The Dutch Way (Challenge)

[sebs]

even more worrying - the chairman appears to be looking to leave, so i don't know how long i'll have there.

on the plus side - they already have 10 nationalities in their first team squad. only three games to go in the icelandic league and i am still unbeaten for the season so very exciting!

[sebs]

End of Season Report


Transfers
A few more ins even after I'd proposed to leave the club. I couldn't help but bring new nationalities in. All of these were U-23s:

Nathan Rooney, IRL, Free, Wolves - MC
Trausti Gunnarsson, ISL, £210, Breidablik - DR
Marcel N'dioro, CAM, £45k, Coton Sport - DMC
Dennis Scherz, GER, Free, FSV Frankfurt - DRL

Upon departure Valur have 19 different nationalities in their squad. Brazil, Cameroon, Democratic Republic of Congo, Denmark, Ecuador, England, Germany, Iceland, Iraq, Italy, Nigeria, Northern Ireland, Norway, Peru, Ireland, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Spain, The Gambia and Uruguay

Europe
A magnificent run saw us fall on the brink on the group stage. Panathinaikos were simply too strong. Maybe next year would have seen a genuinely good push here.

Genk H W 5-1 (og, Al-Gashamy, og, Cristiano, Pirez)
Genk A W 2-1 (Thorarinsson, Cristiano)
M Netanya H W 3-0 (Halldorsson, Thorarinsson 2)
M Netanya A L 0-2
Panathinaikos H L 1-2 (Al-Gashamy)
Panathinaikos A L 0-2

Icelandic Premier Division
After being top by three points at the halfway point, and unbeaten so far, we were looking to cement this and for me to go out on a high at Valur.

KR A D 2-2 (Cristiano, Pirez)
Fram A W 1-0 (Geirsson)
Grindavik H W 4-0 (Geirsson 2, Lydsson 2)
Keflavik H W 1-0 (Geirsson)
IBV H D 2-2 (Geirsson 2)
Fylkir H W 2-1 (Lydsson, Munoz)
Vikingur O A W 2-0 (Cristiano, Cortellini)
Thor A W 1-0 (Cristiano)
Throttur H W 3-0 (Lydsson, Halldorsson, Pirez)
Vikingur A W 2-1 (Thorarinsson, Geirsson)
FH H X 1-1 (og)

So a glorious unbeaten season. We ended up winning the league by 11 clear points, beating all league records. Fixture congestion led me to have to play the match against Fylkir during an international weekend meaning I had 11 players out!!

So anyway what do the Icelandic authorities do? Oh yeah, I don't get manager of the season again - despite only one Icelandic team beating me the whole season

1. Valur +25 52
2. FH +20 41
3. KR +18 41
4. IBV +10 34
5. Fram +7 34
6. Grindavik -12 29
7. Keflavik 0 27
8. Vikingur O -4 27
9. Thor -8 22
10. Throttur -14 20
11. Fylkir -20 16
12. Vikingur -22 15

My personal player of the season would be Emmanuel Mendy - he surpassed all expectations and became an exceptional marauding full back. Apart from him no-one stood out - Al-Gashamy would have been but he really tailed off towards the end of the season. Olsen was another solid year and his set plays were deadly. Thorarinsson was our 4th highest goalscorer and they were all from corners and set pieces! Cristiano was again our most deadly striker but sadly leaves the club on 49 goals after a much quieter year. He departs for Dinamo on a free transfer.

And my departure? I've left some absolutely quality youngsters at Valur and it will be extremely interesting to see how they progress over their careers. The club should now have a decent shot at progression in Europe but I doubt they will make a group stage. They are currently on the back of a 26 match unbeaten run in league matches and I imagine that record should last for sometime - 52 points in a season will be extremely difficult to beat too. I will continue to follow their progress.

Year    Club          League              Pos  Europe      Other
2010    Valur         Icelandic Premier   1st  N/A         UL Cup Winners
2011    Valur         Icelandic Premier   3rd  ECC 2nd Q   UL Cup Winners, ICC Winners, IC Winners
2012    Valur         Icelandic Premier   1st  EC 4th Q    UL Cup Winners, ICC Winners, Unbeaten in whole league season
2012-13 FC Kobenhavn  Superliga

[sebs]

one footnote - the Kobenhavn manager left because he became manager of Norway - less of a panic about that now!

[sebs]

Stage Two - FC Kobenhavn


Initial Squad
Goalkeepers - Johan Wiland SWE 31, Kim Christensen DEN 33, Stig Olsen DEN 29
Defenders - Mikael Antonsson SWE 31, Solvi Ottesen ISL 28, Tanju Kayhan TUR 23, Jos Hooiveld NED 29, Leyti N'Diaye SEN 27, Zdenek Pospech CZE 33, Mikael Dorsin SWE 31, Bryan Oviedo CRC 33
Midfielders - Johnny Thomsen DEN 30, Thomas Delaney DEN 21, Saban Ozdogan TUR 22, Thomas Kristensen DEN 29, Mikkel Vendelbo DEN 25, Martin Bergvold DEN 28, Cristian Bolanos CRC 28
Strikers - Cesar Santin BRA 31, Johan Absalonsen DEN 27, Christian Gytkjaer DEN 22, Morten Neilsen DEN 22, Dame N'Doye SEN 27

It is a very old squad. It already makes compliance - there are at least 10 nationalities represented already, plus a Serbian in the reserves.

The season so far...
They are 10 games into the season and are currently top of the league on goal difference, a record of 5/4/1 with 21 goals scored and 13 conceded. They are in the group stages of the Europa league but have only picked up a point from their first two games after a defeat to Steaua and a draw against CSKA Moscow.

Goals for the Season
1. Bring in at least 8 top quality youngsters from around the globe to freshen up the squad and get me well within compliance.
2. Win the league.
3. Sort out the European form and get into the knockout stages of the Europa League

The board claim not to be judging me on any competitions. My goal is to complete stage 2 as quickly as possible - this season is about setting the bedrock for progression in the future, I expect to be here at least five seasons.

[Mark Snellink]

Well congratulations on a stellar performance at Valur and it looks like a very solid foundation to continue this on with FCK

[sebs]

i've conceded 5 penalties in 9 matches so far with kobenhavn!! my defenders are terrible!

[sebs]

oh bollocks, psv job came up but i missed it - ragnick left to take over at bayern so i completely scanned it without realising. they've appointed pieter huistra.

[sebs]

Mid-season Update

Cripes. The off-season in Denmark is huge. I don't feel it really justifies an update after only 9 league games but hey.

Superliga
Current League Table

The team concedes penalties like nothing else. We are deadly upfront. So this has led to some very exciting matches - the derby against Brondby was particularly memorable - we went 1-0 down, then 2-1 down but still came back to win 3-2. It was a cracking match. Only one loss - away to 2nd placed AGF. We went ahead in this game but some shoddy defending brought it round - I've not exactly found a formation I am happy with yet.

The matches I've been in charge:
SonderjyskE H X 2-2 (Cesar Santin, Gytkjaer)
AC Horsens H W 2-1 (og, Kristensen)
Brondby A W 3-2 (N'Doye 2, Bergvold)
Esbjerg FB H W 4-0 (N'Doye 2, Bergvold, Bolanos)
AaB A W 3-0 (Gytkjaer, N'Doye, Hooiveld)
AGF A L 1-2 (Thomsen)
FC Midtjylland H X 2-2 (N'Doye, Kristensen)
OB A W 3-0 (Kristensen, N'Doye 2)
Silkeborg H W 2-0 (Kristensen, N'Doye)

As you can see Dame N'Doye has been absolutely deadly - 9 goals in 8 league games for me. Yes, that's 8 - he didn't play in my first game. No idea why.

Danish Cup
Less said about this the better.

Esbjerg FB H D 2-2 (Bolanos, Absalonsen) (lost on penalties)

Europa League
My first game we should have won and maybe if we had won we'd have kicked on. We drew it after giving away (quelle surprise) a last minute penalty. After that we didn't look like winning a game and this was a total damp squib. Must do better next year.

Metalist H X 1-1 (N'Doye)
Metalist A L 1-2 (Bolanos)
CSKA Moscow H L 0-2
Steaua A X 1-1 (Cesar Santin)

Transfers
I have signed my 8 youngsters. I am not sure whether they will develop into top quality but I am going to post their screenies. Those who are still at their original clubs are joining me at the end of the season.

Yussuf Kamara - hmmm a winger with no pace and very few technical credentials. The scouts appear to believe there's something to him though and I'm willing to give him a shot. May not break into the first team for a couple of seasons yet. Signed for £30k, joins in July because I can't sign U-18 non-EU players until they have turned 18.
Christian Landu-Landu - A decent 21 year old Norwegian signed on a free after he was released by Viking. High determination, high decisions, good physical stats - he could be an excellent ball winning defensive midfielder.
Johannes Klein - 18 year old American goalkeeper joining for £130k in the summer. Giant with decent potential - will immediately have my current goalkeeper train him up.
Jan Lemmens - Big purchase. £850k from FC Twente. I expect him to break into the first team almost immediately. Despite his age he has excellent mental attributes and plenty of growth room in the physical stats. With a bit of work on the technical stats I can see him sticking around for a while and I've been lacking a decent right back all season.
Holger Ross - Signed for £20k from Leverkusen. Can't see him breaking in this season but looking forward to seeing the potential here.
Ergin Kahraman - Joining on a free transfer at the end of the season.
Daan Colot - With a bit of growth on the physical stats this guy could be dominant in central midfield. Cost me £350k from Standard Liege.
Deogratius Chawinga - Spotted this guy when I was manager of Valur but was outbid by a Qatari team and he didn't consider us. Was straight back in for him and paid top dollar - a fee that could rise and probably will rise to at least £2.2m. He looks worth every penny. He's only 18!! He looks absolutely extraordinary - if you look at only one of these players check this one out! Beyond excitement here.

In addition I've signed one Over-23 right winger on a loan - Ecuadorian Daniel Cruz from Germinal Beerschot, Bolanos can't run the right wing by himself.

Ok - that's one goal passed and one goal failed. It's time to try and win the league.

[toonbalmy87]

Cheers sebs you have got my excitemnt up haha

[Mark Snellink]

Looking pretty good, shame about the cup competitions, but there's always next season

[sebs]

not going to win the league either. defence is truly shocking once a couple of injuries hit. decided not to bring a central defender in on loan to bring chawinga in and i'm paying the price. mind i would still be pole position if my players could score penalties in the last 10 mins.

scores since the restart of the season:
3-2
3-0
1-0
3-2
0-2
1-1
3-3
5-2
2-3

5 games left and 4 points adrift. really need to win all five and we've not looked dominant at all since the winter break

[Mark Snellink]

Oh man, hang in there! I have faith!

[sebs]

End of Season Report 2012-13

Superliga
Inconsistency and a defensive crisis damaged our season. A critical match at home to AGF could have made all the difference - they took the lead twice in the first half for us to pull them back. Then we won a penalty with ten minutes to go which Kristensen skied over the bar. They then scored a winner in the last minute - any other result would have probably seen us go on to win the championship - as it was our confidence was knocked on the head. In other news - Landu-Landu looks like a great buy - a really mobile dogged midfielder and he got a couple of goals too. Chawinga started to justify his fee and I've signed him to a 5 year contract.

Lyngby A W 3-2 (N'Doye 2, Cesar Santin)
FC Nordsjaelland H W 3-0 (Antonsson, Chawinga, Ottesen)
SondersjyskE A W 1-0 (Cruz)
AC Horsens A W 3-2 (N'Doye, Chawinga, Absalonsen)
Esbjerg fB A L 0-2
Brondy H X 1-1 (Cesar Santin)
AaB H X 3-3 (N'Doye 2, Chawinga)
FC Midtylland A W 5-2 (Cruz, Cesar Santin 3, Landu-Landu)
AGF H L 2-3 (N'Doye, N'Diaye)
OB H W 2-0 (Cesar Santin, Landu-Landu)
Silkeborg A L 0-1
FC Nordsjaelland A W 4-0 (Chawinga, N'Doye, Landu-Landu, Amankwaa)
SonderjyskE H W 2-0 (N'Doye, Ottesen)
Lyngby H W 3-1 (Chawinga, Hooiveld, Bolanos)

N'Doye finished with 20 goals in 25 league matches.

Table:
1. AGF +33 73
2. FCK +36 68
3. FC Midtylland +12 60
4. Esbjerg fB -2 53
5. Silkeborg 0 45
6. SondersjyskE +4 44
7. Brondby +1 44
8. OB -3 44
9. AaB -11 34
10. FC Nordsjaelland -19 34
11. Lyngby -15 32
12. AC Horsens -36 14

Only AGF could live with us, but they were dominant - they would barely drop points. I averaged over two points per game and would expect that to be enough to win the league. I expect with the added pressures of European football they could drop away next year.

I'll do a youngster update in the midseason break.

One last challenge update - Lars Jacobsen is joining me to become my first "legend" signing. I've tried to get Christian Poulsen from Liverpool but his wage demands are extortionate!

Year    Club          League              Pos  Europe      Other
2010    Valur         Icelandic Premier   1st  N/A         UL Cup Winners
2011    Valur         Icelandic Premier   3rd  ECC 2nd Q   UL Cup Winners, ICC Winners, IC Winners
2012    Valur         Icelandic Premier   1st  EC 4th Q    UL Cup Winners, ICC Winners, Unbeaten in whole league season
2012-13 FC Kobenhavn  Superliga	 	  2nd  EC Grp Stg  None

[Mark Snellink]

Very nice, got the legend
We'll chalk this season up to adjustment, getting used to a new squad, new league, bringing in new players. Go get 'em next year!

[sebs]

I've never found a formation I've been happy with during my time there and it ends up that at the end of the last season and the start of the next season I've settled upon a nice and boring 4-4-2, but it seems surprisingly balanced... champions league qualifying round i drew genk!!

Pre-season (even though I've started it) update will be here in the next couple of days. Part of me feels I have a better chance in the league this year as AGF have continental football to deal with.

[sebs]

Pre-season 2013-2014


So far I've completed Stage One with Valur (who incidentally failed miserably in the Upper League Cup and finished bottom of their group - I had a unbeaten record of more than 20 games in that cup ffs!!) and I moved to FC Kobenhavn. I then inherited an unbalanced but compliant squad, however I'm not counting the 2012-13 season as compliant since I joined late. No matter - the only decent thing I did was play in the Europa league group stage and I didn't even get there. So we attack the 2013-14 season with it being the start of a new era - the stage two era. Lets remind ourselves about how far I have to take this team:
1. Back-to-Back titles
2. A domestic double
3. Group stages of either European competition thrice
4. A final of either European cup.
1, 2 and 3 should be fine. 4 is a big challenge - as an example of the scale of my challenge only one Danish team (Brondby) have ever made the SEMI-FINALS of a European competition (UEFA Cup 91-92) so I'm not sure how long it will take me, but if I get there it'll be built up from slightly humble beginnings.

I have to remember Kobenhavn are easily the biggest club in Denmark. They have the biggest stadium and the most fans. Achieving domestic dominance should be trivial, but being able to compete in Europe is going to be difficult - especially if we fail to win the league like last season.

