CameronFM

A great start already, really intrigued with the 5-1-3-1 and how it looks in the match engine and transitional play.

The new skin look very sleek and smart! Love the attention to detail with the non-playing staff; it seems a bit alien to me that the HoYD (well in your case HoPD) is in charge of signings as opposed to the DoF, but when you factor in your summary and logic, it makes sense!

My lord these kits are beautiful! I know you think the Juventus ones are "weak" but I think you have captured the essence of modern-day Juventus kits well with those designs. But sadly that Bologna home kit is the one that takes home the crown - my word! Can you ask if they will produce that as a third kit for me going there in September? Really looking forward to this journey!

Rosenborg 2025 As we complete yet another season, the final 10 games proved to be exciting and perfect for the neutrals watching on. Bodø/Glimt were two points clear, but the tide could easily change following Rosenborg's resounding 2-0 victory over Bodø/Glimt on match-day 19. Could this be the result that would send our rivals into a frenzy and capitulate on the field? Well, yes. Taking nothing away from our own performances, when we did slip up, it was due to a European hangover. Thankfully, these slip-ups were nothing in comparison to Bodø/Glimt: Just two league wins from the final 11 matches saw them tumble from first to third in the blink of an eye. I kept hammering home that their over-performance would eventually crumble away; I just did not anticipate it to be in this manner! In the same period of league matches, we tasted defeat twice, whilst drawing on two occasions once the league was wrapped up. League winners 2 out of 3 seasons. An impressive feat, and perhaps a sign that the Rosenborg resurgence has well and truly been completed. Granted, our winning margin could have been a lot more comfortable over Vålerenga, but given this was also our first season back in the Champions League, I was ecstatic. Rosenborg Season in Numbers: 72 goals scored was a save record so far. 31 goals conceded matches last season's count also. 8 goals more than our first season which was calamitous. Erik Botheim claims top scorer with 24 goals. Nypan was the next Rosenborg representation in 5th with 10. Harald Tangen tops the average rating chart with a rating of 7.32. Nypan was close by in 2nd with 7.28, whilst new signing Thorvaldsen was 3rd with 7.25. Rosenborg was top for both xG and NP-xG - 68.67 & 55.17 respectively. Of our 17 penalties throughout the season, 13 were converted. Goals from corners - Significantly up, and can be improved. We claim the 5th spot with 7 goals from corners, Surprisingly, we were 2nd for conversion rate. Bodø/Glimt edged us with 18% to our 16%. Net Spend for the Season was -£220,616. We racked in £16.2M worth of player sales and spent £16.03M on new players. Impressively, our player costs (wages, bonuses and loyalty bonuses) were only 11% of our total income. We even held aloft the cup come the end of the domestic season for good measure. A respectful 2-0 victory over Lillestrøm was enough to secure a domestic double and our first cup success since 2018. Whilst it is all to play for in Europe still, I am a bit more of a pessimist when it comes to our chances of progression: The draw may not have been kind to us, but I can safely say that we are yet to be embarrassed in the competition. Certainly, a rethink of formation is on the cards going into next season for European football (we do need to try and be a bit more competitive whilst we are poorer compared to most clubs in the competition) but it has been a positive return to the competition. As always with football, there is always the question of What If? What if we had closed up shop against Manchester United with 20 minutes to go? Before Marcus Rashford's goal on 84 minutes, neither team looked like scoring when the xG was 0.48 - 0.78. His goal alone only generated an xG of 0.08 - on another day it doesn't squirm past Sjøeng. Whilst what-ifs could go for you, they can also go against you. We robbed Aston Villa of the win, as they recorded 4 attempts off the woodwork. Harald Tangen scored the opening goal on 64 minutes, and despite becoming more defensive, we let the pressure pile and pile on, before Semih Kiliçsoy benefitted from a lapse in concentration. It may not seem like much, but that additional point, coupled with the additional 2 points against Villa, could have been the difference between knockout football and going home. ------------------------------------------------------------------------- I touched on a new signing by the name of Filip Erik Thorvaldsen - the luxury of managing in Norway is that our differing transfer windows can be advantageous and disadvantageous. Thorvaldsen was a name I was keeping a close eye on, particularly after his breakthrough season at Vålerenga last season. In 27 games, he scored 7 and set up 3 from the wing and had interested parties such as Newcastle, Manchester City and Juventus. Valued at a mere £2.3M, I elected to make a move early during our window whilst theirs was closed, and he was soon pictured with that famous black and white scarf above his head. Excelling in the attacking half of the park, whilst carrying a high degree of movement threat, it is clear to see why so many teams were circling the young Norwegian. He is already a fan favourite here at Rosenborg and with 7 goals and 5 assists from 21 starts (3 sub appearances) he is only going to get better with age. A remarkable talent to have at the club as Nypan departs - what could have been for the next few years?! However, Thorvaldsen wasn't the only player to shine through this season. More experienced veterans in comparison, Tangen and Botheim fired us to our successes throughout the season: I had already briefly spoken about Harald Tangen in a previous post, and the midfielder continued to go from strength to strength as the season progressed. When deployed in the AP role from midfield, we often place too much pressure on the player to perform, but when you break Tangen's league stats down at the end of the year: 3rd for Open Play Expected Assists / 90 Minutes - 0.30 2nd for Open Play Key Passes - 48 2nd for Chances Created / 90 Minutes - 1.06 1st for Open Play Key Passes / 90 Minutes - 3.01 Tangen was at the heart of everything positive from midfield once he claimed the jersey as his own, grabbing 8 goals and 11 assists in 32 (3) appearances. I still firmly believe Viking made a mistake letting him go for as little as £1M, but their loss is most certainly our gain. Leading the line was Erik Botheim, and despite my concerns last season concerning his output, he certainly blew it out of the water this year. A whopping 39 goals in 44 (3) games certainly lays the gauntlet down for the future, and I am hopeful with the inclusion of Thorvaldsen and Tangen, Botheim will become the consistent striker we have been seeking after. Averaging a goal every 92.21 minutes, I am hoping that we can retain him over the January transfer window - there is no concrete interest in him just now, but Bodø/Glimt and Spanish clubs have been rumoured in the past. The future is certainly looking bright for the club. With a healthy bank balance of £30M, we have breathing space to make smart transfer decisions, whilst also looking to improve on the club's infrastructure. We are still awaiting our first golden generation in Trondheim - it surely can't be far off now...

