42 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Mjondalen lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
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.
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 18 he is doing things at this level he could not do at the start of the season, and the coaching staff will tell you exactly which of them.
“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.
Squad13 Dec 2027
Words at Mjondalen training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Tobias Bjørnebye 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. 49 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 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.
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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Kweku Kekeli was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Four or five weekends of consistency, judged against everybody in the division doing his job. Meliga Promise has come out of that comparison in the side, and Mjondalen have had the benefit of every one of those afternoons.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Mjondalen, and both men came out saying it was fine.
56 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Mjondalen lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Lucas Myklebust is 18, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Fanuel Ghebreyohannes was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
It is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. Mjondalen told Tobias Flem something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Mjondalen, and both men came out saying it was fine.
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.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Mjondalen know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
The words a physio says slowly. 63 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 last league game has been played and the table has stopped moving: 37 points. The summer begins on Monday, and so does the argument about what it all meant.
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.
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.
Player ratings22 Nov 2027
Meliga Promise, 20, plays like he has been here for years — 7.64
A mark of 7.64 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 20-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Fanuel Ghebreyohannes was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Harald Martin Hauso 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.
70 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Mjondalen 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 Mjondalen 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 Kweku Kekeli was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
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 Fanuel Ghebreyohannes is on it.
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.
IK Start next, and one man in the Mjondalen dressing room knows their training ground better than his own. The reception will tell him what they thought of him.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Christian Mork Breivik signs something — a contract at Mjondalen or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
78 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Mjondalen lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
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.
The hardest thing about being 21 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Erik Berre did not need any: 7.80, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
“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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Fanuel Ghebreyohannes was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The chances are being made and something is happening between the making and the finishing. 3 matches now, and the anxiety in the ground arrives a little earlier every week.
85 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.
Thomas Grøgaard and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad1 Nov 2027
Words at Mjondalen training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Fanuel Ghebreyohannes 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.
Goalkeepers do not get to make mistakes; they get to make goals. He made one, he knew it instantly, and there was nobody behind him to make it anything else.
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.
In brief
The dugoutThomas Grøgaard loses the manager who believed in him
The words a physio says slowly. 92 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.
Nobody upstairs has said anything, which is the loudest thing they could do. Results buy silence in this game; the account at Mjondalen is running low.
Thomas Grøgaard 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.
8 home matches unbeaten. Visiting sides arrive already talking about the atmosphere, which is usually the sign that they have half-lost before kickoff.
Successful dribbles: 17. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
Squad25 Oct 2027
Kweku Kekeli 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.
99 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.
The hardest thing about being 20 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Meliga Promise did not need any: 8.25, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
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.
6 goals. Both benches spent the second half looking at each other rather than at the pitch. Purists will complain about Mjondalen and Bryne in equal measure; everybody else had a wonderful time.
Squad18 Oct 2027
Words at Mjondalen training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Fanuel Ghebreyohannes 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.
He is 20 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.
The words a physio says slowly. 106 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 Mjondalen 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 Fanuel Ghebreyohannes was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
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 Fanuel Ghebreyohannes is on it.
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.
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.
Every squad has one of these fixtures for somebody every season. This one is Oliver Rotihaug’s: the club that knew him first, the supporters who will decide in the first minute whether to applaud, and Mjondalen needing him to play as if none of it matters.
The words a physio says slowly. 113 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 Mjondalen this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
At 23 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.
Squad4 Oct 2027
Kweku Kekeli 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.
5 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.
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 Sander Marthinussen.
Something was said to Elias Hovdahl Sandrød and then it happened. In this industry that passes for remarkable, and the dressing room noticed faster than any supporter could.
“A point is a point and I will take it, but we should have had all three.” Marcus Riise after the 0‑0 draw, and the sentence every manager in the country said at some stage this weekend.
120 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.