The Squad
Goalkeepers
Johan Wiland - 32, SWE - Club captain. Expected to start every match. Has been made the clubs goalkeeping coach as well.
Johannes Klein - 18, USA - Developmental goalkeeper. Benchwarming. May not get an opportunity this season and potentially loaned out at some point.

Full Backs
Lars Jacobssen - 33, DEN - Club legend returns. Can't see him starting many matches though.
Jan Lemmens - 17, NED - extremely exciting prospect. Had a seven figure offer from a Premiership club for him, but was rejected without consideration.
Tanju Kayhan - 24, TUR - was loaned out at the end of last season after some extremely dodgy performances. He rejected the chance to leave and decided to fight for his place at us. I've rewarded him for that and he seems to be a lot more confident this season.
Thobias Skovgaard - 21, DEN - developmental potential. Has been starting some matches and could break into the first team this year.
David Murphy - 29, ENG - bought for experience at left back, signed on a free from Birmingham City.

Centre Backs
Mikael Antonsson - 32, SWE - reliable centre back.
Ergin Kahrahman - 19, TUR - exciting breakthrough centre back
Jos Hooiveld - 30, NED - reliable centre back.
Leyti N'Diaye - 28, SEN - occasionally dodgy centre back. was found wanting during a defensive crisis last year.

Wide Midfielders
Bryan Oviedo - 23, CRC - pacy wide player, may not make it in the end, tried to sell him but clubs didnt meet my asking price so i held on
Cristian Bolanos - 29, CRC - extremely creative wide midfielder/winger. assists leader last year.
Johan Absalonsen - 27, DEN - extremely pacy left winger
Grigor Terziev - 18, BUL - new signing £70k from CSKA Sofia. looks to be an exciting prospect, but may not break through this year
Yussuf Kamara - 18, SLE - may not make the grade, doesn't appear to be kicking on.

Central Midfielders
Thomas Delaney - 21, DEN - reliable central midfielder who could become a key player for our future considering squad restrictions in the champions league
Christian Landu-Landu - 21, NOR - I thought he'd be alright but he's really come into his own. Had a great end to last season and I think he could be a regular starter this year.
Martin Bergvold - 29, DEN - not sure he's the standard I need for the future but will be a reliable squad player
Thomas Kristensen - 30, DEN - missed a crucial penalty last year in a game vs AGF. If he'd scored it we'd have won the league (potentially). Could also be used as a wide right player in a narrow midfield
Mikkel Vendelbo - 26, DEN - fringe player
Saban Ozdogan - 23, TUR - not convinced he'll ever be in my first team plans
Thomas Drage - 21, NOR - extremely good attacking midfielder on loan from Arsenal
Francisco Delgado - 18, ESP - youth prospect signed from Juventus for a tasty £700k
Holger Ross - 18, GER - youth prospect signed last year from Leverkusen, may make some first team appearances this year
Daan Colot - 18, BEL - youth prospect signed last year. Has had a leave of absence due to problems settling. Then he broke his leg. Things aren't going well so far.

Strikers
Cesar Santin - 32, BRA - experienced striker. can also take a left wing role if required
Dame N'Doye - 28, SEN - star striker. scores bloody bags of goals. 68 for Kobenhavn in the last 3 seasons.
Deogratius Chawinga - 18, DRC - unbelievably hot prospect. have turned down a big offer from Dortmund over the summer. Alongside N'Doye and Wiland he's the top earner at the club and will be for a while. Signed to a 5 year contract now so I can get a huge (hopefully at least 8 figure) transfer fee for him at some point. He will be a world superstar.
Christian Gytkaer - 23, DEN - 4th choice striker
Danny Amankwaa - 19, DEN - a good prospect who may well break into the first team in the future but I've loaned him out this season so that he gets a first team run.

Number of different nationalities: 16 (Denmark, Sweden, Brazil, Democratic Republic of Congo, Senegal, Spain, Germany, England, Belgium, Holland, Turkey, Sierra Leone, Costa Rica, Bulgaria, United States, Norway)

Transfers
In
Ergin Kahraman, Kayserispor, Free
Yussuf Kamara, Old Edwardians, £30k
Johannes Klein, Colorado, £130k
Lars Jacobsen, Wigan, Free
David Murphy, Birmingham, Free
Francisco Delgado, Juventus, £700k
Grigor Terziev, CSKA Sofia, £70k
Thomas Drage, Arsenal, Loan (fee £450k)

Out
Johnny Thomsen, Kapfenburger, Free
Zdenek Pospech, Jablonec, Free
Mikael Vukicevic, Unattached, Free
Lasse Lindbjerg, Unattached, Free
Solvi Ottesen, Bordeaux, Free
Stig Olsen, Doncaster, £60k
Morten Neilsen, St. Pauli, £250k
Danny Amankwaa, FC Midtylland, Loan (fee £150k)

6/8 incoming transfers were under 23 - 75%

Targets
1. Win the league.
2. Get out of the group stages of whichever European competition we end up in.
3. Blood as many of the youngsters as possible.

Bonus:
4. Keep hold of Chawinga.

[sebs]

total spoilers here but if i dont win the league this season something will have gone seriously wrong. my first 14 games i have a record 13-1-0 F37 A9... 16 points clear after 14 games

[Mark Snellink]

Very nice, with that kind of dominance you should have no trouble attracting players that might give you a better chance in Europe

[sebs]

im in demand - turned down everton, schalke and juventus in the past few months. juve offered me £50k a week for five years.

[sebs]

Mid-Season 2013-14


Superliga
Absolutely dominant. I decided to play 4-4-2 with the last few games of last season all of which we won. I decided to continue this. After 24 games against Danish opposition that formation has a 22-2-0 record, it doesn't go so well in Europe against stronger opposition but I'm after establishing myself in Denmark right now and I'm doing it perfectly.

Table:
1. FCK +33 50
2. OB +14 36
3. FCM +8 29
4. AaB +7 28
5. AGF +6 28
6. SonderjyskE 0 24
7. Brondby -5 24
8. Silkeborg -7 20
9. Esbjerg -8 19
10. FCN -14 16
11. Vejle -16 14
12. FC Fyn -18 11

Results:
Vejle A W 3-0 (Landu-Landu, Antonsson, N'Doye)
FCM H W 2-1 (og, Kahraman)
Silkeborg H W 4-2 (Kahraman, N'Doye 3)
SonderjyskE A W 3-1 (Chawinga, N'Doye, Landu-Landu)
AGF H W 1-0 (Cesar Santin)
Esbjerg A W 4-1 (Chawinga, N'Doye, Antonsson, Gytkjaer)
Brondby H W 4-1 (Chawinga 3, og)
AaB H W 2-1 (Antonsson, Kristensen)
OB A W 1-0 (Antonsson)
FCN A W 1-0 (N'Doye)
FC Fyn H W 5-1 (Bolanos, Hooiveld, Gytkjaer, Chawinga 2)
Vejle H X 0-0
FCM A W 2-1 (Kristensen, N'Doye)
Silkeborg A W 5-0 (N'Doye 3, Skovgaard, Cesar Santin)
SonderjyskE H W 3-2 (Cesar Santin, N'Doye, Kahraman)
AGF A W 2-0 (N'Doye, Kahraman)
Esbjerg H X 0-0
Brondby A W 2-0 (Antonsson, Hooiveld)

Danish Cup
Despite continually resting players for these matches (not that you'll be able to tell it from the scorers, Chawinga and N'Doye can feed off scraps of 10 minutes against tired legs and score hatfuls) this has been a virtual breeze.

B93 A W 5-1 (N'Doye 4, Kristensen)
AGF A W 1-0 (Chawinga)
Lyngby A W 4-1 (Chawinga, Antonsson, N'Doye, Cesar Santin)

We've drawn Brondby in a two legged semi-final. I reckon by the time I play the first leg the league trophy will already be in our hands.

Europe
A bit of a disappointment really. Some good results but not even close to qualifying. Some teams are just a lot better than us. We made the Europa league group stage, but finished third.

Champions Cup
Qual 3
Genk A W 3-0 (Chawinga, N'Doye 2)
Genk H W 2-0 (N'Doye, Antonsson)
Play-off
Juventus H L 1-4 (Kristensen)
Juventus A X 0-0

Europa League
Zilina A W 3-0 (N'Doye 2, Landu-Landu)
Dynamo Kiev H L 0-2
Malaga H L 3-4 (N'Doye, Chawinga, Bolanos)
Malaga A L 2-5 (Delgado, N'Doye)
Zilina H W 3-1 (Absalonsen 2, Hooiveld)
Dynamo Kiev A L 0-4

Transfers
A bit of business over the winter break. Loads of bids for Kahraman, Leemens and Terziev were turned down. There were no bids for Chawinga and N'Doye despite lots of managers talking about them. Slapping a £15m price tag on Chawinga seemed to stop them.

In
Ian Morfou - £30k, RSA, 18 from Bidvest Wits. Quality young right back from South Africa.
Salem El Turky - loan, LBY, 19 from Chelsea. Need back up at centre back and this lad is good. Want to potentially woo him over to Denmark.
Alex Chamberlain - loan, ENG, 20 from Tottenham. You know who this is. Remember I am playing FM11, he's not made a shock move.
Takis Markou - £600k, CYP, 19 from Anorthosi. Fought off interest from Lazio and Fulham to land this one. Defensive midfielder.
Ben Ansah - £85k, GHA, 18 from Kotoko. Striker who may have it all. Not as good as Deogratius, but fully expect some big strides over the next couple of years. He's been signed for a while but I can't bring in Non-EU under 18s until their 18th birthday.

Out
Soren Fredriksen - Free, to Standard
Bryan Oviedo - Loan, to Freiburg. There is an option for them to buy.

First team squad now has 16 nationalities, plus another 4 in the reserves.

We've beaten the Superliga record for most wins in a row. First game back we just need to avoid defeat to break the longest unbeaten record.

[Mark Snellink]

I hope you're still playing this, I'm looking forward to seeing more

[sebs]

still going. actually i've already started the next season. threw my toys out the pram a bit when i lost the danish cup final... mainly down to the fact dame n'doye was suspended when i was attempting to get him 40 goals for the season in the final match of the season. oops.

[sebs]

Catch Up
Sorry this is going to be a dreadful update. I've sort of been playing on and off and progressed but not had time to write a proper update. First up;

Last Season:
We cruised to the league title, eventually winning it by 20 points. We ended up with two losses so we went off the boil a bit but we had other matters to concentrate on. In the cup we steamed past Brondby 7-2 on aggregate. In the last game of the league season we battered FC Fyn (who were relegated 5-1) and Chawinga scored 4 and N'Doye got his 39th of the season. Unfortunately he also picked up a booking that saw him banned for the cup final against AaB. We subsequently lost. Oops.

Transfers:
IN
James Ward, DC, ENG, Aston Villa, Free, 20
Jack West, AML/C, Eng, York, Free, 20
Erik Malmstrom, AMC/SC, SWE, Hacken, £450k, 17
Salem El Turky, DRC, LIB, Chelsea, Loan, 20
Matias Schwarz, MC, ARG, Marseilles, £4.5m, 20
Radek Macala, GK, CZE, Sparta, £700k, 17
Friday Chukwu, AML, NIG, FC Ebedei, £8k, 18

OUT:
Ozdogan Saban, Rosenborg, Free
Mikkel Vendelbo, Mainz, £300k
Leyti N'Diaye, Koln, £300k
Tanju Kayhan, Gladback, £900k
Yussuf Kamara, RKC, £12k

In come a load of youngsters, out go a load of underperformers.

Start of Season 2014/15

SonderjyskE A W 2-1 (Chawinga 2)
AaB H X 1-1 (Hooiveld)
OB A W 1-0 (N'Doye)
Viborg A W 3-0 (og, Kahraman, N'Doye)
AGF A L 0-3
Vejle H X 0-0

A promising start to the season suddenly capitulated against AGF. Oh dear. Borghello tore us to shreds.

Champions League group: Chelsea, PSV, FCK, Dortmund

hey! PSV... what's the name of this challenge again? In the away dugout this time...

I'm going to go to monthly updates with mini-match reports now.

Year    Club          League              Pos  Europe      Other
2010    Valur         Icelandic Premier   1st  N/A         UL Cup Winners
2011    Valur         Icelandic Premier   3rd  ECC 2nd Q   UL Cup Winners, ICC Winners, IC Winners
2012    Valur         Icelandic Premier   1st  EC 4th Q    UL Cup Winners, ICC Winners, Unbeaten in whole league season
2012-13 FC Kobenhavn  Superliga	 	  2nd  EC Grp Stg  None
2013-14 FC Kobenhavn  Superliga           1st  EC Grp Stg  Danish Cup Finalists

[sebs]

September 2014
Randers FC H W 2-1
After our poor run of form we were looking to bounce back with a victory. Chawinga opened the scoring with a brilliant breakaway goal where he ran with the ball from his own half before slotting it under the Randers keeper, but they were level within 15 minutes after some truly horrible defending from us. A late N'Doye goal got use the points, Chawinga put him through on goal before he slotted past their keeper.

Brondby A W 2-0
A game where I continued my excellent record in the derby matches against Brondby. My record against them now reads P8 W7 D1 L0 F20 A6. Chawinga also kept up his fine record against Brondby with another couple of goals where he went on unstoppable runs before putting it past the keeper. In this game I experimented with formation from the 4-4-2 for the first time - I decided to go back to my 4-1-3-2 that worked so well with Valur. We were under the cosh for a lot of this game but looked a lot firmer than we had. They had two goals disallowed(!!)

Dortmund A X 2-2
An excellent result in Europe for once! It was going against us from the off - they took an early lead and Matias Schwarz was then carried off with an injury. Our previous defensive stance (we played 4-4-2 again for Europe) was thrown away and I decided to go for it with instant results. Chawinga hit a magnificent brace to put us 2-1 up at half time. The second half was a thrill a minute, but unfortunately we couldn't hold on. This gives me hope that we could come at least third in the group...

FC Midtylland A W 3-2
We started with Ben Ansah up front for this one in place of N'Doye to give him a rest. I was cursing this early on as they took an early lead, but the man in form quickly had us back in it; Chawinga powered home a header from a Skovgaard cross to equalise and then powered home from close range to give us a 2-1 lead at half time. With 20 minutes to go Chawinga turned provider as Ansah was slipped through for his first goal of the season. They pulled one back quickly after but we saw the game out after that.

HB Koge A W 4-1 Danish Cup
The result looks comfortable but the tie truly wasn't until a bizarre turn of events in the second half. They scored a free kick in the first ten minutes and then held on and dominated play for the rest of the first half. We really weren't playing too well at all. Then on the hour mark Delgado was sent off for a second bookable, so I dragged Amankwaa off and chucked on Bergvold to keep a competitive midfield together and kept N'Doye as a lone striker. It worked a treat. Within 5 mins N'Doye had the equaliser and he never looked back. With goals in the 70th, 82nd and 87th minutes he went away with four goals and a comfortable victory.

