Koetzer

July – December 2035 Transfers out Ivanovic was sold by board, Cisse wanted to leave with his contract expiring in a year, Radojcic and Al-Kaabi were replaced by better foreigners. Transfers in Hernani Machado – experienced defensive midfielder with two caps for Portugal. Simon Thulo – will be our first right-back choice. Mansour Al-Dawsari – young Saudi international who was wanted by PSG, but luckily they didn’t make a move for him. Mugur Cimpanu – replacement for Ivanovic and our most expensive transfer so far. A perfect month, we defeated our closest chasers Vålerenga while Bodø/Glimt faced serious problems (partly thanks to our players on loan) and the gap increased to ten points! Both games against Basel were hard, we conceded first but managed to get the needed results. Familiar opponents in Europe, though this time we had a bit of slump in the end of August and Rangers took the lead at home. However we gave them no chances in the return leg, starting from Perez goal on 16th second, and got even a harder schedule in the league stage. I’m actually pleased with this win exchange against Bodø/Glimt, we are still five points ahead in the league and have chance for a double with Fredrikstad in cup final! Champions League started against teams that we already faced last year, but with much better results – a home draw against Bayer and huge win in Rome! No easy games in October, but we won them all and can secure league title in the next match! Eight points were enough for playoffs last year, we have seven now but the remaining schedule is very hard (only real top teams except Rennes at home). Winning the game against bottom placed Åsane wasn’t a problem, so the title celebrations could already start on 5th minute! European fixtures became predictably harder, we only had a consolation goal from youngster Karisari this month. We had to play the cup final without three Africans on international duty (no idea why they play in December now) and Perez who wasn’t fully fit after injury, but center-back Jelsa scored his 11th goal after a corner and we won the double! Diego returned for the final game of the year and saved a point after a poor defensive performance in the first half. Hopefully eight points will be enough to qualify again (or we get something from Real or Milan). I knew that winning the title this season was real, but surely couldn’t predict a 15 points advantage! Bodø/Glimt had an awful finish and couldn’t even stay on second place, and Rosenborg relegated again after 3rd place last season. Squad stats Perez did what I expected from him with 31 goals, but the assists record from Kontos is even more remarkable. Our previous best result was 13, and he improved it more than twice, also claiming the Eliteserien best player award! The best youngster award went to Fjærås who shared playing time almost equally with Lawal, and they both actually played well. Jelsa had an impressive season with 11 goals and good defensive stats, and Ramirez set the new club record in clean sheets (sadly it’s his last season for us, he wants a new challenge and will likely get it somewhere in Saudi Arabia). The board is refusing to upgrade the youth facilities, but all other parts of our setup are at the highest level.

January – June 2035 Transfers out Benitez will turn 30 this year, had the highest wage in our team and wanted even more. Griffiths, despite becoming our best goalscorer, was very inconsistent during last season and we already found a better option. Transfers in Diego Perez – our new first choice in attack, scored 20+ goals in three straight seasons in Colombia. Stanley Lawal – brought back the player who helped us win promotion to Eliteserien, was sold for 6,25M (a club record then) and is still good enough to be a starter. Moses Mensah – the most promising youngster signed this winter. Worse intake than last year, still we got one midfielder with high potential and a player with very rare devoted personality (don’t remember seeing it before at all). Four our players against five Bodø/Glimt in the dream team, I guess we are close now. I thought one point in two games wouldn’t be enough, but other results helped us to qualify! Perez had a nice debut, scoring with his first shot on goal. After the first game was decided by a penalty, Benfica quickly overturned it at home and was closer to a bigger win, but Ramirez kept the score and Perez converted our only chance on the last minutes! We lost the shootout with the only save from Benfica keeper, anyway this was a good debut season. We had a strong league start and stayed on top even despite that defeat against Bodø/Glimt! Our goalscoring form is really impressive, we broke the club record with a 9-0 win over Haugesund (also none of our players scored four in a competitive game before Perez), still it’s not even halfway and everything can change. The cup schedule is quite easy so far, we’ll face second tier Arendal in quarter-final. Our youth team won the European trophy in their debut season! Glad to see that two best players – Fuglestad and Karisari came from our own academy. And it turns out that we almost knocked out the eventual champions! Benfica lost previous final to Man City, but finally broke the Guttmann’s curse in his native city. The new season will start for us in July against Basel. Our first foreign affiliate, another sign of the club progress.

