I started out with nothing and I still got most of it left

[Edd1920]

It's Sunday 6th September 2015. I’m 20 years old and, having been released by Everton for not making the grade find myself playing central midfield in a trial game at QPR, hoping to prove myself to the coaches and manager and looking to rebuild a career in the game I love.

Midway through the second half, I land awkwardly while competing for a header. I hear a pop from my right knee and collapse in agony. I’m taken from the pitch to the medical room and seen by the clubs doctors.

The prognosis is bad, I’ve completely torn my anterior cruciate ligament, torn my meniscus ligaments and damaged my medial collateral ligament. I leave the trial devastated, knowing that even at my relatively tender age, a professional playing career is now out of the question.

Fast forward 9 months and I can’t shake my enthusiasm for the beautiful game, or my desire to get involved and I decide to see if managing is as much fun as it looks…

I know I can’t start managing at the top level, but with plenty of enthusiasm and a little FA compensation from the injury, I can afford to travel a bit and make a decision to start at the bottom and work my way up.

Having looked around Europe I figure I am most likely to get a job at the lower end of the ‘Nation Club Co-efficient’ list and split the top 30 nations into 10 groups of 3. I intend to look to manage in one country from each of the groups, hopefully working up to the pinnacle of winning the Champions League with a team from La Liga, The Premiership or the Bundesliga.

10	Slovakia​	Hungary​	Iceland (Grindavik - Icelandic 1st Div June 16-July 18) ​	2016: Prom: 1st Div (2nd) > Prem 2017: Icelandic Premiership: (8th) 2018: Upper League Cup (winners)
9	Serbia​	Bulgaria (Tryavna - Bulgarian Div 2 July 18 - Dec 19) ​	Slovenia​	2019 - Prom: 2nd Lge (3rd) > 1st Lge
8	Israel​	Denmark (FC Midtjylland - Danish Superliga Dec 19 - July 22 ) ​	Scotland​	2020 - Superliga (9th) 2020 - European Cup (Group Stages) 2021 - Superliga (3rd) 2021 - European Cup (1st knockout round) 2022 - Superliga (1st) 2022 - Danish Cup (Winners)
7	Belarus (Neman Grodno - Belarusian Highest League July 22 - Nov 22) ​	Sweden​	Norway​	2022 - Highest League (13th)
6	Austria (SV Grodig - Austrian First Division Dec 23 - Nov 24 ) ​	Croatia​	Poland​	2024- Austrian 1st Div (4th)
5	Czech Republic (Slovan Liberec - Czech First Division Nov 24 - Jan 28) ​	Greece​	Romania​	2025 - Czech 1st Div (8th) 2026 - Czech 1st Div (3rd) 2026 - European Cup (Euro Cup playoff) 2027 - Czech 1st Div (1st) 2027 - European Cup (1st knockout round)
4	Turkey (Galatasaray - Turkish Superleague Jan 28 - Jun 30) ​	Holland​	Switzerland​	2028 - Turkish Superleague (2nd) 2028 - European Cup (2nd round) 2029 - Turkish Superleague (1st) 2029 - Turkish SuperCup (Winners) 2029 - Champions League (1st round) 2030 - Turkish Superleague (1st) 2030 - Turkish Cup (Winners)
3	Russia​	Ukraine​	Belgium (Anderlecht - Belgian Pro League Jun 30 - Jun 32) ​	2030 - Belgian SuperCup (Winners) 2030 - Champions League (Gp Stage) 2031 - Belgian ProLeague (1st) 2031 - European Cup (Qtr Final) 2031 - Belgian Super cup (Winners) 2031 - Champions League (Group Stage) 2032 - Belgian ProLeague (2nd)
2	Italy (Bologna - Serie B Jun 32 - May 33 Serie A May 33 - Nov 33 Lazio - Serie A Nov 33 - Dec 35 Inter Milan - Serie A Dec 35 - Jul 37) ​	Portugal​	France​	Bologna: 2033 - Prom: Serie B (2nd) > Serie A Lazio: 2034 - Serie A (7th) 2035 - European Cup (1st round) 2035 - Serie A (3rd) Inter Milan: 2036 - Italian Cup (winners) 2036 - Serie A (3rd) 2037 - European Cup (Runners up) 2037 - Serie A (winners)
1	Spain (Barcelona - La Liga Jul 37 - Jul 39) ​	Germany​	England​	2038 - Champions Cup (1st Round) 2038 - La Liga (1st) 2038 - Spanish Supercup (Winners) 2039 - Spanish Cup (Winners) 2039 - La Liga (1st) 2039 - Champions Cup (Winners)