Silkeborg H W 2-0
Two neat goals by N'Doye seal us a victory and secure September as a fantastic month for us. The team for this match is incredibly young - Wiland (33), Hooiveld (31) and N'Doye (29) are the only players over 22. Daan Colot made his debut in this match. We play Chelsea midweek so I felt I had to rest some but I still put out quite a strong line up.

Top end of the table at end of September:
1. FC Kobenhavn +8 23
2. Esbjerg fB +10 20
3. AGF +8 18
4. FC Midtylland +3 17
5. AaB 0 15

[Mark Snellink]

Ooo facing PSV, that will be fun

[sebs]

the home tie was an absolute thriller. i wasn't sure how to play it with their manager so i said he was underachieving. hmm

[sebs]

October 2014
Chelsea H L 0-2
According to my backroom staff Chelsea seem to struggle against teams like us. I'll believe it when I see it. I decided to go with a 4-1-3-2 in a Champions League game for once to try and give us a little more protection than the 4-4-2 I was planning to use for most CL games (even though I'd all but abandoned it in the league.

Despite having some awesome possession they take the lead half an hour in. Cavani, who was on low fitness going into the match managed to somehow lob Wiland from the edge of the area. It was a quality finish, but we'd carved out chances of our own and felt hard done by. In the second half we clearly tired but we also didn't play as well and this was compounded when Chelsea were awarded a fairly soft penalty with 20 mins to play. In the end though Chelsea were dominant and deserved their victory. In the other game PSV beat Dortmund at home. Chelsea had beaten PSV in the opener so the table runs - Chelsea 6, PSV 3, us 1, Dortmund 1

Esbjerg fb H X 1-1
So three days after Chelsea we play 2nd in the league. A boring first half gives way to a boring second half until we let one in. Then Chawinga hits the post but we can't break the door down. With fifteen minutes to go Jack West is brought down on the edge of the area and we get a penalty. Kristensen steps up to take it... ffs why haven't I made Chawinga my penalty taker?! Nevermind, he slams it into the back of the net. I go gung ho for a winner. N'Doye misses another great chance so I drag him off for Ansah back from scoring for Ghana U-20s on international duty. It almost works... but ah... it finishes one apiece. We should have forced a victory there but the team as a whole underperformed.

SonderjyskE H W 3-0
After a long international break we welcomed El Turky back from injury in at right back. Ansah started with Chawinga upfront to keep N'Doye fresh for the midweek match against PSV. We went 4-4-2 to mix things up a bit and get a bit of practice in for midweek when i planned to play it. Chawinga should have put us 1-0 up midway through the first half after some great work, but he hit the post when it looked easier to score. Just before halftime Bolanos also hit the post. Again we went in at 0-0. We switched back to 4-1-3-2 after halftime and went attacking and immediately Chawinga put us 1-0 up latching onto an Oviedo cross and firing home from close range. With 15 minutes to go Kristensen (who has come on as a sub again) fires home a free kick from the edge of the area. We go 3-0 up when Ergin Kahraman hits home from inside the six yard box during a goalmouth scramble and suddenly the match is very comfortable.

PSV H X 3-3
We played a very standard 4-4-2 for this one and took an early lead. Kristensen fired in a low cross which Dame N'Doye latched onto before smashing home from close range. PSV came back at us, but it was fairly square. We created chances of our own, but on the stroke of half time their star striker Guilherme is played through but Wiland makes a magnificent save. Straight after half time they equaliser after a horror pass from N'Doye put them on the break and Guilherme finishes easily. Oh dear. Controversy hits 15 mins later as Guilherme injures Antonsson who is marking him before taking advantage of the space opened up as he's lying prone on the halfway line and putting PSV 2-1 up. Then N'Doye is played through clear on goal and lobs the keeper.... but it hits the bar!! It doesn't take long to equalise. Substitutes combine as Friday Chukwu cuts inside before squaring the ball to Landu-Landu who fires home a beauty from the edge of the area. GAME ON. And with 15 minutes to go N'Doye and Chawinga combine and Deogratius puts the ball past the keeper THREE-TWO! And then they equalise with two minutes left on the clock. Both teams go gung ho and Chawinga misses a great chance deep into injury time. So close to a great victory. Dortmund and Chelsea draw and we're certainly still in a battle to make at least one of the knockout stages. Antonsson was given a fractured cheekbone by Guilherme.

AaB A W 2-0
It's another damp first half in the league before an inspired piece of work by Dame N'Doye puts us 1-0 up. Towards the end of the game Chawinga goes on a mazy run before crossing for N'Doye to head home a second. What is up with Danish referees though? 9 yellows in this match! (and lol - two shots on target for both teams in the whole match... yawn)

Viborg A W 3-1 CUP
A far weakened team played against Viborg with both matches against OB and PSV in view. Unfortunately it was one of our regular first team players Delaney who was carried off after 10 minutes so I brought on Landu-Landu. He made an immediate impact heading in a Bolanos corner. Just after half time they had the ball in the back of the net, but it was disallowed for offside. Straight after this another Bolanos corner caused havoc in their area and a Hooiveld volley was deflected into the back of their net for an own goal. With twenty minutes to go Bolanos was provider again as he played a delightful ball through to Ansah who put his one-on-one past the keeper. A consolation ten minutes from time wasn't enough to worry us.

Top of the table at the end of October:
1. FC Kobenhavn +13 30
2. FC Midtylland +11 26
3. AGF +11 25
4. Esbjerg fB +8 21
5. Silkeborg 0 21

[sebs]

November 2014
Aside - Valur made the group stages of the Europa League after getting through 3 rounds of qualifiers - Aktobe, Inverness Caly Thistle and Nacional de Madeira were all defeated and they got drawn against Shaktar, Fulham and Lokomotiv Moscow in the group stages. Remarkably they pulled off a victory against Lokomotiv, with goals from Thorarinsson and Lydsson but have lost all their other matches. Their league form was pretty wretched though - they've not come close to winning the title since I left and finished 9th this season. They must be rolling in cash though after this European run and they recently became the only Icelandic side to go professional.

OB H W 3-0
We were hit by another injury to a midfielder within 4 minutes with Grigor Terziev being taken off. Just before half time we turned it on with N'Doye firing a powerful shot past the OB keeper. On the hour mark N'Doye and Delgado linked up again with the young Spaniard putting a lovely shot in. Ten minutes later Delgado struck again with a beautiful finish from the edge of the area.

PSV A L 0-3
My first match at the Philips Stadion. They took the lead in the first 20 minutes and didn't really look back. They went 2-0 up after we failed to clear a corner. We made some changes at half time but we were under more threat when N'Doye got himself sent off. Van Wolfswinkel finished us off in stoppage time. Urgh. Dortmund lost to Chelsea. Beat them at our place and we'll confirm a third place finish. A draw could make things a bit nasty in the last game.

Viborg A W 1-0
This was a totally crap match. Another hangover from midweek adventures. However another wonderful performance by Delgado saw him play through Chawinga with a beautiful lofted through ball and Deogratius hammered the resulting one on one into the top corner. Not the greatest game of football ever but we got the right result. The team look tired despite squad rotation.

SonderjyskE A W 2-0 CUP
We dominate the play in this match but we fail to put away our chances in the first half until Chawinga puts us ahead just before half time with a cracking run and shot. On the hour mark Chawinga grabs a second. AGF, Brondby and FC Midtylland are the other teams through to the semi. We play AGF on Saturday and their match went to extra time and penalties so hopefully we gain a slight advantage there. We draw Midtylland in the two legged semi final in the next half of the season. Last year we had the title wrapped up before we got there.

AGF H L 2-3
Our bogey team. As you can see I'm optimistic heading in but it starts off badly and gets worse - we're 2-0 down in 20 minutes. We are truly dreadful - 3-0 down on the stroke of halftime. We've carved out all the best chances but our strike force hasn't taken them and they've put the ball in danger areas and taken us apart on the counter. They've had 2 shots on target to our 10 in the first half and somehow we're 3-0 down. Midway through the second half with us still misfiring I drag N'Doye off and put on Ansah... it works immediately. 20 mins to go and we have a goal. Time to put them under pressure. 10 mins to go and Landu-Landu wins a header that puts Ansah clear again... he rounds the keeper and puts it into the net!! We pile on the pressure, we hit the bar... but to no avail. It feels like an injustice but we must take our blinkin chances!!! Six clear cut chances and only two taken.

FC Midtylland H X 2-2
This game becomes all the more massive now as they've won a load on the bounce and after last week sit only a point behind us in the league. With Dortmund midweek we could have done without the pressure last week put on us, so I end up playing a strong side because the league is more important than Europe right now. Denmark's European places went down so this means that we simply must finish as champions. Getting into knockout stages can wait. We make the breakthrough. In almost a carbon copy of one of the goals against AGF Landu-Landu won a header from a goal kick and headed N'Doye this time clear. He rounded the keeper and tucked it away. 10 mins later they were level. Another cross we failed to cut out or win. On the half hour mark they were ahead after breaking from a corner. Oh hell. However on the stroke of half time Delgado cracks another one in from outside the area. 2-2. The second half is without event, but we were tepid. Again. We could do with a few midfielders back.

Dortmund H L 0-3
Must win for European ambitions. We go 1-0 down early on and they make it 2-0 with a fluke goal just after half time. Moments later we have the ball in the back of the net but it's offside. With 15 mins to go, and after throwing away another opportunity we're 3-0 down and it's game over as far as Europe goes this season. The end of this month has been a total disaster.

Top of the table:
1. FC Kobenhavn +16 37
2. FC Midjtylland +18 36
3. AGF +13 32
4. Esbjerg fB +10 31
5. Brondby +5 29
6. AaB +3 28

[Mark Snellink]

A shame about the European play, but that was a mighty tough group to end up in. Of course those are the type of teams you'll eventually have to beat to make it to the finals

[sebs]

my usual first xi is very very young. quite often 8+ players are under 23. with a couple of years of bedding in they could be a very strong unit.

[sebs]

December 2014
Vejle A W 3-1
Two league matches until the winter break and two crucial matches. Vejle and Randers are both teams we should beat, but Vejle we had already dropped points to this season. We took the lead after 12 mins, Bergvold curling in a lovely shot from outside the area. Just before half time Chukwu swung in a deep cross that Bolanos latched onto and fired home. On the hour mark Chawinga scored a cracking goal to put us further ahead. They pulled one back almost immediately... another failure to deal with a corner! That's where it ended. Job done.

Randers FC A X 2-2
We take the lead when N'Doye scores a fabulous goal. He picked up the ball from a throw in on the half way line and marched through the defence before cracking it into the top corner. Back to his best. Just after halftime Chawinga added a second after a great move. 10 minutes from the end of the game Hooiveld has a complete breakdown and passes the ball to one of their strikers with an open goal in front of him. wtf. The next minute we have another defensive breakdown. wtf. We concede two in the last five minutes from complete defensive meltdowns. It was completely comfortable until some madness in the last five minutes.

Chelsea A L 1-2
Yeah. It was the last game in the group and no-one cared. Roll on winter break. Ansah scored our goal. They scored a winner in the last minute. poo.

Top of the league at midseason break
1. FC Kobenhavn +18 41
2. FC Midtjylland +18 38
3. AGF +13 34
4. Esbjerg +10 32

We haven't been as dominant this year, at all. I've changed to a "better" formation. Hopefully after the break they can go on a bit of a run.

[sebs]

Top 11 players in terms of minutes played with age in brackets:
Wiland GK SWE (33)
Kahraman DC TUR (20)
Chawinga SC DRC (20)
Hooiveld DC NED (31)
N'Doye SC SEN (29)
Kristensen MC DEN (31)
Landu-Landu DMC NOR (22)
Markou DMC CYP (20)
Skovgaard DL DEN (22)
Lemmens DR NED (19)
Delgado MC ESP (19)

7 of my most regular players are under 22. Throw in from the next 7 Delaney DEN (23), Morfou RSA (19), Ansah GHA (18) and El Turky LBY (20) and you get the idea.

[Mark Snellink]

Oh yeah, that is a young squad. Hopefully it won't get picked off by big clubs abroad too much. Although that too would be the Dutch way

[sebs]

i'm partway through january and i've only had bigs from midsized clubs for landu-landu so far. no sale.

i've sold bolanos, oviedo and gytkaer because theyre out of contract, wont accept less money and the second half of the season is far less strenuous.

[sebs]

i'm partway through january and i've only had bigs from midsized clubs for landu-landu so far. no sale.

i've sold bolanos, oviedo and gytkaer because theyre out of contract, wont accept less money and the second half of the season is far less strenuous.

[sebs]

that was bizarre. loads of bids for landu-landu, reject reject reject. his agent wants more cash, i offer him a £9,500 per week up from £5,000. paok come in and chairman overrules my rejections. then he both rejects my new contract and paok!! ok cool!

[Mark Snellink]

so in the end he is still with you?

[sebs]

yeah! and still on 5k, but i've offered him the new contract anyway to tie him down to a four and a half year deal instead of the 2 years he has now.

[sebs]

March 2015
All the winter break saw were players leave the club. Bolanos (£300k), Gytkjaer (£120k), Oviedo (£100k) all left the club. Chukwu went on loan to CSKA Sofia. No one was brought in. In the second half of the season I can reduce my squad somewhat.

Brondby H W 3-2
Firstly we had N'Doye suspended this match then during the winter break Chawinga picked up an injury which he only just recovered from to get on the bench for this match up. No bother. Malmstrom picked up the baton and scored his first goal for the club early on. Brondby equalised but Kristensen hit back with a pinpoint header. Then a good finish from Malmstrom put us 3-1 up just before half time, but they still had time to make it 3-2 before half time. It was a nervy second half but we held out.

Silkeborg A X 0-0
Horrible match. We dominated but N'Doye was awful, missed at least 3 or 4 clear chances. It was definitely one we should be winning.

Esbjerg fB A W 1-0
Tetchy game this one. Beforehand I was annoyed that Chawinga had been called up by DR Congo U-20s for some random tournament, but hey. N'Doye looked threatening but he still couldn't finish for toffee. Luckily El Turky put us in front on the stroke of half time. Second half got a bit mental towards the end, the ref had been booking our players all match. N'Doye was put clear through on goal and one of their few booked players dragged him down as the last man in the box. It was a clear penalty, but the ref didn't give it. Ergin Kahraman decided to give his penneth and was shown a second yellow. N'Doye gets subbed for a central defender.

Top of the Table:
1. FC Kobenhavn +20 48
2. FC Midtjylland +22 42
3. AGF +13 38
4. Brondby +3 36
5. Esbjerg fB +9 35

[sebs]

April 2015
SonderjyskE A W 3-0
SonderjyskE had just sacked their manager and were definitely low on morale. We took them to the cleaners with three goals in a tight period just around half time. Firstly Matias Schwarz got his first goal for the club with a beautiful finish from the edge of the box. Then Hooiveld headed home a second from a corner just before half time. After halftime N'Doye finally scored getting a foot to a sharp Skovgaard cross. Malmstrom won a penalty later on, but El Turky skewed it over the bar.

