FM16: The Frozen Throne

[Rikulec]

Elvar Björgvinsson's Management Career - Pre-Season - 2019 - Knattspyrnufélag Akureyrar

Friendlies



Uh... I have no idea what happened there. Hopefully not a sign of things to come!

Transfers



The vital part of the pre-season, obviously. And I'm really pleased with how it went.

Viktor Örn Guðmundsson - a big improvement compared to what we had on the left wing before, also has some experience he'll bring into the side. Of course meant to be first choice.

Sindri Björnsson - it's amazing that such players can be found in the third tier of Icelandic football. Initially he was meant to be a rotation player, but he should be fighting with Jónsson for a place along Þóraninsson in the central midfield duo.

Guðmundur Steinn Hafsteinsson - maybe not an amazing player overall, but we needed a good playmaker who'd slot in the AMC position and he looks like the guy who will just do that. Should have a place in the starting XI ahead of Gunnlaugarson.

Christian Follerås - just the defender we needed. A player in his prime, very strong and great in the air with some nice technical and mental stats as well. He'll be a perfect partner for Danilo Pilica in the heart of our back line. One of the top players at his position in the league.

Arnar Sveinn Geirsson - what would a transfer window be without some gamble? Yet another 27-year-old joins the team and breaks our record transfer fee. He's been a consistent performer for Vikingur Ólafsvik and will certainly replace Grizelj in the starting eleven. Maybe we'll finally get a winger who can finish with his feet?

[Rikulec]

Elvar Björgvinsson's Management Career - February 2019 - Knattspyrnufélag Akureyrar

Deildabikar





Mixed feelings about this really as our game wasn't near as bad as the results would suggest.

In our first competitive game of 2019 we faced a 1. Deild karla side Fjölnir. We fielded a very strong line-up, with all our new signings bar Hafsteinsson in the starting eleven. In the opening thirty minutes we absolutely battered them, to be honest. What let us down was... you guessed it, the finishing. We would either fail to hit the target or strike straight at the defenders. Finally our opponents shook off the pressure and the game evened out. New players, same old story, you would say as in the second half it was Fjölnir who were the better side and eventually in the 85th minute they grabbed the lead. That was a blow we couldn't recover from. Not a good result to start with, but there were some signs of progress.

The week after we faced the Champions of Iceland, KR. I decided to approach this game less directly and try to keep more hold of the ball. The possession stat which showed 57% on our side in the end proves it actually made sense. We didn't start the game well though. Fannar Hafsteinsson pulled off a brilliant save in the opening minutes, but shortly after a cross from a free kick found Yann Songo'o in our box. The defender slotted it past our goalkeeper with a well-aimed header. Ten minutes and some slight tactical tweaks later the game actually levelled out. Rakicevic wasted a wonderful opportunity then, but five minutes passed and we got the equaliser. Arnar Sveinn Geirsson played a low ball across the edge of the six yard box, aiming for the far post. Their defender got to the ball first, but ended up putting it in the net. From then on everything became rather dire with only 12 shots being taken from both teams together. We finally broke our losing streak which stopped at six.

[Rikulec]

Our record transfer fee received, but I'm not too happy to lose such a talent. He would have kicked up a massive fuss had I not sold him though, and then he would be no use really.

[Rikulec]

Elvar Björgvinsson's Management Career - March 2019 - Knattspyrnufélag Akureyrar

Deildabikar





Five points out of possible twelve and we're mathematically out. Paradoxically, we're consistently getting better, only it's happening painfully slowly.

I was hoping to beat Grindavík, whom, as some may remember, we've beaten twice in the league last season, effectively sending them down to the 1. Deild karla. And what could make a better start than getting the lead in the very first minute? Danilo Pilica grabbed his first goal for the club with a powerful header which went in off the crossbar. Maybe we didn't push too hard or take too many shots, but it was clearly us who were in control of the game. And eventually through patient build-up we extended our league exactly at the hour mark. Aðalsteinsson was sent one on one with their goalkeeper, struck the ball straight at him, but our new signing Arnar Sveinn Geirsson found enough space in the box to pounce on the rebound and make it 2:0. Straight after that everything went balls up, obviously. It only took Grindavík two minutes to get one back, a through ball sliced through our defence for Arnór Ingvi Rúnarsson to beat Fannar Hafsteinsson with a placed shot. And then in the 84th minute our keeper made complete mess of a seemingly simple cross and somehow the ball ended up in the back of the net. Incredibly frustrating draw after a performance which wasn't bad at all.

If we were to beat anyone at this stage, it really had to be Grótta. They finished 7th in the second tier last season and are inferior to us in every position, basically. Despite our domination we didn't create many actual opportunities, which, combined with the lack of any initiative on their side, led to a rather boring game for the neutrals. Finally we broke through in the 68th minute. Stefan Rakicevic grabbed his first goal of the year 2019, hopefully first of many. The goal didn't seem to wake Grótta up, they seemed rather comfortable with the result which allowed us to carry the win until the final whistle with relative ease.

But of course there also had to be a game where we were visibly worse than our opponents. As you can see, Valur are smashing everyone in the Deildabikar without mercy this season and we were no exception. The first half was quite even though, both teams had their chances, but Valur took one on theirs in the 27th minute. We were putting up a decent fight only until the 53th minute, unfortunately. That's when Bozidar Stanimirovic picked up his second yellow card for a completely unnecessary, silly foul. Down to ten men and playing a weird 3-4-1-1 formation, we were no match for the high-flyers who extended their lead ten minutes later. Yes, it was a cross. We kind of woke up in the dying minutes and actually created two clear cut chances, but Rakicevic for some reason hit the ball straight at the goalkeeper from point blank range and just moments later Geirsson took way too long to turn around and shoot and was eventually blocked. A deserved loss in the end though.

And, last but not least, the ÍA game, or the ultimate bottlejob if you will. What can I say really? 63-37 possession to us, 17-3 shots, 3-0 on target. Yes, just 3 out of 17. Just let your imagination fill in any blanks.

[Rikulec]

Elvar Björgvinsson's Management Career - April 2019 - Knattspyrnufélag Akureyrar

Deildabikar





Even more of the same. When are we going to start scoring?

We didn't dominate Breiðablik as much as we did ÍA, but still we had an advantage in all the key statistics and also an optical one I think. Our Serbian striker Stefan Rakicevic seems to have developed his trademark move - receive the ball around 25 yards out with his back to goal, turn and attempt to hit a random fan in the stands in the head. It could be that these shots kill his confidence, thus when he gets presented with a simple chance, he can't score either. Breiðablik did create the odd opportunity in this game, but over the course of the game it was us who were the better team and really should have won. Well, I guess we'll have to wait until the league starts...

