Marked for Patrick Berge
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Market21 Jul 2036
“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.
The dugout21 Jul 2036
Jakob Berhus: 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.” Odd have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Squad21 Jul 2036
A row about effort at Odd
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Eric Kahl was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Match19 Jul 2036
6 unbeaten for Odd
Hard to beat is not the same as winning, but 6 matches without defeat is a foundation Odd did not have in the autumn.
Match19 Jul 2036
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Enoch Dzeble. 3‑1 against Raufoss, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Transfer targets21 Jul 2036
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Brann have kept their man, and Odd go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Squad21 Jul 2036
Words exchanged at Odd
Isaac Frimpong 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 dugout21 Jul 2036
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Leon Cornaire, and the manager let it.
Player ratings21 Jul 2036
One of those days for Gjan Ajdin
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.21, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Match12 Jul 2036
4‑0, and Gjan Ajdin took the headlines on an afternoon when everything Odd tried came off. Days like this are retold all winter.
Player ratings14 Jul 2036
A brace, and Gjan Ajdin takes the afternoon — 8.19
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Gjan Ajdin provided it, and the 8.19 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Player ratings14 Jul 2036
Magnus Mehl goes up and wins it — 7.97
A defender on the scoresheet, which happens rarely enough that everybody in the ground remembers who took the corner. 1 for him, and a mark of 7.97 for the rest of it.
The dugout14 Jul 2036
Matyáš Coňk: 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.” Odd have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Squad14 Jul 2036
Tempers go at Odd
Isaac Frimpong 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 ratings14 Jul 2036
A performance of 8.14 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
Match14 Jul 2036
The half-term report on Odd
Position 1, 31 points, and every result so far reduced to one line. The second half of the season starts with the same squad and a different set of expectations.
Squad14 Jul 2036
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Patrick Berge commits to Odd for another 3 years.
Market14 Jul 2036
“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.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Market31 Mar 2036
“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 Odd, and it is not being withdrawn.
Transfer targets31 Mar 2036
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.
Squad31 Mar 2036
A falling-out at Odd
Isaac Frimpong and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad31 Mar 2036
Georg Kaspersen 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 dugout31 Mar 2036
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Mathias Olsen, and the manager let it.
Transfer targets31 Mar 2036
Brann have been asked whether they would lend him. Loans are agreed quickly or not at all, and this one will be one or the other by the weekend.
The dugout31 Mar 2036
Gjan Ajdin 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 Odd, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Squad31 Mar 2036
The system has changed and his position has not. A footballer can improve his form; he cannot improve the manager’s formation, and that is the whole of the problem.
Squad31 Mar 2036
“I have done everything asked of me in training and it has not changed a thing on a Saturday.” The most familiar complaint in football, and one Odd will have to answer with minutes or with a transfer.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Market24 Mar 2036
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Odd have lost him in all but the paperwork.
Market24 Mar 2036
“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 Odd, and it is not being withdrawn.
Transfer targets24 Mar 2036
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Brann have kept their man, and Odd go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Squad24 Mar 2036
Words at Odd training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Gjan Ajdin 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.
Squad24 Mar 2036
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Odd this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Boardroom24 Mar 2036
Nobody arrives at Odd until somebody leaves
The club is not barred from spending; it simply has nothing to spend that it has not first raised. Every name linked with Odd this window arrives with a name leaving in the same sentence.
The dugout24 Mar 2036
Gjan Ajdin 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 Odd, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Squad24 Mar 2036
Every shape has positions in it and this one does not have his. Odd will either change the shape, change his job, or change his club, and he is waiting to hear which.
The dugout24 Mar 2036
The manager makes an example of Patrick Berge
“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.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Market31 Dec 2035
Enoch Dzeble 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 Odd can pretend not to have heard.
Squad31 Dec 2035
Words at Odd training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Stefan Melentijević 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.
Squad31 Dec 2035
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Odd this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad31 Dec 2035
Everybody saw it before anybody said it. At 35 the numbers say 3 points down on what he was, and the question for Odd is how to handle a man they owe a great deal.
Boardroom31 Dec 2035
Odd 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.
Squad31 Dec 2035
The system has changed and his position has not. A footballer can improve his form; he cannot improve the manager’s formation, and that is the whole of the problem.
The dugout31 Dec 2035
The manager makes an example of Antonio Badini
“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 dugout31 Dec 2035
Einar Iversen 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 Odd, and both men came out saying it was fine.
The dugout31 Dec 2035
Patrick Berge has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at Odd 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
Match9 May 2035
Cup progress for Odd
A 2‑0 win over Stabaek, a place in the next round, and the quiet arithmetic every supporter does on the walk home: how many more until a final?
Market14 May 2035
Oskar Wørts has one foot out of the door
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Odd they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Player ratings14 May 2035
Patrick Berge, 21, steals the show — 7.98
Marked 7.98 at 21, in a side that makes no allowances for age. He did not need any, and he looked the least nervous man on the pitch.
Squad14 May 2035
The most common injury in the game and the most rushed back from. Odd will quote 16 days and will be careful with it, because the second one is always worse than the first.
Squad14 May 2035
A row about effort at Odd
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Samuel Skree Skjeldal was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Player ratings14 May 2035
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.
Squad14 May 2035
Words exchanged at Odd
Isaac Frimpong 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 terraces14 May 2035
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.
Match12 May 2035
Beaten 0‑1, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.