AaB H W 1-0
Another clean sheet. El Turky got another goal from a header from corner. Our strikers missed another hatful of chances. Time for a runout for the reserves I think for both Deogratius and Dame.

Viborg H X 1-1
The match starts off badly when Viborg take the lead off a badly marked free kick in two minutes. A limp first half display ensues. A bollocking at half time reaps immediate rewards when yet again, El Turky heads home a corner. Five minutes later Chawinga misses an absolute sitter - he looks utterly and totally out of form. We push forward and push forward and don't look like we're getting anything... then deep into injury time Ansah is felled in the box from a throw-in and the ref awards a penalty. Kristensen steps up and hits the bloody post. ffs.

OB A W 1-0
A midweek match that again lacked a certain something. This half of the season we had very rarely torn any team apart and this continued that. We won thanks to a late and brilliant Kristensen strike from the edge of the area. This game continued to prove that Chawinga is having a terrible run of form of late.

AGF A W 2-0
Our bogey team would usually be the case, but Borghello was suspended and they had quite a few players out injured so I fancied our chances a little. I dropped Chawinga for Ansah and I brought Holger Ross in for a unexpected start in midfield as Kristensen was feeling the exertions of midweek. Within 15 mins Ansah had broken the fimsy offside trap, sprinted through on goal, rounded the keeper and it was 1-0. Within five mins of the restart though Thobias Skovgaard was clearing one of their chances off the line when it looked certain to go in. Just before half time it was Lemmens who broke the offside trap, skirted down the touchline, put a lovely ball in for Ross, who attacked it but was challenged, but the ball broke for Ansah in the area who tucked away his second of the match. Ansah hit the bar in the second half denying him a well deserved hattrick but it was an excellent victory against a team we usually struggle against.

FC Midtjylland H W 3-2 CUP
So the first of three matches in quick succession against Midtjylland with a Vejle match somewhere in the middle. We started well and a lovely move from the back saw Kristensen put the ball on a plate for N'Doye to tuck away. They were level within ten minutes with Gilberto scoring one of the best goals I've ever seen. It fell to him outside the box from a corner and he shot with such a curl on it I thought it was going wide until the very last moment. Unbelievable. (Turns out it hit the post, hit Wiland and went into the back of the net... WEIRD GOAL) Three minutes later we were back in front when Ergin Kahraman headed home a Kristensen corner. That's the way it stayed until half time but both teams had had numerous chances... it was a cracking match. Despite many chances in the second half we couldn't extend our lead and then a goalmouth scramble from a corner saw them equalise. Their keeper was having a blinder pulling off brilliant saves from an El Turky header and a Landu-Landu long shot, we just couldn't break through. I brought Ansah on for the still out of sorts Chawinga and again he made the difference, he picked up the ball on the edge of the area and had an instinctive shot, it came back off the post, came off the hitherto brilliant goalkeeper's back and dribbled in off the other post. Own goal. In the last minute Kristensen hits the bar!!! All to do in the second leg... we had 25 shots to their 7!

Top of the League
1. FC Kobenhavn +27 61
2. FC Midtjylland +25 52
3. Brondby +7 46
4. Esbjerg fB +12 45

I'm somewhat convinced that with 6 matches left I will win the league now. Whether I win the double or not? I'm a little more sceptical.

[sebs]

May 2015
The month that matters

Vejle H X 2-2
I decided to rest some players for this. Essentially this was a free match. If we won we were almost certain to lift the title. Any other result may cause Midtjylland to have a view that they could catch us and they may rest players for the cup tie to try and defeat us in the league. However I'd rather not see us lose against a team who were towards the bottom of the league. Half an hour in though they took the lead, some excellent work down the left and a cross we didn't deal with saw them go in front, but almost straight away a quite awesome finish from Malmstrom saw us equalise immediately. Then Malmstrom came off with an injury... hopefully nothing too serious. In the last ten minutes a Holger Ross corner is headed home by consecutive Superliga player of the month winner El Turky. In the last minute some haphazard defending after El Turky is having treatment from the physio sees Vejle equalise. The good news however is that Midtjylland lost against AGF and a win over them next weekend would secure the title. A loss to them on Wednesday though would see the double dream die for another year.

FC Midtjylland A X 1-1 CUP
So this was typical. They scored in the first two minutes. It stayed the same until half time although you could argue we had the better of the play. Just after half time we make a breakthrough - their keeper hits a limp kick out and Markou wins it in the air to put Ansah through on goal (Chawinga is suspended for this match) - Ansah races clear and fires past the keeper - brilliant goal! They come straight up the other end and a heartstopping moment sees our defenders somehow scramble it clear. Blimey this is nervewrenching. 20 mins from the end I bring Delgado on for Kristensen in his first game back for a while - he almost makes an immediate impact knocking a great ball through to Ansah but their keeper is equal to it. A nervy last few minutes are seen out and we're in the final!

FC Midtjylland A W 2-0
Here again? Win this and we win the league. Lose it and we'd still probably win the league but I'd rather not let it get to that. They rightly had a goal disallowed for offside early on, but the main talking point of the first half was them going down to 10 men after a horror challenge from one of their midfielders. In the second half a lightning fast break from a corner saw Ansah play El Turky through to put a lovely cross into Landu-Landu, his shot came straight off a defender who put past his keeper for an own goal. With ten minutes to go a brilliant move out from the back left Chawinga to cross for Kristensen who hit a lovely half volley into the back of the net. Party in the stands. The final whistle blew, we were champions again.

Brondby N L 0-4 CUP
This is weird. No idea why this is suddenly in the middle of the season but it looks like the league season finishes a lot early when there's no big tournament in June but the Cup final doesn't move, hence the scheduling of this match. No wonder I hadn't wrapped up the league before the semi-final this year! Anyway, this was our chance to secure the double against a team I personally had never lost to, but they gave us a game at the start of the second half of the season and I really wasn't feeling entirely confident despite of our unbeaten second half of the season.

Starting Line up: Wiland, El Turky, Hooiveld, Ergin Kahraman, Skovgaard, Markou, Landu-Landu, Schwarz, Kristensen, N'Doye, Ansah. Subs: Klein, Delgado, Terziev, Antonsson, Murphy, Bergvold, Chawinga

Lemmens was suspended after picking up one too many yellows, so I shifted El Turky to right back and put Hooiveld in the middle.

They took the lead after 12 minutes with a screamer from the edge of the area. Minutes later Hooiveld headed against the bar from a corner as we piled on the pressure to try and get back on level terms. The rest of the first half was lifeless. I switched to 4-4-2 at half time and brought Bergvold on for Markou and Murphy came on for Skovgaard. 10 mins into the second half as we pushed for an equaliser they catch us on the break to make it 2-0. 5 mins later it was 3-0. Another year another abject failure in a cup final. Bloody hell it's 4-0...

Randers FC H D 0-0
Time to start really putting the youth in for these matches, but also I really really wanted Chawinga to come back to being somewhere close to how he has been before. This has been a terrible second half of the season for him with zero goals. Wiland was dropped for the first time under my management. It was a shocking match. 0-0

Silkeborg H W 3-0
N'Doye put us ahead just before half time after a defensive mix up by them. 10 mins into the second half Ben Ansah adds another. In the last ten minutes Ansah latches onto another through ball and makes it three.

Esbjerg fB H W 3-0
Ansah put us in front 10 mins before half time with a brilliant volley from a Morfou cross. 10 mins from the end Jack West runs past a couple of defenders before putting a great ball throigh for Chawinga. He rounds the keeper and puts it home... amazing! at last! In injury time Chawinga again profits from a defensive mix up to add a second.

Brondby A L 0-4
Time for vengeance. Except it isn't. We lose 4-0 and our unbeaten run. Unsure what's happening when we play Brondby. Well that takes the shine off the title.

Final League Table
1. FC Kobenhavn +31 72
2. FC Midtjylland +24 59
3. AGF +11 55
4. Brondby +10 55
5. AaB +5 53
6. Esbjerg fB +6 49
7. OB -1 46
8. Silkeborg -4 45
9. Vejle -6 37
10. Randers FC -15 31
11. SonderjyskE -22 30
12. Viborg -39 17

Can't help feeling this year was a step back. We've got 13 points fewer. Scored a lot fewer goals. We did slightly better in the Champions League. I can't avoid the fact we went almost the whole second half of the season unbeaten but Brondby tore us apart twice and that is unacceptable as a derby performance. I need some big game players.

This could be quite an active transfer window.

Aims for next year:
Win the Double
Get out of a European Group Stage
Go unbeaten against Brondby and AGF

[sebs]

Start of Season 2015/16
The story so far:

Year    Club          League              Pos  Europe      Other
2010    Valur         Icelandic Premier   1st  N/A         UL Cup Winners
2011    Valur         Icelandic Premier   3rd  ECC 2nd Q   UL Cup Winners, ICC Winners, IC Winners
2012    Valur         Icelandic Premier   1st  EC 4th Q    UL Cup Winners, ICC Winners, Unbeaten in whole league season
2012-13 FC Kobenhavn  Superliga	 	  2nd  EC Grp Stg  None
2013-14 FC Kobenhavn  Superliga           1st  EC Grp Stg  Danish Cup Finalists
2014-15 FC Kobenhavn  Superliga           1st  CC Grp Stg  Danish Cup Finalists

Transfer Activity:
In
Luigi Zanetti, 21, DMC, ITA, Lecce, Free
Stephen McManus, 32, DC, SCO, Middlesbrough, Free
John Salum, 19, MC, COD, Al-Arabi, £1.8m
Damir Vrancic, 18, DMC, DEN, Esbjerg fB, £190k
Christian Poulsen, 35, DMC, DEN, Newcastle, Free
Daniel Bonig, 19, DL, GER, Spurs, Loan £325k
Diego Barcelos, 30, AMC/SC, BRA, Nacional de Madiera, £625k

Out
Cesar Santin, Retired
Lars Jacobsson, Retired
Johannes Klein, Free
Martin Bergvold, Recreativo, £150k
Johan Absalonsen, Hertha Berlin, £300k

Squad:
GK
Johan Wiland, 34, SWE
Radek Macala, 17, CZE

DF:
Mikael Antonsson, 34, SWE
James Ward, 21, ENG
Jan Lemmens, 19, NED
Thobias Skovgaard, 22, DEN
Daniel Bonig, 19, GER
Jos Hooiveld, 32, NED
Stephen McManus, 32, SCO
Ergin Kahraman, 21, TUR
Ian Morfou, 19, RSA

DMF:
Christian Landu-Landu, 23, NOR
Takis Markou, 20, CYP
Luigi Zanetti, 21, ITA
Thomas Delaney, 23, DEN
Christian Poulsen, 35, DEN

MF:
Thomas Kristensen, 32, DEN
John Salum, 19, COD
Holger Ross, 20, GER
Matias Schwartz, 21, ARG
Grigor Terziev, 20, BUL
Jack West, 21, ENG
Friday Chukwu, 18, NIG

ST:
Erik Malmstrom, 18, SWE
Dame N'Doye, 30, SEN
Deogratius Chawinga, 20, COD
Ben Ansah, 19, GHA
Danny Amankwaa, 21, DEN
Diego Barcelos, 30, BRA

Wow, I still have a stupidly young squad.

Denmark have gone even further down the rankings, we've got Airbus UK in the second champions route round for the Champions League.

[Mark Snellink]

Oh exciting stuff, got Christian Poulsen. Exactly what I meant by trying to sign a former star! Those huge defeats at the hands of Brondby should probably not be happening, but in fairness your players might not have been that motivated with the title already in the bag... I see you spent almost 2 million pounds on John Salum, I imagine he'll be expected to make an immediate impact?

[sebs]

yeah, pretty much, but also I need plenty of central midfielders for the formations i'm playing. he came highly rated, no real weaknesses, bags of pace, could influence chawinga into staying longer term with a countryman there. he has a high workrate as well.

champions league 2nd qualifying round was fairly amusing...

[sebs]

July 2015
Airbus UK A W 8-0
It took what it felt like a while to get going, but eventually we made the breakthrough midway through the first half when Schwarz hit home after picking up a loose ball in the box. This got us going, within 5 mins Ansah had put us 2-0 up after good work by Terziev. Moments later Terziev was the creator again as he put Chawinga in to score. A few moments later it was four as Chawinga latched onto another through ball. Just before half time Terziev got one of his own as he curled one in from the edge of the box. It took until the hour mark for the next one, Schwartz hitting a lovely low shot from the edge of the box to join Chawinga on the verge of a hattrick. Next Chawinga converted that hattrick as Ansah put the ball on the plate for him to finish. It took LITERALLY seconds for Chawinga to get his fourth, Airbus took the kick off and passed it back loosely, Chawinga latched onto it and hammered home our 8th from 35 yards out. That's where the scoring stopped.

AC Horsens A X 1-1
We absolutely dominate this match but it looks like we aren't going to make a breakthrough until the final 10 minutes when Ansah heads home a Delgado corner. Unfortunately that goes to waste when James Ward drags down one of their strikers in the box and is lucky not to be sent off. They score the penalty. Same old story as last year. Strikers won't bloody finish the glorious chances we provide them with.

Airbus UK H W 8-0
I had the opportunity to rest some players and I sort of did, but I also wanted to get Dame N'Doye scoring. It wasn't him who got the first, Malmstrom scrambled home the confusion from a Poulsen free kick with the faintest of touches. This bizarrely prompted Airbus to make a substitution After four minutes. Next it was an own goal from another Poulsen set piece which put us further ahead and put us into double figures on aggregate. Midway through the first half Ansah got his third goal in as many games. Just after half time Ansah latched onto a Schwartz through ball and put us 4-0 up. Minutes later N'Doye was brought down in the box and Ansah completed his hattrick. 20 mins from the end Ansah got another goal. Finally just after that N'Doye headed in a Jack West corner to finally get himself on the scoresheet. Five mins from the end we matched our total in Wales, N'Doye headed a West corner against the bar and Salum followed in to score on his debut.

FC Nordsjaelland H D 0-0
We rather controversially had a goal disallowed in this match but I am tearing my hair out at my strikers inability to convert the chances that are created for them. You'd have thought with all the shooting practice against Airbus they may hit some form...

Renova A W 3-1
Renova are a team from Macedonia. They suprisingly knocked out Victoria Plzen in the last round who I was expecting to play. Despite a host of chances in the first five minutes against the run of play they take the lead when James Ward plays a suicide ball across the back of the defence. Then for the next half an hour we played the definition of "my strikers are snatching at chances right now" until finally Ansah latched onto a through ball and equalised. Just into the second half Ansah wins a penalty and Chawinga calmly tucks it away. His 50th goal for the club. Moments later it's three as a Chawinga shot is deflected into the path of Schwartz who smacks it home low.

