[FM20] A journey through Sweden

[DaneBramage]

Rynninge IK - May 2035

A player previously poached in early 2033 came through in the Östersunds FK 2034 intake.

It's pretty hard to judge him with the attributes being so vague, but let's hope he gets good so we get 5% of the sale.

Spoiler

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The bookies and the media both expect us to be relegated in last place.

The board want us to fight bravely against relegation, so it sounds like they're not much more confident.

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After ending 2034 against Tyresö FF, the fixture computer drew us against them on the first day of the 2035 season too. Unfortunately, the result was the same. My revenge against them is yet to come, it's now three unanswered defeats.

Given how poorly last season went, this loss made we worried that the predictions of doom would be accurate.

But the players had other ideas. We battered the next two teams that we played, and turned this info a five game unbeaten run.

We also got thumped a couple of time ourselves - conceding twice in the 90th minute to lose to Lunds BK wasn't fun. But a screamer from 32d Filip Lundberg saw us end the month with a win.

A good start, and we're certainly the team to watch if you want to see some goals.

And more of them are going in our favour than against, so I'm enjoying it for now.

[DaneBramage]

Rynninge IK - June 2035

Seven points from a possible 15 is a decent return. Not pulling up any trees, but enough to keep us ticking along.

The issue is that we're looking streaky again. We've had unbeaten runs of five and four games, but also three losses in a row, and now two consecutive losses. And the next game is Tyresö FF, so I expect that will be another.

Solidly midtable. 

Scoring more than everyone else, but also conceding more.

First interview offer of the year.

Falkenbergs FF - Allsvenskan (16th)

[DaneBramage]

Rynninge IK - July 2035

A really good month at home. We finally picked up a first win over Tyresö FF, putting a dent in their promotion bid. We also came out on top on a goalfest against IFK Stocksund, with five goals coming from five different scorers.

But away we were rubbish, losing to a pair of teams in the relegation area.

Solidly midtable.

[DaneBramage]

Rynninge IK - August 2035

We were flying in the league this month, four great wins. Lots of goals too, and they were spread around the team with 12 strikes coming from eight different players.

There was a ninth scorer in Svenska Cupen, but unfortunately we crashed out against Tyresö FF. The second string played this match, I knew it was a risk but I decided we had to prioritise the league at this time.

Looking good. We're safe from relegation, and it's now a battle with Tyresö FF to finish higher.

31b Anders Aronsson is having the best season of his career, with 11 goals so far.

Spoiler

[DaneBramage]

Rynninge IK - 2035 Youth Intake

A golden generation!

There's a lot to like about this, though tempered slightly with the usual poor personalities and determination attributes.

Seven players are listed with 5.0 PA, and another three with 4.5. But the pleasing thing about this is that four of them already have at least 1.5 CA, and they're the ones with better personalities and determination.

A few of them could probably go straight into our senior squad, and possibly even challenge for a starting spot. Since we're going well I'm not sure I'll do that right now, but they should definitely be in the mix next season.

Spoiler

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[DaneBramage]

October 2035 - Poached Players

The two lads poached by Örebro SK in early 2034 have come through for them in this year's intake.

Even with most attributes vague, 35x Lars Jakobsson looks pretty decent to me.

We get 5% of their next sale.

Spoiler

Spoiler

 

Edited September 6, 2023 by DaneBramage

[DaneBramage]

Rynninge IK - October 2035

What a disappointing end to a good season. They just gave up in the final few matches.

Luckily Sollentuna FK could only draw on the final day, otherwise we'd have dropped a place.

Best attack in the division, but only two worse defences.

[DaneBramage]

Rynninge IK - 2035 Season Review

After last season's disaster I was relieved to be competitive in the top-half of the table again.

We scored 13 more goals and conceded seven fewer, en route to gaining 17 more points.

When we briefly had a positive bank balance I chanced my luck, and must have caught the chairman in a good mood. Upgrades were approved for both junior coaching and youth recruitment, bringing them up to a good standard.

For consistency, I will be checking our bank balance going forward after the new sponsorship deals, membership fees, and fundraising amounts come in. We're generally operating in the red, but that's normally the one time in the season we have a positive amount. 

Spoiler

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For the first time in ages (and it could be ever, I haven't gone back through and checked), we've finished with two players in double figures. Both of our starting strikers, 30k Anders Persson-Engwall and 31b Anders Aronsson, reached this milestone. Adam Jönsson likely would have made it too, but missed most of the last few months through injury. Even so, he still contributed a good amount of goals and assists.

He couldn't match T20b Magnus Ternstedt though, who made a new club record with 14 assists. He was also player of the season for a fifth time.

