Marked for Jesper Berre
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market11 Nov 2030
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at NK Domzale is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Match9 Nov 2030
7 matches without a win, and then this, against Jadran Dekani. Relief is a strange noise in a football ground and it was the only noise at the end.
Market11 Nov 2030
He left as a boy and has come back still knowing where the away end is. Most signings have to be explained to a town; this one needed a photograph and nothing else.
Squad11 Nov 2030
Jesper Berre arrives at the club he grew up with
Every footballer has an answer to the question about his boyhood club, and most of them never get to act on it. Jesper Berre has, at NK Domzale, and the first month will show what that does to a man.
Squad11 Nov 2030
Words at NK Domzale training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Jan Elsnik 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.
Squad11 Nov 2030
Andraz Janza 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.
Match9 Nov 2030
It finished 1‑0, and it was Jan Elsnik’s afternoon: on the scoresheet when it mattered, and the reason the points belong to NK Domzale.
Player ratings11 Nov 2030
Jan Elsnik was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.43. There are performances a supporter describes to somebody who was not there and cannot quite convey; this was one, and the number does not help either.
Match11 Nov 2030
Half the programme played, position 9, 16 on the board. Doubling it is the sum every supporter has done and the only one nobody at the club will do out loud.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad28 Jan 2030
95 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Skeid lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Market28 Jan 2030
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Skeid can pretend not to have heard.
Squad28 Jan 2030
Tempers go at Skeid
Sondre Rossbach 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.
Squad28 Jan 2030
Jagvir Singh 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 dugout28 Jan 2030
It is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. Skeid told Amadou Badiane something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
Market28 Jan 2030
The Jagvir Singh talk will not go away
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Skeid know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad21 Jan 2030
Stephen Wisdom damages knee ligaments — 102 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 102 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.
Market21 Jan 2030
“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.
Squad21 Jan 2030
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Skeid this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad21 Jan 2030
Words at Skeid training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Jagvir Singh 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 dugout21 Jan 2030
Amadou Badiane has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at Skeid will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
Market21 Jan 2030
The name of Filip Møller Delaveris keeps appearing in other people's back pages. Skeid say nothing, which says plenty.
The dugout21 Jan 2030
Jesper Berre 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.
The dugout21 Jan 2030
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.
Boardroom21 Jan 2030
The Skeid academy earns its keep
33 graduates, from a department now rated 9 out of 20. Nothing about the academy appears in a result, and nothing about the club’s future exists without it.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad14 Jan 2030
Stephen Wisdom damages knee ligaments — 109 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 109 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.
Match14 Jan 2030
Skeid up to position 3
53 points on the board and a place in the leading group. Nobody at the ground is saying the word out loud yet.
Market14 Jan 2030
“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 Jan 2030
A falling-out at Skeid
Sondre Rossbach and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad14 Jan 2030
Words at Skeid training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Jagvir Singh 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.
Boardroom14 Jan 2030
Wages swallow 98% of the Skeid income
Every club 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 it has been tried.
The dugout14 Jan 2030
The manager makes an example of Jacopo Marinari
“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 dugout14 Jan 2030
When it matters, Tobias Horn plays
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.
Market14 Jan 2030
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Sondre Rossbach signs something — a contract at Skeid or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad7 Jan 2030
Stephen Wisdom damages knee ligaments — 118 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 118 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.
Market7 Jan 2030
“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 Skeid, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad7 Jan 2030
The kind of year that ends with a name being read out in a hall. Skeid had the benefit of it every week and now have the problem of everybody else knowing.
Squad7 Jan 2030
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Skeid this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Market7 Jan 2030
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Skeid, another week without a signature from Sondre Rossbach.
Squad7 Jan 2030
“I have given this everything, but my family is not here and neither am I, not really.” A footballer can be coached out of bad form. Nobody has ever been coached out of this, and Skeid know it.
Boardroom7 Jan 2030
Skeid have to sell first
The manager has a list and the board has a condition attached to it. That is not a crisis — half of football works this way — but it decides which of the two of them gets his way in August.
The dugout7 Jan 2030
Francis Hurl has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at Skeid will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
The dugout7 Jan 2030
Tobias Horn 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 Skeid, and both men came out saying it was fine.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market31 Dec 2029
“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 Skeid, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad31 Dec 2029
Tempers go at Skeid
Sondre Rossbach 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.
Squad31 Dec 2029
A row about effort at Skeid
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Jagvir Singh was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Squad31 Dec 2029
Fabio Tito is not the player he was
It happens to all of them and it is still the hardest paragraph a local paper has to write. 36 years old, 3 points down on where he was, and a body that has started charging interest on a career.
The dugout31 Dec 2029
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Guillaume Nkeng Metouke, and the manager let it.
Market31 Dec 2029
The Jagvir Singh talk will not go away
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Skeid know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
The dugout31 Dec 2029
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Dzhilindo Bezhubchenko trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Squad31 Dec 2029
He trains hard, says the right things and goes home to an empty flat. Nobody at Skeid has done anything wrong, which is exactly what makes it so difficult to fix.
The dugout31 Dec 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
Market10 Dec 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.
Squad10 Dec 2029
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Skeid this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad10 Dec 2029
Words at Skeid training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Jagvir Singh 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.
Squad10 Dec 2029
There is a level at which a footballer stops being tested and starts being contained, and he reached it some time ago. Skeid know it, and so does everybody who watches him.
Market10 Dec 2029
“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.
