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.
22 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Aalesund lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Gustav Valsvik 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.
Squad23 Jul 2029
Martin Linnes 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.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Rosenborg have kept their man, and Aalesund go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
30 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Aalesund lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Aalesund can pretend not to have heard.
Uba Charles 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.
Squad16 Jul 2029
Words at Aalesund training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Martin Linnes 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.
Marked 7.86. Ask anyone leaving the ground what settled it and you will get one name, which is the only award that has ever really counted.
The dugout16 Jul 2029
Somebody else is better right now than Martin Linnes
The team sheet says it in public every week until it changes. The only version of being dropped a footballer cannot argue with, and the one he takes hardest.
The words a physio says slowly. 40 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.
Uba Charles 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 Martin Linnes was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Something was said to Martin Linnes and then it happened. In this industry that passes for remarkable, and the dressing room noticed faster than any supporter could.
Every club 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 it has been tried.
49 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Aalesund lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Martin Linnes was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
0‑2 to Lillestrom, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
The dugout2 Jul 2029
The view from the dugout
“We will look at it, we will learn from it, and we go again.” The three sentences every manager keeps for a 0‑2 defeat, delivered by Alberto Zorzi to a room that had heard them before.
7 arrivals, an average age nobody would call a squad, and a set of parents being shown around a building their sons will spend more time in than at home. The scouting has already happened; today is only the paperwork.
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.
59 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Aalesund lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Aalesund this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad25 Jun 2029
Words at Aalesund training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Martin Linnes 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.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Pedro Marques. 1‑0 against Mjondalen, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Player ratings25 Jun 2029
Pedro Marques was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.15. 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.
67 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Aalesund lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Uba Charles 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 Martin Linnes was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Two or more conceded in each of the last 4 matches. It is not one mistake repeating itself, which would be the easier thing to fix; it is a different one every week.
“The easiest signature of my career.” Einar Jølle and Aalesund agree another 4 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
The dugout18 Jun 2029
The manager’s verdict
“That is on me. I pick the team and I picked wrong.” Managers say that when they mean it and when they need to be seen to, and after 0‑2 Alberto Zorzi left the room before anybody could ask which.
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at Aalesund has been clear about where Mathias Blårud stands, which is more than many ever get.
In brief
The dugoutEmil Engqvist asks for a word with the manager
75 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Aalesund lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Pedro Marques had done his part in building a 2-goal cushion. What happened after that was collective, and Odd were allowed back into a match that had been finished with.
Gustav Valsvik and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad11 Jun 2029
Martin Linnes 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.
84 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Aalesund lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
9 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.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Aalesund have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Gustav Valsvik 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.
7 goals. Both benches spent the second half looking at each other rather than at the pitch. Purists will complain about Aalesund and Rosenborg in equal measure; everybody else had a wonderful time.
92 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Aalesund lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
The terraces28 May 2029
The mood at Aalesund has turned into something else
Supporters who sing when it goes badly are supporters. Supporters who gather afterwards are a problem, and everybody inside the building knows which of the two this now is.
8 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.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Aalesund have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Uba Charles 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 Martin Linnes was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“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 dugout28 May 2029
The manager’s verdict
“That is on me. I pick the team and I picked wrong.” Managers say that when they mean it and when they need to be seen to, and after 0‑2 Alberto Zorzi left the room before anybody could ask which.
The words a physio says slowly. 101 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Martin Linnes was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 0‑1, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
In brief
The dugoutThe plan did not have a place for Gustav Valsvik
109 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Aalesund lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Successful dribbles: 32. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
Two or more conceded in each of the last 5 matches. It is not one mistake repeating itself, which would be the easier thing to fix; it is a different one every week.
Squad14 May 2029
Martin Linnes 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.
117 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Aalesund lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
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.
Uba Charles 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 Martin Linnes was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Aalesund, another week without a signature from Martin Linnes.
In brief
The dugoutThe manager’s verdict
The dugoutMartin Linnes dropped after a run of poor form
The dugoutGustav Valsvik is playing like a man with something to prove
124 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Aalesund lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
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.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 7 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Uba Charles 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.
Squad30 Apr 2029
Words at Aalesund training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Martin Linnes 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.
Tromso left with the points after a 0‑2 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
The dugout30 Apr 2029
The view from the dugout
“We will look at it, we will learn from it, and we go again.” The three sentences every manager keeps for a 0‑2 defeat, delivered by Alexander Normann to a room that had heard them before.
The shape wanted a different profile against this opponent, which is a real football answer and no comfort at all to the man it is about. He did nothing wrong and he did not play.
