Marked for Terry Benjamin
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match5 May 2027
Odd ended it 2‑2. The season narrows to the league now, and everyone in the ground knew it before the final whistle.
Match8 May 2027
No end in sight to Lillestrom's wait for a win
8 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Lillestrom has to find a result from somewhere.
Squad10 May 2027
Stefan Hagerup decides it from twelve yards
1 kept out in the shoot-out, and a stadium that will still be describing them in twenty years. A goalkeeper only needs one of these to be remembered forever.
Player ratings10 May 2027
Nobody could get near Felix Vá
Successful dribbles: 28. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Player ratings10 May 2027
Defensive actions: 24. He was first to everything and second to nothing, and the goalkeeper had an easy day because of it.
Squad10 May 2027
Kevin Krygård 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.
Match8 May 2027
Still nobody has beaten Lillestrom
The unbeaten run reaches 6. Some of them were wins and some were escapes, but a side that refuses to lose is a side other dressing rooms talk about.
Player ratings10 May 2027
A defender's afternoon for Kevin Krygård
Defensive actions: 21. He was first to everything and second to nothing, and the goalkeeper had an easy day because of it.
Player ratings10 May 2027
A performance of 8.39 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad26 Apr 2027
Sander Moen Foss: that is not what I was promised
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Lillestrom have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Match24 Apr 2027
No end in sight to Lillestrom's wait for a win
5 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Lillestrom has to find a result from somewhere.
Player ratings26 Apr 2027
Felix Vá runs at them all day
Successful dribbles: 22. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad26 Apr 2027
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Lillestrom this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Player ratings26 Apr 2027
A performance of 8.64 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
Squad26 Apr 2027
The manager makes an example of Terry Benjamin
“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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad19 Apr 2027
125 days, the medical staff say, and medical staff are optimists by profession. The team sheet will look wrong without him.
Match17 Apr 2027
No end in sight to Lillestrom's wait for a win
4 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Lillestrom has to find a result from somewhere.
Squad19 Apr 2027
67 days, the medical staff say, and medical staff are optimists by profession. The team sheet will look wrong without him.
Squad19 Apr 2027
Kevin Krygård 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 ratings19 Apr 2027
Successful dribbles: 20. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Player ratings19 Apr 2027
Marked 8.09 — 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.
Squad19 Apr 2027
A defender's mistake gets tidied up by somebody else; a goalkeeper's ends up in the net. He knew before the ball crossed the line, and so did everybody in the ground.
Loan watch19 Apr 2027
“I did not go to Sarpsborg 08 to sit and watch. I want to come back to Lillestrom and fight for my place.” 0 appearances in 9 matches say the rest.
Match17 Apr 2027
A 1‑1 draw with IK Start leaves the dressing room somewhere between relief and regret.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market29 Mar 2027
The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.
Squad29 Mar 2027
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Lillestrom this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Market29 Mar 2027
The phone has started ringing about Salieu Drammeh again, and this time the name on the line is Stabaek. Lillestrom are listening politely and promising nothing.
Squad29 Mar 2027
“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.
Squad29 Mar 2027
Salieu Drammeh 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 Salieu Drammeh trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Squad29 Mar 2027
A year in and the language has not come, the city has not opened up, and he eats alone more often than anybody at Lillestrom would like to admit. It is showing on Saturdays.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market8 Mar 2027
Tom Strannegård has left for Tromso in a $2.2M deal. The accountants are pleased; the supporters are less certain.
Market8 Mar 2027
The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.
Squad8 Mar 2027
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Eirik Schulze commits to IK Start for another 2 years.
Market8 Mar 2027
Terry Benjamin has left for Lillestrom in a $890.0K deal. The accountants are pleased; the supporters are less certain.
Squad8 Mar 2027
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at IK Start this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Market8 Mar 2027
The name of Julian Håbesland has come up in conversations IK Start were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market8 Mar 2027
The paperwork is done: Terry Benjamin joins from IK Start in a deal worth $890.0K. Now comes the harder part.
Squad8 Mar 2027
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Przemysław Tytoń commits to Lillestrom for another 2 years.
Squad8 Mar 2027
Kevin Krygård 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
Uneasy
Market1 Mar 2027
Everything was agreed until it was not, and Alexander Gurendal reports back to IK Start with a summer to forget. Neither club is saying who walked away from the table.
Squad1 Mar 2027
Eirik Schulze 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.
Market1 Mar 2027
Tromso are about to pick up the phone
A conversation is coming this week. IK Start will put a number on him, and from there it stops being football and becomes arithmetic.
Squad1 Mar 2027
A year in and the language has not come, the city has not opened up, and he eats alone more often than anybody at IK Start would like to admit. It is showing on Saturdays.