Market10 Dec 2029
He is 20, and nobody at Skeid signed him for this season. Deals like this are judged in four years, by people who may not still be in the building.
The dugout10 Dec 2029
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Antéo Benedetto, and the manager let it.
Squad10 Dec 2029
A year in and the language has not come, the city has not opened up, and he eats alone more often than anybody at Skeid would like to admit. It is showing on Saturdays.
The dugout10 Dec 2029
Francis Hurl has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at Skeid will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
From our football correspondent
Steady
The dugout3 Dec 2029
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Skeid may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Squad3 Dec 2029
The kind of year that ends with a name being read out in a hall. Skeid had the benefit of it every week and now have the problem of everybody else knowing.
Squad3 Dec 2029
A move Crispin McLean would have made for nothing
There is a version of every career where the player ends up somewhere he chose rather than somewhere that chose him. Crispin McLean is living that version at Skeid, and it tends to show in the first month.
Squad3 Dec 2029
Tempers go at Skeid
Omari Mrisho 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.
Squad3 Dec 2029
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 dugout3 Dec 2029
A promise honoured for Samba Diop
It is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. Skeid told Samba Diop something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
The dugout3 Dec 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.
Market3 Dec 2029
The Jagvir Singh talk will not go away
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Skeid know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
The dugout3 Dec 2029
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Georgi Korichkov trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Match19 Nov 2029
Skeid refuse to drop out of the race
Position 3, 53 points, and the result everyone checks first is now theirs. The word is still not being said around the ground, which is how you know everyone is thinking it.
Market19 Nov 2029
“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 Skeid, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad19 Nov 2029
A falling-out at Skeid
Sondre Rossbach and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad19 Nov 2029
Casper Winther 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.
Boardroom19 Nov 2029
146% of the income goes out in wages at Skeid
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.
The dugout19 Nov 2029
Boubacar Ba 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 Boubacar Ba trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
The dugout19 Nov 2029
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Sebastian Hansen, and the manager let it.
The dugout19 Nov 2029
Tobias Horn has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at Skeid will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
Market19 Nov 2029
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Sondre Rossbach signs something — a contract at Skeid or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Match22 Oct 2029
Skeid up to position 3
48 points on the board and a place in the leading group. Nobody at the ground is saying the word out loud yet.
Market22 Oct 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.
Player ratings22 Oct 2029
Jesper Berre, 21, plays like he has been here for years — 7.61
A mark of 7.61 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 21-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
Match20 Oct 2029
The run at home goes on for Skeid
10 matches unbeaten here. Every visiting manager is asked about it in the week before, which is precisely why it keeps going.
Squad22 Oct 2029
A falling-out at Skeid
Sondre Rossbach and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad22 Oct 2029
A row about effort at Skeid
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Jagvir Singh was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Boardroom22 Oct 2029
Wages eat 149% of everything Skeid 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.
The terraces22 Oct 2029
At 21 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.
Match20 Oct 2029
IK Start made Skeid work for it, but the scoreboard read 2‑0 at the end and the table does not ask how.
In brief
-
Player ratings
The afternoon belonged to Jagvir Singh
-
The dugout
The view from the dugout
-
The dugout
No hiding place for Jacopo Marinari
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Player ratings24 Sep 2029
The hardest thing about being 20 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Osman Taher Petersson did not need any: 7.68, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
Market24 Sep 2029
Jesper Berre 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 Skeid can pretend not to have heard.
Squad24 Sep 2029
A falling-out at Skeid
Sondre Rossbach and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad24 Sep 2029
Words at Skeid training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Casper Winther 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.
Boardroom24 Sep 2029
Wages swallow 156% of the Skeid income
Every club 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 it has been tried.
The terraces24 Sep 2029
At 20 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 Sep 2029
Three points for Skeid, 1‑0 the final word against Kongsvinger in a contest settled by the finer margins.
Squad24 Sep 2029
5 new faces, and Skeid are still learning each other
A squad rebuilt inside one window pays for it in a currency nobody budgets for. The football is not worse than the sum of the players; it is worse than the sum of the players who have played together before.
The dugout24 Sep 2029
“That is what I want every week. Not the result, the way they went about it.” The manager, after 1‑0, already talking about the next one.
In brief
-
The dugout
The team sheet said everything about Peter Degnes
-
The dugout
Boubacar Ba knocks on the manager’s door
-
The dugout
A promise honoured at Skeid
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Market27 Aug 2029
Jesper Berre 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 Skeid can pretend not to have heard.
Market27 Aug 2029
Only the photograph left for Simão Azevedo
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Simão Azevedo will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Skeid the goodbyes have quietly begun.
The dugout27 Aug 2029
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Skeid have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Boardroom27 Aug 2029
There is no worse way to lose a footballer. Simão Azevedo has pre-agreed a move away, which means every appearance between now and June is made by a man the club can no longer sell, and somebody upstairs will be asked why the contract was allowed to get here.
Squad27 Aug 2029
Tempers go at Skeid
Filip Møller Delaveris 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.
Squad27 Aug 2029
Words at Skeid training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Casper Winther 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 terraces27 Aug 2029
At 20 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.
Match25 Aug 2029
A 1‑0 win over Aalesund, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
Player ratings27 Aug 2029
A performance of 8.19 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
In brief
-
Boardroom
Wages eat 118% of everything Skeid earn
-
Player ratings
Christopher Kjensteberg runs at them all day
-
Squad
5 new faces, and Skeid are still learning each other