Nobody upstairs has said anything, which is the loudest thing they could do. Results buy silence in this game; the account at Mjondalen is running low.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Fanuel Ghebreyohannes was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
It is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. Mjondalen told Markus Ottesen something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
The words a physio says slowly. 127 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.
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 18 he is doing things at this level he could not do at the start of the season, and the coaching staff will tell you exactly which of them.
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.
Harald Martin Hauso 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.
“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 dugout20 Sep 2027
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 1‑3 Marcus Riise left the room before anybody could ask which.
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.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Tobias Flem trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
3 wins on the spin now, and the question has changed from whether the run ends to who ends it. Confidence like this cannot be bought; it has to be earned exactly this way.
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.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 20-year-old it feels ownership of. Meliga Promise 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.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Meliga Promise. 1‑0 against Stromsgodset, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Squad13 Sep 2027
Kweku Kekeli 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.
“We earned that. I asked them for a reaction and I got one, and now I want the same again on Saturday.” Marcus Riise on a 1‑0 afternoon that pleased him more than he was prepared to show.
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Fanuel Ghebreyohannes was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
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.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Christian Mork Breivik trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Stromsgodset top the table and they are coming into view. Nothing to lose, which is what every manager says before losing.
The dugout6 Sep 2027
Kweku Kekeli is still being punished for one mistake
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.
Stromsgodset next, and one man in the Mjondalen dressing room knows their training ground better than his own. The reception will tell him what they thought of him.
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 18 he is doing things at this level he could not do at the start of the season, and the coaching staff will tell you exactly which of them.
Thomas Grøgaard 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 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. Molde have kept their man, and Mjondalen go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Jonas Bruusgaard. 1‑0 against Ranheim, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Two goals and a mark of 8.51 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Mjondalen can pretend not to have heard.
Boardroom23 Aug 2027
Deadline passes with 13 signed and 5 gone
That is the business done at Mjondalen until the window opens again. Whether it was enough will be answered on Saturdays rather than in a column, and the first Saturday is close.
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.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Skeid have kept their man, and Mjondalen go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
He is 20 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.
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 7.99 at 34, and nobody on the pitch was better.
The deal with Lillestrom is done in every sense but the one that puts him on the pitch. Nothing goes wrong at this stage, except on the occasions when it does.
Squad9 Aug 2027
Words at Mjondalen training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Fanuel Ghebreyohannes 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.
Mjondalen asked and Bodo/Glimt said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
At 19 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.
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.
The accountants will call it good business and they will be right, which is not the point anybody outside the boardroom is making. Oliver Midtgård was one of the reasons people came, and $1.9M does not replace that by itself.
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.
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.
Mjondalen asked and Stabaek said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
11 combined actions and 6.74. The job he did is the one that shows up as other people looking good, and the only reliable way to notice it is to watch what happens on the afternoons he is missing.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Mjondalen can pretend not to have heard.
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.
Add another name to the list: Egersund have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Benjamin Sundo. The answer from Mjondalen has not changed — yet.
Squad19 Jul 2027
Words at Mjondalen training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Fanuel Ghebreyohannes 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.
Half the programme played, position 11, 18 on the board. Doubling it is the sum every supporter has done and the only one nobody at the club will do out loud.
Two or more conceded in each of the last 8 matches. It is not one mistake repeating itself, which would be the easier thing to fix; it is a different one every week.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Mjondalen can pretend not to have heard.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Kweku Kekeli was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
In brief
BoardroomWages eat 87% of everything Mjondalen earn
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Mjondalen can pretend not to have heard.
The phone has started ringing about Armand Wangen again, and this time the name on the line is HB Køge. Mjondalen are listening politely and promising nothing.
Thomas Grøgaard 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.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Oliver Midtgård. 3‑2 against Egersund, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Squad5 Jul 2027
Words at Mjondalen training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Fanuel Ghebreyohannes 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 hardest thing about being 19 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Meliga Promise did not need any: 7.92, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
“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.
Thomas Grøgaard 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.