July – December 2034 Transfers out It’s sad to lose a key player (especially a home-grown one) but the fee Al-Wahda offered for Tewelde was actually a record for any Norwegian club, and his new wage is almost ten times higher than of anyone in our team. Veteran Kitolano joins him at the Gulf, and Elliott moved to Austria. Transfers in Gregor Ivanovic – this Slovenian defender was in our shortlist for a couple of years, and finally we were able to sign him. Ole Thomas Mosbron – another decent winger from Viking, could get him for free after the season, but needed more depth after Tewelde sale. Yaro Sanusi – promising Nigerian striker, sent on loan so far. Also two players returned after loans – already mentioned left-back Mohammed and attacking midfielder Cisse. They both are counted as home-grown now, so Torsvik and Kjønø could be sold. A poor start as we lost to 14th placed team at home, but recovered quickly winning all other four league games, reached the cup semi-final (and will be clear favourites there against Bærum from third tier) and made a good start in Champions League! København equalized with their first shot on target, but we converted our big advantage into two late goals. A tough trip to Denmark, we were 0-2 behind when Høyvik was sent off on 70th minute. Then we scored a potentially winning goal in a counter, couldn’t keep this lead but managed to win the shootout! Two next rounds were much easier, we secured confident wins at home and qualified for the league stage! Hardly can see us getting more than six points from this schedule, but it will be a great experience. Speaking of the league, we’ve seen a perfect debut for Mosbron who scored stoppage time winners in his first two games for us against Bodø/Glimt and Molde! That also was our first ever win against reigning champions (in a game where we have no shots on target until 80th minute), and only two points separate us from the top spot now. The real Champions League debut could be successful after an equalizer from Griffiths, but a late penalty left us without points. Still we got our first win a week later in Denmark! The cup semi-final was easy, and we’ll try to take at least one trophy from Bodø/Glimt. A draw against Viking secured our second place, but actually ended the title race (there are only three points between us and B/G now, but their form and remaining schedule don’t give us many chances). We set the new attendance and income records against Real Madrid, and the game itself wasn’t too poor (if we don’t count first 12 minutes which we lost 0-3) No gifts from Bodø/Glimt, and they won eighth title in nine years now. However the highlight of November was our win at Old Trafford, we conceded an early goal but managed to score twice and held this result after half-time (incredible performance from Ramirez with 15 saves)! Sad ending of a very good season. Two defensive mistakes and no real chances in the cup final, after which we couldn’t score against Genk despite having a man advantage since 35th minute. Best goal difference and highest ever number of points for runners-up. Bodø/Glimt is clearly our Bayern/PSG, we’ll need a big improvement or more luck to kick them from the top. Staying in the top 24 will be hard (certainly need to defeat Inter or Milan), but it’s still better than was expected for a debut. Squad stats This was a great team effort, five players scored 10+ goals, two more finished with 9. New signings helped us a lot, Raksa and Akersvatne weren’t far away from our best goalscorer, and Jalil had the best average rating. Old leaders also kept their good form, Kontos had impressive 13+13 and Ramirez was solid in goal as always. Cleared the stadium loan, have the highest youth recruitment level and the last available training facilities upgrade now!

March – June 2034 A narrow loss in London left us some chances for the home game, we equalized on aggregate with a free kick from Benitez, but conceded twice in extra time. Can be proud of the effort anyway! One more transfer happened on a deadline day – left winger Fjærås joined us from Viking for 1.5M. We lacked squad depth on the wings a bit, and Anders was attracting interest from European top clubs so I preferred not to wait until summer. Meanwhile our left-back Mohammed was selected into the NXGN top 50 and already has 9 caps for Ghana. Tough start of the month, we certainly didn’t deserve defeat in Molde but conceded twice within a minute. Raksa scored his first goal against former team and looks like a really good addition to our squad so far. After a defeat from Rosenborg (surprising league leaders at the moment) we regained good form and won all the remaining games. Jalil and Fjærås also prove to be quality signings at this stage, Iraqi midfielder is actually our best goalscorer now! There should have been two league games in June, but they were postponed due to fixture clashes and international callups. So we defeated two lower league teams, repeating our best ever result in the cup. Tromsø will be our next opponents, maybe a cup challenge is finally possible this season? After a slow start we returned to the top three and can overtake Rosenborg with a postponed game, but Bodø/Glimt seems to break away already. København finished second in Denmark after four straight title wins, a tough team to beat but what else could we expect in Champions League? Six players at the World Cup - a big improvement from the last time, and I certainly didn’t expect Cuba to qualify! Our youngster Manso was a starter and eventually assisted for their only goal (in an opening game against hosts South Korea, finished 1-1)! They lost two other games 0-9 and 0-6, but nevermind Suriname and Saudi Arabia also failed to advance, letting our best full-backs return earlier. Mohammed had some minutes as a substitute, Griffiths and Ramirez spent all games on the bench but their teams will have at least one more match in playoffs.

Pre-season 2034 Transfers out All departures can be divided into two groups - former starters who are now replaced by better players and youngsters previously signed for free. Transfers in Adnan Abdul Jalil – set our new transfer record by activating his relegation clause. A good central midfielder with several impressive seasons in Eliteserien, and what’s important – he’s counted as home-grown. Bjørnar Høyvik – one more player from a relegated team, a promising defensive midfielder to replace Bakke in the squad (I actually wanted to sign another Haugesund player, 16 year old striker Flåte who already looks good for the first team, but he didn’t want to join us now). Jakkaphan Raksa – not that we needed another attacking midfielder, but he was available for free and still has some potential, so probably can be a useful signing. Alexander Akersvante – a new backup striker. Lassen and Ramstad were signed for the youth team so far. I think we just got the first real star from our academy! Robert Fuglestad has a potential to become a top level midfielder for us. We stayed in the top eight with two wins, but unfortunately got the worst available playoff draw – Tottenham will be very tough to beat. Finally recognized among the top teams!

