FM16: The Frozen Throne

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Congratulations! How will you continue from here?

Cheers mate. More information to follow soon...

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Elvar Björgvinsson's Management Career - Season Review - 2041/42 - Hobro Idræts Klub

Superliga

Results (preliminary phase) - Results (championship group)

Competition Performance: Winners

We only went and bloody did it. We had a stormer of the preliminary phase, maybe not so good after the split. The final day was quite nervous as we still could have thrown it away, luckily this time we managed not to bottle the title. Over the course of the whole season, I believe we really deserved to come out on top.

DBU Pokalen

Competition Performance: Semi Final

Our reserves were doing quite well until they came up against another Superliga side that proved to be just a little too strong for them.

UEFA Europa League

Competition Performance: Third Qualifying Round

A performance to forget. We could have done much better in the home leg, but at their place they were all over us and deserved to beat us.

Squad

Constantly developing. I'm happy with the way we're improving without dishing out crazy amounts of money. That's definitely the route I'm going to follow.

Transfers - Finances

To be honest, I only realised how many players we brought in over the year after I took that screenshot. Still, we spent just over £900K and brought in more than £5,5M, which is a really good result for me. That's how I'd like to operate every transfer window.

Despite making relatively big profit on the transfer market, we're still leaking money. A Champions League appearance would be a massive help to us.

Player of the Season

1st - Brinquedo - my personal Player of the Season for the second year in a row, Brinquedo is simply in charge of everything on the pitch. In addition to his wonderful attacking ability, his aggression has also proven to be an asset at the back on more than a couple of occasions. Remember, we brought him in for a mere £70K!

2nd - Murilo - obviously our top scorer has to be up there. Only Alex Sandro of FC Fredericia managed to outscore him in the league. Apart from being an obvious goalscoring threat, Murilo is also a fantastic winger who really likes to show off his ability to beat the man. He is a real treasure to have.

3rd - Roar Norbye - maybe he wasn't exactly a silent hero - 11 goals and 13 assists in the league didn't come out of nowhere - but more often than not he had to step aside to allow the others to be in the media spotlight. This guy really deserves at least some recognition.

Next Season

From now on, sky is the limit.

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The Frozen Throne: Part Two

Having finally established his rule in the North, the Lich King gathers his troops to war.

The Aim

Become the first manager to win the Champions League with a Scandinavia-based club.

The Manager



Elvar Björgvinsson is now a very experienced manager, with spells in five different countries as well as the Icelandic national team. With five national titles under his belt, he is now ready to take on the big one.

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I struggle to find words for this guy. Absolutely outstanding.

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A well deserved wage rise.

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Elvar Björgvinsson's Management Career - Season Preview - 2042/43 - Hobro Idræts Klub

Board Expectations:

Superliga: Reach Championship Group

DBU Pokalen: Semi Final

UEFA Champions League: Third Qualifying Roumd

My Expectations:

Superliga: Having won the title once, that's the only thing that can be expected from now on.

DBU Pokalen: Not important.

UEFA Champions League: The final qualifying round is a minimum for me so that we are in Europe during autumn.

Budgets:

Transfer: £1,268,039

Wage: £109,459 (currently spending £102,486)

Balance: £1,239,143

[deltablue]

That's ambitious

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That's ambitious

Hopefully not too ambitious. Luckily I have plenty of time to work on that.

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This will certainly come in handy.

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Elvar Björgvinsson's Management Career - Pre-Season - 2042/43 - Hobro Idræts Klub

Friendlies



Yay, we held Chelsea off!

Transfers



Seven new faces brought in, and we still need a left back.

Stefan Dahl - a new, better goalkeeper to replace Davi. I also like the fact that he's Danish.

Filipe Antunes - we needed some cover for the left winger position, and you know that I can't resist a bargain.

Gavião - another left winger, this one is meant to be first choice though. That will push Roar Norbye to the striker position.

Torbjørn Andersen Aase - I just love the Norwegian league. So many cheap quality players there. Andersen Aase definitely stands a chance in the fight for a first team spot.

Pedro Henrique - another winger, another one meant to be second choice. Originally he was meant to be cover for Murilo, but you can see what happened.

Zarko Zukic - younger and better than Usman, I'll take that. Our new first choice right back.

Ijlel Weinner - and a direct replacement for Murilo. His contract is running out at the end of the year, so I hope to snap him up permanently then.

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Elvar Björgvinsson's Management Career - July 2042 - Hobro Idræts Klub

Superliga





We made the start we were expected to make.

The season opener happened to be against a newly promoted Silkeborg side. I wasn't entirely sure what to expect, but it was definitely a good chance to make a strong start. And we were... well, unconvincing would probably be the best description. We didn't really struggle with taking shots or creating chances, yet the conversion rate was awful. The visitors can be really thankful that the first half ended with no goals. To break the deadlock, we had to wait until the 55th minute. Pedro Henrique found Roar Norbye with a clever pass and the Norwegian applied a clinical finish to put us in front. We continued to control the flow of the game, but in the 78th minute quite a big setback happened. We didn't react quickly enough to an indirect free kick and Kim Rune Johnsgård brought things back level with an easy shot. Luckily Norbye hadn't spoken his final words yet. Four minutes later he intercepted a poor backpass to recover the lead for us. We could - and should - have won that much more confidently.

The AaB game was quite a weird one. We got off to the worst possible start - in the 5th minute Ove Andreasen made an interception attempt so poor that he ended up slide-tacking the ball into our own net. We struggled to find our rhythm for some time before Pedro Henrique bailed us out with an equalising goal in the 25th minute, Brinquedo with the assist. The Brazilian winger doubled his goal tally to put us in front eleven minutes later, finishing off a gorgeous passing move inside the hosts' penalty area. And, similarly to the week before, we seemed to be in control right until the 75th minute when Branislav Isailovic made it 2:2 with a close range header, Andreasen at fault again for poor marking. This time though, it was a goal that angered the beast. Five minutes later Ijlel Weinner got his head to a cross from Niall Keogh to score his first ever goal for Hobro. In the 86th minute Brinquedo laid the ball out for Kenneth Nhlapo to put an end to any doubt concerning the result. And just as the game was about to end, Niall Keogh drilled in a beautiful cross so that Brinquedo could also grab a goal for himself. That's more like it.

Champions League



So far, so good.

I was hoping Sheriff would turn out to be relatively easy opposition. We took much longer to find our rhythm than I would have liked us to though. A brilliant point blank range save from Stefan Dahl around the 20th minute was a kind of a wake-up call for his teammates. Finally in the 39th minute Gavião received a brilliant pass from Torbjørn Andersen Aase and squared the ball to Pedro Henrique for an easy tap-in. Just two minutes later we doubled our lead - a cross from Niall Keogh was met by a finish from Roar Norbye. And we added three more goals after the break, easily controlling the game. First Andersen Aase received the ball on the edge of the penalty box and unleashed a perfectly placed effort that halted to a stop in the far bottom corner of the goal. Then Ove Andreasen headed the ball on after a corner and Franco Maspero made it 4:0 with a close range strike. Shortly after that Pedro Henrique scored the final goal of the game, Kenneth Nhlapo with a nice assist through the middle.

