Branst23 Posted December 8, 2022 Share Posted December 8, 2022 (edited) Bjørndal IF After several attempts to get into a long term save on FM23, I will be starting my save with Bjørndal IF. Bjørndal IF sit in the lowly 11th tier of Norway based to the south of Oslo. The save will consist of starting without any coaching badges and Sunday League experience; meaning this is truly a bottom to top type of save. I will be making no transfers and the only way I will get new players is via the youth intake! Club Ethos and Goals Doing my research about the club, I love that "Bjørndal Idrettsforening's motto is "Sports for all", we shall contribute to ensuring that everyone thrives in the team and in the club while at the same time ensuring good sporting development for the individual athlete." The board aren't the most ambitious with just looking to stay in the division! Club Infrastructure My manager profile at the start of the save with no coaching badge, Sunday league experience and a real lack of attributes! The facilities, where the stadium is shared by 48 different clubs! Fixtures congestion and the condition of the pitch could be interesting! We will look to improve the youth recruitment and coaching as this is what the save depends on! Initial First Team Squad A real mixed squad, judging by the initial star ratings before I did in to the side at an attribute level, there are some big gaps in goalkeeper, defence and midfield! Attack may have the be the form of defence! The player listed below to give you a sense of what we are working with: Season Preview Given the lack of quality in defence and midfield it could make for an interesting first season! Predicted 7th, let's hope we upset a few teams on the way up the leagues! Rounding off - some thank you's! I have been inspired by @Warg92 with their Try IL save and wanted to say a huge thanks to @XaW for creating the 11th Tier Norway database (link to database). Let the adventure begin! Progress Updates Season 1 Review Season 2 Review Edited December 12, 2022 by Branst23 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Branst23 Posted December 8, 2022 Author Share Posted December 8, 2022 (edited) Season 1 - Preseason 2022 Overall a very positive pre-season, getting 4 wins out of 4 matches! The first team got valuable minutes and the familiarity of the 4231 tactic I am starting with has increased. First game got off to an interesting start with my captain being sent off in 14 minutes! We did manage to beat a tier 6 side 1-0 in the third game of preseason, they did however pick up an early red card. Tactics: Get the ball forward and wide, hoping to abuse the width while not chucking too many players forward so don't get hit on the counter. Coaching Badge This could get interesting as I go up the leagues if the board doesn't want to give me a coaching badge! On we go to the first month of league football! Edited December 8, 2022 by Branst23 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Branst23 Posted December 8, 2022 Author Share Posted December 8, 2022 (edited) Season 1 - April 2022 Interesting first month of results. Jutul are predicted to finish top of the division and blew us away with 3 good goals, Try didn't really provide much of a test and I had hoped that this would kick start the month. Huk 2 was the most frustrating game and we went 3-0 up before disaster struck, no way of stopping momentum and we left with 1 point from this home game. Lastly a 2-0 away meant that we currently sit 4th in the table. Edited December 8, 2022 by Branst23 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Branst23 Posted December 8, 2022 Author Share Posted December 8, 2022 (edited) Season 1 - May . Three games in 6 days left the first team fatigue very high. A good month better Jutul who had started the strongest in the league! Amin Svartvadet, the boy wonder (only 15) has 9 league goals already! Hoping we can keep hold of him for a long time! We also had some good news off the pitch and the board is starting to play ball! And probably most importantly for me: Edited December 8, 2022 by Branst23 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lyiam_13 Posted December 8, 2022 Share Posted December 8, 2022 Really looking forward to reading this. Best of luck 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
KibworthBull Posted December 8, 2022 Share Posted December 8, 2022 Youth only is the way to go. Totally infuriating but sooo rewarding when it comes off 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Branst23 Posted December 8, 2022 Author Share Posted December 8, 2022 1 hour ago, Lyiam_13 said: Really looking forward to reading this. Best of luck Thank you! Think it could be a long save. 1 hour ago, KibworthBull said: Youth only is the way to go. Totally infuriating but sooo rewarding when it comes off Thanks @KibworthBull! I love youth only saves, they are the one type which i get into. With the volume of free agents in lower league saves I tend to get bored or progress up the league too quickly. I'm a glutton for punishment! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Branst23 Posted December 8, 2022 Author Share Posted December 8, 2022 Season 1 - June A good month with 2 wins out of 2! Due to the number of teams in the league, most months average about 3 games a month, We have caught the teams that were in front of us and boosted our goal difference nicely. 8 unbeaten at the moment! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Branst23 Posted December 8, 2022 Author Share Posted December 8, 2022 Season 1 - July & August No games in July, meant straight into the 2 game month of August! Another 2 wins as we keep building on each good performance, the tactic I have built is designed to press but not overtire players and lead to an increase of injuries, I am extremely happy with the progress and type of goals we are scoring. Although sitting 1st in the league, Jutul are still winning just as many as us! 3 games left of the season! This is getting tense! The remaining fixtures: Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Branst23 Posted December 8, 2022 Author Share Posted December 8, 2022 Season 1 - September Shocking month for us right at the crucial point, the lack of quality in goal and defence is costing us big time in away games! Advantage Jutul with their game in hand, luckily they did drop points by drawing one of their games this month! Good news - hopefully the first of many! Last game of the season to play against Huk 2 next month! Can we pull off the miracle and go up first season! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lyiam_13 Posted December 8, 2022 Share Posted December 8, 2022 This is getting a tense end of the season Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Branst23 Posted December 9, 2022 Author Share Posted December 9, 2022 (edited) Season 1 - October Further progress off the field and another upgrade to the most important area of this save! Drama on the last day of the season... Unfortunately we only managed a 2-2 draw in our final game on the 15th October which meant that Jutul needed to win to take the title in their last game! Amazingly a 90th minute equaliser for Fossum 2 handed us the title in our first season with Bjørndal! Amazingly our worst player picked up the most clean sheets of the season and also our young 15 year old striker got 2nd most goals in the season! An exciting first season in the 11th tier of Norway! Bring on 10th tier! Edited December 9, 2022 by Branst23 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Branst23 Posted December 9, 2022 Author Share Posted December 9, 2022 Season 1 - Youth Intake Preview Well, well, well... I'll let you work out if I am excited or not! Spoiler Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
deltablue Posted December 9, 2022 Share Posted December 9, 2022 Good start. 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Branst23 Posted December 9, 2022 Author Share Posted December 9, 2022 Season 1 Review/Youth Intake Overall, really happy with the progress of made in Season 1, getting promotion instantly was key as only 1 team go up from the league! Svartvadet netted 15 goals and had a solid rating 7.66 throughout the season. Youth Intake As you can see from the info graphic above, we lucked out on our first youth intake getting 16 youth players that have an Elite outlook and all have higher than a 4 star potential ability, massive for the growth of this save and moving into next season! All youth intake players apart from one are from Oslo. Mykola Knyish is from Ukraine which is pretty cool, always interested as the save goes on how we will pick up players from different nationalities! Onwards and upwards 2 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Branst23 Posted December 9, 2022 Author Share Posted December 9, 2022 (edited) Season 2 - Preview As we head into season 2, I am feeling more optimistic as our season preview was suggesting we would finish 7th but after our youth intake that quickly bounded to 3rd! On top of this it's clear that our tactical style is starting to become the culture at the club. It still confuses me how the board can want both attacking and counter attacking football! Is that due to counter-pressing - let me know what you think?! The 2 best players in the team Notice they are both this intake - I have a feeling that is going to be the way up until probably the 4th tier! "You can't win anything with kids" was uttered by former Liverpool star Alan Hansen on Match of the Day in 1995. Edited December 9, 2022 by Branst23 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Branst23 Posted December 9, 2022 Author Share Posted December 9, 2022 Season 2 - Preseason Not a huge update here, tied down all the squad on to new amateur contracts to try to fend of any interest, 3 pre-season games trying to boost morale, tactical familiarity and get minutes in legs, Lets get the show on the road Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Branst23 Posted December 9, 2022 Author Share Posted December 9, 2022 Side note - Wonderkid in Norway Through out all of the time in FM, I have never seen a newgen wonderkid break into the NXGN Best wonderkids in the first season! This could be a good sign for Norwegian football! Obviously not one of my players but one can dream of getting this type of player in the future! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Branst23 Posted December 9, 2022 Author Share Posted December 9, 2022 Season 2 - April Perfect start to the season, 2 wins out of 2 and the youth intake players are excelling! 9 out of the starting 11 are players from the youth intake. This makes the average age of my preferred starting XI a youthful 15.2 years old! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Branst23 Posted December 11, 2022 Author Share Posted December 11, 2022 Season 2 - May Awesome month of May for us as we continue to lead the table, pulling 2 points clear at the top. The youth players are dominating in this division which gives me positivity as we move forward and rise. Biggest call out being the double header against FC Oslo 2 who we managed to beat at home and pick up a draw away. Oslo had been predicted 2nd in the league so this was big for us! We keep moving! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Branst23 Posted December 11, 2022 Author Share Posted December 11, 2022 Season 2 - June Overall a bit disappointed to lose to Nordstrand 3 especially as they can move top if they win their games in hand. 2 solid 4-0 wins. We move into the next period of the season which has 1 game in 2 months! (Lots of space bar hitting!) Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
lied90 Posted December 11, 2022 Share Posted December 11, 2022 Didn't know Bjørndalen was that far down the leagues, I guess Holmlia and Nordstrand take all the good local players. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Branst23 Posted December 11, 2022 Author Share Posted December 11, 2022 1 minute ago, lied90 said: Didn't know Bjørndalen was that far down the leagues, I guess Holmlia and Nordstrand take all the good local players. Yes think it will be more challenging as I get up the leagues, luckily my players are so bad that no one is interested in them yet! As I am still amateur it's about keeping a big squad at the same time incase players want to leave or free transfers come through. Not a Norwegian expert but love the scenery around some of the stadiums! Future holiday booked if I can convince the missus haha Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Branst23 Posted December 11, 2022 Author Share Posted December 11, 2022 (edited) Season 2 - July/August Job done for the months of July and August, 1 game, 1 win! 2nd Splace still has games in hand as the title race heats up! Nordstrand 3 dropped points as FC Oslo 2 beat them 4-2! 2 games to go and 2 points would seal the title! Edited December 11, 2022 by Branst23 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
