The words a physio says slowly. 111 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.
Mattias Lamhauge was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Squad25 Sep 2028
Mikkel Ceïde 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 words a physio says slowly. 118 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.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Stromsgodset can pretend not to have heard.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Stromsgodset 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 Stromsgodset this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad18 Sep 2028
Words at Stromsgodset training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Mikkel Ceïde 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 8.06 — 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.
127 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Stromsgodset lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
“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 The request is on a desk at Stromsgodset, and it is not being withdrawn.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Stromsgodset this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad11 Sep 2028
Words at Stromsgodset training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Mikkel Ceïde 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 particular warmth a ground reserves for a 22-year-old it feels ownership of. Gustav Nyheim 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.
Marked 8.52 — 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.
Player ratings11 Sep 2028
Joe Bell was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.48. 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 words a physio says slowly. 135 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 Stromsgodset this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
0‑1 to Rosenborg, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Market4 Sep 2028
Alie Conteh returns from a loan that gave him nothing
2 appearances and 0 goals is not a season, it is a year somebody has lost. Whether that is his fault, the borrowing club's or the people who arranged it is the argument the next few weeks will have.
The words a physio says slowly. 142 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.
7 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.” Stromsgodset have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Mikkel Ceïde 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
Words at Stromsgodset training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Herman Stengel 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.
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.
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Alem Omerinović is 20, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Stromsgodset they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Stromsgodset 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.
“I watch every Stromsgodset game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at SonderjyskE runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
Darío Rostagno had done his part in building a 2-goal cushion. What happened after that was collective, and Viking were allowed back into a match that had been finished with.
He is going to Dila, the club has $3.0M it did not have on Friday, and the phone-ins have already decided how they feel about that. Selling well and selling somebody they loved are not the same skill.
“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 Stromsgodset, and it is not being withdrawn.
Noah Nurmi 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.
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Aldo Fuentes is 22, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Squad14 Aug 2028
Words at Stromsgodset training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Mikkel Ceïde 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 Stromsgodset, and it is not being withdrawn.
Mattias Lamhauge 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.
Squad7 Aug 2028
Mikkel Ceïde 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.
There is a version of every career where the player ends up somewhere he chose rather than somewhere that chose him. Gonzalo Gamarra is living that version at Stromsgodset, and it tends to show in the first month.
The fee is $2.9M, the contract is signed, and the argument about whether he is worth it can begin. Lillestrom drove a hard bargain; time will say who won it.
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 20 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.
Mattias Lamhauge 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.
Successful dribbles: 21. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
The terraces24 Jul 2028
Stromsgodset spend $2.9M on the signing the town wanted
It is the rarest sequence in football: supporters ask for something, and the club goes and does it. $2.9M for Gustav Nyheim, and for one week nobody is complaining about anything.
Squad24 Jul 2028
Mikkel Ceïde 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 is a specific kind of quiet, a ground watching a winning position dissolve. Odd kept coming because nothing stopped them, and Stromsgodset will be asked about the last half hour all week.
“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 Stromsgodset, and it is not being withdrawn.
The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.
Player ratings17 Jul 2028
Up for the corner, and Jesper Taaje delivers — 7.47
Centre-halves are allowed forward twice a season and are judged on what they do when they get there. Jesper Taaje scored, was marked 7.47, and got back before anybody noticed he had gone.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Stromsgodset this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The unbeaten run reaches 6. Some of them were wins and some were escapes, but a side that refuses to lose is a side other dressing rooms talk about.
Squad17 Jul 2028
Words at Stromsgodset training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Mikkel Ceïde 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.
“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 Stromsgodset know it.
A season average of 7.00 at an age when most of his year group are still in the youth team. Stromsgodset know what they have, and so, by now, does everybody else.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Stromsgodset 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.
“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 Stromsgodset, and it is not being withdrawn.
26 defensive actions and a clean sheet at the end of them. A defender's afternoon can only be told by what did not happen, which is why nobody makes a highlights package out of one and every manager in the division would take it.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Stromsgodset this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad3 Jul 2028
Words at Stromsgodset training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Mikkel Ceïde 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.
8 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.
Darío Rostagno 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 Jun 2028
Mikkel Ceïde 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.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 20-year-old it feels ownership of. Alem Omerinović 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.
20 times he got in the way of something. Centre-halves get written about when they make mistakes and ignored when they do not, so an afternoon like this needs saying out loud: he is the reason the scoreline reads as it does.
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.
“I watch every Stromsgodset game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at SonderjyskE runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
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.
“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 Stromsgodset, and it is not being withdrawn.
Mikkel Ceïde 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.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Fredrik Ardraa and Stromsgodset agree another 5 years.
