Marked for Patrick Elyounoussi
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match12 Aug 2028
21 matches without a win for Bryne
The run now stands at 21, and the questions being asked around Bryne are no longer polite ones.
Player ratings14 Aug 2028
Successful dribbles: 33. 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.
Squad14 Aug 2028
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 14 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Transfer targets14 Aug 2028
Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at Bodo/Glimt is saying, and nobody at Bryne is enjoying the guessing.
Market14 Aug 2028
Valerenga pay $290.0K, 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.
Squad14 Aug 2028
Lars Erik Sødal 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.
Boardroom14 Aug 2028
Still nobody in the Bryne dugout
13 days with the chair empty, a list of names that grows and shrinks by the day, and not one signature on anything. Every week that passes takes the best candidates off it.
Squad14 Aug 2028
It happens to all of them and it is still the hardest paragraph a local paper has to write. 37 years old, 3 points down on where he was, and a body that has started charging interest on a career.
Looking ahead14 Aug 2028
Everything rides on Mjondalen
Both clubs in the mire, one fixture between them, and a ground that will be louder and more frightened than at any point in the season. Bryne know what is at stake and so does everybody in the away end.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match5 Aug 2028
20 matches without a win for Bryne
The run now stands at 20, and the questions being asked around Bryne are no longer polite ones.
Boardroom7 Aug 2028
The end came on a Tuesday, as these things usually do: a short meeting, a shorter statement, and Erling Sorloth clearing his office by noon. Football’s cruellest ritual, performed to schedule.
Squad7 Aug 2028
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 21 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Market7 Aug 2028
“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.
Boardroom7 Aug 2028
“Somebody has to pick the team on Saturday, and this week that is me.” An interim appointment with no promises attached, which is how most of them start.
Transfer targets7 Aug 2028
The deal with Bodo/Glimt is done in every sense but the one that puts him on the pitch. Nothing goes wrong at this stage, except on the occasions when it does.
Player ratings7 Aug 2028
Successful dribbles: 19. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Match5 Aug 2028
Bryne come up short against Skeid
Skeid left with the points after a 0‑1 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Squad7 Aug 2028
Words at Bryne training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Dodou Gaye 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.
In brief
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Boardroom
Bryne pay $119.8K to end Erling Sorloth's contract
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The dugout
The manager’s verdict
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The dugout
A fresh start for Dani Raba under the new man
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match29 Jul 2028
No end in sight to Bryne's wait for a win
19 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Bryne has to find a result from somewhere.
The terraces31 Jul 2028
The mood at Bryne 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.
Boardroom31 Jul 2028
Pressure builds in the Bryne boardroom
The directors have stopped offering the manager public warmth. In football that is usually the stage before the short statement.
Squad31 Jul 2028
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Bryne will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Match31 Jul 2028
Bryne are in real trouble now
Position 14, 13 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.
Player ratings31 Jul 2028
Nicklas Strunck pops up at the right end — 7.77
7.77, 1 on the scoresheet, and the specific comedy of a back-four player celebrating like somebody who does this every week. He does not, and that is exactly why the ground reacted the way it did.
Squad31 Jul 2028
A falling-out at Bryne
Isak Vådebu and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad31 Jul 2028
A row about effort at Bryne
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Lars Erik Sødal was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Player ratings31 Jul 2028
Dani Raba runs at them all day
Successful dribbles: 20. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match22 Jul 2028
No end in sight to Bryne's wait for a win
18 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Bryne has to find a result from somewhere.
Squad24 Jul 2028
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Bryne will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Match22 Jul 2028
The goals have deserted Bryne
5 matches, no goals, and a training ground that has tried everything. It will end — droughts always do — but nobody at Bryne can tell you which week it ends in.
Squad24 Jul 2028
A row about effort at Bryne
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Lars Erik Sødal was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Squad24 Jul 2028
Words exchanged at Bryne
Serge Müller 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.
Boardroom24 Jul 2028
124% of the income goes out in wages at Bryne
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 dugout24 Jul 2028
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Felix Nagele, and the manager let it.
The dugout24 Jul 2028
The manager’s verdict
“I am frustrated, honestly. We did enough to win and we did not win.” Erling Sorloth was not hiding it after 0‑0, and nobody in the Bryne dressing room was either.
Match22 Jul 2028
No goals between Bryne and Åsane
Ninety minutes, two goalkeepers with clean gloves, and not one finish worth keeping. Åsane will be the happier side with the point.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match15 Jul 2028
No end in sight to Bryne's wait for a win
17 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Bryne has to find a result from somewhere.
Squad17 Jul 2028
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Bryne will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Market17 Jul 2028
The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.
The dugout17 Jul 2028
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Bryne may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Match15 Jul 2028
Bryne cannot find the net
4 games without scoring. Strikers stop looking up, midfielders take the extra touch, and every shot that clears the bar is followed by a groan that has been building since the last goal.
Player ratings17 Jul 2028
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.
Squad17 Jul 2028
A falling-out at Bryne
Lars Erik Sødal and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad17 Jul 2028
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Bryne can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
Squad17 Jul 2028
A row about effort at Bryne
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Dodou Gaye was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
In brief
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Match
The half-term report on Bryne
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Boardroom
Bryne counting the cost
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The dugout
Half-satisfied: Erling Sorloth on the draw
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match8 Jul 2028
16 matches without a win for Bryne
The run now stands at 16, and the questions being asked around Bryne are no longer polite ones.
Squad10 Jul 2028
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 55 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
The dugout10 Jul 2028
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Bryne have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Player ratings10 Jul 2028
Nobody could get near Dani Raba
Successful dribbles: 25. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad10 Jul 2028
Lars Erik Sødal 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.
Match8 Jul 2028
Bryne cannot find the net
3 games without scoring. Strikers stop looking up, midfielders take the extra touch, and every shot that clears the bar is followed by a groan that has been building since the last goal.
Squad10 Jul 2028
A falling-out at Bryne
Greg Docherty and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Player ratings10 Jul 2028
Nobody on the pitch touched Serge Müller
7.36, and no serious argument from anybody who was there. Bryne had eleven men on the pitch and one of them decided how it went.
The dugout10 Jul 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.