Transfers

Piotr Kasperkiewicz - the experienced Pole comes into the club to replace Gunnar Þóraninsson in the defensive midfielder slot. He may not be a speed demon, but in my system what is needed mostly at this position is strength and this guy has it.

[Rikulec]

For ****'s sake.

[Rikulec]

Elvar Björgvinsson's Management Career - May 2019 - Knattspyrnufélag Akureyrar

Pepsideildin





Oh dear. That's not the best of starts, is it?

The Vikingur Ólafsvik was a mystery to me, to be honest. In such an even league you sometimes simply don't know what to expect from a team after the season break and this was the case this time. And what have I learned? Well, here goes. We got a bit lucky in the third minute when after a sliding tackle in their box the ball rolled to Sindri Björnsson who scored his first ever goal for KA with a simple tap-in. Not fifteen minutes had passed before it was 2:0. A cross from a free kick flew into their box and straight on the head of Piotr Kasperkiewicz who grabbed a goal on his debut with a well-aimed shot. When Guðmundur Stein Hafsteinnson scored the third goal even before the break, I thought it was game over. But no. A few minutes after the break their striker Hrvoje Tokic found himself in a bit of space 25 yards away from our goal and unleashed an incredibly poweful strike into the bottom corner. In the 64th minute I started to panic as Vikingur made it 3:2. Five minutes later all of our lead was blown away. Amazingly, we recovered from that towards the final whistle and should have grabbed a winner, but our finishing let us down in key situations. That was really the most frustrating opening game you could imagine.

Valur were of course going to be tough, remembering their great run in the Deildabikar a couple of months back. I decided on a counter-attacking approach and not two minutes in we were in front. Geirsson launched a through ball over the defenders' heads to Rakicevic who had a free run on goal. Even he couldn't screw up such a chance, trust me. Then Valur pushed us hard throughout almost the whole first half, but thanks to amazing effort by our defence and especially Fannar Hafsteinsson they didn't get the equaliser. It turned out we couldn't hold them off for the whole 90 minutes though. After an hour of football Sindri Scheving reacted too slowly to a ball deflected by the goalkeeper, allowing Patrick Pedersen to rebound his own shot. Then twenty minutes later Þrastarson commited a foul in the box and Jeppe Hansen took the penalty. Hafsteinsson guessed the corner, but it was really a well placed shot. To be honest, we would have been lucky if we had taken a point from that.

And then the Stjarnan game, the easiest one for them against KA since I took over here to be fair. At half time we found ourselves 1:0 down after Ólafur Karl Finsen's goal. The first half was when we could have put up a fight, but their defenders put in two amazing last-ditch tackles to deny our frontliners. Then Stjarnan grabbed a quickfire double in the 52nd and 55th minute and we were down and out. All we could manage was the consolation goal by a loanee left winger Magnús Þórir Matthíasson which is still quite much when you consider how the second half went. We were battered and deserved to lose this one.

Borgunarbikar



Why do we even bother participating?

Because of the fixture congestion and the upcoming six-pointer in the league I decided to field a second-choice team. We could have started well, but Juraj Grizelj only hit the post with his shot from the penalty box line. Ten minutes in we were already trailing. Mirza Hasecic was muscled off the ball near the goal and Hafsteinnson couldn't do anything to save the powerful shot that went in off the crossbar. Despite playing better than the opposition and great chances that fell on the head of Aðalsteinsson and feet of Grizelj respectively, we failed to score even once and eventually crashed out of the cup. For the third time in a row we lost to inferior opposition. Maybe if we drew someone better than us?

Transfers

Magnús Þórir Matthíasson - the Keflavik winger comes in on loan to replace Guðmundsson who's likely to be out for the remainder of the season. Not as good as the player we already had, but should slot into the starting eleven.

[Rikulec]

Yay, money!



Yay, licence!

[ashton321]

Love this thread. This was exactly the same thing as what I was going to do once I got to grips with FM2016 you beat me to it. Damn you hahaha

[Rikulec]

Love this thread. This was exactly the same thing as what I was going to do once I got to grips with FM2016 you beat me to it. Damn you hahaha

Thanks, I think you should start a career thread anyway, I'd be interested to read that.

[Rikulec]

Elvar Björgvinsson's Management Career - June 2019 - Knattspyrnufélag Akureyrar

Pepsideildin





A busy and extremely inconsistent month. When are we going to find some bloody form?

Fylkir were our fellow relegation strugglers last year and it seems nothing has changed in that department. If we want to secure our presence in the Pepsideildin next year, we need to be winning games like that. And, despite the scoreline, we battered them. It was one of the best KA performances under my management, the possession stat of 65% describes the match perfectly. Yet we still had massive problems with finishing, luckily this time Christian Follerås bailed us out in the 42nd minute, finding himself unmarked at the near post after a corner taken by Sindri Scheving. The Norwegian simply tapped it in with ease. Terrible defensive performance by Fylkir, it feels good to be on the other side for once. We were hardly threatened in the second half, in the end it was quite a comfortable win.

Up next, Breiðablik. Again we were better than the opposition, maybe not as much as against Fylkir, but still we controlled the game. Two things happened that strike me as worth mentioning. First, obviously, the goal scored by Magnús Þórir Matthíasson. Juraj Grizelj drilled a cross along the six yard box line, it passed all their defenders and reached our left winger who had quite a tight angle, but he managed to squeeze the ball into an empty net. Ten minutes later Breiðablik really should have equalised, but if there was a Save of the Season award here in Iceland, Fannar Hafsteinsson would have certainly thrown his name in the hat. First he was caught out of his line with a cross, their striker had the ball at his feet just a few yards from goal and looked dead on to score, but Hafsteinsson recovered brilliantly and after an amazing leap he managed to deflect the ball, effectively preserving the win for us.

After four days of rest we faced Þór at their ground in the Akureyri derby. I was carefully optimistic following the two previous games, and when we were awarded a penalty in the 13th minute, I thought we might have actually hit a patch of good form. But then Follerås smashed it straight at the goalkeeper and right then I already knew it wasn't going to end well. Despite our domination and 17 shots we took, we lost to a silly goal conceded in the dying minutes of the first half. All in all it was another case of our finishing letting us down, maybe one a bit more extreme than some of the previous. I guess things were just going too well, FM took it back from me.

