“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Molde have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Every club in football pays most of what it earns to its players. Paying nearly all of it is a different arrangement, and it has ended the same way every time somebody has tried it.
Every club in football pays most of what it earns to its players. Paying nearly all of it is a different arrangement, and it has ended the same way every time somebody has tried it.
The crowd waited for a goal that never came. Stabaek defended in numbers and left with what they came for, and the two sides could be playing still without troubling a scorer.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Molde know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
“I will know when it is time. I am not there yet.” Petter Strand is 35, with 237 appearances behind him, and Molde will have to plan for whichever answer comes.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Molde have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
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.
“I want to win things, and I would like to do it here.” Nothing has been demanded and nothing has been threatened — but a boardroom at Molde hears a sentence like that exactly as it was built.
The award is a small thing with a heavy meaning: for four weeks nobody in this division did his job better. Molde have the trophy on a shelf and the player in the side.
There is a figure at which a wage bill stops being ambitious and becomes the reason nothing else is possible, and this club has reached it. Nothing is left over for a transfer, a stand or a rainy afternoon.
A window away with the national side, and a shirt at Molde that briefly doubles as an advertisement. A call-up flatters the player and the club that built him in the same breath.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Molde can pretend not to have heard.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Molde they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Molde, and both men came out saying it was fine.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Molde have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Molde, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Molde know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
A player who expected to start watched it instead. The manager will call it a decision for the team; Thiago Galhardo will call it something else in private.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Molde know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
Every touch is being weighed now, in print and everywhere else. Some players grow into that and some are quietly ruined by it, and nobody knows which in advance.
The deal that would have taken Mats Møller Dæhli to Mjondalen has collapsed at the last stage, and he reports back to Molde with a summer to forget and a season still to play. Nobody is saying which side walked away.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Molde, 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 Molde can pretend not to have heard.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Molde, and both men came out saying it was fine.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Molde, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Molde know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Molde can pretend not to have heard.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Molde know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
A new face in his position, and Thiago Galhardo suddenly has to win back what he thought he owned. Molde have promised nothing — clubs rarely do at this stage.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Molde have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Molde know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Molde, and both men came out saying it was fine.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Molde is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Molde know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Molde, and both men came out saying it was fine.