A Glass half full or A Glass half empty!Journeyman career (FM13).

[Champfan10]

Intro

Hi everybody. Long time lurker here! I usually play FM in the English leagues with a club near the top divisions so this is a first for me.

The Game

I'm going to start my first proper journeyman career and want you guys to share the journey with me, I have been taking part in the FM13 Dafuge challenge, but after getting Hednesford Town to the Premier League I want a break from that save.

The Aim

The aims of my career is to get to the top, the very top and win as many trophies as possible along the way, I can't promise I'll achieve that or anything at all and I can't promise I'll stick at a club long, as I will be aiming to improve my reputation as quickly as possible, but I'm sure there will be many interesting steps along the way.

Save Details

I'm playing

I am starting with the following nations (and all relevant divisions available):-

Australia
Brazil
China
Denmark
England
France
Germany
Ireland
Italy
Norway
Scotland
South Korea
Spain
Sweden
Switzerland
U.S.A

So that's 47 leagues from 16 countries with a large database and a total of 78,000 players, hopefully my laptop can handle that!

Manager Details

My manager will be a 26 year old English ex Sunday league footballer, who is unemployed and looking to get a job anywhere. The start date will be July 2012 in line with the English season.

Year--------Club------Division-------------------------Position---------Cups
2012--------Frigg-----Norwegian 2nd Division Grp 4-----9th------------------KO before my appointment
2013--------Frigg-----Norwegian 2nd Division Grp 4-----1st------------------2nd Round
2014---Jonkopings-----Swedish 1st Division Elite--------1st-------------------Group Stages (To be played March 2015)

[Deisler26]

Good luck dude

[Champfan10]

Here's the available jobs:-

[Champfan10]

So here's the offers I have received, the positions are for the teams currently in season:-

Norway:-

Birkebeineren (13th of 14 after 13 games)

Mandalskameratene (14th of 14 after 13 games)

Ostsiden (8th of 14 after 13 games)

Algard (4th of 14 after 13 games)

Frigg (6th of 14 after 13 games)

Sweden:-

Frej (8th of 14 after 12 games)

Solleftea (11th of 12 after 13 games)

Selanger (12th of 12 after 13 games)

Ireland:-

Athlone (4th of 8 after 16 games)

Scotland:-

Brechin

So, I'm hoping you guys can help me out on who to choose?

[Deisler26]

Frigg!! That's my choice

[deltablue]

Algard would be mine, though Frigg's close.

[Hypanimz]

Frigg!! That's my choice

I agree with this. Good luck with whoever you chose buddy.

[Champfan10]

Algard would be mine, though Frigg's close.

Frigg!! That's my choice

I agree with this. Good luck with whoever you chose buddy.

Well I think the choice is unaminous, Frigg it is!

[Champfan10]

FRIGG OSLO FOTBALL KLUB

As I said above the first step of my journey will be with Frigg, a small team from the Norwegian Second Division Group 4, who are based in Oslo.

Here's the clubs limited history (from wikipedia):-

It was founded on 17 May 1904 as SK Frigg, named after Frigg of Norse mythology. It was merged on 21 April 1954 with SK Varg. It took the name Frigg Oslo FK in 1990. The club colors are white and blue, and the team plays at Marienlyst stadion. It has a training field at Tørteberg not far from Marienlyst.
As the name indicates it is mainly a football club. It formerly had a handball team; the women's team became national champions in 1962 and 1964. The men's football team played for many years in the Norwegian Premier League, and won the Norwegian football cup in 1914, 1916 and 1921. It had several players for the Norwegian national team, including Harald Hennum and Per Pettersen.[2] The team currently plays in the Norwegian Second Division, having won their Third Division group in 2009.
The men's bandy team played four cup finals in 1917, 1923, 1947 and 1948 but lost all. The are currently playing in the Third Division, the lowest tier of Norwegian bandy.

THE SQUAD

Here's the squad, with the assistants report.

THE STADIUM

Here's the facilities I've inherited.

[Champfan10]

So I've joined halfway through the season, the team are currently 6th in the league with 13 games left, unfortunately only one team can gain promotion from this division and we have 11 points to make up, so I think I will be using the rest of the season to assess my squad and do the best I can.

Here's the table

Here's the August fixtures

[Champfan10]

Well in the midseason break, I've managed to bring in 2 players that I felt the squad needed.

I've bough a Gambian poacher by the name of Abdou Darboe as I want to play a 4-3-3 but all the strikers are Target Men and he comes highly rated by my scout.