A full week passed before the Keflavik game, but it wasn't enough time for us to find our scoring boots, as you can see. This season Keflavik are nowhere near as strong as last year when on the final day they still could have grabbed the title in the very close finish you may remember. And guess what, pretty much the only difference in comparison to the Þór game was that this time we managed to keep a clean sheet (which hasn't happened before this season, mind). Again 17 shots were not enough to score once. This time there were two or three situations where I already had my hands up in celebration, but somehow the ball wouldn't end up in the net. It's sensational what kind of chances Rakicevic and Matthíasson can miss. Not that I'm going to praise them for that...

We were never going to be an equal opponent for FH, the gulf in quality and the size of the club is just too big. But the goals we did concede, that really shouldn't be happening. Ten minutes in a cross was delivered into our box and at the moment of kicking the ball it looked like we were in full control. Oh, how naive of me. For some reason Hafsteinsson stayed on his line despite the ball flying like two metres away from him and the defenders just stood still as Kristján Flóki Finnbogason simply ran between them and finally scored. Five minutes later Tomislav Zuljevic found himself on the left side of our penalty box, he cut inside and unleashed a gorgeous shot into the far top corner. What a beautiful, yet frustrating goal to concede. We punched back in the 27th minute through Stefan Rakicevic, but that was all we could manage. Zuljevic buried us five minutes after the break, the goal being almost the exact replay of the first one. Awful defending and a deserved loss.

And finally KR, the Champions of Iceland, but at the same time a side we faced with dignity in the Deildabikar and even snatched a draw back then. This time it took them less than a minute to erase my hopes though. Again a player managed to cut inside from the left not obstructed by Danilo Pilica, this time it was Gary Martin who attempted to tear the net apart with a ridiculously powerful strike at the near post. Hafsteinsson was helpless with this FIFA-esque finish. Funnily enough, we finished the game with 58% possession, yet not a single shot on target. And they just kept adding the goals to their tally. 26th minute, Sólon Breki Leifsson. 35th minute, Leifsson again. 86th minute, Amath Diedhiou. I'm just glad it's finally over.

[Rikulec]

This came up on July 17th. I'm going to attend out of sheer curiosity, but they'd have to make a really good offer to convince me to even consider signing.

[Rikulec]

Elvar Björgvinsson's Management Career - July 2019 - Knattspyrnufélag Akureyrar

Pepsideildin





Wow, that's not a bad month at all.

As you can see, ÍBV are absolutely smashing everyone in the league this year. Prior to this game they had eight wins, a draw and only three goals conceded. After a good opening quarter by us, they took control over the match and in the 21st minute Emil Atlason put the visitors in front. But we fought them back, and we did so in the best way possible. I was frustrated with Rakicevic's inability to score, so I replaced him with the striker who got us in this league in the first place. And - you probably guessed it - Elvar Ingi Vignisson got us an equaliser ten minutes after their goal, consciously rebounding a shot by Arnar Sveinn Geirsson. The game levelled out after this, but we could have stung them on the counter a couple of times. In the dying minutes of the game we were pursuing the winning goal and just as stoppage time started, Vignisson found himself in a scramble in their box. He did his best to reach the ball and knock it past the keeper, but he stuck his foot where he shouldn't have. Not only he didn't score, but his commitment cost him a foot fracture. 2019 season ended for him just 90 minutes after it started...

Vikingur Reykjavik were managerless and on a bad patch of form when we played them, but it was an opponent I wasn't going to underestimate. They attempted to start very strongly, but we resisted and slowly got more and more of the ball. Finally just after the half hour mark we produced a gorgeous moment of football. A long diagonal pass was played to Matthíasson on the left wing. Somehow he backheeled it to Gunnlaugarson on the edge of the box with his first contact. The midfielder made a good first touch and then struck a low drive which went in off the near post. Beautiful, beautiful goal. Of course it wouldn't be a KA game without a quick equaliser, right? 37th minute, Rolf Toft, 1:1. Our heads dropped after that goal and Vikingur looked like a better team from then on. When they got in front in the 73th minute, I thought it was game over. In a last-ditch effort I brought Rakicevic on. And he did exactly what a class striker should. 86th minute, a great cross by Geirsson finds the Serbian in the box and he gets it past the keeper without hesitation. Given how the game went, I'm happy with the draw.

Luck is something we've been severely lacking pretty much since I took over. Against Vikingur Ólafsvik we got back at least some of that. The first half was goalless and rather dire, which didn't satisfy me as I'd have liked to pick up a win against a fellow relegation candidate. So I brought Aðalsteinsson on and played him on the left wing as an inside forward. He took exactly 19 seconds of the second half to score the only goal of the game. A seemingly bad cross from the left caused chaos in their penalty area and our striker found the ball at his feet and a bit of space around him, which was more than enough. Vikingur played quite well after the break and had their chances, but Fannar Hafsteinsson did a great job on the line, stopping some powerful efforts from rather close range. A good performance by our goalkeeper secured the vital points for us in the end.

I'd say no one battered us in the first half of the season as much as Valur did over the course of 90 minutes. And what happened at our ground? Everything was over after twelve minutes. That's how long it took us to set the scoreline. 9th minute, a nice through ball by Gunnlaugarson finds Geirsson in the box and he knows exactly what to do - a left-footed effort finds the far bottom corner. 10th minute, Geirsson receives the ball in the box and is pressured by two defenders, but finds Rakicevic unmarked in the middle of the six yard box. 12th minute, Rakicevic cuts inside from the left, gets dispossessed by a sliding tackle, but the ball rolls to Geirsson who smashes it into an empty net. From then on it was a fairly even, open game which could have easily ended 7:3 or something as ridiculous. Valur did take 22 shots, but most of them were abysmal efforts from long range. It felt great to smash them, trust me.

To round the month up, Stjarnan. After the performances the team has delivered before, I was hoping for an unbeaten month. But it seems we already have a fixed scenario for clashes against Stjarnan. Sometimes they will score in the first half, sometimes they won't. But we'll always have a clear cut chance we're going to miss. This time we had two and both fell to the feet of Matthíasson. When the half time whistle blew, I knew we were eventually going to concede after the break despite defending rather well so far. And we were executed in the 66th minute. Kolbeinn Birgir Finnsson found himself in a bit of space 20 yards out and found the net with a well placed shot in the far bottom corner, just out of reach for Hafsteinsson. Over the course of 90 minutes Stjarnan were the better team and we would have been lucky to get anything out of that game, really.

[Rikulec]

And I'm staying here for another year, unless something unexpected happens.

