chile_paul Posted January 6, 2022 Author Share Posted January 6, 2022 Knattspyrnufélagið Þróttur - Season 4 With confidence rebuilt after a second set of friendlies, the league campaign got off to a much better start. Comfortable wins over KR and IBV led to an away fixture against last season's title winners Stjarnan - my goal was to take a point and that's what we managed to do thanks to a penalty from Leo dos Reis on the stroke of half time. Only 3 games in but this is a brilliant start to the season. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
chile_paul Posted January 6, 2022 Author Share Posted January 6, 2022 Knattspyrnufélagið Þróttur - Season 4 June (and part of July) continued to be positive as we went on a long unbeaten run. Joel Mumbongo's pace has been really effective and he's picked up 6 goals in 5 games. We're also making great progress in the cup, helped out by some favourable ties and we're into the semi-finals for the first time. Second place behind last season's champions is a great place to be at this point in the season - only 4 points separating 2nd to 6th though Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
chile_paul Posted January 6, 2022 Author Share Posted January 6, 2022 Some of my players are starting to attract the interest of much larger clubs - and with low fee minimum release clauses in their contracts that I can't negotiate out, I'm expecting to lose a number of big name players this month. Nice to have an Arsenal legend coming to watch up play though! I'm also attracting some plaudits and was invited to an interview for the Valur manager's position. They sacked their manager after only 10 games with a dismal 20% win ratio. They are a bigger club than us with 23 Premier league titles in their trophy cabinet but they are in the relegation zone whilst I'm pushing for the league title - it wasn't a hard decision to turn them down at this point in time. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
chile_paul Posted January 6, 2022 Author Share Posted January 6, 2022 As expected the July transfer window was a busy one, with bigger clubs meeting the (very low) minimum release clause for both dos Reis and Gudmondsson. Gudmundsson who is moving to Bordeaux has been loaned back to me as part of the deal until the end of the season, so I can delay finding a replacement until then. dos Reis is a big loss though, so finding a replacement for him was really key. Along with moving a number of squad players on, we recouped £140k in transfer fee's in the month, which will help make a small dent in our overall debts. Jeppe Gangsted joins on loan from one of our senior affiliates HB Koge in Denmark and looks to have plenty of talent and will help us out to the end of the season. Valerio Crespi is the natural long term successor to dos Reis, but securing Gangsted will give Crespi some time to settle into the side before all the pressure lands on him. I'd already signed both Crespi and Gangsted before my scouts highlighted that Gudjohnsen had been released by Real Madrid. Whilst I couldn't turn a player of his quality down, I'll probably end up regretting it as I now have too many players to squeeze into my squad - so I'm going to have to carefully manage their happiness. Gudjohnsen also has a pretty poor injury record, so he is definitely a risk! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
chile_paul Posted January 6, 2022 Author Share Posted January 6, 2022 Knattspyrnufélagið Þróttur - Season 4 What a month! Given all the distractions off the field I couldn't be happier to see a field of green across our results. We're top of the table - although Stjarnan have 2 games in hand which will close what looks on the face of it like a really big gap. Stjarnan remain fighting in Europe which is causing them a real build up of fixture congestion. I'm hoping that this will play into my advantage. They've also lost a number of their biggest stars this month to transfers, so fingers crossed we could have an exceptional year! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
chile_paul Posted January 6, 2022 Author Share Posted January 6, 2022 Ooh! I'm hoping this is big news. I've been pushing the board for a new senior affiliate and along with the cash (ok not a lot, but given our financial situation it all counts) I'm hoping that this will give our scouting and youth recruitment network a boost along with helping us to secure some Rangers youngsters on loan. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
chile_paul Posted January 6, 2022 Author Share Posted January 6, 2022 Youth Intake This looks like a really interesting youth intake and a distinct improvement on the last couple of years. Grzegorz Nowak in particular doesn't look far off a slot in the senior squad. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
chile_paul Posted January 6, 2022 Author Share Posted January 6, 2022 Knattspyrnufélagið Þróttur - Season 4 The nerves are kicking in now after a really tricky month in August. It didn't start well as we fell to defeat in the cup semi-final to Grindavik, in what was a very tight game we had taken the lead from our first goal from a long through courtesy of Gabriel Robinson, but they hit back with 2 spectacular goals within 3 minutes and we weren't able to recover from it. I didn't think confidence had been dented too much as we came back to another win in our next league encounter against KA, but we should have won at home to Vikingur and ended up dropping all 3 points, before dropping more points away to Fylkir and at home to Keflavik. We're still in the driving seat and have a 3 point cushion along with a healthy GD advantage, but it's tighter than I would want it to be with anybody from 5th up capable of lifting the title! We play both Grindavik and HK in our final 2 games along with Breidablik (who are no pushovers) and Valur in our final 4 fixtures. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