June 2016:

I start to make some serious enquiries as to vacancies in Slovakia, Hungary or Iceland. Two clubs catch my eye with managerial vacancies - Grindavik (Icelandic 1st​ Division) and Soroksar (Hungarian Div II). To be honest, I’ve never heard of either of these clubs (and don’t speak Icelandic or Hungarian) but I figure they’re worth a punt and apply for both.

Astonishingly, I hear back immediately from Grindavik who offer me a one year contract which I accept...

It also means I can add the countries from group 9 as playable leagues.

 

[Edd1920]

​

​

View attachment 101637
Grindavik lie 10th​ after 4 games, with the board expecting promotion - with only 22 games in the league, there's no time to waste.

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My first game is on the day of my appointment, so I get no days on the training pitch. However, my assistant states the squad looks reasonably strong, particularly in wide areas and with a very strong keeper. Despite this, we are short on CB’s however and the squad needs fullback cover.

With no training time, and the players looking suited to a 4-4-2, I’m starting with a defensive mentality and to play this safe:
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1st game and I don't know what the fuss with all this managing lark is - a comfortable 3-0 win with a hat-trick from the very un-Icelandic sounding Will Daniels. We had less possession and made fewer passes but the relative quality of our keeper was clear, and Daniels was clinical. Brought on an extra MC after 70 minutes to see it out, but well pleased with a solid away win to start with.

The rest of the month is equally as pleasing with another 4 straight wins although we were lucky to beat fellow promotion contenders Keflavik. A change in system and tactics after 60 minutes resulted in two goals in the last third of the game but until that point we were woeful.

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July brings a 2 week transfer window - priorities are at least 1 CB and a RB although the squad could do with improvement in a number of areas.

 

[Edd1920]

​

July 2016:
​

It was too good to last and June’s good results come to an abrupt halt, partly due to a change of tactics on my part. The middle of the pitch was too open and on too many occasions the opposition simply wandered through. After the first 2 games, I tinkered it to having 3 in the middle, reduced the creative freedom and roaming and, hey presto, a win, and then 2 draws, INCONSISTENT. We should have lost the final game of the month against Leiknir F - down to 10 men in the first half and got battered, GK deservedly MoM.

Honourable mention to Robertsson in the AMR position who has contributed some vital goals and assists this month.


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Transfers - 5 players brought in - 2CM, 1 AML to provide some back up for Jo, a first choice RB and a CB.

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I'm nearly at the stage where I have enough cover for 2 players for each position, but I'm wary of overloading a semi professional team...I'm being ambitious and optimistic and hopefully building a squad for the Icelandic Premier Division.

 

[Edd1920]

August 2016:
​

Six games this month which will probably determine the likelihood of promotion, including a game against Keflavik in second (home). We are also yet to play KA, league leaders and the top two teams have to play each other as well so someone's got to drop some points there.


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A quite brilliant run, but we completely fluked at least 2of these games - against Keflavik we only had 2 shots on goal to their 13 and won with a penalty (resulting in a red card) and an OG and the 2-1 win against Selfloss was only won due to a horrendous defensive error and them missing 3 clear cut chances.

But, with 2 games of the league left and the top 2 having to play each other, promotion is a distinct possibility assuming we can hold up our end of the bargain… We seem to have been extraordinarily lucky getting this far and I have serious doubts this squad can be competitive at a higher level.

