[FM 21 - Tromsø IL]

July 24...

7 games in June and 7 games we win.

In the league, we win all 4 games and win them comfortably. Starting to assert our class in the league and hopefully we can pull away, I ideally would rest players before Champions League matches.

We started our Champions League campain here in July, first up was Finish Champions HFK Fotboll. They lost the single game all of last season so I was expecting it to be harder than it was but we blasted them of the park. Next up was the Champions of Luxemburg, we predictably win that and even easier than the first tie against HFK.

We now have to play Austrian Champions Red Bull Salzburg, this will be a test for sure. While they also only lost the single game all last season as well, they have far superior players to HFK and also Tromso

[FM 21 - Tromsø IL]

June 24...

Well June was an interesting month, we lost to bogey side Stabaek form nowhere again, then send out a 50% fist and 50% reserve side against Stromgodset in the quarter final of the cup and lose that.

I am not too stressed about losing that game, we have bigger games coming and honestly I didn't want to have more games

With a game in hand we are 2 points clear, Kristiansund are yet again just hanging around the top, we have a push from Brann as they continue to build. What is more interesting is seeing last seasons 3rd place side Odds are in the relegation zone, they lost thier manager in Bernd Schuster who left for Getafe after guiding them to 3rd last season and winning a couple of trophies in his few years there. Also Rosenborg are also finding life very hard,  I would assume them losing both Tagseth and Reitan to Tromso is not the reason for their poor form?

[FM 21 - Tromsø IL]

May 24...

What a pulsating tie we had against Arsenal, the 3-3 away game had me excited. In the end, their class shone through and they win by scoring the winner in the 89th minute....so so close. We missed a chance to make it an all Scandinavian final as well.

Arsenal would go on and win the final, they thrashed Kobenhaven 3-0 to win.

We have a new European challenge on the horizon now, we will start our Champions Path games to the group phase in July and we need to build form and cohesion. 

Back in the domestic front, we have a great run in the league winning all 5 games this month.

 

[FM 21 - Tromsø IL]

April 24...

Was looking bad after the 1-0 home loss to Utrecht, so I decided to rest everybody against bottom club Sandnes and they thrashed us 3-1..

However it worked, we came out fired up and thumped them 5-0 on their patch. Our reward is Arsenal.

Defence of the cup also started, I dont really care about this anymore so we play rotation squad in both matches and win through on both

[FM 21 - Tromsø IL]

Here we go again!

Can we retain the title? sneaky run in the Europa Conference League?

How will our Champions League adventure go?

March 24...

I was unware there was a super cup in Norway, we were drawn against Kristiansund and just like against Brann, we didn't come with out best performance in a cup final. Still though, we get a win and add a 3rd trophy

We were drawn against Rangers in Europe, much to my surprise we skipped passed them

We also open up with 2 wins and a draw in the league.

next up is FC Utrecht, we avoided some of the better teams in Werder, Zenit and Arsenal

 

[FM 21 - Tromsø IL]

Pre-season 24...

After the highs of last season, its time to build on that and go again.

The media thinks we are going to be close to defending the title, they have installed Molde as our main challenger. Kristiansund will be better and higher that the 6th place they are being assigned, they have been super solid this save

Transfers IN...

Did all my first team transfers from the local market this window, we spent a fair amount of money as well, we are trying to really cement our status in the league and also become the first team to go back to back. There has been 4 winners in 4 seasons.

While most of the team last year was great, we lost a fair bit of quality in the middle of the park and we set out to sign the best 2 local CMs that were available.

Also right on the limit of 9 foreigners with 8, so it was important that we only signed Norwegian players for the first team.

Joshua Kitolano -  Great talent and nice signing for us, also at 2 million he has re-sale upside. Still not exactly sure what his best position is, we will be asking him to play CM and working on the exact role.

Edvard Tagseth - A player I like, I wanted to add some work rate to the middle, he had been playing very well in Rosenborg in a deeper role and we will ask him to play with a little more freedom to dictate so I expect he should contribute to goals and assists

Erlend Reitan - A sold pro, had a few good seasons at Rosenborg, we needed somebody to replace Ronkko and Reitan will suit that need. Also a good sign we can poach players from a club like Rosenborg.

