Marked for Patrick Meling
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad10 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 Mjondalen this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad10 Dec 2035
Words at Mjondalen training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Christos Gravius 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.
Squad10 Dec 2035
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Ruben Berge and Mjondalen agree another 4 years.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Boardroom3 Dec 2035
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.
Match3 Dec 2035
Mjondalen are in real trouble now
Position 14, 30 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.
Squad3 Dec 2035
Patrick Meling: 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.” Mjondalen have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Squad3 Dec 2035
“The easiest signature of my career.” Olav Veum and Mjondalen agree another 3 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Squad3 Dec 2035
Olav Veum 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 Mjondalen this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad3 Dec 2035
Christos Gravius 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.
In brief
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Boardroom
$621.1K taken back off the Mjondalen table
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Boardroom
The Mjondalen production line keeps running
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Boardroom
Mjondalen were not finished after all
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad1 Oct 2035
Valdemar Schmølker damages knee ligaments — 39 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 39 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.
Boardroom1 Oct 2035
The silence upstairs is getting loud at Mjondalen
Nobody on the board has said anything against the manager, which is the point — they have stopped saying anything for him either.
Player ratings1 Oct 2035
Successful dribbles: 27. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad1 Oct 2035
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Mjondalen may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Squad1 Oct 2035
Joel Mvuka 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 Mjondalen this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad1 Oct 2035
Words at Mjondalen training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Christos Gravius 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.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
The terraces27 Aug 2035
Anger at Mjondalen 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.
Squad27 Aug 2035
74 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Mjondalen lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Match25 Aug 2035
1‑8 to Bodo/Glimt, and it was every bit as bad as the number suggests. There are defeats you argue about and defeats you apologise for; this was the second kind.
Match25 Aug 2035
The wait goes on for Mjondalen
4 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
Squad27 Aug 2035
Beaten 8 times, with 4 saves for company. Goalkeepers carry these scorelines on their record whoever actually caused them, which is the quiet injustice of the job.
Squad27 Aug 2035
Olav Veum 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.
Match25 Aug 2035
Joel Mvuka among the goals in a wild afternoon
9 goals in one match, Joel Mvuka on the scoresheet, and a scoreline that will look like a misprint. Neutrals could not have asked more of Mjondalen and Bodo/Glimt.
Squad27 Aug 2035
Words at Mjondalen training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Christos Gravius 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.
Boardroom27 Aug 2035
The manager kept them in and said what needed saying. A response is expected on Saturday, and if it does not come the questions move upstairs.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad19 Mar 2035
Joel Mvuka 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.
Squad19 Mar 2035
Words at Mjondalen training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Christian Mork Breivik 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.
Squad19 Mar 2035
“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
Uneasy
The terraces12 Mar 2035
Anger at Mjondalen 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.
Squad12 Mar 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 Mjondalen this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad12 Mar 2035
Words at Mjondalen training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Christos Gravius 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.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad19 Feb 2035
Armand Wangen 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.
Squad19 Feb 2035
Christos Gravius 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.
Squad19 Feb 2035
“I respect the manager and I am not going to sit here and pretend I am happy.” It is the most common sentence in football and it has never once been the end of a story.
In brief
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Squad
Jens King asks for a word with the manager
From our football correspondent
Crisis
The terraces12 Feb 2035
Anger at Mjondalen 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.
Squad12 Feb 2035
Olav Veum 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 Feb 2035
Words at Mjondalen training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Christos Gravius 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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad25 Dec 2034
Christos Gravius 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.
Squad25 Dec 2034
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.
Boardroom25 Dec 2034
87% of the income goes out in wages at Mjondalen
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
Squad27 Nov 2034
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Mjondalen this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad27 Nov 2034
Words at Mjondalen training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Christos Gravius 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.
Squad27 Nov 2034
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Mathias Blårud, and the manager let it.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad26 Jun 2034
Alexander Johansen damages knee ligaments — 19 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 19 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.
Squad26 Jun 2034
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Mjondalen will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Squad26 Jun 2034
Patrick Meling: 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.” Mjondalen have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Match24 Jun 2034
No end in sight to Mjondalen's wait for a win
4 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Mjondalen has to find a result from somewhere.
Squad26 Jun 2034
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Mjondalen this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Player ratings26 Jun 2034
Joel Mvuka was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.12. There are performances a supporter describes to somebody who was not there and cannot quite convey; this was one, and the number does not help either.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Player ratings24 Apr 2034
Joel Mvuka runs at them all day
Successful dribbles: 44. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad24 Apr 2034
Olav Veum 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.
Squad24 Apr 2034
Words at Mjondalen training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Christos Gravius 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.
Match22 Apr 2034
0‑1 to Rosenborg, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Squad24 Apr 2034
“The easiest signature of my career.” Patrick Meling and Mjondalen agree another 4 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Squad24 Apr 2034
There is no complaint available here and everybody involved knows it, which does not make the walk to the bench any shorter. Form is the only currency in football that cannot be borrowed against.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad20 Mar 2034
A knee injury of the worst kind for Markus Ottesen
36 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Mjondalen lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Match20 Mar 2034
Every point is an argument now for Mjondalen
Position 14 and 29 points, and the table gets read bottom-up in this part of town. The calendar has stopped being a schedule and started being a countdown.
Squad20 Mar 2034
A fracture rules Thomas Lien out for 33 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Mjondalen will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.