In other news, I’ve got 2 players to renew their contracts. Unfortunately our very best player, Jo, wants twice what he’s currently earning which is just not going to happen.

 

[issteo]

Goodluck with this save, I started a career with them ages ago and into my fourth season. If you get rid of Jo he went for near 100k in save and I replaced him with Djorde Panic who is a decent young striker with lots of potential.

Try and work up your junior coaching and you can get some really good regens through every August.

 

[Edd1920]

September 2016:

​

Keflavik spank the league leaders at the beginning of the month 3-0 and go top of the league. The first of my 2 games this month comes against KA in second place. If we win, we go ahead and then just have to equal their result in the final game. Keflavik miss the opportunity to become the league champions and unexpectedly lose at home in the penultimate game leaving any 2 of the top 4 with the opportunity for promotion. Here goes…

1-1 against the league leaders and that was only because of a late goal on our part - on its own, that’s a pretty good result but in the grand scheme of things, it’s probably put paid to our promotion chances…

Last day of the season, and things look like this:

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With these fixtures I have to rely on other results going my way, but in my favour both of my rivals are away and in true final day of the season style, I will be paying very close attention to the results of other games.

	Selfoss vs Keflavik (1st​)	Leiknir R vs Ka (2nd​)	Grindavik (3rd​) vs Huginn
15mins	0-0	0-0	0-0
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30mins	0-0	0-0	1-0 (Daniels ‘25)
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Half time	0-0	1-0	1-0 (Daniels ‘25)
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60 mins	0-0	2-0	2-0 (Daniels ‘25, Jo ‘46)
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75mins	0-0	2-0	2-0 (Daniels ‘25, Jo ‘46)
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Full time	0-0	2-0	2-1 (Daniels ‘25, Jo ‘46)
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UNBELIEVABLE...somehow neither KA nor Keflavik can manage a win and my two main men do the business for us. I don't quite know how it's happened, as it doesn't feel like we've really played consistently well and had some serious luck, but it would appear we are going up. The squad is likely to need a serious overhaul in order to compete though.

​

 

[Edd1920]

Goodluck with this save, I started a career with them ages ago and into my fourth season. If you get rid of Jo he went for near 100k in save and I replaced him with Djorde Panic who is a decent young striker with lots of potential.

Try and work up your junior coaching and you can get some really good regens through every August.

I think I'm resigned to losing Jo - he's just asking for too much money. To be honest, I'm not planning on hanging around here, just aiming to move up the groups. Both the managers of Ferencvaros & Debrecen are precarious and they would be a really interesting progression...

Also - did you manage to get them to professional status?

 

[issteo]

I think I'm resigned to losing Jo - he's just asking for too much money. To be honest, I'm not planning on hanging around here, just aiming to move up the groups. Both the managers of Ferencvaros & Debrecen are precarious and they would be a really interesting progression...

Also - did you manage to get them to professional status?

Not yet, board don't want to risk whilst not making a profit per season and lack of supporters. Even in the Icelandic Premiership since can't get above 5-700 average per season

 

[Edd1920]

October 2016 - December 2016 :

​

So, end of season break and time to get the admin-type things sorted and out of the way. First things first - the squad needs strengthening and I need some additional players to come in to achieve 2 players for each position.

Unfortunately one of my stars of last season wanted more than I could afford to renew his contract, so sadly Jo is replaced with a free transfer, Dale Jennings who comes with Championship experience so will hopefully be an adequate replacement:


View attachment 101199 is replaced with View attachment 101198.


I also lost my AMR, who was only a bit part player but was a useful stand in, so
View attachment 101197 is to be replaced with View attachment 101196 for £5.25k.

I’m expecting him to be a rotation option for a couple of seasons, but looks as thought he has some potential, though I am concerned by his low passing stats - I hope this will improve rapidly with age.