I also bough in a right back as we didn't have anyone who was recognised in that position so I fetched in Hai Lam to feel this void.

I also played 2 friendlies, one against my reserves which I won 3-0 and one against the team currently top of my division, as you can see went well.

Hopefully this will be a signs of things to come.

[SRL88]

Good luck with this. You have made a decent start.

[Champfan10]

Good luck with this. You have made a decent start.

Thanks I'm going to enjoy this career.

[Champfan10]

August Update

Fixtures

Well 5 points out of 12 isn't great, but I put the first loss down to the team adapting to my style of football. In the next 3 games we dominated each game, a credible point away at the leaders wasn't the worse result, we then got the win in the game against the higher placed Senja and followed this up with a draw against Mo, we hit the woodwork twice and was unlucky not to win.

The results mean we've dropped a position but the league is incredibly tight, and 6 points separate 3rd and 11th.

[Champfan10]

September Update

It wasn't a great month, mainly down to my tactic tinkering. I had already decided that this season would be about analysing my squad and seeing where we can improve so I have been rotating the squad and after this month I feel I have a better idea of where we need to strengthen. To be fair we should of maybe picked up 6 points this month but only the 3 was gained after beating the bottom club.

The table isn't the best to read as we have fallen further down the league, in fact I mistakenly thought only one team would be relegated but its actually the bottom 3!! Not great attention to detail for me and it means that we need to really pick things up in the final month, we have a crucial 6 pointer away against Ostsiden and the remaining 3 fixtures are up against Tromso 2 away, Follo at home & Mjolner away, so it will be squeaky bum time!

[Champfan10]

2012 Season update.

Fixtures

We finished strongly and look to have a tactic that should do us well next season. We dominated all 4 games this month and new signing Darboe was on fire with 7 goals in the first 3 games which we won, he also hit the bar agianst Mjolner who were very lucky to grab the win. So as a summary of the season I played 13 games, won 5 drew 2 and lost 6.

Table

In the end we comfortably stayed up, however I believe next season we should be pushing for the top half of the table if we can keep the players we have around. A new keeper wouldn't go a miss as he has personally cost me 3 goals with his poor distribution.

Player of the season (since I took over)

He only started performing in the last month, but his goals were enough to keep us up this season and he has signed on for another season.

[Champfan10]

The chairman wasn't overly excited by my start

I've now got 3 months until my 7 week pre season starts, so looks like I'm going to go travelling to scout some players.

[Bobsled]

Very decent first season, good look scouting!

[Champfan10]

Very decent first season, good look scouting!

Cheers I got a new contract for a year so next season should be fun!

[RenG]

Well, an other one playing with Frigg.

Good luck with them, on FM12 with just a few addition it was pretty easy to get promoted all the way to the Tippeligaen (1st tier). I hope you can achieve the same!

[Champfan10]

Well, an other one playing with Frigg.

Good luck with them, on FM12 with just a few addition it was pretty easy to get promoted all the way to the Tippeligaen (1st tier). I hope you can achieve the same!

Dont say that, you've piled the pressure on now

[Champfan10]

Pre Season 2013

Board Aims

A Respectable League Position & 2nd Rd of the cup.

Media Prediction

4th

Personal Aim

Top 5 & at least the 3rd Rd of the cup.

Players In

I didn't want a massive overhaul as I believe the squad has players to get us out this league or at lest a top half finish, so I brought in the following:-

Carl-Fredrick Lystad

A young right back who was highly recommended by my scouts, he will play as my starting right wingback providing he keeps form.

Jorgen Loken

Another youngster who wont be ready to start in the centre of midfield yet but he will be used to gain experience ready for the future.

Harald Hauge

The squads Mr Versatile, he isn't rated to highly by my coaches but has the attributes I'm looking for.

Eirik Jansen

I didn't scout him but I liked the look of him, my coach thinks I should release him but I'm going to see how he gets this season.

Friendlies

We had a great pre season, only conceding 5 goals in 11 games (all but 1 was against teams in divisions above us) and only losing 2 games to teams above us. We are well ready for the league to start and will be looking to carry this form into the new season.

[Hypanimz]

Nice long preseason, hopefully will have your players raring to go for the new season.

[Champfan10]

Nice long preseason, hopefully will have your players raring to go for the new season.

That was down to boredom, the Norwegian off season is like 5 months.

[Big Marv]

Pre-season looked good, you beat the teams you would hope to beat, draws against HamKam and Brann were good results.

