Marked for Ware Peter Natana
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad19 Feb 2029
Markus Ottesen breaks a bone — 112 days out
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 112 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Squad19 Feb 2029
Valdemar Schmølker damages knee ligaments — 54 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 54 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.
Market19 Feb 2029
Lyn come back empty-handed
The bid was some way short and Mjondalen did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.
Transfer targets19 Feb 2029
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: Bodo/Glimt keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
Squad19 Feb 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 Mjondalen this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Transfer targets19 Feb 2029
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Kristiansund have kept their man, and Mjondalen go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Squad19 Feb 2029
Kweku Kekeli 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 dugout19 Feb 2029
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Anthony Sifflet, and the manager let it.
Market19 Feb 2029
The list is a quiet document with a loud meaning. Daniel Valan may talk to anybody who asks, and everybody at the club understands what that means.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad22 Jan 2029
Valdemar Schmølker damages knee ligaments — 86 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 86 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.
Squad22 Jan 2029
Words exchanged at Mjondalen
Cassander Dreyer 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.
Squad22 Jan 2029
Tobias Bjørnebye 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 dugout22 Jan 2029
Cassander Dreyer 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.
Squad22 Jan 2029
Numbers do not stay secret in a dressing room and never have. He is not asking for more than he is worth; he is asking why somebody beside him is worth more, and at Mjondalen that is a harder question to answer.
Market22 Jan 2029
The shop window has Daniel Valan in it
Mjondalen have let the market know Daniel Valan can be had. No price in the advert, but everyone in the trade knows roughly what it says.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
The terraces15 Jan 2029
Supporters organise against the Mjondalen board
A bad atmosphere can be waited out. A group of people meeting afterwards to decide what to do about it cannot, and everybody in the building knows which stage this is.
Squad15 Jan 2029
93 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Mjondalen lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Boardroom15 Jan 2029
Pressure builds in the Mjondalen boardroom
The directors have stopped offering the manager public warmth. In football that is usually the stage before the short statement.
Match15 Jan 2029
Mjondalen are in real trouble now
Position 14, 28 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.
The dugout15 Jan 2029
This is not rotation. Daniel Valan has not been in the manager's plans for some time, and nobody at Mjondalen is pretending otherwise.
Squad15 Jan 2029
Daniel Valan 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 Mjondalen this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Boardroom15 Jan 2029
The numbers do not look good at Mjondalen
Wages have outrun income and the accountants have started attending meetings they used to send apologies to. Ambition comes second in a season like this.
Squad15 Jan 2029
A muscle injury and 15 days out for Perica Guskić
The most common injury in the game and the most rushed back from. Mjondalen will quote 15 days and will be careful with it, because the second one is always worse than the first.
Squad15 Jan 2029
Words at Mjondalen training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Tobias Bjørnebye 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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad8 Jan 2029
Valdemar Schmølker damages knee ligaments — 101 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 101 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.
Boardroom8 Jan 2029
The board’s statement ran to three sentences and one of them mentioned results. Anastasios Vlachodimos has managed long enough to translate: win soon, or the next statement is shorter.
The dugout8 Jan 2029
This is not rotation. Philip Sørlie Bro has not been in the manager's plans for some time, and nobody at Mjondalen is pretending otherwise.
Squad8 Jan 2029
Words exchanged at Mjondalen
Philip Sørlie Bro 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.
Squad8 Jan 2029
Words at Mjondalen training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Kweku Kekeli 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 dugout8 Jan 2029
Kweku Kekeli 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 Mjondalen, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Market8 Jan 2029
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Mjondalen, another week without a signature from Isak Hammadou.
The dugout8 Jan 2029
Oleksandr Symeniuk loses the manager who believed in him
A change in the dugout is not one story, it is twenty-five of them. This is Oleksandr Symeniuk's: he was somebody's player, and now he has to be somebody else's, starting from nothing.
Squad8 Jan 2029
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 Mjondalen would admit. It shows on Saturdays.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad11 Dec 2028
16 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Mjondalen lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
The dugout11 Dec 2028
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Mjondalen may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
The dugout11 Dec 2028
This is not rotation. Philip Sørlie Bro has not been in the manager's plans for some time, and nobody at Mjondalen is pretending otherwise.