Yup, you guessed it - I took mostly reserves to the return leg in Moldova. And they did their job brilliantly. The opening goal was scored in the 15th minute and it was a penalty taken by Gavião. Our left winger doubled his goal tally just two minutes later, scoring with a rather scruffy effort after a good pass from Nhlapo. We made it 3:0 in the 30th minute of the game, Steffen Astrup finally ending his long goal drought after a nice passing move and the assist from Pedro Henrique. In the 68th minute Gavião managed to squeeze in his third goal right before he got taken off the pitch, assisted by Astrup. 9:0 over two legs, I'll happily take that.

Don't let yourselves get fooled by the scoreline. We absolutely hammered BATE and should have beaten them much, much more convincingly. If only our finishing had been better... yeah. I'm sure you've already heard that. The scoreline was opened in the 25th minute. A shot from Nhlapo was brilliantly saved by the Belarusian goalkeeper, but the rebound from Brinquedo would need a superhuman to be saved. We continued to push on and eventually managed to find another goal in the 47th minute. Gavião put Pedro Henrique in a rather difficult position with his cross, but the right winger managed to squeeze the ball into the net from a tight angle. We didn't allow the visitors to come close to our goal too often, but when we did so in the 58th minute, it turned out really costly. Dahl managed to save the initial shot, but didn't hold onto the ball and Evgeniy Burets took full advantage of that to put his team in a not-so-hopeless position before the return leg.

Transfers

Tue Andersen - the 19-year-old Dane joins us on a season-long loan from Marseille to provide cover for the left back position.

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Elvar Björgvinsson's Management Career - August 2042 - Hobro Idræts Klub

Superliga





Given how many games we've had to play this month, I'd say this is satisfying enough.

We started August with a potentially tricky game at home against FC Midtjylland. It turned out to be a very smooth victory for us - our advantage was undisputed from the first to the final whistle. After wasting a couple of good opportunities, we finally got in front in the 36th minute. Pedro Henrique got dispossessed in the box, the ball rolled over to Brinquedo, who took two attempts to get it past the goalkeeper and into the net. We doubled our lead shortly before the break. After a corner the ball fell to the feet of Casper Dahlsen on the edge of the box, he took a shot, the ball got deflected and finally reached Ove Andreasen in an easy goalscoring position. The final goal of the game was gifted to us by a Midtjylland defender Mads Olsen in the 56th minute, funnily enough it looked like he scored it with his face.

I can't express my frustration at the Nordsjælland result strongly enough. We dominated. We created numerous chances. Yet we failed to get the ball past their bloody goalkeeper, who really was having his field day. There definitely is something about teams getting motivated when they come up against the league champions, that's for sure.

Yet the trip to Fredericia was even more frustrating than that. Once again, we dominated. We had 13 shots to their 5. On the other hand though, we only got one of them on target. Kenneth Nhlapo absolutely bossed the midfield with key passes and hard tackling. And then the 92nd minute arrived. Our exhausted defence allowed the hosts to build a passing move through the middle and Rodolfo Martins took his chance, having been set one on one with the goalkeeper. Look at the league table - that was a really painful defeat.

Thankfully four days later AC Horsens provided us with the opportunity to bounce back in style. Things started to shape up nicely in the 9th minute when Kevin Arnesen took full advantage of massive chaos that erupted in the box after a corner to beat the hosts' goalkeeper with a rather scruffy effort. That goal seemed to have set the pace of the game, Horsens didn't look really keen on coming at us from then on. In the 28th minute Gavião delivered a perfect cross to the far post for Pedro Henrique to double our lead with a close range tap-in. We made it 3:0 just seconds after the break, once again it was Gavião with the delivery, only this time it was the hosts' defender Martin László who put the ball in the back of the net. The final goal of the game was scored just before the final whistle - Steffen Astrup carried the ball all the way to the byline before laying it out for Torbjørn Andersen Aase for a strike that bounced off a defender's legs before finding its way past the goal line.

We could have got off to a horrendous start against Lyngby. In the 8th minute Torben Fischer gave away a foul in our penalty area, but the visitors' striker Radoslaw Bednarek had his shot saved by Stefan Dahl. This turned out to be their only shot on target in the entire game though. That was exactly the kind of wake-up call we needed. Twenty minutes later a beautifully constructed passing move ended with Niall Keogh assisting Astrup's headed goal with a pinpoint cross from the left wing. We seemed to be in control of things, but our Irish left back picked up his second yellow card in the 85th minute to spice things up a bit. Luckily though, we shut up shop successfully and we even managed to hit Lyngby on the break in the 92nd minute, Astrup scoring his second goal, calmly finishing a fantastic cross from Roar Norbye.

Our finishing is certainly doing us no favours in terms of our consistency. The Vestsjælland game turned out to be yet another case of us being horribly wasteful in front of the opposition goal. And as it really likes to happen in such cases, the first goalscoring chance that arose for our opponents ended up with us conceding, Michael Munk the happy scorer. Oh, I forgot to mention that it happened as late as the 80th minute of the game. Luckily we still managed to find enough time to at least pull things back level. In the 85th minute a beautiful schoolbook scheme passing move set up Zarko Zukic in acres of space to put a drilled cross in from the right wing for Andersen Aase to score with a powerful close range effort. After all, it was quite relieving. At least we didn't lose...

Champions League



This will push the club to a whole new level. Massive, massive achievement for us.

The return leg against BATE in Belarus wasn't as comfortable for us as I would have liked. Once again, we absolutely dominated the opposition, yet we had a moment of horror in the 21st minute when a hopeful shot from Artur Solodovnikov ended up putting the hosts in front, which would give them a passage to the final qualifying round should they hold onto the result. Luckily we didn't keep our fans guessing for too long. Nine minutes after falling behind we equalised - once again it was the Gavião-Pedro Henrique duo that did all the work, the former assisting from the left wing and the latter tapping the ball in. We had numerous chances to get in front and put an end to any doubt about the result, but once again the finishing blah blah blah. Most importantly, we made it through at the end of the day.

Club Brugge were going to be a difficult match for us. I viewed them as slightly stronger than FC København, which is quite strong from our perspective. The first half was quite a surprise for me though - we went out really strongly and only because of a wonderful performance from the Belgians' goalkeeper Ezequiel Gerbaudo we failed to break the deadlock before the break. It took us a massive fluke to finally get in front - in the 50th minute an attempted cross from Gavião turned out to be a bit overhit, but it was hit just right to lob the keeper and end up in the back of the net. Our celebrations were cut short by Sidiki Sawadogo just three minutes later though. And in the 85th minute the hosts' striker doubled his goal tally to put the hosts in front and make me all but raging at our inability to hold onto a result. I almost forgot that the game wasn't over yet. In less than a minute Brinquedo pulled things back level, converting a brilliant cross from the right delivered by Pedro Henrique. And just as I was starting to get comfortable with the draw, in the 93rd minute Niall Keogh of all people showed great flair by delivering a gorgeous over-the-top through ball to Roar Norbye for a calm and precise finish. And thus, we brought home a wonderful result from Belgium after a really entertaining game of football.