Despite the odds being stacked against you, a tremendous start to life in League 2! That Burnley game looks painful - especially to go the distance and then lose with a 12 yard kick! Confidence in you to make this a season to prove the doubters wrong!

A fellow blogger got lucky with Stoke avoiding the drop, but it was still a great save to follow - I’m really excited with this one given the drop to League 1! As you mention, a terrific deal for Burger - that level of income after a relegation is going to be massive in squaring the books, what is your retention like?

Some impressive results in Europe! Perhaps unlucky to face Ludogorets at such an early stage, but BATE and KR are no pushovers - you made them look like such!

Thanks @danyates8 for catching up on the post so far - there’s a lot to it! Been an enjoyable save so far, things are finally looking positive for the club and they have turned a corner! —————————————— It is not just Rosenborg that are feeling the effects of Knutsen and his managerial ability. I spoke about the Norwegian FA approaching Knutsen and that I would be taking the job on, despite it not being considered in my save plans. The nation was off the back off a disappointing EURO campaign (almost identical to Scotland’s own campaign IRL!) and it was time to build for the future. Name a better starting point than the glorified UEFA Nations League. Norway had managed to avoid dropping out of League B, and we would be tasked with matches against Türkiye, Albania and Kazakhstan - a tough draw but when you have Premier League talents like Ødegaard, Haaland and Bobb, you have to back yourself. A crazy opener against Türkiye was the beginning of something wonderful for the nation, as we charged to an unbeaten Nations League campaign and win the group rather comfortably. Notably, we have Haaland scoring regular enough which is going to be huge for the nation going into 2025’s World Cup qualifying campaign. Which would give us the platform to see how good we really are; both Switzerland and Austria are in our group, nations not to be taken lightly. Perhaps a surprising qualifying campaign as we posted the perfect record to top the group and book our first class tickets to the Americas for the 2026 edition - Norway’s first participation since 1998! With things progressing forward for the nation, it’s a great time to be Norwegian and the national side don’t appear to be letting up anytime soon. Granted, we are yet to come up against a top quality national outfit, but we will cross that bridge when we come to it. Erling Haaland has claimed top spot for goals for his country, and at the young age 25 he has plenty of years ahead of him to improve on the 50 goals he has just now - that is 17 more that Jørge Juve who grabbed his goal tally between 1928-1937, Haaland is 26 ahead of the legend that is John Carew. We took on the job with the national side ranked 33rd in the world. Whilst our opponents have not been top quality for us to maximise our points, we have steady growth in our 2 year stint as the nation has risen to 26th in the rankings. A lot of work to be done to bring it close to its record 2nd back in 1993 & 1995, but progress is progress!

