Marked for Marcel Schmid
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad28 Jan 2036
Thomas Selnaes damages knee ligaments — 23 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 23 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.
Squad28 Jan 2036
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Sogndal will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Market28 Jan 2036
Marcel Schmid has one foot out of the door
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Sogndal they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Squad28 Jan 2036
Words exchanged at Sogndal
Yusuf Faghir 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.
Squad28 Jan 2036
A row about effort at Sogndal
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and David Katlego was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout28 Jan 2036
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Jassim Djelloul, and the manager let it.
The dugout28 Jan 2036
Nobody will confirm this and nothing else explains the last month of selections. A costly error buys a player a period of being second choice that is always longer than the error was.
Market28 Jan 2036
Every press conference now starts and ends the same way: with Yusuf Faghir’s future. The manager has run out of new ways to say nothing.
Market28 Jan 2036
The clock does Jassim Djelloul’s negotiating for him
6 months left, and both sides know what that means: every week without a signature, the fee Sogndal could ask drops and the wages Jassim Djelloul can ask rise.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad14 Jan 2036
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Sogndal will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Market14 Jan 2036
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Sogndal they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Squad14 Jan 2036
Words exchanged at Sogndal
Elias Tenden 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.
Squad14 Jan 2036
Vegard Lien pulls a muscle — 14 days out
The injury that keeps coming back, keeps being rushed back from, and quietly costs more careers than the dramatic ones. 14 days is the estimate; the honest figure depends on whether anybody is patient.
The dugout14 Jan 2036
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.
Squad14 Jan 2036
A row about effort at Sogndal
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Morgan Corredor was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Market14 Jan 2036
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Sogndal, another week without a signature from Sverre Fauskanger-Lindberg.
The dugout14 Jan 2036
David Katlego knocks on the manager’s door
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and David Katlego trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
The dugout14 Jan 2036
The manager makes an example of Marcel Schmid
“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
Steady
Squad31 Dec 2035
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 62 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Market31 Dec 2035
Only the photograph left for Marcel Schmid
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Marcel Schmid will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Sogndal the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Squad31 Dec 2035
David Katlego 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.
Squad31 Dec 2035
Gabriel Kerckaert 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 dugout31 Dec 2035
The manager has not finished forgetting Morten Bohinen's mistake
Publicly it is behind everybody. It is not behind the man who picks the team, and the only place that shows is a team sheet. He will get another chance; he will get it in a match that matters less.
Market31 Dec 2035
Every press conference now starts and ends the same way: with Yusuf Faghir’s future. The manager has run out of new ways to say nothing.
The dugout31 Dec 2035
A conversation in the manager’s office, and a commitment that came out of it. Promises like that are cheap to make and expensive to break, and David Katlego has written the date down.
Market31 Dec 2035
“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 dugout31 Dec 2035
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Sogndal, and both men came out saying it was fine.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad3 Dec 2035
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Sogndal will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Market3 Dec 2035
Only the photograph left for Marcel Schmid
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Marcel Schmid will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Sogndal the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Boardroom3 Dec 2035
The rules permit it and it stings anyway. Marcel Schmid has agreed terms with Egersund for the summer, and until then he pulls on this shirt as a player who has already chosen his next one.
Squad3 Dec 2035
Words exchanged at Sogndal
Yusuf Faghir 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.
Squad3 Dec 2035
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Gabriel Fjellstad Olsen and Sogndal agree another 2 years.
Squad3 Dec 2035
Uran Bislimi 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 dugout3 Dec 2035
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Gabriel Fjellstad Olsen, and the manager let it.
Market3 Dec 2035
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Sogndal, another week without a signature from Ognjen Markovic.
The dugout3 Dec 2035
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Ognjen Markovic trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market13 Aug 2035
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Molde waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Sogndal is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
Market13 Aug 2035
“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 dugout13 Aug 2035
“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.
Transfer targets13 Aug 2035
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Sogndal have done the hard part with Brann, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
Market13 Aug 2035
Hødd come back empty-handed
The bid was some way short and Sogndal did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.
Transfer targets13 Aug 2035
$77.0K on the table at Haugesund. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.
Squad13 Aug 2035
Words at Sogndal training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Oscar Sjöstrand 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.
Transfer targets13 Aug 2035
Sogndal asked and Brann said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Loan watch13 Aug 2035
“I did not go to Moss to sit and watch. I want to come back to Sogndal and fight for my place.” 0 appearances in 18 matches say the rest.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market26 Feb 2035
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Åsane waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Sogndal is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
Market26 Feb 2035
“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.
Transfer targets26 Feb 2035
$1.0M on the table at Haugesund. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.
Transfer targets26 Feb 2035
No deal for Luca Høyland at that price
Sogndal offered $320.0K; Brann said it was not close. The manager will be told the money is still there for the right player, which is what managers are told.
Squad26 Feb 2035
Words exchanged at Sogndal
Sabbath Mancha 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.
Squad26 Feb 2035
Oscar Sjöstrand 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.
Squad26 Feb 2035
At 35, 3 points below where he was, and a body that has started charging interest. It happens to all of them and it is still the hardest paragraph on this page.
Transfer targets26 Feb 2035
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Brann have kept their man, and Sogndal go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
The dugout26 Feb 2035
“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.