CameronFM

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!

Aalberg is a surprising one in the sense that our scouts rarely reported on him! I had to revert to a traditional player search and filter for the left-footers, but the eventual scout reports did come back as promising! We are capable enough to go toe-to-toe with teams in Europe, but my biggest pet peeve right now is my reluctance to move to the 4-5-1 whilst the 4-3-3 is working well. Need to give this aspect a bit more thought! Especially for the price! The board accepted the bids right away as they deemed they were too good for the club to refuse; I'd disagree but what can you do?!

After discussing this one with you over the last couple of weeks, I'm excited to follow it along! A lot to fix at the club, so it will be interesting to see the steps taken to fix the footballing department!

The Hunt for Nypan 2.0 One of the toughest parts in Football Manager is losing that young talent you have been excited to deploy and wreak havoc on the domestic scene. Sverre Halseth Nypan was my talent, and Manchester United ripped him from our grasp. They were kind enough to give him back on loan for 2025 though. Advanced Playmaker | 8 games | 2 goals | 1 assist Inside Forward | 3 games | 3 goals | 2 assists Regardless, his presence from midfield was going to be sorely missed, and I had to ensure someone was ready to step up in his place. Currently, the AP role is vacant as Nypan is being deployed as our IF on the right due to poor form from Broholm - bitterly disappointing after his tremendous 2024 campaign. Nypan is performing out on the wing, and this gives me the perfect opportunity to find the AP for the future. Jesper Grundt Signed from Kongsvinger on a free transfer, Grundt would be stepping up to the Premier Division and immediately feel the pressure. Grundt has played more than Tangan as it stands and is closer to Nypan's output in this position. In terms of a midfielder, Grundt is nearly identical to Nypan's progressive passes and passes completed, whilst infrequently losing and winning possession of the ball like Nypan. With a single goal and assist to his name in 6 appearances, Grundt has got the upper hand in the battle for the Advanced Playmaker, but it is the slimmest of margins. Chances Created as an AP - 2 Harald Tangen Deemed unfortunate with an injury right at the start of the season, Tangen has had his minutes managed to ensure we extract the absolute best from him. However, from what we have seen, it is a positive beginning. Tangen probably has the benefit of being suited to the division compared to Grundt, which could edge him to be the starter as the season progresses. But from the 5 appearances, we can see that he is slightly more creative than his counterpart. Chances Created as an AP - 7 Whilst both players are not on the same wavelength as Nypan in terms of ability and potential, their performances so far have been interesting to see and it is giving a Sverre headache as to who is going to be the natural replacement.

What a turn in fortunes! About time the players get the rub of the green in terms of an implosion at another club! Gutting news about Plumley, he seems the player that can ensure success at this level - big shoes to fill Johnny boy!

June 2025 Despite making moves for three players in January, I was not content. I knew we were still lacking in some areas, and I had to make moves given that the window would close in the not-so-distant future. Isak Aalberg was the only arrival into the club following Emil Bohinen, and it was a much-needed signing for the heart of the defence. It took us weeks to find a solid left-footed central defender, but the former Krisitansund man was the answer. Signed in a deal worth £1.8M, I feel this is an absolute steal for a player who will be at the heart of our defence for many years. With the signing of Aalberg announced, that was all our business into the club completed. But the activity did not stop there as we completed deals that would see Þorvaldsson, Guddal, Sandberg, Cornic, Olsen and Aga all leave the club. It meant that in two years we had spent £23.75M and recouped about £15.25M - our net spend is a little bit high for Norway, but given that we won the league in 2024 and now pressing on, it is a justified expenditure. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Whilst progress was being made off the pitch, I had to ensure that equal progress was happening on the pitch. With 10 league games completed and out of the way, now is a good time to review the opening months of the league, and where we have been going wrong. We still are inconsistent with our chance creation on a game-to-game basis, but I feel that this season has seen a big improvement on the attacking front. Noticeably, our xG output has been lower around the European games against Midtjylland and Borrusia Monchengladbach - I can excuse these off days given how early into the season it occurs. When we perform, we perform, very much like last season. Stripping the xG and moving on to actuals, it's no surprise to see the table look like this: At this stage of the campaign, I am not too concerned with the overperformance from Bodø/Glimt. Something has got to give, and I am fully anticipating their goals to drop off in the coming months; their top scorer sits 8th in the rankings with 4 goals, and the leader is Ibrahim Diarra of Haugesund with double that tally. More importantly, Erik Botheim and Sverre Halseth Nypan are 2nd and 3rd with 6 and 5 goals respectively. A terrific start to the season. As you can see from the results, we are a lot more consistent in terms of performance; one bad game doesn't necessarily spiral into 2 or 3 bad games. We are completely capable of bouncing back from disappointment and setting the record straight. I spoke about not being concerned with Bodø/Glimt's league position right now, and that is due to the massive 3-2 win away from home against them. Teams in this division are likely to drop points, and I fully expect them to hit a bump in the road soon. Håkon Singsdal Volden The young defender finally made his senior debut for the club in the Second Round of the Norwegian Cup, and was unfortunate not to be given his debut in the First Round - had it not been Molde, we may well have taken a chance on the youngster. However, in the game against Stjørdals-Blink, the youngster crucially made 3 clearances, won 62% of his 8 aerial challenges, with 2 being key headers, and achieved 95% passing accuracy; joint 2nd in the team. More impressively, he was the most positive player on the park with 10 progressive passes made (annoyingly, the Analytical Data is not showing these 10 but below are his passes throughout the game.) Granted, the level of opposition was that of semi-professional, but it is still a promising sign for the 18-year-old and I am excited to give him further exposure to the first team. In the third round of the cup, we have been drawn against semi-pro side Ullensaker/Kisa IL and Volden will be in the starting 11 once again.

