Marked for Nicky van der Kerk
From our football correspondent
Steady
The dugout24 Apr 2028
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Sandviken may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Market24 Apr 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.
Player ratings24 Apr 2028
Up for the corner, and Fabian Andersson delivers — 7.84
Centre-halves are allowed forward twice a season and are judged on what they do when they get there. Fabian Andersson scored, was marked 7.84, and got back before anybody noticed he had gone.
Squad24 Apr 2028
Fabian Andersson 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.
Squad24 Apr 2028
Words exchanged at Sandviken
Christian Wagner 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.
The terraces24 Apr 2028
He is 23 and the ground already sings his name, which is a thing that happens to local boys and almost never to signings. Everything from here is measured against an affection he did nothing to earn except be from here.
Match22 Apr 2028
Three points for Sandviken, 2‑0 the final word against IK Brage in a contest settled by the finer margins.
The dugout24 Apr 2028
“The players deserve the credit. My job was easy today.” It was not, and everybody in the room knew it; after 2‑0, Erik Svanberg could afford to be generous.
The dugout24 Apr 2028
The manager makes an example of Nino Geiger
“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.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad10 Apr 2028
Nicky van der Kerk damages knee ligaments — 18 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 18 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.
Market10 Apr 2028
Everything was agreed until it was not, and William Thellsson reports back to Sandviken with a summer to forget. Neither club is saying who walked away from the table.
Match8 Apr 2028
The wait goes on for Sandviken
5 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
Squad10 Apr 2028
“The easiest signature of my career.” Christian Wagner and Sandviken agree another 4 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Squad10 Apr 2028
Words at Sandviken training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Fabian Andersson 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.
Transfer targets10 Apr 2028
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.
Squad10 Apr 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 Sandviken this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The dugout10 Apr 2028
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Anomnachi Chidi, and the manager let it.
Market10 Apr 2028
“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.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad28 Jun 2027
26 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Cambuur lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Match28 Jun 2027
The view from the top for Cambuur
79 points, and the rest of the division looking up. Every side that finishes first spends the season pretending it is not thinking about it, and this one has started pretending.
Market28 Jun 2027
The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.
Market28 Jun 2027
Oussama Alou hands in a written request
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Cambuur can pretend not to have heard.
Market28 Jun 2027
Business is business: Skye Vink goes
Volendam paid $1.5M and Cambuur took it, which is the whole story in one sentence. The longer version involves a wage budget and will be told all season.
Market28 Jun 2027
The phone has started ringing about Tony Rölke again, and this time the name on the line is Ural. Cambuur are listening politely and promising nothing.
Squad28 Jun 2027
Words exchanged at Cambuur
Mathieu Maertens 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.
Transfer targets28 Jun 2027
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.
Squad28 Jun 2027
A row about effort at Cambuur
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Devid Bouah was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.