Sondre Hove - A very young talent that we can work on for a few seasons in the hope he can become a star for us, he is a little shorter than I would have liked  so I will ideally look at improving his jumping reach and heading.

Adam Stromberg - He cost me a lot for a player his age based in Norway but I feel he could be bargain in the making, has great teamwork and work rate and can play straight away. He will however have wait his time behind Wallenborg

Players OUT...

Nothing too exciting or noteworthy that left, sold off a few players to promote others and open space to the new guys.

There was a large amount of players who let us on loan, they will continue their development. I am interested to keep an eye on Vegard Blattmann, he goes back to Sarpsborg where he scored 21 goals to fire them into 1st place and promotion up the league last season.

Here is how we lined up for the 2024 season

Good depth all around, hopefully the break out seasons the players had last season can go on further this season. We will also look to spread the load around more, I have more faith in the squad than last season so hopefully fatigue and injuries is less of an issue

 

[FM 21 - Tromsø IL]

5 hours ago, SixPointer said:

Nice work mate. How did tajland get on? I’ve got him this season but no played any games yet am still licking my wounds from loosing title 

He finished with 9 goals in 10 starts, had a few sub appearances as well. 

Still only 20, so just need to keep giving him runs and he should develop into a very good player for this league. I dont see him getting close to his cousin

[[FM21] Odd That They Have Never Won The Title]

2 hours ago, SixPointer said:

Odds Bk Chasing Glory

Season Summary

On the whole it was a good solid season with some good progression from last year into Europe now but, The manner of losing the title was a tough one to take ive only just managed to get myself motivated to go again. Here ill just briefly round up my season before setting off on next year.

Good few records broke from young Oscar Aga and Sondre Rossbach takes another big record, Both being named player and young player is no surprise.

Nice personal award for club captain Steffen Hagen

Kristiansund Bk take the cup home! They had a great season as a club! Tromso go close who also had a good overall season.

Only a few things in terms of us here. Signing of the season Oscar Aga!! The two worst signings were players we sold which is nice especially making profit on both sales.

Its very evident that too many draws have cost us joint 2nd in the league. Lowest for defeats is nice but we really need to sort out the draws. Another key area is goals scored, the lowest scored in all of the top 6 but, lowest conceded so balance I suppose.

Home form was incredible only 1 defeat all year at the Skagerak Arena, Only conceding 7 as well, Pure fortress.

By stark contrast our away performance was shocking, 19 goals conceded!! only 3 wins! simply not good enough. Considering we played a brand of counter attacking am very surprised how we toiled so much on the road which has turned me to the tactics in the summer and has effected my recruitment as well which will be revealed in the next update!

XG Table tells its own story as we out perform in every aspect!

face slightly more shots than average but due to the fact we have a great keeper helps!

We don't go shooting for the sake of it, and what shots we did take we did convert them well!

Possession expected to be low when playing on the counter side of things, but I would still prefer to slightly higher, Tactically next season we will look to be more of a transition attacking team rather than pure counter, we sort of shifted to that a little more already this season.

4th for clear cut chances created is high, Showing that when we did counter we did make good chances. The conversion rate shows our strikers take these chances as well!

We however don't shoot very often at all. possibly down to us waiting to create the perfect chance!

We rarely lose possession which is pleasing in a sense. but as a counter attacking team you'd expect it to be higher with more risk passing something again to be addressed. 

Most tackles in the league was essential if our low block was to be effective!

But looking closer shows that we also our ratio of winning them could be a far better! more work to be done.

The area I knew we a really had to excel at in the low block. coming up against so many crosses all CB's played there part.

One of my favourite areas 1 goal conceded all season from a corner which delights me as I take a lot of care and attention setting up my defence corner.

Player Stats

Both strikers share the goal scoring responsibility equally! 28 league goals between them.

But its Oscar Aga who is the more clinical of the two! 

Our left wing back who was originally a back up option is the only man to get on the assists table. 

Only 6 assists from our main two creative midfielders. Worrying creation wise I would have liked one at least two have bossed it but they do a lot of dirty work.

Neither made the key passes as well! But, a plus is Gronli who is our player out on loan topped it. So we could bring him into the fold next year.

He gets about the park as well, could be drafted into the number 10 role! Like he played for Haugensund who battled relegation.

