AC Milan; Real Madrid; Feyenoord; Boavista; Borussia Dortmund. Just some of the clubs during the 90s that felt the wrath of a Northern opponent, and one that was a regular amongst Europe’s elite.
8 successive Group Stage appearances in the competition.
The first side to progress to the knockouts from their country.
This was all achieved from within a nation that was predominately a defensive-minded country. The 4-4-2 was the chosen formation in the early ’90s, but this club’s management ripped up that notion and elected to go with a 4-3-3 – putting firm belief in a solid backline capable of mounting a quick counter-attack.
Inspired by Rinus Michels’ philosophy of ‘Totaalvoetbal’, it took the club a couple of years to adapt to their newfound style – they won the inaugural league title, lost it the following season before mounting their impressive 13 consecutive titles, that has only been bettered by 2 sides in Europe since.
Ludogorets Razgard will be going into the 2024/25 season looking to leapfrog them to make it 3 sides.
With the club all pulling in the same direction, they battered their domestic competition week-in and week-out to claim 13 straight league titles from 1992 to 2004 before succumbing to their own downfall.
In 2004, they lost their first-team manager to the national side, and whilst his replacement did win the league on the final day, he was given his marching orders. In 2005, the saying “too many cooks spoil the broth” came true, as the new manager was overseen by a club legend.
Rosenborg BK had lost their grip on Norwegian football.
But what gave them the ability to tighten their grip year after year? They were financially backed by their main sponsor, which allowed Rosenborg to bring in a more professional team to heighten their commercial revenue reach.
Whilst money in the ’90s was nothing like the money today, the most genius decision was to recruit Nils Arne Eggen as manager for the 1988 season. A former player, captain and coach, Eggen had already won the side 4 trophies in two separate stints, he was not a stranger to the club and would have the facilities to kick on – they became a professional side in 1985.
Eggen was inspired by Michel’s philosophy, and the Dutchman even invited him to watch Ajax training sessions in the 70s to further enhance his knowledge of this new philosophy and how he could make this work in Trondheim.
Club Philosophy – Total Football and its Companion
It is hugely important to note that despite their success with Total Football within Norway, it was not always sunshine and rainbows when it came to the European stage. Heavy 5-0 defeats against KV Mechelen and Sampdoria in 1989 and 1991 respectively, brought a lot of media attention to Rosenborg.
The scrutiny Eggen was coming under for being so naive and expansive in Europe, led to changes being made and Rosenborg eventually set themselves up in a 4-5-1 when playing on the big stage. Performances and results improved with this change, but there was still a gulf between Rosenborg and their opponents.
Domestically, Rosenborg was a team that was dangerous through their transitional play; movement and passing. If you could control both of these factors, then you would control the pitch’s space and be able to dominate your opposition. A joyous form of football. This was Total Football.
But Total Football without any form of organisation would be complete chaos. And this is where Eggen shaped his playing staff meticulously to ensure dominance on the Norwegian front. Eggen introduced the theory of “The Best Foot”.
The theory is now applied in almost every walk of life, you just may not know of it in its purest form. The article ‘The Best Foot Theory – Reinforce Individual Core Skills to get the Best Team Result’ dives into what makes up the theory by demonstrating the difference between cooperation and collaboration.
The above graphic is what Eggen sought after each year when he was selecting his players. Individuality was not banished from the club, it was encouraged if it was deemed necessary within their playing role. But the emphasis was on that player’s ability to collaborate with his teammates. His ability to create opportunities for others to “perfectly do their job”.
The club was one during Eggen’s time. If there was a bad performance, the team was bad; if it was an exceptional performance, the team was exceptional. Eggen felt that if he continued to drive home the idea of playing to the team’s strengths every week, any weaknesses would not be relevant to the outcome of the game.
To implement this in Football Manager, I need to consider a couple of factors for each player:
- Teamwork
- Work Rate
- Personality
- Social Groups
From there, I then need to consider the player as a whole for each area of the park – this is something I will cover in the next post as I dive into the tactical structure of the side.
The Importance of Youth
It is important to understand the Norwegian counties, and why Rosenborg decided on a particular approach surrounding youth prospects.
Rosenborg are the only major club in the Trøndelag county, meaning that they have no competition when it comes to younger players to sign for their youth department. The closest competition? Kristiansund and Molde, 197 and 220 kilometres away respectively.
However, Rosenborg’s youth department was only in operation until 1992, the decision to close it down was made due to a high number of ‘poor’ prospects. It did not stop 9 Trondheim boys from knocking out AC Milan in the 1996 Champions League; a statistic that will be hard to replicate.
Eggen, during the 1990s, believed that the best form of youth development was through development at their home-based clubs. Coupled with UEFA home-grown rulings, Rosenborg began recruiting players between the ages of 15-17 to comply with the new rules, whilst also learning about Rosenborg and what it means to pull on the famous jersey.
Club Objective #1 – Review all youth squads and implement an appropriate structure.
Club Objective #2 – Replicate 9 local boys or more in a Champions League tie.
Club Objective #3 – Overtake Skonto and Lincoln Red Imps for the most consecutive league championships.
Club Objective #4 – Become the first Norwegian side to lift a European trophy.
Club Objective #5 – Become Club World Cup champions.
Club Culture #1 – Ensure that the squad personality is determined.
Club Culture #2 – Rebuild a 4-3-3 formation and ensure attacking and exciting football; much like Rosenborg during the 90s.
Club Culture #3 – Build a defensively sound 4-5-1 formation for the European games where we are expected to be underdogs
Club Culture #4 – Recruit players between 15 & 17 for first-team development.
Club Culture #5 – Ensure that youth players are given a chance to perform for the first team when they are deserving of it.
With time, I may look to adapt these cultures or adopt brand new ones.
With my culture in mind, and my short and long term objectives in place, now is the best time to get the save underway. This is going to be a marathon instead of a sprint, and it may take a couple of years to fully implement my vision for the future – perhaps this will be the second coming of Rosenborg like the late 80s?
Thanks for your time in reading this blog post, it’s a new league for me and with a set vision in place, I hope it then proves difficult enough of a challenge!
CameronFM
The FM Boot Room 
Leave a comment