[sebs]

Some of my players:





if there is anyone else you want to see shout out

[sebs]

and me:


well my alter-ego

[sebs]

August 2015
Silkeborg A W 6-1
After failing to win my first two games I felt the pressure building to get the first win on the board now. Essentially one of our strikers should hit a hot streak soon (and they should be on that hot streak already if the Champions Cup matches are anything to go by!). 10 mins in we take the lead, Bonig crossed for Chawinga to head home. 5 minutes later it was two when Diego Barcelos played in Ansah who rounded the keeper and tucked it away. On the 20 min mark Chawinga grabbed his second of the match as his free kick was deflected past the Silkeborg keeper. On the half hour mark we made it four when a long punt by McManus was latched onto by Ansah who hammered the ball into the top corner. Then it was five as Schwartz scored a lovely goal from the edge of the area. Moments later they won a bizarre penalty as McManus was accused of handling the ball with no-one close to him, hence they pulled one back. Ansah hit home just before half time but it was disallowed for a narrow offside. Just after half time they are awarded ANOTHER bizarre penalty as someone who is nowhere near the ball is adjudged to have fouled someone else nowhere near the ball?!?! This time they miss it. On the hour mark things got worse for them as they had a defender sent off. With ten minutes to go Chawinga secures his hattrick with a powerful finish from inside the six yard box.

Renova H W 5-0
News before this match - Friday Chukwu has been sold for £850k to Hoffenheim. When I decided to buy him I was still playing with wingers, but with Bolanos and Absalonsen gone so have any formations without solely wing backs, so a big profit on him is good business. I may have been able to get more, but I wasn't really up for the fight and could do with the cash. He may well turn out to be one of the great wingers of his generation, but hey.

We scored 20 mins into this tie, Chawinga scored another free kick. Five mins later Jack West hammers the ball home from the edge of the area. Just after half time Chawinga adds a third, his 10th of the season already. Moments later Chawinga hits a terrific free kick for already his third hattrick of the season. 20 mins from the end Salum chests down a cross before hammering a volley into the top corner. One round to go to confirm Champions League group stage place. It's against Red Star, who incidentally spent £6m on a certain Salem El Turky this summer.

Randers FC H W 3-0
We took the lead early on as Delgado played a lovely through ball for Bonig to finish neatly. On the hour mark Chawinga puts us 2-0 up. In the last five minutes Landu-Landu crashed a shot against the crossbar and Jack West was on hand to put away the rebound into an open net. We appear to be in a lovely run of form. FC Midtjylland next week, who are top of the table at this point of the season.

FC Midtjylland A W 3-0
Welcome to FC Kobenhavn Stanley Owusu. £1m straight from Africa. Gulp. My back is covered now if a tempting bid comes in for N'Doye, Chawinga or Ansah now. It was a lively opening five minutes but neither side made the breakthrough and the rest of the half was goalless, but you'd say they were the better of the two teams. The second half started with a bang when Ansah headed a Chawinga free kick in. Midtjylland took the game to me and that gave me the advantage of counter attack on their long pitch, however it was a corner that lead to our second as Ansah scored another header. 15 mins from the end Ansah wrapped up a brilliant hattrick as he volleyed home a James Ward cross. A brilliant brilliant performance.

News - after this match I tied up what I expect to be the last signing of the summer, 19 year old South African midfielder Sipho Mokoena, £90k from Kaizer Chiefs. Also, Danny Amankwaa joined Sturm Graz on loan with a view to joining on a permanent deal.

Red Star A L 0-1
Media reports suggest 21,000 Kobenhavn fans are travelling to Belgrade. wtf. That is beyond belief. They take the lead after 20 mins and we struggle to break them down. We lose our first match of the season, but there's nothing to suggest we can't make it back in the second leg, just a worry that we didn't get an away goal.

Esbjerg fB H W 3-1
So we screw up early on but Ergin Kahraman catches the guy who is clean through on goal and makes a great tackle, but from a limp cross coming from that move Poulsen puts the ball into his own net. Oh dear. The first goal we've conceded that wasn't a penalty in the league this season. On the ten minute mark a great bit of play by Terziev and Chawinga put Ansah in the clear, his shot is blocked but Chawinga is on hand to put the ball into an empty net to equalise. Five minutes later Chawinga has us in front with an extraordinary finish, a high swerving drive from the corner of the penalty area, WOW. 15 mins from the end Chawinga rounds off his fourth hattrick of the season. Blimey. Then the yellow card happy ref gets red happy. Firstly Esbjerg have a player sent off for a second booking, then Schwartz gets accused of diving and gets a second yellow.

Red Star H W 3-0
The first half is realllllly dull. We struggle to break them down. I make a couple of subs at half time but it's the dream team up front who break the deadlock - Chawinga plays a low ball into Ansah who breaks the offside trap and tucks the ball home. 10 mins from the end a good bit of passing play ends with Ansah on the edge of the area who turns, shoots and scores a wonderful wonderful goal. With the clock running down Red Star panic in defence, Delgado wins a header and Ansah is clear through on goal with the ball in the air, he heads powerfully towards goal but the keeper saves it, only for it to fall to Chawinga who puts us into the group stage! We scored a magnificent 27 goals in 6 matches to qualify!

Champions League Group H: Sevilla, Fiorentina, Marseilles, Kobenhavn. Not the worst draw ever... We're Denmark's only representatives left in Europe so not a chance at having our automatic group stage place back anytime soon. Other news - Ian Morfou has been sold to Spurs for £2.8m - I can't turn down money like that for a player who isn't automatically on the team sheet. The good news - Chukwu, bought for £8k, sold for £875k, Morfou, bought for £30k, sold for £2.8m. Our balance sheet is looking seriously black at the moment. Further news - so far this season Valur have won the Icelandic Upper League Cup, Icelanic Cup and are top of the league with 5 matches to go. Come on!

Brondby A W 2-0
Advantage may be sought from Brondby having their Europa League match going to extra time and penalties three days before this match, but still, those losses last year are still fresh in the memory. A very very good month so far could be ruined in this match. They had the ball in the net first, but it was ruled out for offside. After 20 mins we took the lead, another cracker from Ansah, who turned, shot and scored a brilliant goal from outside the area. Minutes later Ansah smashed a header against the bar from a Chawinga freekick. Within moments it was 2-0, Delgado slicing the Brondby defence apart with a delicious through ball to Lemmens who scored his first goal for Kobenhavn. We continued to make chances, again we hit the woodwork, this time Chawinga from a free kick. After half time they begin to work back, Macala pulls off a magnificent save to keep it at 2-0 at the start of the second half. With 20 mins to go again Ansah hits the bar after a fantastic run. This is how it ends. What a brilliant month.

Top of the Table
1. FC Kobenhavn +15 17
2. OB +11 16
3. AGF +2 15
4. AaB +2 13
5. FC Midtjylland 3 12
6. Brondby -2 10

Chawinga wins player of the month. Bonig is second place and Ansah is third. Clean sweep. What's that? Oh year, Deogratius scored, count 'em, three hattricks this month - Silkeborg, Renova and Esbjerg fB.

[Mark Snellink]

Wow, what a team

Looks like you have some ace strikers, the latest purchase looks like he brings a bit more of the "big striker" to the table, a bit taller, a bit stronger, better at jumping.

I also see you're best mates with Emile Heskey?

[sebs]

yeah he's one of my coaches

dunno whether it's my new formation, new confidence or new set pieces, but chawinga and ansah have burst into life. i'd love to be playing my new signing but these two are playing unbelievably right now.

[sebs]

September 2015
AGF H W 2-1
After two weeks with international duty it feels like my strikers have gone back to the drawing board. Two awful attempts by Ansah who was knocking them in for fun in August appear to sum this up. Just after half time they take the lead, which is about the worst thing that can happen given how toothless we've looked. I've had just about enough of Ansah this match so I put N'Doye on for his first appearance for a while. Immediately he makes the difference, with only 10 mins left on the clock, Barcelos playing the ball into N'Doye who hits a delightful curling shot past the keeper. Moments later there's a foul in the box when Skovgaard crosses and Salum is held back. Chawinga hammers it high into the net. In injury time our nemesis Borghello is played clean through on goal, but Macala pulls off a magnificent save.

Fiorentina H L 0-2
Well this is a big one - we've substancially failed to make much progress on Stage 2 so far - we haven't made it out of a group stage once and we haven't won a double yet. These are essentials this season really. I think Marseilles are our best chance of overhauling in this group but we'll see. We aren't helped when after 25 mins Lemmens is sent off for a horror challenge. Ouch. Ansah is withdrawn for James Ward. A few minutes later we fail to clear a low ball into the box and it's knocked in at the far post. Ouch. Just after half time they score from a corner. We do well to hold out for the rest of the match. Lemmens will be banned, Schwartz got injured and is out for 7 weeks. Basically this match could have gone a little better.

Vejle H W 5-0
We take the lead when Ansah powerfully heads home a Lemmens cross from deep. Nice combination considering what happened against Fiorentina! Then we go two up when Salum heads in a Skovgaard corner. Five minutes later Skovgaard links with Barcelos who fires a low shot inside the near post from the edge of the area. Moments later it's four as a Chawinga free kick from deep is met by Ansah who grabs his second. Just before half time Ansah completes a hattrick of headers. There weren't any goals in the second half. Top 3 goals of the week were all by my team 8 players in team of the week

Naestved A W 4-0 CUP
Put in a load of players who weren't really getting games for this one. We took the lead early on as Owusu scored his first goal for us. Just after halftime Poulsen grabbed his first goal since his return to the club. Midway though the second half our lead is extended through an own goal. N'Doye comes on as a substitute to add a fourth.

AaB H W 1-0
It's a blooming dull first half, but we take the lead in the second half when a clearance falls to the feet of Delaney who volleys it into the bottom corner. They have a goal disallowed late on, but it's a ground out victory.

In other news Valur completed the treble in Iceland. Well done them.

Marseille A L 1-3
Oh dear, we concede within 30 seconds. On the half hour mark they add a second on the break. Urgh urgh urgh. Just after half time we grab a goal back, a Skovgaard corner leads to a goalmouth scramble and Barcelos gets the last touch to get us back in the match. However they score another a few minutes later and yet again it looks out of sight. A few decent chances but the luck just doesn't seem to fall with us... long way to go in this group.

Top of Table
1. FC Kobenhavn +22 26
2. OB +16 23
3. FC Midtjylland +7 21
4. AGF +3 19
5. AaB +2 16

[sebs]

October 2015
OB A W 2-1
So after the turmoil in the South of France we have a massive domestic fixture against the other form side in the league. So far we've been unbeaten in Denmark but against stronger sides we've had problems. Fifteen minutes in we win a free kick on the far left, it's skewed across the edge of the area to Landu-Landu who fires from distance, it's deflected up into the air and drops to Ansah who heads towards goal. It's saved but Ansah is there again to ram the rebound home. Five minutes later Chawinga picks up the ball on the half way line and runs and runs and runs and gets to the keeper and goes round him until he has the narrowest angle to tuck it in! A great goal. A poorly cleared corner sees them grab a goal back on the half hour mark. Five minutes into the second half we give away a penalty but it's MISSED!! Skied over the bar. With ten mins to go Ansah has a brilliant chance but their keeper, who has had a blinder, pulls off another great save. In the last minute they miss a point blank header!! We rode our luck in this one but it's our 9th successive victory and we're 5 points clear at the top.

AC Horsens H W 1-0
It's a fairly even first half but midway through it Ansah scores a really special goal, a curling shot from about 35 yards out. His 20th of the season already. With 20 minutes to go we have one of the most bizarre runs of play I've seen and I'm furious. Delgado gets the touchline and pulls the ball back to Chawinga. He's tackled but the ball goes straight into the back of the net. The ref however disallows it and sends Chawinga off for a second bookable as he dived!! I'm fuming. We hold on however but wtf that is a horrendous decision, how can you send someone off for diving when we score?!

Sevilla A L 0-3
Got very low self-esteem about this tournament at the moment. The problem we have is that even when we have good chances the keepers at this level seem a million times better. In the first few minutes here Chawinga has a brilliant shot from a free kick but their keeper is equal to it. Despite a good first half we let our guard down just before half time and they take the lead. Midway through the second half they extend it. Then they win a penalty because James Ward pushes someone over the box and gets a yellow which means he misses the next match - great - no right back for the next match. They score the penalty.

FC Nordsjaelland A W 2-0
A really meh game. None of our players really look up for it and there's a few changes as we've drawn Midtjylland in the cup and that is a midweek match. The first half is dire. The second half I take off Ansah as he isn't looking himself and bring on Owusu. Delaney has also been poor so I put on dead tiny Delgado. The first thing that happens is Delgado wins a header, N'Doye runs onto it and beats the keeper. 20 mins from the end we grab a second as a Delgado corner causes confusion in the box, and Owusu and Terziev lose their markers and line up to score with the Bulgarian getting the final touch. 11 straight victories and we've beaten every team in the league with that run.

FC Midtjylland H D 0-0 CUP
We dominate the first half but can't seem to make a breakthrough. N'Doye has numerous good chances but can't finish. The second half is even damper than the first and we go into extra time. It goes all the way to penalties. Urgh, this is not what we need - lose this and our season could we be a write off despite all our good progress so far. Both teams score their first penalty, but then Wiland saves their second. Owusu puts us ahead with an excellent penalty. Advantage Kobenhavn. They score and Salum scores for us. They score and Terziev scores. It's down to the last penalties. They score and it's down to Kahraman who takes our last penalty. He scores, we win, double dream still a reality. SonderjyskE away in the quarter finals, which should be an easier task.

Top of the Table
1. FC Kobenhavn +26 35
2. OB +18 29
3. AGF +8 28
4. FC Midtjylland +8 25
5. AaB +6 23
6. Brondby -2 21

Unsuprisingly Ansah is named player of the month.

[sebs]

November 2015 (with a little bit of December)
Silkeborg H L 3-4
We concede early on against a team we scored 6 against at their place. Then we continue to do our "oh look you know these strikers who have got 39 goals between them so far this season, they can't score anymore" routine until an extraordinary spell of play 10 mins before half time where a Salum curler hits the crossbar, rebounds to Skovgaard on the edge of the area who smashes a volley into the back of the unguarded net. On the stroke of half time Ansah makes me eat my words as he gets onto a great Terziev throughball and slots the ball past the keeper. Just after half time they equalise with a great finish into the top corner, but we just failed to clear our lines from a corner again! Turns out it takes a deflection on the way in and would have been going wide. Moments later Salum somehow puts us back into the lead as he takes a Jack West corner on his chest and almost runs it into the back of the net. Then we concede a penalty and it's James Ward giving it away again. Oh for Lemmens to be able to play every match. They missed one against us earlier in the season but they don't miss this one. Then they score one from a corner and this is becoming the craziest game of the season. We just can't defend. What the helllll, Ward, Wiland, Chawinga and McManus all get fined for appalling performances. Ward and Wiland complain and I slap them down.

Sevilla H X 1-1
If I have any hope of getting out a European group stage this match is essential to win. I revert to a more defensive formation to attempt this. It appears to work, we take the lead midway through the first half when Chawinga finishes from close range. We take our lead into half time. Just after half time they equalise when Wiland gets beaten at his near post. With ten minutes to go Chawinga waltzes through their defence and hits it wide. We hold out for a draw but it really feels like 2 points lost. At least we come out of the group with some credibility by gaining a point. We picked up three injuries in this match. Markou is out for a few days, Salum out for two weeks and Skovgaard out for 7 weeks November is a terrible month. No Skovgaard until the second half of the season now.