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T20b Magnus Ternstedt is running away at the top of these charts, though at 31 he'll only have a few more years left.

31b Anders Aronsson and 30b Thomas Svensson both reached a century of appearances this season.

He doesn't make the all-time list yet, but 32g Max Ingvarsson was our first-choice goalie, making 30 appearances and keeping seven clean sheets. He was one of seven academy graduates making their debuts this season.

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The Reserves won their second tier group for a sixth year in a row but can't get promoted. They finished 16 points ahead of the runners-up.

The Under 19s came 3rd in the initial stage of the U19 Premier Division, and then 10th in the Champions stage.

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Edited September 6, 2023 by DaneBramage

[DaneBramage]

Previous Clubs

In a parallel from last year, Tyresö FF (Division 1 Norra) finished three places and seven points ahead of us. This time it was 3rd and 6th though, rather than 9th and 12th.

They beat us on the opening day of the season,  we picked up the victory in the return tie. When we faced them again soon after, they knocked us out of Svenska Cupen.

Operation: Revenge is not going well so far.

[DaneBramage]

Rynninge IK - 2036 Pre-Season

The board cut the link with Örebro SK, which is annoying.

They never sent us any players on loan, and I couldn't have used them anyway, but giving up the £25k per season, plus another £10k for a friendly, is just silly.

I did ask for a new senior affiliate to be found, but the board couldn't find anyone appropriate at this time.

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I've kept my squad together, but there were a couple of players being sniffed around.

Stjarnan (Iceland, Pepsi-deildin) made an offer for 29c Ibrahim Koroma, worth zero. Obviously rejected, but this upset him. A month later, when there was no further interest, he got over it and signed a new contract.

Also getting attention was a star from our most recent intake, 35d Alain Ibara. SonderjyskE (Denmark, Superliga) tried snatching him away from his youth contract. We would have only got £12k in compensation, but we convinced to stay with us on a two year senior contract instead.

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Expectations for the new season are the same as last.

The media and bookies think we'll be relegated, the board want us to avoid this.

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[DaneBramage]

Rynninge IK - April 2036

We've simultaneously made both a poor start and a good start to the season.

With midweek games in the mix the first-team have been taking the Saturday matches, while the second string plays on Wednesdays.

The first-team have been woeful, picking up just two points. In fairness, Adam Jönsson has been out injured so his goal threat has been missing, but even so, this has been pretty bad.

29c Ibrahim Koroma has responded to his new contract with an average rating of 6.43 and one red card.

But the second string have shown some fighting spirit, rallying late on in games to take six points.

We sit in 8th place.

[DaneBramage]

Rynninge IK - June 2036

We're having one of those seasons again. Just absolutely useless.

Our last two games were losses to the sides in 16th and 15th at the time.

Pathetic.

We now have a one month break for some reason, which is probably for the best because at the moment these morons are apparently doing everything they can to try and get relegated.

[DaneBramage]

Rynninge IK - July 2036

I put the AssMan in charge of team selection, and after the first three games back from the break I was cautiously optimistic that we might be looking a bit better. At the least, we were scoring goals and winning games at home.

Then we travelled to Husqvarna and were 6-1 down by half-time. Five players were fined a fortnight's wage.

We're showing no signs of being able to pull away from trouble. 

A year after I was last invited to an interview, they're at it again.

Falkenbergs FF - Allsvenskan (16th)

[DaneBramage]

Rynninge IK - August 2036

My chairman is an idiot.

A whole bunch of clubs were sniffing around 35d Alain Ibara, offering £350 plus add-ons. Obviously I was rejecting those immediately.

Then IK Sirius (Allsvenskan) came in with £8k + 1.5k for 10 appearances + 40% of next sale + friendly.

Obviously that's a lot more, but it's still basically nothing, especially when we're £165k in the red.

But apparently that was an offer too good to refuse, and our starting left-back was on his way. Got to hope he turns into a world-beater for the 40% to be worth something.

Spoiler

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Incidentally, we have two clauses currently available to sell for a total of £50k. Not worth doing at the moment, but I've been keeping an eye on it and these amounts have been rising since the start of the season (originally £10k and £5k).

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[DaneBramage]

Rynninge IK - August 2036

I was absolutely fuming after the loss to IFK Mora. I don't care about Svenska Cupen at the moment, but getting knocked out by a team two divisions below is completely unacceptable.

I was just about ready to pack it all in, and probably would have quit if we'd lost the next game. Instead, we found a load of goals and I was celebrating our biggest win of the season.

