Nordic Nights

[sharpysharps]

Hi all, unfortunately I lost my last save that I had started a story on here with so I've gone back to the drawing board and come up with something new.

I wanted to try something a little different, so i thought it'd be fun to tour the Nordic countries on the game and see if I can take 1 team from each country to success in Europe while building up the reputation of each league in the process. The countries I will be touring on this save are Sweden, Norway, Denmark, Iceland and Finland. This isn't going to be easy but I'm up for a new challenge!

Nordic Nights

Rather than picking a team from the off I thought i'd see where I end up by starting without a job, I don't want to just stroll in at one of the top clubs here...i'm in for the long haul. The bulk of the jobs going seem to be in Sweden, and after a handful of interviews...

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So after a short spell unemployed I managed to land a job at Swedish Second Division North side, Ange IF. They've already started their season, so no chance to assess the squad ahead of the big kick off. We also had a game in 1 day to prepare for!

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A warm welcome from the Chairman, I'm pretty happy with that £400 a week contract too, given that we are in the lowest tier of Swedish football available. A little background on the club...

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So i've ended up at a club that have no real history of note...yet. Hopefully I can change that! Season expectations from the board where for us to finish mid table, it's hard not to argue with that when you don't know anything about the player's you are working with yet. One thing I did know about the team was that they have a handful of young English players on their books. This guy being the pick of them...

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Hopefully having a group of lads that speak the same language as me will help gel the team together and get my messages across. As mentioned above, Ange have already played 1 game this season, here's how they got on in that as well as their pre-season results.

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IFK Ostersund are nothing special by the looks of it, so drawing your first game of the season at home to them is a bit worrying. Next update I'll have had a few games under my belt as manager, and hopefully I'll have seen enough of the squad to assess what the good, bad and the ugly is with this team!
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[Linecoigne1998]

This is gonna be interesting! best of luck mate I'll be following

 

[Nnicod55]

Interesting and nice seeing this one cause I'm Finnish! Good luck!

 

[sharpysharps]

Nordic Nights

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I had just 1 day to enjoy settling into my first job before we had a game away from home at Harnosands FF. My only expectation from this game was to not lose given I no very little about the group of players I'll be working with. Lets see what i've let myself in for...

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A 1-1 away draw, I certainly can't complain with that. It was a tight game, we got an early goal but as the game went on we sat back and the players were quite simply shattered after about 60 minutes. A point on the road is not to be sniffed at I guess.

So moving onto the rest of the fixtures for April...

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We've tasted all three different outcomes during my first 3 games in charge. We aren't going to score loads but we also look ok at the back, a lot of these games are going to be decided by the odd goal by the looks of it. A home win and a clean sheet was more than welcome at home to Anundsjo IF, but then a tough defeat on the road followed that.

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A late goal sent us 2-1 down here. Disapointing that the lads couldn't hold on but I'm starting to see why mid-table is where we are expected to finish!

Player Profile!

We've got a really young group of players in the first team, and one of the picks is our Captain. Hopefully this guy can lead the line for us up front. I'm not keen on having the captain of the team as a centre forward but he really is our only option for the role. Our team lack leaders so that's something I'll be looking to improve on.

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[sharpysharps]

Nordic Nights

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So after seeing out our first month in the job at Ange IF I was keen for us to kick on and start building this club up so that it has a more long term future. During my job interview I asked the board to consider a senior affiliate club to help us out with some loan playuers. We're not exactly flush with cash so the option of taking some freebies on loan from a bigger club would be great.

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So BK Hacken are the club to link up with us, it's a great chance for them to send out some of their promising youngsters, and its fantastic for us to be able to have our pick of them. They're a premier league club so to establish a connection like this can only be a good thing for us.

May - June (2015) Results

The league games just fly by given that there are no other competitions to focus on. This is how we faired during May and June.

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A mixed bag, 4 wins, 4 defeats and a draw. The pick of the games for us was the 4-2 home win against Skelleftea FF, who are languishing towards the bottom of the table at the moment. We are certainly living up to our reputation as a mid table side with inconsistency being the biggest problem.It feels like we are on the cusp of stepping it up a level and pushing for a top half finish but everytime we look to have turned a cornewr we crash to a defeat and a poor performance. The 3-0 away defeat to promotion challengers Team TG FF proved that point. We are a LONG way from getting close to their level it seems.