August – December 2033 Transfers out We continued selling left wingers for good money (especially as Coulibaly only played twice for our first team and Vazquez was a U19 player) and got even more income from last year Zedadka’s transfer (he is now described as wonderkid but I doubt that a 33 million offer for him would be realistic). Carreras was our regular starter in previous seasons and played well, but now we have better midfielders and foreigner rules basically force backup players to be home-grown. Transfers in We signed an experienced defensive midfielder Kitolano (spent eight last seasons in Ajax and will help us with squad registration) and center-back Munthe-Kaas (replacement for Øren who wanted to leave and will be bought out after loan). A month of comebacks! Three of four league games were decided on last minutes, and the same happened in Europe. Braga had a 2-0 lead with two penalties, we scored an important late goal and destroyed them at home to face Midtjylland. Equalized twice in Denmark, once more at home and then another 89th minute goal pushed us to the group stage! The schedule is much tougher than in Conference League of course, but I hope at least reaching top 24 will be possible. We lost to Sogndal after conceding on first minute but won all other games, including Molde (very important three points in our second place battle) and incredible league stage start against Newcastle! Tewelde simply outclassed England international Livramento on his wing with a goal and two assists before half-time. I can accept a defeat against local version of PSG and stronger European rivals, but getting only two points from three other games was a poor result. We are still second with two points gap from Molde and Valerenga, though need to find better form immediately. Two wins over mid-table teams and Molde surprisingly drawing against bottom placed Lillestrøm secured our Champions League place for that next season! This also let us avoid a tough fixture congestion, fielding the strongest available squad in Europe and leaving the final domestic matchday to backups (still won it 3-0!) One more step to the title (though I hardly believe in overtaking Bodø/Glimt next season). Rosenborg returned to the top flight with 5th place and a cup win, that relegation didn’t affect them much. Two games remain in Europe – against Feyenoord (24th) and Sturm (9th), winning them both will guarantee us a top eight spot. Squad stats Jorge Ramirez – still good in goal. Alexander Jelsa – scored nine goals, not bad for a free center-back signing! Mohammed Al-Kaabi – productive in attack, solid enough in defense. Became a regular starter for Saudi Arabia and qualified for the World Cup. Stamatis Kontos – another player bought out after a loan spell, and he also proved that we made a right choice – 7 goals, 11 assists and best overall rating. Faniel Tewelde – 9+8 for only half a season, we were really lucky to sign him in summer! Lachlan Griffiths – became the team’s best goalscorer, but actually was very inconsistent during the season and isn't progressing at all so probably I will look for a better striker. We already maxed out junior coaching with that money and continue to improve facilities (14/12 and pending upgrades).

March – July 2033 Great result in Alkmaar, we weren’t so dominant but took our chances much better. Elliott had a goal on his debut and a good game overall. The return leg at home started not so well, AZ scored first and had another goal disallowed but we equalized shortly before half-time and confidently ended the game. We’ll face Monaco in quarter-final, they have Bitshiabu and Ben Seghir both valued higher than 100 million so most likely won’t give us many chances. A heartbreak ending in Europe, after 3-1 win in Monaco and scoring first at home we couldn’t keep this lead and lost with a 117th minute own goal. The league start was perfect though, five wins in five games (haven’t faced any big teams yet but this form is really encouraging). As it usually happens in FM, first defeat triggered others and we lost the top spot. We almost got an immediate revenge in the cup over Molde without several rested key players, but couldn’t keep a 4-2 lead and lost in shootout. Luckily there will be a break in June, a chance to fix morale in friendlies. The break was useful, we only lost one game in July (which could be predicted) and kept the second place. Our first summer transfer started to make difference immediately, Faniel Tewelde returned to Norway after several years on PSG bench and scored in four first games! Bodø/Glimt can prepare for another title celebration, but we can finish second and make a Champions League debut. Braga will be our first Europa League opponents, tough draw but they don’t look much stronger than AZ so probably we can go further (and anyway there will be a second chance in the Conference).

Pre-season 2033 Transfers out Sold Wassberg and Malme as we had too many attacking midfielders in the squad. Transfers in Harvey Elliott – doesn’t need extra introduction. He didn't became a starter in Liverpool and spent last two seasons in Qatar, but his experience should help us. Miroslav Radojičić – our record transfer so far, Serbian defensive midfielder to improve the starting eleven. Youth intake was worse than last season, left-back Wilford looks like the most promising player here. Finally earned a mid-table prediction, and for the first time our players were selected into league’s best eleven. AZ will be our opponents in the round of 16, looking at their squad I’d say that we got the strongest unseeded team there.

