Lillestrøm - Share The Moment, Share The Dream

I walked around at the street when my phone suddenly called. I looked at the display, but it was an unknown number. Who could it be? I answered, and listened to what the man had to tell me, with my mouth wide open.

"Hello?"
"Hello, this is Magnus Haglund speeking. You might know me, the manager of Lillestrøm SK. As you also might know we were struggling in the league last season, and we know we have to do something to finish higher in the league. Torgeir Bjarmann and I have discussed a bit, and we have come to a solution. Or thats what we want to believe. I have seen you managing lower teams, and what you have done to those clubs is amazing! That's the reason why I'm talking to you right now. We were wondering if you wanted to come over to us for an interview?"

I just stood there holding my phone up to my ear and listening. I couldn't believe what he told me. He wanted me to take over LSK, the club of my heart? I had to say something.

"But what will happen to you?"
"I'll be the assistant manager for the club. I think it would be better for Lillestrøm if we got a new manager, but I don't want to leave the club. Bjarmann told me that I could stay."
"That seems good. If you really want me to manage the club I'll come over for the interview."
"Great! Are you available tomorrow at 15:00?"
"Yes! I'm really looking forward to meet you! See you then!"
"See you."

And then he hung up. Wow! What did Magnus just tell me? I couldn't imagine that he knew me. They wanted me to be the new manager of Lilletrøm. It was a really weird day. The only thing I could think of until I got to bed was the interview. What would they ask me? Did they really want me? What kind of questions would they ask? And that’s the last thing I remembered before I fell asleep.

Nice start!

The interview:

I walked slowly from the parking lot and over to Åråsen Stadion. I was really nervous. In the door I could see a man that waved at me.

“Hello, Tonning! Nice to see you!”

I shock his hand.

“Magnus here. Let's go inside and into the office.”

I followed Magnus into the mentioned office. It wasn't huge, but big enough. At the wall was a Barcelona kit hanging beside the clubs logo. There was two chairs and a desk. Magnus took place at one of the chairs, and I took the other.

“So, Tonning. How are you?”
“I'm fine. A bit nervous, but fine.”
“Great to hear. As you remember I told you that we wanted to give you the chance to take my job. I believe that you can take this club to a new level. The last time we won a trophy was in 2007, as you might remember, when we beat Haugesund in the Cup final 2-0. Since that the club hasn’t been in a cup final, and the best we have managed to do in the league is a 9th place. If you get this job. What would you aim for?”

After some seconds of thinking I anwered: “In the first couple of seasons I want to build a young team that can fight in the league. I’m not sure what we can aim for in the first season, maybe top 8. But after a couple of seasons I’m sure we can do better, and even fight in the top.”
“We have upgraded the facilities a bit, so you might produce some youngsters from the club. Would this help you reaching your goals?”
“Of course! I love working with youngsters, and producing my own players. If I get the chance to manage Lillestrøm I’ll try to produce homegrown talents, and at the transfer market I’m going to buy young first team players.”
“That’s the kind of things we like. If you don’t mind we’ll contact you within the next couple of days and inform you about who the next manager will be. If you don’t want to add anything I guess this meeting is over.”
“There is nothing I can come up with at the moment. I'm looking forward to hear from you again! Talk to you later!”

When I left the building I had a smile on my face. My first interview with a Tippeliga club, and it went pretty good. The only thing I could do now was to wait for an answer.

Five days later my phone rang again, and Magnus told me that they wanted to offer me a contract. I immediately jumped into the car and drove down to Åråsen again. When I came to the managers office I noticed that Magnus' name wasn't at the door anymore. I walked further into the building until I stood in front of the chairmans office. I knocked at the door and a voice told me to come in. My hand reached for the door handle and opened the door to a new life.

After a conversation with Bjarmann he handed me the contract. Only for one year for now, but if I impressed the board in that season they would be more than happy to hand me a new and better contract. He pointed out the places I had to write my name, and before I knew it I suddenly was the manager of the club in my heart!

Only a week earlier I was one of the fans with season ticket to Åråsen. Now I was in charge of the team everyone paid to watch. It was an indescribable feeling, and I couldn't wait to start working with the team and build a new Norwegian giant! I was really looking forward to this great challenge, but the question now was: Would I succeed?

I will follow this as LSK is the closest club to where I live in Norway.
FM apparently hates Lillestrøm as they are doing horrible in almost every save I have seen. Or perhaps they are just THAT bad.

God luck with your story.

Thanks mate!
In mine saves they are either relegated or fighting for glory. That's one of the reasons why I chose them. The Tippeliga is hard to predict because the teams are actually pretty even. In FM there is some differences in the teams, but I think this is one of the most equal leagues in the game.

I had been looking forward to this day for a while - My first training session with Lillestrøm. The holiday was over, and everyone had returned fit for fight. I had been following this team for a while now, so I kinda knew who I was going to play. Even though I had a picture of the team in my head I was positively surprised at this session. Everyone performed great, but four players did better than the others:

The first thing I noticed when I came to Åråsen was the lack of strikers. We had Osvold who is 18 years old, and I don't believe he is good enough already this season. Ohi Omoijuanfo ain't good enough this first season either. Therefore was the first priority to get a striker. I was happy when I sent a bid worth £48K for this player. He is very great, and I thought we had a fair chance of scoring some goals with him at the club:


Only a couple of hours after this transfer was completed a new car drove through the gates to Åråsen. The rumours said that Lillestrøm already had signed a new player and that he was also a Norwegian. When looking at the sports news I smiled a bit for myself, because no one guessed who the next player was. He is talented, young and Norwegian. He can play everywhere at the midfield, and think he would develop great with a lot of first team experience. My second signing as LSK boss had cost us £60K and was:


After this we kept quiet for some days before doing anything at the transfer market. We was still looking for a player with a lot of creativity and speed at the midfield. He had to be young and he had to be Norwegian. That's what I wanted, and that's what I got. Within a month after I signed for LSK I had signed my third, and so far, most expensive player, worth £500K. So far I was happy, and to see him walk through the doors made me smile even more:


It was February 10th, and I sat at my office, smiling and thinking of how the season would be. I dreamed of glory and our first trophy since we won the cup in 2007. I sat there and thought of how that day in 2007 was for me. I didn't manage to get a ticket to the match, but I saw it on the telly. It was a great match, and Occean's two goals was enough to seal the victory. What if Thomassen was the new Occean, and Drage the new Robert Koren? Maybe my signings would be that great. I sat there thinking what if... I was satisfied, and in only a week the friendlies would start. I was looking for a good start, but this job was going to be tougher than it seemed after a month. Much tougher!

I like the very different format you are using like the biography/diary entries! Liking it so far will be following for certain

@BeanyUnited: Thanks a lot! I wasn't sure how to do the story, so I might be switching between some formates. Glad you like it so far!