Viking finally paid the price for their financial state and were comfortably relegated with three games to spare. Head coach Ian Burchnall was strangely relieved of his duties after their 2-1 win over Sarpsborg 08 with relegation already confirmed, and they capped off the campaign with a 2-0 win over Stabaek. So the signs suggest that the Stavanger side will be able to bounce back if they can keep a competitive squad together, but the season has been a sorry tale of buckling under the pressure too many times, and conceding plenty of last minute goals that have always ruined any positive impact the players have had earlier in the games. 24 points from 30 games was not nearly enough, and Aalesund finished eight points above them. The writing was on the wall early on with four straight defeats, and the great escape was never on despite the glimmers of hope throughout the season. Every positive result was not built upon, and they just couldn't string any kind of positive results together. The cuts to the budget have just been too deep at Viking and there really was no other outcome than relegation.
Karol Mets was sold to leave a gaping hole in the back four. Samuel Adegbenro went to Rosenborg in the summer which cut off the productivity going forward. Instead Viking went for cheap loans that have never really worked out. The only signing of note is Tommy Hoiland who will no doubt be a top scorer contender should he decide to help the club out of their OBOS-ligaen mess next year. If Andre Danielsen is kept on he too will be a valuable asset for the Stavanger side in the division below in 2018. These are the kind of players Viking need to build a competitive team around, and to avoid years in the wilderness the club really need to show better signs of planning for the future than they have done to date. There's been no clear direction from the top and Burchnall was completely cut adrift at the end, a helpless man doing what he can from the sidelines with very little encouragement from the hierarchy.
What Viking need to do now is to follow in the footsteps of the likes of Brann, who wasted little time in getting their club up and running again following relegation. They used it as a springboard to get rid of the deadwood and have a clear plan going forward. Since winning the OBOS-ligen Brann have finished second and fifth in the top tier. That's the sort of level Viking need to find themselves back at. Football in Stavanger has suffered over a long period of time, and Stavanger Stadion has been a graveyard at times this season. That's such a shame for a club that are one of the major players in Norwegian football. Now is the time for Viking to rebuild and restructure, and to make sure that past mistakes and mismanagement will never be repeated.