Other transfers included quality in terms of a new CB, Hreidersson and CM, Halfredsson both on a free and with Icelandic Premiership experience and a promising RB, Sampsted for £10k:

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That looks to be pretty reasonable transfer business - only 5 players in, but they’re all either an upgrade on their predecessors or are youngsters with the potential to grow into and with the team. At every job I take, I always try to get players who are in the national set up at either u-19 or u-21 set up and Grindavik have two u-19s. What it does now allow me to do is start upgrading the squad starting with the poorest player in the squad - my backup goalkeeper.

I’m also able to make significant improvements to the staff, bringing in an improved chief scout, assistant manager and physio and use the end of season break to renew 5 players whose contracts are expiring at the end of the next season. I don’t have an aging squad, oldest player is 30 and there seems to be a good balance and versatility to it.

For the first time I have a look at the other job prospects around, which causes me some guilt having just got this team promoted, but perhaps thankfully there are only jobs available in the lower divisions.

November brings the board to my door with the offer of a 2 year contract which I accept and some not too ambitious expectations:

View attachment 101189

So, the end of season is break is pretty much over but on the same day that pre-season starts, my back up AML (Sigurdsson) gets knee tendonitis and will be out for 4 months - ****** brilliant.

 

[Edd1920]

January 2017:

​

2nd January and the board of Directors appoint Kristinn Albertsson as the new chairman. Rather helpfully, not only does he indicate there are no plans for investment at this current stage but also that “…it is his intention to appoint a new manager following the takeover.” GULP…

Ignoring the above, I plunge the team into some intensive training/fitness work ahead of the new season and choose a selection of friendlies against teams I think we can beat comfortably - I’m hoping to build up some momentum and morale before the real business starts.

View attachment 101188

The friendlies go more-or-less to plan, 3 wins out of 5 and I’m delighted to see that Jennings appears to have taken on where Jo left off, chipping in with some goals. Nothing extra on the chairman’s threat to appoint a new manager so hopefully no news is good news. Due to Iceland’s peculiar league and cup set up, the league proper doesn't start until May, so February, March and April are dominated by the Iceland Upper League Cup, and I'm drawn with the teams below - 4 from the Premiership, 4 from Division 1.

View attachment 101187

 

[Edd1920]

January 2017:
​

2nd January and the board of Directors appoint Kristinn Albertsson as the new chairman. Rather helpfully, not only does he indicate there are no plans for investment at this current stage but also that “…it is his intention to appoint a new manager following the takeover.” GULP…

Ignoring the above, I plunge the team into some intensive training/fitness work ahead of the new season and choose a selection of friendlies against teams I think we can beat comfortably - I’m hoping to build up some momentum and morale before the real business starts.

View attachment 101185

The friendlies go more-or-less to plan, 3 wins out of 5 and I’m delighted to see that Jennings appears to have taken on where Jo left off, chipping in with some goals. Nothing extra on the chairman’s threat to appoint a new manager so hopefully no news is good news. Due to Iceland’s peculiar league and cup set up, the league proper doesn't start until May, so February, March and April are dominated by the Iceland Upper League Cup, and I'm drawn with the teams below - 4 from the Premiership, 4 from Division 1.

View attachment 101186

 

[Edd1920]

​

February 2017:


​

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So, this looks like the squad that’s going to be seeing me through although the transfer window is open for another 5 months. Frustratingly, in true FM style and before the first games begin, I’m dealt a major blow as my first choice keeper Jajalo is ruled out for 4-5 weeks with a sprained ankle. Other than that, Ortiz and Hreidarsson and my two central midfielders Porstensson & Hallfredsson appear to be the other key players.

The team look like they’ve built themselves into a 4-1-2-2-1 formation, which I will try to keep to. I have found with this formation I can get a more attacking/defensive attitude by amending the tactics/roles/mentalities, rather than the formation, but we’ll see - I certainly don’t want to be making wholesale changes. ​

​

View attachment 100786

In terms of improvements, I have a bit of a budget and could do with a stronger DM position. If the opportunity arises, some tweaking could be made to improve the squad generally to address the weaknesses identified by the assistant manager:

- lacking decision makers;
- the overall quality of the passing is disappointing;
- A leadership void;
- Not the best squad in terms of jumping.