The return leg was just as even and unpredictable as the first one. There were good opportunities on both ends of the pitch for teams to make their situations better in the pursuit of a massive payout from UEFA. Thanks to a good result from the opening game we had some breathing space, but it was reduced to zero in the 25th minute when Fréjus Tonye Hagbe found his way past Stefan Dahl with a close range strike, putting his team in front. And despite the match being quite interesting with many opportunities, this turned out to be the only goal of the game. For some reason I couldn't be mad at the players for the defeat.

[Rikulec]

I guess this will be solely about trying not to get embarrassed.

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When you receive a £10M payout, you simply have to go out and party.

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I'd like to apologise for the poor frequency of updates lately, the problem is that simply I didn't have too much time on my hands during this week. I'll be trying to make up for this from Sunday onwards.

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Elvar Björgvinsson's Management Career - September 2042 - Hobro Idræts Klub

Superliga





We seem to have become a very bad parody of ourselves.

How we failed to beat Roskilde is well and truly beyond me. We started off by wasting a couple of decent opportunities before the 19th minute arrived. That's when a marvellously aimed indirect free kick taken by Pedro Henrique fell right to the feet of Steffen Astrup, who had no difficulty slotting it past the goalkeeper and into the net. What happened next can only be an effect of complacency. I can't find any other excuse for wasting so many opportunities while creating them with such ease. It was as if the players had lost the desire that pushed them towards the title last season. Now that would be a horrific thing to happen. Finally in the 77th minute all the wasted chances backfired when Jere Kalliokoski received a cross from the left and knocked the ball past Stefan Dahl, who got his hand to it, but failed to keep the shot away. Not a good sign of things to come.

The Randers game was almost the exact opposite of that, only there were some additional... events, let's call them. The visitors' initial period of undisputed domination was concluded by a goal from Ünal Orhan in the 20th minute of the game, the ball coming from a wonderful cross from the left wing. We only took two minutes to equalise though - Christopher Usman responded with a wonderful drilled ball delivered to the far post, right where Gavião was waiting eagerly to smash it into an empty net. And this turned out to be the only shot we took throughout the whole game. Of course, our situation wasn't made any easier in the 34th minute when Usman picked up his second yellow card to earn himself an early bath. He simply couldn't be arsed to stay on the pitch any longer, I presume. Only a good performance from Dahl and - occasionally - the back line allowed us to escape with a point.

Unsurprisingly, we weren't any better against Brøndby. The first half was simply a horror showing, with the only event worth any attention being the goal we conceded in the 25th minute. A set piece goal, obviously. A free kick arrived from the left wing and Lance Ntombela smashed it in from close range. To my surprise, we did seem to have woken up after the break, with a period of some real good football. Hell, we even scored a goal - in the 54th minute a wonderful through pass from Brinquedo was converted by a classy finish from Roar Norbye. We scored in a way that really reminded me of last season. It was all torn to pieces in the 62nd minute though when Zarko Zukic decided it would be a good idea to hack his opponent from behind, despite having already been punished with a yellow card. You can guess what happened next. 73rd minute, another cross from the left, Rubén Rios. Done and dusted.

DBU Pokalen



We comfortably got past the most wonderfully named team in Denmark.

It was nice to get in front early on for a change. In fact, we had the game all but wrapped up by the 8th minute. Iljel Weinner was the first player to score, slide-tackling the ball over the line after a wonderful individual move and a drilled cross from Gavião. Christian Kristensen doubled our lead shortly after, scoring with a clever first time shot from just inside the penalty box, Tue Andersen with the assist. Middelfart were reduced to 10 men shortly before the break, Christian Enevoldsen picking up his second yellow card. The final goal of the game came in the 80th minute. Torbjørn Andersen Aase found Roar Norbye on the far end of the penalty area with an Iniesta-esque pass and the striker grabbed a goal for himself with a powerful strike.

Champions League



Alright, this could have been worse.

We tried to be clever and attack Chelsea right from the start of the game, but they seemed to be ready for that and easily held us off, immediately grabbing control over things. In the 17th minute the ball was nodded on after a corner before reaching an Italian center back Massimo Marcuccetti on the far post, finding him in an easy goalscoring position. That gave the Englishmen exactly the boost of confidence they needed to fully dominate the game. Or did it? Well, they did record a total of 13 shots on target, Stefan Dahl did perform wonderfully on his line (which got awarded with a 9.1 rating), but on the other hand we got denied by the crossbar twice - Roar Norbye in the first and Kenneth Nhlapo in the second half. Finally Chelsea doubled their lead in the 67th minute, Alex Borri the happy scorer. Let's just be honest here, no one expected us to get anything from this game.

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Elvar Björgvinsson's Management Career - October 2042 - Hobro Idræts Klub

Superliga





This is getting out of hand.

I don't think anyone saw that coming. Silkeborg may have turned out to be a solid mid-table side, but still we were the favourites to win and definitely shouldn't have got thrashed like that. We conceded the first goal with the first proper highlight of the match in the 6th minute, Jozo Ramic taking advantage of horrendous marking by Christopher Usman. A few wasted chances for us later, in the 35th minute, Stefan Dahl saved an outrageous attempt from a 40-yard free kick, did very well to stop the rebound as well despite it being an absolute sitter, but then the ball deflected off Brinquedo trying to trail back and left our goalkeeper helpless. We didn't really struggle to create chances - 19 shots to support that claim - but we couldn't find the net no matter what. And Silkeborg were just having a party. In the 77th minute Kim Rune Johnsgård made it 3:0. Game over. Defending champions, my arse.

If we were to maintain any chance of mounting a late title challenge this season, we had to beat AaB at home. And we didn't even record a single attempt on target. Not that the visitors were much better - it was 90 minutes of a dire and dirty midfield battle. To make things even worse, we lost to the most ridiculous goal possible. In the 23rd minute Ivan Matas received a pass on the right wing and put in a cross so bad that it turned into a wonderful shot that lobbed Dahl and flew in just under the crossbar. The second season syndrome was really coming at us hard.

Breakthrough, oh, what a glorious breakthrough. Alright, maybe glorious isn't the word here. It was rather a hard-fought, scraped victory against FC Midtjylland, with both teams having their chances. Dahl did very well between the sticks to keep a clean sheet for himself. Generally there was no better team in that game, both had their periods of advantage. We finally managed to break the deadlock in the 78th minute. Shortly after entering the pitch Steffen Astrup played a low cross to the far post and Pedro Henrique managed to squeeze his shot into the net from a tight angle. We better pray this turns out to be the turning point for our league form, otherwise we're screwed.

DBU Pokalen



Abysmal.