The words a physio says slowly. 131 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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Aalesund this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad23 Apr 2029
Words at Aalesund training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Martin Linnes 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 a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.03, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
The dugout23 Apr 2029
The manager’s verdict
“That is on me. I pick the team and I picked wrong.” Managers say that when they mean it and when they need to be seen to, and after 1‑2 Alexander Normann left the room before anybody could ask which.
Somebody else has been better, the manager has said so with a team sheet, and there is no argument to be had. He will get the shirt back the only way it can be got back.
138 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Aalesund lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Gustav Valsvik 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 Martin Linnes was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
11 days since the seat came open, a list of names doing the rounds, and nobody has signed anything. Every week this drags on the shortlist gets shorter.
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.
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Aalesund, another week without a signature from Jakob Nyland Ørsahl.
145 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Aalesund lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
“I am not thinking past Saturday, and I would advise nobody else to.” The caretaker’s first rule is to pretend the job is small; Alexander Normann recited it perfectly.
7.89, 1 on the scoresheet, and the specific comedy of a back-four player celebrating like somebody who does this every week. He does not, and that is exactly why the ground reacted the way it did.
Uba Charles 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.
Some transfers need a press campaign. This one needed a shirt with the old number on it. Afonso Jesus is a Aalesund player again, and the town has its story of the summer.
The shirt still fits. Jesper Mosselaar is back at Aalesund, and half the ground remembers him in these colours already. Some signings need selling to the town; this one sold itself.
Footballers are asked about their boyhood club so often that nobody listens to the answer. Jesper Mosselaar has just signed for Aalesund, and for once the answer mattered.
Senior shirt numbers handed to boys the coaches have known since they were twelve. Most will not make it and all of them have already done the hard part.
In brief
SquadMartin Linnes falls out with a teammate over standards
The words a physio says slowly. 29 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 clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Aalesund people have started saying his name in the past tense.
Aalesund asked and Viking said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Uba Charles and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad19 Mar 2029
Words at Aalesund training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Martin Linnes 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 manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Thomas Grøgaard has his answer from Aalesund; what he does with it is the next window’s story.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Mathias Kristensen trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
The mood at Aalesund has turned into something else
Supporters who sing when it goes badly are supporters. Supporters who gather afterwards are a problem, and everybody inside the building knows which of the two this now is.
Uba Charles 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 most common injury in the game and the most rushed back from. Aalesund will quote 14 days and will be careful with it, because the second one is always worse than the first.
Squad5 Mar 2029
Martin Linnes 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.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Rosenborg have kept their man, and Aalesund go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Add another name to the list: Falkenberg have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Erik Tronesvold. The answer from Aalesund has not changed — yet.
The clubs have shaken hands with Sarpsborg 08; the player has not yet. Personal terms are next, and personal terms are where more deals die than anybody prints.
Gustav Valsvik 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.
Squad26 Feb 2029
Words at Aalesund training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Martin Linnes 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.
Every shape has positions in it and this one does not have his. Aalesund will either change the shape, change his job, or change his club, and he is waiting to hear which.
6 signings in three months. Every one of them may be an upgrade and the team can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild that never appears in the transfer-window verdicts.
Gustav Valsvik is 35 and has run out of things to prove. What he has left is where to stand, when to slow it down and what to say at half-time, and none of that is on a fitness chart.
The words a physio says slowly. 31 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.
Uba Charles 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 Martin Linnes was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Ole Aanvik Wingsternæs and Aalesund agree another 4 years.
38 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Aalesund lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Uba Charles 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.
Squad8 Jan 2029
Words at Aalesund training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Mohamed Baradji 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.
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Elias Myrlid is on it.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Aalesund, and both men came out saying it was fine.
He asked about his future and was given an answer with minutes in it. The manager has now made a promise in a building where promises are remembered, and the clock on it has started.
He trains hard, says the right things and goes home to an empty flat. Nobody at Aalesund has done anything wrong, which is exactly what makes it so difficult to fix.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Aalesund this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad4 Dec 2028
Words at Aalesund training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Martin Linnes 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.
Something was said to Håkon Hammer and then it happened. In this industry that passes for remarkable, and the dressing room noticed faster than any supporter could.
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Aalesund, another week without a signature from Thomas Grøgaard.
Uba Charles 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 Martin Linnes was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Aalesund, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Aalesund know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
He asked about his future and was given an answer with minutes in it. The manager has now made a promise in a building where promises are remembered, and the clock on it has started.
Uba Charles 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.
At 20 he is doing things this season that he could not do last season, and doing them every week. Form comes and goes; this has stayed long enough to be called something else.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Martin Linnes was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Aalesund know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
The last league game has been played and the table has stopped moving: 34 points. The summer begins on Monday, and so does the argument about what it all meant.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 7 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Aalesund have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Uba Charles and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad30 Oct 2028
Martin Linnes 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.
