Góðan dag my heathen friends. Velkomin back to the year 871. In history we fought at Reading and Ashdown and were victorious. In the blog we won the League and FA cups, meaning we completed our campaign a healthy 6 years before the original great heathen army were beaten on our shores. Now is the time that the Great Summer Army joined the ranks to boost the Vikings numbers. With this in mind we welcome Dan Eggen, Stefan Landberg and Ivar’s regen Bjorn-Erik Harjo to go with last years’ end of season signing Blomqvist…..

Now I know the original objective was to win the Prem, FA cup and League cups (which we’ve done) along with anything else we could get our hands on. We’re 2-time Champions League winners and 2-time Super Cup and World Club Cup winners too, but it actually rankles me that we fluffed our lines in last years’ Charity Shield. So without further ado, that’s what we set our sights on in the short term.

As such we start with our usual pre-season friendlies against our Scandinavian brethren. First to get the good news are the Danes from Brondby. Neset and new signing Blomqvist both getting a goal each in either half and a defensive masterclass from Haaland means we run out 2-0 winners.

Next up are the Swedes of Djurgarden. We race into a 3-0 lead inside the first 15 mins thanks to Molnar and a brace from everyone’s favourite Icelandic regen Hakornarson. Molnar makes it 4 10 mins into the second half before we switch off for 5 mins or so and allow a couple of soft goals in – one of them a Lange range effort from nothing. Molnar get’s his third and fourth goals to restore our 4-goal lead.

Norwegians Lillestrom are next to pay their respects. They prove a slightly tougher test in that the goal difference is only 2 goals. CBA grabs an early brace and George makes it three in the 26th min. We take our foot off the gas and Gunnarsson wins the second half for the visitors.

More Danes next as Silkeborg sail across the North Sea. Molnar and Gudjohnsen Jnr give us a 2 goal lead in the first half and Leonhardsen makes it 3. Easy win.

Last up are Viking who have beaten us and drawn with us in the last 2 visits. Time to put this right and we do it in style as Ronny Johnsen heads in from a corner in the 2 min. Liisberg and Neset grab a goal each to make it 3 before 20 mins have been played. Johnsen then gives away a penalty which Jurcevic blasts over. Neset gets his second in the 71st before Hasund gets a late consolation in the 81st. The downside being new centre half Eggen limbering off early in the second half.

18 goals in 5 games…our boys are on fire and just in time to take it into the season opener and our missing piece of silverware, the Charity Shield…

What follows is possibly the most dire game of football i’ve ever had the misfortune of watching (and as a Bolton fan, that’s saying something). There was literally about 6 pieces of commentary in the whole game! 2 of which were the two kick offs and one the red card for Sturridge. Penalties are the order for the day. It doesn’t start the best as CBA blasts his effort over after Zidane tucked his away. Jung saves Cort’s and Overmars’ efforts and Fuglestad gets the chance to be the hero…only to fire a tame effort at Cross in the Arsenal goal. Jung then makes another big save from Dolans’ attempt and last seasons young PFA player of the year Soma makes no mistakes and buries it!

There we go…the missing piece of the jigsaw.

Before I know it, the league season is upon us and we host Mameceaster Utd. With injuries and suspensions (from last season) we start with a slightly weakened side. Landberg goes off injured just before half time which isn’t ideal. CBA scores in the 58th min which gets ruled out for offside. Sinclair’s effort 10 mins later doesn’t suffer the same fate and it turns out to be the winner. To compound our woes, Hakornarson goes off injured with 10 mins left.

Not the best start and I’m not really sure I know what I want to do having completed my one objective for the season. Then up pops this bit of news….

Capello has been fired off for playing sensible football and they’re after someone that can get the most out of the ridiculous attacking talent at their disposal.

Go on then I’ll take it….

Which means with a heavy heart…

We are sitting pretty at the top of the table with 3 games to go, although it’s close and we’ve still got Ukraine, Bosnia and Moldova to come.

Decent friendlies to follow too which will give us a measure on where we are…

The worrying position though is the keeper. Lillestrom’s Iver Johnsen is current number 1 but his stats are plop. Former Jorvik keeper Hollund is on the books and the only other decent one is Thorstvedt Jnr (Staurset) who has only played loan games in the 3rd division. CBA has never had a cap despite tearing up England and Europe over the last 5 years or so! Scandalous!

With that in mind we give him, TSL and Fuglestad their first caps as we line up as follows:

Wow!!! What have they been missing??? Bye Andersen scores on debut in the 10th min to give us the lead. Bjorkan doubles it in the 35th min and it’s a relatively tight game with Bosnia having a few chances of their own at the end of the half. CBA then gets his second to make the game safe before a crazy last 10 mins when Mehic grabs one back for the home side before Eggen restores our 3-goal lead and CBA gets his third and fourth in the 86th and 90th mins respectively. What a debut!

