Stuniverse

Sunday 17th August 2031 Brobbey Wants to Join Viking | Outrageous Salaries -- -- The thing with this one is that Brian Brobbey is getting himself worked up unnecessarily. Yes we like Brobbey, and he's played well against us in some matches, so we did talk to his agent, and made an enquiry with Molde, but we were never going to sign him once we knew about his wage demands. Brobbey is on £36.5K per week at Molde and wanted a pay rise to join us. -- Our highest paid player is Anders Hartveit Ryste on £7.25K per week and, whilst we have just over £75K per week left in our wage budget, I'm not prepared to go over £10K per week on any player right now. Yes, we're the richest football club in Norwegian football right now but I'm not going to break the bank and put the future of Viking Fotballklubb at risk. Quite frankly, the wage budgets of Molde, Bodø/Glimt and Brann are outrageously ridiculous and not sustainable.

Saturday 16th August 2031 Viking Sign Skogvold --

Sunday 10th August 2031 Sandnes Ulf (9th) v Viking (1st) Eliteserien -- -- -- -- We have somebody Øystein Bekkeheien whenever he plays for Åsane but we need to reassess him in pre-season before we make any decisions about his future in the 2032 season and beyond. It was a very pleasing game today. New signing Niklas Ødegård scored his first goal for us after 10 minutes and that proved to be the only goal of the game. Defensively we were immense and Åsane didn't get a single shot on target which, for saying they were at home, shows just how hard we worked off the ball. -- -- Evening Results

Preview -- -- Niklas Ødegård is a quality player and, when the opportunity arose to bring him to the SR-Bank Arena, we had to do everything we could to get the deal done and over the line. In some ways that's the perfect headache. Jakob Napoleon Romsaas and Niklas Ødegård are both quality players who want to play at the head of the diamond. Clearly I can't play them both there and, whilst I'll try and get them both on the pitch as often as possible, sometimes one of them will need to settle for a place on the bench. I'm fortunate that we have a quality starting 11 here at Viking, and two players of quality in some positions, but not all. This is what we need, quality competition for places. As we discovered last season, it's tough when you are chasing an Eliteserien title whilst striving to progress in the UEFA Champions League. Players can't play in all the games so we need quality rotation options and, last season, we didn't have enough. We keep going. We're unbeaten in our last 14 Eliteserien matches, 11 wins and three draws. We keep doing what we're doing and try to win as many games as we can. Brann are going to push us all the way I think and I won't be writing Bodø/Glimt or Rosenborg off either. I still can't believe we're top when Brann haven't lost in Eliteserien all season. They're drawing too many games which means Brann are always likely to drop points by drawing games they should be winning. But there's a long way to go yet. -- Expected Line-up

Sunday 3rd August 2031 Åsane (11th) v Viking (1st) Eliteserien -- -- -- We started as well as I've seen us start a match today and we nearly blew Åsane away inside the first 10 minutes. Isak Amundsen scored his first goal of the season after five minutes. Jakob Napoleon Romsaas doubled our lead with an acrobatic volley two minutes later. Anders Hartveit Ryste then had a goal ruled out for offside a minute after that. And bizarrely, I can't really explain it, that offside goal affected us and Åsane seemed to gain confidence. Åsane pulled a goal back on 34 minutes. Initially we thought Jonas Drønen was a mile offside but the ball was actually played when he was in his own half. Just. The game became very jittery after that, at least for us, but Anders Hartveit Ryste made it 3-1 after just over an hour and that settled our nerves. We managed the last 25 minutes plus well and deserved the victory. --

Preview -- -- After going seven without a win, Åsane have now won two on the spin so we know this won't be an easy game at the Åsane Arena. We're unbeaten in 13 though which gives us a lot of confidence. -- Expected Line-up Our new signing Niklas Ødegård will probably be on the bench for this one.

Friday 1st August 2031 Until Next Time... ... when we have four Eliteserien fixtures. -- August's Fixtures -- Thoughts, comments, general feedback appreciated. Any questions, just ask and I'll answer them if I can. Thank you for reading and following... and I greatly appreciate the comments as that's what genuinely keeps me motivated to continue updating about this save. Until next time...

Episode 113 - Top of Eliteserien | 1st August 2031 "Monthly Review" -- Results -- Board Confidence -- Supporter Confidence -- Finances -- Dynamics

Episode 113 - Top of Eliteserien | 1st August 2031 "Månedens Awards" -- Månedens Trener -- Månedens Spiller

Episode 113 - Top of Eliteserien | 1st August 2031 "Viking First Team Squad" -- New Contracts David Brekalo is in great form, despite his age, so as my captain and inspirational leader we've extended his stay at Viking. At right-back, Jesper Robertsen has really stepped up this season after an inconsistent season last term in Brice Wembangomo's shadow. Jesper has grabbed the right-back shirt and made it his own this campaign. There was reported interest from Saudi Arabia in him and, even though there was a one-year extension clause, I decided to offer him a new contract on improved terms. In the meantime, because of the interest from elsewhere, my Director of Football, Erik Nevland, triggered the extension contract. I still thought Jesper deserved a new contract so I offered him one. -- News Articles -- Appearances -- Reports -- Players Out on Loan

Episode 113 - Top of Eliteserien | 1st August 2031 "Viking Sign Ødegård" -- --

Sunday 27th July 2031 Molde (6th) v Viking (1st) Eliteserien -- -- -- It was fascinating, to be honest, although probably not the most exciting game for a neutral as both defences were on top pretty much throughout. With Oscar Bobb not fully fit, and after how well we played in the closing few minutes against Lillestrøm, we went with a 4-2-1-3 style system but we didn't create many clear-cut opportunities. Neither did Molde to be fair. At the break, we changed to our tried and tested 4-4-2 diamond and, whilst we had a bit more threat going forward, the battle of two very good defences continued into the second half. Going into this match we'd scored 43 goals in 15 Eliteserien matches so it's a bit frustrating to have been held to nil but, truth be told, I think a 0-0 draw was fair as neither Molde nor us did enough to justify a win. --