[Champfan10]

May Update

Well were unbeaten and we don't look like we'll ever concede more than the odd goal, however we definately should of beat Tromso 2 but wasted our chances, Nesodden I imagine will be in the running towards the end of the season so a 1-1 draw away isn't to bad.

A steady start, only 2 points off the top.

The draw for the Norwegian Cup has seen us drawn at home against Premier division IFK Start, this will be the first game in May.

[Champfan10]

Pre-season looked good, you beat the teams you would hope to beat, draws against HamKam and Brann were good results.

Thanks, yeah most of the friendlies was against teams at our level.

[Champfan10]

A little job offer (I didn't apply for the job)

Think I'm going to reject the job as I want to stick around in Frigg for a while longer. There in the Korean National division (2nd Tier).

Edit:-Rejected.

[Champfan10]

May 2013 Update

Cup

We had 2 tough rounds, the first against top division Start and our defence held there nerves as we ran out winners. In the second round we come up against 1st division Sarpsborg and twice went behind but pegged them back, in the end we lost 4-3 on penalties but we definately enhance our reputation.

League

3 wins out of 4 represents a good month for Frigg, there was only a total of 4 goals scored but the one we conceded in the month was in a defeat to Mo, but the other 3 contributed to 1-0 wins with the goals spread out. This left us in a healthy position in the table, 1 point off the top.

[deltablue]

Good idea staying at Frigg, one of my many former Norwegian clubs.

[DizzyPenguin]

Ahh reading this with interest, I have a Frigg career update going too! Best of luck to you, they're proving good fun to manage. When I get home from work today I'll be kicking off my third season in the Adeccoligaen - hope you make it too!

[Champfan10]

Good idea staying at Frigg, one of my many former Norwegian clubs.

Quite enjoying my time here, I may stay an try to get them into Europe if the chairman keeps me.

Ahh reading this with interest, I have a Frigg career update going too! Best of luck to you, they're proving good fun to manage. When I get home from work today I'll be kicking off my third season in the Adeccoligaen - hope you make it too!

Me to that's the target, have you managed to improve any of the facilities?

[DizzyPenguin]

Quite enjoying my time here, I may stay an try to get them into Europe if the chairman keeps me. Me to that's the target, have you managed to improve any of the facilities?

No the board refuse to budge on youth fac improvements, however under soil heating is a requirement in the Adeccoligaen and that has set us back £588k of money that we don't have... Season 3 will be a struggle I feel.

Starting pre-season tonight... real life work can't finish fast enough!!

[Champfan10]

No the board refuse to budge on youth fac improvements, however under soil heating is a requirement in the Adeccoligaen and that has set us back £588k of money that we don't have... Season 3 will be a struggle I feel.

Starting pre-season tonight... real life work can't finish fast enough!!

Oh dear, not looking forward to that sort of expenditure if I get that far.

[Champfan10]

June Update

We started the month like a house on fire, beating Harstad 3-0. We then had a debut with Oslos City but we had to come behind to draw 1-1 after conceding from a corner early on, up next was lowly Skarp who we easily dispatched of in a dominant 4-0 win and this meant we headed away to Follo full of confidence, maybe to much as we went 2-0 down again to set piece goals but we got a late goal back but it wasn't enough. I'm pretty please that we're starting to score more goals and share them around the team, from a negative point of view I can see we are conceding maily from set pieces so I have altered my set piece instructions and will see if we improve defensively next month.

The results still leave us in touch with the leader, but the Follo result didn't do us any favours and ideally we need to try and win our 2 games in July to set us up for the second half of the season, I may try to bring one or two new faces in if the qualities out there during our summer break.

[SRL88]

Nice compact league from 6th up.

[Champfan10]

July Update (Mid season)

We only had the 2 games, but we won both without conceding so it was a good month. The Mjolner result was a big result for us a late free kick from my left wingback Debesay won it for us.

The league looks like any team from the top 5 could win, we have 5 games in August so its a huge month for us, we have a massive game against the unbeaten Nesodden that will possibly go a long way to decide our future.

[Champfan10]

Nice compact league from 6th up.

Yeah its a tight league with a lot of similar quality teams, that's what makes it fun!

[Lenzar]

I notice the stadium is somehow owned by your reserve team. :S

[Champfan10]

August Update

A good month, 4 wins out of 5 including ending the 17 match unbeaten run of Nesodden with a well deserved 2-0 win, however this was followed by a dissapointing 1-0 loss to the Tromso 2 team which basically set us back to 4th but we finished the month with 2 wins while the others faultered putting us top with 8 games to go, but its incredibly tight.