A month later and it’s arguably our toughest qualifying opponent left as we host second placed Ukraine. CBA is injured so I go with Nevland up top with Neset. The latter opens the scoring in the 7th min and it’s a cagey affair for the remainder of the half with chances for both teams. Chechouga gets his marching orders early in the second half and for once it actually makes a difference as our ruthless strikeforce bang in a further 5 goals to make it 6!

The goals shared out nicely…

Believe it or not, it’s the minnows of Moldova who provide our sternest opposition yet. Goals from George in the 20th min and Ronny J just before half time make the difference.

And we’re through….

A reasonable group which I’ll be hoping for best of the rest really behind Germany. Actually we’ll face both Belgium and Germany in the friendlies coming up so that should give us an indication of our chances.

First up is Northern Ireland who failed to qualify for the Euro’s. I decide to give Hollund a chance between the sticks now that qualification is sorted. He concedes with their first chance on goal which doesn’t exactly endear him to me. We are essentially starting our second string barring one or 2. Nevland and Soma spare our blushes to give us the win.

The draw for the World Cup Groups is announced….

My replacement Bryan Robson clearly didn’t get the Scandinavian signings only memo as he makes his first signing as Jorvik manager…

We travel to Germany to test ourselves against our group favourites. They don’t disappoint as Peschke (Voller Jnr) opens the scoring and Freund doubles it 6 mins later. Fuglestad does get one back for us in the 32nd but we cant seem to find the equaliser.

To be honest, it was a pretty close game…

Jorvik are still doing well in Europe…

As are our former foes Brycg Stowe Rovers…

Belgium lead twice but we also peg them back each time in a hard fought game at Vanden Stock. Neset and Dokken getting each equaliser after efforts from Meert & Geraerts. Maybe this group is going to be tougher than i thought?

Brycg Stowe do it…

As do Jorvik….

As do Estone (Villa) in the UEFA Cup making it a clean sweep for the English sides.

Our last friendly is against Holland as I cancel the one with Denmark as it’s too close to the Germany game and I don’t want to risk further injuries. George and CBA get us into a 2 goal lead with half an hour to go. I decide to change up the formation to a more defensive one to see out the game so naturally we concede within 5 mins of doing so. We win 2-1 against tough opposition and it can only serve us well on the eve of the competition. I put Staurset in goal for this one and he take the MoM which is food for thought (he’s played a dozen game for Leyton Orient on loan from York).

A week later and we’ve our opening match against Germany. CBA continues his fine run of form as he scores 2 goals right before half time. Fensch (Sammer Jnr) scores earlyish in the second half making it a nervy last half hour or so. Staurset again defies his young years and keeps them at bay to give us a famous result.

Belgium aren’t as free flowing as they were a few months ago against us, although neither are we. We have to wait till the 81st minute when CBA grabs the eventual winner. A clean sheet for Staurset too will do wonders for his confidence.

Our final group game and a draw should see us through. It’s an emotional start as Neset gets cleaned out in the box in the second minute. He get’s stretchered off in what I hope isn’t going to put him out for too long. CBA smashes in the resulting penalty and then steals the ball from kickoff and scores again just a minute later. Ginchev gets one back for Bulgaria in the 33rd min. CBA completes his hat trick in the 51st and puts that bit of daylight between us. I make some subs late on to rest up key players for the knockouts. Iversen comes off injured literally a minute after coming on and we play the last 20 odd minutes with 10 men!

It doesn’t stop us…

Should be as easy as a bye this…. 😉

It kind of is….although we leave it late to put the game past the Scots and Picts. CBA got us going in the 38th min and George and an og from O’Donnell in the 85th and 87th mins see us through.

Current holders France will provide a much tougher test…

Or will they??? It’s the same scoreline as the quarters as our B Gee’s or 3 A’B’goes put us through to the final. Bjorndal, Bye Andersen and Bjorkan all on target to send the Franks packing!

We’ll face the hosts Italy in the final…

The final against Italy proved a step too far. I actually thought this might be our chance when the host nation had 2 goals disallowed in the second half. It wasn’t to be though as Vieri breaks our hearts in the 78th minute. We were never really at the races to be honest. Runners up is nothing to be sniffed at though in our short time together.

For the first time in this save there’s no players from Jorvik in the end of season honours lists.

Part of me thinks this is a decent place to leave this blog, however I think I want just one more crack at this international lark. So join me next time when we look to qualify for the World Cup and then hopefully go all the way.

Until then, Morna!