That kick-started a bit of a run, as we made it four games unbeaten. 30k Anders Persson-Engwall has had a poor season so far, but he found his shooting boots here with a goal in each game, all in the final ten minutes (and two in stoppage-time). And one of them was against Tyresö FF!

We've somehow found ourselves in midtable. 

There's only eight games left, but it's still very tight up and down the league. We're only five points off the promotion play-off spot, but also only four points clear of the relegation play-off spot.

[DaneBramage]

Rynninge IK - 2036 Youth Intake

A golden generation!

A lot of rubbish personalities again, so that's fun.

Two Eritreans, coach must have found one who'd only join up if he could bring his mate with him.

36h Mohammed Teklit and 36j Thomas Nilsson look like the players closest to making the team at the moment.

Spoiler

Spoiler

[Muttley84]

3 hours ago, DaneBramage said:

Two Eritreans, coach must have found one who'd only join up if he could bring his mate with him.

Distant cousins maybe, their birth towns are 40km appart if memory serves me right 

[DaneBramage]

Rynninge IK - September 2036

This team will always find new ways to annoy me. On this occasion the main offence was the loss to Vasalunds IF, who were in the relegation area at the time. We were 2-0 down after 20 minutes, and even after they went down to ten men in the 39th minute we still let them score another before trying to fight back, which of course was too late.

We then conceded three goals again to IK Brage, and I got annoyed and changed a bunch of roles to more defensive versions to try and minimise how many we're letting in.

It was probably just luck and RNG, but we then went on to win the next game.

Ridiculously close from 5th to 12th.

A strong finish could see us grab a top-half spot, a poor finish and relegation can't be ruled out yet.

[DaneBramage]

Rynninge IK - October 2036

At last!

I've been waiting all season for form like this, and we finally find our best in the final few games of the year. Better late than never.

What now?!

How has this happened?

I've been miserable and moaning most of the year, at one point having to talk myself out of packing it in, and somehow we've ended up in 3rd place, our best finish yet. We well and truly stole it on the final day, we'd never been above 6th until that point.

Spoiler

In fairness, I don't think that's got much to do with us, I think the standard of the league was just pretty poor this year. 

We scored 10 fewer goals than last year, and the points tally is our second lowest at this level. In the seasons when we finished 5th, 6th, and 6th, we managed more points (48, 49, and 50).

Edited September 11, 2023 by DaneBramage

[DaneBramage]

Rynninge IK - 2036 Season Review

We've managed our best ever finish, though it wasn't a particularly enjoyable season.

I've been inconsistent with when I've recorded the bank balance over the years - 2029, 2030, 2031, and 2033 was before sponsorship, membership. and fundraising payments came in, whereas 2032, 2034, 2035, and 2036 was after. So while we've been more in the red previously, this is currently the worst state we've been in financially, mainly due to the costs of the upgrades at the end of last year. 

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T20b Magnus Ternstedt was yet again our player of the season (sixth time in a row). He also made double figures for assists. Unfortunately he is planning on retiring from professional football. Which is slightly confusing, as he's never been pro. It says he's considering staying at a semi-pro level, so maybe we'll be able to keep him a bit longer.

31b Anders Aronsson and 32b Lucas Andersson have both had their best season up front.

On the flipside, Adam Jönsson had his worst year and isn't interested in signing a new deal, so it's looking like he'll be on his way.

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If this is indeed it for T20b Magnus Ternstedt, he's set an appearance record that will stand for at least one season, and an assists record that could stand for a long time.

The goalkeepers were chopped and changed throughout the season, but it was the previously dropped 29j Mathias Tillman who ended up with the number one shirt again.

Four academy players made their debuts this year.

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The Reserves won their second tier group for a seventh year in a row but can't get promoted. 

The Under 19s came 13th in the initial stage of the U19 Premier Division, and then 3rd to ensure safety in the Relegation stage.

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Edited September 14, 2023 by DaneBramage

[DaneBramage]

Previous Clubs

For the first time since they joined us in this division we finished above Tyresö FF (Division 1 Norra), as they ended the year in 11th place. Although we finished eight places ahead, the gap was only five points.

We both took one victory this year, so the head-to-head record is still very much in their favour.

[DaneBramage]

Rynninge IK - 2037 Pre-Season

Expectations are the same as last year.

The media and bookies think we'll get relegated, the board hope we don't.

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Adam Jönsson left at the end of his contract. Although his 2036 season wasn't up to his usual standards, he's still a loss and had contributed a lot in the previous five years.

He retired afterwards without finding a club, pretty disappointing at the age of 28. Still had a few years in him.

Spoiler

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I made a signing!