chile_paul Posted January 12, 2022 Author Share Posted January 12, 2022 Knattspyrnufélagið Þróttur - Season 4 Our first game of the run-in was a tough away fixture against Breidablik and the main priority was not to lose - and that's exactly what we managed to do. HK lost to drop a point to us, but 3rd placed Grindavik had won, so remained within touching distance with 3 games to play and a tricky game which looked increasingly like it might be a decider against Grindavik to come The next round of fixtures we had an evening kick off, so we had the benefit of seeing all of our main competition play first - and everybody dropped points - so suddenly the prospect of a win meant that our gap would become almost insurmountable. How quickly things change when it's tight at the top - we did get the win and then with the fresh confidence of clear air between us and our competitors we won the final 2 games without conceeding. We were champions! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
chile_paul Posted January 12, 2022 Author Share Posted January 12, 2022 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
chile_paul Posted January 12, 2022 Author Share Posted January 12, 2022 Some really good news for the propects of future youth intakes..... although swiftly followed by this news.... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
chile_paul Posted January 12, 2022 Author Share Posted January 12, 2022 Knattspyrnufélagið Þróttur - Season 4 Review A fantastic season all in all, slightly spoilt by the disappointment in the League Cup A back in March and April. Leo dos Reis was the pick of the players before he departed for a fee that met his minimum release clause. Leo has bigger ambitions than us, so whilst I'm gutted to see him go, I'm pleased to have got a fee for him. Jeppe Gangsted was one of three strikers I signed to replace him and picks up a deserved sub appearance in the best eleven for his 7 goals in 10 appearances. William Clem and Marcelo Saraiva were also big performers in central midfield for us, controlling the play. Hilmarsson was a rock at the back, picking up 5 crucial goals along the way as well. Financially we're still in a mess, even having sold 2 of our best players. I can only hope that we generate some more income from gate receipts and prize money from competing in Europe. I think I was somewhat fortunate to be awarded manager of the year, other managers had some good cup runs in Europe along with domestic cup triumphs, but they don't appear to count for much in the awards Two of my players made it into the team of the year this time around. Joel Mumbungo's pace was devastating, either from the central striker position, or from an attacking Inside Forward. William Clem hasn't completely replaced the form of Bobby Carroll from a couple of seasons ago, but is very clearly in my first choice set of midfielders. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
chile_paul Posted January 13, 2022 Author Share Posted January 13, 2022 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
chile_paul Posted January 13, 2022 Author Share Posted January 13, 2022 Knattspyrnufélagið Þróttur - Season 5 Transfer Summary After our first league title, our transfer activity slowed down significantly ahead of my 5th season at the club. Firstly I had a largely settled team and squad with the required quality across all positions, secondly players were starting to ask for salaries that I felt were unreasonable. Yes, we'll be fighting in Europe this season, but the club is approaching £1m of debt and even though the board have increased my wage budget to about £15k per week, I don't think we can afford it. More players left than arrived, so we've slightly trimmed the squad - there is probably more that we could do in this space, but I think the fixtures will pile up later in the season with European football so I've been a bit more conservative. Whilst he's not going to get much game time I couldn't stop myself from re-signing Baldur Hannes Stefannson, who the chairman had sold from under my nose in my first season at the club after he'd been released by Breidablik. Adam Devine becomes my first loan signing following our new affiliation wit Rangers and given he is able to play in all positions across our defence will add some real squad depth. Dagur Gretarsson is very much a future prospect, partly signed because of a new vision to sign players under the age of 20. He immediately goes out on loan for the season as he won't get many opportunities to play given he is competing against Crespi and Gudjohnsen. Left back has been a bit of a concern for me. Lucas Boje-Larsen has played reasonably well last season, but it's probably the weakest area on the pitch for me. Logi Tomasson isn't the final solution but will add more depth and options in that position as well as playing higher up in the park in midfield. Axel Uddstrom is a really solid defensive midfielder who will compete against Marcelo Saraiva, but is also there as an understudy should one of the big boys come in for Saraiva. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