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Player Profile!

Perhaps our greates strength in the squad is in the centre forward department. Dibba, our captain and his striker partner Elliot Karelind are pitching in with their share of the goals, and both of them where crucial in helping us to that big 4-2 home win. Karelind in particular has started well, he could well hit double figures for us.

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[sharpysharps]

Nordic Nights

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July

We've been ok so far, achieving pretty much what is ecpected of us, and heading into July I'm pretty hopefully we can pick up the pace and cement a comfortable if not spectacular league position.

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A couple of draws to start the month. We could really have done with winning one of those because the league table is starting to get really congested at just over the halfway point in the season. An away draw at Bodens BK is a great result though considering they are starting to create a gap between themselves and 2nd, and they haven't lost a game as of yet either.

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5 wins, 5 draws and 5 defeats. We are the epitomy of mid table obscurity right now, but 1 or 2 defeats could change that. Just 2 points between ourselves and 12th place has us looking over our shoulders! We really need to pick up a couple of wins to stave off any concerns of slipping down the table. What better way to do that than a home game against 11th placed Selangers FK...

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OUCH! 3 defeats, no goals scored...we were terrible in all 3 of these, just awful. We go into August in 12th position, which at the moment qualifies us for the relegation playoff groups at the end of the season. Not good, not good at all!

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As you can see we never looked like scoring based on those stats. Having more of the ball counts for nothing if you don't do anything with it.

Player Profiles!

Another of our better performers so far is this guy, he is the pick of our midfielders but he can't do it all on his own. We needed to sterngthen if we are going to get out of the mess we have put ourselves in.

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Brought in to play alongside Winka in the middle is Didier Kony, a young loanee from IK Frej. If all goes well i'll be looking to keep him on for next season too as he looks a cut above a lot of midfielders at this level, with the potential to improve at the age of 20.

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[sharpysharps]

Nordic Nights

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August & September Results (2015)

So this month was shaping up to be a tough one by the looks of it...

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I managed to convince the chairman that the recent defeats were more down to bad luck than anything, to which the board have decided to give me a chance to redeem myself. Failure to win the next game though could prove fatal. I'm not even 1 season into my time here and my managerial career is already on its knees! I needed a reaction from the players.

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Phew! It's been a while but we certainly put Solleftea GIF to the sword to record a big win, and that clean sheet will go down well too. Those 2 strikers of mine have find their scoring boots again, and nice to see Winka (who featured in the last update) pick up the player of the match award. Despite that win there is still plenty of talk about me getting the boot.

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Feels a bit harsh considering I just delivered such a great result. Never the less it's time to push on and get clear of the drop zone!

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Or not...

We are back to our inconsistent best, after 3 wins from 4 we slipped to 3 defeats and a draw, albeit against Team TG FF who rolled us over earlier on in the campaign. Our final match of the season saw us go down 2-0 at home to Bodens BK and we finish our first season in 12th place, which enters us into a relegation playoff to try and keep our status as a 2nd Division side. (Apologies on the lack of a league table here, i'll post one in the next update to show how things ended up).

This is going to be tougher than I ever thought.

Player Profile!

I mentioned in my last post that midfield was a weak point for us so I took the opportunity during the recent transfer window to strengthen us further in that department. He might not be the finished article but Kabondo has bags of potential. I'm taking a risk on the fact that his cons outweigh his pros quite a bit.

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[PatrickLFC]

Tricky start but it's nice to see a battle against adversity. Keep it up!

 

[sharpysharps]

Nordic Nights

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Swedish 2nd Division Relegation Playoffs

So at the end of our first league campaign we find ourselves with the burden of having to deal with a Relegation Playoff Group. We were drawn in a group of 3 teams, 2 of which are from the 3rd Division so they'll be vying to take our place in the 2nd Division. The pressure is well and truly on.

First up of our 2 playoff matches was an away trip to Karlbergs BK...

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A comfortable win really, they never looked like threatening to score. We really should have won this about 3 or 4 nil but I'll take whatever win at this stage. With a home tie to follow we have a great chance to seal our survival in the 2nd Division. Here's how things panned out...