July – December 2032 Transfers out The board sold Zedadka for a good fee with future clauses and a free half-season loan, I decided not to protest it, finding a better option instead. Sad to lose Bjørgve who was born in Hammerfest and played his seventh season here after return, but it turned out that he’s not counted at home-grown for Europe so wasn't registered. Transfers in Time to spend! Well, only in terms of wages so far Mijail Benitez – his name is actually Oscar Perea, but this career became a bit bugged after I added Swedish and Danish leagues a few years ago and quite a lot players and staff changed their names randomly (I guess the origins of this bug are the same as newgens taking real players’ IDs in beta version). Anyway he becomes our starting winger (can play on both sides) and first choice for set pieces. Mohammed Al-Kaabi – young Saudi wing-back who can cover both sides and still has some potential to grow. Lachlan Griffiths – our new starting striker from Australia, already played 4 games for the national team. Ronald Solorzano – a backup winger from Costa Rica (won’t get much playing time this season as we still have Zedadka and Kontos on loan). All other players were signed for the future, the most promising of them are left winger Vazquez and Cuban center-back Manso (what’s interesting, they both came from the same Spanish youth club Perines). We regained good form quickly after a poor start and defeated Molde once again before making our continental debut. The home game ended 0-0 and we conceded first in Romania, but responded with three goals and will face Partizan next! What a month! We didn’t concede a single goal in the league, returned to the top spot (though nothing is set, fifth placed Stabæk is only four points behind now) and qualified to the group stage in Europe! The game in Belgrade was the hardest, but three goals in last 15 minutes gave us a good advantage before returning home, and Lech was simply smashed in the first half. More money to invest into facilities and quite a comfortable schedule to go further (no teams from the top leagues, except Stuttgart)! Only two competitive games in September, we sadly conceded twice from two shots in the league (still remained on top with one goal advantage over Bodø/Glimt) and made a confident main stage start in Finland. We lost to Bodø/Glimt (a controversial game for Carreras, he equalized shortly before half-time and was sent off early in second half) but they also weren’t perfect in other games, allowing us to stay on top with three games to go! However even European qualifying isn't secured yet with six first teams in six points, and we still have to play Stabæk and Sogndal. European campaign is much easier so far. Our title dreams ended with two goalless games, but at least we finished with a big win to get our first Eliteserien medals. 5th, 4th, now 3rd… title incoming in 2034? And thanks to Bodø/Glimt winning the cup we are going to Europa League next season! Our current European run still goes well, could have been 12 points if we converted at least one chance against Austria, but playoff place is already secured. Missed extra prize money with this last draw (while having almost 4 xG!), but qualified straight to second playoff round and have a chance to go further as all big league teams will also be seeded in top eight. Squad stats Jorge Ramirez – improved his discipline (not a single absence this year), finally stopped whining about leaving to bigger club and extended his contract until 2036! Isak Kjelsrud Vik and Aleksander Jelsa – the captain keeps good form, both in defense and goalscoring, and Jelsa was a bit of surprise. Brought as an emergency backup loan, he actually became the best of three other center-backs and earned a permanent deal. Djavan Sion and Jonas Torsvik – two left-backs had the best average ratings this season. Sion became the league’s best young player (this prize stays in Hammerfest for third straight season) and also extended his contract. Brian Carreras – our key central midfielder keeps improving his stats with every season. Still no caps for Paraguay (they have Liverpool and PSG players on his position), but better for us I guess. Fredrik Ardraa – already mentioned him in summer, but that was a really impressive season which hardly will be repeated (he scored 12 goals from less than 5 xG). Stamatis Kontos – started his loan spell slowly, but improved over the season and eventually made 10 assists. Stuttgart was ready to sell him for a fee we could easily afford (350k), so he stays here! Aune Heggebø – matched his best goalscoring result in probably his last season as a regular starter. Speaking of more awards, I was selected as the manager of the year and we scored the best goal again, this effort from Benitez/Perea was more impressive than just a simple free kick. Two big transfers and good results in Europe gave us a lot of money comparing to all that we had before. Our facilities are much better than a few seasons before (training and youth facilities are under more improvement at the moment).

March – June 2032 The schedule was tough, still we managed to start with a fully deserved win over Molde (had over 2 xG and should have been scored more than the only late penalty) and defeated Lillestrøm with Heggebø’s hat-trick. Brann took a revenge for that last season game which left them without European football, but it was a good month overall. Ramirez and Zedadka got injured for a month during the international break, but we won three games out of three with young Randby in goal, and when Ramirez returned… typical FM happened, knocking us from the top spot. Unlucky finish of the previous month and tough schedule resulted in a bad league run and repeating the last season cup failure against the same opponents, this time in a shootout. Luckily we could get finish the month with two narrow wins (backup left winger Ardraa is our best goalscorer so far)! Speaking of Sarpsborg and our former stars there – Lawal was injured and Matola missed the cross before the only goal. Extended our win streak to four games and caught Stabæk for the lead with three late goals! Ardraa kept up his great form and I feel a bit sorry for Zedadka who has to wait on the bench (though Ardraa can also play as AMC and scored from this position in the last game, so probably it can be a good decision). Leading on goal difference, though Molde and Bodø/Glimt can overtake us with a game in hand. Our first European opponent will be a Romanian team owned and managed by legendary Gheorghe Hagi (and Rivaldo is one of their directors).

Pre-season 2032 Transfers out So, Lawal wanted to join a bigger club… which just won promotion to the top tier. The deal itself is incredibly good for us, half of it was immediately invested into facilities expansion. Almost two more million came from selling backup defender Kvithyld, several reserve players and activating Matola clause (Sarpsborg now has our two former key players in their squad). Transfers in We could improve the squad more, but unfortunately again couldn’t afford best players’ wages. So only loaned winger Kontos from Stuttgart, signed two new center-backs (Øren and Jelsa) for the bench, rotation striker/AMC Kjønø (good skills for this value) and young Ghanaian left-back Mohammed. Academy upgrades finally paid off, this is surely our best ever intake. Not the best personalities, but goalkeeper Dørre, left winger Stokvik and midfielder Mortensen can develop into first team players. And we got the first player included into the NXGN list, Tarmamade joined us last summer and spends this season on loan in Portuguese second tier. Odds are still low, but we are not predicted bottom at least. He moved to PSG here, has almost no chances in their first team but obviously is a starter for Norway.

