Levanger FK - A little brother with a great future(?)

Levanger Fotballklubb (Levanger Football Club) is a Norwegian semi-pro side currently playing in Norways second level. The club was founded in 1996 and is a relatively new club. Levanger plays it games at Moan Stadion, packing a whopping 1500 people at max. In 2015, LFK's first season in "Obos-ligaen", the club shockingly survived relegation after an incredibly tight battle at the bottom with 6 or 7 teams(!) The second season however, they came 8th, only missing out on a play-off spot in the last rounds.

This is what I am going to do something with. I wan't to see if i can pass the definite big brother of Norwegian football, who is playing their games just one hour south of Levanger. As a former youth player at the club (moved when i was 19), I want to see how well I can do with the club playing its games 50 metres from a camping ground and this summer is the summer to do it, as i had a surgery on a completely torn ACL today so time won't be a problem. I'll be updating each pre-season and mid-season and possibly each month if possible.

Pre-season 2017

As I jumped into the game and saw the squad, I immediately saw that there were some key pieces missing if i were to have a chance at promotion. The former left back and youth coach, Swedish Rikard Nilsson moved back to his home country after the 2016 season and there is no one to take his place. A central defender is also a priority, as we have two solid cd's in their mid-thirthies. Other than that, we have a pretty solid first-team.

The problem however, is that there is as good as nothing to play around with on the transfer market. The finances of the club is as good as non-existant, with having only 1000 pounds p/w in remaining salaries and a big 0 in transfer budget. I managed however to sign a left back and a central defender on loan unseen from international teams, as well as a young Italian midfielder for free:

Birk Risa - on loan from FC Köln (free)



I don't need to pay anything for the lad, so it is all around a pretty good deal. He has pretty good pace for the level, and decent defensive stats.

Tord Johnsen Salte - on loan from Lyon (free)



Another free loan. Decent stats for an 18 year-old playing in the second level of Norway. Because one of my cd's got injured for about 4-5 months, he'll get some playing time during the first half of the season at least.

Marco Morabito - free transfer



A pretty solid free signing, and with the proper teaching from a seasoned teammate, he could become a pretty solid signing for me.

As you see, I ended up a bit yong in the signings, and two of them is only here on loan. I have played until the first league match, so I'll post the tactics and the full squad later tonight, when my knee wakes me up in extreme pain

Squad, Tactics and pre-season friendlies

As promised earlier, her comes the squad:



As you can see, we got a pretty solid first team, however, after that it is pretty slim, and the key players are for the most part past their primes, so the youngsters I brought inn will bring some sorely needed young drive and passion out on the pitch.

Marcus Astvald



Astvald will most likely become my key player this season, as he's got some pretty good all-around stats, and he is much younger than the rest of my key players in their mid-30's.

As tactics are conserned, I'm going with my standard 4-2-3-1 with a, hopefully, possesion-based strategy:





Pre-season



My pre-season friendlies ended up going better than expected, with the win against Vålerenga from the top level in Norway as a top. The loss against Hødd came as expected as I rested most of my key players due to the first round in the league only 5 days after.

April update



The first season started off pretty good, with two obligatory victories over promoted teams Arendal and Florø and a draw against relegated Sandnes Ulf. After that though, things started to go a bit downhill. We had a crushing defeat to Elverum, where we were much closer to them than the results showed. After winning against lower league team Charlottenlund in the first round of the cup, the bad shaoe continued, with conversion being our definitve problem. We should have won both of the matches against Mjøndalen and Ull/Kisa, both teams being in the relegation battle. Hopefully the tides turned with a win over 6th place Åsane at home.

The month ended with a meeting with key player Marcus Astvald, who wanted a transfer to Danish side Aalborg, who has shown interest in the lad all season. My only demand was that he stayed until I had found a replacement for him, as we have no other pure right wingers. This didn't seem to be a great deal for Astvald, who demanded a transfer as soon as possible and is currently training with the youth squad. He still has to play games though, as we unfortunately have no other players to play his position.

May will be an interesting month, with 7 league matches and another cup match against a new lower league side. That high amount of matches will probably take its toll on my squad, as both key players Ørjan Hopen (3 weeks) and Per Verner Rønning (3-4 months) is out with injury and Astvald is pissed of and training with mediocre 18 year olds...