Randers FC A W 2-1
10 minutes before half time we hit them on the counter attack and N'Doye puts the ball away. Just after half time Barcelos makes up for some silly misses in the first half and scores a great goal slicing through the defence and putting it past the keeper. Then tehy grab a goal back a few moments later and on the hour mark Lemmens is sent off for a second bookable offense. Great. We hold out for the rest of the game. Barcelos picks up an injury and is out for 2 months. Another player who won't be back until March.

Esbjerg fB A L 1-4
We have Fiorentina around the corner, but I make the decision to play a strong team. Chawinga has got injured on international duty, but we've got a few players back including Macala in goal. They take the lead after 15 minutes. On the half hour mark they go 2-0 up. We're being absolutely mullered. It's 3-0 just after half time. Midway through the second half Ansah grabs a goal back and I hope it will start something. 10 mins from the end they make it four with a great finish. Please please please let this be a bad day at the office.

Fiorentina A L 0-5
This month seriously needs a turn around. We've conceded four goals twice in the league when earlier in the season we weren't conceding a thing. At right back Lemmens keeps getting sent off, James Ward keeps giving away penalties and we've no one else. Bonig has just got a lot worse at left back and Skovgaard is no longer there as back up. The goals have dried up up front and our attacking midfield threat is out for the rest of this half of the season. We have two league games left (Midtjylland and Brondby, oh great), two fairly throwaway Champions League matches and one really important cup match. The cup match is the easiest on paper but the one with the most danger if we lost. Note - we are still the leading goalscoring team in the whole competition by MILES, and Chawinga is the top goalscorer by some way too.

They take the lead within 5 minutes. This could be dreadful. They're soon 2-0 up. Then three. They make it four after half time...Five with 20 minutes to go, another own goal from a corner. We have such a long way to go.

FC Midtjylland H W 3-1
In the past few matches, since Midtjylland in the cup, we've gone from a team who were getting a bit toothless up front to a team who is just being battered from pillar to post. Maybe resting a few players could be good news for this match, but we're currently looking like a punchdrunk boxer who looked good in the early rounds but is now faltering extremely. This team does not take conceding 9 goals in a week very well at all.

Midway through the first half we take the lead, some good work by Terziev leads to an Ansah shot, it's parried and in the ensuing scramble Chawinga fires the ball home for his 20th of the season. On the hour mark Hooiveld collects the ball and plays a lovely through ball to Ansah who puts the ball past the keeper. 5 minutes later the curse of the right back strikes again as Lemmens concedes a penalty. They score it and life isn't so comfortable again. In the last minute substitute Owusu lays off a ball to an onrushing Salum who calmly places the ball past the keeper.

SonderjyskE A W 3-2 CUP
We take the lead midway through the first half. Chawinga plays a cheeky free kick as a pass to Salum who shoots, it's deflected back to Delgado who hits a snapshot into the bottom corner. Just before half time they equalise when for some reason we don't clear another cross into the box. On the hour mark, and after a so far poor performance, Ansah bursts into the box and fires the ball into the top corner. In the last five minutes they equalise from a terrible corner, yet Ergin Kahraman seems to think it is dangerous and heads the ball into his own net. Oh for crying out loud. It goes to extra time in the week that we're playing Brondby. Ansah has a clear cut chance in extra time but he fires it straight at the keeper. At the start of the second half of extra time Delaney is injured and we're down to 10 men. In the 115th minute a lovely passing move from the back leaves N'Doye with a simple chance and we finally take the lead again. We almost concede straight away, then Ansah tears through their defence.. it's all a bit hectic. Somehow we see it out. That was not nice.

The bright news however is that the draw has opened up. We're playing Vejle in the next round and every other big team is out. In the other semi it's a lower league side and, oh, it's Esbjerg fB. This year's bogey side.

Brondby H W 3-0
After a litany of bookings in a tense SonderjyskE game we have Ward, Salum and Ansah all banned for the visit of our rivals, plus a tonne of players feeling unfit for the match after 120 minutes of action midweek. We take the lead within the first five minutes. The ball comes out wide right to Lemmens who swings in a deep cross which N'Doye heads towards goal. It's saved by the keeper but the rebound falls to the feet of Chawinga who puts it into the back of the net. Midway through the second half their defensive midfielder Manteiga is sent off for a second bookable offence. 10 minutes before half time N'Doye scores one of his greatest goals, picking up the ball on the left wing near the halfway line before running it all the way to the touchline, bringing it back inside and then curling it past the keeper. A brilliant brilliant goal. On the stroke of halftime Chawinga hits the bar. The second half we create some good chances but the game changes 15 mins from the end when McManus drags down McGrath when he's the last man and is sent off himself. In injury time Chawinga is brought down in the box and we're awarded a penalty, Chawinga steps up, scores, and it's a thrashing. That has improved morale no end. The Brondby manager who beat us 4-0 twice last year and won the cup is sacked as a result of this match. Woop.

Marseille H L 0-3
After some sloppy passing in our own third we give the ball away which enables them to score their first within ten minutes. 20 mins from the end they add a second, moments later it's three and we're left with one point from 6 matches.

Top of the League
1. FC Kobenhavn +28 44
2. OB +25 42
3. AGF +7 36
4. FC Midtjylland +7 30
5. AaB +7 29
6. Brondby -11 22

[sebs]

Ansah has won Superliga player of the year, autumn player of the year and goal of the year (for the one against AC Horsens). Skovgaard got 2nd place in goal of the year for that volley.

[sebs]

Kahraman sold behind my back for £9.5m

edit: admittedly i would probably have accepted that.

[Mark Snellink]

Well I guess that's the European ambition done with for the season I suppose

£9.5M!!! That's a nice wad of cash. And remember, at the beginning of the season 18 of 29 (62%) of your squad was 21 or younger and I know a good deal of those are starters. Especially with a 17 year old keeper, you must expect that some times things will break down. On the other hand, these youngsters are already a very strong team domestically, so if you can manage to hang on to most of your starting line-up for a few years, while converting the huge profits you're making on those starlets that do get sold on (9.5M!) into new talents of ever increasing skill, I project you will be able to finish this stage in the next five seasons (although I'm starting to think I may have set the bar quite high with getting past the group stages 3x and reaching a final, though in fairness all three Dutch clubs have managed to do so in fairly recent history, Ajax '95 and '96, Feyenoord '02 and PSV '88. If anything, I might amend that to getting past the group stages three times OR reaching a final.)

Of course there's always the chance of landing that dream job at PSV. How is their manager doing?

[sebs]

they've just gone on a record breaking 18 match unbeaten run. i genuinely believe that's my way out of kobenhavn rather than hitting stage 3 unless the goal changes!! denmark is a difficult difficult country to do it in though - i may have to move to austria to have a better chance or hmmm... i wish i'd loaded the french or portuguese leagues to be honest.

[sebs]

heh, next message in my inbox "huistra could leave psv"

[sebs]

Midseason Break Transfer Update
In
Talal Al-Shehri, 18, MC, RSA, Al-Ahli (KSA), free
Johnson Babayaro, 18, WBR, NIG, Heartland, £140k
Djordje Dervisevic, 18, DC, GER, Palermo, loan
Gregory Cerdan, 33, DC, FRA, Aston Villa, £220k
Serge Tidiane, 20, DC, CIV, Debrecen, £1.7m

Out
Thomas Delaney, Frankfurt, £500k
Ergin Kahraman, Dynamo Kiev, £9.5m
Kasper Svendsen, AC Horsens, loan

15 matches and hopefully 3 cup matches. Win em all and that's me set up domestically. I fear we may fail to win the title. OB look very strong opponents.

[Mark Snellink]

Could get lucky and see him move to a bigger club then. Fingers crossed, though I'd like to see that young squad develop

[sebs]

March 2016
AGF A L 0-2
They force a great chance early doors but Macala pulls off a wonderful save. Lemmens then rushes up the other end after a great through ball but he hits the post in the resulting one on one. They take the lead midway through the half after a marvellous finish from Farnerud. Towards the end old foe Borghello runs through and scores a second. Urgh. There goes another one of my aims.

AaB A W 3-0
We take the lead after five minutes, Salum scoring a lovely curling goal into the bottom corner from distance. Ten mins later it's two but through a crazy set of circumstances. Chawinga has a free kick from miles out, he lays it off to Tidiane who plays a lovely through ball to Barcelos who hits the post with his one on one with the keeper, it falls to Ansah who shapes to shoot but squares it across the goal to Chawinga who hasn't stopped running. 10 mins into the second half Ansah tears into the box, beats a couple of men but can't beat the keeper (who incidentally is Johannes Klein), but the rebound falls to Barcelos who puts us three to the good.

OB H W 2-0
The big one. A six pointer. They haven't lost since the last time they played us. Midway through the first half Salum plays the ball to Chawinga who turns the defence and then fires it home. On the stroke of half time we go 2-0 up, Barcelos swings in the corner and Ansah heads it into the back of the net!! We've been brilliant in the first half. The second half we sit back some more. They have one brilliant chance but it's headed over the bar. Wow, what a win! Huge turnaround from the performance against AGF.

Vejle A W 5-0
We take the lead after 33 seconds. Tidiane plays a long ball that Chawinga runs onto. He unselfishly lays the ball off for Ansah to roll into an empty net. 10 mins in we go further ahead with a magnificent goal. We clear a corner to the edge of the box to Chawinga who runs the length of the pitch before curling a shot round the goalkeeper into the top corner. By midway in the first half it's three as another breakaway leads to Barcelos being one on one with the keeper and he carefully tucks it away. Vejle continued with their high line and again we destroyed it, Barcelos playing in Chawinga who timed his run perfectly to yet again beat the keeper. Almost immediately from the kick off they attacked but we won the ball back and countered once more, it was passed to Chawinga still in our half, he beat his man, ran the length of the pitch, and smashed it past the keeper for another hattrick. Again against Vejle we go in at half time 5-0 up and every goal has been our pacy strikers racing past their flatfooted defence. The second half goes exactly the way of the first game against Vejle - not much happened!

AC Horsens A W 4-0
This is the middle match in a run of 3 games in 5 days. In fact with the OB match it's 4 games in 9 days. In a way this is good news for us as we tend to have a bigger squad than most teams in the league. In the first ten minutes Landu-Landu plays a ball over the top that Chawinga latches onto. His shot is saved but Ansah is on hand to put away the rebound. Five minutes later Ansah has a second as he turns his man and fires a ferocious shot past the Horsens keeper. Midway through the first half Ansah this time turns provider putting through Chawinga who gets his 6th goal in four matches. I take Chawinga off at half time to rest him for the match two days later. Owusu takes his chance, racing onto a through ball, muscling off the defender and firing past the keeper. We easily see the game out. In other news OB lose to Vejle. Which would be funny but we've got them in the cup semi final so I don't want to snigger too much.

FC Nordsjaelland H W 4-0
Roy Makaay is the new manager of Doncaster Rovers. That's an interesting appointment. A few more changes for this match so as to keep legs fresh which is something opponents struggle to do. We take the lead in five minutes, Salum cross for N'Doye to powerfully volley in. It's crazy how deep they are defending. When their goalkeeper takes a goal kick their back four are closer to the penalty arc than the centre circle. We still manage to break through, N'Doye bursts into the box and he's dragged down by a defender when clean through on goal. The ref bottles out of sending him off but Chawinga scores the resulting penalty. Midway through the first half we get another penalty when again N'Doye is dragged down trying to get on the end of a Lemmens cross. The keeper guesses the right way but Chawinga's penalty is perfectly into the top corner. That's his 30th goal of the season - could he make that magical 40 total that N'Doye only just missed a few seasons ago? Next Chawinga turns provider as he swings in a free kick that N'Doye heads past the keeper. 4-0 at half time. No further score in the second half. Amusingly OB drop points to Horsens.

Top of the Table
1. FC Kobenhavn +44 59
2. OB +25 50
3. AGF +14 49
4. FC Midtjylland +12 42

Salum wins player of the month, with Tidiane in second place and Chawinga in third. Tidiane looks easily Kahraman's equal at the moment.

[sebs]

April 2016
Randers FC H W 3-0
Five minutes in a lovely move leads to a goal. We get a free kick on the edge of the centre circle, it goes through a few players until it reaches Ansah who pokes the ball through to Schwartz, who gets to the touchline and pulls it back for Chawinga to score. After a few minutes of sustained pressure and some simply amazing play in midfield eventually the ball falls to Ansah who puts the ball away. This team are playing with supreme confidence right now and this goal sums it up. Just before half time Chawinga scores a quite brilliant swinging free kick from miles out. It's 3-0 at half time. And again we add nothing in the second half except for complete control. Possession 73%-27%.

Silkeborg A W 3-0
In a rather bizarre turn of events we don't score in the first half. We create some chances but they are squandered. Not so in the second half when some good play between Ansah and Chawinga leaves Deogratius with his back to the goal, he turns and fires powerfully into the back of the net. Midway through the half Skovgaard has a free kick on the right side, it's cleared but just to Skovgaard again to put in, it's parried by the keeper and Chawinga is fouled going for the rebound. Unfortunately Chawinga picks up a knock from the incident so Salum steps up instead and plonks it into the net. In the dying minutes Delgado and Ansah link up well and the Ghana international makes it three. That's his 30th of the season. With our 7th clean sheet in a row we've beaten a Superliga record, all whilst scoring 24 goals.

FC Midtjylland A W 3-2
From now on it's a continual weekend-midweek cycle until the end of the season, this should serve us well as we've got a bigger squad than most teams. Midtjylland have also gone off the boil of late, so I rest Chawinga for the match against Esbjerg at the weekend. Whether this backfires who knows but they take the lead in the first ten minutes when they score a marvellous goal. I think this may well be goal of the season as Lindberg slaloms through our defence before firing home. We equalise within five minutes, Ansah heads a Delgado corner and it falls to Terziev who tucks the ball away. On the hour mark we take the lead. Bonig takes a free kick from just inside their half and swings a long and perfect ball into the area that N'Doye meets with a diving header. Immediately they equalise through Lindberg again as we completely fall asleep. Five mins later we're back in the lead, a long ball through to N'Doye leads to a shot that's saved, but the rebound falls to Ansah who finishes comfortably. N'Doye is then taken off injured but we have no subs left so we're down to 10 men, but so are they in the dying minutes as they have a player sent off. N'Doye is out for the rest of the season.

Esbjerg fB H W 2-0
A match against the team that inflicted our most embarrassing result of the season. Esbjerg are quite happy to sit back but we eventually make a breakthrough midway through the first half when Ansah heads home Diego Barcelos' corner from point blank range. It's another corner that leads to our next goal but this time it's Salum who nods it in. We see the game out but the ref seems very happy to book all of our strikers for next to nothing. Same ref that once disallowed a goal for diving, but the bookings means that both Ansah and Chawinga are banned for the match against Brondby. Disgusted. Incidentally we are only one point behind the the total we got last year and more than any team who has finished second place.