August – November 2031 Transfers out Transfers in The first team remained unchanged, better players had higher wage demands than we could afford. So only signed several prospects, mostly from Africa. The only exception is Algerian winger Mohamed Zedadka, who will likely take Lawal's place in the first team next season as he wants to leave. A tough and a bit lucky win over Viking (we didn’t have many chances except that penalty) was a key to regain good form. We drew against Vålerenga (not the best result actually as we had a man advantage for the whole second half) and won three remaining games, closing the gap from two leaders. Good month was followed by another bad one, we only managed to equalize from 0-2 in the last game. In addition to all the problems, in October we missed Ramirez (who went to Pan-American games) and injured Heggebø. Still I hoped for more than the only draw (saved from 1-4 with a last minute penalty) in two home games. At least we finished this month with a win over bottom and already relegated Åsane, where Zedadka marked his first start for us with a goal and assist. Bodø/Glimt scored the winning goal in stoppage time, secured another title and let Brann catch us for 4th place, so this 29th round game was actually a European playoff. Two goals in the first half were enough, and we only needed a draw against Sogndal to qualify! European football comes to its northernmost point next summer! A well-deserved result, we were even better than Vålerenga in xG table. The most shocking result is relegation of Rosenborg, 27 times Norwegian champions lost in the playoffs. Squad stats Jorge Ramirez – despite all disciplinary issues he remains our best player and league leading goalkeeper. Mikal Berg Kvinge – became the league best assistant and set the new club record with 13 assists. Aune Heggebø – scored less than last season, probably due to injuries in the end, still became our best goalscorer. Peder Brekke – provided a decent backup at front with 10 goals, one of them was selected as the best of the season (nothing special actually, just a good free kick). Stanley Lawal – scored nine goals in his last season here, hopefully will bring some good money with his transfer. Brian Carreras – had the most playing time and his personal best season for us so far. Isak Kjelsrud Vik – our captain finished his fifth season here and still remains the best defender. Djavan Sion – returned from loan and had a decent debut season as a rotation player. Our youth team lost in the regional playoffs once again, but won the national cup! Balancing above zero with prize money and transfers. I hope attendances continue to increase and our European debut will be successful enough to boost it further.

April – July 2031 Four out of four, what a start against quite strong opponents! Even when Ramirez decided to explore Trondheim bars instead of football, Rossbach did well to replace him and was supported by outfield players. We almost had a sellout in the opening league game, however the numbers against Vålerenga seems to be more realistic to see throughout the season. After fifth straight win we only managed to save a draw in stoppage time in Haugesund, couldn’t score against Strømsgodset at home and lost in the cup, but then snapped this bad run in an impressive victory over Molde! They heavily outshot us, especially in the end, but couldn’t get anything and this result left us on top. Bodø/Glimt temporarily overtook us but drew the last game while we won 4-0 and returned to the top, still unbeaten. Well, our first league defeat could be predicted, it’s hard to match Bodø/Glimt when they are playing at their best. But it triggered a really bad run, we couldn’t score for almost six hours and fell to 4th place. We still have a great chance for the European debut (especially after Norway improved in the UEFA ranking and gained an extra place), but this form needs to be overturned soon.

Pre-season 2031 Transfers out The most interesting transfer is the one that didn’t happen. PSG made a move for Ramirez, our board accepted but cancelled it after my request! Transfers in Gjøstøl was a decent addition to our squad on loan, so after Rosenborg transfer-listed him I decided to make an offer. Center-back Kvithyld and winger Sorter will be backup options, others were signed for the youth team. Our youth intake is still poor despite a few upgrades, though at least one player looks like a potentially decent center-back here. After barely missing European qualifications we are still predicted bottom with even worse odds. And the most important news – our new stadium was opened and attracted whole Hammerfest population for the first friendly (must be some bug I guess, all other friendlies had around 100 spectators). Still it’s more than we had in Tromsø, so hope to see improvements in league games as well.