Squad19 Jun 2028
Words at Stromsgodset training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Juergen Elitím 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 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.
Joe Bell was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Squad12 Jun 2028
Mikkel Ceïde 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.
21 defensive actions and a clean sheet at the end of them. A defender's afternoon can only be told by what did not happen, which is why nobody makes a highlights package out of one and every manager in the division would take it.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Juergen Elitím. 2‑0 against Bodo/Glimt, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
8.64. 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.
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Aleksander van der Spa commits to Stromsgodset for another 4 years.
Player ratings12 Jun 2028
Juergen Elitím was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.02. 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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Stromsgodset this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad5 Jun 2028
Words at Stromsgodset training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Mikkel Ceïde 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 easiest signature of my career.” Samuel Silalahi and Stromsgodset agree another 4 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
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.
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 23 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 Stromsgodset 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.
“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 Stromsgodset, and 0 appearances in 17 say he has earned the hearing.
Nobody's fault and entirely his: a goal that goes into the book with his name against it and nothing about it intended. Stromsgodset deserved better, and so did he.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Darío Rostagno signs something — a contract at Stromsgodset or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
“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 Stromsgodset, and it is not being withdrawn.
Headers, blocks, tackles, interceptions — 27 of them, and not one goal behind him. The sort of performance that never makes a highlight reel and wins football matches.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Stromsgodset this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad22 May 2028
Words at Stromsgodset training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Mikkel Ceïde 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.
At 20 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.
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.
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.
Darío Rostagno 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.
Squad15 May 2028
Mikkel Ceïde 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.
“Some mornings you wake up and you are still a long way from everything you know.” It is not the football and it never was; Stromsgodset are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Stromsgodset can pretend not to have heard.
Mikkel Ceïde 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.
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Alem Omerinović is 20, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Squad8 May 2028
Words at Stromsgodset training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Juergen Elitím 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.
Mattias Lamhauge 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.
Squad1 May 2028
Mikkel Ceïde 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.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Stromsgodset can pretend not to have heard.
Player ratings24 Apr 2028
Fredrik Ardraa, 21, plays like he has been here for years — 8.05
A mark of 8.05 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 21-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Stromsgodset this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad24 Apr 2028
Words at Stromsgodset training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Mikkel Ceïde 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: Darío Rostagno. 2‑1 against Sarpsborg 08, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
At 20 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.
2 goals, and the second was the one that settled it. Marked 8.67, and he could have had a third with better luck at the near post.
Player ratings17 Apr 2028
Fredrik Ardraa, 21, plays like he has been here for years — 8.54
A mark of 8.54 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 21-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Stromsgodset this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Darío Rostagno. 4‑3 against Haugesund, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
7 goals in one match, Darío Rostagno on the scoresheet, and a scoreline that will look like a misprint. Neutrals could not have asked more of Stromsgodset and Haugesund.
Squad17 Apr 2028
Borna Barišić 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.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 21-year-old it feels ownership of. Fredrik Ardraa 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.
Player ratings17 Apr 2028
Jesper Taaje 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.
The fee was agreed and the flight was looked at — and then the phone stopped ringing. Lillestrom moved on, Darío Rostagno reports back to Stromsgodset, and everybody pretends Monday is just Monday.
Add another name to the list: IF Elfsborg have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Awal Auta. The answer from Stromsgodset has not changed — yet.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Stromsgodset this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Boardroom10 Apr 2028
5 academy players handed senior numbers at Stromsgodset
The morning the pathway stops being a brochure and becomes a team sheet. Most of them will not be here in three years; all of them have already done the hard part, which was getting to today.
Hard to beat is not the same as winning, but 6 matches without defeat is a foundation Stromsgodset did not have in the autumn.
Squad10 Apr 2028
Words at Stromsgodset training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Mikkel Ceïde 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 academy exists for exactly this morning. Patrick Daehli has come through every age group the club runs and has now been handed a senior number, and the people who coached him at twelve will be the proudest in the building.
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Erling Elyounoussi is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Stromsgodset 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.
“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 Stromsgodset, and 0 appearances in 9 say he has earned the hearing.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Fredrik Ardraa trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
“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 Stromsgodset, and it is not being withdrawn.
The offer from Lillestrom for Darío Rostagno was heard out and sent back the same day. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loudly the door closes.
Boardroom27 Mar 2028
The silence upstairs is getting loud at Stromsgodset
Nobody on the board has said anything against the manager, which is the point — they have stopped saying anything for him either.
Darío Rostagno 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.
Squad20 Mar 2028
Mikkel Ceïde 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.