Successful dribbles: 16. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
The dugout30 Oct 2028
The view from the dugout
“We will look at it, we will learn from it, and we go again.” The three sentences every manager keeps for a 1‑2 defeat, delivered by Sander Singh to a room that had heard them before.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 6 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Martin Linnes was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Sander Singh after 0‑2, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
A player who expected to start watched it instead. The manager will call it a decision for the team; Thomas Grøgaard will call it something else in private.
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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Martin Linnes was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
He is 22 and the ground already sings his name, which is a thing that happens to local boys and almost never to signings. Everything from here is measured against an affection he did nothing to earn except be from here.
A mark of 7.32, and nobody in the ground would argue with it. He was involved in everything that mattered and most of what did not.
The dugout11 Sep 2028
The manager’s verdict
“I am frustrated, honestly. We did enough to win and we did not win.” Sander Singh was not hiding it after 0‑0, and nobody in the Aalesund dressing room was either.
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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Aalesund this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
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.
“It is not the end of the world and it is not good enough. Both of those are true.” The manager, after a 1‑1 draw, said the honest thing and then went to say it again inside.
Somebody else has been better, the manager has said so with a team sheet, and there is no argument to be had. He will get the shirt back the only way it can be got back.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Aalesund have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Aalesund had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at FC Copenhagen, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.
Uba Charles 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.
Squad28 Aug 2028
Martin Linnes 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.
A deal that was a phone call from completion at lunchtime was dead by midnight. Aalesund will try again when the window opens; Valerenga may not be selling by then.
200 times in these colours, in all weathers and under four or five different managers. That kind of service is quietly disappearing from the game.
Player ratings28 Aug 2028
Sander Kartum was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.01. 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.
The dugout28 Aug 2028
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.” Sander Singh, on a 2‑0 win that he was already picking apart on the walk to the press room.
Aalesund and Viking have settled on $2.0M. 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.
“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 Aalesund, and it is not being withdrawn.
Uba Charles 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.
Bodo/Glimt paid $690.0K and Aalesund took it, which is the whole story in one sentence. The longer version involves a wage budget and will be told all season.
Marked 8.72 — the sort of number a correspondent writes down twice to be sure. Everything he tried came off, and what he did not try was not worth trying.
Marked 8.59 — the sort of number a correspondent writes down twice to be sure. Everything he tried came off, and what he did not try was not worth trying.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Dylan Murugesapillai was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“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 Aalesund, and it is not being withdrawn.
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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Aalesund this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 1‑3, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
Squad10 Jul 2028
Words at Aalesund training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Per-Egil Flo 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.
Uba Charles 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.
Minute 85, against Lillestrom, and a goal that felt like a win to everybody who had stayed. It was a draw. Nobody leaving the ground will describe it as one.
Signed today, seen by nobody for years, and one of them may one day be the reason the club exists. That is the whole of the argument for an academy, and it is a good one.
A month is long enough that nobody gets in by accident. Marius Andresen is in the division's best eleven for it, which is a quieter compliment than an award and a more reliable one.
“A point is a point and I will take it, but we should have had all three.” Sander Singh after the 1‑1 draw, and the sentence every manager in the country said at some stage this weekend.
In brief
The dugoutSomebody else is better right now than Thomas Grøgaard
“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 Aalesund, and it is not being withdrawn.
Uba Charles 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 Jun 2028
Words at Aalesund training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Dylan Murugesapillai 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.
Successful dribbles: 18. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
7.25, 1 on the scoresheet, and the specific comedy of a back-four player celebrating like somebody who does this every week. He does not, and that is exactly why the ground reacted the way it did.
“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.
The dugout19 Jun 2028
The manager’s verdict
“That is on me. I pick the team and I picked wrong.” Managers say that when they mean it and when they need to be seen to, and after 1‑2 Sander Singh left the room before anybody could ask which.
Squad19 Jun 2028
Words at Aalesund training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Per-Egil Flo 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 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.
One weekend, judged against everybody else's. Pedro Marques has come out on top of it, and for most footballers a weekly award is the only silverware a career ever produces.
The words a physio says slowly. 20 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.
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.
Uba Charles 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.
Defending was optional and nobody took up the option. 7 goals between Aalesund and Rosenborg, and not one of the people who paid to be there will ask for the money back.
Squad5 Jun 2028
Words at Aalesund training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Dylan Murugesapillai 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 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.
The dugout5 Jun 2028
The view from the dugout
“We will look at it, we will learn from it, and we go again.” The three sentences every manager keeps for a 1‑6 defeat, delivered by Sander Singh to a room that had heard them before.
28 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Aalesund lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
“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 Aalesund, and it is not being withdrawn.
Uba Charles 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.