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So we did it! It may not be the greates start to my managerial career but dropping down the the 3rd Division would've had me sacked without a doubt. At least now I can hope that the board decide to stick with me and give me another season to turn things around. My contract is up very soon, so it's going to be a nervous time waiting to see what happens.

The final league table for the season looks like this:

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A couple more wins would have had us pushing for mid table, but it wasn't to be. The good news is we have a chance to redeem ourselves next year...although looking at current feedback from the board i'm not sure i'll even be here next season!

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Finances aren't looking great either. At the moment I have no idea whether the board will stick with me or not, it's not going to cost them anything to get rid of me, and so far any attempts to open talks over a new deal has been met with rejection.

Player Profile!

Had to mention this guy as his form in the 2 relegation playoff matches played a big part in our survival. Signed on a free transfer early in the season he picked up a big injury pretty much instantly so has only played a handful of games. The midfield is starting to look like one of our strongest areas moving forward.

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[sharpysharps]

Nordic Nights

Close Season 2015

Wth survival in the bag after a tense relegation playoff, it's all about trying to pursuade the board to give me a new contract. Otherwise it's back to square one and the job centre for me. Despite a poor first season I feel like this team had potential to do much more.

Despite no contract on the table yet there was an interesting development in the board room...

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So I could well end up with a new chairman soon, and I have no idea whether they will want to keep me on or not.

Looking towards the Premeir League, Malmo where champions for the 2015 season...it feels like we are a heck of a long way off even getting to the First Division at the moment, never mind winning the Premier League.

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The build up to the Ange IF chairman elections took place over the course of about a month, heading into January 2016. My contract expired at the end of the year, and just when we reached the last day in December I was met with a pleasant surprise from what appeared to be the outgoing chairman...

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I snapped the guys hand off and ensured I was staying on at Ange. Maybe the chairman gave me this deal to spite the fans or the potentially new chairman coming into the club but I'll take what I can get right now! Bizarrely they have increased my wage budget so I have plenty more on that front to bring in some better players for the 2016 season.

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At least my Captain was happy I was staying on.

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Back to the elections and as expected, I was going to be dealing with a new chairman next season.

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That 100k cash injection will do very nicely indeed.

So after a tough first season I appear to have hung onto my job as manager of Ange IF. Hopefully next season will be a different story and we can move on up the table. I'm not expecting us to push for promotion or anything just yet but certainly a top half finish needs to be the expectation.
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[sharpysharps]

Nordic Nights

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2016 Pre Season Signings

The 2016 season represents a fresh start for me after a turbulent first season at Ange IF. With a new chairman to work with and a bit more money in the wage budget I've been ab;le to bring in plenty of new players of a higher calibre than last years group. Rather than focus on the outgoing players that really aren't worth talking about I'd rather focus on the new lads that will hopefully lift us up the table and give us a more enjoyable season overall.

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10 (TEN) players arrived during pre-season to bolster the squad, with us able to splash the cash on a couple of them too. The best of them detailed below...


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As for the outgoings, there were 5 to depart with 1 of them heading out on loan for the year. I was disapointed to lose Anthony Obodai who was one of our better players last season...he turned down a new contract and is off to play first division football. Karelind despite being our 2nd top scorer has found himself way down the pecking order due to us bringing in Isaksson and Persson.

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Pre Season Friendly Results

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2 wins, 1 draw and 3 defeats was how our pre-season schedule panned out. Bearing in mind those 3-0 defeats came against teams at a much higher level than us I can't be overly disapointed. The lack of any particularly convincing victories is however a cause for concern. Given the sheer amount of new players it's going to take a little bit of time for them to gel together as a team.
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[sharpysharps]

Nordic Nights

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2016 Season: The Big Kick Off

With a big number of new players coming into the club it felt like this was the season for me to put my own stamp on things at Ange. No doubt the clubs new chairman will be keeping a close eye on our progress after such a busy summer. He'll also be more than aware of the mess we ended up in last year. Given that he didn't negotiate my new contract I need to make sure the team impresses early doors.