[Rikulec]

Elvar Björgvinsson's Management Career - August 2019 - Knattspyrnufélag Akureyrar

Pepsideildin





I guess that's part of becoming a mid-table side. On the positive note, in gameweek 15 we had already reached more points than in the whole previous season.

The Breiðablik result looks quite comfortable on paper and it was just that. We were never really threatened by them and after scoring twice relatively early on we just strolled to a win. Stefan Rakicevic opened the scoreline in the 14th minute, heading the ball home after a perfectly aimed cross from the right by Geirsson. Ten minutes later the Serbian could have scored again, but was denied by a last-ditch sliding tackle... which then fell to the feet of Matthíasson, who calmly slotted it into an empty net. We controlled the game and had a couple of chances to extend the lead even further, but the players seemed like they couldn't be arsed to do so. Can't really blame them.

Next came Fylkir away, a game I thought we would have won, given how things went at our ground last time. By the 5th minute they had already hit the post twice, both times it was an overhit cross from the left wing. And finally two minutes later they found the net through Erlingur Agnarsson. A through ball sliced through our defence, Hafsteinsson got his hand to the shot, but couldn't keep it away. It only took us four minutes to equalise though, Rakicevic making perfect use of a good cross by Matthíasson. And then they smashed us. I have no idea what happened there, for some weird reason Fylkir just looked like a much better team than we did. But of course when it came to actually scoring, they did it in the most ridiculous way. A drilled ball was played into our box from the right close to the byline and the slightest deflection off Piotr Kasperkiewicz was just enough to send it in the next past the shocked goalkeeper. Our best attempt at equalising was a header from Follerås which banged off the crossbar.

Akureyri derby again, this time at our ground. And it was the usual story again. We started well, but the opposition only needed one highlight to get in front which happened in the 22th minute. Eleven minutes later Benjamín Gunnlaugarson arrived late in the box, just in time to bring a cross down and smash it past the helpless goalkeeper to grab the equaliser. Judging by our players' body language, I did a good job motivating them in the dressing room, both before the start and at the break, but despite high spirits and a couple of chances we couldn't nick the winner. We also needed the help of Hafsteinsson who did well to save a few dangerous efforts from Þór players. Frustrated not to get three points from that.

Keflavík were usually a relatively comfortable opponent for us in the league as we hadn't got beaten by them before. This time was all different though. From my current standpoint it seems that a goal scored early on - in the 5th minute - probably set the game up for them. It was Slavko Grubic who headed home after a deep free kick cross. From then on it was the case of them dominating and us holding them off, attempting the odd counter attack. And it might have worked, but in the 67th minute Bozidar Stanimirovic decided he didn't want to keep trying and just got himself sent off for a second yellow card. Just two minutes later Yu Dong-Gu made it 2:0, practically crushing any remainings of hope for us. All we could respond with was a late consolation goal by Christian Follerås just before stoppage time.

Transfers

Daan Foulon - this guy was offered to us by his agent on transfer deadline day. I couldn't see any of his attributes, but when I noticed he was wanted by half of the Belgian top tier clubs, I couldn't resist. He has the potential to become a much better player than Sindri Scheving.

[Glenn2k]

Awesome thread! Look forward to following this!

Made me want to start a similar save!

[Rikulec]

Awesome thread! Look forward to following this!

Made me want to start a similar save!

Thank you, I'd certainly follow if you did.

[Rikulec]

Elvar Björgvinsson's Management Career - September 2019 - Knattspyrnufélag Akureyrar

Pepsideildin





**** me, that was close.

There was one key question before the FH game - will they play 4-4-2 so that we stand a chance or a 4-3-3 so that they rip us apart? Luckily they went for the first option. After an even, but goalless first half I was carefully optimistic - we could have got the lead, but again we failed to convert our chances. Luckily Rakicevic remember he can actually play some decent football. In the 60th minute Sindri Björnsson launched a long ball upfield, their defender missed a header and set the Serbian free on goal. Of course he waited until the defenders got in front of him, but managed to score anyway. And then just four minutes later another long ball reached Geirsson who played it on to Rakicevic. 2:0, pretty much game over at this stage. FH were visibly in crisis and didn't really fight back or push even for a consolation goal.

ÍBV were obviously going to be tough. They had already been crowned champions before the game, but that didn't seem to matter for them as they fielded their strongest XI. Two minutes in after some ridiculous pinball in our six yard box Emil Atlason found his way to the net. Euphemistically speaking, that didn't make things any easier for us. We did have our chances, but Juraj Grizelj who had to replaced injured Geirsson yet again proved he couldn't even kick himself in the forehead, let alone kick the ball into the goal. Atlason decided to put an end to our misery in the dying minutes of the game, dispossessing Follerås near the penalty box line and giving Hafsteinsson no chance to react.

Three days later more frustration followed as KR came to the Akureyrarvöllur. Out of 11 shots we took, only one was recorded as a shot on goal. We also had two shots blocked in clear cut opportunities which could really serve as a good description of the game. After a dire first half with no goals we fell behind less than two minutes after the break, somehow letting them right through the middle of our back line for no apparent reason. Lack of concentration perhaps? After that we had a shot by Rakicevic that was cleared off the line, a shot by Rakicevic blocked with a last-ditch challenge and a shot by Grizelj screwed up in his usual manner. Oh, and also Gunnlaugarson hit the post. In the 87th minute we were eventually caught on the break and Almarr Ormarsson crushed our hopes, making our situation surprisingly unsettling before the final day.

We sat in 9th on 23 points, Valur were 10th with the same numer and Þór were 11th with 21. Our local rivals didn't take long to ensure us they were going to win their game, grabbing the lead early on and eventually extending it to 3:0. Valur fell behind in the 21st minute of their match against KR and equalised in the same very minute. Then the 39th minute came in Reykjavik and Vikingur got in front through... an overhit deep cross from the left wing by Hörður Árnason. At this point a goal for Valur would send us crushing down to the 1. Deild karla. I had to take action at the break. Stefan Rakicevic's season ended right then in the dressing room as he made room for our little legend Aðalsteinsson to come back and shine. That didn't really change much as we still looked annoyingly toothless. I was nervously looking at the top right corner of the screen, dreading a goal for Valur. And then... Aðalsteinsson. 89th minute, a low cross from Stanimirovic finds the striker at the near post and he gives us the equaliser. 92nd minute, another cross from the right, seemingly the defence have it under control, but the clearance hits Aðalsteinsson right in the face, bounces off the post and into the back of the net. This win sent us flying all the way up to 7th.

