[FM17] Football, fire and ice: The inside story of Iceland's remarkable rise.

[Jimbokav1971]

Upper League Cup 2020.

Fixtures.

Table.

Knockout Stages.

Summary. 

Now that I have won this trophy I am taking absolutely no interest in it. I didn't even pick the starting line-ups for these games. I just left it to the Ass Man completely. With that in mind, have got to be pleasantly pleased and surprised to get all the way to the Semis. This should take the place of pre-season in all Nations. 

Edited November 4, 2016 by Jimbokav1971

[Jimbokav1971]

Youth Day 2020.

2x 5.0 PA players is good after last years poor showing, but again we are still looking for central midfielders. We got a decent centre-half, and a Pro personality is a bonus, and from my point of view, an additional bonus is that (20d) Ryan Taylor (ENG) (Pro) is a Nationality other than Icelandic. Although I want to produce good Icelandic players for the (ISL) National Team, it also helps when some of them come from other Nations because it makes them stand out from the crowd.

(20a) Víðir (Bal) (2020) * looks great, but we only play with 1 up front and at the moment the starting SC is one of the guys I inherited and despite producing quite a few decent SC's, nobody has quite surpassed the level of Hákon Ingi (Bal) yet.

I'm getting properly desperate for some MC's now. Properly properly desperate. 

"Kriss". (20a) Víðir (Bal) (2020).

Edited November 5, 2016 by Jimbokav1971

[Jimbokav1971]

End of Season 5 Update. Sep 2020.

The only thing I really did differently this season was not lose my focus towards the end of the season. Usually what happens is that I am in contention by the time we get to the Youth Intake, and all my focus goes on the new intake and rather than worrying about winning games, I immediately blood 16 year old kids with high PA on the basis that they might one day develop into a good player. This time I ignored them, (and even managed to ignore last years intake too surprisingly), and this paid dividends in terms of consistent performances during the run-in. There is a time for player development, but I really needed to get into the Premier Division, turn Pro, get these good players on 3+3 deals and then fill my boots. At the moment I am trying to do it in half measures with Semi-Pro contracts where I can only offer them 3 years Semi-Pro deals. No. That's not how you develop players so let's stop fannying about!

League Table. 

League Graph.

League Fixtures 1.

League Fixtures 2.

Cup Fixtures.

Player of the Season, 

Transfers.

Tracker 2020.

Edited November 5, 2016 by Jimbokav1971

[Jimbokav1971]

DR Depth. Sep 2020.

We really didn't need another DR, but it's a little different to get one with with considerable CA. (That's the 1st time this has happened in the save so far). It means that rather than struggling to develop him ourselves, he has already developed to the point that he is on a par with the best DR at the club, (in terms of CA at least). I would actually go as far as saying I think I prefer his attribute balance, (although admittedly he is poor in comparison mentally). It's a good job that his CA is decent, because I am really going to struggle to develop a slack personality at all. If I get tutor him to something else then great, but I really have not had too much success with slack personalities in recent issues of the game. 

Björn (Temp) * is a player that I inherited at the start of the save as a 16yo. He has already made 89 league appearances and is very much a regular. Although his average rating is up on last year, his attacking contribution is down and this is a key part of the right-sided DR. With serious competition having come through the academy in the last couple of years, he will need to improve that side of his game in order to retain his position.

(20e) Sölvi Sigur (Slack) may have an awful personality, but he is already bang in contention for a starting spot. I had decided in the lead-up to both this and the last intake, that I would ignore those newly promoted youth players until the new season in an attempt to avoid our regular drop-off of form during the run-in after the intake. I'm trying to resist, but with a player this good it's hard. The only thing holding him back at the moment is his personality. 

(19a) Ágúst (Unamb) (2019) was the best player from last years intake and is developing nicely. I managed to hold him back last season and although he has made his senior debut this season, he has very much been eased gently into things. There is absolutely no need to throw the youngsters in quite so early now that we have more developed players already in situ.

If I could just get rid of (20e) Sölvi Sigur's slackness, then I might even be tempted to let Björn (Temp) * move onto pastures now, (for a nice fee + 50% re-sale of course). I must admit that I am very pleased with the DR position and quite comfortable in the knowledge that even if our best player left we have 2 ready to step right into his shoes. 

Edited November 5, 2016 by Jimbokav1971

[Slipky]

Good story Jimbo! What, no San Marino thread this year?

[Jimbokav1971]

5 hours ago, Slipky said:

Good story Jimbo! What, no San Marino thread this year?

I hadn't even thought about San Marino yet this year. 

Someone will have to do a thread and if that means me then so be it. I will try to sort the new thread over the weekend. 

