Marked for Marcus Meling
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad17 Dec 2029
Ollie Watkins is in the form of his life
A season average of 8.17 with 38 goals behind it. Opponents have started planning around him, which is the sincerest compliment football pays.
Squad17 Dec 2029
Jesper Daland damages knee ligaments — 127 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 127 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.
Market17 Dec 2029
Terms done: Oscar is going
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Colo-Colo waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Rosenborg is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
Match10 Dec 2029
A European night to remember for Rosenborg
1‑0 against Panathinaikos, under lights, against people who do not speak the same language as the crowd. These are the evenings a club measures its decade in, and there are never as many of them as anybody expects.
Market17 Dec 2029
Boca Juniors paid $36.5M and Rosenborg took it, which is the whole story in one sentence. The longer version involves a wage budget and will be told all season.
Squad17 Dec 2029
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 9 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Match17 Dec 2029
The view from the top for Rosenborg
88 points, and the rest of the division looking up. Every side that finishes first spends the season pretending it is not thinking about it, and this one has started pretending.
Squad17 Dec 2029
Mads Andersen breaks a bone — 27 days out
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 27 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
The terraces17 Dec 2029
Dango Ouattara has gone, the accounts have $36.5M in them, and the supporters have the feeling of having been sold something themselves. Good business and a good decision are not always the same thing.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Triumph
Match18 Aug 2029
Rosenborg cannot stop winning
22 wins on the spin now, and the question has changed from whether the run ends to who ends it. Confidence like this cannot be bought; it has to be earned exactly this way.
Squad20 Aug 2029
A season average of 8.23 with 43 goals behind it. Opponents have started planning around him, which is the sincerest compliment football pays.
Match18 Aug 2029
3‑0, and the margin flattered nobody — it could have carried another goal or two without complaint. Afternoons like this are why people keep coming.
Market20 Aug 2029
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Mjondalen waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Rosenborg is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
Squad20 Aug 2029
3 goals in one game. The first was taken well, the second was taken greedily, and by the third the crowd were simply waiting for him to get the ball.
Player ratings20 Aug 2029
At 33 every good afternoon gets called a throwback, and this one was: 8.15, and nobody on the pitch better.
Match18 Aug 2029
12 home matches unbeaten. Visiting sides arrive already talking about the atmosphere, which is usually the sign that they have half-lost before kickoff.
Boardroom20 Aug 2029
Rosenborg close the window on a squad of their own making
23 in and 11 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.
Market20 Aug 2029
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Rosenborg is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
From our football correspondent
Triumph
Match30 Jun 2029
Rosenborg cannot stop winning
14 wins on the spin now, and the question has changed from whether the run ends to who ends it. Confidence like this cannot be bought; it has to be earned exactly this way.
Squad2 Jul 2029
A season average of 7.86 with 26 goals behind it. Opponents have started planning around him, which is the sincerest compliment football pays.
Match30 Jun 2029
Valerenga will want this one forgotten quickly: 3‑0, every duel lost, and a long ride home. Rosenborg were ruthless in the way good sides are ruthless.
Player ratings2 Jul 2029
2 goals, and the second was the one that settled it. Marked 9.14, and he could have had a third with better luck at the near post.
Match2 Jul 2029
The view from the top for Rosenborg
39 points, and the rest of the division looking up. Every side that finishes first spends the season pretending it is not thinking about it, and this one has started pretending.
Player ratings2 Jul 2029
Age has not caught Ollie Watkins yet — 9.29
At 33 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 9.29 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
Market2 Jul 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 Rosenborg, and it is not being withdrawn.
The dugout2 Jul 2029
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Rosenborg may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Market2 Jul 2029
Only the photograph left for Marcus Meling
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Marcus Meling will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Rosenborg the goodbyes have quietly begun.
From our football correspondent
Triumph
Match2 Jun 2029
Rosenborg cannot stop winning
10 wins on the spin now, and the question has changed from whether the run ends to who ends it. Confidence like this cannot be bought; it has to be earned exactly this way.
Squad4 Jun 2029
A season average of 7.78 with 23 goals behind it. Opponents have started planning around him, which is the sincerest compliment football pays.
Match2 Jun 2029
6‑1, and the margin flattered nobody — it could have carried another goal or two without complaint. Afternoons like this are why people keep coming.
Squad4 Jun 2029
4 goals in one game. The first was taken well, the second was taken greedily, and by the third the crowd were simply waiting for him to get the ball.
Player ratings4 Jun 2029
2 goals, and the second was the one that settled it. Marked 9.78, and he could have had a third with better luck at the near post.
Match4 Jun 2029
The view from the top for Rosenborg
27 points, and the rest of the division looking up. Every side that finishes first spends the season pretending it is not thinking about it, and this one has started pretending.
Market4 Jun 2029
The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.
Market4 Jun 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.
Market4 Jun 2029
“I have ambitions, and I would like the club to share them.” Nobody has asked to leave and nobody has been shown the door — but a player chooses that sentence carefully, and a boardroom hears it exactly as it was meant.
From our football correspondent
Triumph
Squad7 May 2029
A knee injury of the worst kind for Fredrik Riise
26 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Rosenborg lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Match5 May 2029
3‑0, and Oscar took the headlines on an afternoon when everything Rosenborg tried came off. Days like this are retold all winter.
Player ratings7 May 2029
Both of them Oscar's — 8.28
2 goals, and the second was the one that settled it. Marked 8.28, and he could have had a third with better luck at the near post.
Boardroom7 May 2029
Somebody wants to buy Rosenborg
Nothing has been signed and nothing has been denied. Supporters who have lived through one of these before know the quiet part lasts months and the loud part lasts a week.
Match5 May 2029
Rosenborg cannot stop winning
5 wins on the spin now, and the question has changed from whether the run ends to who ends it. Confidence like this cannot be bought; it has to be earned exactly this way.
The dugout7 May 2029
“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.
Market7 May 2029
“I want to be playing for trophies while my legs still let me.” Nothing in that sentence is a transfer request, and nobody at Rosenborg heard it as anything else.
Market7 May 2029
Only the photograph left for Marcus Meling
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Marcus Meling will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Rosenborg the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Squad7 May 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 Rosenborg this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Match7 Apr 2029
5‑0, and Dango Ouattara took the headlines on an afternoon when everything Rosenborg tried came off. Days like this are retold all winter.
Market9 Apr 2029
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Rosenborg have lost him in all but the paperwork.
Squad9 Apr 2029
The match ball belongs to Dango Ouattara, whose 3 goals turned a difficult afternoon into a procession.
Player ratings9 Apr 2029
At 33 every good afternoon gets called a throwback, and this one was: 8.46, and nobody on the pitch better.
Market9 Apr 2029
Rosenborg say no — this time
The offer from Breidablik for Noah Sahsah 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.
The dugout9 Apr 2029
William Wendt: 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.” Rosenborg have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Player ratings9 Apr 2029
Jaime Seoane pops up at the right end — 7.90
7.90, 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.
Market9 Apr 2029
Only the photograph left for Marcus Meling
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Marcus Meling will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Rosenborg the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Squad9 Apr 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 Rosenborg this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.