lied90 Posted December 11, 2022 Share Posted December 11, 2022 5 hours ago, Branst23 said: Yes think it will be more challenging as I get up the leagues, luckily my players are so bad that no one is interested in them yet! As I am still amateur it's about keeping a big squad at the same time incase players want to leave or free transfers come through. Not a Norwegian expert but love the scenery around some of the stadiums! Future holiday booked if I can convince the missus haha Don't think we have much scenery around any pitches here in Oslo. There are some great ones up north. 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Branst23 Posted December 11, 2022 Author Share Posted December 11, 2022 29 minutes ago, lied90 said: Don't think we have much scenery around any pitches here in Oslo. There are some great ones up north. Yes, I think that's a community pitch rather than any teams use it in the tier system? I may be wrong. I need to source a Bjørndal shirt! 🤣 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Branst23 Posted December 12, 2022 Author Share Posted December 12, 2022 Season 2 - September/October No games in September, led to a heart breaking end to the season as we lost to the eventual winners of the league. Their quality showed through as they thrashed us 6-0 when we were at home. That clinched the title making the last game of the season a dead rubber due to the final day not being played at the same time. Frustrating end to the season but we go again in tier 10! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Branst23 Posted December 12, 2022 Author Share Posted December 12, 2022 Season 2 - Youth Preview Spoiler Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Branst23 Posted December 12, 2022 Author Share Posted December 12, 2022 (edited) Season 2 Review/Youth Intake A disappointing end to the season led to us missing out on promotion but with the youth intake happening at the end of the season we definitely look like we have a stronger squad to move forward with. Knysh finished on 12 goals in 12 games and averaged 7.72. Reier was one of the original players and had a good start to the season before getting injured. We also managed to start studying for the National A coaching badge and move the youth recruitment and coaching to adequate and above average. Youth Intake The info graphic above shows the youth intake and again we have been extremely lucky with all players being in the elite outlook. A more diverse set of players as we bring in graduates from Poland, Kosovo, Lithuania and of course Norway. I am going to look forward to the graduate all time nationality graphic turning more and more red as we go through the seasons! First hump in the road, we move Edited December 12, 2022 by Branst23 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Branst23 Posted December 12, 2022 Author Share Posted December 12, 2022 Season 3 - Preview As we head into our 3rd season, we are currently sat in the 10th tier, predicted to finish 2nd. Feel confident as we managed to win and draw against FC Oslo 2 last season. There is always an interesting balance of trying to get up to the leagues as quick as possible as well as consolidating to ensure the squad is good enough! Would like to see some defenders and goalkeepers come through that are decent as we seem to be a top heavy with the quality of our attacking areas compared to the defensive regions. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Branst23 Posted December 12, 2022 Author Share Posted December 12, 2022 Season 3 - Preseason Decent preseason - Skoppum, Rolvsoy and Kurland are in higher divisions so pretty pleased with the progress. Here we go Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Branst23 Posted December 12, 2022 Author Share Posted December 12, 2022 Season 3 - April Perfect start to the league campaign! Lots of goals! To quote a Michael Owen style phrase - 'Score more than the opposition, you'll win!'. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Branst23 Posted December 12, 2022 Author Share Posted December 12, 2022 Season 3 - May 1 game month. Solid 4-0 win. FC Oslo 2 put the pressure on and take the lead of the table. Lets hope the form continues as we head into June with 3 games scheduled. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Branst23 Posted December 13, 2022 Author Share Posted December 13, 2022 Season 3 - June I hope this is the season defining month where we picked up maximum points and sit joint top with 2 games in hand! Biggest result came against FC Oslo 2. Our goal difference is unreal. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Branst23 Posted December 13, 2022 Author Share Posted December 13, 2022 Season 3 - July/August A mixed two months with the high of thinking we have got it all wrapped up to losing at home to FC Oslo 2! We really do have a mini rivalry with them at the moment. Losing 5-4 with XG in our favour by 0.9 was particularly frustrating. Luckily we have a game in hand and with 3 games left we need to hope our form doesn't dip now with the first loss of season just happening! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
deltablue Posted December 13, 2022 Share Posted December 13, 2022 Hopefully you don't miss out again. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Branst23 Posted January 4, 2023 Author Share Posted January 4, 2023 Apologies, life has got in the way and will close this thread as will not be heading back here. Likely to start a new save some time but thanks for support anyhow. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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