Stuniverse

Thank you. Our Bank Manager is rubbing his hands together. That's a great shout, @samboing and one I hadn't considered. Board Request made... ... let's wait and see what their decision will be.

Episode 109 - Champions League Quarter Finalists | 1st April 2031 "Transfer Deadline Day" -- -- It turned out I was right and it was a quiet transfer deadline day. That suited me very well as I'm very happy with the current Viking squad. -- We did do one piece of business though. With young Per Andreas Haugerud Hagen joining our Academy, I'm very happy with David Møller Wolfe and El Hadji Malick Diouf at left-back so we made Anders Hiim available for transfer and he'll join Football Club Nordsjælland in Denmark on the 15th June. -- -- Transfers In -- Transfers Out

Tuesday 1st April 2031 Alta (Tier 4) v Viking (Eliteserien) Friendly -- -- We go into our final friendly away at Alta with our 2031 Eliteserien campaign due to start soon. Before then, we go to Arsenal in the first leg of the UEFA Champions League Quarter Final before kicking off our Eliteserien campaign at home to Åsane the following Saturday. We'll be without four players who are away on International duty. We're also missing Steinar Braathen and Johan Bakke who both picked up injuries last time out against Aalesund. -- -- We were very good in the first half and deservedly led 4-0 at half-time. After the break, we got a bit sloppy and conceded two avoidable goals. We had chances to score more ourselves, and Edvin Austbø hit the cross bar. Unfortunately we lost Martin Palumbo with a groin strain and we now have three central midfielders out injured.

Episode 109 - Champions League Quarter Finalists | 1st April 2031 "Monthly Review" -- Results -- Board Confidence -- Supporter Confidence -- Finances -- Dynamics

Ouch! Just noticed the goal difference

In real-life, I’m delighted to say Derby County are finally on the up again. In FM25, the Rams will start in the Championship.

Oh boy, how did that happen? Yes, @kopfan1977… in 2007/08 Derby County achieved 11 points from 38 Premier League matches - one win, eight draws, and a lot of defeats.

Episode 109 - Champions League Quarter Finalists |30th March 2031 "Norgesmesterskapet i fotball (Cupen) First Round" --

Episode 109 - Champions League Quarter Finalists | 23rd March 2031 "Seven Players on International Duty" -- But Viking captain David Brekalo misses out. -- Meanwhile, back at the SR-Bank Arena, we've given the rest of the players a few days off.

Episode 109 - Champions League Quarter Finalists | 22nd March 2031 "Friendly Arranged" --

Saturday 22nd March 2031 Aalesund (OBOS-ligaen) v Viking (Eliteserien) Friendly -- -- We have no injury problems but we do have quite a few players lacking match fitness so, for this friendly against Aalesund, we'll be focussing on fitness. As our opening Eliteserien fixture at home to Åsane has been pushed back until after the UEFA Champions League Quarter Final first leg, we're trying to arrange one more friendly ahead of the Arsenal tie. -- -- For saying this match against Aalesund was about match fitness, I'm delighted with the performance and the result. Unfortunately we lost two midfielders to injury though. Steinar Braathen did his ankle and three minutes later his replacement, Johan Bakke, strained his hamstring.

Friday 21st March 2031 UEFA Champions League draw -- -- Quarter Final -- Semi Final

Tuesday 18th March 2031 Vidar (OBOS-ligaen) v Viking (Eliteserien) Friendly -- -- We don't have any injury worries as such, but we do still have quite a few players working their way back to full fitness. For this friendly though, against our affiliate club Vidar who were promoted to OBOS-ligaen last season, we're going to go with a young starting 11 and see how they get on. -- -- For saying we went with a very young starting 11 I'm thrilled with the performance and result against Vidar. Per Andreas Haugerud Hagen had played for the U19s recently; understandably, he got tired and didn't last the first half. After an hour, we brought on some of the senior players who are lacking match fitness.

