By Deadly Submarine
November 24 2009

<<CONTINUED FROM PAGE ONE

Changing Hands

The future of the website took a twist in the August of the following year after it's launch when an enforced absence from all things internet for a three month period for site founder Ross Quayle saw Deadly Submarine take over the reigns to keep the site running and upon Quayle's return Sub continued to take the lead role.

The site was handed to the control of Deadly Submarine officially during 2006 by which time the Message Board in particular had built up a reasonable group of regulars and the Admin team was soon boosted by both Matthew the Rover and shortly afterwards Mikey B who continues to assist Sub with the site and hopefully will for some time to come.

Total Tranmere FC

When rival Tranmere website Rovers Rearguard asked Quayle if he could raise a Total Tranmere team to play against the established team from Rearguard, the difficult task began of finding the fittest and most able Total Tranmere members to play together for the first time.

Eventually a team was put together of site users and a few mates to make up the numbers and we descended on Neston Recreation Centre to face Rearguard having met each other for the first time just half an hour before kick-off.  

After going 1-0 ahead after just two minutes through an own goal, TT went on to lose 10-1 despite the best efforts of Quayle's dad in the TT goal but a good time was had by all and more matches were to follow.

Total Tranmere FC following their Tournament Performance in 2006

A few months later a handful of Total Tranmere members teamed up with a number of non TT players players to beat Rearguard 7-6 at Arrowe Park on a memorable day.  Total Tranmere and Rearguard met once more at Shaftesbury (behind the Kop at Prenton Park) and once again went 1-0 ahead before going on to concede thirteen without reply.

The odd game every so often, usually against Rearguard, continued before the above mentioned departure of Ross from both the website and the team saw things go quiet for a time before Sub decided that with increased use on the site, a regular thing could well be made of Total Tranmere F.C.

Around six people met up at Victoria Park for the first training session and before the long the numbers were increasing and a tournament at Pensby saw TT reach the semi-finals in impressive style.

These days not a Tranmere Home Saturday goes by with out TTFC starting the day with a kick-about and with numbers attending ranging from 10 to 20 things look bright for the future.  Matches take place on average once every two months with the hope of increasing this soon if more suitable opponents can be found.

Each member of the current TT squad has their Player Profile (Link) and a dedicated website giving a humourous look at the TTFC squad is currently undergoing a revamp and will be relaunched in 2010 whilst new players are always welcomed for a fun kickabout on a Saturday morning.

Other Activities...

So what else has Total Tranmere done over the past five years?  Amongst other things it has seen its creator and original webmaster Ross Quayle and later on Deadly Sub, appear in Four-Four-Two Magazine on a couple of occasions giving their thoughts on the up-coming seasons and therefore creating yet more publicity for the site.

In the Easter of 2005,  Total Tranmere was the only Tranmere website to cover the build-up to the Tsunami Soccer Aid Charity game organised by Jason McAteer which took place at Anfield on Easter Sunday between a Liverpool All-Star XI and a Celebrity XI.  The event raised thousands of pounds for charity and Deadly Submarine attended the match resulting in a Match Report (Link)  and Full Picture Special (Link) appearing on Total Tranmere.

In July of 2005, Total Tranmere was also represented on the top of Wales' highest mountain Snowdon as posters Ravin Rover (now REME Jnr) and Deadly Submarine proudly carried a Tranmere Flag to the summit and submitted the photo for all to see on the Message Board.  

The start of the 2005-06 season also saw 12 Total Tranmere members hire a minibus driven by then site regular REME to take them down to the opening game of the season at Swansea's new Stadium.  Despite the 1-0 defeat that followed it was a great day out and hopefully it can be repeated in the future.

The Future?

For me personally, the last five years of being involved with Total Tranmere have been both hard at times but also extremely enjoyable.  I've made numerous good friends who all share at least one common interest in their love of the Rovers and I've thoroughly enjoyed continuing the work begun by Quayle all that time ago.

I'd like to thank Ross for setting up the site and for allowing me the opportunity to get involved whilst the site was still developing.  I'd also like to thank him for allowing me to continue the site once he decided he was no longer able to carry on working on it himself - I hope I've taken it in the direction he expected when he created it.

It is my great wish that this site will continue to exist and be successful for many years to come and I'm sure with the help of everyone, including the readers of the site, that will happen.

I would like to thank all those who have helped with articles for the site over the last five years including Ste McKeown, Sam Henderson and Mark Ridgway but especially to Matt Jones  for taking over the writing of the Match Preview Articles recently.

In particular I would like to thank Mikey Burrows without whom the site would not be as it is today.  To have had such help has been fantastic and at time has allowed me more time to concentrate on other aspects of the site.

Finally, thanks must go to all of the readers of the site and to those who use the Message Boards on a regular basis.  Without you the site would not be so good. Here's to the next twelve months and beyond and many happy returns to Total Tranmere!!