chile_paul Posted January 13, 2022 Author Share Posted January 13, 2022 Knattspyrnufélagið Þróttur - Season 5 League Cup Campaign The League Cup has been a huge disappointment in previous seasons, so I really wanted to make an effort to progress in this competition this year. We played well against the Premier League opposition, but once again complacency clearly kicked in against the First Division side - a draw at home against Thor, before a devastating loss away at Afturelding. That left us needing a victory to progress in the final game against Vikingur and Joshua Pynadath picked up his 3rd goal in the group stage of the competition as we picked up our 3rd 1-0 victory against our Premier League opponents to qualify for the semi-final for the first time. The goals started to flow in the latter stages of the competition. In a really close semi-final, we were 1-1 after 90 minutes and Grindavik scored early in extra time to take the lead in the 92 minute. We weren't to be defeated though and struck back with goals in the 108th and 115th minute to sink Grindavik. Icelandic League Cup Final Sunday 6th April 2025 Stjornuvollur, Gardabaer Throttur R. v KA The final was a different affair as we dominated the game, Valentino Crespi scoring twice as we took a 4-1 lead by midway through the second half. KA picked up their second in the 94th minute but the game was already won. We had won our first title! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
chile_paul Posted January 15, 2022 Author Share Posted January 15, 2022 Next up we competed in the Icelandic equivalent of the Community Shield, the Deidablik against last seasons cup winners Grindavik. The less said about the actual result the better as we were completely annihilated. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
chile_paul Posted January 15, 2022 Author Share Posted January 15, 2022 Knattspyrnufélagið Þróttur - Season 5 The main season got underway with a reasonable start - a good win to kick the season off, followed by a disappointing draw against Valur. We then got our revenge over Grindavik for our defeat in the Deidablikar with an away draw, followed by a victory in the Bikarkeppni karla to knock them out in the 3rd round. A victory in our 3rd away league fixture in a row leaves us reasonably positioned towards the top of the table. An impressive start from Keflavik with 4 straight wins are sitting comfortably at the top of the league. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
chile_paul Posted January 15, 2022 Author Share Posted January 15, 2022 Knattspyrnufélagið Þróttur - Season 5 Another reasonable if not spectacular month for us. We started off repeating our trick against Grindavik with HK - drawing away in the league before knocking the same team out in the cup. We then went on to pick up back to back victories including an impressive victory against Stjarnan, before falling apart against Keflavik who are really pushing us at the top of the table. We quickly recovered from that dissapointment to hit Breidablik for 5 in a brilliant result for us. Those 5 goals lifted us, temporarily at least, into top spot in the league, but it's very tight with Keflavik and KA on equal points Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
chile_paul Posted January 15, 2022 Author Share Posted January 15, 2022 Knattspyrnufélagið Þróttur - Season 5 July see's the start of our first ever adventure into Europe - but it also leads to an absolutely crazy set of fixtures with 9 games played in the month. We started off with another loss to Keflavik in the cup - whilst I'm gutted to be knocked out of the cup, if we'd stayed in our fixture congestion would have been even worse. The Champions League was always going to be a really big ask for us and the qualifying draw was really harsh, matching us up against Partizan Belgrade. As expected we were significantly outclassed, losing 6-2 on aggregate, but in between we managed to pick up 3 points in the league. We played Valur afterwards and comfortably won, before the European Conference League draw - a much easier ask against KF Laci to give our first, very comfortable, European scalp. Another league tie was sandwiched in between our European fixtures and we were tired and disappointing in another heavy defeat at home to Grindavik We stay on top of the table, but it is very tight with 5 teams separated by only 2 points Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
chile_paul Posted January 15, 2022 Author Share Posted January 15, 2022 The transfer window re-opened in July, along with transfer windows opening across most of Europe, allowing me to source some much needed reinforcements to help deal with the crazy fixture congestion. To add to my problems FC Nordsjaelland met William Clem's minimum release clause and whilst I was pleased to see £115k come into the club's coffers, he is a massive part of my midfield. My scouts have been tracking Jon Kristinn Axelsson for a few seasons. A 19 year old Icelandic midfielder playing for IA in the First Division, he is a great talent and I'm sure he will go onto play for the Iceland senior team. His signing also meets our club vision of signing players under the age of 20. The cash from the sale of William Clem is being very well invested in this purchase! Adel Ziaratis signed very much as emergency / squad back-up, but with the number of games we've potentially got coming up, he may well be needed. He had 3 very good seasons for Keflavik before choosing not to renew his contract at the end of last season. I let Gabriel Robinson leave to First Division Fram in exchange, he had been unhappy about a lack of game time and he was never going to be my first choice, so it was the right thing to do to give him more opportunities elsewhere - the exchange also saves me £150 p/w in wages Charlie Lindsay is my second loan signing from Rangers. I'd been trying to get him to sign for months, but he kept turning us down. I finally managed to persuade him, but only on a 2 month deal. Kristian Webster is my thrid and final Rangers loan signing and will significantly strengthen my options at the back. My final signing, another Scottish defensive arrival is Wallace Duffy, who joins on a free transfer from Queen of the South Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