Squad11 Dec 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 Mjondalen this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad11 Dec 2028
Words at Mjondalen training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Tobias Bjørnebye 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 dugout11 Dec 2028
A promise honoured at Mjondalen
Something was said to Benjamin Sundo and then it happened. In this industry that passes for remarkable, and the dressing room noticed faster than any supporter could.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad27 Nov 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 Mjondalen this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad27 Nov 2028
Words at Mjondalen training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Kweku Kekeli 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 dugout27 Nov 2028
Clubs make promises constantly and the page usually only hears about them when they are broken. This one was honoured, and the dressing room noticed that faster than any supporter did.
The dugout27 Nov 2028
Kweku Kekeli 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 Mjondalen, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Market27 Nov 2028
Mjondalen have made Philip Sørlie Bro available for transfer. A career at this club is over in all but paperwork.
The dugout27 Nov 2028
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.
The terraces27 Nov 2028
The stands have heard the Ware Peter Natana talk too
What was a back-page story is now a matter for the terraces, and the terraces do not do nuance. Mjondalen would like it dealt with before it becomes the only question anybody asks.
Boardroom27 Nov 2028
The Mjondalen academy earns its keep
24 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.
Squad27 Nov 2028
The training reports on Gianluca Astaldi are not good
A bad Saturday is forgiven; a bad Tuesday is chosen. Standards have slipped and in a building where everybody watches everybody, it has been noticed.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match11 Nov 2028
Mjondalen win it in stoppage time
The board had gone up, the arguing had started, and then the ball was in the net in the 91th minute. IK Start will replay every second of the added time for a week.
Match13 Nov 2028
Mjondalen finish in position 14
28 points, and the season has a number on it. Whatever it felt like from the inside, this is what it will look like in a book.
Market13 Nov 2028
“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 Mjondalen, and it is not being withdrawn.
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.
Player ratings13 Nov 2028
Up for the corner, and Kweku Kekeli delivers — 7.42
Centre-halves are allowed forward twice a season and are judged on what they do when they get there. Kweku Kekeli scored, was marked 7.42, and got back before anybody noticed he had gone.
The dugout13 Nov 2028
This is not rotation. Philip Sørlie Bro has not been in the manager's plans for some time, and nobody at Mjondalen is pretending otherwise.
Squad13 Nov 2028
At 22 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.
Squad13 Nov 2028
Words exchanged at Mjondalen
Meliga Promise 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.
Match11 Nov 2028
A 2‑1 win over IK Start, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad30 Oct 2028
Daniel Valan 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.
Match28 Oct 2028
0‑1 to Egersund, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Squad30 Oct 2028
Tobias Bjørnebye 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 dugout30 Oct 2028
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Kweku Kekeli, and the manager let it.
The dugout30 Oct 2028
“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 0‑1, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
The dugout30 Oct 2028
A promise honoured at Mjondalen
Something was said to Meliga Promise and then it happened. In this industry that passes for remarkable, and the dressing room noticed faster than any supporter could.
Squad30 Oct 2028
One yellow too many, and a match watched from the stand. The most avoidable absence in football, and Mjondalen will feel it on Saturday.
Market30 Oct 2028
Mjondalen have made Philip Sørlie Bro available for transfer. A career at this club is over in all but paperwork.
Player ratings30 Oct 2028
Successful dribbles: 9. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
The dugout16 Oct 2028
This is not rotation. Philip Sørlie Bro has not been in the manager's plans for some time, and nobody at Mjondalen is pretending otherwise.
Squad16 Oct 2028
Words exchanged at Mjondalen
Philip Sørlie Bro 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.
Squad16 Oct 2028
Kweku Kekeli 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.
Looking ahead16 Oct 2028
Kongsvinger next, and both sides can do the sum. Win and the table looks different; lose and it looks the way everybody has been fearing.
The dugout16 Oct 2028
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Philip Sørlie Bro trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Looking ahead16 Oct 2028
Every squad has one of these fixtures for somebody every season. This one is Sander Marthinussen’s: the club that knew him first, the supporters who will decide in the first minute whether to applaud, and Mjondalen needing him to play as if none of it matters.
Market16 Oct 2028
The name of Kweku Kekeli keeps appearing in other people's back pages. Mjondalen say nothing, which says plenty.
Market16 Oct 2028
The shop window has Daniel Valan in it
Mjondalen have let the market know Daniel Valan can be had. No price in the advert, but everyone in the trade knows roughly what it says.
