warlock Posted February 5 Share Posted February 5 (edited) Not a bad squad, I think. But that wage 'structure' is entirely unstructured . You have 'important players' earning way less than fringe and squad players AI management! Just had our promotion season tick over with Southampton and discovered that nearly all of the staff and most of the players have 82% wage increases in their contracts Edited February 5 by warlock 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stuniverse Posted February 5 Author Share Posted February 5 (edited) Where would you reduce the player wage budget? Based on the Playing Squad updates (last few posts on previous page), who would you look to sell and / or offload to reduce the wage budget? -- Tagged: @Blarney, @cerud, @Dean Gripton, @Hootieleece, @I have nothing to say, @JaytheGreat, @Jogo Bonito, @phnompenhandy, @Punch, @samboing, @warlock, @XaW Note: If you no longer wish to be tagged in posts like this, please let me know by Direct Message and I'll remove you from my tag list for future posts. Likewise if you would like to be tagged, please send me a Direct Message and I'll add you. Thank you. Edited February 5 by Stuniverse Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stuniverse Posted February 5 Author Share Posted February 5 (edited) 6 minutes ago, warlock said: Not a bad squad, I think. I think so as well, @warlock. I've asked the Viking scouts to cast their eyes over the better Hødd players. I'll have a better idea when those scout reports are in but, yes, I'm pleasantly surprised with the squad I've inherited. Viking finished 8th last season and the interim manager, when he switched to a 4-4-2 Diamond, got much improved results over his eight games in charge. 9 minutes ago, warlock said: But that wage 'structure' is entirely unstructured . You have 'important players' earning way less than fringe and squad players I agree. José Salinas is the highest paid player on £7.5K per week and he made 8(2) appearances and was unregistered by the end of the season. I think my work early-on is going to be to attempt to significantly reduce the wage budget and get a better structure to it. 6 minutes ago, warlock said: AI management! Just had our promotion season tick over with Southampton and discovered that nearly all of the staff and most of the players have 82% wage increases in their contracts Boy, oh boy. Where did AI get 82% from? What a random number Edited February 5 by Stuniverse Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
warlock Posted February 5 Share Posted February 5 3 minutes ago, Stuniverse said: attempt to significantly reduce the wage budget Agreed! I think anyone with 'fringe' player status is a good starting place, and anyone unregistered deserves serious scrutiny. 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stuniverse Posted February 5 Author Share Posted February 5 5 minutes ago, warlock said: Agreed! 5 minutes ago, warlock said: I think anyone with 'fringe' player status is a good starting place, and anyone unregistered deserves serious scrutiny. Good thinking, @warlock The vast majority of the 14 unregistered players are non-homegrown and I've inherited the maximum of nine homegrown players already registered. With registered and unregistered non-homegrown players, that's an awful lot of non-homegrown players and somewhere to start. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stuniverse Posted February 5 Author Share Posted February 5 (edited) Sunday 5th December 2027 Brann (1st) v Sarpsborg (12th) Norgesmesterskapet i fotball (Cupen Final) Ullevaal Stadion, Oslo -- -- -- -- Edited February 5 by Stuniverse Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stuniverse Posted February 5 Author Share Posted February 5 Sunday 5th December 2027 Until Next Time... ... the hard work starts now before the Viking players return from their holiday. -- Thoughts, comments, general feedback appreciated. Any questions, just ask and I'll answer them if I can. Thank you for reading and following. Until next time... Stuni Stuniverse 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hootieleece Posted February 5 Share Posted February 5 I agree with everyone saying that unregistered players and that high earner should be seeing the door. As for Xmas Breaks/Holidays I have a newfound hate for them.......It has all gone wrong in France and Hootie is thinking of calling an end to his World Tour. 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stuniverse Posted February 5 Author Share Posted February 5 1 hour ago, Hootieleece said: I agree with everyone saying that unregistered players and that high earner should be seeing the door. Thanks, @Hootieleece. That’s a good starting point. 1 hour ago, Hootieleece said: As for Xmas Breaks/Holidays I have a newfound hate for them.......It has all gone wrong in France and Hootie is thinking of calling an end to his World Tour. Sorry to hear that, Hootie. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hootieleece Posted February 6 Share Posted February 6 20 minutes ago, Stuniverse said: 2 hours ago, Hootieleece said: As for Xmas Breaks/Holidays I have a newfound hate for them.......It has all gone wrong in France and Hootie is thinking of calling an end to his World Tour. Sorry to hear that, Hootie. I have played on seeing what jobs would come up. I will be continuing the World Tour. New Country. Going to have to learn a lot about scouting filters. Since I usually never set up the scouting department. 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
