Stuniverse

Episode 118 - Chasing Champions League Playoff | 11th December 2031 "End of Season - Team Meeting" -- There's a slightly larger group of players than normal as some of the players who were out on loan last season are currently in the first team group ready for me to reassess them in pre-season. -- -- -- -- -- -- End of Season Break -- Dynamics

Viking Fotballklubb End of Season Review --

Tuesday 9th December 2031 Viking (Norway) v Salzburg (Austria) UEFA Champions League -- -- -- This game against Salzburg turned out to be a hard-fought, closely contested tie and we're delighted to have come out of it as winners. There's no doubt that the early goal from Anders Hartveit Ryste helped to settle our nerves, Otto Rosengren made it 2-0 and Anders Hartveit Ryste added a third. At that point, things were looking very good for us. Salzburg were giving as good as they got though and they pulled a goal back after half an hour or so, a goal we thought was offside but VAR allowed it. Salzburg reduced our lead to one goal just before half time. The nerves were coming back, we could sense it, so at the break we calmed the players down, moved Isak Amundsen across to right-back, and brought Aleksander Liland on at centre-back, to hopefully make us more solid. Both teams had a couple of chances second half but we were able to see the game out for a massive three points. With two difficult fixtures to finish off the UEFA Champions League stage next month, this win has given us a great chance of making the playoffs. --

Preview -- -- There's a lot of interest in Jasper Torkildsen at the moment, both real interest and rumoured interest, and why wouldn't there be, Jasper kept more clean sheets than anybody in Eliteserien this season. But we don't want to sell Jasper. We are looking to improve the Viking squad this off-season and there's no doubt that Patrick Berg is a great player. Patrick has played his entire career at Bodø/Glimt, apart from a couple of seasons at Lens midway through his career, and he's a club legend at Bodø/Glimt, as was his father before him, and his grandfather before that. Even if we were interested in signing Patrick, and I'm not saying we are, I doubt he'd want to leave Bodø/Glimt. The break has allowed us to give the players a few days off to enjoy winning Eliteserien... again... and since they've returned to training the players have been totally professional, worked hard, and we're ready to host Salzburg and face the tough challenge they'll present us with at our SR-Bank Arena. After a long, hard season we have no injury concerns at all... and it's not often I get to say that. It's likely we'll stick with the same starting-11 who played so well last time out against Lillestrøm. -- Expected Line-up

Looking good, @Punch... now getting draws against big teams like Arsenal as well. Way to go!

Fantastic stuff, @warlock

Well Betis did score a goal 😂⚽️🤣

Sunday 7th December 2031 Norgesmesterskapet i fotball (Cupen) Final -- -- -- -- My agent Hedda Berg is a big Vålerenga fan and she got us tickets to watch the Cupen Final at Ullevaal Stadion. I'd like for Viking to do better in Norgesmesterskapet i fotball (Cupen). In my first season here at Viking (2028) we won Cupen. The following season we lost in the final to OBOS-ligaen team Fredrikstad when two of our players got sent off. Last season we were knocked out by Bodo/Glimt in the Round of 16 and this season we got knocked out by KIL/Hemne (Tier 4) in the second round, in a match we dominated. --

Saturday 6th December 2031 End of Season Awards -- Eliteserien Årets Trener Årets Spiller Most Player of the Match Awards Top Goalscorer -- PostNord-ligaen Avdeling 2 (Tier 3) Top Goalscorer

Saturday 6th December 2031 Eliteserien / OBOS-ligaen Playoff Final -- Eliteserien OBOS-ligaen -- --

Yeah, I spotted that as well @warlock I'm not sure a four-peat will be possible. Brann pushed us all the way and, despite the final six point gap, it never felt that comfortable. Vålerenga and Rosenborg both beat Brann and us in the last half dozen games of the season so I expect them to be strong next season and you can never write-off Bodø/Glimt. Molde won't be happy with their 6th placed finish and I'm sure the Molde Board won't want another season not qualifying for Europe. -- My Viking squad needs quite a lot of work in pre-season, particularly in defence where the majority of my strongest back-four are the wrong side of 32. I'm not sure where I am with the balance and roles in midfield and I certainly don't have eight quality players for our midfield diamond as a couple of the youngsters didn't kick-on this season as I'd hoped. Plus, as is becoming the case every transfer window it seems, we're the victims of our own success with bigger European Clubs and Middle East Clubs wanting to sign our better players. I'll do a detailed Squad Review again when I reach the point where FM24 concludes this season and resets itself for next season.

Eliteserien Winners -- OK, @Hootieleece... here's the complete list... 2031 Which is as far back as FM24 goes...

Tuesday 2nd December 2031 Until Next Time... ... when our UEFA Champions League campaign continues. -- December and January'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 117 - Triple Eliteserien Champions | 2nd December 2031 "Monthly Review" -- Results -- Board Confidence -- Supporter Confidence -- Finances -- Dynamics

Episode 117 - Triple Eliteserien Champions | 2nd December 2031 "Knežević Snubs Viking" -- We made an offer for Jarl André Knežević which Skeid accepted... but the player didn't want to discuss terms with us.