Last seaosn we ended up playing a very narrow 41311 system after sacrificing a striker to bulk up the midfield. Ultimately playing this way did just enough to get us through the relegation playoffs by getting those two 1-0 wins. With the new strikers brought in I'm going to play a 4312 high tempo.

We started the season with an away trip to IFK Timra. Here's hoping for 3 points and a convincing performance.......

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Well thats a kick in the teeth! Had plenty of chances to get something from this game but we just didn't take them. Onto the next one and our first home match of the season...

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Well the sending off didn't help but we had most of the chances and didn't take them...AGAIN. 2 games in...2 defeats and no goals scored. Worst possible start but in a league of 14 teams a couple of wins would propel us up to mid table so early in the season.

Onto our 3rd game of the season, will it be 3rd time lucky?

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Now THAT is more like it. Kiruna FF are a new team in the league and we put them to the sword with relative ease. Great to see one of our new strikers Persson bag himself a hat trick too. Can we top this result with a home win?

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We certainly can! A 4-0 thumping of the unfortunately named Moron BK has seen us climb to the top half of the table after those two early defeats. Another goal for Persson and a double from Isaksson also sees him up and running for the season. A 2nd clean sheet on the bounce is an added bonus.

4 games in and we've had 2 wins and 2 defeats, but we go into the final game of April high on confidence after two really comfortable wins.

April & May Results

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We couldn't manage a third win in a row at the end of April and proceeded to draw the next 2 games before a poor poerformance left us with a 3-1 away defeat to Harnosands FF. Despite that we managed to bounce back again and win against Team TG FF, who incidentally are favourites to go up this season so this is a big win for us. Our character is starting to show a bit more in this team.

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That win against Team TG saw Tor Isaksson bag another goal for us. Him and Philip Persson have been fantastic so far this season. If only they'd taken their chances in those first 2 games we would be right up at the top of the table. As it is we are sitting mid-tablebut with optimism of establishing ourselves as a top half side.

Player Profile!

That man Isaksson has had a great start to his time with here, forming a promising partnership with Persson.

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[sharpysharps]

Nordic Nights

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June & July 2016 Results

Going into June we have managed to establish ourselves as a pretty decent side, sitting in mid table but certainly carrying a goal threat. Just 3 defeats so far and it really should only have been 1 as those first 2 games of the season I'm putting down to just plain bad luck. June and July should tell me more about where this team can go...

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Down is the answer! An absolutely awful two months, 8 defeats, 7 of them in a row and just 1 win. That run of 7 defeats is the worst run i've ever had, and hopefully i'll never experience anything like it again.

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We've basically just committed football suicide, dropping from a reasonably comfortable mid table position to 13th in the league, next to bottom. To make matters worse the chairman called me in for a meeting to discuss my future. I can't blame him to be fair, we've been awful under my management for these 2 months and i'm not sure where its even come from. The players have the ability to be much better than this so it surely comes down to me. Somehow I managed to survive the sack for the time being, atleast for 1 more game. Failure to win in our next game away at bottom of the table Soderhamns FF will seal my fate and send me packing. I'm not even sure a draw would keep me in my job right now...quite simply WE HAVE TO WIN!

Player Profile!

Another of our summer signings is Tobia Utriainen, Finnish centre back who is just entering what should be the prime of his career. Unfortnately for him he's been part of a defence that has just shipped a load of goals in our nightmare run through the last 2 months.

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[sharpysharps]

Nordic Nights

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Crunch Match: Can I save my job?

We're 13th in the league, next to bottom and in the relegation zone. Not even the relegation playoff position either...as it stands we are going down with a whimper after what had been a pretty decent start to the season. 7 defeats in a row later we are in a right mess for the 2nd season in a row and after a tense meeting with the board I have 1 game to save my job.

On a positive note I have been getting plenty of support from the players, giving me hope that they still have faith in me as a manager.

Never the less something needs to change here. I've been playing narrow systems since I arrived at the club with mixed results, but it's just not working for us at all anymore. I'm switching to a wider set up for our crucial away match against bottom of the league Soderhamns FF, and after much deliberation I have decided on a wider 4231 formation with two attacking wingers and an attacking midfielder in the hole behind the lone striker. Isaksson will play the striker role with Persson on the right and our Captain, Dibba on the left.