Despite me fielding a slightly changed team from the one that gave us a long-awaited win in the league, we still had sufficient quality on the pitch to beat Nordsjælland. The early sings were as good as it gets - in the 12th minute Ijlel Weinner delivered an inch-perfect cross from a free kick for Steffen Astrup to give us the lead with a close range shot. As the time passed and we struggled to take the chances we created, I simply knew we were up for trouble though. And of course in the 64th minute our opponents replied with exactly the same method that we used to get past their defence, Gildas Kingolo with the goal. From then on we lost advantage as well. Or maybe it was simply fatigue getting to us? Well, it doesn't matter really. What matters is a failed clearance from Kevin Arnesen that allowed Kingolo to double his goal tally in the 119th minute, right as I was starting to think about our penalty takers list. At least we can concentrate on the league from now on.

Champions League





We really should have got more out of those.

Unsurprisingly, Roma came at us guns blazing right from the beginning of the game. In the 12th minute a nice passing move from the Italians was finished off by their star striker Steven Salvatore. To my surprise though, as time passed, we were starting to find our feet in the game and after some thirty minutes of the match we became an even opponent for one of Europe's biggest clubs. We managed to hold our midfield together and construct some promising attacking moves, unfortunately our finishing was not good enough. In the 49th minute Kevin Arnesen gave away a penalty by hacking a winger cutting inside from behind, but Salvatore's shot was brilliantly saved by Stefan Dahl. And in the 79th minute Arnesen replicated his previous effort, only this time Fouad Bah found the way to the net from the spot. To give away two identical penalties inside thirty minutes is certainly an exceptional achievement...

I have no idea what happened, but Mainz arrived to our place and were completely dominated for the majority of the game. Especially the first half was a truly wonderful showing from the lads. We kept creating chance after chance, but Brinquedo wasn't his usual self, sending his left-footed thunderbolts into the stands, and Steffen Astrup had already lost his shooting boots some time ago. Despite huge finishing trouble and a great performance from the visitors' goalkeeper Amara Traoré, we managed to snatch a goal just before the break. Brinquedo got fouled in the area and Gavião gave us the lead with a confident shot from the spot. Mainz took until the 64th minute to take their first shot on target. The second came in the 81st minute, and unfortunately it was an equaliser - Raphael Queiroz surprised Dahl with a tight angle strike, yet I believe our goalkeeper should have done better to keep it away. What an opportunity wasted. We really should have grabbed our first ever win in the Champions League there.

Transfers

Emre Visser - we need to strenghten up front and the Dutchman picked up on a free will be able to help us with that from January.

[Rikulec]

Elvar Björgvinsson's Management Career - November 2042 - Hobro Idræts Klub

Superliga





Back to our ways at last.

We got lucky against FC Fredericia. We did deserve a win, but definitely not such a convincingly looking one. In the 13th minute we were awarded a penalty for a rather silly handball, a penalty that was calmly slotted home by Roar Norbye. The visitors kept trying to come at us and pursue the equaliser, but ratings ranging from 7,2 to 7,9 across our back four will give you an accurate description of what happened. We responded to Fredericia's efforts in the best possible way - in the 50th minute a perfectly aimed corner from Pedro Henrique was finished off by Brinquedo, putting us 2:0 up and well in control. The final goal was scored in the 92nd minute - a brilliant passing move ended with Steffen Astrup laying the ball out to Norbye for a simple tap-in. Maybe that was the result we needed to get going?

We didn't wait long for a chance to get our revenge for getting knocked out of the cup by Nordsjælland. And the players' desire to do so was visible right from the opening minutes of the game. It was all sealed by a quickfire double from Astrup - in the 12th minute he was set up for a one on one situation by a perfectly timed through ball from Ijlal Weinner, and two minutes later he finished off a wonderful cross from Gavião. From then on we slowed down though. I was doing my best to avoid complacency creeping in, but that wasn't really an easy task. It was the hosts who saw much more of the ball, we concentrated mostly on attempting to hold them off, in which we succeeded right up until the 84th minute when Andreas Jørgensen ensured that the final minutes would keep the fans on the edge of their seats. Luckily that was all they could muster - we shut up shop for the remainder of the game and drove back home with a victory under our belt.

FC København hosted us with their new manager Nikolaj Kirk making his debut in charge. We simply set out to spoil this big moment for the guy - and that's exactly what we did, though maybe in not the most elegant of our methods. 20 fouls commited by our players, only two by the hosts. No other stat could serve as such a good description of the game. København kept trying to play football, we kept disrupting that. And in the 58th minute we hit them on the break - Weinner pulled away from a defender on the right wing and put in a cross from the byline. The ball landed on the head of Gavião, who let off a rather weak floated strike, but their goalkeeper's save attempt was so sloppy that it allowed the shot to go in. Okay, this may not have been the most beautiful of wins, but it was certainly an important one.

We never really have it easy against Lyngby, so it was a huge relief to me when we managed to grab the lead just four minutes into the game. Filipe Antunes - making his debut after recovering from a long-term Achilles tendon injury - played a corner in, Ove Andreasen nodded the ball on and Martin Glans placed it in his own net in a very poor clearance attempt. From then on we looked really comfortable on the pitch and in the 29th minute we extended our lead. Antunes won the ball near the halfway line, took it all the way to the byline and finally laid it out to Brinquedo for a classy finish. I have to say I didn't quite expect such a debut from the Portuguese. We kind of switched off towards the final whistle, allowing Lyngby to create a few chances, but a good performance from Stefan Dahl allowed him to record another clean sheet.

And we came uncomfortably close to ending our unbeaten run against FC Vestsjælland. The opening half hour was an exchange of blows from both sides, but it was the visitors who landed the first punch, and it was the most sloppy one you could imagine - Michael Munk's overhit cross went into the net, with a foul on our goalkeeper not getting called. The players got visibly angry after this one and seconds later we made it 1:1, Christian Kristensen finding Weinner with a good through pass and the Argentinian winger applying a calm finish. Our celebrations didn't last long either though - in the 33rd minute an outrageous 25-yarder by Josef Jezdik fell right into the upper 90, just out of reach for Dahl. I have to admit, it was a wonderful hit. We kept trying to find the equaliser, but we had to mind Vestsjælland looking quite dangerous on the break. Finally the 90th minute arrived. Another nice individual move of Weinner, who has had a really good month, ended with him squaring the ball out to Norbye and the Norwegian smashing it home from close range. A draw is always better than a defeat, isn't it?

Champions League





Bang, bang, we're out.

We faced Mainz once again and once again the only difference between the two teams came down to finishing. Sacha Lorentz scored twice in the first half to put his team in a favourable position in a game that would be a really entertaining one for the neutrals. He applied a classy finish to a nice passing move in the 21st minute and eighteen minutes later he finished off a perfectly constructed counter attack by slotting the ball in an empty net. We also had our chances before the break as well as in the second half, but we kept either failing to get our shots on target or getting denied by Amara Traoré. Ijlal Weinner's goal in the 82nd minute - Steffen Astrup assisting him with a through pass - restored some hope in our hearts, but we failed to follow up on that. Still, we can be proud of our performance in a game that really could have gone either way.

