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Okay, here's what I'm thinking. CM01/02 is clearly better suited than CM4 for an epic story, for two reasons - first, the print-to-file function; second, the fact that regenerated players may actually have skill at dribbling and positioning. CM4's failure to include this minor feature irks me because I would have liked my Cheltenham story to go on for years and years (ideally with no actual effort from me), but it's annoying when only 15-year veterans can run with the ball.
But CM4 is generally more fun to play than 01/02, which makes it worth using for shorter, plot-based stories that aren't going to run indefinitely. That would have worked out well for my Ranieri effort, but it dawned on me that I know very little about how he actually manages; I think it would be ridiculously difficult, bearing this handicap in mind, to write a realistic story from his perspective (excuses, excuses...).
I have an idea for a CM4 story of the character-driven type which I'm actually kind of excited about - I think it has potential, and I'm working on it concurrently with this one. I would like to have it all but finished before I start posting it.
This story, then, is my shot at an entirely game-based CM01/02 tale. I have so much respect for writers like Gricehead, nerf, Donners, Dixie Flatline, and Andrew Downing, who keep their stories fresh and interesting over such a huge time span. And dammit, I want to write one. At least, I think I do. And I think the way to go about that is picking a team that'll present me with a challenge, and so I'm going with Kiruna FF, from the Swedish Second Division North. Kiruna used to be the town with the largest land area in the world (it got beat by someplace in Australia), and remains the northernmost municipality in Sweden. Oddly enough, their football team plays on outdoor Astroturf. Sounds like a blast.
So anyway, just picking a lower-league team doesn't necessarily make the game hard, so I'm going to try doing it in the classic LLM style - scouting where I can tour, no "Find" button, very limited use of the player/staff search screen (no scrolling through vast lists of potential Bosman transfers, for example). I can assure you that nowhere in the story will I mention Tó Madeira. I'll try to avoid Kim Källstrom, too. I think this should make just competing within the D2 North a challenge, much less winning promotion to the First Division and beyond. To add to the difficulty, I shall try to stay tense-consistent within this story. All in the past. Very difficult. Let's have some sympathy, here.
That's about all I wanted to say in the opener. Well, this too - I'm grateful to anyone who even started to read this. If you've stuck it out this long, that's even more amazing. If you plan to keep reading, I'm forever in your debt, and if you've read my other abortive attempts at stories and still want to read this one, I'm absolutely floored; you should be receiving the flowers soon.
Another year, another season of Second Division football for Kiruna FF. The northernmost team in Sweden had settled into a comfortable routine of lower mid-table finishes in the Div 2 Norra. There was rarely a lot of player movement from season to season for Kiruna, and when there was, it was usually just picking up players from other teams north of the 65th parallel. The continuity from year to year was good for fan relations, of course. Not that there were a lot of fans to relate to - 350 die-hards or so - but most of them had had at least passing conversations with every player in the team, so the core of supporters was indeed hard.
The downside was that without an influx of talent, Kiruna were never very likely to win their own little segment of the Swedish Second Division, much less win promotion to the First Division. But nobody really cared, much. Everyone thought it would be wonderful, of course, but it wasn't necessary for the club to be considered a success. I pretty much felt the same way. It was a decent squad that I had at my disposal, but not good enough to promote, and I wasn't likely to find and sign enough talent to change that. Certainly I wasn't looking to sign anyone over this off season, and so this is what my all-Swedish squad looked like going into the 2002 season:
Mikko was the starter, though he wasn't considerably better than Niemälä. Neither exhibited anything like safe hands, but Mikko's reflexes tended to be slightly more cat-like than those of his backup. Ideally, I'd have liked to sign a third goalkeeper, be he another backup or a quality starter, but I wasn't holding my breath.
Defenders:Mikael Holmgren, D R, 17; *Marcus Lindmark, D R, 18; *Magnus Oja, D RLC, 39; *Stefan Harju, D LC, 30; Joon Karlsson, D/M C, 21; Jon Kero, D C, 24; Magnus Mäki, D C, 24; Mattias Olofsson, D C, 22; *Niklas Svanelöv, D/DM C, 21
Old Magnus Oja started for me at left-back and was the team captain. Marcus Lindmark, who had actually attracted interest from Dutch Premiership team Fortuna Sittard before telling them he had no desire to leave Sweden, was a talented young right-back, and Stefan Harju paired with Niklas Svanelöv in the middle of defense. They weren't a very spectacular couple; defensive backbone was not a strength of this Kiruna squad. Holmgren was a new youth product with a bit of potential, and the rest were really nothing but cover.