[Jimbokav1971]

I've updated the pics from the last 5 updates and fleshed them out a little more. Apologies for the delay but Photobucket seems to be dying and I have swapped to Gyazo now. It seems a little awkward at the moment, but only because I have been using Photobucket since..... well, since I have started posting pics in here God knows how many years ago. I don't like that you have to click the pics to enlarge them, but I guess others are using it without issue and I will get used to it.

[BoxToBox]

14 minutes ago, Jimbokav1971 said:

I've updated the pics from the last 5 updates and fleshed them out a little more. Apologies for the delay but Photobucket seems to be dying and I have swapped to Gyazo now. It seems a little awkward at the moment, but only because I have been using Photobucket since..... well, since I have started posting pics in here God knows how many years ago. I don't like that you have to click the pics to enlarge them, but I guess others are using it without issue and I will get used to it.

Left click on the pic in your reply before you post, and you can use the boxes that appear in the corners and edges to scale it however you like before submitting the post.

[Jimbokav1971]

Thanks for the advice @BoxToBox

This next pic shows info on the players that we have produced who are no longer playing in Iceland. 

No. It goes blue when I left-click it, but no boxes appear and I am unable to drag anything to enlarge it. 

[BoxToBox]

  That's strange, it's working fine for me, even with the image you posted, you can see here I've copied it into the reply box and am messing about with it's scale.

[Jimbokav1971]

If I press Edit on the above post, then this is what I get. 

If I then left click on the picture then this is what I get. 

I'm not being offered these boxes to resize, (as appear in your pic).

[Jimbokav1971]

In all my time playing CM/FM, I don't think I have ever been promoted and then been asked to finish in the top half the following season. I was a bit stunned when it was first announced.

I knew that this current board were ambitious, (because they said that I was under-performing when outside of the auto-promotion places last season, despite the fact that our pre-season expectation was NOT that we gain promotion. In a save like this I ALWAYS downplay expectations on the basis that I'm not overly bothered in the here and now and it's all about the longer-term. I have only changed my strategy slightly with a view to getting in the Premier Division and turning Pro. In terms of finance, European football is probably going to help with that, but I will be really using these extra games as a bonus and not taking them seriously at all. The extra income will be great, but I expect that my finances are going to have to be driven by player sales in the short-term.

[Toffle]

Congratulation on the promotion! Is mid-table out of reach?

[Jimbokav1971]

It looks like last season the Premier Division went right to the wire. 

I'm not sure that I have ever seen a closer finish than that to a league season. It's interesting that although KA finished 3rd last season, (but still joint 1st), they are not fancied very much this season. 

I can't really understand why KA can do so well last season, but be such long-shots for success this season. 

Ahhh. It would seem that the manager who drove them on to 3rd last season has now left. (He is now Manager at Fylkir who are 5th favourite for the title).

There don't seem to have been huge numbers of players leaving, so I think the bookies must be basing this opinion purely on the Manager exit. 

[Jimbokav1971]

14 minutes ago, Toffle said:

Congratulation on the promotion! Is mid-table out of reach?

I honestly haven't got a clue. 

Recent Upper League Cup campaigns suggest that I will at least be competitive, but I don't know if that can be relied upon. I think that our counter style is actually more suited to playing against better teams, but I really don't know how this is going to go.

I am more than a little worried about relegation and where I wouldn't usually worry about being sacked for being relegated after a promotion, I have a sneaking suspicion that I will be shown the door if it comes to that, (and probably before actually). I can't quite work out if this is buggy or just the nature of an ambitious board.  

[King Costly]

Congratulations on promotion although the board look to have been a little demanding there! Good luck in the top flight. 

[Jimbokav1971]

I've been running an advert for a new HoYD. I'm actually leaving staff recruitment up to someone else at the moment, (DoF I think), but I like to keep a track on who and what is available. At the moment we just have Icelandic HoYD's available. I'm guessing that it will remain an (ISL) closed shop until we turn pro.

Coaching is the same as HoYD and is an all (ISL) application list currently. 

Other than myself, the (DoF) has appointed a Phillipino U19 Ass Man (who has (ISL) as a 2nd Nationality), but the others are all (ISL).

Edited November 5, 2016 by Jimbokav1971

[SounessTash]

Never seen a slack personality before, it made me google personalities in fm. A few more i've never encountered listed on this site such as easily discouraged and spineless.

 

http://www.guidetofootballmanager.com/players/player-personalities

 

I'm encoraged its the negative ones i haven't seen before, i must be doing something right although i haven't had a charismatic leader off the positive list. I think it was your San Marino thread that made me start paying attention to personalities and started me getting the pros to tutor.

[Jimbokav1971]

1 hour ago, SounessTash said:

Never seen a slack personality before, it made me google personalities in fm. A few more i've never encountered listed on this site such as easily discouraged and spineless.

http://www.guidetofootballmanager.com/players/player-personalities

I'm encoraged its the negative ones i haven't seen before, i must be doing something right although i haven't had a charismatic leader off the positive list. I think it was your San Marino thread that made me start paying attention to personalities and started me getting the pros to tutor.