[Rikulec]

Elvar Björgvinsson's Management Career - Season Review - 2019 - Knattspyrnufélag Akureyrar

Pepsi-deildin

Results

Competition Performance: 7th

Decent enough for me. We finished higher and got more points than we did last season which was the primary aim. We could have done better in a couple of games, but I'm certainly not complaining. Would have liked a more comfortable final day next time though, relegation was still an option before the last game of the season!

Deildabikar

Competition Performance: Group Stage

Much worse on paper than in the last two seasons, but it was a transistion period for us really and it helped me develop the eventual tactic for the league. With better luck we might have qualified, mind.

Borgunarbikar

Competition Performance: Third Round

Let's just not talk about it, okay? We're simply not cut out for this.

Squad

All in all a decent bunch of players, many of them are in their prime, we should look into bringing in some youth though.

Transfers - Finances

Most of the transfers turned out good enough for my expectations, the only disappointment was Guðmundson who missed the whole season because of an injury.

Not much has changed in terms of finances, we're still operating at a loss, pretty much unable to make a profit really. The loans are crippling us overtime and given our current financial situation there's a huge possibility of another one coming in December.

Player of the Season

1st - Benjamín Gunnlaugarson - by far the biggest surprise of the season. Before the league started, I saw him as a fringe player I would probably let go after the season finale. But then he got the chance, and he didn't give his place in the squad away for the remainder of the season. A key figure for our midfield trio, his late arrivals in the box were deadly for the opposition more than once.

2nd - Fannar Hafsteinsson - after a poor 2018 season, he made a great recovery. This guy really saved us a few points with some stunning stops. Like in our promotion season, he was a vital part of the team and the true leader, I'd say.

3rd - Arnar Sveinn Geirsson - the only player we spent money on in the winter transfer window proved his worth. In most games he wrecked havoc on the right wing, often cutting in and causing danger in their penalty area. Contributor to pretty much most of our goals.

Next Season

There's going to be another revamp of the squad as many fringe players are leaving and will need to be replaced. I'm also hoping for a top half finish... if I stay at KA in the end.

[Rikulec]

FH have finished 6th last season with the same number of points as we got, but a better goal difference. I'm excited for this interview because they're by far the biggest club in Iceland, their average attendance being almost twice as big as our stadium capacity for example. Should they offer me the job, it'll probably be a no brainer.

[Rikulec]

Well, okay then.

[Rikulec]

Elvar Björgvinsson's Management Career - Season Preview - 2020 - Knattspyrnufélag Akureyrar

Board Expectations:

Pepsideildin: Fight bravely against relegation

Borgunarbikar: Quarter Finals

Deildabikar: Not important

My Expectations:

Pepsideildin: We finished 7th last season, so top half is a must now if we want to keep improving.

Borgunarbikar: I don't even care anymore.

Deildabikar: I agree with the board.

Budgets:

Transfer: £0

Wage: £7,476 (currently spending £5,996)

Balance: -£175,218

[Rikulec]

So we're replacing three smaller debts with one bigger one.

[dllu]

Not very loyal to their chairmen, those Icelanders...

[Rikulec]

Not very loyal to their chairmen, those Icelanders...

I'd say it's the other way around, the reigning chairmen just don't put their names up as candidates for second term.

[Rikulec]

Elvar Björgvinsson's Management Career - Pre-Season - 2020 - Knattspyrnufélag Akureyrar

Friendlies



Maybe we should wake up the players in the middle of the night more often?

Transfers



Four incomings, including a player who's already been a part of the team last season, and a couple of players promoted from the youth team.

Jan Sedlak - we needed a solid defensive midfielder and the Czech looks exactly like that. He'll be a starting player, pushing Kasperkiewicz a bit further upfield.

Magnús Þórir Matthíasson - you already know this guy. He came as a last minute replacement last season, but served me so well that I decided to snap him up as Keflavík weren't going to offer him a new contract. Solid player.

Ísak Atli Kristjánsson - a young, Icelandic central defender was something we really needed. He'll probably be simply making up the numbers this season, but I'll try to give him a chance to shine as he still has plenty of room for development.

Björn Blöndal - to be honest, the only reason I loaned him in was that I couldn't find any other backup right winger on the market. Initially I didn't think of him as a real option, but after what he did in the friendlies he'll definitely get his chance very soon.

[Rikulec]

The first game of the Deildabikar against Grindavík will be somewhat special for me, it turns out.

[abulezz]

Congrats on 100 games!

[Rikulec]

Congrats on 100 games!

Thanks, hasn't exactly been a breeze so far, let's hope it picks up from here!

[Rikulec]

Elvar Björgvinsson's Management Career - February 2020 - Knattspyrnufélag Akureyrar

Deildabikar





Certainly nothing to complain about as I've managed not to get beaten by Stjarnan for the first time since this career started. Can you guess who scored both our goals?

After so many games of conceding with the first proper highlight shown (not counting the kick off) it felt great to be on the other side of this for once. Stefan Rakicevic drifted to the left wing, dragging a defender out of position. Then he received a pass, turned towards the box and played a low cross. Our loanee winger Björn Blöndal ran at the ball and struck it with his left foot, giving us the lead in the 11th minute. The kid really carried his form from the friendlies into the cup. Grindavík had exactly one goalscoring opportunity in the whole game. A long ball was played upfield, Danilo Pilica mistimed his jump and missed the header, but their player failed to get his first-time shot on target. Apart from that it was quite a comfortable win that could have been of a higher margin, but it's still early days and I believe our finishing will be getting better over the weeks.

Out of all the ridiculous goals I've conceded on FM16 so far, the one scored by Guðjón Baldvinsson in the 21st minute of our game against Stjarnan should easily be in top 3. Standing something like ten yards away from goal, he received a cross from the right wing and hit one of the weakest, slowest headers I've seen on the game. He did catch Hafsteinsson on the wrong foot, but the goalkeeper really had ages to recover. Instead he fell flat on his arse, letting the ball deflect off him (!) and watching it barely roll over the goal line. Apart from that it was the usual case of KA vs. Stjarnan - we had our attempts, but actually most of their offensive moves started with us having the ball, then losing it somewhere in midfield and them launching a quick attack. But this time we had Blöndal whom I brought on from the bench with a bit more than quarter an hour remaining. And in the 88th minute he anticipated a poor clearance by a Stjarnan defender, received the ball by the byline, cut inside on his left foot and placed his shot just inside the far post. Brilliant effort from the kid and we got away with a very satisfying draw.