Episode 117 - Triple Eliteserien Champions | 2nd December 2031 "Månedens Awards" -- Månedens Trener -- Månedens Spiller

Episode 117 - Triple Eliteserien Champions | 2nd December 2031 "Viking - First Team Squad" -- News -- Appearances -- Reports -- Players Out on Loan

Sunday 30th November 2031 Viking Crowned Champions -- -- Viking Board -- Supporters -- All-time List of Eliteserien Winners

Yeah, I never said I was any good at FM. Don’t really get how each and every one of our three Eliteserien title run-ins have seen the obligatory banana skin ️🍌 slip ups only for my Viking team to turn on the style in the last match of the season. It’s not good for my nerves…

Thanks, @Hootieleece. Three-peat might be as good as it gets. We have an aging squad that is going to need a lot of work in pre-season with my captain David Brekalo, vice-captain Isak Amundsen, Brice Wembangomo, Lasse Berg Johnsen and Martin Palumbo all showing signs of declining abilities. Cheers, @warlock I appreciate that There’s a rhetorical question that kind of goes along the lines of: would you rather have a good manager or a lucky one?

Saturday 29th November 2031 Viking (1st) v Lillestrøm (7th) Eliteserien -- -- -- I'm relieved, to be honest with you. Delighted. Thrilled Ecstatic, obviously, but after the nerves and jitters during the run-in, I'm mostly relieved. I'm delighted for the supporters, for the Board, both current Chairperson Kjell Fjæreide and his predecessor Jarle Bech-Eriksen but most of all I'm thrilled for my backroom staff and the players who've worked so hard during a long-hard season. Just look at those celebrations. The players deserve that. It was a perfect day, to be fair. After the recent defeats to Rosenborg and Vålerenga, plus the draw last time out against Stabæk, the nerves and jitters were definitely out and I was just hoping the players did themselves justice. And they did. It was after about 10 minutes when our amazing de mørkeblå supporters started in with "Brann are losing!" and then, shortly afterwards, Anders Hartveit Ryste scored, and the decibel levels went off the scale. To win 5-0, without Lillestrøm getting a single attempt on target, was as good as it gets. Anders Hartveit Ryste's first half hat-trick was something special and I'm so happy for him. Lasse Nordås and Jan Rune Hansen scored our fourth and fifth goals and Oscar Bobb hit the post at 3-0. This is an amazing feeling, our third Eliteserien title on the spin. Jasper Torkildsen in goal, and the defence played their part as well. You don't win an Eliteserien title without being able to defend. --

Preview -- -- -- -- I think Emre Belözoğlu is just trying to get under our skin and trying to fire up Lillestrøm at the same time. Emre's as aware as we are that if we get a positive result today, at home to Lillestrøm, then the Eliteserien title will be ours. It's been a long, hard season and the players have worked incredibly hard to put themselves in pole position going into the final match. It's up to them now to get the job done. I hope they can because this group of players deserve to be Champions. Henrik Skogvold is a great player and we're pleased to have him here, but Henrik before signing for us, Henrik spent his whole career at Lillestrøm, since 2019 and I hope the travelling Lillestrøm supporters give him a good reception. Those previous matches against Lillestrøm won't count for anything today. We have a fully fit squad. We've trained well and we're raring to go. I'm going to put my faith in the experienced players and trust that their experience will help us get the job done. One more final push. -- Expected Line-up

Saturday 29th November 2031 Team Meeting -- -- -- --

Tuesday 25th November 2031 Viking (Norway) v Wolfsburg (Germany) UEFA Champions League -- -- -- Oscar Aga had a great game but so did every Viking player. I'm so proud of the players today. Wolfsburg may see it differently, since they created more chances than us, but I thought we deserved the win. We matched Wolfsburg for possession, we had as many shots on target as them, but we scored more goals and, ultimately, that's what it comes down to. Who scores the most goals. To go a goal down after only four minutes, equalise six minutes later, and then go on to win against such a good team takes a lot of character and spirit. I made a lot of changes for this match and the players who came in responded magnificently. Now the players who we rested so they'd be fresh for Saturday's Eliteserien match at home to Lillestrøm need to prove we were right to rest them by getting the result we need to clinch the Eliteserien title. Yes, we rode our luck a bit tonight, no more so than when Wolfsburg hit the bar on 73 minutes, but I think we deserved the win for our work rate and determination. --

Preview -- -- There's no way of getting around this, whilst the UEFA Champions League is very important to us, winning Eliteserien, or at least trying to, is even more important to us. The team I pick to play Wolfsburg tonight will be selected with the intent of getting a result against Lillestrøm on Saturday at the forefront of our mind. Wolfsburg are top of Bundesliga and we're under no illusions how difficult this match will be. We have no injury concerns and everybody has been passed fit to play by our medical staff. -- Expected Line-up