Midfielders:*Johan Bergström, D/M R, 18; Johan Hannu, DM C, 30; Hans Stridsman, DM C, 34; *Marcus Jönsson, M LC, 23; *Nils Johan Labba, M C, 17; Lars Ökvist, M C, 19; Fredrik Johansson, AM R, 32; Magnus Gabrielsson, AM C, 16; *Erik Lantto, AM C, 22
Right-winger Bergström was quick and aggressive, but a bad passer; the central pairing of Labba and Lantto was good, though, and so was Marcus Jönsson on the left, so the midfield was a strength of this team. With Kiruna legend Hans Stridsman available for selection as well as talented youngsters Magnus Gabrielsson and Lars Ökvist, I wasn't planning to be signing any more midfielders anytime soon.
Attackers:Pär Asp, AM/F C, 20; Hans Laaksonen, AM/F C, 26; Johan Stridsman, F C, 21; Peter Asp, S C, 24; Joakim Gunillasson, S C, 24; Tomas Lindgren, S C, 28; *Niklas Malmbring, S C, 21; *Tommy Stridsman, S C, 36
Malmbring and Tommy Stridsman were physically very average, but somehow they managed to combine for a pretty effective attacking partnership. Pacey Joakim Gunillasson was right there to step in if either of the starters dropped off in form. The remaining strikers weren't as good, but they could play if they had to.
The first-choice squad was pretty much just confirmed during our Lombia Cup win (Lombiavallen being the stadium at which we played our home games). It was just a small tournament, with Kiruna and (relatively) local non-league clubs Haparanda and Gällivare participating. It brought us in a few crowns worth of gate receipts and the victory was a confidence boost. Having survived the first three rounds of the Swedish Cup in the autumn of last year, we also had the fourth round game at the end of March, a 2-1 loss to Dingle. What a team to lose to.
At any rate, it was these fellows who strode into April and the start of the league season a week and a day after the Cup loss, with hopes high for another average year from Kiruna:
<pre class="ip-ubbcode-code-pre">********************************************* ************************************************** * Kiruna FF - Sunday 31st March 2002********************************************** ************************************************** ================================================== ============================================== Squad============================================= ================================================== =No Name Position(s) Nat Born Age Caps Gls Wages Expires Value------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Asp, Pär AM/F C SWE 2.1.82 20 - - 1,3|TKr 11.11.02 70|TKr - Asp, Peter S C SWE 18.8.77 24 - - 1,7|TKr 7.11.04 200|TKr - Bergström, Johan D/M R SWE 19.9.83 18 - - 2,3|TKr 1.11.06 350|TKr - Gabrielsson, Magnus AM C SWE 6.7.85 16 - - 750|:- 28.11.03 70|TKr - Gunillasson, Joakim S C SWE 10.11.77 24 - - 1,8|TKr 1.12.03 90|TKr - Hannu, Johan DM C SWE 10.3.72 30 - - 650|:- 8.11.04 50|TKr - Harju, Stefan D LC SWE 6.3.72 30 - - 650|:- 9.11.02 20|TKr - Holmgren, Mikael D R SWE 23.11.84 17 - - 850|:- 28.11.03 50|TKr - Johansson, Fredrik AM R SWE 24.1.70 32 - - 2|TKr 15.11.03 60|TKr - Jönsson, Marcus M LC SWE 15.10.78 23 - - 2|TKr 7.11.05 300|TKr - Karlsson, Joon D/M C SWE 1.9.80 21 - - 2,1|TKr 9.11.05 350|TKr - Kero, Jon D C SWE 9.3.78 24 - - 650|:- 27.11.05 60|TKr - Laaksonen, Hans AM/F C SWE 5.7.75 26 - - 900|:- 25.11.04 60|TKr - Labba, Nils Johan M C SWE 5.11.84 17 - - 2,2|TKr 11.11.05 350|TKr - Lantto, Erik AM C SWE 10.3.80 22 - - 2,75|TKr 2.11.04 500|TKr - Lindgren, Tomas S C SWE 6.1.74 28 - - 1|TKr 14.11.07 300|TKr - Lindmark, Marcus D R SWE 12.5.83 18 - - 2,1|TKr 23.11.05 300|TKr - Mäki, Magnus D C SWE 19.1.78 24 - - 650|:- 1.11.02 50|TKr - Malmbring, Niklas S C SWE 6.7.80 21 - - 2,4|TKr 27.11.04 500|TKr - Niemälä, Lars-Göran GK SWE 18.1.74 28 - - 650|:- 3.11.04 50|TKr - Oja, Magnus D RLC SWE 27.3.63 39 - - 1|TKr 21.11.06 60|TKr - Ökvist, Lars M C SWE 11.3.83 19 - - 650|:- 12.11.04 50|TKr - Olofsson, Mattias D C SWE 26.1.80 22 - - 650|:- 3.11.05 60|TKr - Stridsman, Hans DM C SWE 28.8.67 34 - - 1,8|TKr 7.11.06 60|TKr - Stridsman, Johan F C SWE 3.6.80 21 - - 650|:- 7.11.05 60|TKr - Stridsman, Tommy S C SWE 13.5.65 36 - - 3|TKr 13.11.06 60|TKr - Svanelöv, Niklas D/DM C SWE 17.9.80 21 - - 1,6|TKr 30.11.02 90|TKr - Vikeväinen, Mikko GK SWE 6.6.79 22 - - 1,2|TKr 25.11.06 180|TKr </pre>
N.B. We're looking at about 13 Swedish crowns per British pound sterling.