[Rikulec]

Elvar Björgvinsson's Management Career - March 2020 - Knattspyrnufélag Akureyrar

Deildabikar





A decent month and our fate is still in our hands prior to the final game of the group stage.

ÍA came to the Pepsideildin last season following their relegation in 2018 and I saw them as beatable. Everything started rather slowly, with us gradually gaining momentum as the first half passed. Around the 20th minute Blöndal set up Aðalsteinsson brilliantly with a through pass, but the striker hit the ball straight at their goalkeeper. Then there was a five minute period of Hafsteinsson performing three brilliant saves to keep things level. And then after the break I almost bit off a piece of my desk. In a seemingly non-dangerous situation Danilo Pilica commited a foul in our box. Another Serbian defender, Milan Marinkovic, stepped up to the spot, but our keeper denied him, completing his great performance. And from then on we absolutely battered them. Despite 61% possession and a number of chances we couldn't grab the winner we deserved though. Finishing, shambles etc.

ÍBV absolutely stormed the league last season, so they were obviously going to be tough. The goalless first half was fairly even with both teams shutting each other out, but after an hour passed, the Igor Prijic show started. 62nd minute, the Croatian finds some space in a goalmouth scramble and knocks it past Hafsteinsson. 70th minute, a cross from the right finds him unmarked at the far post. 79th minute, they catch us on the break and Prijic has acres of space to beat our keeper for the third time. We responded with a Geirsson goal in the dying minutes of the game, but it was all we could manage. We're just not there yet.

Next up, Leiknir Reykjavik, a side freshly promoted to the 1. Deild karla, so obviously one we should be beating quite comfortably. And we did, sort of. The first half was just 45 minutes of frustration as our abysmal finishing from the ÍA game seemingly carried over and I was dreading another 0:0. But we had Blöndal who I genuinely believe could be going places. Three minutes into the second half the 17-year-old received a pass on the right wing, cut inside, got past two Leiknir players, got the ball on his right foot and smashed it just under the crossbar at the near post in a FIFA-esque finish. Ten minutes later he assisted Rakicevic for the 2:0 goal, flicking the ball on after a cross from the left wing for the Serbian to tap it in. The opposition replied with a consolation goal just before stoppage time, but that was it from them.

And we rounded off the month with a clash against KR, a side I hadn't ever beaten before. And to put things bluntly, we wiped the floor with them. Had we been finishing better, it could have easily been a 5:0 or something in this region. All they could manage throughout the game was the odd shot Hafsteinsson had no trouble with at all. Multiple chances fell at the feet of Rakicevic, Blöndal, Guðmundsson or our talented youth product Helgi Pálsson, but they were all denied. For the opening goal we had to wait until the 71st minute. Benjamín Gunnlaugarson launched a through ball which set Arnar Sveinn Geirsson free on goal. The Icelander who was brought on from the bench managed to score, even though their keeper got his hand to the shot. And fifteen minutes later another substitute, Sindri Björnsson extended our lead with a calm, conscious shot after a rebound. What a performance.

[Rikulec]

Elvar Björgvinsson's Management Career - April 2020 - Knattspyrnufélag Akureyrar

Deildabikar





Job done, it wasn't exactly straightforward though.

It took Vikingur Ólafsvik exactly 17 seconds to get in front. They stretched play, launched a long ball to the left winger, he played it into the area and Marko Marcius scored with a powerful effort which went in off the crossbar. A few minutes later they had a chance to make it 2:0, but Hrvoje Tokic missed the target. That's when we took control. It started off slowly, but in the 26th minute we grabbed the equaliser. A through ball into the box was played by Piotr Kasperkiewicz and Björn Blöndal got his fourth goal of the Deildabikar with a placed left-footed shot. The FH loanee also put us in front shortly after the break, keeping a cool head when chaos exploded in their six yard box. It was by no means an easy game, but apart from the ones mentioned we also had a couple of other chances to score and I think we looked slightly better as a team.



A bad day at the office, I guess.

Each team only took one shot on target, which pretty much describes how dire the game was. Breiðablik shut us out completely, but didn't look particularly interested in excessive attacking. As it's often the story in such matches, it was all settled by a set piece. A misunderstanding between Hafsteinsson and the defenders following a deep free kick cross resulted in their right back Mattar Jobe scoring from an easy chance. There's not much to write home about really, we were just inexplicably poor that day. Shame as the quarter final draw seemed kind to us for a change and we should have done better than that.

[abulezz]

Congratulations on 2nd Place!

[Rikulec]

Congratulations on 2nd Place!

Thanks, the real struggle starts in the league though.

[Rikulec]

Elvar Björgvinsson's Management Career - May 2020 - Knattspyrnufélag Akureyrar

Pepsideildin





I'm trying my best not to get too excited, but... just look at that. And we're playing some gorgeous football, too.

I had a few ideas for the team following our Deildabikar campaign. And so Arnar Sveinn Geirsson replaced Stefan Rakicevic up front, making room for Björn Blöndel on the right wing. On the opposite side I went for Guðmundsson instead of Matthíasson. I also decided to use a defensive triangle in the midfield with Kasperkiewicz in front of the back four and then Sedlak and Gunnlaugarson. And from the very first league game everything clicked in. Vikingur Ólafsvik had a couple of chances in the first period of the game, but that was it. We took over the control and finally in the 57th minute the deadlock was broken. Guðmundsson put in a drilled cross from the left wing and Blöndel gave us our first league goal of the season with a simple tap-in. Then just three minutes later we settled the scoreline - Guðmundsson aimed a corner at the near post and Christian Follerås extended our lead with a powerful header. A well deserved opening day win and we actually looked like a classy team.

Next up, Keflavík away. And honestly I don't think anything like that has happened to me before on that save - despite the scoreline it was actually a very even game that could have gone either way. We got in front after 25 minutes of football. Again it was a cross from Guðmundsson and Blöndel on the far post, this time with a well-aimed header. In the 44th minute a misunderstanding in our defence and poor positioning on the line by Hafsteinsson resulted in an equaliser, but we managed to reply just before half time with an Arnar Sveinn Geirsson goal. Then exactly at the hour mark a nice passing move ended with Blöndel laying a pass out for Guðmundsson to put it in an empty net. This blow seemed to have knocked Keflavík down heavily, as they gave away a silly goal straight from the kick off. No one chased a ridiculously weak backpass and finally Geirsson got to it and knocked it past the keeper and into the goal, 4:1. From that description it sounds like we dominated, but it really wasn't like that. These were pretty much the only chances we got and Keflavík also had theirs. We were just shockingly deadly in front of goal.

