Drogba	Ken McCartney
41	Didier Drogba	Stan Esteban
42	Didier Drogba	Ken McCartney
43	Wayne Rooney	Si Dhawan
44	Anker Christensen	Phil Bannatyen

Most likely to be a letdown

Generally a display of typical Ratpigs' show of sarcasm in identifying the most promising young player in the squad, but also identifies the one most likely to be a letdown. A special award was given to the Ratpiglets' scouting team for their failure to scout a suitable goalkeeper prospect over the course of season 43.

Season	Dedicatee	Winner
39	Freddy Adu	Ken McCartney
40	Freddy Adu	Rod Aveyard
41	Freddy Adu	Shamim Yaqub
42	Freddy Adu	Christopher Young
43	Wayne Rooney	The Scouts
44	Shamim Yaqub	Warren Martin

Lifetime Achievement

The most prestigious and serious award of the season, given to a player who has demonstrated his importance to the club over the course of the season and his whole career.

Season	Dedicatee	Winner
39	Sir Bobby Robson	Andy Mullen
40	Sir Bobby Robson	Horace Waite
41	Sir Bobby Robson	Anker Christensen
42	Sir Bobby Robson	Nick Hall
43	Wilf Mannion	Phil Bannatyen
44	Wilf Mannion	Ken McCartney

The Terry Butcher Award

Discontinued after keeping track of injuries became too difficult, notably with all 1st team squad members receiving an award during the last two seasons of its' existence. The award is given to any player who played a match that season while bruised.

Season	Winners
39	Tommy Trainer, Richard Faulkes, Phil Bannatyen, Andrew Mullen and Anker Christensen
40	Andy Laing, Ken McCartney, Koen Van Tongeren
41	All first team squad members
42	All first team squad members

The Newcastle Brown Ale drinking competition

Held at the end of the night, this is exactly what it sounds like, with the event being dominated by Horace Harrington who won every competition held by the club until it was discontinued in protest at the closure of the Federation Brewery in Gateshead, and also due to an ultimatum by King's Arms (the venue for the ceremony) landlord George Hutchison, about the vomit the competition caused.

The 100 Club

The 100 Club is a select group of special Ratpigs who have played over 100 league and cup games for the club over their careers. The first player to reach this much celebrated milestone was Andy Mullen. When a player reaches this milestone a special Press Announcement is released, paying tribute to the player and his contribution to the club over the 100 games he has played for them. Here are the 100 club members and their tributes:

Andrew Mullen (19th July 2009) THE INAUGURAL 100 CLUB MEMBER

Andrew Mullen has become the first player in the club's history to reach the landmark of 100 appearances for the club in league and cup competitions, after his contribution to the Ratpigs 5-1 defeat of The Ultimate Arsenal.

A special trophy to commemorate the occasion was all ready to be presented to Mullen by bobby before the kick off until bobby refused to do it because he "detests" it when clubs celebrate "meaningless accolades" before league games.

Instead, hall of fame member Adam Florence, the coach who brought Mullen to the club for the measly sum of £100,000 from the red devels back in bobby's first season will present Mullen with his trophy on Tuesday night at the Stade Hass where a testimonial match will be played against one of the Cleveland region's finest teams, Dead From the Waist down.

Anker Christensen (15th February 2010) ANKER REACHES 100 WITH CLEAN SHEET

Legendary goalkeeper Anker Christensen celebrated his 100th match for the Ratpigs with a clean sheet in a fairly unconvincing 4-0 win away to strugglers Staveley FC. The great Dane spent much of the match counting blades of grass and chatting up female fans behind his goal which remained untroubled all afternoon. It wasn't always plain sailing for the goalkeeper who joined the club back in December 2007 and really struggled to find form early on prompting some fans to add a certain extra consonant towards the end of the alphabet in front of his first name. His form has been irrational over the years, meaning now he is usually the reserve to new boy Diogo Tilico for the big matches, Anker takes more of a backseat role in preparation for one day becoming a coach. He becomes the second Ratpig to reach 100, and will be presented with a special crate of Carlsberg Export by the first 100 club member, Andrew Mullen, to mark the occasion at the next Ratpigs home match.

Nick Hall (28th May 2010) BOBBY FORGETS BIG NICK'S BIG DAY

Like a husband who has forgotten his wife's birthday bobbymkii had to issue a grovelling apology to his star defender, Nick Hall for failing to notice he had reached a landmark which is usually recognised in a very ceremonious fashion, a player's 100th match for Ratpigs! It's a particularly important one for Nick as he was the club's first former youth player to break into the senior squad and is now the first of this crop to reach the much maligned landmark. "well done Nick" said a red faced Bobby "and may there be many more who follow in your footsteps!"

Phil Bannatyen (6th September 2010) from SUPERSUB TRUMAN SAVES THE DAY

Elsewhere at the club, there were two important appearance landmarks celebrated. Phil Bannatyen made his 100th appearance for the club and the first player to reach said feat, Andy Mullen now has over 150 appearances under his belt. Long may these versatile stalwarts of the Ratpigs setup continue to grace the team!

Tommy Trainer (26th December 2010) TOMMY TAKES THE HONOURS

Defender Tommy Trainer joined a list of Ratpigs legends as he made appearance number 100 for the club this afternoon, helping the team to a hard fought 3-1 victory against struggling 90 minute full speed.

Tommy has often been the bridesmaid to the more decorated and revered Ratpigs youth products such as Hall, McCartney and Clarke and has also found limited opportunities to get into bobby's increasingly offensive formations.

But with Hall having to watch from the sidelines today Tommy played out of his skin, practically as a lone defender.

Elsewhere, a rare start produced a late goal for Rudi Hopper to seal the victory late on.