Football On Top of the World: Kirkenes IF (FM 14)

[Tom Ashley]

Happy Memorial Day, everyone.

You probably don't remember me at all. I made a cameo appearance here two months ago, writing eight posts about a Football Manager 17 dynasty and exiting the stage.

Well, I'm back, and hopefully I'll stick around a while longer. This time I've fired up my copy of FM 14, and I'm taking the reins of a small football club in a town 250 miles north of the Arctic Circle.

Kirkenes is located in the far northeast of Norway. It's very close to the Finnish and Russian borders, and it's farther east than Istanbul. The town is home to about 3500 people.

I first heard of Kirkenes when my family watched a TV program about a really cool snow hotel that's located there. The snow hotel deserves a post all its own, so I'll write more about it later. When I was browsing through Football Manager and saw there was a club located in Kirkenes, I remembered the snow hotel and decided to give their local club a go.

I'm using an edited database that allows me to manage in the fourth division of Norwegian football, the level at which Kirkenes plays. I've also loaded up the "fake names" feature, so the players in my world will have faces instead of boring black silhouettes.

As I begin the story, my ambition is to take this tiny club as far as I can. If I'm sacked (which, considering my FM skill, is a very real possibility) I'll decide what I'm going to do next. If I'm offered other jobs (which, considering my FM skill, is not very likely to happen) I'll pass them up, at least for now.

I hope some of you will read along. If you do, please feel very free to comment along the way.

Now, it's off to the top of the world.

[Young Drachma]

Good selection! Looking forward to the story!

[Tom Ashley]

12 March 2013

I decided to stick with the back room staff I was given when I took over at Kirkenes. They're nothing special, and I might have been able to bring in a slightly better team, but for our level, they're decent.

My assistant manager is Roald Furset. He's young (age 30), and he's good with younger players. He's one of the two staff members who is more talented than anyone out there who would take a job with us.

The other keeper is the Director of Football, Inge Olsen. I'm giving Olsen the responsibility for finding players and negotiating their contracts, while I retain the right to approve the deal. (I figure that's a realistic way for a club to operate, using this model.)

Hans Olaf Knutsen, the Head of Youth Development, is OK. His personality is kind of blah, and ideally I'd have someone better suited to shaping our young players.

Our scout is Einar Sjønnensen, and our physio is Håvard Løkken. They are mostly notable for the fact that their names are fun to type.

We play in the Norwegian Third Division, Group 12. There are twelve teams in our division, and we'll play each other twice in a season that runs from March to November. The champion of the group is promoted to the Second Division, while the bottom two teams are relegated.

Our U19 team will play in Group 1 of Norway's Under 19 league. We have a B team, too, but they're not assigned to a league and don't have a fixture list. Needless to say, I'm not going to place any players in the B team.

Now, let's meet the squad. Here is our senior team:



As the season begins, Petkevicius and Gjerløw are still battling for the number one shirt. They both played well during the preseason, and their average ratings were exactly the same. Petkevicius is better in the air, while Gjerløw, despite his youth, keeps his head in the game better.

Fredriksen can play all along the left side, but I'm planning to use him most as an attacking left back. His strong crossing and dribbling skills should play well there.

Fredriksen's defensive game isn't too good, however, so the center back on his side might have to cover for him when he bombs forward. Right now, that task will go to Almenning, a versatile young player who can run all day and is a sure tackler. He's only 5'9", however, so I'm afraid he might be overmatched in aerial battles with big strikers.

Our other center half will be precocious Jakobsen, who is ready for first team duty at the age of 15. He's tall, good in the air, and plays with a bit of an edge.

Grønsholt is an easy choice at right back. He has the ability to get forward, too, but he's more responsible defensively than Fredriksen.

There are a number of other players who can fill in very well on our back line: Viken, Våtvik, Owren, and Fimland. I'd be OK with any of them on the team sheet for a crucial match.

Stokkvold will play the left wing in our usual 4-4-2. He offers pace, flair, and teamwork, and is good at delivering crosses.

Veteran Svartvatn is our team's star man and the club captain. He's an all-action central midfielder, perhaps a bit better in a defensive role. We'll go as far as he takes us.

Akersvatne is the next best choice in the middle of the park. He's even more suited to a holding role than Svartvatn, however. So is Viken, who can fill in anywhere on the pitch. I can add some offensive punch to the midfield by calling on Øksendal or Snellingen, but neither of them bring anything else to the table.

Øksendal is better suited to the right side, so he'll also play there. Grønsholt 's skills also play well in on the right wing, which would mean putting Viken at right back.

Hatlestad knocked in five goals during the preseason, living up to his billing as our team's top striker. He isn't terribly pacey, but he's otherwise very well-rounded. Kristiansen also scored five goals, and Stanes, a teenager with a lethal left boot, had four--without starting a single match.

Then, there's a 16-year-old whom we signed just yesterday, Vegard Fossum, whom our coaches think is the best striker in the club. I'm going to let him start with the U19s and see how he does.