And then Stjarnan. Long story short, we bloody smashed them. But when Lovro Scrbec put them in front just six minutes in, I thought after the good initial two games we'd hit the earth again hard with our arses. To my surprise, we gradually recovered from that. We should have equalised in the 15th minute, but both Blöndel and Geirsson got blocked with last-ditch challenges within the space of maybe two seconds. Finally the 30th minute came and our striker was brought down in the box. Penalty, Sindri Scheving steps up and calmly slots it home. 1:1. Just three minutes after the break we got in front, Blöndel's cross from the right reached Geirsson who only had to score from point blank range. Twenty minutes later we got caught on the break and our eternal nemesis Guðjón Baldvinsson calmly rounded Hafsteinsson to equalise. Their celebrations lasted less than a minute though. Magnús Þórir Matthíasson, who had replaced Scheving earlier, found himself at the end of a brilliant through ball from Gunnlaugarson and launched a powerful strike at the near post which went in off the crossbar. And finally in the 72nd minute our midfield spearhead made it 4:2 with a lightning-quick 20-yarder which their keeper got his hand to, but simply couldn't keep it away. And trust me, it could have been more. We wiped the floor with them, it was by far the best KA performance under my helm so far.

Borgunarbikar



Not even the damned cup could stop us.

I could tell you how much we dominated them (59-41 possession, 16-3 shots) and describe the goals, but I think the best option is simply showing them. Ladies and gentlemen,

.

[Rikulec]

That's great news for us as the three Serbians we have won't count towards our foreign players limit anymore.

[dllu]

Wow - like with the 2022 World Cup, it seems SI knows something we don't...

[DodgeeD]

Great start to the season - good luck with keeping the run going!

[Rikulec]

Wow - like with the 2022 World Cup, it seems SI knows something we don't...

Dodgy stuff there, eh?

Great start to the season - good luck with keeping the run going!

Thanks, I'll tell you it's been quite a bumpy road so far though...

[Rikulec]

Elvar Björgvinsson's Management Career - June 2020 - Knattspyrnufélag Akureyrar

Pepsideildin





A very mixed month leaves us within touch distance from the European spots.

When it comes to KA vs. Fylkir, it's pretty much always the same case of the home team absolutely dominating the game, no matter who the hosts are. This proved to be the case again, we found ourselves trailing after just three minutes when Andreas Skog skinned past two of our defenders and found the far bottom corner with a well-placed shot. Then Hafsteinsson proceeded to hold them off almost heroically at times, but just before the half time whistle he made a complete mess of attempting to save a very weak close range header, effectively throwing it into his own net. Then in the 70th minute Sindri Scheving gave away a silly foul in the box and Ingólfur Sigurðsson converted the penalty to make it 3:0. We punched back two minutes later, Guðmundsson put in a cross from the corner and Danilo Pilica went all HULK SMAAAAAASH when running towards the ball and then hammering it into the back of the net with his right foot. Finally in the 77th minute Aron Þórdur Albertsson of Fylkir scored his second goal of the game to settle the scoreline. What's funny is that we still had 61% ball possession in the end.

Next up, the Akureyri derby away at Þór. Just a quick statistic - out of 25 shots both teams took over the course of the game, only three were on target. I'd like to say Hafsteinsson saved us a couple of times, but the sole reason why he kept a clean sheet was the abysmal finishing on their behalf. Not that we were any better, mind. Frustration led me to subbing Björn Blöndel off for Stefan Rakicevic in the 61st minute. The Serbian took a while to get into the game properly, but better late than never - just as stoppage time has begun, he received a square pass from Gunnlaugarson and smashed it home. A lucky win at the end of the day, but we did have visible advantage there.

I can only imagine how furious I'd be if I were Benjamín Gunnlaugarson. The guy ended the ÍA game with a 7.8 rating and six key passes, yet no one managed to grab a goal. No matter whether it was Blöndel, Rakicevic, Guðmundsson, Gunnlaugarson himself - no one could hit the bloody target despite a huge number of opportunities. The most notable one - a sensational, completely unexpected backheel through ball from Guðmundur Steinn Hafsteinsson which set Blöndel free on goal, but the young winger's soft, placed shot only bounced off the crossbar. Incredibly frustrating not to grab a win there.

A week later we faced FH at their place and, to put it bluntly, we got our arses kicked really hard. Oh, and by the 25th minute it was already bloody 4:0. In the 16th minute Marko Obradovic had already celebrated his hat-trick, having scored in the 6th, 11th and 16th minute respectively. When Baris Sarikaya added his goal, I seriously wanted just to leave the room. To our great luck they finally let their foot off the gas though. Thanks to some tacical tweaks I managed to reduce the damage to an absolute minimum from that point, we even managed to create a couple of chances to at least grab a consolation goal, but it just wasn't to happen. And the first half an hour... trust me, it was violent.

We only had three days of rest before an obviously tough clash against ÍBV. And that was more than visible - for the first half hour not only were we an equal opponent for them, but we seemed to have this tiny little bit of advantage. And in the 36th minute everything went wild. Magnús Þórir Matthíasson played a low ball from the left into the box for Gunnlaugarson to smash it home without any hesitation. Just two minutes later we made it 2:0 through Geirsson, but less than sixty seconds after that ÍBV punched back - Igor Prijic got one back after a deep cross from the left wing. And that woke them up. What's worse - we were exhausted already. The result of that is easy to predict - we got pretty much locked up inside our own penalty box. Massive credit to Hafsteinsson and the defenders though, five blocked shots and a few brilliant saves from our goalkeeper show they performed brilliantly. But in the 80th minute the stronghold fell, and it fell in the most unlucky way you could imagine - after some pinball the ball bounced off Hafsteinsson and into the net, counting as an own goal. It wasn't game over though. Through some amazing effort our extremely tired side pushed once more straight after kick off and sent the fans mental as Rakicevic put us back in front. We held them off until the final whistle to clinch a fantasic win. Amazing game at Akureyrarvöllur, certainly one of the most entertaining ones in this career.

Did I say entertainment? Well, after such a tiring show we simply couldn't put it another performance as good as that one. Not that KR really turned up at the game, either. I guess it was the case of things balancing each other out as this match was a damn borefest. Still one we should have won, mind. For the first time since signing him, I decided to try Sindri Björnsson out as striker from the 46th minute onwards. And he showed two things - one, he has the ability to find himself in a goalscoring opportunity. Second, his left foot is only good for keeping him steady, not necessarily for kicking the ball. The two great chances he messed up cost us two points at the end of the day.

