Marked for Simon Cornelius
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad27 Sep 2027
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 18 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Squad27 Sep 2027
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 7 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Player ratings27 Sep 2027
A defender's goal wins it for Randers — 7.74
1 for Lucas Lissens, marked 7.74, and a centre-half's name in the part of the report he normally only reaches by mistake. He will not be allowed to forget it in the dressing room for a month.
Squad27 Sep 2027
Sho Fukuda 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 Sep 2027
Words at Randers training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Warren Caddy 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.
Match25 Sep 2027
FC Midtjylland made Randers work for it, but the scoreboard read 1‑0 at the end and the table does not ask how.
Player ratings27 Sep 2027
17 defensive actions and a clean sheet at the end of them. A defender's afternoon can only be told by what did not happen, which is why nobody makes a highlights package out of one and every manager in the division would take it.
The dugout27 Sep 2027
“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.
The dugout27 Sep 2027
Mathias Greve 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 Mathias Greve trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Steady
The terraces20 Sep 2027
Anger at Randers 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.
Squad20 Sep 2027
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 25 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Squad20 Sep 2027
6 saves: Paul Izzo was the team
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 6 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
Squad20 Sep 2027
52 days, the scan says, and scans are kinder than reality. The fixtures in that window have just become somebody else’s job.
Squad20 Sep 2027
Words exchanged at Randers
Sho Fukuda and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
The dugout20 Sep 2027
The manager makes an example of Sho Fukuda
“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 dugout20 Sep 2027
A promise honoured for Maks Ebong
It is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. Randers told Maks Ebong something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
Market20 Sep 2027
“The manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Rasmus Vinderslev has his answer from Randers; what he does with it is the next window’s story.
Match19 Sep 2027
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
Steady
Transfer targets13 Sep 2027
Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at Foolad is saying, and nobody at Randers is enjoying the guessing.
Squad13 Sep 2027
A fracture rules Simon Cornelius out for 33 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Randers will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Squad13 Sep 2027
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 7 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Squad13 Sep 2027
A falling-out at Randers
Maks Ebong and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad13 Sep 2027
A row about effort at Randers
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Mathias Greve was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Match11 Sep 2027
A bad afternoon for Randers against Vejle
1‑2 to Vejle, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
The dugout13 Sep 2027
“I could talk about decisions and I could talk about luck. I will not. We lost.” The manager, 1‑2, and a press conference that lasted four minutes.
The dugout13 Sep 2027
Rasmus Vinderslev is still being punished for one mistake
Nobody will confirm it and the team sheets confirm it every week. One error has bought him a spell as second choice that is already longer than the error deserved.
Market13 Sep 2027
Mert Demirci is free to find somewhere else
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at Randers has been clear about where Mert Demirci stands, which is more than many ever get.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Transfer targets6 Sep 2027
No thanks: Ammar Ramadan rejects the move
Randers had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at Gil Vicente, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.
Squad6 Sep 2027
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 41 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Boardroom6 Sep 2027
Window shuts: 12 in, 29 out at Randers
The deadline has passed and the squad is the squad. 12 arrived, 29 left, and everything else printed about this club last month was a rumour that stayed one.
Market6 Sep 2027
The Vejle deal is off
Everything was agreed until it was not, and Vito Hammershøy-Mistrati reports back to Randers with a summer to forget. Neither club is saying who walked away from the table.
Squad6 Sep 2027
“Some mornings you wake up and you are still a long way from everything you know.” It is not the football and it never was; Randers are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
Squad6 Sep 2027
Maks Ebong 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 Randers this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad6 Sep 2027
Words at Randers training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Mathias Greve 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.
Market6 Sep 2027
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at Randers has been clear about where Vito Hammershøy-Mistrati stands, which is more than many ever get.
The dugout6 Sep 2027
Mert Demirci 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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
The dugout19 Jul 2027
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Randers may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Market19 Jul 2027
Randers say no — this time
The offer from Aarhus Fremad for Nikolas Dyhr 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.
Player ratings19 Jul 2027
2 goals, and the second was the one that settled it. Marked 8.37, and he could have had a third with better luck at the near post.
Squad19 Jul 2027
A falling-out at Randers
Maks Ebong and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Boardroom19 Jul 2027
5 academy graduates step up at Randers
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.
Squad19 Jul 2027
Warren Caddy 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.
Transfer targets19 Jul 2027
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. AGF have kept their man, and Randers go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Match17 Jul 2027
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: John Björkengren. 2‑1 against AGF, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Match17 Jul 2027
Randers end the wait against AGF
It had gone 5 games. The players did not celebrate like men who had won a match; they celebrated like men who had been let out of something.