This is the biggest game of my time at Ange IF, and this is how it went...

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WHAT. A. WIN.

The biggest game of our season results in the biggest win of our season, and possibly the biggest win we'll ever have. The new system worked incredibly well with Persson helping himself to his 2nd hat trick of the season, and what a moment for young English striker Jordan Ball who hasn't had a look in really. He came on for Isaksson at 4-1 and managed to get 2 goals himself. Huge win, absolutely massive. We've managed to pretty much even out our goal difference as well which is an extra added bonus.


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[sharpysharps]

Nordic Nights

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Deadline Day New Signings

After the immense success of winning our last game 7-1 to keep me in a job, attention then turned to the transfer market. If we were going to sustain any kind of form after that massive win we needed to bring in some more quslity to fit with the new wider system we were going to work with.

Acting swiftly on transfer deadline day we brought in 3 new faces:

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Archie Harvey and David Svensson came in to provide more quality on the left and right wings. Playing Dibba and Persson out wide was always going to be a temporary measure. Centre back Bergenhem also arrived to bolster our ranks at the back and goes straight into the team as well.

August & September Results

2 months of the season left but with a huge confidence boost after that 7-1 win, this is how the rest of the season panned out for us:

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From 7 defeats in a row to 8 games unbeaten! After 2 draws following on from our big win I thought another false dawn was on the cards, but then a fantastic 4-2 win away to top team Team TG ensure gave us the winning feeling that spurred us on through September.

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Harvey and Svensson started have started their time at Ange in absolutely fantastic form, they're both on fire. The win against Team TG lifted us to 10th and relegation worries were starting to ease a little.

3 wins and a draw from September saw us finish the season in style. A solid 3-1 away win against Ostersund had me walking away from this season thinking what might have been had we not had that horrible run of defeats through the mid season.

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The new system we employed ahead of the 7-1 win at the start of August has transformed our season and guided us to a top half finish! Still a good 20 points off top spot though, despite doing the double over the league winners.

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Huge credit to Harvey and Svensson arriving with 2 months left of the season. Svensson was so good that he ended up getting the most player of the match awards out of the entire squad.

After a really difficult season and a half at Ange IF things are starting to genuinley look up for the first time. Maybe i'm getting carried away but I really feel like this group has the potential to challenge for promotion if we keep this recent consistency and carry it into the 2017 season.


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[sharpysharps]

Nordic Nights

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2016 Close Season

With our season ending on a high its time to wrap things up for 2016 with a season review. From being on the verge of the sack for the 2nd season running I have managed to earn another new contract after that great run at the end of the campaign.

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We had a winner in the Second Division North end of season awards, with Andreas Gunnarsson picking up the defender of the year award. Despite some bad times during the campaign this guy has always looked the real deal for us.

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Internally, central midfielder Oskar Olsson was voted fans player of the year by some margin. Gunnarsson was runner up. Jordan Ball picked up goal of the season for his cracker in the 7-1 win against Soderhamns in the game that essentially saved our season.

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Archie Harvey has only been with the club for 2 months and yet he is voted signing of the season. What a player we have on our hands with him. Also congrats to Marcus Wirell, a left back signing at the start of the season picks up the clubs young player of the season award.

Ange IF Overall Best XI

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Lots of changes to the Ange IF overall best XI. Persson and Isaksson go straight in as a front pairing, with only 3 players from the 2015 squad present.

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A big change in the boards confidence in my performance as manager compared to this time last season. Things are looking good for me at the moment here, hopefully we can kick on into 2017 and hit the ground running.

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Also good news on the financial front. Since the change in chairman we've had investment of £140k to help with the clubs running costs. It seems that the chairman is a pretty popular guy as he's been voted in for a 2nd season in the annual club election.

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Exciting times ahead it seems. I'm under no illusions about next season though. We went into 2016 with cautious optimism and had it not been for that change of system we would've gone down. It really could go either way next time round. I'd like to think we can be up there pushing for promotion but the league can be so wide open at times that we could end up fighting relegation all over again.

One things for sure, if I'm going to start achieving anything in my tour of the Nordic countries then I need to start moving up the leagues here in Sweden pretty soon..whether that be with Ange IF or somewhere else.