The Chelsea game was quite a different story. As you can guess by looking at the scoreline, we got properly smashed. The hosts went gung-ho on us right from the opening whistle and it only took them fourteen minutes to conquer our fortress, Ove Andreasen putting the ball in our own net with his butt. Jonathan Thirlwell doubled Chelsea's lead nine minutes later, calmly finishing an inch-perfect cross from the left wing that caught our defence off guard. The English striker was still yet to display his true class though - in the 52nd minute he received the ball on the left side of the box, went around our defenders and slotted the ball past Dahl with a fantastic, precise effort aimed low at the far post. The final goal was scored by Pedro Jesús León in the 82nd minute. The Spanish winger pounced on the rebound after Thirlwell had his shot beautifully saved by our goalkeeper. And us? Well... we had a shot on target. Yeah, that's it.

[lewis999]

Well done on getting the league form back on track. Unlucky in the Champions League. Wonder if you can cut the gap at the top.

[Rikulec]

Well done on getting the league form back on track. Unlucky in the Champions League. Wonder if you can cut the gap at the top.

Cheers mate, it was about time for us to finally get firing if we want to maintain any chance of retaining the title.

[Rikulec]

Elvar Björgvinsson's Management Career - December 2042 - Hobro Idræts Klub

Superliga





Ending the year with a proper buzzkill.

Let's be honest here. The Roskilde game was simply a must-win. We were on a good run, so I was quite confident about delivering that. And we did. We were as strong as we should be right from the beginning of the game, but it took us until the 37th minute to finally break the deadlock. Roar Norbye got past his marker before finding Ijlal Weinner on the far post with a floated cross. The Argentinian winger made it 1:0 with a gorgeous header that lobbed the goalkeeper and went in just under the crossbar. We doubled our lead shortly before the break, Filipe Antunes finishing off a well-timed through ball from Brinquedo. We let our concentration slip in the 47th minute, allowing Nicholas Noqazo to bring Roskilde back into the game with a proper thunderbolt from just inside the area. It was Brinquedo who had the final say though - in the 77th minute he received a cross from Weinner and got quite lucky to squeeze it in off the post. Job done, move on.

When you're fuming after a seven-goal thriller, it is clear to everyone that you found yourself on the back end of it. And yes, I'm furious about losing this one. Everything started so well for us - in the 6th minute Filipe Antunes spearheaded a blistering counter attack before laying the ball out to Gavião for a calm finish. Ten minutes later... something inexplicable happened. Abdeljalil Amrani received a pass, standing closer to the halfway line than the goal, and simply decided to shoot. And he bloody got that one perfectly. Out of Dahl's reach. Just inside the near post. What a ****ing hit. What a horrible feeling of helplessness. And in the 43rd minute København got in front - Ove Andreasen lost an aerial duel with Igor Pekic, allowing him to score with a header. We managed to equalise just before the break through Brinquedo, who needed two attempts to finally get the ball past the goalkeeper. We started the second half strongly, but it was the visitors who grabbed the lead again. And again it was Pekic, again beating our defensive beast in the air for a near post header. We made it 3:3 in the 72nd minute - Pedro Henrique applied the finish to Gavião's square ball shortly after entering the pitch. It was Pekic who had the final say six minutes later though, this time converting a through ball from close range. The replays leave no doubt - the ******* was offside. Here goes our wonderful unbeaten run then.

Champions League





Bow out in style!

When Roma got in front through Steven Salvatore's deflected shot in the 17th second of the game, I couldn't help but laugh. Were we going to embarass ourselves for the second time inside the space of merely three days? A goal from João Dermival in the 20th minute pushed the game much closer to an affirmative answer. But the remaining 70 minutes were simply ours. We finally woke up, and we confirmed that in the 41st minute. Steffen Astrup received a long pass from Tue Andersen, skinned past two defenders and restored hope in our hearts by a powerful strike into the top far corner. And the second half was simply the show of Brinquedo, who only got brought onto the pitch at half time. In the 65th minute the Brazilian midfielder brought the game back level, placing the ball in an empty net after a clever square pass from Pedro Henrique. We pushed really hard for the winning goal, but it took us until the 88th minute to finally get it - Astrup took advantage of poor defensive positioning from Roma players to play a through ball for an easy finish by Brinquedo. You can call that a million pound substitution - that's how much UEFA paid us for turning this game around. Glorious.

[lewis999]

What a result against Roma there. I can see the frustration in your writing, a lot of *'s haha! How many games do you play in Denmark? Just wondering if you have enough matches to pull 10 point gap back.

[Rikulec]

What a result against Roma there. I can see the frustration in your writing, a lot of *'s haha! How many games do you play in Denmark? Just wondering if you have enough matches to pull 10 point gap back.

26 games before the split and 10 more after that. The winter transfer window will be key here, if I manage to get the right players in, we could still mount a challenge.

[lewis999]

26 games before the split and 10 more after that. The winter transfer window will be key here, if I manage to get the right players in, we could still mount a challenge.

Ahh right. Plenty of time then. I'm sure you can manage it.

[Rikulec]

He doesn't stop...

[Rikulec]

...and neither do I!

[Rikulec]

Elvar Björgvinsson's Management Career - January 2043 - Hobro Idræts Klub

Transfers



Despite spending just under £2M on three new players, we still managed to turn a profit.

Jamilson - the Brazilian centre back becomes our highest earner and the first player to break the £10K p/w barrier, but he looks like he could be well worth it.

Mads Olsen - a lot of money went towards this left back, but you know, domestic talent isn't cheap. He's definitely an improvement on what we had before.

Paulo Rogério - our final transfer of the month will replace Ijlal Weinner, whom we failed to secure on a permanent deal. Hopefully he can turn out to be our missing link up front.

[Rikulec]

Uh, nope.

[Rikulec]

Elvar Björgvinsson's Management Career - February 2043 - Hobro Idræts Klub

Friendlies



So close to a perfect preparation period.

Superliga





It's like Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde really.

We had a real cracking opener against Brøndby. Emre Visser only needed 40 seconds of his Superliga debut to score his first goal in the competition, tapping the ball in from close range after a good delivery from Roar Norbye. The visitors got stunned by that and we took full advantage of that, establishing advantage that we didn't let slip for the rest of the match. Five minutes before the break we extended our lead. Brinquedo played a marvellous diagonal pass to the left side of the box and Norbye was there to finish it with a beautiful first-time effort aimed at the far post. A pure class act. The Norwegian rounded off his great performance in the 52nd minute, delivering a wonderful assist for Paulo Rogério's debut goal. Why can't we play like this every time?!

How do you guys imagine our typical 0:1 game? Because the Horsens one was the perfect reflection of what I have in mind. The first half was 45 minutes of our undisputed domination and creating chance after chance. Unfortunately, our frontmen were simply having one of those days again. I have no idea how many points we've already given away that way this season, but I'm sure it's far too many. And in the 54th minute all these wasted opportunities backfired when Jochen Riedle took the visitors' only shot on target, beating Stefan Dahl from close range after a cross from the right and Torben Fischer missing the ball mid-air. It seems like something holds us back every time we get a chance to get closer to AaB. Is this simply not meant to be our year?

Transfers

Dejan Babic - one for the future. The versatile Croatian joins from Osijek for £55K and will spend the rest of the season on loan at Partick Thistle.

