Tromsø started the season optimistic of avoiding relegation scrap and looking towards the European places under the guidance of the experienced Bård Flovik. They actually started the season with seven points from the first three games and the fans were already beginning to dream. But what followed next was a steep decline in results and displays as the team started to rapidly lose confidence and drop down the table. The stodgy system applied by the manager was getting exposed and players began to show their limitations. A shock 2:1 win at Rosenborg was a big outlier but otherwise the Northerners picked up just four points in a stretch of 13 games from May to August. Flovik was looking antiquated and lacking the idea how to stop the rot. His big players in Gjermund Åsen, Simen Wangberg and Morten Gamst Pedersen, were not really having any sort of impact, and it was looking increasingly like Tromsø were heading for the drop. The board eventually took the decision to sack the much-respected Flovik and replaced him with Finnish manager Simo Valakari, who has made his name in the local league with SJK. He immediately changed the system to 3-4-3 and started bolstering the belief of the players. Results were initially not great and a particularly dismal 4:1 loss at the hands of Kristiansunds seemed to be the final nail in the coffin. But what followed was nothing short of an extraordinary recovery from the team as they started to really buy into the new coach and his ideas over time, with results improving as well. A brilliant 5:0 win over high-flyers Sarpborg in September proved something of a catalyst as the team just got better and better, with those insipid displays from earlier in the season looking like an illusion. Mushaga Bakenga proved a top signing as he acted as a focal point up front while the defence was vastly improved after the tactical switch. A few wins under the belt cut the gap to safety and suddenly the team looked capable of rescuing themselves. Indeed, four wins on the bounce in the final games of the season sealed the deal and ensured the team's stay in the division, an achievement for which Valakari deserves massive credit given the mess he inherited when he joined.