Brondby A L 1-2
Third and final match of the year against Brondby, but obviously things are difficult with the striker situation upfront, so we start with Malmstrom and Owusu up top. They look a lot better than they did last time and take the lead midway through the first half, but it looks like Macala is fouled in the build up. They continue to dominate the half but crucially fail to score. At half time I bring on Delgado and he immediately makes an impact swinging in the corner that Salum heads home for the equaliser. In the last five minutes Tidiane is sent off for dragging down McGrath when he's through on goal. In the last minute a ball is knocked through, it looks offside, but Ward gets back to tackle but in doing so knocks the ball past Macala and we've lost. On the bright side OB lost, so I am convinced the title is sealed and it's time to start concentrating on winning the cup.

AGF H X 2-2
Three suspensions resulting from the last match see Salum, Schwartz and obviously Tidiane out. This means we have a very makeshift defence and the centre of midfield is unusual. They take the lead in the 5th minute with Borghello scoring against us again. On the 20 minute mark Cerdan knocks a long ball behind the AGF defence and Chawinga runs onto it and does the rest. Macala is having a blinder, he keeps saving point blank shots from inside the 6 yard box. Midway through the second half we take the lead, some link up play by substitute West and Ben Ansah and Ansah curls the ball into the top corner for the lead. Immediately they go up the other end and James Ward (who else?) concedes a penalty. They score it, it's all square again. In injury time Chawinga is put clean through and is brought down. Their defender is sent off. Macala pulls off a wonder save with time up and the final whistle is blown.

Vejle H W 2-0 CUP
Our results against Vejle so far this season has shown us get two 5-0 wins. I would happily take a couple fewer than that today. After both the league games we had destroyed them on the counter attack as they push people forward and leave loads of space. Have they learnt their lesson?

The answer is no. Within 5 minutes Chawinga picks up a clearance from a corner, runs the length of the pitch and puts the ball in the back of the net. Our next goal comes from another corner but ours this time, Bonig floating the ball in for Salum to head home for his tenth of the season. Despite creating other chances we don't score anymore but neither do we ever look under threat. Unfortunately Salem is out for three weeks with a damaged neck after this match. In the other semi first leg there's a shock as FC Vestsjaelland overcome Esbjerg fB 2-0. Yikes!

Also; Champions League final is Man Utd vs Valencia. No great shakes, but if Man Utd fail to score more than 2 we're the highest scorers in the whole tournament. Nothing to do with scoring 16 goals in our first two matches no sireeee

Table:
1. FC Kobenhavn +52 72
2. OB +34 65
3. AGF +17 59
4. FC Midtjylland +10 49
5. AaB +6 45

[sebs]

May 2016
OB A W 2-1
This was originally billed as a title showdown and whilst they still have a chance, being as they are 7 points back with 3 games to play, a draw would see us wrap up the title. A loss wouldn't feel devestating either, with league matches against Vejle and AaB still to play we'd expect to win at least one of them. Within the first 20 minutes we hit the bar twice through Schwartz and Barcelos, but the breakthrough comes when Delgado swings a beautiful curling shot into the top corner from outside the area. We let numerous good opportunities go but they start to come back into the game in the second half. Macala makes a number of decent saves, but eventually they make a breakthrough with 20 minutes left, scoring from a direct freekick. Within five minutes though a beautiful ball out to left by Zanetti finds Skovgaard, who cuts inside and finds Ansah who shoots low underneath the keeper's body. With then minutes left on the clock Macala makes another wonder save, he really does look magnificent. In the final minute Ansah has a header saved fantastically but then the final whistle blows and we are champions for the third season running!

Vejle A W 3-1 CUP
Oh man, Vejle take the lead in the first minute. Not how I'd planned it to happen. On the half hour mark however we get our arse into gear, Schwartz wins a header and puts Chawinga through on goal, he races round the keeper and places it in the back of the net. Just before half time Ansah smashes a shot against the post and we go in all square. Just after half time Ansah makes amends for his miss, firing past the Vejle keeper after beating the defence. On the hour mark Ansah fired another high past the near post of the Vejle keeper. He was on fire. That was it. In the other tie Esbjerg fB couldn't overcome their first leg deficit and we were playing lower league FC Vestsjaelland in the final. One match left to secure the double.

Vejle H W 3-1
Oh hello, is it you again? Haven't we beaten you four times already this season? Oh, I see, you want some more. OK. I am slightly paranoid that I am making a horrendous error since we have the cup final next match and I'm playing a full strength side. This happened before when I decided to play N'Doye when he was on 38 goals, he got his 39th goal but then picked up a booking that saw him banned for the cup final two years ago. The cup final we went on to lose. Chawinga and Ansah both have 36 goals for the season so far and could well hit the 40 mark. The problem with the Danish league is that they have a disciplinary 'points' system, and I have no idea how it works and the game doesn't tell me when they're one yellow off a ban, for example. So I may lose a few players for the final. Hopefully with Ansah and Chawinga having bans relatively recently we may avoid that consequence. Ansah gets the scoring underway midway through the first half. He controls a Lemmens cross before putting it in the back of the net. They equalise just after half time... bleh, doesn't really matter does it? We go back in front through an unlikely source moments later. Chawinga has a free kick way out and lays it off for Tidiane who hits a piledriver right into the top corner for his first Kobenhavn goal. WOW. With five minutes to go Ansah creates a goal on his own, bursting past two defenders and firing home. Goal number 38 for him... and his 50th in total for the club. What a fantastic season he has had.

Unfortunately whilst we had noone banned for this game it seemed certain that Cerdan had played his last game for us as he tore his hamstring, and Skovgaard got a thigh strain that I decided to inject to keep our options open.

FC Vestsjaelland N W 3-0 CUP
I put neutral, but of course all cup finals are played at our ground. Which is weird. Surely our cup final curse will end here? I've lost two cup finals in the past two years but Kobenhavn were also runners up in 2012, 2007, 2002 and 1998 whilst winning in 2009, 2004, 1997 and 1995.

Cup final side: Macala; Lemmens, Tidiane, McManus, Bonig; Landu-Landu, Schwartz, Delgado; Barcelos, Ansah, Chawinga (c)

Midway through the first half it's that little Spaniard who makes the breakthrough. Barcelos plays a neat ball into Delgado who then smashes it into the top corner. Just before half time Chawinga shows his class, comprehensively baffling their defence with a neat turn before hammering it home. Just before the hour mark Ansah latches onto a Landu-Landu defensive header and runs clear of the defence and puts it past the keeper. Goal number 39 for him. The final whistle blows - we've won the double at last!!

AaB H X 1-1
It's a sellout for a nothing match. Well nothing other than hoping Chawinga gets a hattrick and Ansah gets one. I have never seen a player get 40 goals in a season on this game and today we get two bites at the cherry. I play the same team as the cup final, they're a bit weary but hey, it's the end of the season.

There's no goals in the first half, Ansah and Chawinga both have a couple of chances but neither can finish. Eventually with 20 mins to go we make a breakthrough, Chawinga muscles a AaB player off the ball and sticks it past the keeper. It's surely too late for him to make the total though isn't it? He did however celebrate his 100th appearance for the club with a goal. 2 minutes later Ansah has a glorious chance, an almost carbon copy of the Chawinga goal, but he fails to hit the back of the net, putting it wide. 5 minutes from the end they equalise... could this spur us on? Unfortunately it doesn't - Ansah is stranded on 39 and Chawinga on 38.

Final Table
1. FC Kobenhavn +55 79
2. OB +29 66
3. AGF +19 66
4. FC Midtjylland +13 56
5. AaB +12 52
6. Brondby -6 47
7. Esbjerg fB -4 45
8. Vejle -25 32
9. FC Nordsjaelland -19 30
10. Silkeborg -30 30
11. Randers FC -21 24
12. AC Horsens -23 24

Massive improvement on last year, we look a lot more comfortable as a team and I won't be planning to change much unless my hand is force. I need a left back and potentially a centre back, but apart from that I have a settled group. I wouldn't mind seeing Ansah, Chawinga or N'Doye leave for the right money. I think that if I don't get big cash for them now I won't be able to offer them the contracts that they would like when it comes around.

Aims from last year:
Win the Double - oh yes
Get out of a European Group Stage - bah humbug
Go unbeaten against Brondby and AGF - i was never humiliated like last year, but i did lose one match each to them, although the brondby loss was almost avoided and i had all three of my star strikers unavailable.

Aims for next year:
Get out of a European Group Stage
Find some Danish talent (I have one Danish regular - Skovgaard)
Don't lose to Brondby!
Get a new contract sorted

Alternative Aim:
Take the PSV job

Ansah got Spring player of the year, Salum came third, I won manager of the year for the third season running and Ansah, Chawinga, Barcelos and Salum were in the team of the year.

Year    Club          League              Pos  Europe      Other
2010    Valur         Icelandic Premier   1st  N/A         UL Cup Winners
2011    Valur         Icelandic Premier   3rd  ECC 2nd Q   UL Cup Winners, ICC Winners, IC Winners
2012    Valur         Icelandic Premier   1st  EC 4th Q    UL Cup Winners, ICC Winners, Unbeaten in whole league season
2012-13 FC Kobenhavn  Superliga	 	  2nd  EC Grp Stg  None
2013-14 FC Kobenhavn  Superliga           1st  EC Grp Stg  Danish Cup Finalists
2014-15 FC Kobenhavn  Superliga           1st  CC Grp Stg  Danish Cup Finalists
2015-16 FC Kobenhavn  Superliga		  1st  CC Grp Stg  Danish Cup Winners

My team of the year:
GK - Radek Macala, 18, CZE - Apps 39, Clean Sheets 20. I can see him being a regular for years to come providing we don't sell him.
DR - Jan Lemmens, 20, NED - Apps 27(2), Goals 1, Assists 8. Can really get up and down the right wing.
DC - Serge Tidiane, 20, CIV - Apps 16, Goals 1. Replace below superbly.
DC - Ergin Kahraman, 22, TUR - Apps 22(1), Assists 2. We got a very good price for him but I was gutted to see him go.
DL - Thobias Skovgaard, 23, DEN - Apps 16(1), Goals 1, Assists 5. Would never have thought he would have made it this far. The fact he's the last of the original team still in the side is incredible and would never have been predicted but he really is coming of age.
DMC - Christian Landu-Landu, 24, NOR - Apps 39(3), Assists 4. No goals this season but he is an absolute titan in midfield. THe engine on him is beyond belief. Dominates matches.
MC - John Salum, 20, COD - Apps 34(4), Goals 10, Assists 6. Performed to a standard not even I thought he could. Slow getting into the team but once he was there he established himself. Will be around for a long time (i hope)
MC - Francisco Delgado, 21, ESP - Apps 24(12), Goals 3, Assists 11. A real creative force in the middle. Scored some really really important goals.
AMC - Diego Barcelos, 31, BRA - Apps 29(3), Goals 5, Assists 10. An experienced head with a bit of flair upfront. He's not scored many goals but he's done a really good job.
SC - Ben Ansah, 20, GHA - Apps 42(2), Goals 39, Assists 12. Titanic. Wasn't even going to be my first choice, but shone in early matches and kicked on from there.
SC - Deogratius Chawinga, 21, COD - Apps 44, Goals 38, Assists 9. Somehow outdone by Ansah but he's become the player I always hoped he would be. Very special.

Special mentions - Dame N'Doye Apps 11(14), Goals 10, Assists 7. Made the difference when called upon. Matias Schwarz Apps 28(2), Goals 4, Assists 4. His passing is excellent. Daniel Bonig, Grigor Terziev, Jack West, Stephen McManus, Gregory Cerdan, Takis Markou and James Ward. Even though he gave away at least three penalties.

[sebs]

bye denmark

[sebs]

in addition: i'm the new manager of iceland. holland also wanted me, but i accepted iceland before i saw it. yowsers.

[Mark Snellink]

Ahh there it is finally then. Well, you can say you've done Kobenhavn proud. I looked back to see if I specified or not, but I feel it's fair that you could carry over any success had so far (aka, your back-to-back titles as well as the domestic double) to PSV, should you want. You'll still have to make it out of the group stages three times and reach the final once in Europe, and odds are you'll probably repeat the already completed feats in the process, but regardless, should you manage to make it past the group stages three times and reach a European final without doing the back-to-back titles and/or domestic double at PSV, you may take that credit from having done it at Kobenhavn.

Also, good luck trying to win any trophies with Iceland

[Mark Snellink]

Gonna give this a try myself, too on CM 01/02 first (my favorite). Hopefully the issue i've had before trying to find jobs in a different league won't be too much of an issue.

I will attempt the Feyenoord way, starting at Belgian relegation candidates KFC Lommelse Sk.

[Mark Snellink]

First, let's meet the team:

Goalkeepers:
1. Mark Volders - GK (24, BEL)
20. Gert Davidts - GK (29, BEL)

Defenders:
2. Daniel Nassen - D R (34. BEL)
5. Didier Segers - D L (36, BEL)
7. Michel Noben - D C (31, BEL)
12. Carl Hoefkens - D C (22, BEL)
17. Wim van Diest - SW/D C (24, BEL)
27. Kris Vincken - D/DM R - (23, BEL)


Midfielders:
6. Daniel Scavone - D/M L (28, BEL)
8. Pedrag Filipovic - DM L (26, YUG)
11. Dirk Daelmans - D/DM RLC (31, BEL)
13. Zsolt Baranyos - AM C (25,HUN)
14. Wim Mennes - M RC (24, BEL)
25. Dirk Schoofs - D/DM RC (21, BEL)
26. Richard Culek - DM C (27, CZE)

Attackers:
9. Miroslaw Waligora - F C (31, POL)
15. Ibrahim Tankary - F LC (29, NIG)
16. Nenad Bjekovic Jr. - S C (27, YUG)
18. Dieter Dekelver - F RC (21, BEL)
19. Tom van Ruyssevelt - S C (18, BEL)
22. Umit Bilican - S C (20, TUR)

*Starter at another domestic league club for at least two seasons

As you can plainly see, we have more home-grown or inexperienced players and not enough experienced players snapped up from other Belgian clubs to be in compliance with the minimum of 10 (only 5 at this time). The scouts have been dispatched and it is time to go through the pre-season games to determine the starting line-up.

[sebs]

01/02

i always considered the feyernoord way being the hardest challenge

[Mark Snellink]

Nods, me too, but I like a challenge!
Update, January 2002
The preseason was encouraging, with solid wins over French National Ligue side Clermont and Belgian second divisionists Geel, and a very impressive draw against highly rated SC Freiburg.
German veteran goalkeeper Rudiger Vollborn (GER, 38] was also brought in to serve as a mentor and a backup to the duo vying for a starting spot.
Meanwhile Zsolt Baranyos was sold to Mouscron for £1.1M.

However the opening to the regular season was less encouraging, despite a solid 4-2 home victory over Charleroi, which was followed by a tragic 4-1 loss to La Louviere, one of six losses in the first nine games as I tried to get used to my team and they tried to get used to each other. In early October we were very much looking like relegation candidates, sitting only one spot from bottom. To remedy that, I switched us to a 3-4-3 formation and brought in a new winger, Saso Gäjser (27, SVN) a former AA Gent starter, whose technical ability and pace should provide an extra level of threat down the right wing.