[Rikulec]

Elvar Björgvinsson's Management Career - March 2043 - Hobro Idræts Klub

Superliga





We just don't seem to have it in ourselves.

We looked really determined to get a good result against Randers. We started the game with enough force to push them up against their own penalty area. Once again though, the quality of our final product was a huge letdown. We either couldn't get our shots on target or kept getting blocked by the opposition defenders. The breakthrough came in the 39th minute. Emre Visser received a short pass from Paulo Rogério, took on his marker and let off a strike that caught the goalkeeper wrong-footed and rolled into the bottom corner. The response was almost immediate though - the first proper danger Randers created in front of our goal took place in the 44th minute, and they only needed that to equalise. We didn't react too well to a quickly taken free kick and Christian Søndergaard got his tight angle shot past Stefan Dahl and into the net. We weren't anywhere near as good after the break as before, it was the hosts who had the advantage. All in all, the draw is probably a justified result.

Thanks to some rescheduling we faced a double header against Næstved, by far the weakest side in the league. Anything else than six points would be disgraceful. Luckily for us, everything went smooth. The first goal was scored in the 7th minute and it was a classic - a square ball from Pedro Henrique on the right finished off by Visser. We doubled our lead just before the half time whistle, with Filipe Antunes applying the final touch to a wonderful drilled cross from Christopher Usman. Even Steffen Astrup managed to grab a goal from himself - in the 74th minute he found the ball hurling towards his feet after Pedro Henrique's corner and knew exactly what to do with it. God, how I miss last season's Astrup. I wish he could become good once again.

The second game was even easier than the first one, despite us fielding a considerably weaker squad. 67% possession and not a single shot from the visitors come to support this claim. This time round we had to wait a bit longer for the opening goal - in the 23rd minute a short pass from Usman inside the penalty area was converted with a first time shot from Paulo Rogério. The second goal was scored in the 41st minute. Paulo Rogério found himself in a half chance, but instead of trying to force his way through two defenders, he chose to lay the ball out to Pedro Henrique in a much easier position. In the 76th minute a funny thing happened - first Mark Simonsen got himself sent off for a two-footer on Kenneth Nhlapo, and seconds later Lars Dahl joined him on the way to the dressing room, having picked up his second yellow card for protesting. Playing against nine men, we added the third goal in the 82nd minute - a through ball from Nhlapo was calmly slotted home by Visser. It's nice to see the Dutchman settling in so quickly.

I have no words for the AaB game. It wasn't even a proper game of football. It was a game of fouls, with both teams accumulating a total of 41 of those. And how do such foul games usually get settled? Yup, set pieces. In the 63rd minute a free kick arrived at the near post from the right wing and my old friend Lars Jacobsson volleyed it into the net just under the crossbar. It was one of only three shots the visitors took throughout the whole match. But yeah, they did make it count.

Enough with the moaning, on some rare occasions it's us who get lucky. It took some extreme luck combined with a wonderful performance of Stefan Dahl to allow us to escape from Copenhagen with a draw under our belt. It was 90 minutes of undisputed domination from the hosts, we were pretty much non-existent on the pitch. But despite them creating loads of chances and taking loads of shots, it was us who broke the deadlock. In the 54th minute a quick counter attack ended with Paulo Rogério squaring the ball along the penalty box line for Brinquedo to smash it home with a powerful, yet very precise strike. And that angered København even more. Their awful finishing was keeping me hoping that we could even scrape a very unlikely win, but in the 84th minute Antônio Walsonei took that hope away from me. Still, we got more than we deserved from that game.

We started awfully against AC Horsens. We looked like we wanted to hand the game over to them. In the 12th minute Paulo Rogério gave away a penalty in a seemingly not-so-dangerous situation and Piotr Mikolajczak calmly slotted the spot kick home, shooting down the middle. And we were lucky to keep the scoreline down to 1:0 at half time. Things simply had to change. I decided to abandon the "mature football" approach and just go all out attack, exactly like we were set up last season. And it worked, but not without trouble. We equalised almost straight out of the dressing room, Paulo Rogério scoring in a one-on-one situation after a wonderful pass from Torbjørn Andersen Aase. We kept pushing for the winning goal, but the hosts were looking really dangerous on the break. In the 65th minute we got what we wanted - Zarko Zukic took the ball all the way to the byline before crossing it to the far post, where Filipe Antunes gave us the win with a header from a difficult position. A late title challenge is still not completely out of the question thanks to that result, but even finishing in a European place is going to be very difficult.

Youth Intake



Still yet to have someone decent come through.

[Rikulec]

Elvar Björgvinsson's Management Career - April 2043 - Hobro Idræts Klub

Superliga





Squeaky bum time up ahead...

We certainly weren't at our best against FC Fredericia, to say the least. Apart from some extreme situations, you can't win a game where you don't even take a shot on target. The visitors weren't much better than us, but they also had their opportunities and we can thank Stefan Dahl for keeping them away. It was definitely two points dropped rather than one earned though.

What happened against Randers FC certainly hasn't been the theme of our season so far. It was an extremely even game with really good opportunities on both ends of the pitch, but we just about edged it past our opponents thanks to... hold on tight... clinical finishing. Yes, I'm being absolutely serious. We opened the scoreline in the 12th minute of the game. Brinquedo received a good long pass from Torbjørn Andersen Aase and squared the ball out for Paulo Rogério to tap it into an empty net. The Brazilian winger also took his chance to double his goal tally in the 35th minute. Once again it was a quick counter attack, with Emre Visser serving the scorer with an inch-perfect cross to the far post. The second half was a similar story to the first, with both teams looking equally dangerous. Randers casted a shadow of doubt over the outcome of the game with a Mads Dreyer goal in the 78th minute, but Roar Norbye responded to that eleven minutes later, rebounding Kenneth Nhlapo's shot that got saved by the goalkeeper. So far, so good.

If AaB turn out to hold onto their advantage and win the title, I'll be the first one to say they deserved it. They deserved it by making me as furious as I've never been before playing this game. They could have snatched one lucky victory in the preliminary phase. Hell, they could have followed up on that last month. But to replicate that for the third time in a row surely takes some skill. The opening minutes looked like we were going to walk over them. We all but dominated the midfield battle, always edging it out in these uncertain situations where it's anyone's guess who's going to win the ball. And yet we couldn't score. And AaB did their usual thing - they simply hit us when we least expected that. Twice. Marcin Preizner opened the scoreline in the 61st minute, applying the finish to a cross after a quick counter attack. In the 78th minute a second counter came at us and the hosts doubled their lead, this time going through the middle with Jakob Thomsen finding the net in a one-on-one situation. Yes, you can say we just keep doing this to ourselves. And you won't be mistaken.