T25a Isaac Brikell was an early star of the save when he came through at Tyresö FF in 2025. He gave me two excellent seasons (and two okay seasons) before I got fired. But it's fair to say his career peaked as a teenager.

He's spent most of his time since 2031 in the Superettan, but contributed very little. The majority of his games at AFC Eskilstuna were from the bench, and he's in need of a career revitalisation.

It's not exactly looking at the future signing him, but I couldn't resist it. He comes in as our highest rated player at 4.5 CA, and on £65 per week it's not breaking the bank.

Spoiler

Spoiler

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[DaneBramage]

Rynninge IK - May 2037

I've been using the more defensive version of a 4-4-2 system that we ended last year with, and it's treated us well so far.

I will happily take six wins from our first eleven games, though it is disappointing that each time we've lost we've followed up with another defeat, instead of turning it around next time out. It has been hectic though, as normal all of our midweek games are crammed in during the first month so our second-string have had plenty of time on the pitch.

T25a Isaac Brikell has slotted right in with an assist of his debut, and has added a couple of goals since.

We beat Tyresö FF at their place. T25a Isaac Brikell was quiet and didn't really get into the game, and it was his replacement 30b Thomas Svensson who changed the game with a goal and an assist.

T20b Magnus Ternstedt opted to stay with us, not retiring fully, and is still doing his thing in midfield.

Spoiler

A solid enough start, and possibly enough about it to suggest we should be looking upwards rather than down this year.

Gefle IF were just relegated and look like favourites to go back up, but the battle for 2nd is very tight at the moment.

[DaneBramage]

Rynninge IK - June 2037

A good month, and a pleasingly tight one at the back too. Good to see that after the barrage of goals we let in at the end of May.

We're still prone to a naff performance out of nowhere though (see IK Brage).

We're currently the best of the rest, but the top two have built up a small gap. Gefle IF are stumbling though, it's now Vasalunds IF setting the pace.

[DaneBramage]

Rynninge IK - August 2037

Any goodwill from the first half of the season is completely gone, because we've been absolutely useless these past couple of months.

We've lost five games in the league during this period, and three of them were to teams in the relegation area.

Another season gone. Now it's just a question of how far will we drop over the final six games.

Another offer to fail upwards.

Mjällby IF - Allsvenskan (15th)

[DaneBramage]

Rynninge IK - 2037 Youth Intake

A golden generation!

The top few have good determination and personalities, so that's a win, though there are a lot of wasters further down the list.

There's no one from this intake that's really caught my eye. Obviously there's a ton of potential, but no one looks ready to be challenging for a first-team spot any time soon.

My reserve and under 19 squads are so big now, going forward I might stop signing every one.

[DaneBramage]

Rynninge IK - October 2037

I changed formation to 3-4-1-2 for the final six games, trying to get all of my best players into the team in their favoured positions.

Like most tactic changes I've tried, it had a short-term boost before collapsing miserably. At least we battered Hudiksvall FF. That was fun.

In the first half of the year we managed 26 points, but it was a big drop-off in the second half when we only picked up 20 more. It felt like we could have been a contender for a while, but it wasn't to be.

We actually ended up with two more points than last year though, when we came 3rd, so it's arguably an improvement.

Our defence was a lot better, but our attack was drastically worse and that's what cost us. There were nine games when we didn't manage even a single goal. That's nearly a third of our games! Just one goal in each of those games and we're looking at another ten points.

Spoiler

[DaneBramage]

Rynninge IK - 2037 Season Review

A pretty underwhelming season. It started out strongly before fizzling out badly and ended up as our second worst finish at this level. 

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Of course T20b Magnus Ternstedt was player of the season again, making it seven in a row. His average rating stayed strong at 7.48, but goal contributions were way down.

The amount of goals coming from 31b Anders Aronsson continues to rise though, setting a new personal record with 15 strikes this year.

T25a Isaac Brikell proved to be a canny signing, he was our top creator with 11 assists, as well as adding seven goals. His best season in 10 years.

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32b Lucas Andersson and 31c Carl Hallstensson both reached 100 appearances. 31b Anders Aronsson shot past the 50 goals mark.

29j Mathias Tillman found himself released for constant rubbishness, as did a couple of others who had been regular starters at times.

Two academy graduates made their debuts this season, as well as one from my time at Tyresö FF.

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The Reserves failed to win their second tier group for the first time in eight years, finishing in 5th place.

The Under 19s came 11th in the initial stage of the U19 Premier Division, and then 3rd to ensure safety in the Relegation stage.

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Previous Clubs

We've pulled back some of the deficit to Tyresö FF, defeating them both home and away this season. We finished five places and 3 points ahead of them.