[Champfan10]

I notice the stadium is somehow owned by your reserve team. :S

Yeah its strange, Lyn also share the stadium.

[RenG]

Oh dear, not looking forward to that sort of expenditure if I get that far.

Don't worry about this. You'll get something like £250K for TV rights and there's good prize money in the Addecoligaen. If you don't spend too much on players and staff wages, you should be able to recover the amount spend for soil heating in one season.

Great progress in the league so far, I hope you can achieve the promotion you deserve.

[Champfan10]

Don't worry about this. You'll get something like £250K for TV rights and there's good prize money in the Addecoligaen. If you don't spend too much on players and staff wages, you should be able to recover the amount spend for soil heating in one season.

Great progress in the league so far, I hope you can achieve the promotion you deserve.

Not bad, I ckicked the prize money as well and was more than I expected!

[Champfan10]

September Update

Well we had 4 games this month and managed to gain 9 points, with wins against Mo, Harstad & Oslo City thanks mainly to the goals of Darboe who seems to be hitting top form just in time for the run in. In the loss against Sajun which was our first at home, the poor dfending against set pieces came to haunt us and we found ourselves 2-1 down but we pulled a goal back and threatened to grab a point but couldn't find a finish. These results though have seen us open up a 3 point lead at the top going into the last 4 games, however any of the top 3 will feel they can win the league due to the final fixtures, see below.

Table

Final fixtures

Frigg

Follo

Mjolner

[Champfan10]

2013 Season Update

Well we knew going into the last 4 games that the title was in our hands, we dispatched Skarp 3-1 and then come up against Follo who had lost there last game but they deservedly beat us 2-0, however going into the next home game against Kvik Halden which was played a day later than all the other fixtures we knew that a win would win us the title and the player duly delivered. Against Mjolner I decided to put some of the U19s in and wasn't interrested in the result really.

It means that I have one my first trophy of this career and first promotion, it will be interesting to see how we get on next year and what sort of finances we will be provided. I also got a 1 year contract on £425 per week meaning I'm the highest paid person at the club.

I'm going to stick with my rigid defensive tactic to start with to assess the sides quality in comparison to the other First division teams. Anyway here's a few screenshots to summarise the season.

2013 Competitive Fixtures

2013 League

2013 Squad (Stat Overload)

2013 Transfers

2013 Finances

I now have a 5 month period with no games, if I get any job offers I may well consider them but I would like to continue with Frigg but I believe in football you need to take you chances so if a chance at a club that appeals to me I may move on but who knows??!

[Jason the Yank]

Well, you are a championship-winning manager now, so who knows?

[DizzyPenguin]

Well done mate! Good luck in the Adeccoligaen if you stick with Frigg.

[Champfan10]

Well, you are a championship-winning manager now, so who knows?

No offers (I'm haven't applied for any jobs either) so I'm staying here but I'm glad.

Well done mate! Good luck in the Adeccoligaen if you stick with Frigg.

Cheers, looking forward to the step up in class!

[Champfan10]

Pre Season 2014

Board Expectations:-

Norwegian First Division: Stay Clear of Relegation

Norwegian Cup: 2nd Round

Media Prediction: 16th of 16

My Expectations:-

Top 10 in the league and at least 3rd round in the cup.

Fnances:-

Transfer Budget:- £7.02k (£2.02k left)

Wage Budget:-- £4,622 (£3,697 current exp)

Finances:- -£271,147

Transfers:-

Piotr Gawecki - Polish striker who has been signed as back up and potential partner for Darboe.

Marcos Rygh Bo - Norway U19 striker signed for the future, my scouts see him as a good Premier League striker in the future.

Lamin Bojang - A versatile dfender who will be used at centre back, but can fill in if needed at wing back to.

Magnus Ueland - Our only signing that cost this year £5k, a strong DLC who will go straight in the starting eleven.

Youngster(s) Promoted

Inge Setsa - A 16 yr old Trequarista who came through my youth intake last year will be around the first team squad and will be used sparingly.

Friendlies

This year I opted for a 6 week pre season (1 week leass than last year) but I still wanted plenty of games to build up the match fitness, we played the higher division clubs Brann, Sogndal & Haugesund and only lost to Brann. From our own division we played the favourites Odd Grenland & Honefoss and didn't lose, then to finish our pre season off we played lower league's Raufoss, Ostsiden & Skeid and lost just the once to Skeid with a weakened team out.

[deltablue]

Good luck after promotion.