That's a decent article, but as I have said elsewhere, don't think that just because someone says it, (or in this instance, writes it), that it's true. 

The 4.1 section in the link above lists a total of 18 positive personalities. 

It also lists 11 negative personalities.

Lastly, it lists 8 neutral personalities. 

My personal opinion is that I don't agree with this. The thinking of the author is based on his opinion that hidden attributes such as loyalty and ambition are positive traits, but what he doesn't do is tell you why loyalty and opinion are so valuable. Don't get me wrong, they are more positive then others, but in terms of actually being of benefit to the player or the squad, well of how much benefit are they really? If they are of limited benefit, (and that's my suggestion), then they are not really positive at all. 

To give you an example.....

Very Ambitious Amb 20, Loy 1-9, Det 1-17 I don't overly care about Loyalty, (it's a bonus), and I really don't care about Ambition. If the determination is high and that can help in on the pitch situations then great, but if it isn't, where exactly is the positivity within this personality? There is no mention of Pro and with a low Det score, this is a really negative personality as far as developing players go. If we are talking about a fully developed player in the twilight of their career then and only then does this personality start to become more positive, but for any player that is still developing then this is a big no no and that's even assuming the Det is decent which isn't guaranteed. 

Amibitous Amb 16-19, Loy 1-9, Det 1-17  See above. 

Fairly Amibitous Amb 15-20, Pro 1-14, Det 1-14 See above. 

Charismatic Leader. I actually don't know the make-up of this personality, (I think it's arrival was post FM14), so it's hard for me to comment. It does however ring the alarm bells because it hints at an absence of certainly professionalism, but also possibly determination. Do charisma and professionalism go hand in hand? I think not. If anyone knows what the template is for this personality, then feel free to let me know. 

Leader Inf 19 or Inf 20 & Det < 20  Just because someone is good at leading, does not mean that they are a good leader. The way I see it, the "Leader" bit tells you if they are good at leasing and the rest of their personality tells you if they should be given the opportunity to lead. They are HUGELY influential so this is really important actually. If you get this wrong, the scope for the negative character traits of this player spreading to the rest of your squad are magnified. All you know about him is that his influence is at least 19 and his determination is at most 19. There is a huge grey area within that. 

I'm not going to delve into the neutral personalities, (other than to say that I really dislike Balanced).

[Edit]

Lastly, someone has read that guide and asked him a question in the comments at the bottom. The author hasn't bothered to respond, (if you don't want to respond to comments then disable comments!), but someone else has and has given a completely incorrect reply that has been sitting there for 5 months and everyone who reads it and doesn't know better will assume that the reply is correct and even endorsed by the author. 

Edited November 5, 2016 by Jimbokav1971

[Jimbokav1971]

Upper League Cup 2021. 

I think the pictures say enough for this. We qualified top of the group and were beaten in extra-time by a team who are 3rd favourites for the Premier Division title this season. At the very least it suggests that we should be competitive this season, (which sounds great to me). I'm going to continue to post the pics for this competition for a while yet, but if and when it gets to the stage that we are winning it every year, then I might give it a miss. It really is just an elongated Charity Shield that thinks it's a league before remembering it's actually a Cup competition that has invited too many participants. 

Edited November 5, 2016 by Jimbokav1971

[Jimbokav1971]

Leading producers of Icelandic National Team footballers. 

That is pretty impressive for little old us who were languishing in the First Division until this season and who have only ever spent 2 seasons in total in The Premier Division. I would love to be able to sell a few of our better players if only I was confidant that we would still be competitive in the Premier Division and I wouldn't get sacked. At the moment 2 of my best 3, (by CA), players are unhappy and want to move to bigger clubs abroad, (Sweden). I will probably look to sell at least 1 of these rather than letting their contracts run out. 

[SounessTash]

I'll be honest i didn't even read it. I was looking just for a a basic list or bullet points of what the game called each personality without any opinion added but that was the only thing that came up on my google search. I just skimmed through the titles for ones i hadnt seen.

[Jimbokav1971]

If I was to point you at something that offers evidence rather than opinion, then it would be to this. 

In case you didn't know, the author there, (Cleon), had taken a sabbatical from FM but has recently returned. His site is well worth lookinf for not just because of what Cleon writes, but also because of the otther stuff that he promotes. 

https://sisportscentre.com/

[Jimbokav1971]

New Record Goal-scorer. 

[Jimbokav1971]

Youth Day 2021.