cerud Posted February 6 Share Posted February 6 I agree that unregistered players need to be shown the door. But the roster rules, even though there's a lot, do help you with organization of the squad as a whole. It's like trying to manage a MLS club with all of their roster rules! The structure of these rules though should help you balance things out, i.e. higher-paid players are important, not fringe, etc. 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stuniverse Posted February 6 Author Share Posted February 6 2 hours ago, cerud said: I agree that unregistered players need to be shown the door. Yes indeed, @cerud although I do want to double-check that I agree with the AI manager's decision not to register them. That aside, Viking have far too many non-homegrown players, more than twice the number that can be registered, so a lot will have to go. 2 hours ago, cerud said: But the roster rules, even though there's a lot, do help you with organization of the squad as a whole. It's like trying to manage a MLS club with all of their roster rules! Fortunately it's more straight forward than the MLS roster rules plus, as @XaW has explained previously on this thread, it's more like match registration rules in Norway so you can register and unregister on a match by match basis. That's helpful when a player gets injured for a few months. 2 hours ago, cerud said: The structure of these rules though should help you balance things out, i.e. higher-paid players are important, not fringe, etc. 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
XaW Posted February 6 Share Posted February 6 30 minutes ago, Stuniverse said: Fortunately it's more straight forward than the MLS roster rules plus, as @XaW has explained previously on this thread, it's more like match registration rules in Norway so you can register and unregister on a match by match basis. That's helpful when a player gets injured for a few months. Yeah, going over in Norway is less of a pain than elsewhere as you can change it for every match. The real rules are a match squad supposed to be sent to the FA 2 days before the match, I think, with those exact rules that are in the game. But the players can change from game to game as long as the criteria are met. The rules are also a bit more messy in real life with A-lists and B-lists and the like, but I don't think the game would be much fun doing an hour or two of admin before each match! 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stuniverse Posted February 6 Author Share Posted February 6 12 minutes ago, XaW said: The rules are also a bit more messy in real life with A-lists and B-lists and the like, but I don't think the game would be much fun doing an hour or two of admin before each match! 😮 Definitely wouldn’t be much fun 😂⚽️🤣 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
samboing Posted February 6 Share Posted February 6 Personally for me, I’d be figuring out what exactly is my strongest 11, then working out which definitely aren’t anywhere near the standard you’re expecting then with the remaining players work out which are the most useful to you. As usual two players per position with a few extra utility men thrown in for good measure. The tricky part for you is looking at these players in the middle area who do or don’t cut the mustard! Good luck in working this out 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stuniverse Posted February 6 Author Share Posted February 6 9 minutes ago, samboing said: Personally for me, I’d be figuring out what exactly is my strongest 11, then working out which definitely aren’t anywhere near the standard you’re expecting then with the remaining players work out which are the most useful to you. That's good thinking, @samboing 10 minutes ago, samboing said: As usual two players per position with a few extra utility men thrown in for good measure. 10 minutes ago, samboing said: The tricky part for you is looking at these players in the middle area who do or don’t cut the mustard! Good luck in working this out Thanks. It's going to be fun but make take me some time Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stuniverse Posted February 9 Author Share Posted February 9 (edited) Episode 66 - 31st December 2027 | Preparing For Players Return "My Managerial Record" -- Edited February 9 by Stuniverse Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stuniverse Posted February 9 Author Share Posted February 9 Episode 66 - 31st December 2027 | Preparing For Players Return "Busy, busy, busy..." -- We arrived at Viking to start our new jobs on the 5th December and there's been a lot to do in preparation for the players returning for pre-season on Monday 10th January 2028. As part of my interview, Viking agreed to hire three of my Backroom Staff from Hødd, Egil Ulfstein as Assistant Manager, Luc Nilis (Set Piece Coach) and Ida Wiberg (Physio). Spoiler -- In the previous episode, you may remember that we approached more of my Backroom Staff at Hødd to see if they were willing to join us. I'm delighted to say that everyone we offered a deal to has now made the move to Viking. Spoiler -- Spoiler -- Spoiler -- Spoiler -- Spoiler -- Spoiler -- Spoiler -- Spoiler -- Spoiler -- Spoiler Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stuniverse Posted February 9 Author Share Posted February 9 Episode 66 - 31st December 2027 | Preparing For Players Return "Adding even more Backroom Staff" -- Having recruited the rest of my First Team Backroom Staff from