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[sharpysharps]

Nordic Nights

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2017 Pre Season Plans

Going into the new season there is definitely a feeling of optimism around the place. I certainly didn't expect there to be too many changes ahead of the new campaign, certainly not to the extent of the previous year.

However, there was one important change made to the backroom staff that I felt was needed if we were to kick on.

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I made the decision to terminate my assistant manager's contract. Ultimately the decision had been made during our horro run of 7 defeats in a row during last season as I felt that he had not advised me well enough during that time. Going against his advice regarding the team and formation triggered an upturn of fortunes which has lead me to believe I need someone who I can trust a lot more.

In the search for a new assistant I have turned to someone already at the club in the form of ageing player Jonas Bjurstrom. He will stay on as a player for the next season while transitioning into the coaching side of things.

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INS and OUTS

This time last year we brought in 10 new players but based on our form at the end of 2016 there was never any chance of that happening again.

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6 new players arrived ahead of the new season, probably 2 more than I expected in truth. The last of the signings is the best of the lot, I really couldn't afford to pass up on the opportunity of bringing Layouni to the club. He will compete with one of last seasons heroes David Svensson for the left wing position.

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Qoraj will replace the outgoing Didier Kony, whom we couldn't agree a deal with for a permanent signing after his loan deal expired.

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Appelquist and Fitz will provide competition for places in the full backs area. Fitz is a loan signing from parent club BK Hacken and comes highly rated.

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Caglayan, a 17 year old loan signing from Premier league club Hammarby is an exciting prospect who will fill in that position just off the lone striker. Last but not least we have some competition in the Goalkeeping area for the first time by bringing in David Asmar on a free transfer.

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On the outgoings side of things we said goodbye to a handful of players that never really made an impact during my time here. Jordan Ball despite scoring our goal of the season last year has been released as he was never realistically going to get a look in over the coming season.

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So 5 players leaving and 6 new signings, this is how the squad looks going into the new campaign. We look a really strong outfit at this level now after building the team up for 2 seasons.

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[sharpysharps]

Nordic Nights

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2017 Pre Season Friendlies

We had 4 friendless ahead of the new season. One of which was our annual match against parent club BK Hacken, who strolled to a comfortable 3-0 win. I can't be too annoyed really, they're a premier league club and we are miles off that standard.

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2 wins and a draw elsewhere has us raring to go! This is easily the most anticipated season so far at Ange, and it really feels like we could achieve something special in 2017.

Season Expectations

Despite my optimism the board seem content with a mid table finish again. I'd be surprised if we finished mid table as we have aspirations of pushing for promotion.

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It seems that the betting odds are more in line with where I expect us to end up around the end of the season. They have us 2nd favourites to win the league, and with some distance between us and Hundiksvalls FF who are third favourites at 25-1. It looks like everyone expects it to be a two horse race at the top...

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We start the season with a home game against Moron BK. Can we start the new season the way we ended the last one? We're about to find out...

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[sharpysharps]

Nordic Nights

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April & May 2017

So here we are, our third season at Ange IF and never has there been more excitement around the club for a new season. We went into the campaign with the intention of playing the same 4231 system that was so successful in our change of fortunes last year.

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The big kick off had us at home against Moron BK. We beat these lot early on last season with a convincing 4-0 victory. Could we repeat that with our first match of 2017..............

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The answer is yes....but only just. We went down 1-0 really early on here, in fact it was in just the 2nd minute. A 26th minute reply from centre back Hermansson had us level going into the half time break. Philip Persson playing as the lone striker for us bagged the winner on 68 minutes and we managed to hold on to win our first match of the season. It wasn't spectacular but a win is a win.

Next up was an away trip to IFK Timra, who are a side very much expected to struggle around the bottom of the league.

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A comfortable 3-0 win on the road means we have started the season in fantastic form, very much carrying on where we left off. We never looked like slipping up here, with our new star player Layouni getting his first 2 goals of the season in his first start.

So, 2 games in and 2 wins. Next up was Anundsjo IF who are tipped to struggle as well. They're odds of 150-1 to win the league had me thinking we would record our 3rd win in a row...