2x players with 5.0 PA is great as far as I'm concerned. Our players have really developed over the last 18 months and we are significantly ahead of our starting point. (21a) Hauker (2021) is another right back, (the 4th we have produced in 6 years), but it's really the 2nd player that excited me. (21b) Skúlason (Pro) is a MC and a better than decent one at that. His CA alone warrants inclusion in our starting line-up right now, and there is still significant room for growth. Add in the Pro personality and it doesn't get get an awful lot better than this. It's not just the top 2 who will strengthen us however and I would expect certainly (21c) Mikael (Bal) to feature in the near future. (21d) Djuric (Bal) will add some more depth in attack, but I wouldn't expect anyone lower than that to have much of an impact on the starting XI.

"Kriss" (21a) Haukur (Sport) (2021) *.

5.0 PA Depth.

We have 15 players who are currently rated at 5.0 PA. The lowest ranked of these players when coming through the Academy Intake was "e" (5th).

Serbia re-visited.

I know it's a big coincidence that I have just finished a big save in Serbia and arrive in Iceland only to bang out 3 Serbs in 6 years, but that's all it is. I have absolutely no idea why FM thinks that there are loads of Serbs in Iceland, but for whatever reason, there are in FM17.

[BoxToBox]

Did you by chance set your managers nationality to part Serb?

[Jimbokav1971]

1 minute ago, BoxToBox said:

Did you by chance set your managers nationality to part Serb?

When I read that, I just for a minute thought...... "That's it!", but unfortunately......

[BoxToBox]

Strange then, I have seen a lot of "odd" nationalities show up in different countries youth teams this year, like a 15 year old Irish kid popping up at Bayern Munich, but nothing so consistent as you're getting with the Serbs.

[Jimbokav1971]

10 Players called up for International duty. Aug 2021.

The best 2 GK's at the club are both injured and both are regulars in the (ISL) aged group INT squads. 

In terms of ex-players on INT duty, we have quite a few. 

(16o) Guidi (SMR) (F.Amb) SELL is a young Sammarinese GK that we have released and he is currently without a club. He has made 33 U21 appearances and more recently broken into the senior (SMR) NT. Unfortunately, in his 3 appearances for the (SMR) NT this season he has conceded a total of 25 goals. I am tempted to re-sign him just so that he can keep playing INT football for (SMR), because at the moment nobody else is showing an interest.  

Eyjólfsson HG * is a 31yo centre-half who came through the academy and left before my arrival. He has played for West Ham, Cheltenham (on loan), Roeselare (on loan), Bochum, Rosenborg, and has been a regular at Saint Etienne for the last 5 seasons, He now has 42 (ISL) Caps and 1 goal to go with his 27 U21 (ISL) Caps and 2 goals. 

Sigþórsson HG * is a 31yo SC who came through the academy and left before my arrival. He has played for AZ, Ajax, Galatasaray (on loan), and has been a regular at Nantes for the last 5-6 seasons. He has 49 (ISL) Caps and 22 goals to go with his 16 (ISL) U21 Caps and 4 goals. Although a product of our academy, this player does not count as a HG at player club in the game because he only stayed at the club for 1 season as a 15 year old before being snapped up by AZ in Holland. Not only did he come through our academy though, he actually played 5 league games and scored 1 goal as a 15 year old. 

Hólmbert (F.Det) HG 15 is a 28yo SC who came through the academy and left before my arrival. He has played for Fram, Celtic, Brondy (on loan), KR, Verona and is now at Cagliari where he has just been relegated from Serie A. (I should point out that he has twice won promotion from Serie B with Verona since the game started), so this won't phase him. He has 18 18 (ISL) Caps and 4 goals to go with his 10 (ISL) U21 Caps and 5 goals. He looks to be currently the best player that we have ever produced and is valued at £5.5M.

Sveinn Guðjohnsen HG is a 23yo utility Forward, (I am unable to scout him so I can't find out more about him). He has played for Elfsborg and is now at Knoyaspor where he has been a regular for the past 3 seasons. He has 12 (ISL) Caps and 1 goal to go with his 12 (ISL) U21 Caps and 7 U21 goals. He looks like he might benefit from getting out of Turkey, but his average ratings have been poor so he is more likely to be released than bought. 

Orri Sigurður (F.Amb) HG 14 is a 26yo utility defender who has played for AGF, Valur, Viborg and is now at Randers. He has 5 (ISL) Caps to go with his 18 U21 Caps.

Hörður Árnason (F.Sport) HG 7 is a 31yo utility left-sided player who has played at Stjarnan and is now at Keflavik in the First Division. 

(16d) Jake (ENG) (F.Sport) * is a 21yo GK who left us for Leicester in 2018. He has since gone on loan to Wolves in the Championship, (where he performed well), but has yet to make is senior Leicester debut as he is behind both Schmeichel and Zieler in the pecking-order. He has 2 (ENG) U21 Caps and is actually the (ENG) U21 captain, however he is recovering from a broken finger and is out of action at the moment. He really needs to go on loan again. Interestingly, when he left us he was a (F.Sport) personality, but I have just noticed that he is now (F.Pro). I am guessing that he has been tutored by either Schmeichel or Zieler so will change his nickname as appropriate. 