Rosenborg - European Campaign 2024/25 After winning the league in 2024, we knew we would play Champions League qualifiers in the summer of 2025. But whilst charging towards a surprise league triumph, I wanted to make a deep run in the Conference League. Midtjylland disappointedly dumped us out of the tournament at the final qualifying stages in 2023/24, thankfully there was no disappointment involved during the qualifiers. A wide array of opposition during our Conference League participation, and you will clock that we did indeed reach the QFs of the tournament from the legend. Our journey began in Tbilisi as we limped over the line with an unconvincing 3-1 aggregate win. We had done enough to win the tie in Trondheim, and then just edged it out in Georgia. Uninspiring, and improvement in performances required, up next was Slovenian opposition in NŠ Mura Murska Sobota and the improvement was sort of there. A real Jekyll and Hyde tie, we blew our opposition away at home, but we were very lacklustre on the road and almost gifted the Slovenians a way back into the tie. Regardless, the job was done and we were in the hat for the final qualifying round. Bring on the Serbians. Knowing that we could not afford to have an off day against a side such as Crvena Zvezda, I was delighted that we came away from the Stadion Rajko Mitić and be in the tie still. A massive goal from Polish winger Chrupałła kept this tie alive, and well, our boys did the job on our patch. A cagey affair, but once Broholm levelled the tie there was only one team out to win the game. With qualification secured, we had the luxury of looking ahead to some European adventures. We would travel away to RFS (Latvia), Widzew (Poland) and Ludogorets (Bulgaria), whilst hosting Motherwell (Scotland), Astana (Kazakhstan) and Reims (France). A tough selection of games, but I had confidence in our players that we could certainly be in the top half of the league phase. An undefeated league campaign was the perfect way to round off our first League Phase appearance of the save, and it came with some big results - 3-2, 4-1 & 1-0 wins over RFS, Motherwell and Astana respectively, whilst we held Widzew (2-2), Reims (1-1) and Ludogorets (0-0). Very respectable in my eyes. Knowing that we would not take part in the playoff was a bonus; a game of that magnitude during pre-season was always going to be tough to manage. Eventually, the draw was made and it was familiar opposition for us. It was going to be FC Midtjylland once again, and we were out for revenge. Fresh off the back of 15-0, 4-0, 3-1 and 3-2 victories during our short pre-season, I felt quite confident that we could take defeat our Danish opposition over two games. When Sadiku bundled home a goal in Denmark, that confidence rose to another level after seeing our home form in Europe, and I was right to be confident. We completely blew away the Danes in the first half to race to a 4-2 aggregate lead, but we knew that they would come quick out the blocks in the second half; thankfully we had enough in the tank to keep them at arm's distance. Rosenborg were off the the Quarter Finals - it is a shame that the run ended at this stage. Coming up against a side like Borussia Monchengladbach was always going to be a tough ask. Despite their struggles in the Bundesliga (15th at the time of the 2nd leg), their European run was to be admired. Perhaps unfortunate to lose the first leg, but we recorded an xG of 1.76 to their 1.62 (inflated due to a missed penalty - 0.83 was prior), and it goes to show the difference between a team in the top 5 leagues compared to those out with it. However, we could hold our heads high as we reached the quarter-finals - only the 6th time this is happened. A platform to build on within European competition most certainly, and a great bank booster for the short term. Roll on the Champions League after the summer of 2025.

