Marked for Alexander Odegaard
From our football correspondent
Crisis
The terraces12 Nov 2040
Anger at Sandefjord 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.
Boardroom12 Nov 2040
The accounts make uncomfortable reading. Wages first and ambition second is the order of business at Sandefjord now.
Squad12 Nov 2040
Elton Dodaj 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.
Squad12 Nov 2040
Vetle Walle Egeli 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.
Squad12 Nov 2040
“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.
Squad12 Nov 2040
Elias Jemal asks for a word with the manager
“I would rather say it to his face than read about it.” The meeting was requested by the player, which tells you most of what you need to know.
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From our football correspondent
Crisis
Boardroom22 Oct 2040
The scrutiny sharpens at Sandefjord
Nobody upstairs has said anything, which is the loudest thing they could do. Results buy silence in this game; the account at Sandefjord is running low.
Squad22 Oct 2040
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Sandefjord this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad22 Oct 2040
Words at Sandefjord training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Vetle Walle Egeli 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.
Squad22 Oct 2040
“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; Sandefjord are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
Squad22 Oct 2040
The one version of being left out a player cannot argue with, and the one he takes worst. Somebody else has been better and the team sheet says so, in public, every week until it changes.
Player ratings22 Oct 2040
Some games turn on a moment; this one turned on a man. 7.45 on the card, and the Sandefjord support went home talking about one name.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Boardroom8 Oct 2040
The board’s statement ran to three sentences and one of them mentioned results. Interim Coach has managed long enough to translate: win soon, or the next statement is shorter.
Boardroom8 Oct 2040
The official line will be that it was routine. It was not routine, the timing says so, and every person in that room knows what the next bad result costs.
Market8 Oct 2040
“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 Sandefjord, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad8 Oct 2040
Jakub Popiela: 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.” Sandefjord have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Squad8 Oct 2040
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Sandefjord this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad8 Oct 2040
Words at Sandefjord training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Vetle Walle Egeli 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.
Squad8 Oct 2040
“The easiest signature of my career.” Almar Grindhaug and Sandefjord agree another 2 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Match6 Oct 2040
A 1‑1 draw with Sarpsborg 08 leaves the dressing room somewhere between relief and regret.
Market8 Oct 2040
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Sandefjord know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Boardroom3 Sep 2040
Interim Coach has until the next board meeting
What was said behind closed doors has now been said in front of a microphone. Everybody at Sandefjord can do the arithmetic, including the man it is aimed at.
Market3 Sep 2040
Pol Montero 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 Sandefjord can pretend not to have heard.
Squad3 Sep 2040
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Elias Hadaya commits to Sandefjord for another 2 years.
Squad3 Sep 2040
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Sandefjord this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Match1 Sep 2040
Emil Hamre scored, and precious little else went right: 1‑3 to IK Start, and a quiet walk to the dressing room.
Squad3 Sep 2040
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Vetle Walle Egeli, and the manager let it.
Squad3 Sep 2040
Words at Sandefjord training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Almar Grindhaug 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.
Boardroom3 Sep 2040
Wages eat 98% of everything Sandefjord earn
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.
Player ratings3 Sep 2040
Shots: 9, enough of them from close enough that a striker in form scores two. He is not a striker in form.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Boardroom27 Aug 2040
The scrutiny sharpens at Sandefjord
Nobody upstairs has said anything, which is the loudest thing they could do. Results buy silence in this game; the account at Sandefjord is running low.
Squad27 Aug 2040
Elton Dodaj 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 Sandefjord this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad27 Aug 2040
Words at Sandefjord training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Vetle Walle Egeli 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 Aug 2040
Beaten 0‑1, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Squad27 Aug 2040
The one version of being left out a player cannot argue with, and the one he takes worst. Somebody else has been better and the team sheet says so, in public, every week until it changes.
Squad27 Aug 2040
The manager makes an example of Patrik Horváth
“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
Uneasy
Boardroom6 Aug 2040
The board’s statement ran to three sentences and one of them mentioned results. Interim Coach has managed long enough to translate: win soon, or the next statement is shorter.