Loan watch1 Mar 2027
13 appearances at Valletta and the goals keep coming. IK Start are watching this more closely than the borrowing club would like.
Squad1 Mar 2027
A new face in his position, and Terry Benjamin suddenly has to win back what he thought he owned. IK Start have promised nothing — clubs rarely do at this stage.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market15 Feb 2027
“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.
Match15 Feb 2027
IK Start are in real trouble now
Position 14, 9 points, and a fixture list with fewer games left in it than excuses. The arithmetic is not cruel yet, but it has stopped being kind.
Market15 Feb 2027
The paperwork is done: Simen Haram joins from Aalesund in a deal worth $280.0K. Now comes the harder part.
Squad15 Feb 2027
Eirik Schulze 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.
Squad15 Feb 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Herman Waage, and the manager let it.
Squad15 Feb 2027
The competition arrived without a word said to him about it. Markus Soomets keeps the shirt for now, at IK Start's convenience rather than his own.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market1 Feb 2027
“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.
Squad1 Feb 2027
Fredrik Pålerud 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.
Squad1 Feb 2027
Terry Benjamin 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 IK Start, and both men came out saying it was fine.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad25 Jan 2027
“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.
Squad25 Jan 2027
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at IK Start this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Boardroom25 Jan 2027
99% of the income goes out in wages at IK Start
Every club in football pays most of what it earns to its players. Paying nearly all of it is a different arrangement, and it has ended the same way every time somebody has tried it.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market18 Jan 2027
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what IK Start can pretend not to have heard.
Match18 Jan 2027
IK Start sink to position 14
9 points, and a fixture list that is running out. The mathematics are not yet cruel, but they are no longer kind.
Squad18 Jan 2027
Eirik Schulze 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
Uneasy
Market21 Dec 2026
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what IK Start can pretend not to have heard.
Match21 Dec 2026
Every point is an argument now for IK Start
Position 14 and 9 points, and the table gets read bottom-up in this part of town. The calendar has stopped being a schedule and started being a countdown.
Squad21 Dec 2026
Fredrik Pålerud 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
Uneasy
Market14 Dec 2026
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what IK Start can pretend not to have heard.
Squad14 Dec 2026
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at IK Start this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad14 Dec 2026
Terry Benjamin asks for a word with the manager
“I would rather say it to his face than read about it.” The meeting was requested by the player, which tells you most of what you need to know.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad7 Dec 2026
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” IK Start may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Squad7 Dec 2026
Markus Soomets 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.
Squad7 Dec 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Ousmane Diallo, and the manager let it.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market23 Nov 2026
“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 IK Start, and it is not being withdrawn.
Match23 Nov 2026
Every point is an argument now for IK Start
Position 14 and 9 points, and the table gets read bottom-up in this part of town. The calendar has stopped being a schedule and started being a countdown.
Squad23 Nov 2026
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” IK Start may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match31 Oct 2026
13 matches without a win for IK Start
The run now stands at 13, and the questions being asked around IK Start are no longer polite ones.
Player ratings2 Nov 2026
Successful dribbles: 24. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Boardroom2 Nov 2026
Wages eat 232% of everything IK Start 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.
Player ratings2 Nov 2026
A performance of 8.06 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
Squad2 Nov 2026
The manager makes an example of Erlend Segberg
“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.
Squad2 Nov 2026
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at IK Start this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match24 Oct 2026
No end in sight to IK Start's wait for a win
12 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at IK Start has to find a result from somewhere.
Match26 Oct 2026
IK Start sink to position 15
8 points, and a fixture list that is running out. The mathematics are not yet cruel, but they are no longer kind.
Market26 Oct 2026
“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.
Squad26 Oct 2026
Markus Soomets 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.
Squad26 Oct 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Jacob Pryts, and the manager let it.
Player ratings26 Oct 2026
Marked 8.39 — 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.
Player ratings26 Oct 2026
Successful dribbles: 17. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Player ratings26 Oct 2026
Shots: 10, enough of them from close enough that a striker in form scores two. He is not a striker in form.
Match24 Oct 2026
1‑1, and both dressing rooms will call it two points lost. A draw that asked plenty of questions and answered none of them.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match17 Oct 2026
11 matches without a win for IK Start
The run now stands at 11, and the questions being asked around IK Start are no longer polite ones.
Market19 Oct 2026
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what IK Start can pretend not to have heard.
Market19 Oct 2026
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around IK Start they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Player ratings19 Oct 2026
Successful dribbles: 23. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad19 Oct 2026
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at IK Start this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad19 Oct 2026
“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.
Match17 Oct 2026
It finished 1‑1, and it somehow always looked like it would. One of those afternoons where the table moves less than the tempers.