A quick look at the table will tell you how important the København game was. Hell, with the way things have unveiled, every game is a matter of life and death now. This one was something else though. Make or break. Fight for the title or be left praying that we can somehow snatch a European place. And we did it... just. The first half was a similar story to the first half of the AaB game, maybe with us not being as dominant, but we definitely were the better team and created a couple of chances to prove it. Once again nothing was made count. Were we really going to throw our season away in such a miserable manner? Well, you can see that we didn't just yet. In the 70th minute Paulo Rogério pulled away from his marker with the ball and got tripped from behind in the box, earning a penalty kick. Mads Olsen stepped up to the spot and sent 10,000 home fans into wild celebration. København were doing their best to spoil it in the final twenty minutes, and they had more than a couple of chances to do so - it was a proper thunderstorm. Somehow we sustained. Heroic blocks, last-ditch tackles, amazing goalkeeper saves - we had them all. We weren't going to give up that easily.

We couldn't have dreamt of a better start of the Horsens game. In the 3rd minute a deep cross from Mads Olsen fell to the feet of Paulo Rogério on the far post, and the Brazilian knew exactly where that ball should go. We looked really eager to follow up on that, and we did - in the 16th minute Franco Maspero got to the ball in a goalmouth scramble following a corner and placed it in an empty net. When Roar Norbye made it 3:0 in the 34th minute - Olsen with the assist for the second time that afternoon - I thought we had the game wrapped up. The visitors weren't going to back down though. Oliver Vendelbo took advantage of poor marking by Maspero in the 49th minute to get them back into the game. The game evened out from then on, with Horsens looking slightly more dangerous. We could have put an end to their hopes, but lacked the final product in front of goal. Fabian Egli's 91st minute goal made the stoppage time really nervous for us, but luckily no further harm was done to us. It's two games to go now and anything can happen.

[Rikulec]

With so many twists and turnarounds this season, this is how the final two matchdays will look like. I'm not going to make any guesses or predictions. Let's just see what happens.

[lewis999]

Well done on clawing back that lead they had at the top Rikulec. Where will you be going after Hobro?

[Rikulec]

Well done on clawing back that lead they had at the top Rikulec. Where will you be going after Hobro?

Thanks. As for the question, I haven't really thought about that. I have no intention of leaving the club. I don't think any other job in Scandinavia could be a step up for me, and winning the Champions League seems like a very distant perspective. I do have a plan for Part Three of The Frozen Throne tale though, but of course first I have to complete Part Two.

[lewis999]

Thanks. As for the question, I haven't really thought about that. I have no intention of leaving the club. I don't think any other job in Scandinavia could be a step up for me, and winning the Champions League seems like a very distant perspective. I do have a plan for Part Three of The Frozen Throne tale though, but of course first I have to complete Part Two.

So the goal at the moment is to win the Champions League with Hobro? That would be a very good achievement.

[Rikulec]

So the goal at the moment is to win the Champions League with Hobro? That would be a very good achievement.

Yup, that's what I'm aiming for. Whether it's possible or not, that's another question.

[Rikulec]

Elvar Björgvinsson's Management Career - May 2043 - Hobro Idræts Klub

Superliga





Well, we gave it our best.

We finally started to look like a team on good form against Randers. We were really determined to do our part and put pressure on AaB. In the 8th minute Paulo Rogério received a pass from Steffen Astrup and decided to take a first time shot from the edge of the box. It wasn't the best effort, but the save attempt was so bad that the ball deflected off the goalkeeper's hand and the near post before finally landing in the net. We kept pushing for more goals and this push was made successful five minutes before the break. Kenneth Nhlapo made a wonderful late run into the box and was served by Astrup's through ball. He had his shot saved, but the ball rolled over to Paulo Rogério for a rebound from a tight angle. We slowed down a little bit in the second half, but were hardly ever trouble by Randers' attacks. It was a very confident, well deserved 2:0 win.

After just five minutes of the Fredericia game we received dreaded news - Branislav Isailovic put AaB in front against Horsens, which meant they were on course for securing the title regardless of our result. Luckily that didn't seem to affect our game - in the 10th minute Nhlapo delivered a cross from the right wing to the near post and Steffen Astrup headed the ball home from just inside the six yard box. Generally we were well in contron and easily the better team on the pitch, but a moment of genius allowed Martin Nielsen to equalise with a perfectly placed 25-yarder in the 27th minute. That wasn't enough to cut our wings either - in the 59th minute Roar Norbye won the ball just inside our own half and ran free on goal, eventually beating the goalkeeper in a one on one. The Norwegian doubled his goal tally just four minutes later, applying the finishing touch to a fantastic pass from Paulo Rogério. At this point we pretty much knew we had our job done. We could only sit and listen to the news from Horsens. But nothing arrived. AaB held onto the early lead. It was all over.

[Rikulec]

Elvar Björgvinsson's Management Career - Season Review - 2042/43 - Hobro Idræts Klub

Superliga

Results (preliminary phase) - Results (championship group)

Competition Performance: 2nd

It was simply not bound to be our year. Each time I was starting to believe we would get closer to the top, something went wrong. Our results against AaB leave no doubt - we lost three out of these games, winning only once. They deserved to be champions.

DBU Pokalen

Competition Performance: Fourth Round

Probably the biggest disappointment of the season. I guess I'll have to treat this competition more seriously next year.

UEFA Champions League

Competition Performance: Group Stage

I'm really happy with how far we've managed to get. Group Stage was my silent hope for this season and we did just that. What happened next, well, it was quite predictable. One day we'll be strong enough to get through such groups.

Squad

Better than last year. Probably should be good enough to get the title, but this season the struggles of fighting on three fronts really got to us. That's the issue I'll be looking to address in the transfer window.

Transfers - Finances

Almost £10M of net profit tells the whole story. I'm especially happy with the Gavião deal, having snapped him up for free and sold for £2,5M just six months later. This policy is very likely to be continued.

The Champions League payout has shot the club up to a whole different financial league. We need constant European appearances to sustain now though.

Player of the Season

1st - Kenneth Nhlapo - he was very good last season, but he's now emerged as an absolutely key player for the side. Our midfield is just so much weaker without him. I'm happy because I've recently signed a new contract with him, getting rid of a £1,9M release clause. Kenneth could well go on to become a club legend and a vital player for the team for years to come.

2nd - Roar Norbye - 11 league goals in twice as many appearances, playing mostly on the wing - this just can't go unnoticed. Similarly to Nhlapo, he pushes the rest of the squad to the next level merely by being present on the pitch. And he rarely restricts himself to just presence. The main contributor to the attacking side of our game.

3rd - Stefan Dahl - don't get me wrong, Davi wasn't a bad goalkeeper, but Dahl is just sheer class. Very confident on his line, and capable of pulling off saves that make players and managers hold their heads in disbelief. One of the main reasons why we stayed in the championship battle right until the end.

Next Season

We have to give it our best to get our crown back. Getting to the Europa League group stage would also be welcome.

[Rikulec]

Pretty sure the initial plans were different. I'm not complaining though! We'll be groundsharing with AGF until February 2nd, their stadium is a 20,200 capacity all-seater.

[Rikulec]

Elvar Björgvinsson's Management Career - Season Preview - 2043/44 - Hobro Idræts Klub

Board Expectations:

Superliga: Reach Championship Group

DBU Pokalen: Semi Final

UEFA Europa League: Play-off Round

My Expectations:

Superliga: Win it.

DBU Pokalen: Win it.