Boardroom16 Oct 2028
The Mjondalen production line keeps running
24 graduates out of an academy now rated 9 out of 20. Clubs this size survive on exactly that, and the town knows every name.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
The dugout18 Sep 2028
This is not rotation. Philip Sørlie Bro has not been in the manager's plans for some time, and nobody at Mjondalen is pretending otherwise.
Squad18 Sep 2028
Words exchanged at Mjondalen
Meliga Promise 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.
Match16 Sep 2028
Stabaek left with the points after a 1‑3 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Squad18 Sep 2028
A row about effort at Mjondalen
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Tobias Bjørnebye was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout18 Sep 2028
The manager makes an example of Kweku Kekeli
“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.
Squad18 Sep 2028
An error at the back is a moment; an error in goal is a goal. Philip Sørlie Bro knows it, the crowd knew it instantly, and there was nobody behind him to make it anything else.
The dugout18 Sep 2028
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Anastasios Vlachodimos after 1‑3, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
The dugout18 Sep 2028
Daniel Valan 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.
Player ratings18 Sep 2028
Successful dribbles: 11. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
The terraces28 Aug 2028
Anger at Mjondalen spills outside the ground
It has stopped being a mood in the stands and started being something organised. Boards can ignore a bad atmosphere for a long time; they cannot ignore this stage of it for very long at all.
Boardroom28 Aug 2028
The silence upstairs is getting loud at Mjondalen
Nobody on the board has said anything against the manager, which is the point — they have stopped saying anything for him either.
The dugout28 Aug 2028
This is not rotation. Daniel Valan has not been in the manager's plans for some time, and nobody at Mjondalen is pretending otherwise.
Transfer targets28 Aug 2028
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Rosenborg have kept their man, and Mjondalen go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Squad28 Aug 2028
Sander Marthinussen and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Match26 Aug 2028
0‑1 to HamKam, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Squad28 Aug 2028
Tobias Bjørnebye 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 Aug 2028
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Philip Sørlie Bro, and the manager let it.
The dugout28 Aug 2028
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Anastasios Vlachodimos after 0‑1, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market21 Aug 2028
Everything was agreed until it was not, and Philip Sørlie Bro reports back to Mjondalen with a summer to forget. Neither club is saying who walked away from the table.
Boardroom21 Aug 2028
Deadline passes with 11 signed and 13 gone
That is the business done at Mjondalen 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.
Transfer targets21 Aug 2028
Everything agreed with Viking, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
Transfer targets21 Aug 2028
Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at Valerenga is saying, and nobody at Mjondalen is enjoying the guessing.
Squad21 Aug 2028
Meliga Promise 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 ratings21 Aug 2028
Successful dribbles: 20. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Transfer targets21 Aug 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.
The terraces21 Aug 2028
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 19-year-old it feels ownership of. Daniel Valan has it now, and everything he does for the rest of his time here will be measured against the goodwill he was handed for free.
Match19 Aug 2028
Hødd made Mjondalen work for it, but the scoreboard read 2‑0 at the end and the table does not ask how.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Boardroom7 Aug 2028
What was said behind closed doors has now been said in front of a microphone. Everybody at Mjondalen can do the arithmetic, including the man it is aimed at.
Match5 Aug 2028
The drought breaks for Mjondalen
13 without a win is the sort of run that changes how a town talks about its club, and Moss were the afternoon it stopped. Nothing is fixed by one result and everything feels different by one.
Market7 Aug 2028
Daniel Valan 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 Mjondalen can pretend not to have heard.
Market7 Aug 2028
Sandefjord come back empty-handed
The bid was some way short and Mjondalen did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.
Market7 Aug 2028
The interest is real enough to have reached print. Mjondalen have said nothing, which in a transfer window is its own kind of answer.
Transfer targets7 Aug 2028
Everything agreed with HamKam, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
Squad7 Aug 2028
Meliga Promise and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Transfer targets7 Aug 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.
The terraces7 Aug 2028
He is 21 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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match15 Jul 2028
11 matches without a win for Mjondalen
The run now stands at 11, and the questions being asked around Mjondalen are no longer polite ones.
Market17 Jul 2028
“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 Mjondalen, and it is not being withdrawn.
Market17 Jul 2028
The name of Nickolay Årsbog has come up in conversations Mjondalen were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
Transfer targets17 Jul 2028
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Lillestrom have kept their man, and Mjondalen go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Squad17 Jul 2028
Daniel Valan 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.