Squad19 Oct 2026
Terry Benjamin 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 IK Start, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Player ratings19 Oct 2026
Marked 5.71, and generously at that. Nothing came off, and by the end the crowd had stopped expecting it to.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match10 Oct 2026
10 matches without a win for IK Start
The run now stands at 10, and the questions being asked around IK Start are no longer polite ones.
Player ratings12 Oct 2026
Successful dribbles: 27. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad12 Oct 2026
Eirik Schulze 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.
Match10 Oct 2026
Viking left with the points after a 0‑2 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Squad12 Oct 2026
Terry Benjamin 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 IK Start, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Player ratings12 Oct 2026
The one thing Luka Smyth could not do
Shots: 7, enough of them from close enough that a striker in form scores two. He is not a striker in form.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match12 Sep 2026
The wait goes on for IK Start
6 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.
Player ratings14 Sep 2026
Successful dribbles: 25. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad14 Sep 2026
Markus Soomets 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 Sep 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Jacob Pryts, and the manager let it.
Player ratings14 Sep 2026
A performance of 8.03 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
Match12 Sep 2026
IK Start and Odd take a point apiece
It finished 1‑1, and it somehow always looked like it would. One of those afternoons where the table moves less than the tempers.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match5 Sep 2026
5 matches without a win for IK Start
The run now stands at 5, and the questions being asked around IK Start are no longer polite ones.
Squad7 Sep 2026
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at IK Start this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Player ratings7 Sep 2026
Successful dribbles: 22. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Boardroom7 Sep 2026
306% of the income goes out in wages at IK Start
Every club in football pays most of what it earns to its players. Paying nearly all of it is a different arrangement, and it has ended the same way every time somebody has tried it.
Player ratings7 Sep 2026
Marked 8.70 — 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.
Player ratings7 Sep 2026
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.21, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
Squad7 Sep 2026
Jacob Pryts lets one through his hands
A defender's mistake gets tidied up by somebody else; a goalkeeper's ends up in the net. He knew before the ball crossed the line, and so did everybody in the ground.
Match5 Sep 2026
A 2‑2 draw with Sandefjord leaves the dressing room somewhere between relief and regret.
Squad7 Sep 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Altin Ujkani, and the manager let it.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Match12 Aug 2026
Cup progress for IK Start
A 1‑0 win over Bodo/Glimt, a place in the next round, and the quiet arithmetic every supporter does on the walk home: how many more until a final?
Player ratings17 Aug 2026
Successful dribbles: 29. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Market17 Aug 2026
Valerenga pay $840.0K, and the deal is done. The number reads well on a balance sheet; whether it reads well on the pitch is next season's question.
Squad17 Aug 2026
Markus Soomets 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 ratings17 Aug 2026
A performance of 9.43 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
Match15 Aug 2026
Beaten 1‑2, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Player ratings17 Aug 2026
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.09, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
Squad17 Aug 2026
“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.
Player ratings17 Aug 2026
Defensive actions: 16, and a clean sheet at the end of it. A centre-half's best afternoons look like nothing happening, which is precisely the point.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
The terraces10 Aug 2026
The ground has had enough
“We travel everywhere and we get this.” 6 of the 25 senior players heard it walking off, and the ones who did not hear it were not playing.
Squad10 Aug 2026
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” John Olav Norheim commits to IK Start for another 3 years.
Player ratings10 Aug 2026
Successful dribbles: 22. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad10 Aug 2026
Eirik Schulze 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.
Market10 Aug 2026
Mjondalen pay $75.0K, and the deal is done. The number reads well on a balance sheet; whether it reads well on the pitch is next season's question.
Squad10 Aug 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to John Olav Norheim, and the manager let it.
Market10 Aug 2026
Both sides expect a conversation in the coming days. IK Start will name a price, and everything after that is arithmetic.
Player ratings10 Aug 2026
A performance of 8.10 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market3 Aug 2026
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what IK Start can pretend not to have heard.
Player ratings3 Aug 2026
Successful dribbles: 29. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Player ratings3 Aug 2026
Headers, blocks, tackles, interceptions — 28 of them, and not one goal behind him. The sort of performance that never makes a highlight reel and wins football matches.
Market3 Aug 2026
The name of Håkon Lorentzen has come up in conversations IK Start were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
Squad3 Aug 2026
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Steve Mvoué and IK Start agree another 4 years.
Squad3 Aug 2026
46 days, the medical staff say, and medical staff are optimists by profession. The team sheet will look wrong without him.
Squad3 Aug 2026
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at IK Start this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad3 Aug 2026
“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.
Market3 Aug 2026
49 months and counting on Steve Mvoué
Still no offer on the table, and Steve Mvoué’s deal keeps shrinking. In boardroom language, silence this long stops being an oversight and starts being an answer.