A big set of stats that probably allude to why there creation was vastly lower than expected.

club legend still dominating in the air well into his mid 30's

 Rossy tops the table in save ration and clean sheets! Stellar season and really staking a claim to be Norway no1.

Next Season

After looking at the stats away form is a big area we need to work on. I think tactically its time to evolve a little from the deep block as well. I have a speedy CB lined up to help push us up the park. Hagen is sublime as a defender but pace is now a real worry. I want to also break into a more attacking style which is making me reach for my Atalanta tactic that I covered extensively on Fm20 in the tactic section. Which will aid the attacking numbers. but finding the balance is key as I don't want to loose all our great defensive work. Next update will be a tactical one with transfers and pre season. After getting a few players in today before writing ive got a bit of a buzz back after throwing away the league.

Still a solid season, great review as well.

Looks like you need to maintain course at home, get better away and score more goals.

Gronli is begging for a chance looking at his season!!

Go get the title!

[FM 21 - Tromsø IL]

December 23...

Brilliant finish to the season, we bring home the Cup and thrash Feyenoord at home to take first place in the EC2 group.

Great season and great finish as we secure a double and secure a passage through to the 2nd knockout round.

Some really standard out performers in our historic double season

Steffen Lie Skalevik - New signing, was signed to lead the line and score us 20 goals and he achieved this with 24 and added 7 assists as well.  Does have Albert Braut Tjaland breathing down his neck now to take his place but is good enough to lead us to glory again next season.

Vegard Erlien - Bounced back his season, initially he was a bench player but when Wallem left he was asked to step in again, he finished with 16 goals and 9 assists

Simen Nordli - A another new signing, he really added something for us  in the problematic AM position, hes the first player to really make the position his own.

Poul Kallsberg - Looking to be a break out season for Kallsberg, he exploded with 15 goals, he could have had more than 20 if his finishing was better, hopefully more of the same again next season

Axel Wallenberg - The new left back was superb, he led the league in assists! Hes still only 22 so I am hoping he can improve a little more as well. Great first season in Norway.

Bjorn Inge Utvik - How 3 players from Sarpsborg who were relegated the season before made my best best performances list is a mystery. Utvik was a rock in defence, he played the most games of all my players as well.

Club Updates...

Asked the board to upgrade the facilities and they obliged, we had a decent standard anyway but moving up a level is surely only going to help the longer term project we are looking to create.

[FM 21 - Tromsø IL]

November 23...

Champions of Norway!

The draw vs Kristiansund had me a little worried but we then win 2 straight and secure the title with a game to go. I didnt want to push it for the last game,  we have to play Bodo/Glimt in that match and then Brann in the Cup final straight after, it was key to secure the title and rest players ASAP

Fantastic achievement in our 3rd season in the Eliteserien!

We are also doing very well in the EC2, thrashing Panathinaikos away and taking a nice draw away to Standard, we will play Feyenoord at home for top spot in the group in our final game.

 

[FM 21 - Tromsø IL]

October 23...

Back to Tromso and club football

Fatigue and a few injuries were a factor at the start of this month, I rotated in a 2nd team VS Viking and we were thrashed. It didn't help either, we lost 2-0 to Feyenoord but in truth we also played very well but failed to score.

Picked up 3 more wins from 4 to complete our fixtures for October.

Albert Braut Tjaland had a fine month, hes pushing for a more permanent starting spot.

There is 4 games to go now, we are very close to our first title. The 4 point lead over Kristiansund could actually be 1 point  as we will play them in our next game. This could be the most important game of the season.

[FM 21 - Tromsø IL]

Norway...

I have still been playing away as Norway manager in the background.

Its been a breeze so far, I am yet to lose a game. I took charge before the 2-0 win over Turkey in September 2022. We didnt manage to make it out of the Nations League B as the damage was done and Sweden made it up.

In the Euro Qualifiers, we breezed through what was a fairly easy and simple group in all fairness.

I will at least be playing the Euros when they come around, I will see if we stick longer than that. I do find managing both club and country slightly annoying. I would also like to see if some of my Tromso players can earn callups without me calling them up. I have yet to use a single Tromso player anyway but it adds a nice little layer of progression when you can see your players earn call ups.

Still around 6-7 months to work out who will make the squad, for now its simply get the ball to Haaland

[FM 21 - Tromsø IL]

August 23...

