We ended Season 1 as the champions of Division 2 Sodra Gotaland, gaining promotion to Division 1 Sodra. Freddy Adu had a reasonable season, didn’t pull up any trees, but in an unbeaten campaign was a mainstay of the team. Would this be the same in our current crusade to make it to Superettan. There was no way our team of amateurs, and part timers was going to be able to survive the third tier. Hence out foray into the transfer market to improve the side.
Even though this is only a quick save to tide me over until FM22, I still wanted to keep within the bounds of the finances of the club. With Freddy having only one season remaining on his contract, and not wanting to resign at the start of season 2, I needed to keep some money in reserve to try and coax him into signing an extension at some point. We were given a transfer budget, but I moved all of this into the wage budget. At this level there are plenty of decent signings about without the need to pay. So it was free agents and loans the way forward to improve the squad. No less than 11 players were signed throughout the course of the season. One schoolboy error made in that the best player I signed was a left winger! Freddy would now have to fight for a place in the first team.
We started the season as we ended the last. 8 games unbeaten, with a few draws thrown in. We still were not top of the league. Trelleborgs, who were absolutely smashing it. 7 wins from those eight. The only defeat was a 4-0 trouncing by us! By the time we hosted them in game 22, Trelleborgs had won 19. It looks like we have the wood over them, as we completed a home and away double over them. However we still lay 13 points behind with 8 games remaining. We were within touching distance of second place, which would give us a playoff chance to make the Superettan. Early on though, disaster struck and Freddy came a cropper, and suffered an injury. It meant I could play the better winger without worrying! Again his numbers aren’t great so far in the season.
At the mid stage of the season the contract screen arrived in the inbox, much of the squad had contracts ending at the end of season, including Freddy Adu. He still would not sign a new one. Hopefully promotion to Superettan could change his mind. Sounds like he wants to sign, we just need to get a more cash and offer him a better contract. Not sure what to do if he leaves. Maybe just take another job and sign him up, I suppose. But the story is here with Osterlen. We need him to stay! Better have a good end of season run in.
With the run in in full swing, Freddy has been dropped. I have started him in a few of the home games against lower ranked sides. In order to keep him at the club we need promotion. So starting him is the sacrifice we need. He managed to score a late winner as sub in one of the games, and with it tight between us and Goteborgs AIS, that goal could be the difference between promotion and not. Freddy saving the day! A draw was all we needed to claim the playoff spot going into the final day of the season. And what do you know, a 0-0, relegating the other side saw us qualify for a two legged playoff versus Landskrona BoIS, who only went up last season. I feel we have a good chance over the two legs.
Dardan Mustafa was the star of the regular season. In 29 games he plundered 21 goals and contributed 9 assists, both league highs. An average rating of 7.43 saw him top that listing too. Our keeper claimed the most cleansheets, and left winger Lassine Traore completed the most dribbles per 90mins in the league. As I mentioned, Freddy probably wasn’t good enough to get in the stsarting line up. However, Traore had signed a contract away from the club. We couldn’t afford to keep him. Freddy might get a change again next season. If we can get him to sign a new contract. We need that promotion.
The first leg saw us get a 1-1 draw at home in front of a season high 1360 supporters. An 87th minute equaliser saw us squander the victory. This would leave us against it away from home against the higher ranked side. We needn’t have worried as an imperious performance saw us come away with a 4-2 victory. We did leave it late to seal the win, but a 5-3 aggregate score line saw us promoted to Superettan, second tier of Swedish football. Hopefully this promotion and a cash influx will allow us to get Freddy to sign a new contract and continue his resurrection.
Good new everyone, with just a week left on his contract Freddy has signed a new contract, which will likely keep him at the club for the rest of his career. A 3 year contract on double his wages. It’s all worth it. We are massively in debt – overall balance of -£75,000, lets hope a season or two in Superettan can help with that. We will need to strengthen a bit for the charge. We are expected to battle against relegation.
So as we have tied down Freddy to a long term contract, we can start to build a team around him to allow us to compete in Superettan, with the final goal of promotion to Allsvenskan. We have no money but we have the lure of Freddy. Can we put together a squad capable of reaching our goals.
FM RioSantos 