Such a subtle change to the defensive roles, but by god does it pay dividends! Cocco absolutely flying as well, glad to see you aren’t suffering from the one striker disaster like I am!

An interesting save idea, one I’m very much intrigued about! González looks a real diamond!

The joys of a higher division! With that being said, performing admirably to be inside the top half - what sort of buffer do you have over the relegation spots?

January 2025 Transfer Dealings - In I felt that getting some of our work done early was important. Still, I appreciated that scouting was ongoing and it was not always as simple as earmarking the majority of targets before the window opening. However, with a shopping list big enough to scare managers, it was time to get down to business. Goalkeeper I touched on Tagvik's unhappiness towards the end of the last season over his game-time, and at the time of writing this update, he remains a Rosenborg player. Rasmus Sandberg has been made available for transfer, but my main concern is Egil Selvik. With interest circling from Saudi, we would only let him go for the right amount and I am valuing that figure to be close to £4M. One of my targets in the last update was Vålerenga goalkeeper Magnus Smelhus Sjøeng, and the big Norwegian is now a Rosenborg player. £1M up front, with an additional million to be paid over the next 2 years, along with a £400K fee after the 22-year-old's 50th game for the club and a 15% sell-on was enough to force our rivals to part with their number one. More importantly, MSS is more than happy to come in as the backup to Selvik. I remain in the market for a second goalkeeper, one younger than MSS, to satisfy my want in this department. Ball-Winning Midfielder Midfield was an area I touched on, even after signing numerous potential replacements for Nypan. Väänänen has been told he has no future at the club, and this dwindles our numbers to cover the more defensive and combative role in midfield. Our scouts did not have a great deal of reports readily available for me, and any that were available were more attacking-minded and not suitable. I elected to cast the net further afield and into Europe where we stumbled across Kristian Arnstad. It is clear to see why Anderlecht signed Arnstad from Stæbek at the age of 16, and I feel that he is starting to develop into the combative midfielder I need. £2.5M as the original outlay, with an additional £750K due after his 30th game and a 15% sell-on fee is enough for the Belgians to accept a bid for the midfielder, and I am excited to see him in the famous black and white of Rosenborg. Anchor / Half-Back The number of experienced players was going to be crucial this season, and I elected to go after Emil Bohinen of Salernitana. The former Stabæk man has clocked 86 appearances in Serie A, and when he was available for £3.1M I felt it would be rude to pass up this opportunity. A great deal to bring in some vital experience. Transfer Dealings - Out It is all well and good signing players, but we need to balance the books and get deadwood out of the club. As a reminder, I was happy to entertain offers for Sandberg, Cornic, Pereira, Väänänen, Þorvaldsson & Nelson. First up is the youngsters, as Kojen & Santa Suárez leave the club on loan deals. Newly promoted Ranheim wanted to take a look at Kojen & Santa Suárez throughout the season. I expect Kojen to get very few minutes with our affiliate. However, I do feel that training with the senior side could be beneficial for him at the age of 19, and this is a deal we will monitor at the halfway stage - it may be beneficial to bring him back and loan him out elsewhere for first-team minutes. Santa Suárez joins Ranheim also, but our DoF failed to agree on a playing time for the young striker. We will be monitoring his progress at our affiliate very closely and will pull the plug where necessary. Tromsø have had multiple bids rejected for Pereira as I refuse to entertain the idea of him starring against us in the short term. He is currently discussing contract terms with Excelsior in Holland - they did have a loan bid accepted where they will pay 80% of his wages, £15.5K monthly and £625K if they avoid relegation this season (£300K over 12 months) along with a heft 20% sell-on, but the player rejected the deal. No hurry to get rid of him, as a replacement has been hard to find, but it is an area I am watching with interest. Despite my refusal to entertain Pereira starring against us, I did accept a bid for Þorvaldsson from Songdal, who remain in the first division. Their eagerness to pay £1M up-front, £245K after 10 games and an additional £130K after 10 international appearances whilst giving up 20% of the profit on the next sale, was enough for me to accept. The Icelandic forward had been attracting the interest of Hercules CF, and I was hopeful that the side from Alicante decided to bid. However, the Icelandic forward remains on our books after rejecting a deal. Nelson & Väänänen sealed English transfer deadline day moves to Sunderland and Hull respectively for £750K each. Both players are ineligible for their new clubs due to not obtaining a work permit. Two players off our books, wages saved and £1.35M into the coffers after paying Toronto £150K as part of the original Nelson deal. I will need to take stock of the entire squad once again as we enter February. The reason for this is the squad registration rules are becoming difficult to manage; we can only have 25 players on part-time contracts or better, meaning we have a couple of players unregistered who should be playing a part in the squad for the 2025 season.