[Jimbokav1971]

Transfer News. Sep 2021.

(17b) Bjarni Barðdal (Det) * has been attracting a lot of interest from Belgium and I have decided that the time is right to cash in on him. He is currently valued at £45,500 but I had him valued at £250,000 at the start of this season to try and keep foreign bids at bay and my instruction was to just auto-reject bids below that. When the bids started reaching that level, I upped the valuation to £500,000, but that didn't seem to put them off. They kept on bidding and up and up they went until I decided to take control of the situation. I upped the valuation to £1,000,000 but still the bids came so I decided to offer him out. 

I have just received 3x bids with the minimum of the following. 

£1M up front. 
50% of next sale value. 
A friendly.
£250,000 after 50 league appearances.
£250,000 after 1 INT appearance.

I have negotiated offers from Standard, Genk & Brugge, but negotiations with Standard have fallen through. We could be in for quite a wind-fall if either of the other 2 Belgian deals go though. The player has just 13 months on his contract so it makes sense to cash in on him when I have 2 other players of a similar PA, (albeit slightly poorer CA), in the squad. 

[MadCatPT]

Hope for another mega deal.

[Jimbokav1971]

Transfer Update. Sep 2021. 

Well the deal has been finalised and (17b) Bjarni Barðdal (Det) * will join Club Brugge in Belgium. 

We will get £1.7M up front, (no, that's not a joke), and then we will get £250,000 after 50 league appearances and £250,000 after his 1st INT appearance, as well as the obligatory 50% of re-sale value and a friendly, (the value of which I'm still not sure about). 

Not too shabby at all for a 20yo player valued at just £46,000 who has only made 50 league appearances for us. 

[BoxToBox]

I find the best way to maximize value with those friendlies is to set up some kind of friendly cup or league, they'll have to play all their fixtures for free, so it's a bit better money.

[Jimbokav1971]

6 minutes ago, BoxToBox said:

I find the best way to maximize value with those friendlies is to set up some kind of friendly cup or league, they'll have to play all their fixtures for free, so it's a bit better money.

That's interesting and not something I had thought of. It sounds a little like an exploit though so not sure I will be doing that. 

We have 1,500 seats and an average ticket price of £9 so that suggests gate income of just £13,500. Better than a poke in the eye with a sharp stick I suppose, 

[Jimbokav1971]

Products of our Academy playing abroad. 

I hope that as the save progresses, more and more players will be of a standard where if they are not quite good enough to make it here, then they will make it elsewhere. At the moment that is pretty restricted to within Iceland, (if I am lucky), but already I think we might have a few guys who are 2nd or 3rd in the pecking order at the club, but who might be good enough to play abroad just so long as they are picked up by and developed by a decent (ISL) club first. 

[Toffle]

How's Jake doing in England?

[Jimbokav1971]

Scouting. Sep 2021.

We are still only available to scout in Iceland, however we do have knowledge of Southeast Asia, (our U19's Ass Man is from the Philppines with Icelandic as a 2nd Nationality), and i personally add knowledge of San Marino and England.

.

I wonder about the impact of our scouting knowledge on the Youth Intake and think again about how we have managed to produce 4 players with some level of Serbian Nationality  in 6 intakes. Of course I actually love it, (considering my Partizan save last year), but I'm really struggling to understand it. I have checked and my primary Nationality is San Marino and secondary is England, (someone suggested that I might have made my 2nd Nationality Serbian after the Partizan save but for whatever reason, (I think language), I chose not to. The only thing I can't see in my profile is info on my favourite club. It's quite possible that I entered Partizan for that, but there seems no way to check it and as Serbia isn't active, I am getting no media comments about that. I have just checked the social media feeds to see if Partizan was "followed" in that, but it's not so really I am stumped. I love the fact that I am producing Serbs (actually I would be happy producing any players with 2nd Nationalities, but that it's Serbian just makes it even better. We have also produced 2 English players, (both good PA), and this surprises me less. 

Does anyone have any thoughts on this?

[Jimbokav1971]

10 minutes ago, Toffle said:

How's Jake doing in England?

(16d) Jake (ENG) (F.Sport) * is a 21yo GK who left us for Leicester in 2018. He has since gone on loan to Wolves in the Championship, (where he performed well), but has yet to make is senior Leicester debut as he is behind both Schmeichel and Zieler in the pecking-order. He has 2 (ENG) U21 Caps and is actually the (ENG) U21 captain, however he is recovering from a broken finger and is out of action at the moment. He really needs to go on loan again. Interestingly, when he left us he was a (F.Sport) personality, but I have just noticed that he is now (F.Pro). I am guessing that he has been tutored by either Schmeichel or Zieler so will change his nickname as appropriate. 