chile_paul Posted January 15, 2022 Author Share Posted January 15, 2022 Knattspyrnufélagið Þróttur - Season 5 The fixtures continued to pile up in August with another 9 games as we continued to play in Europe and the league entered it's second half. In the league we had a really disappointing start to the month with a 1-0 defeat at home to mid-table Fylkir. We had completely dominated the game with countless chances and 11 shots on target, but their keeper was outstanding and they hit us on the break to snatch an unlikely win. After that though, interspersed with European games we went on a brilliant run with 4 wins out of 4, opening up a small lead at the top of the league. In Europe we played the Romanian side Rukh Brest - a comfortable win at home gave me the freedom to rest a number of first team players in the away leg where we secured a scoreless draw. A win in the 3rd round would see us qualify for the group stage and really rake in the prize money and we got a favourable draw against the Moldovan champions Sheriff Tiraspol. This was a much tighter affair and despite dominating the first leg we only emerged with a one goal advantage. In the second leg our players dragged their exhausted legs out and just managed to sneak a 2-2 draw to qualify for the group stages. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
chile_paul Posted January 15, 2022 Author Share Posted January 15, 2022 Get in! That will make a huge difference...... The group stage draw could have been worse, we're not going to qualify by a long shot, but I'm hoping we won't be completely embarrassed by anybody I requested the board to immediately invest some of the money in improving the youth set-up Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
chile_paul Posted January 15, 2022 Author Share Posted January 15, 2022 After taking William Clem from me in the summer FC Norsjaelland weren't done and in mid August, after our transfer window was already closed, they came back in for Andri Lucas Gudjohnsen. Whilst they weren't willing to meet his release clause, he wasn't willing to renegotiate his contract which expires next summer - and given both he and Valerio Crespi has expressed dissatisfaction at not starting often enough - I decided to take the money. Of course what happens as soon as he leaves..... Suddenly I'm incredibly short up top. I have Joel Mumbungo who will move up from Inside Forward on the left to be my main striker but I will just have youngster Grzegorz Nowak and Kairo Edwards-John as back-up's. An offer also came in for Marcelo Saraiva, but I was able to reject it without upsetting the player - thankfully I'd only recently got him to re-sign a contract which removed his minimum fee release clause Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
chile_paul Posted January 15, 2022 Author Share Posted January 15, 2022 Youth Intake My staff reckon this is an excellent intake; I'm less than convinced. Whilst Styrkar Gunnarson is a decent defensive prospect, he doesn't have the best personality and I'm less than convinced by the rest of the prospects. I'm also getting far too many goalkeeping prospects through...... no chance they can all develop into decent players Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
chile_paul Posted January 19, 2022 Author Share Posted January 19, 2022 Knattspyrnufélagið Þróttur - Season 5 Eeek! This is really not good, this has been a bit of a disaster and the gap has really closed in. In a crazy fixture pile up we faced 3 games in 5 days, including an away tie in Anderlecht! We started well with a tight 1-0 win away to Keflavik, but tired legs then allowed Keflavik to steal a win from us at home. Given the importance of the league campaign I had no choice other than sending out the kids against Anderlecht - we were incredibly lucky to escape with only a 2-0 loss. Returning to Iceland, I thought we'd escaped as we roared to a 4-0 win at KA and a win in the next match at title rivals Breidablik would have given us the title. In a really high scoring game we threw away a 3-2 lead and fell to a devestating defeat. With one game to go, we remain top of the table by one point. So if we win away to Fylkir (they beat us 1-0 at home) we will be champions, if we slip up though either Keflavik or Breidablik can steal the title from us on the last day. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
chile_paul Posted January 19, 2022 Author Share Posted January 19, 2022 WE MADE IT! Much like the last time we played Fylkir we absolutely dominated the game with chance after chance, but their goalkeeper stood up strong and made some fantastic saves. Having been burnt last time out though I was a little bit more cautious at the back to stop being caught out on the break and the game remained 0-0. That meant that a Breidablik win would leave them champions or a heavy Keflavik victory by 4 goals or more. Keflavik did win, but only managed the one goal and Breidablik bottled it and lost leaving us as champions! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
chile_paul Posted January 19, 2022 Author Share Posted January 19, 2022 Our financial situation is now substantially improved following the windfall from reaching the Europa Conference League group stages..... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
chile_paul Posted January 19, 2022 Author Share Posted January 19, 2022 Knattspyrnufélagið Þróttur - Season 5 After the celebrations of the league win, we needed to settle back down to concentrate on the Europa League. This was a complete change for the players who would otherwise have been going off for a well deserved rest for several months during the Icelandic winter - instead they had another 5 games to play, spanned across the next 3 months. We never expected to progress beyond the group stage and were really there for the learning experience and to a certain extent it allowed me to give some youth players some playing time. Even so, the next 6 games were a bit of a disaster. No points, one goal scored and a goal difference of minus 13 was a big disappointment. We had surpassed our expectations by qualifying for the groups stages, but we must do better next time. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