Borgunarbikar



The fixture congestion didn't exactly work in our favour there.

Oh boy, how I love conceding with the first proper highlight of the game. This time I had to wait 17 minutes of playtime to see Filip Mihajlevic beating Hafsteinsson after a square ball from the right. Overall it was quite an even game with slight advantage on Valur's side, which is obviously bad when you look at the divisions each team plays in. We managed to put in some effort and finally equalise in the 62nd minute through Arnar Sveinn Geirsson, but that was it. Instead of pushing for another goal, we had to focus on defending and when we eventually reached extra time, we got punched in the jaw by Mihajlevic again as he headed home a cross in the 109th minute of the game. Poor showing and 120 minutes of football didn't exactly do us a favor before the FH game, as you've already seen.

[DavidBeckham]

Decent start still, keep going and good luck for the rest of the campaign mate!

[dllu]

You have a real chance of going European this season. Good luck!

[Rikulec]

Decent start still, keep going and good luck for the rest of the campaign mate!

You have a real chance of going European this season. Good luck!

Thanks guys, to be honest I don't think we're quite ready for Europe yet, it would be nice to stabilize our form beforehand.

[Glenn2k]

Thanks guys, to be honest I don't think we're quite ready for Europe yet, it would be nice to stabilize our form beforehand.

But you would surely get some more money from it though?

Which in turn means better players etc.

[Rikulec]

But you would surely get some more money from it though?

Which in turn means better players etc.

Sure, but we'd probably get our backside kicked hard in the first round, that's what I meant.

[Rikulec]

Elvar Björgvinsson's Management Career - July 2020 - Knattspyrnufélag Akureyrar

Pepsideildin





The rollercoaster rides on.

We have a new fastest goal scored record after the Breiðablik game. Arnar Sveinn Geirsson only needed 15 seconds to put us in front after a great diagonal pass from Guðmundsson. Seven minutes in we doubled our lead - Rakicevic picked up the ball in the box after some deflections and calmly slotted it past the goalkeeper. From then on the game turned extremely dull, pretty much like our previous meeting back in the Deildabikar. We controlled possession, but struggled to break down a well-working Breiðablik defence. Finally they decided to pursue a consolation goal in the dying minutes of the game and we caught them on the break. Bozidar Stanimirovic put in a cross from the right wing and found Matthíasson in the box. The substitute had an easy job to tap it into a half empty net. Or isn't it so easy at all?

Having just picked up their first win of the season, Fjölnir were buried dead last with just these three points from ten games. But you know how it is with playing the last team in the table at home, don't you? Well, this time in the 16th minute of the game Arnar Sveinn Geirsson did

. And I just knew. Especially when we went on to create three more clear cut chances and miss them all. Especially when in the 77th minute an overhit cross from the left wing by Þórir Guðjónsson found its way past Hafsteinsson and into the net. The second goal, conceded after a corner in stoppage time, was not much more than a confirmation. Sometimes FM just does this.

Vikingur Ólafsvik away? More of the same. Maybe not as painful because we didn't miss a bloody empty net for a few yards out, but this time it was the other trademark move - conceding a goal from the first opportunity the opponent creates. In the 15th minute Tor André Aasheim received a cross to his head from the right, was relatively far from goal - just inside the penalty area - but still it was precise enough to catch Hafsteinsson on his wrong foot and not giving him enough time to recover and deflect the shot. To make things worse, we lost Björn Blöndel to an ankle injury just six minutes later. Still, we managed to create a fair few situations which could have resulted in an equaliser. But despite getting 58% possession and 15 shots, it just wasn't to be. As I said, it wasn't anywhere near as bad as Fjölnir, but on a more lucky day we would have won that.

Hosting the league leaders should be a very difficult game, shouldn't it? Well, it's safe to say we absolutely dominated them in the first half, barely letting them near our penalty area. But the curse still remained there from the Fjölnir game and it didn't look like going away. Geirsson missed an open goal again, for ****'s sake. In the 43rd minute Keflavík had their first highlight of the game, by that time it should have been like 2:0 to us. And exactly in the 43rd minute Yu Dong-Gu scored the first and only goal of the game, both Bozidar Stanimirovic and Danilo Pilica at fault for not keeping the formation tight enough and not being aggressive enough. The second half was more even, but we maintained the advantage and could have grabbed the equaliser we needed so badly, but for some reason for the third game in a row we seemed unable to hit the barn door. Tears were shed, desks were bit, swear words were yelled out.

Stjarnan had played a game in the Europa League qualifiers three days before our league clash and were exhausted, so there was our chance. After half an hour of attempting to keep the ball as much as possible and make them run around chasing it, the first wave of attack was launched. Of course Geirsson wasted our first good chance, but in the 39th minute a brilliant pass from Sindri Björnsson sliced through Stjarnan's defence and found Rakicevic a few yards from goal. The Serbian calmly slotted the ball home. In the second half the hosts attempted to recover, but our defenders and Hafsteinsson in goal did a great job stopping them, especially the ever dangerous Lovro Scrbec on the left wing. Finally they lost any will to attack or even play football in the final fifteen minutes and we dominated the game until the final whistle. In the 81th minute Guðmundsson got past their defender in the box in the process of running towards the byline, played a low ball across the goal and found Rakicevic in a situation not even Geirsson would be able to miss. We took full advantage of a weakened opponent and managed to beat Stjarnan in the league for the second time this season to recover from our bad run of form.

[dllu]

Sure, but we'd probably get our backside kicked hard in the first round, that's what I meant.

I remember playing with Afan Lido in the Welsh league once. We somehow snatched the last EL spot and got to the second qualifying round (lucky draw in the first). As I recall, the money was substantial relative to our finances, so if Iceland is like or (more likely) below Wales financially...

[Rikulec]

I remember playing with Afan Lido in the Welsh league once. We somehow snatched the last EL spot and got to the second qualifying round (lucky draw in the first). As I recall, the money was substantial relative to our finances, so if Iceland is like or (more likely) below Wales financially...

I've checked and it would be a massive financial boost that would probably allow us to actually make a profit throughout the whole season, so obviously a good thing. Let's not jinx anything though.

[Rikulec]

With just five games to go this popped up. If I get offered the job, I'll most likely delay my decision until the end of the season as it would depend on a number of factors which are still uncertain.

[Rikulec]

No dilemmas then.