Hødd, you've guessed it... I then looked into whether any of the Hødd 2nd Team and U19 Backroom Staff wanted to join us. -- 2nd Team Spoiler -- Spoiler -- Spoiler -- U19 Team Spoiler -- Spoiler -- Spoiler Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stuniverse Posted February 9 Author Share Posted February 9 Episode 66 - 31st December 2027 | Preparing For Players Return "A Deeper Analysis of the Players" -- Viking's caretaker manager, Mats Ullereng, had a lot of success with the 4-4-2 Diamond system he used for the eight Eliteserien matches he was in charge for. This is the starting 11 Mats used for the majority of those games. The substitutes are the other players who got starts under Matt. It's a shame Mats is no longer at the football club as I would've liked to have discussed this in more detail with him. -- The Viking manager I replaced, Henrik Rydström, favoured a 4-2-3-1 system like me. Based purely on the most appearances last season, this is what Henrik's starting-11 looked like. -- Finally, having discussed the players with my Backroom Staff, here's how our Squad Planner is shaping up. Note: We have no left-footed centre-backs in the first team squad currently. -- This Analysis has served us well in establishing the players who may well be surplus to requirements. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stuniverse Posted February 9 Author Share Posted February 9 Episode 66 - 31st December 2027 | Preparing For Players Return "Offloading Players" -- Having identified players who were surplus to requirements, it was over to my Director of Football, Erik Nevland, to try and offload them. -- -- -- -- -- -- -- Released Players -- -- Impact on Budgets Whilst this has only added just shy of half a million to the transfer budget (we only get 10% of revenue reinvested into the transfer budget) it has given me around £40K per week in the wage budget to play with. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stuniverse Posted February 9 Author Share Posted February 9 (edited) Episode 66 - 31st December 2027 | Preparing For Players Return "Lehm Retires" -- Our 2nd Team Manager Henrik Lehm has decided to retire. I only met him briefly, but I wish him well for his retirement. We've told him he's welcome back at the SR-Bank Arena any time. -- We had a very successful 2nd Team at Hødd last season, they won their division to get promoted into PostNord-ligaen (Tier 3) so... you've guessed it, I approached Hødd's 2nd Team Manager Arvid Moen Hansen. Unfortunately, he wants too much money - his starting gambit is over £2K per week and the most we're prepared to pay is £1.6K per week - and we've been unable to reach an agreement. Arvind's only on £900 per week currently at Hødd so, for the time being, we're going to keep trying. Spoiler Edited February 9 by Stuniverse Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stuniverse Posted February 9 Author Share Posted February 9 (edited) Episode 66 - 31st December 2027 | Preparing For Players Return "Transfer Rumours" -- And, of course, the transfer speculation has started with rumours that two of our best defenders are wanted by other clubs. Of course, it would have to be interest from the Saudi Arabian League, wouldn't it? And now our #1 goalkeeper is being linked as well. Edited February 9 by Stuniverse Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stuniverse Posted February 9 Author Share Posted February 9 (edited) Episode 66 - 1st January 2028 | Preparing For Players Return "Finances" -- Edited February 9 by Stuniverse Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stuniverse Posted February 9 Author Share Posted February 9 Sunday 2nd January 2028 Until Next Time... ... when the players will have reported back for pre-season training. -- Thoughts, comments, general feedback appreciated. Any questions, just ask and I'll answer them if I can. Thank you for reading and following. Until next time... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stuniverse Posted February 13 Author Share Posted February 13 (edited) Episode 67 - 3rd January 2028 | Early Pre-season "If it ain't broke... don't fix it" -- You've heard the saying: if it ain't broke, don't fix it. Viking finished the 2027 season with five wins, one draw and only two defeats under interim manager Mats Ullereng. More than that, Viking finished the season as the Eliteserien's form team. So I'm taking that to mean we have a good squad and we still have all the players that started for Mats during his interim reign. With Finances insecure, before offloading 16 players to bring our Financial Status to okay, I'm not going to be making any rash decisions or spending money unnecessarily. I may live to regret this but I'm going to see how far the current Viking squad can take us. Although that might be a tough ask to achieve the Board's expectation of UEFA Europa Conference League Qualification, effectively a top five finish... ... so I will be looking to improve the squad, but I won't be breaking the bank to do it. Edited February 13 by Stuniverse Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stuniverse Posted February 13 Author Share Posted February 13 Episode 67 - 3rd January 2028 | Early Pre-season "Trialists" -- We've invited quite a lot of players to join us for the first four weeks of pre-season. Goalkeepers Spoiler -- Defenders Spoiler -- Midfielders Spoiler -- Wingers Spoiler -- Strikers Spoiler -- Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hootieleece Posted February 13 Share Posted February 13 You certainly have a lot of players on trial. I would take no more than one per position group. Personally, I would look for tall, athletic, players that can play more than one position. If you were to take more than one from a group probably the wingers since many of them could easily play striker and I like them better than your striker candidates for the role. 