UEFA Europa League: I'd fancy a Group Stage appearance.

Budgets:

Transfer: £3,739,969

Wage: £138,650 (currently spending £137,290)

Balance: £16,793,596

[Rikulec]

Elvar Björgvinsson's Management Career - Pre-Season - 2043/44 - Hobro Idræts Klub

No friendlies have been played so far, we start our season very early this year.

Transfers



We decided to go for a quiet approach.

Dominik Zalewski - with Andreasen already being on the wrong side of 30, we needed someone slightly more dynamic to team up with Jamilson. Hopefully this will be the right man for the job.

Asaf Maluleke - I'm really pleased with this capture. Dahlsen was sold because last season showed his inability to deal with pressure in big matches, and I seem to have found a fantastic replacement.

[Rikulec]

I have no intention of going into international management.

[Rikulec]

What a way to kick off our league campaign.

[lewis999]

Congratulations on 800 games mate and good luck in your new season. I'm sure you will win the league this season.

[Rikulec]

Congratulations on 800 games mate and good luck in your new season. I'm sure you will win the league this season.

Cheers. We'll do our best.

[vDraycottv]

I've just sat and read this from the start and I have to say it's been one of the most enjoyable reads I've had in a long time, up there with the best FM stories and I'll certainly be looking for any updates in the future. To get the Champions League at any club from that region is a huge ask so good luck!

[Rikulec]

I've just sat and read this from the start and I have to say it's been one of the most enjoyable reads I've had in a long time, up there with the best FM stories and I'll certainly be looking for any updates in the future. To get the Champions League at any club from that region is a huge ask so good luck!

Thanks a lot for the kind words, I'm glad you've enjoyed the read.

[Bitner]

It's very disappointing to see tha the defeat to the hands of AaB handled them the title. But you're doing great and will bounce back.

Cheers,

Bitner

[Rikulec]

It's very disappointing to see tha the defeat to the hands of AaB handled them the title. But you're doing great and will bounce back.

Cheers,

Bitner

Cheers mate.

July update coming up at some point tonight.

[Rikulec]

Elvar Björgvinsson's Management Career - July 2043 - Hobro Idræts Klub

Superliga





Can't really ask for more.

AC Horsens were going to provide us with a proper test in the first league game of the season. And we passed that test with flying colours. Our first goal of this year's campaign was scored in the 24th minute. And it was a classic - Mads Olsen delivered a deep cross from the left wing and Paulo Rogério was right there on the far post to finish the move off. Of course, it wouldn't be us if we hadn't conceded with the opposition's first proper attacking move - in the 31st minute Jochen Riedle grabbed the equaliser after a drilled cross from the right. Luckily we had Brinquedo. In the 65th minute our star midfielder received a brilliant pass from Torbjørn Andersen Aase and took two attempts to get the ball past the goalkeeper - which he actually managed with both his shots - and under the crossbar. Finally in the 86th minute Brinquedo doubled his goal tally with an absolute thunderbolt right into the upper 90 from just inside the box. What an absolute belter of a goal.

Midtjylland were a weaker opponent, both on paper and on the pitch. Everything started early on - in the 3rd minute a clever cross from Olsen found Paulo Rogério tracking back from an offside position. The Brazilian provided an extremely classy finish from 15 yards out, just inside the far post. He also got us the second goal just before the break. Zarko Zukic found Roar Norbye at the far post, he headed it across the goal and our right winger tapped the ball into an empty net. And in the 59th minute the hat-trick was completed - this time Asaf Maluleke provided the delivery from a corner and Paulo Rogério attacked the near post with such fury that his shot almost tore the net apart. Could we be witnessing the emergence of the next Murilo? Well, as you're about to see, he didn't stop at four league goals in two games. Oh, I almost forgot - we conceded a silly goal in the 89th minute, Kasper Wils rebounding a free kick deflected by Stefan Dahl. The lack of defender reaction was simply appaling.

Europa League



Paulo Rogério having a party.

In the first round we were matched with a Macedonian side Turnovo. Anything else than a big win would have been a disappointment. And we met expectations - the first goal was scored in the 10th minute. Brinquedo had his shot blocked after a drilled cross from the left, but Steffen Astrup was there to smash the ball home from close range. And then... Paulo Rogério happened. Yes, you guessed it - the Brazilian went on to score the five goals that followed. First he finished off a square ball from Mads Olsen. Then scored a very similar goal after a cross from Roar Norbye. The third goal was pretty much identical to the second. The fourth was a header after a wonderful delivery from Olsen. And finally, in the stoppage time, he smashed the ball home on a volley after a strong cross from a corner.

After such a performance, the second leg was a mere formality. But Paulo Rogério wasn't going to stop. He opened the scoreline in the 14th minute, applying a wonderful header to an inch-perfect cross from Niall Keogh. Ten minutes later he put us 2:0 up, rebounding his own shot that was a rebound of Dejan Babic's shot. And in the 55th minute he finally allowed someone else to score - a nice individual run from Babic was rounded off with a square ball to Norbye cutting inside from the left wing - the Norwegian was presented with a very easy task. The Macedonians made our job even easier in the 70th minute when Entonjo Avdo was sent off for a two-footer on Kenneth Nhlapo. And finally in the 78th minute Pedro Henrique grabbed a goal for himself, taking advantage of a lucky deflection of Christian Kristensen's cross. 10:0 over two legs, I can't complain about that.

Taking the league into consideration, I decided to rest most of our first team players for the Cliftonville tie, hoping that the reserves can do the job. And they did. In the 28th minute Roar Norbye opened the scoreline with a powerful close range effort. Eleven minutes later a perfect free kick cross from Pedro Henrique landed on the head of Ove Andreasen, which pretty much guaranteed the goal. We made it 3:0 just after the break, Dejan Babic scoring the first goal for the club, rebounding Paulo Rogério's shot that hit the post. In the 58th minute Pedro Henrique got another assist, this time finding Andersen Aase with a clever ball aimed at the edge of the penalty area. Finally six minutes later the brightest star of the month scored the final goal of the game, calmly slotting the ball past the goalkeeper in a one on one situation.

When you score a goal in the first minute of a game, it rarely ever goes wrong. Christopher Usman launched a wonderful long ball, setting Babic one on one with the goalkeeper. The Croatian simply went past him and slotted the ball in an empty net. Seven minutes later we extended our lead, Pedro Henrique with a simple tap-in after a wonderful individual run from Norbye, who went past three opponents before delivering a brilliant lay-off. Christian Kristensen made it 3:0 in the 19th minute, again with a simple tap-in, this time it was Pedro Henrique with the assist. We scored the final goal of the game in the 33rd minute and it was Pedro Henrique once again... and an open net once again, Babic to praise for a wonderful delivery from the left wing.

Zürich were going to be our first proper opponent in Europe. And it was a test that we failed. It wasn't really the boring kind of 0:0, but rather both teams wasting their opportunities in front of goal. I'd say not conceding at home is not a bad prognosis before the away leg, but I'd have preferred to snatch a win there really. We need to step up with our game in Switzerland if we want to advance.