8 goals in one match, Oliver Midtgård on the scoresheet, and a scoreline that will look like a misprint. Neutrals could not have asked more of Mjondalen and Skeid.
Marked 9.36 — 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.
6 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.
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.
3 matches, no goals, and a training ground that has tried everything. It will end — droughts always do — but nobody at Mjondalen can tell you which week it ends in.
“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.
Squad31 May 2027
Words at Mjondalen training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Kweku Kekeli 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.
The dugout31 May 2027
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 Marcus Riise 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.
In brief
The dugoutThe manager has not finished forgetting Jonas Bruusgaard's mistake
0‑4 against Stromsgodset, and no complaints that would survive the replay. The manager spoke about character afterwards; the terraces used shorter words.
The terraces24 May 2027
The stands have turned
“Enough is enough. We have watched this for months.” 6 of the 30 senior players walked off to it, and the message was not aimed at any one of them.
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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Fanuel Ghebreyohannes was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Oliver Midtgård, and the manager let it.
Boardroom24 May 2027
Nobody left the Mjondalen dressing room in a hurry
The door stayed shut a long time after the final whistle. What was said in there is between them; whether it worked is between them and Saturday.
The dugout24 May 2027
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 0‑4 defeat, delivered by Marcus Riise to a room that had heard them before.
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.
Thomas Grøgaard and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad17 May 2027
Words at Mjondalen training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Fanuel Ghebreyohannes 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.
“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 dugout17 May 2027
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.” Marcus Riise chose the glass-half-full version of 0‑0; the supporters left with the other one.
Stromsgodset next, and one man in the Mjondalen dressing room knows their training ground better than his own. The reception will tell him what they thought of him.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Mjondalen, and both men came out saying it was fine.
7.77, 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.
At 19 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Eirik Wollen Steen was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout26 Apr 2027
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.” Marcus Riise, on a 2‑0 win that he was already picking apart on the walk to the press room.
“I have done everything asked of me in training and it has not changed a thing on a Saturday.” The most familiar complaint in football, and one Mjondalen will have to answer with minutes or with a transfer.
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.
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Peder Klausen, and the manager let it.
Squad19 Apr 2027
Kweku Kekeli 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.
Raufoss held the lead for 4 minutes, which is not long enough to enjoy it. Mjondalen answered before the celebration had properly finished, and the shape of the afternoon changed with it.
6 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.
Centre-halves are allowed forward twice a season and are judged on what they do when they get there. Sander Marthinussen scored, was marked 7.43, and got back before anybody noticed he had gone.
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.
3 boys move up, and somewhere in the building the people who coached them at twelve are quietly having the best morning of their working year. Nothing about this shows up in a result and it is why the academy exists.
Mjondalen asked and Rosenborg said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Sander Marthinussen. 2‑0 against Sogndal, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Tobias Meling has been at this club since he was a boy and is now, formally, one of the first-team squad — which for a local readership beats any signing of any size.
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Mathias Haaland is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
“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 Mjondalen, and it is not being withdrawn.
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Meliga Promise is 19, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Boardroom5 Apr 2027
Mjondalen close the window on a squad of their own making
5 in and 1 out, and no more changes for months. The manager has what he has, the supporters have their opinion of it, and the table will have the last word.
Thomas Grøgaard 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.
Everybody saw it before anybody said it. At 34 the numbers say 3 points down on what he was, and the question for Mjondalen is how to handle a man they owe a great deal.
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.
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.
Everything agreed with Bodo/Glimt, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
The phone has started ringing about Cassander Dreyer again, and this time the name on the line is Västerås SK. Mjondalen are listening politely and promising nothing.
“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 Mjondalen know it.
Squad29 Mar 2027
Kweku Kekeli 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.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Mjondalen, and both men came out saying it was fine.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Mjondalen can pretend not to have heard.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, and a scan that said otherwise. He goes back to Rosenborg; Mjondalen go back to the market; and both will insist there is no story here.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Rosenborg have kept their man, and Mjondalen go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Squad1 Mar 2027
Words at Mjondalen training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Eirik Wollen Steen 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.
