Marked for Ignacio Valenzuela
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Market16 Jul 2029
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
Market16 Jul 2029
Lucas Nicol has one foot out of the door
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Mjondalen they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Match14 Jul 2029
5 matches without a win for Mjondalen
The run now stands at 5, and the questions being asked around Mjondalen are no longer polite ones.
Squad16 Jul 2029
Eirik Holmen was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Match14 Jul 2029
Beaten 0‑2, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Player ratings16 Jul 2029
Successful dribbles: 19. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad16 Jul 2029
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
Squad16 Jul 2029
39 days, the scan says, and scans are kinder than reality. The fixtures in that window have just become somebody else’s job.
Squad16 Jul 2029
“The easiest signature of my career.” Ignacio Valenzuela and Mjondalen agree another 3 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market19 Mar 2029
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
Squad19 Mar 2029
Tobias Flem was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Squad19 Mar 2029
The medical room confirms 21 days on the sidelines for Patrick Linnes, and a plan built around him now has to be rebuilt.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market18 Dec 2028
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
Squad18 Dec 2028
“Some mornings you wake up and you are still a long way from everything you know.” It is not the football and it never was; Mjondalen are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
Squad18 Dec 2028
Anders Bærtelsen was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match27 May 2028
No end in sight to Mjondalen's wait for a win
8 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Mjondalen has to find a result from somewhere.
Squad29 May 2028
Anders Bærtelsen was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Squad29 May 2028
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Iver Fossum, and the manager let it.
Player ratings29 May 2028
Successful dribbles: 19. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Match27 May 2028
Tromso left with the points after a 0‑1 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Player ratings29 May 2028
Marked 5.75, and generously at that. Nothing came off, and by the end the crowd had stopped expecting it to.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad1 May 2028
A one-man rearguard from Eirik Holmen
There were 6 saves in it, and at least three that had no business being saves at all. The ten outfield players owe him a drink and they know it.
Market1 May 2028
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Mjondalen can pretend not to have heard.
Squad1 May 2028
Anders Bærtelsen was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Player ratings1 May 2028
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.97, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
Squad1 May 2028
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.
Match29 Apr 2028
A 1‑1 draw with Molde leaves the dressing room somewhere between relief and regret.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Market14 Feb 2028
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
Squad14 Feb 2028
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Mjondalen this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad14 Feb 2028
14 days, the medical staff say, and medical staff are optimists by profession. The team sheet will look wrong without him.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Market17 Jan 2028
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at Mjondalen, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad17 Jan 2028
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Mjondalen this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad17 Jan 2028
46 days, the scan says, and scans are kinder than reality. The fixtures in that window have just become somebody else’s job.