July – November 2030 Matola became an expensive backup after Ramirez signing, we needed money and had Rossbach who agreed to sit on the bench for couple more seasons, so sold him for a record fee and 50% future clause. 600k more were earned with selling transfer clauses for Vargas and Ahmed – they both play in reserve teams and don’t progress at all. No first team transfers this summer, only signed a promising Haitian winger. Started this part of season with two wins and moved up to the second place for a bit, but then lost to Viking (expected more after such a dominant performance against them at home). Still a good month overall. We earned away points against Lilllestrøm and Stabæk, our direct rivals in the European places race, but struggled to score. Brekke managed to get a 96th minute winner over likely relegated Jerv, and Heggebø… after an impressive start he can’t score for 4 months now! Eighteen games without a goal, and this finally happened – Aune Heggebø scored two headers to give us another important win! In the next game we had a poor first half almost without any chances, but veteran midfielder Kaasa equalized from a penalty and then scored a late free kick. The European race is still on, we are three points behind 4th placed Stabæk. Bodø/Glimt proved that the last season’s failure was just an accident, securing another title a month before the finish, though we could get a point from them once again (conceded immediately after Wassberg’s equalizer and then had a disallowed goal in stoppage time). However, this defeat was followed by two away wins (Heggebø found his goalscoring form when it was most needed!) so the gap remained the same – three points and three games to go. This should have happened – after a tough win over Odd (I think Heggebø scored only second goal for us with his feet, first one was a penalty) we couldn’t keep our sensational 100% form against Molde. It could end our European dream, but Stabæk drew twice so before the final matchday we were two points behind. The matchup was quite encouraging, Lillestrøm still could overtake Molde for the silver while Haugesund was already safe from relegation. Good, but not enough – we needed to score four (I wish FM could take such situations into account, so players won't get upset when you demand more from them while leading). Bodø/Glimt also won the cup, so this fourth place really went to the Conference League. Still it was an awesome season! Squad stats Ramirez was a great signing, leading the league in clean sheets and claiming the best young player award. He is now wanted by PSG and Benfica, I hope the board won’t sell him without my consent and he’ll play at least two more seasons here. Vik and Norbye helped him with a solid defensive performance. Heggebø became second best goalscorer in the league despite that long drought in summer, while Brekke provided a good backup. Lawal unfortunately missed a lot of games with several injuries, but was playing really well when healthy. Prize money for better results and transfer income helped us to improve finances, at least for now. Waiting for ticket sales at our new home which is almost ready…

March – June 2030 What a start, we had five clear chances and over 4 xG against Viking! Heggebø didn’t score there, but instead got a hat trick in the next game which left us league leaders for a short time. Lillestrøm ended it quickly, our defense was hopeless and Ramirez conceded almost everything after two clean sheets. This is going to be an entertaining season, not sure in what way though We missed two penalties against Jerv, but Heggebø’s second hat trick (all three with headers!) gave us another win. Then came two goalless defeats, and this bad run was snapped by another header from Aune – he already matched our last season’s best goalscorer stats! Only one league win in a derby against Tromsø which attracted more than 4000 spectators (our new record of course), but it’s not bad with this schedule. We got points from Bodø/Glimt (they recovered after last season failure and lead the table again) with a last minute equalizer and will face them again soon in the cup after a record-breaking game (we were 7-1 ahead and simply stopped playing after it). Two biggest teams in Norway couldn’t beat us until this moment. Bodø/Glimt ended this run with a 88th minute goal, but Molde lost again! Their striker surely helped us with a red card in first half, but scoring three even with a man advantage isn’t easy. These results were noticed and I won the first manager of the month award in Eliteserien, while Ardraa (that hat trick in the cup surely gave him confidence) became second player of the month. Only four points from the leaders, we are in the race for European places so far! In other news, we had our first World Cup representative (Suriname lost all three games 2-10 on aggregate and he only had a few minutes from the bench, but still). Lawal was in the shortlist for Nigeria but wasn’t selected into the final squad.

Pre-season 2030 Transfers out None of these players had a first team experience last season, except Celius (a useful backup, but I found a younger alternative). Transfers in Mikal Berg Kvinge – replacement for Kristiansen on the right wing (Tromsø returned to top flight and wanted to keep him). Kjartan Hoseth – will replace club veteran Johansen-Rolland as a backup defensive midfielder. Aune Heggebø – our new starting striker with a lot of top level experience and consistent goalscoring stats for Brann. Jorge Ramirez – I was happy with Matola and Rossbach in goal, but this Colombian keeper was too good to miss his signing. Kenneth Gjøstøl – Leirvang impressed last season, but we needed more depth on his position. Endre Olav Malme – another youngster who actually forced Celius out of the squad. Also we signed couple of players for the youth team and bought Ardraa who was a decent backup on loan last season. Youth intake again didn't bring anyone to be noted. Our odds are a bit better after surviving first season.

August – December 2029 Juliaans moved to Sweden for a record fee, two backup defenders also wanted to go (I already found Norwegian players to replace them so we freed two more foreigner slots). Tobias Norbye is the first ever player we signed for money, he will add depth to the defensive line together with Skuseth. Sion and Bjørnmyr aren't good enough for the first team yet and were sent to the clubs with better facilities. The final signing was Sondre Rossbach, a veteran backup goalkeeper (remember him as a wonderkid in several old versions). Could be a better month overall, but we got points from Bodø/Glimt once again! They have a poor season and likely won’t continue their title streak, but still have the strongest squad in Norway and drawing twice against them in a debut season is a great achievement. Managed to score in the only game this month, but probably in the most important one – Jerv was 14th so this result pushed us away from the relegation playoff spot. Good month for us, we defeated two bottom teams, drew against one of the leaders and almost secured survival (14th placed Sogndal are twelve points behind with four games to go). The final month was a hard test, we only played against teams from the top six. Getting at least couple of points there would have been a nice result, instead we got seven and became the only team to beat the eventual champions Molde twice! Rossbach proved to be a really reliable backup, he made difference in this last game, saving a penalty and several other dangerous shots. Disaster for Bodø/Glimt after four titles (they still had the best xG though)! Molde did the double, Fredrikstad qualified to Europe (and last year we promoted together with the same amount of points)! Squad stats Not much outstanding stats this season. Lawal became the best goalscorer with only 7 goals (and he played on the wing, both strikers had a mostly disappointing year), Kaasa was an amazing summer addition with 7 assists, and Leirvang had the best average rating among the starters (quite a surprise as he’s assessed as the weakest player in first 11). That could be predicted. Playing at this level demands higher wages (for staff as well), we have to pay the stadium loan and and it’s hard to generate income with an average attendance below 1000 (I hope it will increase when we return to Hammerfest after the next season).