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Well this is awkward! We just didn't turn up for this and completely underestimated an Anundsjo side who have started the season just as well as we had. We conceded in the first minute and never looked like getting back into the game despite a decent spell around the hour mark. Poor stuff really. If we are to be seriously considered as promotion contenders then we need to bounce back straight away in the next game.

Back on the road we travelled to mid table expectants Selangers FK.

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FUMING! Absolutely fuming. We are one of the strongest sides in the division on paper and yet we looked like relegation fodder here. It was like we had gone back in time with a horror show defensive performance. The less said about this game the better but this had me worried. No team loses 5-1 and can expect to be at the top of the table.

Our leaky defence had me concerned so I've reverted to a less attacking set up for now, but still using the same formation. It steadied the ship a little bit and allowed us to go on a 4 match unbeaten run with 2 wins and 2 draws. This is how the results looked after 8 games:

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We are sitting mid table (again) after conceding last minute goals in those 2 draws against Bodens and Hudiksvalls, Had we won those then we would likely be in the top two.

Friska Viljor FC are another team expected to struggle at the bottom of the league, and they were next up for us. We needed to get back to winning ways here if we want to be considered serious contenders.

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It seems like every time we desperately need to get a win we do it in some style! An emphatic 5-2 win had me asking the players why can't they do this every week??? Conceding 2 is annoying but we seem to have adopted the Keegan philosophy of trying to simply outscore the opposition.

17 year old Caglayan was the star of the show. I can see why his parent club Hammarby rate him so highly. He looks like he is going to be a future star in the Swedish premier league.

We had 2 more games left in May to hopefully cement our promotion challenge. The last game of the month saw us at home to 2nd place IFK Hassleholm. With us sitting in 3rd after the 2-1 away win against Bergnasets AIK this was going to be our biggest game of the season so far.

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Luckily for us we came out on top

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The game swung both ways a few times but we eventually took the bull by the horns and ran out 5-3 winners. Our defence still looks shaky but we are scoring 5 goals a game regularly too. Its the most exciting football we've ever played...I could just do without the frustrations of conceding so many as well!

This is how the table looks heading into June:

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3 points off the top, and its Anundsjo who triumphed over us earlier on that sit in top spot. They are having an amazing season but came undone for the first time in their last game, allowing us to close the gap to 3 points while overtaking Hassleholm in the process.

I'm feeling cautious but a home game against bottom of the league Ostersund gives us a great chance to continue our latest winning streak to 4 in a row as we approach the mid point in the season.

Player Profile!

I've never really mentioned my goalkeeper so far, but despite us conceding more than I'd like I think he's been a really reliable player between the sticks in my 2 and a half years here. He's certainly earned us a few points in the past with some fantastic saves. If we can shore up the defence a bit more moving forward then we'll be looking really strong.

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[sharpysharps]

Nordic Nights

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June & July 2017

Having already played a couple of game into June (see the last update) we find ourselves 2nd in the table going into an away match to bottom side IFK Ostersund. Having just won 5-3 against hen 2nd in the table Hassleholm I was feeling pretty confident going into the mid season round of fixtures.

It seems that my confidence was rightly placed ion the team as we had a pretty decent run of results heading into mid July...

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Another emphatic win to start this round of matches off, and another game where we have scored 5 goals. That's 5 goals scored in 3 of the last 4 games, and a whopping 17 goals altogether.

We had a couple of tight draws followinon from thatig win before getting back to winng ways against IFK Timra. A 3rd clean sheet in a row against Selangers FK saw us run out 1-0 winners. We are playing really well and seem to have sorted out our defensive problems too.

To add the icing on the cake...

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WE ARE TOP OF THE LEAGUE

We've made it to top of the league, but now the hard work really begins...can we actually stay there? It's a fair bit tighter in the fight for promotion this season whereas usually there is 1 team that just runs away with it. Despite our recent form we are always prone to the odd poor performance so I'm not expecting us to walk it or anything.

We had 2 more matches in July to deal with before we get carried away with our climb up the table...

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An away win against Anundsjo IF who turned over earlier in the season. They are one of 4 teams pushing for promotion so this is a big win for us. A draw to Harnosands FF is not exactly brilliant but it keeps our unbeaten run intact.


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