Edited November 6, 2016 by Jimbokav1971

[Shevchenko]

5 minutes ago, Jimbokav1971 said:

Does anyone have any thoughts on this?

Might be a strange coincidence if you believe that many Yugoslavians immigrated to Iceland in the 90s...

[endtime]

Newgen 2nd nationalities are hardcoded in the game, Icelandic clubs will produce a bunch of players with Serbian nationalities each year.

[Jimbokav1971]

4 minutes ago, endtime said:

Newgen 2nd nationalities are hardcoded in the game, Icelandic clubs will produce a bunch of players with Serbian nationalities each year.

Thanks. 

I wasn't aware of that. (Or rather I was, but was surprised that there is a link between Serbia and Iceland). Is that what @Shevchenkowas hinting at? I know very little about Iceland, and even less about Serbia if I'm honest, so I thought/think it strange, but if @Shevchenkomeant that lots of Serbs moved to Iceland, (and other places too possibly), during the Balkan conflict, then that sort of makes sense. I just didn't link that specifically to Iceland. 

Edited November 6, 2016 by Jimbokav1971

[endtime]

I don't know why it's specifically Serbians, because from the data I found on the Internet there are actually very few Serbians living in Iceland; Poles (no surprise there) form the biggest diaspora in Iceland, but from what I've seen clubs aren't producing any Polish-Icelandic newgens. I did a quick check in my FM17 game and there have also been some Icelandic-American newgens, I guess they're supposed to be kids of soldiers who served in the US military base in Keflavik.

Edited November 6, 2016 by endtime

[Jimbokav1971]

End of Season 6 Update. Sep 2021.

Well the season started with me being genuinely concerned that I would be able to keep my job as the ambitious board had decided that we needed to finish mid-table in our first season back in the top-flight. As it would happen, that was not to be a problem at all and were it not for the fact that we only won 2 of our last 7 games, (yes I know I say the same thing every year), then perhaps the title could and should have been ours. If I'm honest though, I wasn't bothered at all actually and if anything it might help me to keep expectations lowered long enough for me to be able to sell some of our better player in order that we are financially secure enough to turn pro, but at the same time, not be worried about the threat of relegation.

With regards to going Pro, I've just checked and KR are Pro, (they finished 6th) and FH are Pro, (they finished 2nd). There is nothing I can see that suggests that they have turned pro during the game, so I'm guessing that they were pro when they game started. 

League Table. 

You will notice that if the Champions IA get a Champions League spot, then we are 1 spot missing for he Europa Cup. This goes to one of the promoted First Division sides who actually won the Cup and get in that way. 

League Graph.

League Fixtures 1.

League Fixtures 2.

Cup Fixtures. 

Player of the Season, Goal of the Season, Top Goal-scorer: Hákon Ingi (Bal)

Young Player of the Season: (17a) Baldur (F.Pro) (2017) *.

Transfers.

Tracker. 

Edited November 7, 2016 by Jimbokav1971

[Shevchenko]

Europa League money should help secure a Pro status. Your regens are mad for a small Icelandic club!  You should also maybe try to bring back some HG veterans to help with tutoring.

[Jimbokav1971]

40 minutes ago, Shevchenko said:

Europa League money should help secure a Pro status. Your regens are mad for a small Icelandic club!  You should also maybe try to bring back some HG veterans to help with tutoring.

In case you haven't read the whole thread, I did actually pick this club because of their facilities AND the number of International players they had produced despite their small size. 

I don't think the Europa League money is going to make much of a difference at all. I think our money is going to have to come from me selling players. 

If I try and look at things objectively, I'm not convinced that I have yet seen a player come through the Academy under my tenure who is as good as some of the guys who I have listed above who have previously come through the Academy and are now playing in the top leagues in Europe. I hope I'm wrong, but most of the squad seems to have 5.0 PA stars at the moment and when they get to 4.5 CA stars they are tearing up the league, but they don't actually look great in the grand scheme of things.

I have been developing the junior coaching which you will have noticed affects the CA of the newgens when they appear and that gives me and them a headstart in their development. I really need to get this up another level before we can really start to see some inroads made into proper player development. I haven't yet seen a wonderkid for example, and I'm keeping an eye on the likes of (16d) Jake (ENG) (F.Pro) * and (17b) Barðdal (Det) *. I think that the lack of professionalism within the squad is hampering their development if we were to compare the same player at a big European club, but I suppose we have to balance that up with the exposure to Senior football here in Iceland. What really tells me that we have a long way to go here however is a lack of recognition by the (ISL) aged groups squads. If we produce a proper star, then before he is classed as a "wonderkid" or before the big boys come calling, I expect him to be selected by the U21's while significantly under-aged and to be honest we have seen none of that so far. At the moment I would even go so far as to say that HK are under-recognised in the U21's and U19's. I'm hoping that will change in the next few years once I get the affiliate situation sorted out and start to play regularly in Europe. 