He used to be one of the options. He is now one of the men the options are picked around, and the change happened quietly enough that only the dressing room noticed on the day.
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.
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.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. HamKam have kept their man, and Mjondalen go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Eirik Wollen Steen was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The system has changed and his position has not. A footballer can improve his form; he cannot improve the manager’s formation, and that is the whole of the problem.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Mjondalen, and both men came out saying it was fine.
“I have done everything asked of me in training and it has not changed a thing on a Saturday.” The most familiar complaint in football, and one Mjondalen will have to answer with minutes or with a transfer.
Valerenga have accepted the money. What Mjondalen do not yet have is the man, and between here and the photograph is a conversation about wages that both sides are dreading.
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.
There is a version of every career where the player ends up somewhere he chose rather than somewhere that chose him. Tjaš Črešnar is living that version at Mjondalen, and it tends to show in the first month.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Rosenborg have kept their man, and Mjondalen go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Squad15 Feb 2027
Words at Mjondalen training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Kweku Kekeli 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.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Christian Mork Breivik trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Every shape has positions in it and this one does not have his. Mjondalen will either change the shape, change his job, or change his club, and he is waiting to hear which.
Thomas Grøgaard 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 offer went to Valerenga this week and it is theirs to answer. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loud the door closes.
There is a version of every career where the player ends up somewhere he chose rather than somewhere that chose him. Dylan Alexander Twiddy is living that version at Mjondalen, and it tends to show in the first month.
Mjondalen asked and Raufoss said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
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.
Mjondalen have made the call to Sarpsborg 08. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
The name of Armand Wangen has come up in conversations Mjondalen were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
Thomas Grøgaard 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.
Squad11 Jan 2027
Words at Mjondalen training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Tobias Bjørnebye 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.
In brief
The dugoutTobias Flem knocks on the manager's door
There are footballers who have a good season and footballers a season is remembered for, and the second kind get their names read out in a hall in the summer. Mjondalen will be quietly delighted and privately nervous.
Thomas Grøgaard and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad4 Jan 2027
Words at Mjondalen training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Kweku Kekeli 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.
Daniel Valan is 17, and Mjondalen have signed him for the player he will be rather than the one he is. The first team can wait; the point of a deal like this is the years it buys.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Mjondalen, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Mjondalen know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 17 he is doing things at this level he could not do at the start of the season, and the coaching staff will tell you exactly which of them.
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.
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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Tobias Bjørnebye was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Christian Mork Breivik trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
“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.
Kweku Kekeli 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 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 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Kweku Kekeli 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 Mjondalen, and both men came out saying it was fine.
There are footballers who have a good season and footballers a season is remembered for, and the second kind get their names read out in a hall in the summer. Mjondalen will be quietly delighted and privately nervous.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Mjondalen is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
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.
“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.
Squad7 Dec 2026
Words at Mjondalen training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Tobias Bjørnebye 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 demotion a club never announces and a dressing room always notices. Keerat Singh Mann is further from the side than he was, and the reason will not be given until he asks.
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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Tobias Bjørnebye was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Something was said to Markus Ottesen and then it happened. In this industry that passes for remarkable, and the dressing room noticed faster than any supporter could.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Tobias Flem trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Eirik Wollen Steen arrives at 33 with nothing left to prove and plenty left to pass on. Legs are a young man's currency; knowing where to stand never ages.
Sogndal next, and one man in the Mjondalen dressing room knows their training ground better than his own. The reception will tell him what they thought of him.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Mjondalen know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
A new face in his position, and Christian Mork Breivik suddenly has to win back what he thought he owned. Mjondalen have promised nothing — clubs rarely do at this stage.
There is a level at which a footballer stops being tested and starts being contained, and he reached it some time ago. Mjondalen know it, and so does everybody who watches him.