chile_paul Posted January 20, 2022 Author Share Posted January 20, 2022 Knattspyrnufélagið Þróttur - Season 5 Review A really hectic season, competing on multiple fronts, resulted in a crazily busy July and August. However we managed to pull through it and just about retain the league championship on the final day thanks to goal difference. Our first European campaign should definitely be counted as a success, we're the first Icelandic team to have qualified for the group stages since the inaugaral Conference League competition and the financial reward has allowed us to make significant investments into the club insfrastructure. We finally managed to lift the League Cup after several seasons of disappointment, but the Bikarkeppni karla (FA Cup) continues to elude us - and with it being the only major trophy that we haven't lifted will be a major focus for us next season, before I seriously start to consider whether my future lies elsewhere. Joel Mumbungo was the clear outstanding performer this season, pitching in with 20 goals - at this level the defences just can't cope with his pace. I will be looking to renew his contract which expires at the end of next season as soon as possible, but it will probably cost me a lot! Joshua Pynadath also put in some stand out performances with 11 goals and 15 assists. I'm also particularly impressed with Jon Kristinn Axelsson who joined from First Division side IA in mid-season to replace William Clem and slotted straight into the team. I'm confident that he is going to go from strength to strength next season. With the exception of Axelsson, my other arrivals were slightly underwhelming - but they had always been expected to add depth to my squad rather than be significant upgrades. The loan arrivals from Rangers disappointed me slightly....... The finances obviously took a massive boost as a result of the European prize money, but it's scary to see how quickly it's being eroded by our investments! The pressure is on to repeat next seasons run in Europe otherwise we will quickly be in difficulty again. The long term revenue is still incredibly low and comes nowhere near covering our expenditure. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
chile_paul Posted January 20, 2022 Author Share Posted January 20, 2022 We had a clean sweep in the end of season awards..... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
chile_paul Posted January 20, 2022 Author Share Posted January 20, 2022 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
chile_paul Posted January 20, 2022 Author Share Posted January 20, 2022 In the off-season KR approached me about their managerial vacancy - they are the most reputable club in Iceland, but why am I going to leave a successful title winning team for them...... My next job will not be in Iceland. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
chile_paul Posted January 20, 2022 Author Share Posted January 20, 2022 Our investment in our youth facilities was completed just prior to the start of the 2026 season.... Hopefully it will pay off with a decent intake this year, although I'll not get too excited as I'd been promised an excellent intake last season as well I have had another player poached by a rival though - we'll have to see if that's something we'll end up regretting (I expect not!) Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
chile_paul Posted January 25, 2022 Author Share Posted January 25, 2022 Knattspyrnufélagið Þróttur - Season 6 Transfer Summary Following the fixture congestion that I'd had to deal with last season, it was clear that if I was going to compete bother domestically and repeat my run to the group stages in Europe I would need to add some quality and depth to my squad in the off season. However I had been dismayed when I started to talk to the scouting team at the wage demands of the free transfers that were available - clearly their agents had seen that we had come into money and were trying to take the **** - in most parts asking for wages well in excess of £1k a week. Now given our earnings last season, the board would allow me to offer higher wages, but it is clearly not sustainable unless I can guarantee ongoing European prize money, that's a gamble that I'm not yet willing to make. Equally, given the players we were finding weren't substantially better than my current squad, it didn't feel like good value for money. However, with a decent transfer budget for the first time ever and buoyed by the quality of the signing of Jon Kristinn Axelsson from IA last season and the boards vision to sign under 20 players, I set my scouts to look for players I could pick up for a fee, including scouring my rivals in both the Premier League and the First Division for youngsters with potential. Nilo Saarkivia was actually a bit of an exception, with us having agreed terms for him to join on a free transfer from Finnish side FC Honka. He is a very similar player to Joshua Pynadath and ended up being one of several new options I brought in on the wings. Jeremi Santini joins as a fringe player from Premier League rivals KR for a small fee with plenty of versatility to be able to play in all positions up and down the right wing. Whilst he doesn't have high expectations of playing time and will be competing with Ryan Adigo, he is a definite step up from Arilliuson who has been my best option at right wing