February looked like this, with the cup table below:​

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​

My 17 year old winger makes his debut in sparkling style against Haukar with two identical assists, both finished off by Ortiz, tapping in from superb low crosses into the box. I’m pleased to see his passing has increased exponentially already.Despite this, the other two games were disappointing - great to see the clean sheets, but need to address the lack of goalscoring and do it quickly with only 7 games in the league part of the cup.

​

I also manage to improve the squad bringing in a youngster:

​

View attachment 100782 to replace View attachment 100781

They both had the same current ability but the incoming Dhaira has considerably higher potential.

​

​

 

[Edd1920]

March 2017

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Only three games this month and none of them went particularly well.

My young right back Sampsted provides the only bright spot in a very poor game against Stjarnen and despite having the majority of possession, we didn’t do very much with it and we lose. This happened last season, but we seemed to find a way to get points…looks like our luck is running out!!

Jajalo returns against IBV, and promptly contributes to a horrible mix which provides them an absolute sitter early which we just couldn’t seem to recover from.

I adjust the formation significantly which I did say I didn’t want to, removing the DM against Por and playing 2 up top with a far more aggressive approach. As a result we rediscover our goalscoring touch…and leave ourselves very vulnerable at the back which the opposition take full advantage of, so I appear to need to find some middle ground. I struggle to find a positive, but if there is one, we at least stop the rut for the time being.

My search for a DM gets sorted out, bringing in the vastly experienced Olafsson which helps to, partly, address the leadership/decision making weaknesses in the squad but he is very much a short term solution.

View attachment 100768

In terms of the players, Jennings has been disappointing after his promising pre-season and has delivered the sum total of diddly-squat. No-one has been particularly good, but Frioriksen in the Advanced Playmaker role and Josefsson at LB have been the best of an average bunch so far.

 

[Edd1920]

April 2017

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In an effort to try and get the best mix of the attacking/defensive worlds, I’ve kept the same formation, but changed the mentality to defensive, reduced from fluid to structured and have lost some of the team instructions that affect the team shape.

I’m not convinced these changes cause the win, but I try this in my only game in April and come out with a very tight 1-0 against the team in 2nd - a bullet header from my centre back coming in from the corner. The board expectation was not to get outclassed in the League Cup. 4th​ position out of 8 isn’t too bad, but with more draws than wins, I was perhaps not brave enough in the early games.

With the league starting next month, nothing looks promising - the board want me to battle bravely against relegation, my odds are evens to get relegated and the media have me predicted to finish 11th​…a relegation spot.

 

[Edd1920]

May 2017

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Odd game against Breidablik; they have 17 shots to my 6, 6 on target to my 4, both have 1 clear cut chance so not that different. Again, we the have majority of the possession and take a 2-0 lead. In hindsight, I should have shut up shop, but naively don’t and concede two just after the hour mark. Draw not the worst result for the first game in the Premiership but after being up just the one point is disappointing.

The draw of the Icelandic Cup pits me against Fram, a Division 1 team. Against KR, I change to a 4-4-2 which results in another Ortiz goal and he seems to prefer playing in a 2. Unfortunately, we can’t hold on and the immense KR pressur pays off - another draw.

The transfer window closes, with the only business my young centre-back Leoss going out on loan back to the first division - hopefully for some meaningful game time and some valuable experience.

View attachment 100460


Taking into account the relative succes we’ve had with scoring goals with 2 up top, I’ve gone for a 4-4-2 for the next league game against Fylkir who finished runners up last season. We’ll see…and it doesn’t go to plan at all, a 2-0 loss but I do create more chances and both Daniels and Ortiz have more shots on goal.

Next up - a welcome respite from the league with a cup game, although it goes horribly wrong. We were so poor we couldn’t even manage a shot on target over 90 minutes against a team from a league down and another 2-0 loss...morale is plummeting!