With regards to tutoring, I have been trying to restrict things to just products of my Academy, but it's proving harder than I expected in that I am about to lose 2x young Pro players at the end of their contracts because they have not been given enough game-time and are refusing to re-sign. I was gambling on these fringe players staying and using them to tutor newgens at the outset before their ability was outstripped. I hadn't really considered that they wouldn't want to. To be honest, even before I start the Pro training, I really need to deal with the Det situation. 

I have highlighted the following 12 players who are all (ISL) Nationality and all have something in their personality that we could benefit from. In some cases it's little more than determination, but unfortunately I have to deal with that alongside the Pro issues or it is not going to go away. 

We haven't actually had the cash for the (17b) Barðdal (Det) * sale yet, (he leaves in January), but when we do, these are the players I will be bringing in. At the moment I'm still thinking of them as having non-playing roles only, but will have to review that as we go. We have the budget to spend in advance of the January window, but that's not the way I like to do things. 

Edited November 6, 2016 by Jimbokav1971

[Jimbokav1971]

2021 Kriss watch.

(Yes, I know they are not called Kriss anymore, but I don't know what to call them so I think I'll keep calling them Kriss'). 

If anyone wants to know why Kriss' are called Kriss, then please read here. 

Kriss 1. (16a) Darri (Bal) (2016) *.

Season 1. 1st Part-Season. 3 appearances before getting injured.
Season 2. 19(5) appearances including 1 goal and 3 assists. 
Season 3. 13(3) appearances including 1 goal and 1 assist.
Season 4. 18(1) appearances including 2 goals and 3 assists. 
Season 5. 6(17) appearances including 3 assists. 
Season 6. 12(6) appearances including 1 goal. 

Summary. The AP(a) role in the AMC line is an important one for my tactic and as such I was delighted when the best player from the 1st Intake could play in that role in that position. Fortunately for me and unfortunately for him, we have seen a few of these types of player come through in the 6 intakes so far, the result of which is that he has fallen down the pecking order, (to 2nd), and with a player 4 years younger closing in fast. (17b) Barðdal (Det) * has just been sold to Brugge meaning that  (16a) Darri (Bal) (2016) * will be 1st choice again come the start of the new season, but his end product will have to increase if he is going to cement his position. 

Something that is of concern to me however is that he has missed a significant amount of playing-time through injury, and it remains to be seen how this will effect his development. It doesn't seem to have had an immediate hit to PA so far, and I hope that he's just been unlucky. The fact that the injuries occurred in a match rather than training gives me reason for optimism, (but that could well be blind faith).

 

Edited November 6, 2016 by Jimbokav1971

[Jimbokav1971]

Kriss 2. (17a) Baldur (F.Pro) (2017) *.

Season 1. 1st Part-Season. 1 appearance.
Season 2. 16(6) appearances including 1 goal and 8 assists. 
Season 3. 22(6) appearances including 7 goals and 4 assists.
Season 4. 21 appearances including 10 goals and 6 assists.
Season 5. 17(9) appearances including 13 goals and 5 assists. 

Summary. If anyone was going to go for big money this season, I thought it was going to be (17a) Baldur (F.Pro) (2017) *. He is the real jewell in the crown. It's got to the stage that I have been dropping him to the bench, (hence his 9 appearances from the bench), in order to give game-time to some of the other left-wingers in the squad in anticipation of a big boy coming in and whisking him away. He just seems an all-round better player than the likes of  (17b) Barðdal (Det) * who has just signed for Brugge. He even has a better personality! Anyway, I'm not complaining because I'm sure someone else will be in for him before too long. (Gent and Lokeren are both interested right now). He's got 2 more years left on his contract and my plan is to keep him for next season and then with 12 months remaining, either get him to re-sign or flog him for proper big-bucks. 

The AML depth chart shows that we have significant strength in depth in this area, but maybe just not quite to his level. From my point of view that doesn't really concern me because I want our best players to do well for us and then move on elsewhere, until such time as we can start progressing in Europe and making them want to stay. If I was to hazard a guess, I might suggest that  (17a) Baldur (F.Pro) (2017) * might be one of the top players that we have produced thus far, despite the fact that he came through in only our 2nd season. He is a little "raw" in terms of attribute balance and very much a physical beast, but that fits in well with the way we are playing and what I ask him to do so I suppose he is that way by design. 

 

[Jimbokav1971]

Kriss 3. (18a) Arnar (Unamb) (2018) *.