Form dipped a little, we drop a big game to 2nd place Odds but redeem that with a win against Standard in our opening game of the EC2

Again beat Bodo/Glimt and make the final of the cup, first chance to win some silverware. New signing Tjatland was great in this match with a brace and Hes really coming along nicely.

Still maintaining a lead on the table, the loss to Odds was annoying as it would have put us 9 clear, with 8 games to go we should still be favourites for the title. We will have to play many of the top 8 in our last few games and with EC2 games also coming fast and in-between as well.

[[FM21] Odd That They Have Never Won The Title]

17 minutes ago, SixPointer said:

Josh? John?

Ahhh...

Josh

I forgot there was two of them at Odd, I had the 3rd Brother at Tromso as well!

[[FM21] Odd That They Have Never Won The Title]

2 minutes ago, SixPointer said:

Yeah really tight makes for an exciting save!

 

yeah who did you sign?

Kitolano, he will join at the end of the season.

[FM 21 - Tromsø IL]

2 minutes ago, SixPointer said:

Haha like the idea of it. You play at lot faster at the minute but does make it interesting 

I have a few days off during the week and usually power through. 

How is Albert Braut Tjåland on your save? He's the cousing of Erling Haaland and he's banged in the goals since I bought him.

 

[FM 21 - Tromsø IL]

2 minutes ago, SixPointer said:

Think this is my year to give gronli the number ten role. He has a decent loan spell at haugensund 

I couldn't get him to work as a 10, he played better deeper but he does appear to be a natural 10.

[[FM21] Odd That They Have Never Won The Title]

Finally caught up on this as well now, seems you are having really tight seasons as well. Its really nice that anybody can beat anybody, makes it far more exciting and interesting.

I've just signed a player from Odds as well

[FM 21 - Tromsø IL]

8 hours ago, SixPointer said:

Just catching up on this. Amazing progress with tromso. I club I toyed with before choosing Odd. Signed a lot of similar players. Very interesting to see wallem doing well. I’ve had him out on loan. 
 

must say am enjoying your save will be following from now on. Best of luck 

I've been following your save in Odd as well, has made this season interesting as I feel like I am playing against your save for the title.

I also noticed we signed similar players, kind of to be expected when shopping local. There are some good players, I have no problems signing a good solid older veteran as well.

Waiting for a batch of good regens to come through.

Wallem was good this season, had been quite before before but I think this was his breakout year and he got a big move as a result.

Gronli was a sad loss, he was on fire before the sale but I knew this would come so I try to get targets in mind ahead of time. 

 

 

[FM 21 - Tromsø IL]

Europa Conference League...

Feyenoord will be tricky, they won the first every version of this trophy.  I fancy to get a few points in the other games, a few wins would be great so we can collect the 175k per win fee.

Our stadium the Alfheim Stadium is sadly not big enough to host games, so  we are going to rent and play games down at the Aker Stadium the home of Molde, you need a capacity of 8000 and we dont have that so we will be playing in Molde for this campaign.

Surely there is a stadium between Tromso and Molde that can hold 8000?

I will be asking the board to expand the stadium, maybe we can get them to add the required 1500 seats so our fans are not asked to drive 19 hours south to see us play.

[FM 21 - Tromsø IL]

Club Updates...

I set about using some the new funds to make some improvements around the house

Pushed up both Youth Recruitment and Academy Coaching

I've also had the board agree to allow more coaches, we can finally have more than 2 and work on specialised training and schedules with decent coaches.

Then we needed a new face to run the upgrades

Maxim Savostin will join as our new HOYD, hopefully he can be the key to unlocking some high quality youth prospects. Hopefully not too many Russians!

[FM 21 - Tromsø IL]

August 23...

August was a huge month of games, there 9 in total and we had to rotate around heavily.

Our Conference League adventure continues, we totally thrashed both Viitorul and Zorya to make it through 3 rounds so far, we are now into the group phase. I actually really enjoy this competition in the early stages of playing a small team, you get to play some different sides and travel to odd locations.

We scored lots of goals in August, there was 3 games in a row of 6 scored, the good part is the goals are coming from all over the pitch, everybody is stepping up and we are running very hot. During the month of August we scored a total of 43 goals and conceded just 9.