With young Nils Johan Labba out with a torn calf muscle which looked like it'd keep him out all month, club stalwart Hans Stridsman got the start in midfield alongside Erik Lantto. Other than that, it was a first-choice side that took on IFK Holmsund at their place. The game got off to a dream start when the eldest Stridsman, Tommy, scored barely over a minute into the game, assisted by Marcus Jönsson. Holmsund, though, controlled the game for the most part, and their dangerous Norwegian striker Eirik Hesla scored twice before halftime to swing the momentum away from us. A third Holmsund goal, midway through the second half, was the final nail in the coffin. Stridsman did pick up his second goal of the game, assisted by substitute Joakim Gunillasson in the dying seconds to make the scoreline respectable. IFK Holmsund 3-2 Kiruna (T. Stridsman 2)
It wasn't such a bad effort. Holmsund had more scoring chances, but not by much, and Tommy Stridsman sure looked like he had at least another good season left in his legs.
I'd had my only scout, Johan Peterson, out looking around Sweden at possible transfer targets since players began training in March, and though he'd located a few guys with contracts expiring in November that we might want to look at, he hadn't yet found any free agents that looked worth getting. That finally changed on the Wednesday after the Holmsund game when he reported back on a 31-year-old forward Jonas Axeldal. Axeldal's last club was England's Cambridge United, and he left there in 2001; before Cambridge, he'd played for Ipswich, Foggia (in Italy), and native sides Öster, Malmö FF, and Halmstad. Peterson reported that while Axeldal wasn't going to single-handedly lift Kiruna to the top of the table, he was a good solid forward who might score some important goals for us. I took him at his word and offered Axeldal a contract, hoping he'd sign for us before our game at home against Skellefteå.
He rejected it. I figured we could maybe negotiate later.
Sunday 14 April, Kiruna (9th) vs. Skellefteå (6th)
The first game of the year on the home (Astro)turf for us saw two unenforced changes - Joon Karlsson started in the center of defense for Niklas Svanelöv, and Joakim Gunillasson partnered Tommy Stridsman in attack with Niklas Malmbring relegated to the bench. From the opening whistle, we looked much more comfortable with the fast pitch than did the visitors, and for the second game in a row the first goal was Kiruna's. This time it was Hans Stridsman blasting a long shot into the net, assisted by Tommy, and it was a 1-0 lead relatively early on in the game. Shortly after, Erik Lantto set up Joakim Gunillasson for an easy score, and so a good-sized crowd (778) saw their team pick up a 2-0 win. Kiruna 2-0 Skellefteå (H. Stridsman, J. Gunillasson)
There were a couple of interesting transfer-related items in the week that intervened between the Skellefteå win and our next league game. Firstly, Jonas Axeldal agreed to a contract tying him to Kiruna until November 2003:
Transfer in: F C Jonas Axeldal, SWE, 31, free transfer, 2000 SEK p/w. Last club: Cambridge United (ENG)
Secondly, I got an incoming offer for talented fullback Marcus Lindmark from Lillestrøm, a second-rate Norwegian team (which isn't bad when you consider that the list of first-rate squads has only one name on it). I wasn't going to stand in the way of the player if he wanted to move up to the much, much better level of competition, but Marcus indicated that he'd just as soon stay in the Arctic Circle, and I was perfectly pleased with that. Lillestrøm were accordingly denied his services.
Axeldal had apparently been keeping himself in good shape during his time out of the sport, because he wasn't rusty at all during his cameo in the Friday reserve game. This meant that on Sunday, I was confident enough to select him for the bench.