back before now. Noel Hansson is a squad player in central defence - he won't be a first choice but he does add depth. The board aren't particularly impressed that I'm paying him £750/week, but there were plenty of other alternatives who were expecting a lot more than that! Palmar Robertsson is a bit of a stab in the dark - my scouts found him playing for an Icelandic non-league club, but immediately recommended him as a top prospect - and he is really fast! Given that Joel Mutumbo also excels at this level almost entirely on the basis of his speed I'm hoping he has a lot of potential. Rather surprisingly though, given that he has come from nowhere, his agent has demanded that he is treated as a star player - so I'm slightly concerned that I might be walking into a problem if he doesn;t get the game time that he is expecting. Baldvin Saeversson is the real gem this year. Picked up from First Division side Selfoss and only 18 years of age for £50k, he has masses of potential. I've had to agree to a minimum release clause of only £115k, but have an expiry date on that clause of November '27, so need to keep him under the radar until then! Halldor Jon Arnarsson also joins from a First Divison side, Thor, and was a key part of the squad that earnt promotion to the Premier Division ahead of the new season - their fans can't have been pleased to see him depart from a squad that will have to might really hard to avoid relegation, although they might be pleased with the fee which might reach £100k with additions. Arnasson's arrival meant that I was able to accept an offer of £50k for youngster Gretarsson from IFK Goteburg, which helped to pay the bill. Finally at left back, I signed two players who will replace Boje-Larsen (who will leave the club at the end of his contract) and Logi Tomasson (who stays as a squad player). Both Axel Wallenborg and Arno Gudmundsson are expecting to be important players however, so I'm going to hit problems keeping them both happy. Luckily Wallenborg has some ability to play at right back, so I'll be training him with a focus on developing his ability to play there - allowing them both to start. With these additions to the squad, I needed to offload and a large number of youth players have left on loan to First Division sides, along with a number of senior players who are now going to be a long way off first team action. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
chile_paul Posted January 25, 2022 Author Share Posted January 25, 2022 Knattspyrnufélagið Þróttur - Season 6 League Cup Campaign As the reigning champions, the pressure was off this season for the League Cup - the board didn't have massively high expectations, preferring that we instead focus on other competitions - and I felt likewise. My priority this season is all about the Bikarkeppni karla (FA Cup equivalent) which is the one Icelandic trophy that I haven't lifted. As a result this was the perfect opportunity to give some of my new arrivals and those youngsters who hadn't already left or been loaned out to get some game time. Despite this, we made a great start to the campaign, in what was a weak group. With just one goal conceeded in the 5 games of the group stage, the only blot on our copy book was a disappointing 0-0 draw against Volsungur, who had just been promoted to the First Division and were arguably the weakest team in the whole competition. The semi-final was a much tighter affair, and in a game in which we are on the back foot throughout, we relied on an 86th minute winner from Valerio Crespi to send us through to the final. Icelandic League Cup Final Sunday 5th April 2026 Stjornuvollur, Gardabaer Throttur R. v Breidablik Our drop in form continued from the semi-final and despite putting out my strongest team, in a tight game, we were caught out ourselves on the break by Breidablik's Peter Knudsen, who scored the winner in the 85th minute. We moved into all out attack mode, but couldn't break the door down in the final 5 minutes We had a number of disappointing performances in the final, most notably from our goalkeeper - and this is has reinforced my thinking that despite all of the signings we've already made, we still have more work to do by finding a new first choice goalie. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
chile_paul Posted January 25, 2022 Author Share Posted January 25, 2022 That still left us with the Deidablikar to compete for, the equivalent of the Community Shield. Last season we had been completely humiliated by Grindavik in a 4-0 defeat. Not this time however. We were up against FH who, despite having lifted the Bikarkeppni karla last season, had ended up being relegated to the First Division. We moved to a more attacking, possession based tactic and despite FH putting up a decent fight, we moved into a 2-1 lead just after half time and this time we emerged victorious, hanging on somewhat in the final stages after FH applied late pressure. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
chile_paul Posted January 25, 2022 Author Share Posted January 25, 2022 Knattspyrnufélagið Þróttur - Season 6 Still scarred by the memory of a nail biting climax to last season, I was really keen to get off to a strong start to the league campaign before the fixture congestion got really crazy. That's exactly what happened as the goals started to fly in with a convincing 3-1 away win at Keflavik was followed up by a 3-0 home win against KR. As we became more and more comfortable with our new attacking tactic we destroyed IA and finally a tighter win at home to Fylkir finished the month with our fourth straight win. In between we cleared the first hurdle in our journey to hopefully lift the Bikarkeppni karla by beating our namesakes Throttur V. Grindavik are maintaining the early pace with us with their own 100% record, albeit having played a game less. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