Thank you for the positive words! Recruitment has been so crucial this season, and inadvertently, we are now a side full of Norwegians (besides Sadiku and Augustinsson - both already at the club) which has its own bonuses. I often feel that picking up bargains from outside Norway is the way forward - for whatever reason their career hadn’t kicked off as they hoped moving away, but having the knowledge and experience of the league is huge to bring back into the side. If we were to take away the +20 over performance from Bodø in the goals department, I feel we’d be a lot more comfortable in the league. However, we can’t control these freak spells and just need to take care of our own business in the final 10 games; starting with a massive 6 pointer against them.

Go away for a day at the weekend, struggle to get back to normal and log in to a few updates! An impressive pre-season given the circumstances - plenty of players in and out so cohesion needs to come - and I think the 1-1 against a full-strength Bayern is a mightily impressive result. We had discussed the transfers in over Discord and I do firmly believe the deal for Odilon is worth every penny!

Really excited to be following along on this journey! Was brought up on Football Italia also, so Italian football always has a place in my heart.

Absolutely! I feel that we have recruited wisely through Botheim and Bohinen, it may not be enough but even positive results against Hoffenheim and Salzburg will be nice bank boosters - Villa will be a strange one

13th September 2025 Two-thirds of the way through the domestic campaign, and it is starting to get tasty in Norway. Much like last season, we have a title race on our hands here, and Bodø/Glimt have benefitted in the same way as we did last year. 4 draws - Haugesund x2, Brann & Strømgodset - have given Bodø/Glimt the advantage, but I still believe. Double wins over them and Molde gives me the confidence that we can retain the title, but we will need a favour along the way and taking care of business ourselves. Our attacking returns remain consistent, and given that there are spikes, I can be happy with the attacking talent on the park. We are over-performing our xG by 6 goals (42xG V 48 GF), which has then led to a +7 on our xP, but despite being confident that Bodø/Glimt wouldn't sustain their going rate; they are! An xG of 35 has been converted into a total of 55 GF, which has led to their over-performance of 9 points. Something has got to give surely?! Our cup run has been on point to this stage also; granted we have had relatively easier ties. However, you can only beat what is put in front of you, and lesser sides are no walkovers in cup games. Despite only being at the semi-final stage, I firmly believe that we should not be losing out on the cup this season, especially when you factor in that Molde and Bodø/Glimt both exited the competition at round 1. Lyn and Lillestrøm are the other semi-finalists, and we have beaten the latter 2-1 earlier in the season. Cup glory should be ours this year. Our first Champions League qualifiers participation since 2019/20 couldn't have gone any smoother. Favourable draws against Inter Turku and Derry City lined up a mammoth tie against Young Boys, but we had enough in the tank to get the job done over 180 minutes - albeit very narrowly! Rosenborg would be heading to the League Phase stage, and it is the first time we have qualified since 2007/08. Remarkable. Our reward for an impressive feat? The draw gods were not kind to us as we had to face off against both Manchester and Milan sides. Could we replicate that famous night in December 1996 with a win in the San Siro? Times have massively changed, but time will tell.

It was never in doubt! It will certainly be your toughest window with the change to professional footballs, did somebody say free loans?

I love a mental save and this is just that! Some nice progress made within the first couple of seasons that could set you up nicely!