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[dtown1414]

Been enjoying following your career. Sometime before I jumped on the career forums again, I started my own career in Sweden. Starting at the lowest possible level, in Division Nine, amateur of course. I plan on posting here sometime soon and been having fun with my save. Good luck to you next season, and glad to see you proved Tyreso FF wrong. I'll be interested to see where your career goes from here. 

Edited September 14, 2023 by dtown1414

[DaneBramage]

On 14/09/2023 at 19:04, dtown1414 said:

Been enjoying following your career. Sometime before I jumped on the career forums again, I started my own career in Sweden. Starting at the lowest possible level, in Division Nine, amateur of course. I plan on posting here sometime soon and been having fun with my save. Good luck to you next season, and glad to see you proved Tyreso FF wrong. I'll be interested to see where your career goes from here. 

Appreciate it, thanks. Ninth tier huh? That's one hell of a way to go, I imagine that takes a lot of patience. I think I tried an amateur side once and gave up after a couple of seasons of everyone constantly being stolen away.

[DaneBramage]

Rynninge IK - May 2038

One of the previous players poached away before coming through our youth intake, 34x Mattias Ring, left Östersunds FK on a free so we didn't get anything for our 5% compensation.

We still have another two players with this clause still in play. 35x Mikael Lindbom hasn't yet played for Örebro SK, but 35x Lars Jacobsson has made 31 appearances and scored nine goals. We could currently cash in our 5% clause for £46k.

One player the board sold from under my nose, 35d Alain Ibara, hasn't yet played for IK Sirius. We could cash in the 50% clause for £80k.

It's not worth doing at the moment though. The board injected £120k into the club (the first time they've done this), but we're still more than £100k in the red. No point taking the cash while we can't use it for upgrades.

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The board want us to avoid relegation.

The media and bookies think we'll go down, but at least the prediction has increased from 16th to 15th.

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I kind of screwed up our pre-season, and we went into the opening day with only the starting line-up fully fit, while the bench players were missing sharpness. Luckily, the Swedish Division 1 seems to change its schedule every year, and we only had one midweek game in this opening period. Thus I could stick with my strongest team, and use the reserves to get the rest of my squad up to speed.

And we've made a very good start. Five wins from the first nine games makes for enjoyable viewing, and the three clean sheets in a row was also appreciated. 

No one player is grabbing the goals at the moment, instead they're being spread around the team with 12 different players having found the back of the net already.

Ending May with consecutive draws is a little worrying, I hope it's not the start of a downturn. But it does show some resilient spirit, with 31a Felix Björnsson rescuing a point in stoppage time, and 30k Anders Persson-Engwall coming off the bench with a point to prove and getting a brace.

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We're top!

I complained at the end of last year how often we failed to even score once in games, and so far we've netted in every match. That's put us in good stead, with an average of more than two goals per game so far.

Our only loss came to Dalkurd FF, the side immediately below us.

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[DaneBramage]

Rynninge IK - June 2038

59 minutes ago, DaneBramage said:

Ending May with consecutive draws is a little worrying, I hope it's not the start of a downturn.

Called it.

The game against IK Brage was my 500th game in management, so of course we lost that.

Nyköpings BIS were in the relegation area, and played for more than an hour with ten men, so of course we lost that.

Tyresö FF are my old club, so of course we failed to beat them.

1 hour ago, DaneBramage said:

I complained at the end of last year how often we failed to even score once in games, and so far we've netted in every match. That's put us in good stead, with an average of more than two goals per game so far.

I'd mentioned that we were scoring goals, so of course we stopped this month and drew a couple of blanks.

Must have pressed continue the wrong way.

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Pathetic. I've dropped the three worst players into the reserves, who knows if I actually have any suitable replacements but I'm not wasting any more time on those idiots.

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[DaneBramage]

Rynninge IK - August 2038

The board chipped in with another £100k, but we're still deep in the red.

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After the misery of June anything would look like an improvement, so kicking off July with a win was a good way to start. We then lost to Akropolis IF, but we pretty much always lose to them so I didn't expect any different. Couldn't complain about the loss to Dalkurd FF either, as they're top of the table and looking good to go up.

But otherwise, our league form was a lot more positive. A win over Enskede IK stopped us going into a slump, and in August an unbeaten run of four games saw us accruing points at a good rate.

The Svenska Cupen tie against Ljungskile SK was poor though. We bossed them throughout, but our defence wasn't at the races and kept letting them get back into it. It eventually went to penalties, and after the first nine players for each side scored our tenth blazed over.