Season 1. 1st Part-Season. 4 appearances including 1 assist.
Season 2. 5(1) appearances including 1 assist. 
Season 3. 1(6) appearances.
Season 4. 10(1) appearances including 4 assists. 

Summary. It's really unfortunate that   (18a) Arnar (Unamb) (2018) * came through the intake as an AML the season after  (17a) Baldur (F.Pro) (2017) * did the same. The reality is that there are just not enough games in the Icelandic domestic season to develop 2 players in the same position. With (17a) Baldur (F.Pro) (2017) * being so strong, (and being ahead in terms of a years development), this can only have impacted negatively on the development of  (18a) Arnar (Unamb) (2018) *. It's the main reason that I was so relaxed about a big club coming in for him, safe in the knowledge that I would just replace one with the other. It would actually solve me a problem rather than create one. 

If you look at the AML depth chart that I posted in the last post, you will see that even if (18a) Arnar (Unamb) (2018) * left too, I would still have reasonable strength in depth, (albeit maybe slightly lacking at the top top end). The thing with this stage of this save is that I really need to be turning over the top players in order to give the next group of players the opportunity to come in and progress. Hopefully in future seasons I will have affiliate relationships that will give the top players longer at the club while the younger group go out on loan, but at the moment we have no buffer after the youth team. Players here are expected to go straight into the senior team from the youth team, (if not before). 

 

[Jimbokav1971]

Kriss 4. (19a) Ágúst (Unamb) (2019).

Season 1. 0 appearances.
Season 2. 0(1) appearances.
Season 3. 6 appearances including 1 goal and 1 assist. 

Summary. (19a) Ágúst (Unamb) (2019) has been up against it a little since his introduction, simply because I inherited a 16yo DR called Björn (Temp) * who was actually quite good compared to the average level of the squad. As a result, when DR youngsters came through, they were often quite a way behind Björn (Temp) * in terms of CA, even if they had the PA to one day out-strip him. The problem for (19a) Ágúst (Unamb) (2019) is that while he is now approaching the CA level of Björn (Temp) * we have 2 DR's promoted through subsequent intakes who have better PA than he does. As a result, when I have decided to blood one of the youngsters, or when Björn (Temp) * has been injured, well then he suddenly has 2 players to compete with just to fill in for the 1st choice DR.

The DR depth chart shows the arrival of 5.0 PA DR's (20e) Sölvi Sigur (Casual) * and (21a) Haukur (Sport) (2021) * and also of centre-half (20f) Ingvi Karlsson (Res) who is also a natural at DR. I can't give all these player the game-time they require to develop, so the chances are that (19a) Ágúst (Unamb) (2019) has missed the boat a little and will drop down to 3rd in the DR rankings and possibly even 4th behind incumbent Björn (Temp) * who needs little development from here. While 1 of these 4 can stay in the U19's for the season, I still need a maximum of 2 others, (barring injury). (20e) Sölvi Sigur (Casual) * is wanted by Rosenborg, and although I have got ris of his slack personality, casual isn't a lot better if I'm honest and certainly seems a long way off anything positive. My plan at the moment, (which  have just made up while writing this), is to try and flog (20e) Sölvi Sigur (Casual) * to Rosenborg, use (21a) Haukur (Sport) (2021) * as the future long-term prospect and use (19a) Ágúst (Unamb) (2019) and Björn (Temp) * ratating, (taking into account that Björn (Temp) * will be injured for a while yet). 

The thing about developing youngsters is that you have to develop them with a long-term plan in mind and you can't just keep changing your mind every time a new one arrives from the production line. In this particular instance, (19a) Ágúst (Unamb) (2019) has been squeezed at both ends of his development. He has been squeezed at the start because there was a young player in possession with a significantly better CA and now he is going to be squeezed at the other end by subsequent arrivals who have better PA. 

Edited November 7, 2016 by Jimbokav1971

[Jimbokav1971]

Kriss 5. (20a) Víðir (Bal) (2020) *.

 

Season 1. 0(1) appearance.
Season 2. 1(1) appearances.

Summary. 20a) Víðir (Bal) (2020) * looks decent and possibly has the advantage of being better physically than those ahead of him on the development ladder, but I'm just not sure about him. I had sort of decided that after (18d) Kristján (Bal) * and (18c) Óskar (F.Amb) * had passed the CA of Hákon Ingi (Bal) I would rotate them moving forward and they should be good enough to take us to the next level. Now that (20a) Víðir (Bal) (2020) * and (21d) Djuric (SRB) (Bal) have arrived I may have to re-evaluate things. I'm not sure that (20a) Víðir (Bal) (2020) * is the long-term answer, but I'm pretty sure that (21d) Djuric (SRB) (Bal) is. 

There are a number of players leaving/being released on a free and this should make management of the strikers a little easier. I am obviously really keen to get some of them out on loan as soon as they are no longer eligible for the U19 squad.