Written by member: Big B 1970
After the high of two successive promotion campaigns for manager Big B, his Bodø/Glimt team came crashing back down to earth with play-off deafeat and relegation to Division 3. The Norwegians were under no illusion how tough the season in Division 2 was going to be, and it would be a case of fine margins between success and failure for most of the teams. With the jump in skill level of opponents from last season, it was soon apparent that last seasons 4-2-3-1 formation just wouldnt have the attacking strength to score the goals needed in this division. After some experimentation, a 4-2-2-2 formation was settled on, with two CDMs, one of whom played the Box Crasher role, and this paid dividends in the very first game with Ntcham getting a hat trick! The 3 point return against GortonBlue78 was better than expected, which was just as well as it was followed by a couple of disappointed defeats to MarcTheSharc and more of the same against patoninety to leave the team with just 3 points from the opening 6 games. After a bye week, things picked up with two hard fought wins against the struggling AJS Ryjones but they were'nt enjoyable games as both were ruined by bad lag and disconnections.
The high point of the season was to come in matchday 7. The passes flowed, the defence looked solid and star striker Kolo Muani seemed unplayable, scoring a hat-trick in both games as we thrashed Jaminator 8-0 and 5-4. The good times didnt last long however, as runaway league leader StunningDave with a dribbling heavy style of play was far too strong and 10 goals were conceded over the two games. Bodø/Glimt were now struggling to stay above the drop zone, and things looked dire when in two incredibly close games, MJG1878 won both of them 3-2. It would all go down to the final matchday against S8TY to see who would go down. The Norwegian side defended like heroes in the first game, keeping a clean sheet that is a rare thing for anyone in the current game and the 4-0 win was enough to condemn Dusseldorf to the drop. S8TY played much better in the return game, so the 4-2 defeat meant we would have to play a play-off game against Diode X to save our Division 2 status. After a nearly two week wait for all the other fixtures to be played, the Bodø/Glimt team that took to the pitch seemed to have already started their post season holidays! The team from the lower division were stronger and sharper in the first half, going in at the break 3-0 to the good. A good dressing down by the manager wasn't enough to get the players to save the game, and the deserved 5-2 defeat left manager, players and fans feeling deflated.
In the cups, it was a swift exit from the Division 2 Cup in the first game, beaten by Jaminator, but performances were better in the Champions League. Thanks to the increased handicap, we were able to give the Division 1 boys a tough game, and 2 wins from 4 games was good enough to put the club in the top bracket for Stage 2. In a very close group, we fell just short in a few games, not managing to turn a couple of draws into wins, and that meant just missing out on the knockout stage by goal difference. In the League Cup, it was a customary early exit in the opening game, being narrowly beaten by aaronc333.
With the playing personnel, there were a lot of changes to improve the squad over the season. There was a stroke of luck on the previous deadline day, with a raffle win, meaning Randal Kolo Muani came in to lead the attack for an outlay of just 1 million scudo. Most of the players coming in were from BFA's, where the club had great success bringing in a whopping 12 players at a cost of 238.6m scudo. I like to use a lot of substitutes in games, so with a stacked bench there was no room for dead wood so the lower rated players were shipped out or sold to the Banker, meaning we go into Season 51 with the highest average rating of any squad in the league. Although disappointed to be dropping down to Division 3, I think the squad looks very good with just some minor tweaks to be made before we kick off again.