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This hasn't felt like a season where we're fighting near the top, but apparently it is. That being said it's all very close, so I'm not getting my hopes up for a promotion push.

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[DaneBramage]

Rynninge IK - 2038 Youth Intake

A golden generation!

I said last year I might start signing fewer players from the intakes, as our reserve and under 19 squads have too many players in them now. I only just stuck to that, signing 15 of them.

There's a lot of potential, but in a near miracle, most of them have decent determination to go with it too. So it was just the one unambitious lad, with a determination attribute of two, that didn't get offered a contract.

Here's the top-rated player, but he'll need some positional retraining, or role at least. What the heck is a defensive winger? Why would anyone want that? Wingers should have one job - get the ball, peg it forward, stick it in the middle.

Spoiler

[DaneBramage]

Rynninge IK - September 2038

I'd requested a new senior affiliate without success a few times, but on this occasion the board came through and formed a link with Kalmar FF (Allsvenskan). 

If they send us any players on loan I won't use them, but I'll happily accept the £26k per annum.

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A pretty miserable month, and we had two of our worst defensive performances of the season in back-to-back games.

At least there was a silver lining, as T25a Isaac Brikell made his first start in nearly three months following a torn hamstring, and provided both a goal and an assist against Nyköpings BIS.

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Our brief fight towards the top is done, we're now looking at our customary midtable position.

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[DaneBramage]

Rynninge IK - October 2038

With a few games left, the message below popped up. 

This is our seventh year at this level so I'd already consider us established, but I'll take the plaudits anyway.

And while the board were so chuffed, I chanced my arm for a couple of upgrades. Due to our financial situation I was expecting rejection, but I'd picked a good moment to push my luck.

Both academy coaching and youth recruitment were improved to an excellent level.

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Wins over Tyresö FF are always that little bit sweeter. Our wingers had a quiet day, so the assists came from each of our central midfielders instead.

The 4-4 draw with IF Karlstad was definitely one for the neutral, but annoying for both managers. We led twice, we were behind twice, it was back-and-forth. Our wingers saved the day with three goals and three assists between them, but were let down by our right-back. 32j Joakim Björnsson scored an own goal and also made an error for another, and found himself released as soon as the match ended.

The loss to Vasalunds IF wasn't very good. We just kept allowing them chances. Then we wasted a opportunity to grab a point, T25a Isaac Brikell missing a 93rd minute penalty.

T20b Magnus Ternstedt has been more of a figurehead captain rather than playing captain this year, but ahead of his impending retirement he was given a start on the final day. He capped off his career with a penalty goal and a big win.

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5th place, I'm happy enough with this. Our joint second highest finish at this level.

We scored six more than last year, conceded two fewer, and ended up with one more point.

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Edited September 17, 2023 by DaneBramage

[Sizeman21]

Always frustrating when you link with a parent club in a Youth Only save and can't use any of their players!! 

[DaneBramage]

Rynninge IK - 2038 Season Review

More of the same really. In seven years at this level we're picked up 45-50 points on six occasions, so we're consistent. We're just lacking that something to help us really push on to the next level. 

Hopefully the pair of upgrades late in the season will be the catalyst for this, though we're probably still a few years away from seeing the effects of this.

Our finances are looking healthier thanks to the amounts injected by the board, but I imagine we'll lose more going forward due to the increased investments.

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32b Lucas Andersson was named the fans player of the year, which is a surprise to me as I was generally underwhelmed by him.

We were the top-scoring team in the division, but it was a team effort with the goals spread amongst the squad. Four players scored five goals or more, but nobody reached ten.

My starting centre-back pairing (29c Ibrahim Koroma and 34a Helmer Augustinsson) picked up one red card and 17 yellows between them, missing a combined total of six games due to suspensions.

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Four academy players made their debuts this year, 36d Jens Engblom having the biggest impact as our new first-choice right-back.

31b Anders Aronsson became our second player to reach 200 appearances, and has averaged a goal or assist every other game in this time.

The playing career of T20b Magnus Ternstedt has come to an end, and with his final contributions he managed to reach a total of more than 100 combined goals and assists.

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Club legend T20b Magnus Ternstedt again spoke about retiring but staying on at semi-pro level (which we are, so it makes no difference).

That being said, I probably won't be using him any longer as I feel we now have decent options in midfield. Instead I'll be keeping him on as our new Director of Football. He's been sent on a course to hopefully improve his attributes.

I did use the Editor as this point to look at his CA and PA. His CA was 39, while his PA was 120. I also looked back at a 2032 save file, when he was 28 years old. At this time his CA was also 39. So he never deteriorated in his final years, because he was never close to his possible peak in the first place. Amazing how much he contributed from such a low level, but also a pang of regret over what could have been if he'd ever been at a club with proper facilities. 