Squad17 Jul 2028
A row about effort at Mjondalen
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Tobias Bjørnebye was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Match17 Jul 2028
Mjondalen at the halfway mark
Half the programme played, position 15, 14 on the board. Doubling it is the sum every supporter has done and the only one nobody at the club will do out loud.
The dugout17 Jul 2028
“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.
Loan watch17 Jul 2028
The goals keep arriving from Cassander Dreyer’s exile
11 goals in 14 games at PK-35 — numbers that travel home faster than he does. Somebody at Mjondalen updates a spreadsheet every Monday, and it makes better reading each week.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match17 Jun 2028
The wait goes on for Mjondalen
7 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.
Squad19 Jun 2028
Words exchanged at Mjondalen
Ware Peter Natana 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.
Player ratings19 Jun 2028
Ninety minutes of Markus Ottesen at his very best
Marked 8.25. Players have careers without a single afternoon like this in them, and he has just had one in front of everybody at Mjondalen.
Squad19 Jun 2028
A row about effort at Mjondalen
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Tobias Bjørnebye was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Match17 Jun 2028
Late, late show earns Mjondalen a point
Minute 91, against Aalesund, and a goal that felt like a win to everybody who had stayed. It was a draw. Nobody leaving the ground will describe it as one.
The dugout19 Jun 2028
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Philip Sørlie Bro, and the manager let it.
Match17 Jun 2028
It finished 2‑2, and it somehow always looked like it would. One of those afternoons where the table moves less than the tempers.
The dugout19 Jun 2028
“It is not the end of the world and it is not good enough. Both of those are true.” The manager, after a 2‑2 draw, said the honest thing and then went to say it again inside.
Squad19 Jun 2028
He wheeled away like a man who had been carrying it for months, because he had. Mjondalen have their signing off the mark and one press-conference question retired.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match3 Jun 2028
The wait goes on for Mjondalen
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.
The dugout5 Jun 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.
Match3 Jun 2028
The goals have deserted Mjondalen
5 matches, no goals, and a training ground that has tried everything. It will end — droughts always do — but nobody at Mjondalen can tell you which week it ends in.
Squad5 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 Mjondalen this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Match3 Jun 2028
Skeid left with the points after a 0‑1 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Squad5 Jun 2028
Tobias Bjørnebye 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 dugout5 Jun 2028
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Ware Peter Natana, and the manager let it.
Squad5 Jun 2028
“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 Mjondalen know it.
The dugout5 Jun 2028
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Anastasios Vlachodimos after 0‑1, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match27 May 2028
The wait goes on for Mjondalen
4 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.
Match27 May 2028
The goals have deserted Mjondalen
4 matches, no goals, and a training ground that has tried everything. It will end — droughts always do — but nobody at Mjondalen can tell you which week it ends in.
Squad29 May 2028
Ware Peter Natana and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Match27 May 2028
Stabaek left with the points after a 0‑2 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Squad29 May 2028
A row about effort at Mjondalen
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Tobias Bjørnebye was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Boardroom29 May 2028
118% of the income goes out in wages at Mjondalen
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 dugout29 May 2028
“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.
The dugout29 May 2028
“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 0‑2, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
Boardroom29 May 2028
The numbers do not look good at Mjondalen
Wages have outrun income and the accountants have started attending meetings they used to send apologies to. Ambition comes second in a season like this.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match20 May 2028
3 matches without a goal for Mjondalen
The chances are being made and something is happening between the making and the finishing. 3 matches now, and the anxiety in the ground arrives a little earlier every week.
Squad22 May 2028
Words exchanged at Mjondalen
Ware Peter Natana 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.
Match20 May 2028
Stromsgodset left with the points after a 0‑2 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Squad22 May 2028
Kweku Kekeli 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 dugout22 May 2028
“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.
The dugout22 May 2028
The view from the dugout
“We will look at it, we will learn from it, and we go again.” The three sentences every manager keeps for a 0‑2 defeat, delivered by Anastasios Vlachodimos to a room that had heard them before.
The dugout22 May 2028
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Mjondalen, and both men came out saying it was fine.
The dugout22 May 2028
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.
Looking ahead22 May 2028
Every squad has one of these fixtures for somebody every season. This one is Daniel Valan’s: the club that knew him first, the supporters who will decide in the first minute whether to applaud, and Mjondalen needing him to play as if none of it matters.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Match10 May 2028
Mjondalen bow out of the cup
Bodo/Glimt go through and Mjondalen go home, 0‑3 the scoreline that did it. The dressing room will call the league the priority now, because that is what dressing rooms say.