My next opponents FH, play a narrow 4-3-3. We’ve not been too good against this formation so I change to a 3-2-1-2 hoping that the back 3 will cancel out their front three and the width of the wing backs will cause issues down the flanks, playing quickly and then direct into the front two. 2 strong CMs and the usual suspects up front should hopefully at least provide the opportunity to provide a good attacking threat.

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A creditable 1-1 draw with our goal coming from one of those cross-shots from my wingback that the goalkeeper flaps at. The team don't play exactly as intended, but I have to remember these are still semi-professionals playing against professional players and they are making more mistakes and doing odd things on occasions

For the final game of the month against one of the few teams below me, I keep the same 3-2-1-2 formation, changing the midfield roles to CM(def) who hold their positions better than the BWM I had in previously and reduce the passing from direct to mixed - again, I want the ball won in midfield and quickly sprayed out to the wingbacks. Despite only having the 2 shots and going down to 10 men after 78 minutes 1 on target we finally grab ourselves our first win of the season with a very narrow 1-0 victory.

 

[Edd1920]

June 2017

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Reasonable first game of the month against Fjolnir but maintaining the 3-2-2-1-2 is taking its toll, particuarly on the strikers who I don’t have cover for in the squad. Nevertheless, a decent finish from Daniels seals the draw.

Prottur…and for the first time this season, I’m disappointed not to have won despite changing the formation slightly to allow some rotation. Anyway, another 1-1 draw with Ortiz doing the business and we are becoming the draw specialists of the league…7 games played, 5 draws. Despite the draws, I am quite impressed with the form of my 19 year old keeper in both the games and he is definitely a useful backup with the potential to become first choice.

Since it looks like this rough formation is proving quite useful and I’m definitely sticking to playing 2 up front, some new players are required. I find the following on free transfers but they can’t sign until the middle of July. Gyu in particular looks like he could be a valuable acquisition.

​​View attachment 100289 View attachment 100288

In other transfer related news, I’ve been fending off bids for Jajalo - £49k at last bid.

Another solid game against Stjarnen and another win. That’s now 5 games in a row since going 3-2-2-1-2 without losing, although only one goal scored in each of them and Ortiz has now scored 3 in his last 4 games.

So it’s all going rather well…and then my stupid f******* shortsighted cockwomble of a chairman makes this ill-judged absurd **** poor greedy absorbed altruistic decision…

View attachment 100286

I find a replacement reasonably quickly, but I’m still not impressed with the chairman and he can’t sign until the transfer window opens in any case, another 2 weeks.

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A disappointing 2-0 loss to Valur caps off a bit of an up and down month.

 

[Edd1920]

July 2017

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We seem to be having enough shots in the games, but not many on target - I add ‘work ball into box’ and ‘retain possession’ to hopefully help in this respect.

July starts with 3 tough away games.

The IBV result leaves me FUMING - we dominate possession, stats and have by far the better chances, but 2 penalties conceded by the same player results in a loss…and as I’m still a bit sore after the board went over my head for the Jajalo sale, my mood is not improved!

A game against the other promoted team, Keflavik, results in a stalemate, another Ortiz goal who is proving very much my saving grace at the moment and an own goal against Breidablik consigns me to a further defeat.

15th July and the transfer window opens - as well as Gyu, Murun and Sigurjonsson joining, I’ve also bought in a WBL, Borovicanin to provide some cover:

View attachment 99899

Gyu makes his debut, scores twice and leads us to a fine 2-1 win over KR, giving us our 3rd​ win of the season and pulling us 7 points clear of the relegation zone which provides some breathing space but with an away game against the league leaders next, the pressure doesn’t ease up.

Quite simply, we get hammered and the less said about that, the better.

 

[Edd1920]

August 2017

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​​An edgy win against Vikingur and yet another Ortiz goal, he’s now scored 8 of my 13 goals this season and I’m getting concerned with the number of teams sniffing around him. Given the chairman’s proclivity to sell players under my nose, I’m dreading any formal bids coming in.