“We earned that. I asked them for a reaction and I got one, and now I want the same again on Saturday.” Sander Singh on a 1‑0 afternoon that pleased him more than he was prepared to show.
Squad29 May 2028
Per-Egil Flo 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 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.
Uba Charles 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.
100 games in this shirt, through managers and relegations and everything else. Service like it is disappearing from the game and the crowd knows what it is watching.
“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 dugout8 May 2028
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.” Sander Singh kept it short after the 2‑1 win, which is what managers do when they are happy.
Squad8 May 2028
Words at Aalesund training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Per-Egil Flo 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.
“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 Aalesund, and it is not being withdrawn.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 6 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
Uba Charles 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 demotion a club never announces and a dressing room always notices. Thomas Grøgaard is further from the side than he was, and the reason will not be given until he asks.
1 error, one goal, and a night in front of the same three seconds. He will see it tonight, tomorrow and probably in February, and everybody who has played knows exactly which frame he keeps stopping on.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Aalesund this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
12 new signings in one window. Every one may be an upgrade and the side can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild the verdicts never mention.
The dugout17 Apr 2028
The manager’s verdict
“That is on me. I pick the team and I picked wrong.” Managers say that when they mean it and when they need to be seen to, and after 0‑2 Sander Singh left the room before anybody could ask which.
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.
Somebody else has been better, the manager has said so with a team sheet, and there is no argument to be had. He will get the shirt back the only way it can be got back.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Per-Egil Flo was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Aalesund will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Aalesund had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at Valur, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.
Nobody makes a documentary about a hamstring and everybody in the game fears one. Aalesund will be careful with the return date, because the second one is always worse than the first.
Uba Charles 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.
Every footballer has an answer to the question about his boyhood club, and most of them never get to act on it. Simon Ernemann has, at Aalesund, and the first month will show what that does to a man.
Aalesund asked and Esbjerg said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Simon Ernemann is 34 and has run out of things to prove. What he has left is where to stand, when to slow it down and what to say at half-time, and none of that is on a fitness chart.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Aalesund, and both men came out saying it was fine.
The board’s statement ran to three sentences and one of them mentioned results. Sander Singh has managed long enough to translate: win soon, or the next statement is shorter.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Aalesund this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at Aalesund has been clear about where Sander Kartum stands, which is more than many ever get.
“I have given this everything, but my family is not here and neither am I, not really.” A footballer can be coached out of bad form. Nobody has ever been coached out of this, and Aalesund know it.
A change in the dugout is not one story, it is twenty-five of them. This is Thomas Grøgaard's: he was somebody's player, and now he has to be somebody else's, starting from nothing.
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 board have said in public what they had been saying in private. Results between now and the next meeting decide it, and everybody in the building knows the arithmetic.
Uba Charles 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.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Aalesund, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Not a new contract, not a new number: a new place in the manager’s thinking, which is the only promotion in football that actually matters. Aleksander Hammer Kjelsen has moved up it.
He looks like a man who lives here now rather than one who is working here. It took most of a season, and at Aalesund the difference is visible from the back of the stand.
Thomas Grøgaard 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.
“I am grateful for the games, but I did not become a footballer to be somebody else's spare part.” He wants to be at Aalesund, and 5 appearances in 15 say he has earned the hearing.
A year in and the city has not opened up, the language has not come, and lunch is eaten alone more often than anybody at Aalesund would admit. It shows on Saturdays.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Ojo Johnson trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Aalesund will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
What was said behind closed doors has now been said in front of a microphone. Everybody at Aalesund can do the arithmetic, including the man it is aimed at.
Uba Charles 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.
Four or five weekends of consistency, judged against everybody in the division doing his job. Cheikh Mbacke Diop has come out of that comparison in the side, and Aalesund have had the benefit of every one of those afternoons.
A change in the dugout is not one story, it is twenty-five of them. This is Thomas Grøgaard's: he was somebody's player, and now he has to be somebody else's, starting from nothing.
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Aalesund, another week without a signature from Ólafur Guðmundsson.
He asked about his future and was given an answer with minutes in it. The manager has now made a promise in a building where promises are remembered, and the clock on it has started.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 22 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
The last league game has been played and the table has stopped moving: 26 points. The summer begins on Monday, and so does the argument about what it all meant.
Uba Charles 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.
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Aalesund can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
The manager has re-ordered his thinking and Kristoffer Nessø has come out of it lower. He will be told it is temporary, and the players who have heard that before will avoid his eye.
Warm-up bib, ninety minutes of watching, and a handshake at the end that fooled nobody. Big matches tell you who a manager trusts; this one told Ólafur Guðmundsson.
A change in the dugout is not one story, it is twenty-five of them. This is Thomas Grøgaard's: he was somebody's player, and now he has to be somebody else's, starting from nothing.