Sunday 21 April, IFK Luleå (10th) vs. Kiruna (6th)
Luleå was about the second-closest thing we had to a local match all year. Kinda funny, given that it's (at a guess) about 300 km south of Kiruna. But it was a decent enough little rivalry. Anyway, Johan Bergström was unavailable for selection due to injury today, so veteran Fredrik Johansson got his first time of the season playing on the right wing. Other than that, it was an unchanged side which traded chances with the hosts throughout the first part of the game. Slowly, slowly, Kiruna asserted control, and eventually the superiority translated into a goal. It was off of a corner, Marcus Jönsson lifting it into the area for a Stefan Harju shot. It got parried by Luleå's excellent goalkeeper, but Joon Karlsson - who had a very, very average game other than this - was there to slam it in to provide the margin of victory. Jonas Axeldal did get a run out in the final 15 minutes or so, coming on for Joakim Gunillasson; if he wasn't match-fit before, he certainly should be now. Our goalkeeper, Mikko Vikeväinen, was voted Man of the Match, and deservedly so. He'd played better than I had expected through the first little bit of the season. IFK Luleå 0-1 Kiruna (J. Karlsson)
Jonas Axeldal's performance in his brief appearance coupled with Gunillasson's ineffectiveness was enough to earn him a starting spot for our next league game. Joon Karlsson was also forced out of the starting lineup by Niklas Svanelöv. Both deposed starters had a place on the bench.
Sunday 28 April, Kiruna (3rd) vs. Boden (5th)
The existence of Boden was the reason that Luleå wasn't the single closest rival we had, Boden being about 50 or so kilometers closer than Luleå, in the same direction. Boden had had a decent start to the season, with a win bookended by a couple of draws. Jonas Axeldal had the first couple of chances of the game, but he couldn't put either away, and Boden drew first blood on the half-hour mark. They had a Russian midfielder, name of Sedunov, and he dribbled past three Kiruna players at various times before putting a placed shot past Vikeväinen. We kept plugging along, though, stringing together some nice passes on the dry turf, and a fine passing combination just before halftime resulted in a Marcus Lindmark goal, assisted by eventual Man of the Match Marcus Jönsson. There were chances for both teams during the rest of the game, Kiruna perhaps shading possession, but a 1-1 draw in the end was a pretty fair result. Kiruna 1-1 Boden (M. Lindmark)
A decent result with some bad news afterwards - Niklas Svanelöv picked up an ankle injury and looked like being out for about a month. Ah well.
Some good news to start off this month. Nils Johan Labba returned to full training, although he wasn't going to be match fit in time for our first game of the month; we also got a kid promoted from the youth side, right winger named Bertil Bergström. Looked all right.
Just before our game on May 5th, First Division side Gefle came in with an offer of 60,000 SEK for Pär Asp. There were three factors that I had to take into consideration when responding to this offer: first, whether Asp wanted to move up in the leagues, since I wouldn't want to deny him that opportunity; second, that I didn't think he was very good; third, that my coaches loved him. I had a game to manage, anyway, so I told Gefle to just wait.
Sunday 5 May, Östersunds FK (2nd) vs. Kiruna (3rd)
Joon Karlsson had to start this one because of the injury to Svanelöv, but it was the same lineup that drew with Boden other than that. The game started off a bit back-and-forth, but Östersunds looked the better team and so it was a little lucky for us that we got the first goal. Marcus Jönsson scored a nice 20-yard free kick about five minutes before the break, and we held out with the lead until halftime. Sadly, it only lasted until a little after the hour break when Östersunds finally turned their possession into goals, as the cliché goes. They got one from each of their strikers before the game was over. I'd like to say that we fought back hard and very nearly got a draw, but really we didn't. They were just better. Östersunds FK 2-1 Kiruna (M. Jönsson)
Ohhhh, well. Anyway, I had a chance after the game to ask Pär Asp if he wanted to leave. Unequivocally, he didn't. So we didn't let him. Too bad for Gefle.
Defender Magnus Mäki, who was going to be out of contract in a few months and who didn't look as though he was going to get much playing time with us, got offered a contract by England non-league side Harrow Borough. Being an adventurous sort, he agreed to move west at the beginning of November.
Sunday 12 May, Kiruna (5th) vs. Robertsfors (9th)
Robertsfors had had a bit of a rough April, winning just one of four games, but they'd come back with a nice victory in their first May game. Nils Johan Labba returned to the starting lineup for Erik Lantto. Roberstfors got off to a fine start with a goal inside of five minutes, a hard shot going underneath a diving Vikeväinen. We weren't about to give up so early, though, and Jonas Axeldal hit back in the 10th minute with his first-ever goal for Kiruna. Joakim Gunillasson set up the goal beautifully. Robertsfors went ahead again before halftime when Vikeväinen failed to hold on to a shot and the rebound was slammed in; they picked up another after an hour of play, and at 3-1 down, we didn't look likely to come back. Erik Lantto came in for the ineffective Labba, and shortly after the substitution Marcus Lindmark pulled us one back with a bit of a fluke goal, but the last part of the game was ruled by the visitors - they even had a goal ruled out for offside. Kiruna 2-3 Robertsfors (J. Axeldal, M. Lindmark)
Well, so far, there was literally no point to May. But at least our scout was doing yeoman's work - he found us a young Swede named Göran Samuelsson, a defender looking for his first professional club. We took him on trial and, overall, he received very positive reviews from the coaching staff, so we signed him up officially on May 15.