Preview -- -- Last Meeting We're in very good form at the moment and confident going into the Molde match, although Lillestrøm gave us quite a scare last time out and I'm not sure I've fully recovered yet from our 90+ minutes added-on time heroics. They'll be another packed crowd at the SR-Bank Arena and I know our supporters will be right behind us as they always are. They give the players such a lift and we really appreciate it. I have a lot of time for Jon Dahl Tomasson. We have a couple of injuries at the moment and we may not risk Oscar Bobb. We have a surprise in store for Molde although, if they've watched our match against Lillestrøm, the last 20 minutes specifically, it won't be too much of a surprise for them. -- Expected Line-up

Thursday 24th July 2031 Ryste Unhappy Coaching Not Improved -- Okay, so here it comes... I'm still unsure how I ended up making this promise to Anders Hartveit Ryste. After we agreed a fee with Odd, I definitely excluded it from the contract negotiations with Anders and his agent but, before we approached Odd, I did ask his agent about availability and "improve the coaching staff" was on the list he came back with. I did say his list was acceptable so can only assume that's where this promise came from? -- -- -- -- -- --

An absolutely superb season domestically, @warlock. Congratulations

Monday 21st July 2031 Lillestrøm (7th) v Viking (2nd) Eliteserien -- -- -- No, I'm not worried about complacency or anything like that. You saw the character and determination of the Viking players out there today, that collective desire to keep going to the end and not give in. All credit to Olof Mellberg, he has his Lillestrøm team playing with no fear and they look like there's no pressure on them. Björn Becker's long-range effort to give Lillestrøm a second minute lead was as good a goal as you'll see... and then, cheered on by the vast majority of the Åråsen Stadion crowd, Lillestrøm were very difficult to play against. We equalised through Lasse Nordås but then we lost concentration late in the first half and left Zian Flemming unmarked at the far post to score with a close range header. It was an unbelievable late comeback but that's what this Viking team is capable of. Going into added-on time at the end we were 1-2 down. Not only did we equalise on 90+3 minutes, but from Lillestrøm's kick-off, we pressed them, won back possession, and then attacked quickly and scored the winner. I must admit, despite the fact that we were creating far more chances than Lillestrøm, and testing their goalkeeper much more than they were working Jasper Torkildsen, things weren't looking good on 74 minutes when we lost Oscar Bobb with a knee problem. We rolled the dice and went for broke… and, fortunately for us, it worked. Although leaving it until 90+3 minutes for Lasse Nordås to equalise, and 90+4 minutes for Otto Rosengren to score the winner, wasn't good for my blood pressure. --

Preview -- -- Lillestrøm are doing very well following their promotion from OBOS-ligaen and are 7th in Eliteserien. We've prepared thoroughly and are ready to go to the Åråsen Stadion and do our best to try and win the match. Runar Norheim is ruled out after twisting his ankle in training but everybody else is available for selection. -- Expected Line-up

Sunday 20th July 2031 Eliteserien Results --

Saturday 19th July 2031 Eliteserien Results --

Sunday 13th July 2031 Viking (1st) v Stabæk (16th) Eliteserien -- -- -- Lasse Nordås now has 11 goals and six assists for the season, including a hat-trick against Stabæk today. We scored five, had two disallowed for offside, and hit the woodwork three times. I'm very happy with the players today. --

Preview -- -- We're on a good run of form, unbeaten in 10 Eliteserien matches, and we're at home against rock-bottom Stabæk. With our brilliant supporters cheering us on inside the SR-Bank Arena we're confident of getting the result we want. That was almost two seasons ago. Stabæk have been relegated and promoted since then and we're a much different and, dare I say it, better team than we were back then. I'm sure Morten Berre and Stabæk will be doing everything they can to try and end their bad run of form. It's up to us to make sure that doesn't happen, at least not against us. To be fair, I have a lot of sympathy for Morten Berre. Last season Morten led Stabæk to promotion from OBOS-ligaen, losing only four games... but this season they've found it tough going in Eliteserien. It probably doesn't help that the other team promoted, Lillestrøm, are flying in fifth place. I'm sorry for Morten, but we'll approach this game professionally, as we would any other, and look to win the match. A couple of slight fitness issues but the squad have a clean bill of health. -- Expected Line-up

Tuesday 8th July 2031 Odd Appoint Powell --

I know, @warlock 8-1. EIGHT-ONE! I couldn't believe what I was watching.

Sunday 6th July 2031 Sandefjord (10th) v Viking (3rd) Eliteserien -- -- -- -- Anders Hartveit Ryste will take the plaudits with his hat-trick but the entire team was scintillating today. Wow! Wow and wow! I'm lost for words about how good we were today. We've gone top of Eliteserien after this win today but there's only goal difference separating the top three. We haven't even reached the halfway stage yet... so we have to just keep doing what we're doing and see where we get to after 30 matches. We're not going to win every game from here on in, nobody is because Eliteserien matches are very difficult to win, but we'll try to win every game. Look, we were sensational today but, let's be honest, we're not that good, and Sandefjord aren't that bad. It was just one of those games where everything we touched turned to gold. I can't speak highly enough of Isak Amundsen. He's been an absolute legend since I got here. Isak is a fantastic player and an even better human being. --