A comfortable first season in charge! A huge summer ahead of the VNL next year

It will be interesting to see if the GK coaches are Torino will be able to push him in the right direction in terms of distribution - aerial is a tough one though, but Vanja is a man mountain in his own right!

Think Keller is a great replacement for Vanja, certainly in the long run for sure!

For anything Rosenborg based, I’m using FM Stag’s data views and exporting out from FM and then using what I want on Flourish (Looker scares me ). For the graphics used against the league, I used FM’s player stats for the league and manually typed those out!

Rosenborg - Season 2 Well, that was surprising! Bodø's form decided to fall off a cliff as we reached the final 10 games, which opened the door of opportunity for ourselves and Molde to swoop in. We did have enough in the tank to get the job over the line, but we should never have been in with a shout in the first instance! Some key things to take from this season is being the league's top scorers, but we are lacking defensively. We are the 6th best side in the league for keeping goals out, but Egil Selvik was tied for second for clean sheets - perhaps some work to be done in front of the Norwegian keeper. Injuries are down from last season, which has been massive in keeping continuity throughout the squad as we hit the business end of the season. Our expected goals tally does need to be worked on going into next season, but for a change, I was happy at how clinical we were at taking the lower output chances - since changing to a positive mindset on matchday 16, we averaged an xG of 1.65, it was 1.76 prior. Goals were spread across positions, with 4 players hitting double figures: Broholm 14, Sadiku 11 and Botheim & Henriksen 10. A pleasant change from last season where Holm was our only real source of goals and they eventually dried up also! I did find it pleasant to see our younger stars mix it with the league's more experienced players: But it wasn't just our league performance that improved. No, our cup performances also improved (in a sense) as we reached the final of the Norwegian Cup: I did feel it was disappointing to go the distance with Bryne and Hødd, and perhaps lady luck was on our side in both those games. On the back of a mighty league effort, I felt we had one more push in us as we squared off with Bodø/Glimt - eager to impress following their league collapse: The game itself lacked any quality of sort, and it was Filip Piszczek who grabbed the winning goal right at the death. From a Bodø/Glimt goal kick, Amudsen flicked on a header to an unmarked Piszczek on the halfway line - Børkeeiet decided to leave the goalscorer to contest with Amudsen, a header he was never going to win. With desperation in the Rosenborg defensive ranks, they all chased back to no avail as the Pole lifted the ball over Selvik into an empty net. Devastating. The players are now off for some deserved R&R as I look to work on the squad for the 2025 campaign. Jayden Nelson, Ísak Snær Þorvaldsson, Santeri Väänänen, Rasmus Sandberg, Adrian Pereira & Leo Cornic have all been told they can find new clubs during the winter window - this should bring in a sizeable amount of money to bolster our current transfer budget of £7.57M. Sjøeng is the only player we are actively chasing right now; I am still reviewing our scouting reports to build the rest of the shortlist up. It appears a deal worth £3.4M over 3 years could be enough to tempt the Vålerenga number one to Trondheim - fingers crossed.

Tall, fast, Dutch - a menace at that level!

Something oddly satisfying with you being the second most clinical side, and the second most sturdiest side, whilst being top! Le Fée is an absolute dream in this side; has any teams come sniffing around him yet?

Happy with Sadiku’s form during the second season, I don’t think he is going to become a key player for Rosenborg, but if he is happy to remain a squad player over the next few years then I am happy! Väänänen is a funny one, not really sure what his best position is, and when he does come into the side it seems to come into play. I may look into the Finnish market - at the moment I have drafted up quite the shopping list! I like Pereira a lot, but more will come out about in the next update - I just don’t think his style of play is going to suit going forward unless I tweak another area or two. Thanks for the comment on the squad review. I feel it’s important to give a bit of understanding behind my thoughts before going into a window and completely change the squad.

Cedric Main is a baller! Great to see you continue with the fine form

An absolute sucker for an Italian save! Can’t wait to follow this one along. At least you can say that the board at optimistic, could always work in your favour at a later date. Intrigued to see how you get on with the lone striker - an area I have struggled with in recent weeks.

A promising start, minus the rocky away form! Qualifying for the FA Cup could be massive early on, I suppose at your level, any club from the EFL away is a good revenue booster?