Mikkel Ceïde 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.
Squad13 Mar 2028
Words at Stromsgodset training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Borna Barišić 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 at Stromsgodset will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Stromsgodset can pretend not to have heard.
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 22 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 Stromsgodset this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad28 Feb 2028
Words at Stromsgodset training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Mikkel Ceïde 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
Squad5 new faces, and Stromsgodset are still learning each other
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Stromsgodset this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad21 Feb 2028
Borna Barišić 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 chase for Joe Bell ended with $3.0M changing hands and Viking out of reasons to say no. The supporters will judge the fee the only way that matters: on Saturdays.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Stromsgodset can pretend not to have heard.
Mikkel Ceïde 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.
Boards get told what they have done wrong for years and hear nothing on the days they get it right. This is one of those days: Joe Bell from Viking for $3.0M, and a ticket office having a very good morning.
Squad14 Feb 2028
Words at Stromsgodset training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Borna Barišić 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 at Stromsgodset will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Stromsgodset can pretend not to have heard.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Gustav Valsvik and Stromsgodset agree another 2 years.
Darío Rostagno 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.
In brief
SquadMikkel Ceïde falls out with a teammate over standards
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Stromsgodset this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad31 Jan 2028
Words at Stromsgodset training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Mikkel Ceïde 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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Stromsgodset this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad24 Jan 2028
Borna Barišić 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 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.
The general version of this complaint is that a player wants more. The specific version names the thing: he wants to walk out under floodlights against clubs from other countries, and he has stopped pretending otherwise.
Squad17 Jan 2028
Words at Stromsgodset training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Mikkel Ceïde 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.
Fredrik Ardraa 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 offer from SonderjyskE for Alie Conteh was heard out and sent back the same day. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loudly the door closes.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Stromsgodset this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Stromsgodset have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
An individual honour is a strange thing in a team game, and the best of them are never argued with. He has had the sort of year that ends with his name being read out, and Stromsgodset have had the benefit of it.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Stromsgodset this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad3 Jan 2028
Borna Barišić 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.
20 appearances and 12 goals away from here, and a player the manager did not have in August. Loans are sent out hoping for exactly this and most of them do not deliver it.
In brief
BoardroomStromsgodset pull $6.0M back off the table
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Stromsgodset this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad27 Dec 2027
Words at Stromsgodset training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Mikkel Ceïde 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 clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Stromsgodset 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 Stromsgodset this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
In brief
SquadBorna Barišić falls out with a teammate over standards
Mattias Lamhauge 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.
Squad6 Dec 2027
Mikkel Ceïde 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.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Stromsgodset have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Mikkel Ceïde 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.
Squad29 Nov 2027
Words at Stromsgodset training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Borna Barišić 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 clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Stromsgodset is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Ernest Mohammed is 22, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
The general version of this complaint is that a player wants more. The specific version names the thing: he wants to walk out under floodlights against clubs from other countries, and he has stopped pretending otherwise.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Stromsgodset this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad15 Nov 2027
Words at Stromsgodset training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Mikkel Ceïde 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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Stromsgodset this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad8 Nov 2027
Borna Barišić 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.
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.
Mikkel Ceïde 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.
Squad1 Nov 2027
Words at Stromsgodset training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Borna Barišić 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.
12 goals in 20 games at Inter Turku — numbers that travel home faster than he does. Somebody at Stromsgodset updates a spreadsheet every Monday, and it makes better reading each week.
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.
A player who expected to start watched it instead. The manager will call it a decision for the team; Bent Sørmo will call it something else in private.
Juergen Elitím wins it after the whistle should have gone
90 minutes played. Juergen Elitím found the finish in time that only existed because of earlier delays, and Sandefjord went from a point to nothing inside one movement.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Stromsgodset they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Darío Rostagno was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Squad25 Oct 2027
Mikkel Ceïde 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.
Mikkel Ceïde 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.
Squad18 Oct 2027
Words at Stromsgodset training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Borna Barišić 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: Darío Rostagno. 1‑0 against IK Start, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
18 defensive actions and a clean sheet at the end of them. A defender's afternoon can only be told by what did not happen, which is why nobody makes a highlights package out of one and every manager in the division would take it.
“The easiest signature of my career.” Elias Hoff Melkersen and Stromsgodset agree another 4 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about 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 Stromsgodset this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad11 Oct 2027
Borna Barišić 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.
Marked 8.34 — 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.
The goal that put Tromso ahead was still being replayed on the concourse when Stromsgodset equalised, 4 minutes later. Leads are only worth what you do with them.