April – July 2029 Started with a flashback from last season, when we played Odd in the cup, had better stats but lost. The debut home game was more successful with Brekke scoring a winner in stoppage time, after which we managed to hold a draw against Bodø/Glimt (who won four titles in a row)! The final April game could have ended in a better way, but early red card ruined everything. Good thing – we had better stats in all May games. Bad one is quality of our finishing, and despite being third in xG table we are only 11th at the moment. The same problem repeated in the cup, and in addition our backup goalie Juliaans couldn’t save at all. Six goals conceded in two games (the decisive one was simply deflected from his hands), so most likely he won't play for us anymore (his transfer value is quite high and I'd better look for a more reliable backup). A bit of compensation for bad finishing in May, this time we scored from the only shot on target. We made one signing during that break in June – an experienced midfielder Markus Andre Kaasa who was previously released from Lillestrøm and started with two assists in two games for us. Another squad improvement was Petrovic, finally fit to play after a couple of injuries. His assist and a last minute goal gave us this impressive comeback win over second-placed Molde! Still can’t feel completely safe before the second half, but everything should be okay if we improve our finishing.

Pre-season 2029 New year, new level and new PC to run it (still hard to adapt to increased game speed in comparison with the ten year old laptop ) Transfers out Diaz, Vargas and Ahmed also left us after loans. All the players in a list above were backups in a lower tier, so weren’t expected to play here. Transfers in Jonas Torsvik – our new starting left-back, spent his whole career in Brann (mostly in reserves, but has 18 games in the top division too). Daniel Schneider – experienced center-back with decent technical skills, played five previous seasons in Sandnes Ulf (two of them in Eliteserien). Gaute Jørgensen – youngster from Sandefjord, will be a backup for Leirvang. Johan Bakke and Brian Carreras – our loaned central midfielders left, so a former leader of Molde reserves and Paraguayan youth international will take their places. Niklas Jensen Wassberg – a better playmaker with 75 games for Brann on this level. Frederik Ardraa and Yngve Kristiansen – loaned them to provide more depth on the wings. Andrija Petrovic and Peder Brekke – the front line changed completely, young Belgian will be a starter, backed up by a Finnmark native Brekke. Sander Kornbakk and Olander Thomassen – two promising youngsters (unfortunately Thomassen broke his foot in second game on loan). As you can see, our squad core became more Norwegian so foreigner limit wasn’t an issue. We even could afford to register both foreign goalkeepers, and one spot is still vacant. We had our first academy upgrades, but its level is still too low to produce anything better than this. Predicted last, though the ‘key players’ section in preview lists our best players around mid-table.

Yes, it's very strange as some of our key players were previously released from their reserves. August – November 2028 Vikri wasn’t anywhere near his last season’s form and his agent found a good offer from Slovakia. Vargas was unhappy and supported by the team, for some reason his default value was zero but I hope the 50% clause will work in future. Lawal was already presented and I didn’t plan more first team signings (Saboukolou and Tjore are promising youngsters) but suddenly our captain started to complain about lack of depth in goal. We had free budget and a foreigner spot to sign Surinamese international Juliaans so the issue was resolved, but it’s going to be a difficult choice after the season. After two confident wins we faced the leaders Fredrikstad, scored an early goal, could get a 2-0 lead but actually should be happy with a draw – Matola saved a penalty on last minutes. Next two games were quite similar – our huge advantage which we couldn't convert into goals until late strikes from Ahmed, and with six games to go we have 50 points, equalling Fredrikstad and Sandefjord! Couldn’t score from open play for 180 minutes but got all the points and moved to the first place! Fredrikstad and Sandefjord have a game in hand but they play each other so we certainly remain in top two after it. The schedule in October was easy (though teams fighting for survival can be especially hard to beat at this stage of season), and we finally found the goalscoring form. Meanwhile Sarpsborg couldn’t win their last game and this officially secured our promotion! A bit of disappointment in the final game, we missed the title after Juliaans (who made his debut) took a bad goal kick on 88th minute. Well... Fredrikstad deserved it more throughout the season, and we now need to prepare for a tough test on top level. Squad stats Matola won the league’s best player award, though it could easily go to our captain Kjelsrud Vik as well. Bjørgve also needs mentioning, he’s the only local player who can play well on this level (we need four academy graduates in a squad of 25). The biggest change after this season was turning professional, that means a huge improvement of available players pool (so winter is going to be VERY busy). The board also agreed to improve academy coaching and recruitment, and… We are building a stadium which capacity is higher than whole Hammerfest population! Until it’s finished, our home will be in Tromsø. Prize money and new sponsorship deals boosted our finances, hope the incoming loan payments and professional contracts wouldn’t drain it too fast.

