Marked for Faik Sakar
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad23 Feb 2032
Nikolas Dyhr 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.
Squad23 Feb 2032
A row about effort at Randers
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Nikolai Hopland was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout23 Feb 2032
Paul Izzo gets picked when it counts
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Paul Izzo is on it.
The dugout23 Feb 2032
Max Albæk gets it from the manager
“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.
Market23 Feb 2032
The Nikolas Dyhr talk will not go away
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Randers know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
Market23 Feb 2032
“We are a long way apart, and pretending otherwise helps nobody.” Neither side is close, and the calendar is not on the club's side.
The dugout23 Feb 2032
Faik Sakar knocks on the manager's door
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Randers, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Squad23 Feb 2032
A year in and the city has not opened up, the language has not come, and lunch is eaten alone more often than anybody at Randers would admit. It shows on Saturdays.
Market23 Feb 2032
The shop window has Levy Varisli in it
Randers have let the market know Levy Varisli can be had. No price in the advert, but everyone in the trade knows roughly what it says.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad2 Feb 2032
Lasse Jorgensen damages knee ligaments — 26 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 26 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
Boardroom2 Feb 2032
The silence upstairs is getting loud at Randers
Nobody on the board has said anything against the manager, which is the point — they have stopped saying anything for him either.
Boardroom2 Feb 2032
Deadline passes with 5 signed and 4 gone
That is the business done at Randers until the window opens again. Whether it was enough will be answered on Saturdays rather than in a column, and the first Saturday is close.
Market2 Feb 2032
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Randers is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Transfer targets2 Feb 2032
The offer went to Brondby this week and it is theirs to answer. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loud the door closes.
Squad2 Feb 2032
Words exchanged at Randers
Paul Izzo and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Market2 Feb 2032
Add another name to the list: AGF have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Mathias Norgaard. The answer from Randers has not changed — yet.
Squad2 Feb 2032
Words at Randers training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Nikolai Hopland is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Boardroom2 Feb 2032
Wages eat 89% of everything Randers earn
There is a figure at which a wage bill stops being ambitious and becomes the reason nothing else is possible, and this club has reached it. Nothing is left over for a transfer, a stand or a rainy afternoon.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Match19 Nov 2031
Randers march on in the cup
AGF are out and Randers go through, 2‑1 the final word. The bracket opens up a little, and everyone allows themselves a look at it.
Player ratings24 Nov 2031
2 goals, and the second was the one that settled it. Marked 9.26, and he could have had a third with better luck at the near post.
Match19 Nov 2031
Some goals win a match and some take one off somebody else. James Bogere scored in the 88th minute, AGF had already begun thinking about the journey home, and Randers took the lot.
Match22 Nov 2031
Randers make it 3 in a row
Momentum is a hard thing to buy and an easy thing to lose, and right now Randers have 3 straight wins of it.
Squad24 Nov 2031
Paul Izzo in a row with a teammate
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Randers this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad24 Nov 2031
A row about effort at Randers
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Nikolas Dyhr was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Match22 Nov 2031
Randers get the job done against Hobro
A 3‑1 win over Hobro, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
The terraces24 Nov 2031
The crowd has taken to Faik Sakar
At 23 he is being sung about by people twice his age, which is an affection a signing has to earn over years and a local kid gets for turning up. It is also the hardest thing in football to live up to.
Match22 Nov 2031
Randers keep winning on the road
3 away wins in a row. Travelling support is the truest kind, and this season it is being repaid in the only currency that counts.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Player ratings25 Aug 2031
Faik Sakar beats them one at a time
Successful dribbles: 37. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
Match20 Aug 2031
Randers through in the cup
A 1‑0 win over Esbjerg, and the draw for the next round can be watched with some interest for once.
Squad25 Aug 2031
A one-man rearguard from Paul Izzo
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.
Squad25 Aug 2031
Paul Izzo 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.
Squad25 Aug 2031
Nikolas Dyhr falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Match23 Aug 2031
A bad afternoon for Randers against Brondby
0‑2 to Brondby, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Player ratings25 Aug 2031
Marked 8.31 — the sort of number a correspondent writes down twice to be sure. Everything he tried came off, and what he did not try was not worth trying.
Squad25 Aug 2031
At 25 the improving is meant to be over. It is not: 3 points better than the mark taken at the start of the year, which is the sort of thing that happens to players who take the boring parts of the job seriously.
The dugout25 Aug 2031
“I could talk about decisions and I could talk about luck. I will not. We lost.” The manager, 0‑2, and a press conference that lasted four minutes.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Player ratings11 Aug 2031
Successful dribbles: 31. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad11 Aug 2031
33 days, the medical staff say, and medical staff are optimists by profession. The team sheet will look wrong without him.
Transfer targets11 Aug 2031
Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at Esbjerg is saying, and nobody at Randers is enjoying the guessing.
Squad11 Aug 2031
A falling-out at Randers
Paul Izzo and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad11 Aug 2031
The step up is real for Faik Sakar
At 23 he is doing things this season that he could not do last season, and doing them every week. Form comes and goes; this has stayed long enough to be called something else.
Squad11 Aug 2031
A row about effort at Randers
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Nikolas Dyhr was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Match9 Aug 2031
Randers come up short against OB
OB left with the points after a 0‑1 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
The dugout11 Aug 2031
The manager’s verdict
“That is on me. I pick the team and I picked wrong.” Managers say that when they mean it and when they need to be seen to, and after 0‑1 Martin Jorgensen left the room before anybody could ask which.
The dugout11 Aug 2031
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Siyabonga Mabena is on it.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market14 Jul 2031
“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.
Transfer targets14 Jul 2031
Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at Esbjerg is saying, and nobody at Randers is enjoying the guessing.
Squad14 Jul 2031
Nikolas Dyhr 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.
Squad14 Jul 2031
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Faik Sakar is 23, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Transfer targets14 Jul 2031
The approach was made and the answer came back in a sentence. There is no number on the table because there was no number that would have been enough.
Market14 Jul 2031
Everyone has stopped pretending: SonderjyskE will make the call about Ousseynou Seck this week. Randers have a number in mind, and the number is not shy.
Squad14 Jul 2031
Wessel Dammers falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Transfer targets14 Jul 2031
A loan move for Ethan Gold is in the works
Randers have made the call to Dinamo Bucharest. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
The dugout14 Jul 2031
Nikolas Dyhr gets picked when it counts
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Nikolas Dyhr is on it.