Transfer in: D C Göran Samuelsson, SWE, 18, free transfer, 600 SEK p/w. Last club: none
Sunday 19 May, Kiruna (9th) vs. Friska Viljor (10th)
We showed a somewhat different lineup for the Friska Viljor visit hoping to salvage something from the last half of this dratted month. Johan Bergström moved to fullback with off-form Marcus Lindmark relegated out of the squad, while Fredrik Johansson came in at right wing; Jon Kero started instead of Joon Karlsson in defense. The changes looked pretty dumb when the team from Örnsköldsvik took the lead after just two minutes. They had a hardcore dangerous winger who dribbled half the length of the field and crossed low for an easy goal. And, long story short, that was it. We had about four shots all game, and so did they, but only the one went in. Kiruna 0-1 Friska Viljor
The summer and surrounding months in Sweden are of a fairly low intensity for footballers. That was our last game of May, and we were only going to have one in June and a couple in July, one of which was a Swedish Cup game. Know what that meant? That meant that we were going to have to languish in 11th position - a relegation spot! - for at least 20 days or so. And if we didn't win our June game, it'd be another month and a half staring the drop in the face. Icky.
And on the undercard before your World Cup matchup this evening... Selångers FK (3-0-4, 3 KO) vs. Kiruna FF (2-1-4, 2 KO)... - June 2002
Our game of the month was on the 9th of June; the World Cup started on the 12th, and Sweden's first game was on the 14th. Yeah, we were pretty much second billing this month. Not like we'd been playing well enough to deserve anything more...
Sunday 9 June, Selånger (7th) vs. Kiruna (11th)
The "Johan Bergström in defense" experiment had failed miserably, so Marcus Lindmark slotted back in and Johan took a seat in the stands. Stefan Harju took over for Magnus Oja at left-back and Oja sat on the bench as the defensive sub. There was a good crowd out, over 700 with maybe 100 or so traveling from Kiruna, and the visiting fans were the more confident at the beginning because Jonas Axeldal and Joakim Gunillasson were both looking good. It was quite a surprise, then, when Selånger broke through first about a half-hour into the game. Enraged, we redoubled our attacking efforts up until halftime and even after; Axeldal sent a powerful header just over the bar, Gunillasson had a fine low shot saved, and Erik Lantto's long-range blast was barely tipped away. Despite our failure to score, we felt like we were likely to end up with at least a point from this one. So it really ****ed us off when Selånger scored again with the same type of goal - same guy scored, same guy got the assist. And we still had more chances after that. Fredrik Johansson's shot was saved. Gunillasson's rocket went over the bar. Axeldal had what looked to be a certain goal spectacularly held by the diving goalkeeper. Even Marcus Lindmark got off a shot before the game was over. Of course, that one didn't go in either. At last count, Selånger's goalie made 8 saves. Vikeväinen let both shots on target in. *sigh* Selånger 2-0 Kiruna
That game was - how you say? Ass.
By the time the World Cup was in full swing, I'd had enough time to seethe over our poor recent performances. I decided to bite the bullet and get some players in on loan. Fortunately, our scout had located a few guys that looked like good targets. I made several offers, but most of the really elite, available players were on Premiership teams who wanted to loan out their fellows to someplace with a higher standard of competition, so I only ended up getting two guys.
Loan in: GK Robert Axelsson, SWE, 27. No wages. Loaned from: Sleipner. Loan ends: End of season
Loan in: DM L Andreas Nilsson, SWE, 24. No wages. Loaned from: Västra Frölunda. Loan ends: July 23
I anticipated that both players would start; Nilsson, if he performed well enough, would have his loan extended to the end of the season. I envisioned him as a fullback, since Marcus Jönsson was playing well enough on the left wing. Axelsson was no great shakes as a goalkeeper, but he was better than Vikeväinen, at least.
In World Cup action, Sweden survived to the end of June. They came second in Group C behind Nigeria and in front of Poland and South Korea, and then got lucky to beat Group D winners Portugal 1-0 in the second round.
But the far more important competition had a table like this:
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