The terraces15 May 2028
The mood at Mjondalen has turned into something else
Supporters who sing when it goes badly are supporters. Supporters who gather afterwards are a problem, and everybody inside the building knows which of the two this now is.
The terraces15 May 2028
A cup hiding at Bodo/Glimt leaves Mjondalen explaining themselves
0-3, and long before the end the away end had switched from encouragement to something considerably more pointed. Nobody rings a phone-in about losing narrowly.
Squad15 May 2028
Ware Peter Natana 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 May 2028
Tobias Bjørnebye 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.
Boardroom15 May 2028
The music was off and the showers ran late. What was said in that dressing room stays there, but Saturday will publish the minutes.
Squad15 May 2028
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.
The dugout15 May 2028
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Erik Kristiansen, and the manager let it.
The dugout15 May 2028
The view from the dugout
“We did not lose. Some weeks that is all you get, and I would rather have the point than not.” Anastasios Vlachodimos chose the glass-half-full version of 0‑0; the supporters left with the other one.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad10 Apr 2028
53 days out for Thomas Grøgaard after a fracture
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Mjondalen will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Player ratings10 Apr 2028
2 goals, and the second was the one that settled it. Marked 8.25, and he could have had a third with better luck at the near post.
The dugout10 Apr 2028
Erik Kristiansen: 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.” Mjondalen have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Squad10 Apr 2028
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Markus Ottesen and Mjondalen agree another 4 years.
Market10 Apr 2028
Some transfers need a press campaign. This one needed a shirt with the old number on it. Gianluca Astaldi is a Mjondalen player again, and the town has its story of the summer.
Squad10 Apr 2028
Thomas Grøgaard and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Boardroom10 Apr 2028
5 academy graduates step up at Mjondalen
Senior shirt numbers handed to boys the coaches have known since they were twelve. Most will not make it and all of them have already done the hard part.
Transfer targets10 Apr 2028
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Viking have kept their man, and Mjondalen go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Match8 Apr 2028
Three points for Mjondalen, 2‑1 the final word against Sogndal in a contest settled by the finer margins.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad20 Mar 2028
75 days out for Thomas Grøgaard after a fracture
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Mjondalen will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Boardroom20 Mar 2028
The silence upstairs is getting loud at Mjondalen
Nobody on the board has said anything against the manager, which is the point — they have stopped saying anything for him either.
The terraces20 Mar 2028
Anger at Mjondalen spills outside the ground
It has stopped being a mood in the stands and started being something organised. Boards can ignore a bad atmosphere for a long time; they cannot ignore this stage of it for very long at all.
Market20 Mar 2028
“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 Mjondalen, and it is not being withdrawn.
Transfer targets20 Mar 2028
Mjondalen asked and Sandefjord said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Squad20 Mar 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.
Squad20 Mar 2028
Ware Peter Natana 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.
Transfer targets20 Mar 2028
A loan move for Tobias Dahl is in the works
Mjondalen have made the call to Rosenborg. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
Transfer targets20 Mar 2028
Mjondalen have made the call to Sandefjord. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
The terraces29 Nov 2027
Supporters organise against the Mjondalen board
A bad atmosphere can be waited out. A group of people meeting afterwards to decide what to do about it cannot, and everybody in the building knows which stage this is.
Squad29 Nov 2027
25 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Mjondalen lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Boardroom29 Nov 2027
The scrutiny sharpens at Mjondalen
Nobody upstairs has said anything, which is the loudest thing they could do. Results buy silence in this game; the account at Mjondalen is running low.
Squad29 Nov 2027
Words at Mjondalen training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Tobias Bjørnebye 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.
Squad29 Nov 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 Mjondalen this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Loan watch29 Nov 2027
“I did not go to Åsane to sit and watch. I want to come back to Mjondalen and fight for my place.” 4 appearances in 16 matches say the rest.
The dugout29 Nov 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Nickolay Årsbog, and the manager let it.
Market29 Nov 2027
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Mjondalen know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
Market29 Nov 2027
Mjondalen have made Markus Ottesen available for transfer. A career at this club is over in all but paperwork.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad8 Nov 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 Mjondalen this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Match6 Nov 2027
Ranheim left with the points after a 0‑1 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Squad8 Nov 2027
A row about effort at Mjondalen
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Tobias Bjørnebye was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Squad8 Nov 2027
At 21 he was better than everybody his age in the division for four weeks running, which is harder than one good afternoon. Mjondalen will try not to make too much of it.