Our preseason went well--four wins against small teams from the local area, and a 1-1 draw against "Kirkenes 2," which amounted to an intra-squad scrimmage. What's more, everyone is healthy as the league season begins.

[Tom Ashley]

2 May 2013

I'll be reporting once a month, which seems to me to strike the right balance between playing the game and writing about it...at least for me.



This is NOT the way I wanted my managerial career to begin. We were hardly predicted to be a powerhouse. The media picked us to finish 9th, with 40-1 odds against winning the championship. On the other hand, the odds against Bjørnevatn were 2000-1, and Norild were on 150-1.

Still, we ought to be better than bottom of the league.


Third Division Group 12
16 March: Kirkenes 2-3 Senja 2
The snow drifted down as we took the pitch for our season opener. For all intents and purposes, this match was settled on 56', when Henrik Almenning rammed into a Senja player in the penalty area. Fifteen minutes later, Sondre Kristiansen scored his second of the game to make the scoreline look a little better.

23 March: Fløya 2-1 Kirkenes
We were probably the better side for over an hour. Then, Fløya scored a hard-luck goal; their man banged one off the bar and, while 'keeper Sarunas Petrevicius tried to scramble back onto his feet, another of their players tapped the ball into the open net. Ten minutes later, they scored again.
Again, Kristiansen knocked in a goal that was too little, too late.

6 April: Kirkenes 0-1 Skarp
Skarp never looked like losing this match, on a bitterly cold (-10° C) day. Petrevicius was called on to make one big save after another, but he couldn't get his gloves on a howitzer of a free kick which gave the visitors the three points they richly deserved. Now we're firmly anchored at the bottom of the table.

13 April: Kirkenes 1-2 Tverrelvdalen
Stop me if you've heard this one before. We get a goal from Kristiansen, but by then we were two goals down. Jon Viken had a gift-wrapped chance at the equalizer, but banged it into the side netting instead. Their supporters voiced their displeasure with my tactics, saying we played too cautiously.

27 April: Finnsnes 3-5 Kirkenes
I didn't feel too good about our chances, away to one of the league's more successful teams. I had a feeling that it could, in fact, be my last match as manager of Kirkenes IF. I, therefore, wasn't surprised when we went a goal down in the game's first ten minutes.

Then, skipper Marius Svartvatn played in Kristiansen (who else?), and we drew level. Kristiansen (who else?) put us in front, scoring from the penalty spot in the waning moments of the first half.

Finnsnes equalized on 52', but Michael Hatlestad came on at 60' and put us back in front six minutes later. Could this be our day?

Maybe not. Almenning, who is almost unbelievably non-aggressive for a center back, inexplicably committed another foul in the box. Naturally, the Finnsnes lad scored. Probably not our day after all.

Or was it? I'm still not quite sure where Sondre Kristiansen was trying to put the ball when he centered it, roughly in the direction of Svartvatn, a few minutes later. However, for the past six weeks or so, good things have tended to happen when Sondre Kristiansen touches a football. So, his rather lackluster ball ricocheted off the foot of a Finnsnes defender and into the goal!

For good measure, Kristiansen (who else?) headed in a rebound to complete his hat trick and secure OUR FIRST WIN OF THE SEASON!!

Let's hope it's the beginning of a good run of form. Otherwise, I'm going to be looking for another job.


Norwegian Cup
First Preliminary Round
10 April: Kirkenes 1-1 Norild
Norild win, 6-5, on penalties
To our credit, we battled long and hard. Svartvatn scored for us on 17', and they equalized just past the hour mark. We played another hour of football without a goal, and on to penalties we went. Young midfielder Morten Snellingen put his penalty wide, and their man made us pay. We weren't expected to get very far in the Cup, but losing to a Group 12 rival didn't feel good.


Hello and Goodbye
Here's where I'll write about our activity on the transfer market each month.

Hello: Fredrik Dybvik
Our Director of Football found Dybvik, 21, a diminutive (5'5") striker who was looking for a club. He's not terribly athletic, but his composure, his movement off the ball, and his awareness are outstanding for our level. He has a good first touch, can pass well, and is a decent finisher.

Fredrik has appeared in two matches. He's yet to find the net, but I have a feeling that will change soon. His skills seem to blend well with Kristiansen's.

Hello: Erik Martinsen
DoF Inge Olsen deserves the credit for discovering Martinsen, too. He's young (21) and versatile, very comfortable playing all along the back line and able to deputize almost anywhere else.

Erik brings some much-needed athleticism to our squad. He's exceptionally fit and pacey, and is surprisingly good in the air for a player who's 5'9". I planned on using him as an all-purpose substitute, but then...

Ouch!
As you might expect, here's where I'll discuss the team's injury situation.

Our only injured player is Kjetil Fredriksen, who damaged his Achilles tendon in the final minutes of the disappointing loss at Fløya. He'll hopefully return to training sometime in June.

We miss K-Fred's presence on the left flank. Martinsen, our new acquisition, has been filling in, and he's hanging pretty tough.