April – July 2028 Started with a game against our relegated neighbours, didn’t give them any real chances and took three points with a late penalty. The only defeat came from Sarpsborg, league leaders at the moment, while we are second just one point behind. Could be better, but eight points were enough to stay in the top two. The cup run is easy so far, we beat amateurs and a mid-table team from our division, facing Lyn in the next round (they had an absolute thriller in previous round, from 4-0 to 4-6 and still managed to win)! Same old story from a division below, inability to convert chances cost us some points in the league and ended a potentially great cup run – away game against a top tier team ended around 1-3 in xG! Set pieces work well though, Kjelsrud Vik scored three headers and won the player of the month award. There’s no break in July this season, and we already made one free transfer – Stanley Lawal who looks like a great left winger for our level (though has no knowledge of this position yet). His debut goal couldn’t save us from a derby defeat, still this form is enough to stay in the promotion race (the last game and late long shot from Diaz can be crucial as we almost closed the gap). Kjelsrud Vik leads the league in average rating and Matola shut out 12 games, but goalscoring needs improvement if we want to go higher. Quite an unexpected income. We got this clause before the season, and it became a very good deal – with these attributes he’s very unlikely to be sold for 350k or higher. And we finally managed to get a facilities upgrade after it!

Pre-season 2028 Transfers out Finally we are able to sell players for higher fees. Diaz and Ahmed will stay here for this season, and both have 50% clauses included in their transfers. Transfers in Svein Morten Leirvang – surprised to see him released from Tromsø. He’s already good enough to be our starting right-back at 18! Ulrik Celius – will be our first choice playmaker, while Bjørgve moves to the right wing. Jesper Gregersen – a decent backup midfielder. Youth intake was poor once again, though we got a rare model citizen player. A good debut season lifted our reputation, so we aren’t predicted to finish bottom now.

August – November 2027 Offloaded Jama to the team from Santa Claus hometown as we needed to register new foreigners. David Vargas – a good Costa Rican midfielder who was signed a year ago, but we needed to wait until he turned 18. Isak Kjelsrud Vik – a well balanced center-back released from Tromsø reserves. Christian Brauzmann – retraining this Kyrgyzstan international to the left IWB role (his crosses are too bad for a full-back), though he can be a good center-back too. Also I’m eager to see how his long throws will work with the new set pieces system. Samuel Ahmed – Da Silva is in good form, but we needed more competition at front. Elias Langmo – loaned for more squad depth in midfield. Valerio – after Sao Tome, South Sudan and Kyrgyzstan here comes a midfielder from Macau (born and raised in Brazil though)! The start of second half was great, we saved a draw in Aalesund, defeated three bottom teams and knocked Sandnes Ulf from the top spot! Our lead didn’t last long, though even after two defeats promotion is possible. I mentioned Brauzmann’s long throws, and they can really make difference. Both goals against Start came from them and helped us to end the bad run. Other set pieces also work well, but open play goals are rare – our best goalscorer after summer break is new center-back Kjelsrud Vik! With four games to go we moved up to second place, Åsane can overtake us with a postponed game but then we have a head-to-head match at home. Scored first against Åsane, but couldn’t keep the lead and this loss effectively ended our chances for direct promotion. However, no one could overtake us for third place (which means skipping first two playoff rounds), a great result in our debut season! Suddenly this rule appeared in playoffs, a very annoying bug that forced me to leave two regular starters outside the squad. Still we were a bit better in this game (though neither team created enough chances to score), and then Matola made the only and decisive save in shootout! Now we need to win the only game for promotion. Non-EU rule disappeared again, but even our strongest squad is much weaker than Brann (who should have been a mid-table team in Eliteserien). Anyway we tried our best, scored from a corner in the first half and almost equalized in stoppage time (unfortunately there was a tight offside). Squad stats Matola finished the season with the highest average rating, that says a lot about our season. Vikri had excellent stats before the summer break but couldn’t keep this form for the whole year. Vargas and Ahmed don't look like good signings so far, but I hope they can improve next season. We earned around 700k of prize money and cleared all debts, so our chairman immediately started to plan a new stadium! The capacity is a bit ambitious though, our current record attendance is 400

April – July 2027 That wasn’t a warm greeting, we got the highest rated team in the first game and the only rest day after it. Still we survived it, ending the month with three wins in a row! The main concern so far is our strikers’ performance – Da Silva and Næss have zero goals and average rating around 6.5. Da Silva finally scored in seventh game, and this goal gave us a surprising win over Sandnes Ulf who hadn’t dropped a single point before it. The month ended with a record-breaking victory (we never scored eight in an official game!) which moved us to the third place and Vikri becoming the league’s top goalscorer with a hat-trick. Our cup run could end early, but two goals from a reserve center-back Bonful equalized the score before Molla saved two penalties in shootout and scored the winning one himself! Could have been a perfect record in the league, but after scoring on 92nd minute against Sarpsborg we conceded a penalty on 94th and remained on third place. The best cup run so far ended in a polar derby with Tromsø, an even game before their first goal actually. Missed a chance to move into the promotion spots, still it’s an incredibly good debut for our squad. According to xG, we should have been a mid-table side but certainly made a good choice signing Matola. So far he has the highest average rating in division, saved two penalties and a lot of other good chances from our opponents. Da Silva recovered after a poor start and now has 10 goals in the league. Don’t think this form will last for the whole season, but can see us staying in playoff spots with some improvements (especially full-backs and maybe one more striker).