The dugout8 Nov 2027
“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 0‑1, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
Squad8 Nov 2027
Four or five weekends of consistency, measured against everybody else in the division. A quieter compliment than an award and a more reliable one.
The dugout8 Nov 2027
The manager makes an example of Mikkel Søfeldt
“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 dugout8 Nov 2027
Somebody else is better right now than Ware Peter Natana
The team sheet says it in public every week until it changes. The only version of being dropped a footballer cannot argue with, and the one he takes hardest.
Player ratings8 Nov 2027
9 attempts, none of them in. He got into the right places all afternoon, which is the hard part, and did the easy part badly — and that is the version of a bad day a manager can live with.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
The terraces1 Nov 2027
Anger at Mjondalen spills outside the ground
It has stopped being a mood in the stands and started being something organised. Boards can ignore a bad atmosphere for a long time; they cannot ignore this stage of it for very long at all.
Boardroom1 Nov 2027
Pressure builds in the Mjondalen boardroom
The directors have stopped offering the manager public warmth. In football that is usually the stage before the short statement.
Squad1 Nov 2027
Thomas Grøgaard and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad1 Nov 2027
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.
Loan watch1 Nov 2027
“I am grateful for the games, but I did not become a footballer to be somebody else's spare part.” He wants to be at Mjondalen, and 4 appearances in 12 say he has earned the hearing.
Squad1 Nov 2027
Dion Dërmaku slips down the pecking order
The demotion a club never announces and a dressing room always notices. Dion Dërmaku is further from the side than he was, and the reason will not be given until he asks.
The dugout1 Nov 2027
“There are things I liked and things we will be doing on Tuesday until they are right.” 0‑0, and a manager who had already decided what Tuesday looked like.
The dugout1 Nov 2027
Dion Dërmaku 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.
Player ratings1 Nov 2027
Headers, blocks, tackles, interceptions — 13 of them, and not one goal behind him. The sort of performance that never makes a highlight reel and wins football matches.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad11 Oct 2027
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.
Squad11 Oct 2027
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Mjondalen can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
Squad11 Oct 2027
Ware Peter Natana and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Boardroom11 Oct 2027
Wages eat 85% of everything Mjondalen 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 dugout11 Oct 2027
The manager makes an example of Isak Hammadou
“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.
Squad11 Oct 2027
Somebody watched every match in the division at the weekend and decided he was the best thing in any of them. A small honour, and most careers end without one.
Looking ahead11 Oct 2027
Every squad has one of these fixtures for somebody every season. This one is Peder Klausen’s: the club that knew him first, the supporters who will decide in the first minute whether to applaud, and Mjondalen needing him to play as if none of it matters.
The dugout11 Oct 2027
Tobias Bjørnebye 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.
Market11 Oct 2027
The shop window has Tobias Flem in it
Mjondalen have let the market know Tobias Flem can be had. No price in the advert, but everyone in the trade knows roughly what it says.
In brief
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Market
The Kweku Kekeli story refuses to die
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Looking ahead
Looking ahead: Odd at home
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The dugout
The manager plants his flag on Tobias Flem
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market23 Aug 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 Mjondalen can pretend not to have heard.
Market23 Aug 2027
Everything was agreed until it was not, and Peder Klausen reports back to Mjondalen with a summer to forget. Neither club is saying who walked away from the table.
The dugout23 Aug 2027
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Mjondalen may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Market23 Aug 2027
Mjondalen say no — this time
The offer from Kongsvinger for Kweku Kekeli 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.
Boardroom23 Aug 2027
Mjondalen close the window on a squad of their own making
14 in and 7 out, and no more changes for months. The manager has what he has, the supporters have their opinion of it, and the table will have the last word.
Transfer targets23 Aug 2027
Mjondalen had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at Fredrikstad, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.
Squad23 Aug 2027
Words at Mjondalen training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Christian Mork Breivik 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 targets23 Aug 2027
Mjondalen asked and Rosenborg said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Match21 Aug 2027
It finished 2‑1, and it was Jonas Bruusgaard’s afternoon: on the scoresheet when it mattered, and the reason the points belong to Mjondalen.