It would prove the beginning of a great turnaround from late October to late November as we won four out of five league games, the sole loss coming at Lokeren, while also defeating Mouscron and Oud Heverlee on our way to the quarter finals of the Belgian Cup.

I suspect I struck gold when I managed to secure the services of attacking midfielder Jonathan Butera (BEL/ITA, 21), a very promising player who even at his young age had been a regular at RWD Molenbeek for three years. We spent £1.6M on the transfer fee, a hefty chunk of our budget perhaps, but he may well turn out to be a key player for years to come.
Around the same time, defensive midfielder Dirk Schoofs, who'd gotten three starts in six total selections, decided to try his luck elsewhere and joined Second Division side KV Mechelen for £325K.

The end of 2001 continued smoothly for us, even great, as we tied Antwerp and positively demolished AA Gent IN Gent by a scoreline of 4-0, finishing out the month with a 2-1 home victory over Beveren and a 5-3 beating of Club Brugge. Meanwhile we welcome Frederic Tilmant (32, BEL) from La Louviere, a seasoned forward whose hard work and determination will hopefully rub off on the rest of the side.

All signings are not only complient with the rule of having been a starter for two years at any club, but they also put me at nine players now with more than two years of starting experience at another Belgian club, which means I shall only need one more such player.

At the dawn of 2002, things stand as follows:

Belgian First Division:

1. Mouscron 17 - 37 (+11)
-----------------------------------
7. St. Truiden 16 - 28 (+5)
8. AA Gent 18-28 (+1)
9. Lommel 18-27 (+1)
10. Eendracht Aalst 18-27 (+1)
11. La Louviere 18-24 (+6)
-----
18. Beveren 18 - 9 (-26)

Players in:
-------------
Rudiger Vollborn - Free Transfer
Saso Gajser from AA Gent - £475K
Jonathan Butera from RWDM - £1.6M
Frederic Tilmant from La Louviere £85K

Players out:
---------------
Zsolt Baranyos to Mouscron - £1.1M
Dirk Schoofs to KV Mechelen - £325K

Player stats
Most apps:
GK Gert Davidts - 20 apps (33 conceded) 6.95 Av. R

Most goals:
1. ST Nenad Bjekovic Jr. - 17 goals in 19 games (7.47 Av. R)
2. F C Miroslaw Wallgora - 7 goals in 19 games (7.00 Av. R)
3. M RC Wim Mennes - 5 goals in 17 games (7.47 Av.R)

Most assists:
F RC Dieter Dekelver - 5 assists in 13 games (7.08 Av.R)
D/M L Daniel Scavone - 5 assists in 18 games (7.11 Av.R)

Most Man of the Match:
SC Nenad Bjekovic - 4

[sebs]

haha genk aren't having the best of times in this challenge - i beat them with valur and kobenhavn, and now you're smashing them too!

[Mark Snellink]

Well as positive as 2001 ended, as mediocre did 2002 begin. We were knocked out of the quarter final of the Belgian cup by La Louviere, only managed one win, three draws and a loss through January and February and it only got worse from there.

Despite bringing in experienced centerback Andreas Augustsson (SWE, 25) March saw us beat Aalst but lose to GBA and Lierse, while Mouscron held us to a draw, while in April we did beat Genk 4-3, but we started a dismal streak of losses that would see us grab only a single point, in the last game of the season, from six games, dropping us down to 14th in the final standings, having at one point been in the top half of the table.

************************************************************************************************
 Belgian First Division - Wednesday 22nd May 2002
************************************************************************************************


================================================================================================
 2001/2 Table
================================================================================================

Pos     Team                            Pld  Won  Drn  Lst  For  Ag   Won  Drn  Lst  For  Ag   Pts
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1st  C  GBA                             34   10   7    0    33   18   8    7    2    34   24   68   
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2nd     Racing Genk                     34   12   3    2    36   19   9    1    7    30   30   67   
3rd     Lierse                          34   10   1    6    28   22   7    4    6    23   24   56   
4th     Anderlecht                      34   11   4    2    33   12   5    4    8    20   24   56   
5th     Sint-Truiden                    34   9    5    3    39   25   7    2    8    33   42   55   
6th     Mouscron                        34   9    1    7    31   29   7    4    6    27   23   53   
7th     Club Brugge                     34   9    5    3    39   23   6    3    8    35   40   53   
8th     AA Gent                         34   10   2    5    26   18   4    6    7    22   29   50   
9th     Lokeren                         34   8    6    3    39   23   5    5    7    29   35   50   
10th    RWDM                            34   9    2    6    28   24   3    8    6    11   14   46   
11th    Westerlo                        34   7    6    4    32   22   5    3    9    20   27   45   
12th    Antwerp                         34   10   0    7    30   23   3    4    10   18   35   43   
13th    La Louvière                     34   9    4    4    40   30   2    6    9    24   32   43   
14th    Lommel                          34   8    3    6    33   29   3    5    9    25   35   41   
15th    Eendracht Aalst                 34   5    5    7    21   27   5    2    10   24   32   37   
16th    Charleroi                       34   5    5    7    28   32   4    1    12   19   39   33   
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
17th R  Standard Liège                  34   4    5    8    31   31   3    3    11   26   42   29   
18th R  Beveren                         34   2    5    10   26   35   4    1    12   22   46   24

************************************************************************************************
 KFC Lommelse SK - Wednesday 22nd May 2002
************************************************************************************************


================================================================================================
 2001/2 Senior Club Stats
================================================================================================

No  Name                       Apps     Gls    Con    Pens     Asts   Yel    Red    MoM    Av R
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
4   Augustsson, Andreas        11       1      0      0        0      0      0      0      6.91   
22  Bilican, Ümit              0 (2)    0      0      0        0      0      0      0      6.50   
16  Bjekovic Jr., Nenad        36       28     0      2 (2)    3      3      0      5      7.36   
25  Butera, Jonathan           22       3      0      0        5      0      1      0      7.14   
26  Culek, Richard             26       0      0      0        4      3      0      0      6.96   
11  Daelmans, Dirk             33 (2)   2      0      0        3      1      0      0      6.69   
20  Davidts, Gert              37       0      67     0        0      0      0      0      6.62   
18  Dekelver, Dieter           11 (10)  0      0      0        6      1      0      2      6.95   
8   Filipovic, Pedrag          3 (4)    0      0      0        0      0      0      0      6.71   
13  Gajser, Sasö               21       2      0      0        4      1      0      1      6.95   
12  Hoefkens, Carl             29       0      0      0        0      3      0      0      7.14   
14  Mennes, Wim                32       7      0      0        1      0      0      4      7.34   
21  Morreel, Berhnard          10 (6)   0      0      0        0      0      0      0      6.31   
2   Nassen, Daniel             15 (5)   0      0      0        0      2      1      0      6.70   
7   Noben, Michel              8 (3)    0      0      0        1      1      0      0      6.73   
6   Scavone, Daniel            20 (12)  2      0      0        5      0      0      0      6.88   
5   Segers, Didier             15       0      0      0        3      1      0      0      6.60   
15  Tankary, Ibrahim           14 (20)  0      0      0        3      1      0      0      6.79   
29  Tilmant, Frédéric          16 (2)   5      0      0        1      0      0      0      7.00   
17  Van Diest, Wim             1        0      0      0        0      0      0      0      7.00   
19  Van Ruysseveldt, Tom       1 (9)    2      0      0        0      0      0      0      6.60   
27  Vincken, Kris              30 (2)   0      0      0        5      1      0      0      6.44   
9   Waligora, Miroslaw         21 (8)   8      0      0        1      2      0      0      6.83   
================================================================================================
 2001/2 Transfers
================================================================================================

Date      Player In                  From                       Fee
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
12.7.01   Rüdiger Vollborn           Free Transfer              Free      
6.10.01   Sasö Gajser                AA Gent                    £475K     
24.11.01  Jonathan Butera            RWDM                       £1.6M     
13.12.01  Frédéric Tilmant           La Louvière                £85K      
1.3.02    Andreas Augustsson         Vålerenga                  £26K      

Date      Player Out                 To                         Fee
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
16.7.01   Zsolt Bárányos             Mouscron                   £1.1M     
25.11.01  Roger Buelinckx            Standard Liège             £26K      
27.11.01  Dirk Schoofs               KV Mechelen                £325K

Goals for next year:
1.)Top half finish
2.) Semi-final of the cup
3.) Compliant squad
4.) Bring home a former international

[Mark Snellink]

Pre-season update 2002
Five players left at the end of their contracts, including starters Wim Mennes, who started 32 games for us last season and scored seven goals and Kris Vincken whose performances were often sub-par anyway.
Players out:
Wim Mennes to Cercle Brugge (Free)
Kris Vincken to Beveren (Free)
Ibrahim Tankary (Free Transfer)
Michel Noben (Free Transfer)
Wim van Diest to Bristol Rovers (Free)

Inbound traffic was much, much busier as we added no less than nine new players to our roster:
Players in
F LC Ngoy N'Sumbu (29, DRC) from Geel (£110K) - A dependable forward who's been in the Belgian leagues for over a decade.
AM C Steven Maes (23, BEL) from Ingelmunster (£160K) - Having impressed over the past two seasons at Ingelmunster in the Second Division, he will now get his chance at the top level.
D/DM RLC Mohammed Kanu (34, SRL) from Cercle Brugge (£70K) - A versatile player who's been around the Belgian leagues for an eternity, will be instrumental for our squad depth.
M C Dieter Van Den Broeck (21, BEL) from KV Mechelen (£110K) - Unproven but highly rated for the future.
D C Bart de Smet (19, BEL) from Lokeren (£525K) - A stunning price tag for a player his age that is as yet unproven, but he shows the potential to break in to the first team sooner rather than later according to the scouts.
D RC Johnny Nierynck (29, BEL) from Cercle Brugge (£100K) - A staple in defense at Brugge for the past two years and at Oostende for seven years before that.
D L Kenneth Spitaels (20, BEL) from Ronse (£45K) - Had a stellar debut season at Ronse, playing almost fourty league games and rating very highly indeed (7.53 avg) in defense, there was no way to pass up this bargain deal.
GK Toni Jurjev (28, CRO) from KRC Zuid-West (£140K) - The best goalkeeper in the Second Dvision last year, with years of experience in the Croatian league system, Jurjev managed to concede only 52 goals in 41 games last season and will be pushing for a spot under the bar.

************************************************************************************************
 KFC Lommelse SK - Wednesday 31st July 2002
************************************************************************************************


================================================================================================
 Squad
================================================================================================
                                                                                                    2 Year Starter
No  Name                       Position(s)  Nat  Born      Age  Caps Gls  Wages     Expires   Value at other BEL team?
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1   Volders, Mark              GK           BEL  13.4.77   25   -    -    £500      30.6.04   £275K     No
2   Nassen, Daniel             D R          BEL  21.11.66  35   -    -    £1.2K     12.6.03   £40K      Yes
3   Spitaels, Kenneth          D L          BEL  29.4.82   20   -    -    £400      23.6.06   £85K      No
4   Augustsson, Andreas        D C          SWE  26.11.76  25   -    -    £600      7.6.07    £325K     No
5   Segers, Didier             D L          BEL  21.2.65   37   -    -    £1.2K     16.6.03   £28K      Yes
6   Scavone, Daniel            D/M L        BEL  3.9.72    29   -    -    £800      30.6.03   £500K     No
7   Maes, Steven               AM C         BEL  26.1.79   23   -    -    £750      28.6.04   £500K     Yes
8   Filipovic, Pedrag          DM L         YUG  12.1.75   27   -    -    £800      30.6.05   £900K     Yes
9   Waligora, Miroslaw         F C          POL  4.2.70    32   -    -    £800      30.6.04   £450K     No
10  Kolotilco, Alexandr        F RC         RUS  11.7.79   23   -    -    £575      24.6.07   £1M       No
11  Daelmans, Dirk             D/DM RLC     BEL  6.10.69   32   -    -    £800      30.6.03   £200K     Yes
12  Hoefkens, Carl             D C          BEL  6.10.78   23   4    -    £1.6K     30.6.04   £1.6M     Yes
13  Gajser, Sasö               AM R         SVN  11.2.74   28   11   2    £1.3K     25.6.04   £1.2M     Yes
14  Jurjev, Toni               GK           HRV  30.11.73  28   -    -    £775      28.6.05   £325K     Yes
15  Nierynck, Johnny           SW/D RC      BEL  7.1.73    29   -    -    £600      5.6.06    £300K     Yes
16  Bjekovic Jr., Nenad        S C          YUG  17.2.74   28   3    -    £1.9K     27.6.04   £1.1M     No
17  Van Den Broeck, Dieter     M C          BEL  12.4.81   21   -    -    £500      1.6.04    £575K     No
18  Dekelver, Dieter           F RC         BEL  17.8.79   22   -    -    £750      30.6.03   £1.3M     No
19  Van Ruysseveldt, Tom       S C          BEL  5.8.82    19   -    -    £200      30.6.04   £700K     No
20  Davidts, Gert              GK           BEL  30.5.72   30   -    -    £800      30.6.04   £300K     No
21  Morreel, Berhnard          D C          BEL  3.10.80   21   -    -    £500      23.6.06   £140K     No
22  Bilican, Ümit              S C          TUR  29.3.81   21   -    -    £300      30.6.04   £250K     No
23  De Smet, Bart              D C          BEL  18.3.83   19   -    -    £475      22.6.06   £170K     No
25  Butera, Jonathan           AM RC        BEL  14.5.80   22   -    -    £1.1K     15.6.06   £625K     Yes
26  Culek, Richard             DM C         CZE  1.4.74    28   -    -    £450      30.6.04   £975K     No
27  Kanu, Mohammed             SW/D/DM RLC  SLE  5.7.68    34   2    -    £1.1K     4.6.04    £100K     Yes
28  N'Sumbu, Ngoy              F LC         DRC  30.10.72  29   20   5    £1.2K     11.6.04   £425K     Yes
29  Tilmant, Frédéric          F RC         BEL  4.5.69    33   -    -    £1.3K     11.6.03   £100K     Yes
-   Luyten, Harm               D C          BEL  26.1.84   18   -    -    £120      15.6.03   £30K      No
-   Brouwers, Koen             GK           BEL  3.1.83    19   -    -    £100      9.6.04    £30K      No
-   Browaeys, Paul             F C          BEL  18.12.86  15   -    -    £120      Rolling   £60K      No

So we are compliant this season with the minimum of 10 players who must have been starters at other clubs and with only 3/14 new transfers being of the unexperienced variety I am currently also complient with the 70% of new transfers being starters elsewhere rule (at 79%).
Progress report

                                                              Compliance with
Year   Club           League          Pos   Cup        Europe Rule 2   Rule 3
01-02  Lommel         Belgian Div 1   14th  Qtr Final  N/A    No (9)   Yes (100%)
02-03  Lommel                                                 Yes (13) Yes (79%)