Spoiler

Spoiler

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The Reserves won their second tier group, but can't get promoted.

The Under 19s came 11th in the initial stage of the U19 Premier Division, and then 4th to ensure safety in the Relegation stage.

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Previous Clubs

A good year. We beat Tyresö FF once and drew once, and we've now slightly pulled clear in the head-to-head record by virtue of scoring one more.

We finished one place ahead of them in the league, again due to a better goal difference.

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[DaneBramage]

Rynninge IK - 2039 Pre-Season

Our finances are in a right mess. Over the winter the board injected £290k, but we're still deep in the red.

I've got to hope that the latest upgrades to our junior recruitment and academy coaching pay dividends sooner rather than later so we can start selling some prospects, as there's no other way of making money at this level.

What I really need now is for our training facilities to be improved, so if anyone halfway decent does come along there's at least a pathway for them to actually improve.

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Speaking of finances, a message came through that I'd missed out on a clause when one of our ex-players was released at the end of their contract. The most I could have sold this clause for at any time was £36k, so it's not like it would make much of a difference, but a missed opportunity for a bit extra nonetheless.

Still, when one door opens another closes. We made an initial approach, but when he wanted £250 a week we had to say no. Two months later and still unattached, 29d Axel Lundh came crawling back on £80 per week instead. He's instantly rated as our best player with 5.0 CA, and at only 25 still has many years left in him. He'll be rusty though, after only making 27 appearances in five years at Falkenbergs FF.

Spoiler

Spoiler

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Expectations are a bit higher this year.

The board still want us to avoid relegation, but now the bookies and media both think we can do this too, predicting that we'll finish in 11th place.

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I'm used to being invited to jobs I'm not qualified for during the season, and I can just about understand it if clubs are in crisis at this point. But during the off-season is mad.

Degerfors IF - Allsvenskan

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Edited September 19, 2023 by DaneBramage

[DaneBramage]

Rynninge IK - May 2039

Any high hopes we had for the new season were swiftly dashed, when we got battered on day one by IK Karlstad. 

And there was no follow-up or rebound, as we've been truly dismal since. Whether it was the first-team or the rotation team during this busy period, both have been rubbish.

Our defensive record is utterly abysmal, conceding an average of almost two goals per game. After eight games we'd conceded 16 times, at this point I tried releasing my goalie but the board blocked it. He's been demoted to the reserves instead and I've thrown in a 17 year old for the last two matches.

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Ugh.

This season's a write-off then, it's one of those years. Just got to blast through it and try again in 2040. And hope we're not relegated first.

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[DaneBramage]

Rynninge IK - July 2039

Another £75k was invested by the board. 

We're currently £157k in the red.

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We briefly got our **** together until it all started falling apart again.

For the most part we've improved our defensive performances, but have just stopped scoring instead.

I'm really hating the youth only decision at the moment. In a normal save I'd have kicked most of these wasters out by now, they do not deserve to be at my club.

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Still wouldn't rule out relegation to be honest.

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Another job interview offer came in.

Mjällby IF - Allsvenskan (11th)

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[DaneBramage]

Rynninge IK - August 2039

Another £100k injected, but nowhere near enough to actually help. 

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I'm running out of ways to describe how poorly we're playing. Even at 3-1 up over Lunds BK we found a way to lose.

The emergency call was sent to T20b Magnus Ternstedt in the director's office, but even him chipping in with a couple of goals and assists wasn't enough to stop the rot.

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It's difficult to look any direction other than down at the moment.

With Tyresö FF and Gottne IF finding form we could be in real trouble.

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Edited September 19, 2023 by DaneBramage

[DaneBramage]

Rynninge IK - 2039 Youth Intake

A golden generation!

13 players have been signed from this batch.

The usual mix of decent and dodgy determination attributes and personalities, but at least in general the worse of the bunch are rated towards the bottom.

Seeing a 3.0 CA player is encouraging, 39f Simon Lindström could probably do a job for us already. In fact, I'm going to throw him in for the final few games.

Spoiler

[DaneBramage]

Rynninge IK - October 2039

When we beat Hudding IF I hoped that this would set us up for a strong end to the season, but it wasn't to be. 

We went five games without scoring from open play, and only managed to salvage points from penalties.

At least we beat Tyresö FF again.

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Only 40 goals scored is an appalling figure. We were 13 goals off of last year's amount, and seven off of our worst previous total.

39 points is our second worst amount at this level, and is a drop of eight from last year.

Crap.