In any case, another 3 points and I’m counting the games down now until safety. Against FH, we struggle to do anything. We concede an early goal and basically end up chasing the game from then on. We really struggle in the latter stages of the games, with the players only on part time contracts getting them sufficiently fit / match fit and able to last 90 minutes is proving a real problem.

Fjolnir provide stubborn opposition and despite having the better of the chances - Gyu is guilty of not putting away 2 clear cut one-on-one’s and we end up not being able to break through.

A nice straightforward 2-0 win against the bottom team gives us another vital 3 points towards safety, Ortiz again, and Gyu providing the goals.

The final game of the month sees us take a very early lead through Gyu but again, the mounting pressure and the teams apparant lack of fitness results in lots of open spaces, too much time given to the opposition and they pick us off for the equaliser despite me trying to shut the game down.
​​

 

[Edd1920]

September 2017
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​

I have a number of contracts expiring in 2018, so I take the opportunity to renew the most important for another 2 years. Olafssen is the only first team member of the squad whose contract expires this year, and I’m happy for him to leave.

The final 3 games of the season sees us 9 points clear of relegation. The pre-season projection was that 25 points would be enough to stay up, but it looks as though it won’t be anywhere near that. Prottur R and Keflavik on 11 and 14 points respectively prop up the table.

We just need one point from the final games…

Well, its taken 20 games but for the first time this season we’re completely outclassed courtesy of Valur, who were just better in every department. We’re staggeringly lucky they only scored 2 and we were very lucky to get one with our only shot on target. Let’s hope we can secure safety with the next two games.

A hard fought 0-0 against IBV secures survival defying the odds, and whilst not a sparkling performance, I will take this. It does leave our bitter rivals, Keflavik as the final game of the season. They are still at risk of relegation and need a win to guarantee staying up, so they will be up for it.

Hardly a classic and a second consecutive 0-0. Keflavik can’t do anything and Stjarnen win meaning they stay up at the expense of Keflavik.

The player stats look like this for league games:

View attachment 99560


Unsurprisingly Ortiz leads with the way with the goals with 9. No-one else comes close and Gyu, who managed 4, only joined in July. Not much else to shout about, but definitely some scope for improving the squad in the closed season.

What does surprise me is that the reserve keeper, Dhaira, who still played nearly half of the league games, gets the highest average rating.

End of season review:

View attachment 99559

 

[Edd1920]

October - December 2017:​

​

My main job during the break is to upgrade the squad as there are a number of positions where I’m a bit weak. I could do with first team quality in the CM and AMC positions and anywhere else if the quality comes up. I’ve also, in my haste to bring in extra players, brought in too many foreign players (Only 3 can be in the matchday squad - I have 5) so if I can replace one or two of them, that would be helpful.

Having said that, an interesting opportunity comes up in the Slovenian League with Rudar Velenje which I apply for:

​

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…so I go to the board, they agree a lower compensation fee and Rudar Velenje put my application on hold…In the meantime, I bring in a new WBL to replace one of my foreign influx.

View attachment 99447
​

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And, finally, a player comfortable playing in the AMC role and one I have high hopes for. Retraining Jennings to play in the middle only had limited success (0 goals, 1 assist in 21 games) so I’m hoping for much more from Stefansson.

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I also bring in Muldoon, virtually breaking the bank to do so but hopefully gives us real quality and ability in the middle of the park:

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And then this job becomes available…

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…I apply, but its unsuccessful. They may be a bit too good for my limited current ability…shame, as this would have been a really good opportunity. Bizarrely, I still haven’t heard back from Rudar Velenje despite applying 2 months ago and they have an interim manager in charge for the moment.

So, friendlies arranged, dead wood lost, new talent brought in, contracts renewed…let’s go.

The opening cup starts with me placed in Group B with the following teams although it doesn't start until February so I have a month to bed the new players in. I've deliberately tried to restrict the numbers in to aid integration, but time will tell as to whether that's successful.

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