chile_paul Posted January 25, 2022 Author Share Posted January 25, 2022 In other news, I persuaded the board to make further updates to our youth recruitment network. I also secured the signing, as planned, of a new goalkeeper to replace Tanis Marcellan. Tanis has been brilliant for us over the last couple of seasons but is inconsistent. I'm hoping that Mouhamoudu Sarr will be a step up in quality for us. Our affiliate partnership with Rangers continued to develop. Kristian Webster returned to them after a successful spell and was immediately replaced by Greig Allen who looks to be brilliant in the air. Kamil Sluga also arrives, offering us an alternative attacking option - I'm half expecting bids to arrive for Valerio Crespi or Joel Mumbungo in the summer transfer window, so having Sluga will protect us in that eventuality. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
chile_paul Posted January 25, 2022 Author Share Posted January 25, 2022 My reputation is starting to spread regionally, as I'm approached for my first job interview outside of Iceland. Tempting, but I'm still hoping to lift the Bikarkeppni karla before I leave Iceland. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
chile_paul Posted January 25, 2022 Author Share Posted January 25, 2022 Knattspyrnufélagið Þróttur - Season 6 June was an incredible month - green across the board with 6 wins out of 6 - and new goalkeeper Sarr hasn't conceeded a goal! Brilliant The record couldn't continue for ever, and in July we dropped our first points of the season in a disappointing capitulation away to HK. It didn't hold us back for long though, as we rebounded straight away with a comfortable 3-0 win in the Bikarkeppni karla quarter final against KR, followed by a win against the same team in the league. We continued with another win in the league, before we were held to a goalless draw by IA. We're now comfortable with an 8 point lead at the top of the table with a game in hand. The season is barely half way through, yet most pundits are declaring the title race is already over. In the Champions League, we had another tough first round qualifying draw against Molde. We were battered in the first leg but took an early lead and held out for much of the game before conceeding late in the second half. Molde had a player sent off in the final few minutes, but we were exhausted and unable to make much of an impact with our extra man. In the second leg we played much better and for the second match in a row, Molde had another player sent off late in the second half, but once again we couldn't break them down to find the goal needed to take the tie to extra time, That dropped us down into the Europa League and we massively outclassed our first opponents, to ensure that our European adventure would carry on into August - where the fixture congestion would start to get interesting again! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
chile_paul Posted January 26, 2022 Author Share Posted January 26, 2022 Knattspyrnufélagið Þróttur - Season 6 August only saw 3 league games (which fills me with dread for September!), but we returned to incredible form with another 3 straight wins - and no goals conceeded. We continue to have a very healthy cushion of points on the board, 14 points clear - records are now stacking up ready to be broken should we continue in this vein of form in September We had 4 games in Europe in the month. The first tie away at Vllaznia was tougher than I expected and we relied on Velerio Crespi popping up in the 86th minute to ensure that we retuned to Iceland with a goal on the board - but back at home we totally overran them and ran out comfortable 6-1 winners on aggregate. My heart sank however when I saw the draw for the final qualifying round as it was probably the toughest opponent we could have been drawn against, with Partizan Belgrade our opponents. Partizan had wiped the floor with us last season in the first qualifying round of the Champions League, so I didn't have huge hopes of repeating our run into the group stage. However the team were brilliant - we took an early lead in the away leg and almost walked away with a first leg lead, but having had our backs against the wall for much of the game we ended up conceeding a penalty in the final stages. Buoyed by the result in the first leg we were brilliant in the return leg at home, running away into an early 2-0 lead and were relatively comfortable for the remainder of the game, only conceeding with 30 seconds left on the clock. The group stage draw is interesting - much more favourable than last season and with a deeper squad I'm hoping to be able to pick up some points along the way. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
chile_paul Posted January 26, 2022 Author Share Posted January 26, 2022 At the start of August we competed in the semi-final and managed to get our revenge over HK for our one and only league defeat so far this season, emerging as 1-0 winners. So that left us with just the final, against Stjarnan, before we could add the final trophy into our rapidly filling cabinet! Bikarkeppni karla Final Sunday 16th August, 2026 Laugardalsvollur, Reykjavik Throttur R. v Stjarnan This was a really, really bitter pill to swallow. Stjarnan are a good team, but it's clear from our league and European performances that as a team we're much better than them - but we really didn't perform on the day. Mouhamadou Sarr who has been heroic all season was awful and fumbled a straight forward high ball which landed at the feet of their winger Folarin, who tapped into an empty net. We fought back and when Greig Allen was shoved over in the box as we took a corner, Johann Meyer stepped up and tucked away a penalty. We couldn't find a break through to win the game though and in extra time substitute Noel Hansson went right through the back of one of the Stjarnan players in the penalty box - a really rash challenge in a position when there wasn't much danger - and Folarin stepped up to score his second and secure the trophy. We really shouldn't have lost the game - a number of my players bottled it and put in under par performances and I'm going to have to carefully consider whether they have the mental attributes to play in as big a fixture as this in the future. Ryan Adigo is my captain, but that's 2 finals in a row where he has under performed. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