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Edited September 20, 2023 by DaneBramage

[DaneBramage]

Rynninge IK - 2039 Season Review

To point out the obvious, I'm not happy with this at all. We suffered a big drop off from last year for no apparent reason. 

I have no idea how I'm going to get back on track, it didn't seem to matter which players or formations we used, everything went badly.

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Not many players emerged with any credit this year.

36h Mohammed Teklit was voted fans player of the season after scoring 10 goals. 

32a Samuel Hansson was the only player with a good average rating, but he missed half the season injured. Perhaps things would have been slightly better with him involved - his winning percentage was 35%, compared to an overall 27%.

We conceded considerably fewer foals when 37f Adrian Söderberg took his place between the sticks - 27 conceded in 22 games, compared to 18 in just nine games before him.

Everyone else was pretty crap.

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T20b Magnus Ternstedt came out of retirement in the second half of the season and extended his appearances and assists records. He has also twice as many assists as 31b Anders Aronsson, who himself has twice as many goals as anyone else.

Six academy players made their debuts this season. The one who had the main impact was 37f Adrian Söderberg, who is now our first-choice goalkeeper.

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The Reserves finished 2nd in their second tier group.

The Under 19s came 6th in the initial stage of the U19 Premier Division, and then 11th in the Championship stage.

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Previous Clubs

We beat Tyresö FF both home and away, and then they got relegated.

Operation: Revenge is a success!

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[DaneBramage]

Rynninge IK - April 2040

The board injected another £320k over the winter, but it's just putting water into a bucket with a hole in it. 

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The sale of 33a Zoran Stokiljkovic was my choice, as he was constantly rubbish and never looked anywhere near his potential. Also includes 50% of next sale, which we'll be lucky to see even pennies from.

The transfer of 36f Mikael Johansson was the board's choice, as apparently just over £20k is too much to turn down. He'd made it into our starting line-up last season, so it's a bit of a blow, but we still have plenty more mediocre midfielders to pick from.

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Expectations have increased, with the board now wanting us to finish midtable. The media are predicting that we'll finish 6th.

Given how poorly last year went, it feels like I'm being set up for failure.

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Five games, three goals, two points.

Nine fines.

Useless. 

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Off the top of my head, I think this is the first time we've been bottom of the table at any time over the years.

I don't think I'm going to make it to the end of the season.

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[DaneBramage]

Rynninge IK - June 2040

Another £50k pumped in, but that's not even enough to cover our monthly running costs. 

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I've completed a coaching course and now have my Continental C Licence.

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Nothing's changed, but we've had a much better month (and a bit) over May and June. I can't tell you why we've improved, maybe it's just our turn to be good for a bit.

Scoring goals definitely helps, five wins from eight is good form by anyone's standards. But given how poorly we started the season we're still playing catch up, so it's the two defeats that are more important, both unacceptable in their own ways.

We were thumped by Skiljebo SK, a newly promoted side that were bottom of the table at the time. If this was FM07 (by far the best in the series) I'd have fined everyone that played in that match, but with the limited options in FM20 I was only able to fine one player. Ridiculous.

And we were humped even worse by Enskede IK. Granted, they're a good team, but we shouldn't be conceding four at home so easily. The two goals we scored make it look a little more respectable, but even those came when we were already four down.

---------------------------------------------

We've recovered to an extent, but we're still nowhere near safety.

Let's hope we return from the summer break with the same form as May, and not April.

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[DaneBramage]

On 06/09/2023 at 15:45, DaneBramage said:

October 2035 - Poached Players

The two lads poached by Örebro SK in early 2034 have come through for them in this year's intake.

Even with most attributes vague, 35x Lars Jakobsson looks pretty decent to me.

We get 5% of their next sale.

I took a look at the Allsvenskan page (while seeing if they also have a summer break - the answer is yes, but the Superettan doesn't) and happened to see the top scorers chart.

35x Lars Jakobsson is currently leading with eight goals, his nearest rivals are on six.

He so far has 36 goals in 93 appearances for Örebro SK, all in the top tier or Svenska Cupen. Gutted that we missed out on him.

Spoiler

 

[TelcontarTargaryen]

5% is a robbery, too bad you could not at least get him and get a higher clause for the next transfer. 

[DaneBramage]

2 hours ago, TelcontarTargaryen said:

5% is a robbery, too bad you could not at least get him and get a higher clause for the next transfer. 

At the moment we could sell the clause for £50k, but with our finances being in the red it wouldn't benefit me to claim it.

Just got to hope he catches the eye of a scout. One of the real big boys seems unlikely, but could probably fit in at an Eredivisie or Championship side.