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stuniverse Posted February 13 Author Share Posted February 13 6 minutes ago, Hootieleece said: You certainly have a lot of players on trial. Yep. I've done that every pre-season on the save so far... it's cheaper than scouting them and I like to involve the ones I'm considering offering a contract to in pre-season games. 8 minutes ago, Hootieleece said: I would take no more than one per position group. Yeah, it's unlikely I'll be signing many. 8 minutes ago, Hootieleece said: Personally, I would look for tall, athletic, players that can play more than one position. If you were to take more than one from a group probably the wingers since many of them could easily play striker and I like them better than your striker candidates for the role. Thanks, @Hootieleece. I agree there's not much in the striker trialist pool. 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stuniverse Posted February 13 Author Share Posted February 13 Episode 67 - 3rd January 2028 | Early Pre-season "And so it begins..." -- We've received our first bid from the Saudi Pro League, £2.4M (potentially rising to £2.6M) for Isak Amundsen. I didn't want to lose my best players so we rejected the bid. Isak wasn't happy we rejected the bid so we sat down, discussed it, and I agreed to let him go if a bid of £7.75M was made. Spoiler I'm hoping nobody comes in with a £7.75M bid because Isak is one of my best defenders and I'll only get 10% of any transfer fee paid added to my transfer budget. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stuniverse Posted February 13 Author Share Posted February 13 Episode 67 - 3rd January 2028 | Early Pre-season "Finally we get our 2nd Team Manager" -- It was a long, drawn out negotiation, where talks broke down numerous times, but I'm delighted Arvid Moen Hansen, my 2nd Team Manager at Hødd, finally agreed to join us at Viking. Spoiler Arvid was instrumental in Hødd II winning Norsk Tipping-ligaen Avdeling 2 (Tier 4) last season. The Board want us to develop players using the club's youth system so I'm delighted to have Arvid on board. -- I think he has some good young players at Viking to work with. 2 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stuniverse Posted February 15 Author Share Posted February 15 (edited) Episode 67 - 10th January 2028 | Early Pre-season "Transfer Window Opens" -- -- Edited February 15 by Stuniverse Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stuniverse Posted February 15 Author Share Posted February 15 Episode 67 - 10th January 2028 | Early Pre-season "Players Report Back" -- Fitness Report One of our trialists, Brice Wembangomo, has an injury that will keep him out for pre-season. -- Playing Time Expectations Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stuniverse Posted February 15 Author Share Posted February 15 Episode 67 - 10th January 2028 | Early Pre-season "Team Meeting" -- -- Eliteserien 2028 -- Code of Conduct -- -- Dynamics 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stuniverse Posted February 15 Author Share Posted February 15 Episode 67 - 10th January 2028 | Early Pre-season "New Contracts" -- With interest in three of our key players, I decided to try and nip any interest in the bud by offering them new contracts. -- Unfortunately we didn't have much success with Isak Amundsen and his agent. -- We did have more joy though with David Brekalo, Patrik Sigurður Gunnarsson and their respective representaives. - -- Fingers crossed David and Patrik sign their new deals. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stuniverse Posted February 15 Author Share Posted February 15 (edited) Episode 67 - 13th January 2028 | Early Pre-season "Eliteserien 2028 - Viking's Fixtures" -- -- Season Preview Edited February 15 by Stuniverse Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stuniverse Posted February 15 Author Share Posted February 15 (edited) Episode 67 - 13th January 2028 | Early Pre-season "Eliteserien 2028 - Board Expectations" -- -- -- It would be nice if my Board could make their mind up, they keep alternating between UEFA Europa Conference League Qualification, the target the Team and my staff agreed at our Team Meeting, and a top-half finish. Edited February 15 by Stuniverse Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stuniverse Posted February 15 Author Share Posted February 15 Episode 67 - 13th January 2028 | Early Pre-season "Eliteserien 2028 - Rule Changes" -- Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stuniverse Posted February 15 Author Share Posted February 15 (edited) Episode 67 - 13th January 2028 | Early Pre-season "Viking - Pre-season Fixtures" -- The first two friendlies against Voss and Loddefjord are mainly for the trialists and young players in our 2nd and U19s Teams. We intend to take a good look at those players to see who we want to keep around the first team squad for the rest of pre-season and, in the case of the trialists, who we may wish to offer contracts to. Edited February 15 by Stuniverse Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stuniverse Posted February 15 Author Share Posted February 15 (edited) Episode 67 - 14th January 2028 | Early Pre-season "Duo Extend Viking Stay" -- We had some good news this week with our captain David Brekalo and our goalkeeper Patrik Sigurður Gunnarsson both signing new contracts to extend their stays at Viking. Spoiler - Spoiler -- 1 hour ago, Stuniverse said: Episode 67 - 10th January 2028 | Early Pre-season "New Contracts" -- With interest in three of our key players, I decided to try and nip any interest in the bud by offering them new contracts. -- Unfortunately we didn't have much success with Isak Amundsen and his agent. -- We did have more joy though with David Brekalo, Patrik Sigurður Gunnarsson and their respective representaives. - -- Fingers crossed David and Patrik sign their new deals. Edited February 15 by Stuniverse Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stuniverse Posted February 15 Author Share Posted February 15 (edited) Episode 67 - 15th January 2028 | Early Pre-season "Bid Received from Brann | Percentage of Transfer Revenue" -- We've received a bid of £1.7M for our main striker Yorbe Vertessen from Brann. Spoiler I rejected the bid partly because I don't want to lose Yorbe and also because with only 10% of transfer revenue being recycled into my transfer budget I wasn't sure I'd be able to replace him this window. I've also spoken to Yorbe's agent and we've offered Yorbe a new contract to stay at Viking for the foreseeable future. -- I also asked the Board to increase the percentage of transfer revenue made available but they said no. -- Are our finances really that bad? Edited February 15 by Stuniverse Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stuniverse Posted February 15 Author Share Posted February 15 Sunday 16th January 2028 Voss (Tier 5) v Viking (Tier 1) Friendly -- I'm not reading much into this one. We put together a makeshift team of 22 players consisting of trialists and young players and each of them played 45 minutes each. We controlled possession well and their goal was totally avoidable as a mistake by trialist Mats Andersen gifted Voss a golden opportunity to take the lead. Another trialist, Runar Espejord, hit the post before equalising for us late on. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stuniverse Posted February 15 Author Share Posted February 15 Sunday 23rd January 2028 Loddefjord (Tier 5) v Viking (Tier 1) Friendly -- This was like the Voss match where we used a makeshift team of 22 trialists and youth players playing 45 minutes each. The overall performance was much better against Loddefjord but it's far too early to say whether any of these players will feature for Viking in Eliteserien this season. -- My former U19s manager at Loddefjord, Kristoffer Hoel Kringstad, is now manager at Loddefjord. It was great to catch-up with Kristoffer and I wished him well. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stuniverse Posted February 15 Author Share Posted February 15 (edited) Sunday 30th January 2028 Jerv (Tier 2) v Viking (Tier 1) Friendly -- Ahead of the Jerv friendly we've made two signings. Oscar Bobb joins on loan from Molde and Oscar Aga joins Viking permanently from Strømsgodset. Spoiler - Spoiler -- We have a few fitness issues. We'll go with two teams of 11 today; one will start and, if all goes well, we'll make 11 changes at half-time. -- I'm very pleased with the way we played today although I'd have liked us to work their goalkeeper more. The first-half was a story of two penalties. Jerv scored there's after Tobias Borkeeiet fouled from behind. We then missed ours when Gaetano Oristanio saw his spot-kick save. In the second-half we were more clinical and scored two to win 2-1. The game saw Patrick Yazbek break his leg which is heart breaking for him. Edited February 15 by Stuniverse 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stuniverse Posted February 15 Author Share Posted February 15 Episode 67 - 1st February 2028 | Early Pre-Season "Backroom Staff Additions" -- Spoiler -- Spoiler -- Spoiler -- Spoiler -- In other news, Hødd appoint my successor. Spoiler Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stuniverse Posted February 15 Author Share Posted February 15 Episode 67 - 1st February 2028 | Early Pre-Season "New Signings and Contract Extensions" -- Spoiler -- Spoiler -- We've also created something of a storm at my former club Hødd. -- Spoiler -- Spoiler Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stuniverse Posted February 15 Author Share Posted February 15 Episode 67 - 1st February 2028 | Early Pre-Season "Monthly Review" -- Results -- Board Confidence -- Supporter Confidence -- Finances -- Dynamics Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stuniverse Posted February 15 Author Share Posted February 15 Tuesday 1st February 2028 Until Next Time... ... February's Pre-Season Fixtures -- Thoughts, comments, general feedback appreciated. Any questions, just ask and I'll answer them if I can. Thank you for reading and following. Until next time... Stuni Stuniverse 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hootieleece Posted February 15 Share Posted February 15 Looks like Viking was the right job for you. 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stuniverse Posted February 15 Author Share Posted February 15 6 minutes ago, Hootieleece said: Looks like Viking was the right job for you. Thanks, @Hootieleece... although it's probably too early to say yet. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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