chile_paul Posted February 4, 2022 Author Share Posted February 4, 2022 After the disappointment of defeat in the final, I had hoped for some good news when I got the news that our youth intake was ready to graduate. It's a mixed picture, some improved individuals but the personalities are really concerning. What are they doing to these young kids! Einar Hauksson is probably pick of the bunch and isn't far off first team level - but his personality is 'Slack'. I don't think I've ever had a player with slack personality before and this seems to be playing through into his training performances in the first few weeks. He is constantly bottom of the pack. Ragnar Sigurdsson is also definitely a good prospect - I've seen how dangerous pure pace can be at this level - but with a personality of 'Casual' I can't imagine he is going to progress far. I've put them both into a mentoring group with some of the older players with more determination and professionalism. Let's hope it will pay some dividends. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
chile_paul Posted February 4, 2022 Author Share Posted February 4, 2022 Our qualification for the group stage of the Europa Conference League for the second year in a row guaranteed further prize money which I persuaded the board to swiftly re-invest into our faciliities Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
chile_paul Posted February 4, 2022 Author Share Posted February 4, 2022 I'm continuing to attract interest from aboard - and would have taken the job had we lifted the Cup, but I'm going to have one more crack at it next year I think. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
chile_paul Posted February 4, 2022 Author Share Posted February 4, 2022 Knattspyrnufélagið Þróttur - Season 6 September ended up being a very busy month, but with a huge cushion at the top of the table, it was a relaxed stroll to lift the league title for the third season in a row with 4 games spare. We ended with a dominant 16 point lead over the nearest team and with 19 wins out of 22 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
chile_paul Posted February 4, 2022 Author Share Posted February 4, 2022 We've broken a number of records this year which I expect will stand for a long time. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
chile_paul Posted February 4, 2022 Author Share Posted February 4, 2022 Knattspyrnufélagið Þróttur - Season 6 Last time out we didn't pick up a single point in the group stage of the Europa Conference League, but in a demonstration of how much we have strengthened within a year (albeit in a weak group) we were dominant. PFK and Legia were really poor throughout and our 5-0 home victory against Legia was incredibly. APOEL put up a really tough fight though but just missed out on top spot to ourselves on goal difference. We're into the knockout stages! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
chile_paul Posted February 6, 2022 Author Share Posted February 6, 2022 Knattspyrnufélagið Þróttur - Season 6 Review Competitions Pepsi Max deild karla - A brilliant performane as we retained the title for the 3rd season in a row, breaking a series of records on the way and finishing 6 points clear of the pack League Cup - We ended up losing the final in a tight game to Breidablik. A disappointment given we were much the stronger team on paper Deidablikar - We avenged our heavy defeat in this traditional curtain raiser last season, to lift the trophy for the first time Bikarkeppni karla - This was the real disappointment of the season as it was the one trophy that still eludes us. We were really disappointing in the season, losing to Stjarnan Europe - Following an incredible set of results, we remain alive in the European campaign at the end of the season, with an opportunity to test ourselves in the knockout round proper of the European Conference League. Team Joel Mumbongo was the star performer across the season with 12 goals and 5 assists from the Inside Forward position on the left, but Valerio Crespi picked up an incredible 26 goals in 38 starts and was virtually undroppable with 44 appearances all season. Valerio Crespi takes the place of Leo dos Reis in the club's overall best eleven. There should be a huge turnover of players in this overall best eleven in the next few seasons as the current crop are far better than these lot. Analysis We were utterly dominant in all areas - although I'd like more accuracy in our shooting Finances A very healthy situation compared to a couple of seasons ago - whilst the bank balance isn't as large as you might expect given our prize money from Europe that is as a result of our almost constant re-investment into facilities. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
chile_paul Posted February 6, 2022 Author Share Posted February 6, 2022 Somehow Crespi only finished 2nd in the Golden boot competition? We had plenty of other awards to pick up though Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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