Football managers will do almost anything to win, but one gaffer once went as far as slaughtering a goat on the pitch.

Norwegian side Tromso were on a downward spiral in 2002 after they were relegated from the top flight and found themselves struggling again the following campaign. And one night, manager Trond Johansen got into a taxi that would seemingly change his life.

Johansen found comfort in the cab driver who he had explained the club’s predicament to, amazingly to his shock, he replied he was a shaman and could cast a spell to improve the team’s fortunes. And at such a dire point in their season, Johansen decided to give it a go.

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Johansen gathered his entire team, which included future Blackburn Rovers and Premier League midfielder Morten Gamst Pedersen, deep in a forest where his taxi driver mate performed a shamanic ritual.

While it remains hard to believe, the turn of fate would make even the biggest sceptic think twice, as remarkably Tromso pulled their form out of the fire and immediately won promotion back to the top-flight, even challenging for the Tippeligaen title – now known as the Eliteserien – early in the following season.

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But no good things come for free as Johansen found out after he received a call from the shamanic cabbie who demanded to be paid for his work that had seemingly turned the club’s fortunes around. And in true dramatic fashion, Johansen refused to cough up, seeing his friend turn foe as he then cast a curse on the club.

Incredibly, Tromso’s form nose dived again as they bounced from defeat to defeat and tumbled down the table – worrying Johansen and the club’s hierarchy over their future. Eventually fate came to them again, as the team learned of a way to break the spell by playing with black magic again.

This time, however, the ritual was brought to the ground where a goat from a local farm was slaughtered in the centre circle under the cover of darkness in a bid to break the curse. And extraordinary, it seemed to do exactly that – to the dismay of the cabbie.

Tromso massively upset the odds to beat league leaders Rosenberg at home the next game, marking the return of their good form as they survived relegation by a point. Tromso have only played outside of the top flight in two seasons since the goat's sacrifice, each time bouncing back with automatic promotion.

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