Market6 Aug 2040
Pol Montero 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 Sandefjord can pretend not to have heard.
Match4 Aug 2040
No end in sight to Sandefjord's wait for a win
4 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Sandefjord has to find a result from somewhere.
Squad6 Aug 2040
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Kristian Bilovar and Sandefjord agree another 1 years.
Market6 Aug 2040
The shirt still fits. Alen Kurtalić is back at Sandefjord, and half the ground remembers him in these colours already. Some signings need selling to the town; this one sold itself.
Squad6 Aug 2040
Elton Dodaj 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 Sandefjord this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad6 Aug 2040
Words at Sandefjord training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Vetle Walle Egeli 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.
Boardroom6 Aug 2040
Wages eat 103% of everything Sandefjord earn
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.
Squad6 Aug 2040
The one version of being left out a player cannot argue with, and the one he takes worst. Somebody else has been better and the team sheet says so, in public, every week until it changes.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad11 Jun 2040
Mathias Sauer breaks a bone — 33 days out
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 33 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Squad11 Jun 2040
Mathias Linnes damages knee ligaments — 26 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 26 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.
Match9 Jun 2040
Ninety minutes of very little, and then everything at once. The winner arrived in the 86th, and Mjondalen spent what remained of the match appealing to the referee rather than chasing the ball.
Squad11 Jun 2040
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 6 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Squad11 Jun 2040
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Kristian Bilovar and Sandefjord agree another 1 years.
Match9 Jun 2040
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Emil Hamre. 3‑2 against Mjondalen, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Player ratings11 Jun 2040
One of those days for Emil Hamre
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.50, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
Player ratings11 Jun 2040
Successful dribbles: 16. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Boardroom11 Jun 2040
88% of the income goes out in wages at Sandefjord
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.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad17 Oct 2039
The words a physio says slowly. 104 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.
The terraces17 Oct 2039
Anger at Sandefjord 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.
Boardroom17 Oct 2039
The accounts make uncomfortable reading. Wages first and ambition second is the order of business at Sandefjord now.
Squad17 Oct 2039
Elton Dodaj 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.
Squad17 Oct 2039
Vetle Walle Egeli 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.
Squad17 Oct 2039
“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
Crisis
Squad3 Oct 2039
The words a physio says slowly. 118 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.
Boardroom3 Oct 2039
Pressure builds in the Sandefjord boardroom
The directors have stopped offering the manager public warmth. In football that is usually the stage before the short statement.
Squad3 Oct 2039
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Sander Risan Mørk and Sandefjord agree another 2 years.
Squad3 Oct 2039
“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; Sandefjord are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
Squad3 Oct 2039
Elton Dodaj 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.
Match1 Oct 2039
Defending was optional and nobody took up the option. 6 goals between Sandefjord and Haugesund, and not one of the people who paid to be there will ask for the money back.
Match1 Oct 2039
A 3‑3 draw with Haugesund leaves the dressing room somewhere between relief and regret.
Boardroom3 Oct 2039
Wages eat 90% of everything Sandefjord earn
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.
Player ratings3 Oct 2039
He was not in the side at half past three and he had settled it before five. Half an hour, and Sandefjord had a different afternoon.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad22 Aug 2039
A knee injury of the worst kind for Vetle Walle Egeli
49 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Sandefjord lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
The terraces22 Aug 2039
Anger at Sandefjord 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.
Match20 Aug 2039
No end in sight to Sandefjord's wait for a win
9 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Sandefjord has to find a result from somewhere.
Player ratings22 Aug 2039
A brace, and Mathias Sauer takes the afternoon — 8.19
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Mathias Sauer provided it, and the 8.19 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Boardroom22 Aug 2039
The accounts make uncomfortable reading. Wages first and ambition second is the order of business at Sandefjord now.
Squad22 Aug 2039
“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.
Squad22 Aug 2039
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Sandefjord this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Match20 Aug 2039
Defending was optional and nobody took up the option. 8 goals between Sandefjord and Valerenga, and not one of the people who paid to be there will ask for the money back.
Squad22 Aug 2039
“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.