144 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Tromso lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 18-year-old it feels ownership of. Patrick Berge 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.
“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.
The dugout14 Aug 2034
The view from the dugout
“We controlled it. There were spells I did not like and we will look at them, but the group showed me something.” Jason Martin, on a 2‑1 win that he was already picking apart on the walk to the press room.
19 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Tromso lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Tromso people have started saying his name in the past tense.
Tromso and Aalesund have settled on $3.0K. The rest belongs to the player and his agent, and a supporter who has watched one of these before knows not to buy the shirt yet.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Tromso this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“The manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Stefan Thorsby has his answer from Tromso; what he does with it is the next window’s story.
The dugout24 Jul 2034
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.” Jason Martin chose the glass-half-full version of 0‑0; the supporters left with the other one.
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.
35 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Tromso lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Ibaider Garriz 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Giovanni Giunti was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“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.
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.
73 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Tromso lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Mads Sande 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.
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.
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 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.
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.
The words a physio says slowly. 81 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.
Two goals and a mark of 8.72 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
The hardest thing about being 21 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Kristian Linnes did not need any: 7.74, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Tromso this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad29 May 2034
Words at Tromso training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Giovanni Giunti 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.
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.
The dugout29 May 2034
The manager’s verdict
“I am not going to get carried away and I will not let them either. It was a good day. There will be harder ones.” Jason Martin kept it short after the 3‑1 win, which is what managers do when they are happy.
97 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Tromso lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Valerenga go through and Tromso go home, 0‑2 the scoreline that did it. The dressing room will call the league the priority now, because that is what dressing rooms say.
At 36 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 7.81 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
Player ratings15 May 2034
Up for the corner, and Adam Andersen delivers — 7.82
Centre-halves are allowed forward twice a season and are judged on what they do when they get there. Adam Andersen scored, was marked 7.82, and got back before anybody noticed he had gone.
Ibaider Garriz 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.
Squad15 May 2034
Words at Tromso training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Giovanni Giunti 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 words a physio says slowly. 107 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.
Mads Sande 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Giovanni Giunti was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
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.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 20-year-old it feels ownership of. Patrick Ryerson 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.
The offer from Sandefjord for Deni Dashaev 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.
“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 Tromso, and it is not being withdrawn.
Tromso had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at Lillestrom, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.
Mads Sande 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.
Stromsgodset wanted more than $120.0K and the board would not go there. Walked away, for now, which in a transfer window means until somebody blinks.
Squad20 Feb 2034
Words at Tromso training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Giovanni Giunti 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.
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 8.01 at 35, and nobody on the pitch was better.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Tromso have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Giovanni Giunti 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.
It finished 1‑0, and it was Emanuel Grønner’s afternoon: on the scoresheet when it mattered, and the reason the points belong to Tromso.
Squad31 Oct 2033
Words at Tromso training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Adam Andersen 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.
100 games in the shirt. Nobody sets out to build a record like that; it happens to a certain kind of player at a certain kind of club, and this town knows what it has.
Mads Sande 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.
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.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Tromso can pretend not to have heard.
Mads Sande 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.
Beaten 1‑2, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Squad27 Jun 2033
Adam Andersen 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.
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.
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Jason Martin after 1‑2, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
Kristian Linnes is 20, and for one weekend he was the best of everybody his age in the division. Nobody should build a career on it and everybody quietly does.
Ninety specific minutes wanted a different sort of player, and the manager picked one. He is not out of form and he is not in the side, and both are true.
In brief
The dugoutSomebody else is better right now than Lars Sorloth
The last league game has been played and the table has stopped moving: 32 points. The summer begins on Monday, and so does the argument about what it all meant.
“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 Tromso, and it is not being withdrawn.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Tromso this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Adam Andersen was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
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.