After a tremendous season, FK Mandalskameratene secured the title last night at home beating Club 3-0. After the match there was pandemonium in the stands among the 21.167 spectators, chanting the name of manager Ole Gunnar Solskjær. The Man Utd legend and Molde FK favorite managed to bring the title to the city of Mandal in the same year it is MK's 100 years anniversary. xD
The title came as a huge suprise for most of the managers playing at the Norwegian Top Level, containing several other top managers like Lordaust (Brummington), Drahcir (Kjappfotkameratene), Tom André (Sjølies Fotballklubb) and Regnosen (Valerenga Oslo). Ole Gunnar's men came top of the table halfway through the season and kept building their lead, until they had a comfortable lead of 9 points with only 3 matches to play. Steady almost the whole season, that was the key to success for FK Mandalskameratene this season.
MK played at the Top Level the first season, but after an anonymous they relagated to the relagated to the First Division B-3. After another anonymous season MK became fired up during season 3, reaching the semies in the cup (in which Brummington beat them) and gain promotion after securing second place behind Sjølies Fotballklubb. MK had a good first season back at the highest level, securing fifth place in the end. But no one could have predicted MK could have a shot for the title this season.
Ole Gunnar started with adding some more depth to the squad adding Icelandic (youth) internationals Jóhannes Finnbogaduttir and Jónas Gunnarsson, Slovakian Tibor Križ and Kwabena Marie, international of Cote d'Ivoire, to the squad. With quality players like Jerko Košar, Dagfinn Walterson, Gayle Wray, Espen Hagebak and Fraser Saylor already on the team, MK was ready to start season 5.
After a bit of a slow start, 5 points from 4 games, things started to fall into place for FK Mandalskameratene. A strong run near the halfway point of the season made them the league leaders, just ahead of teams like The Devils, Sjølies Fotballklubb and Brummington. During the second half of the season MK managed to build on their lead, only to drop points against Kjappfotkameratene in their last 10 games. Keeping the squad healthy and fit is probably the main reason MK was able to secure the title with still two games left to play.
Teams like Brummington and Kjappfotkameratene appeared to have too many inexperienced players, which contributed in dropping a lot points during the first half of the season. Both managers are looking to build for the future and will definitely benifit from their talented roster next season. The Devils had an excellent first season at the highest level and can be satisfied with their performance, while Valerenga Oslo and Sjølies Fotballklubb couldn't maintain the high level of steady performances they could rely on last season. Taking all that into account, probably the most steady team has won the league this season. A performance which will do the managers and fans of MK proud! They are looking forward to play in Europe and also to take on all those great managers and teams again next season! It's going to become interesting for sure!
Takk for en flott sesong og vi ser hverandre neste sesong igjen!
Hilsen,
Ole Gunnar