Marked for Andreas Lie-Strand
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Player ratings24 Sep 2029
Successful dribbles: 32. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
Player ratings24 Sep 2029
Two goals and a mark of 9.24 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Squad24 Sep 2029
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 6 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Squad24 Sep 2029
17 goals and a season average of 7.36. Form like that gets noticed well beyond this town.
Match22 Sep 2029
A 2‑1 win over Sarpsborg 08, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
Squad24 Sep 2029
“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; Tromso are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
Squad24 Sep 2029
A falling-out at Tromso
Jørgen Bøe and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
The dugout24 Sep 2029
The view from the dugout
“We controlled it. There were spells I did not like and we will look at them, but the group showed me something.” Martin Lien, on a 2‑1 win that he was already picking apart on the walk to the press room.
The dugout24 Sep 2029
“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
Steady
Market5 Feb 2029
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Tromso can pretend not to have heard.
Squad5 Feb 2029
Tempers go at Tromso
Casper Øyvann 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.
The dugout5 Feb 2029
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Stefan Linnes, and the manager let it.
Squad5 Feb 2029
Words at Tromso training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Johan Solstad-Nøis 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 targets5 Feb 2029
A loan move for Ramahlwe Zungu is in the works
Tromso have made the call to SuperSport United. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
Squad5 Feb 2029
He used to be one of the options. He is now one of the men the options are picked around, and the change happened quietly enough that only the dressing room noticed on the day.
Market5 Feb 2029
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Ieltsin Camões signs something — a contract at Tromso or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
Boardroom5 Feb 2029
The window opens at Tromso
A month in which every rumour is possible and most of them are nonsense. The manager has a list, the board has a number, and neither is telling the other the whole of it.
The dugout5 Feb 2029
He asked about his future and was given an answer with minutes in it. The manager has now made a promise in a building where promises are remembered, and the clock on it has started.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad25 Dec 2028
A falling-out at Tromso
Casper Øyvann and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
The dugout25 Dec 2028
news_b_old_wounds_reopened
Squad25 Dec 2028
William Kaastrup 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.
The dugout25 Dec 2028
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 Mathias Tønnessen is on it.
The dugout25 Dec 2028
The manager makes an example of Stefan Linnes
“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.
Market25 Dec 2028
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until David Edvardsson signs something — a contract at Tromso or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
From our football correspondent
Steady
The dugout13 Nov 2028
“I was told what my role would be, and I signed on that basis. It has not happened.” A grievance with a date attached is the hardest kind to settle.
Squad13 Nov 2028
Tempers go at Tromso
Casper Øyvann 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.
Squad13 Nov 2028
Words at Tromso training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ruben Yttergård Jenssen 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.
The dugout13 Nov 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.
Market13 Nov 2028
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Ieltsin Camões signs something — a contract at Tromso or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
The dugout13 Nov 2028
Jørgen Bøe knocks on the manager’s door
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Jørgen Bøe trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad12 Jun 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 Tromso this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad12 Jun 2028
Words at Tromso training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ruben Yttergård Jenssen 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.
Match10 Jun 2028
It finished 2‑1, and it was Daniel Braut’s afternoon: on the scoresheet when it mattered, and the reason the points belong to Tromso.
The dugout12 Jun 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.
The terraces12 Jun 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.
Player ratings12 Jun 2028
Marked 7.89 on an afternoon he ran from the first whistle to the last. Whatever else went wrong, Tromso had the best player on the pitch.
The dugout12 Jun 2028
“The players deserve the credit. My job was easy today.” It was not, and everybody in the room knew it; after 2‑1, Martin Lien could afford to be generous.
The dugout12 Jun 2028
Jørgen Bøe dropped after a run of poor form
The one version of being left out a player cannot argue with, and the one he takes worst. Somebody else has been better and the team sheet says so, in public, every week until it changes.
The dugout12 Jun 2028
Ninety specific minutes wanted a different sort of player, and the manager picked one. He is not out of form and he is not in the side, and both are true.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market3 Apr 2028
Tromso say no — this time
The offer from GIF Sundsvall for Ieltsin Camões was heard out and sent back the same day. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loudly the door closes.
Market3 Apr 2028
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Tromso have lost him in all but the paperwork.
Boardroom3 Apr 2028
Window shuts: 6 in, 6 out at Tromso
The deadline has passed and the squad is the squad. 6 arrived, 6 left, and everything else printed about this club last month was a rumour that stayed one.
Transfer targets3 Apr 2028
Tromso offered $110.0K; Stabaek said it was not close. The manager will be told the money is still there for the right player, which is what managers are told.
Squad3 Apr 2028
Words at Tromso training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ruben Yttergård Jenssen 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.
The dugout3 Apr 2028
news_b_old_wounds_reopened
Squad3 Apr 2028
Tromso are still strangers to each other
8 new signings in one window. Every one may be an upgrade and the side can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild the verdicts never mention.
The dugout3 Apr 2028
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Johan Solstad-Nøis, and the manager let it.
The dugout3 Apr 2028
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 Mathias Tønnessen is on it.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad31 Jan 2028
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.
Squad31 Jan 2028
A falling-out at Tromso
David Edvardsson and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Market31 Jan 2028
The Troy Nyhammer conversation is coming
Everyone has stopped pretending: AGF will make the call about Troy Nyhammer this week. Tromso have a number in mind, and the number is not shy.
The dugout31 Jan 2028
news_b_old_wounds_reopened
The dugout31 Jan 2028
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Jørgen Bøe, and the manager let it.
Market31 Jan 2028
He is 20, and nobody at Tromso signed him for this season. Deals like this are judged in four years, by people who may not still be in the building.
Squad31 Jan 2028
Too much change too quickly at Tromso
5 signings in three months. Every one of them may be an upgrade and the team can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild that never appears in the transfer-window verdicts.
Squad31 Jan 2028
He is not being dropped. There is simply nowhere in the formation Tromso are playing to put a man who does what he does, which is a harder thing to be told than any team sheet.
Market31 Jan 2028
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Vegard Erlien signs something — a contract at Tromso or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad3 Jan 2028
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Viking will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
The dugout3 Jan 2028
news_b_frozen_out_of_the_side
Squad3 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 Viking this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad3 Jan 2028
A row about effort at Viking
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Kristoffer Askildsen was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout3 Jan 2028
A promise honoured at Viking
Something was said to Nick D'Agostino and then it happened. In this industry that passes for remarkable, and the dressing room noticed faster than any supporter could.
The dugout3 Jan 2028
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
Market3 Jan 2028
The name of Henrik Falchener keeps appearing in other people's back pages. Viking say nothing, which says plenty.
Match3 Jan 2028
Viking in the hunt for Europe
Position 5, 52 points, and a run-in that decides whether next season has Thursday nights in it. Nobody is calling it a race yet, which is what people say during one.
Market3 Jan 2028
“There is a gap, and pretending there is not helps nobody.” Neither side has moved, and the calendar is working for exactly one of them.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad27 Dec 2027
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Viking will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Squad27 Dec 2027
Words at Viking training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Henrik Falchener 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.
Squad27 Dec 2027
A falling-out at Viking
Gianni Stensness and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad27 Dec 2027
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Andreas Lie-Strand commits to Viking for another 4 years.
The dugout27 Dec 2027
Veton Berisha 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 Veton Berisha is on it.
The dugout27 Dec 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Sondre Tveiten, and the manager let it.