Nice little cushion at the top now,  also a fairly big gap opening up in the top 4 to the rest of the league. I honestly thought Bodo/Glimt would be really strong this season but they are struggling a little but I am most surprised with the form from Odds, they have shot up from almost nowhere this season and have finished 6th, 11th and 6th against last season.

I am very happy with how most of the squad is playing

Steffen Lie Skalevik has been sensational for us, kicking on his form Sarpsborg last season and his fellow Sarpsborg alum Simen Nordli has been equally as good for us.

Vegard Erlien, he stepped in the spot left by Wallem and we didnt miss a beat. Hes scored 11 goals now and is back to the player from the promotion season where he scored 20.

Transfers...

Sadly some things happened beyond my control with transfers as the board accepted 2 bids and the 3rd was too good of a price to say no

We hit almost 3 million in debt and on the very last day of the window the big fish came knocking and we lost 2 players who were very important and another who will leave as the end of the season but was also equally as important to us.

Not happy to see any of the 3 leave, at least we managed to get Dortmund to add in a loan back and all 3 transfers have profit from sale clauses

As always in football, its the next man up!

Players OUT...

 

Elias Solberg - He was just starting to show his talent as well, he leaves after 13 games, 5 goals, 5 assists and 7.39 rating this season

 

Sigurd Gronil - He was in super form as well, he leaves with 17 games, 8 goals, 16 assists and a rating of 7.58 this season

 

Jakko Ronko - I was happy Dortmund was kind enough to let him finish the season here at least and the price was too good for me to say no. I will work out how I am going to replace him when the season is over, we might have an inhouse solution and Forsberg is good enough to be first choice and was actually playing better than Ronko to begin with.

Players IN..

I was not totally unprepared for Solberg or Gronli to leave, they had been wanted for ages but I thought we might have got away with it on the last day of the window. I was sadly mistaken.

I had been tracking the player stats down in the OBOS-Ligaen and Anton Saletros was the leading assists  and most key passes down there, he is yet another player from Sarpsborg to join us. He will offer nice cover and helps the loss of both my centre midfield pairing.

Finances...

Looking far healthier here, we are well under the wage budget as well. The transfers added in around 11 million and we banked a further 2.5 for making the Conference League Group stages.

While the sales are going to hurt the club in the short term, there is no doubt we can turn these funds into good players and a more of them to really help build the club up from the bottom.

[FM 21 - Tromsø IL]

Transfers...

I got greedy and spent some cash, I read an article online about Albert Braut Tjaaland. Hes the cousin of Erling Haaland and scored lots of goals, infact he scored 64 goals in 37 matches for Bryne  during his youth career before moving to Molde. The same path as his famous cousin. Hes not as good in FM as Erling was at the same age, I've also bought him when hes 19 so missing a few years of early development as well. He looks like he can at least be very decent player for this league, hes tall and moderately fast, just like his cousin. I will be giving him games straight away.

The other transfer was a 16 year old winger who could play straight away for Tromso, his personality sucks but we can try and change this. At 16 hes got plenty of upside and room to grow.

I felt guilt pushing the club back into debt again but I am really hoping we can make the group stages of the EC2. Call it an all in approach.

[FM 21 - Tromsø IL]

Europe...

Breezed passed Sutjeska 11-3 on aggregate and now head to play the runners up from the Romanian league Viitorul Constanta. They look far better opposition so will need to be on our game.

Erlien scored 4 goals on his return to the first team, he played in the position vacated by Wallem

[FM 21 - Tromsø IL]

July 23...

We actually beat Bodo/Glimt for the first time in a long long time! Maybe the tide is turning.

We predictably got beaten by the Champs and didn't look good in that game all. However then going on to win 5 straight was great

We now take up a clear first place in the league, scoring goals is not a problem at all, we have found our killer touch in front of goal..

Transfers...

Well I knew it would happen, there was too much interested and he was in too good of form

The money clears our debt, still in the red slightly but we start EC2 games soon and a few wins can fix that, we added in a 50% of profit clause as well.

I really hope it will be ok, he was terrible last season but has started hot this season, I will try both Solli and Erlien there and try to replicate the success.

Europe..

We will take on the Macedonian powerhouse Sujeska Nikisc, one thing that could be handy about Norway is you start the season well before most leagues so we are in full swing and up and running. This may help us against harder opponents to come.