Awesome, @warlock

Thank you, @Hootieleece. I couldn’t quite believe how comfortable it was in the end. I know. £8.23M. Our bank balance is now over £31M and Viking are now showing as “Rich”. I’ve put in a request to the Board to increase the percentage of transfer money received that is made available. 🤞

Saturday 15th March 2031 KFUM Oslo (OBOS-ligaen) v Viking (Eliteserien) Friendly -- -- Apart from a few match fitness issues we have a healthy squad. Today's friendly is mainly for the players who didn't feature much against Sevilla. I also want to take a look at two young players, Per Andreas Haughom and... Per Andreas Haugerud Hagen. -- -- I thought today was a good work out. We did enough to have won the game I thought but, with the team we put out, I'm very happy with the performance and satisfied with the draw. Both Per Andreas Haughom and Per Andreas Haugerud Hagen did well and I was delighted for 15 year old Per Andreas Haugerud Hagen to get the assist for our goal and be named Player of the Match. The only real negative was we had to substitute Johan Bakke at half-time with a stubbed toe but he should be ok in a few days. -- Note: These are two names / players I'm going to keep getting mixed up: Per Andreas Haughom and Per Andreas Haugerud Hagen.

Friday 14th March 2031 Extra Friendly v Vidar -- Our affiliate club, Vidar, proposed a friendly which we were contractually obliged to accept.

Wednesday 12th March 2031 Viking (Norway) v Sevilla (Spain) UEFA Champions League, Round of 16 second leg (Viking lead 4-1) -- -- -- Just over 15,000 Viking supporters in a SR-Bank Arena attendance of 15,339 and I'm thrilled we were able to put on a show and get the job done in front of our de mørkeblå fans. We stressed the importance of not conceding early but, in my wildest dreams, I never imagined we'd be 3-0 up after quarter of an hour. And we could've scored more as David Møller Wolfe rattled the post from distance midway through the second half. Our captain David Brekalo was one yellow card away from a suspension so we told him to ease off tackles at 3-0 and we substituted him at half-time. We did concede two goals in the last 10+ minutes with a relatively inexperienced back-four on by then but, to be fair, Sergio Aribas's strike for Sevilla's first goal was an absolute world class goal. Our young defenders will have learnt a lot from being on the pitch against players like Aribas and the rest of the Sevilla team. --

Preview -- -- We've put ourselves in a great position after winning 4-1 away at Sevilla but we still have a lot of hard work to do in the SR-Bank Arena as we saw first-hand in the first leg just how good a team Sevilla are. To be honest, whilst I thought we did deserve to win, the score line flattered us a bit. We have no injury concerns going into this second leg and the medical team has given everybody a green light match fitness wise. Happy days. -- Expected Line-up

Wednesday 12th March 2031 Three Players Pledge Their Future to Viking -- -- --

Tuesday 4th March 2031 Sevilla (Spain) v Viking (Norway) UEFA Champions League, Round of 16 first leg -- -- -- I'm so proud of the Viking players today, I can't put into words just how proud I am... but we have to remember the job's not done and we still have to finish the job back in Stavanger in front of our own fans in the SR-Bank Arena. We had to weather an early storm from Sevilla, as we expected, but what I didn't expect was that we'd score from our very first attack, a lovely team passing move ended with Anders Hartveit Ryste putting a low ball into the penalty area and Runar Norheim arrived late in the box to bury it. That incensed Sevilla and they put us under more pressure but we defended magnificently. Yeah, absolutely outstanding, Anders Hartveit Ryste's screamer from 25-yards, that rocketed into the roof of the net, gave us all a lift, gave the the players belief, and they really settled into the game after that. Sevilla pulled a goal back on 36 minutes but we got to half-time with a 2-1 lead. We encouraged the players during the break, made a couple of changes because Isak Amundsen was on a yellow card and Martin Palumbo looked exhausted. We ummed and aaahed about sending Steinar Braathen on because of his inexperience but I'm glad we did because his energy was infectious and he produced late in the second-half, first with the assist for Edvin Austbø and then Steinar rounded things off by scoring our fourth goal. --

Preview -- -- Oscar Bobb (ill) and Jakob Napoleon Romsaas (calf) will be big misses for us away against Sevilla but, hopefully, we'll have them both back for the second leg at our SR-Bank Arena. Our job at the Estadio Ramón Sánchez-Pizjuán is to make sure we're still in the tie when Sevilla come to Stavanger. -- Expected Line-up

I've been away for a week and am just catching up, @warlock. What a fantastic start to the season!

Shame about the FA Cup Final @Punch but congratulations on a great Premier League season. And Welcome Home!

Thank you, @Hootieleece We had a week away in Scotland so I took some time off from my Norwegian Adventure. I don't see this save ending any time soon, I'm loving it and am very much invested in it still.