He is the name in every column and on every phone-in, which is a heavy thing to carry at any age. Some footballers thrive on it; others are quietly finished by it.
“The easiest signature of my career.” Borna Barišić and Stromsgodset agree another 2 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Squad4 Oct 2027
Words at Stromsgodset training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Mikkel Ceïde 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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Stromsgodset this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
At 21 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.
Conceding is one thing; the response is what tells you about a dressing room. Fredrik Ardraa had Stromsgodset level again within 2 minutes, and Valerenga never got to play with a lead at all.
12 goals in 20 games at Inter Turku — numbers that travel home faster than he does. Somebody at Stromsgodset updates a spreadsheet every Monday, and it makes better reading each week.
Squad4 Oct 2027
5 new faces, and Stromsgodset are still learning each other
A squad rebuilt inside one window pays for it in a currency nobody budgets for. The football is not worse than the sum of the players; it is worse than the sum of the players who have played together before.
0‑3 against Bodo/Glimt, and no complaints that would survive the replay. The manager spoke about character afterwards; the terraces used shorter words.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Stromsgodset 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 Stromsgodset this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad27 Sep 2027
Borna Barišić 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.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Stromsgodset have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 8.41 at 34, and nobody on the pitch was better.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Stromsgodset this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad20 Sep 2027
Words at Stromsgodset training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Mikkel Ceïde 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.
A player who expected to start watched it instead. The manager will call it a decision for the team; Borna Barišić will call it something else in private.
Headers, blocks, tackles, interceptions — 17 of them, and not one goal behind him. The sort of performance that never makes a highlight reel and wins football matches.
Position 14, 21 points, and a crowd that arrives already braced. Relegation seasons are lost in exactly this atmosphere, and everybody who has lived through one recognises it immediately.
It is the most legitimate ambition in the sport and the hardest for most clubs to satisfy. Darío Rostagno wants continental football; whether Stromsgodset can provide it is a question about the next two seasons, not about him.
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Ernest Mohammed is 22, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
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.
Squad13 Sep 2027
Mikkel Ceïde 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.
Position 14 and 21 points, and the table gets read bottom-up in this part of town. The calendar has stopped being a schedule and started being a countdown.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Stromsgodset this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad6 Sep 2027
Words at Stromsgodset training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Mikkel Ceïde 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.
“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.
Squad6 Sep 2027
The manager has not finished forgetting Gustav Wikheim's mistake
Publicly it is behind everybody. It is not behind the man who picks the team, and the only place that shows is a team sheet. He will get another chance; he will get it in a match that matters less.
9 attempts, none of them in. He got into the right places all afternoon, which is the hard part, and did the easy part badly — and that is the version of a bad day a manager can live with.
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.
A defender on the scoresheet, which happens rarely enough that everybody in the ground remembers who took the corner. 1 for him, and a mark of 7.38 for the rest of it.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Tobias Bjørnstad will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Stromsgodset the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Mattias Lamhauge 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 Aug 2027
Mikkel Ceïde 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.
Words at Stromsgodset training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Mikkel Ceïde 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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Stromsgodset this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
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.
0‑4 to Viking, and it was every bit as bad as the number suggests. There are defeats you argue about and defeats you apologise for; this was the second kind.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Stromsgodset this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad16 Aug 2027
Borna Barišić 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.
He is the name in every column and on every phone-in, which is a heavy thing to carry at any age. Some footballers thrive on it; others are quietly finished by it.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Stromsgodset this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad9 Aug 2027
Words at Stromsgodset training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Mikkel Ceïde 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 level at which a footballer stops being tested and starts being contained, and he reached it some time ago. Stromsgodset know it, and so does everybody who watches him.
There was one mistake and it ended in the net. Defenders are judged on the worst thing they did rather than on the eighty-nine minutes either side of it, which is unfair and is also the job.
The hardest thing about being 21 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Amin Chiakha did not need any: 7.94, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
“I have ambitions, and I would like the club to share them.” Nobody has asked to leave and nobody has been shown the door — but a player chooses that sentence carefully, and a boardroom hears it exactly as it was meant.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Rosenborg this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad2 Aug 2027
At 21, Amin Chiakha is already the best thing here
An average of 7.03 in a first team he is several years too young for. Rosenborg have something, and by now the whole division has noticed.
He is doing things on a Saturday afternoon that nobody around him can answer, which is flattering for about one season and a problem after that. Rosenborg will not keep him by pretending otherwise.
Fredrik Ardraa, 20, plays like he has been here for years — 8.05
A mark of 8.05 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.
62 appearances across 8 seasons in one shirt. Nobody builds a career like that on purpose any more; it happens to a certain kind of footballer at a certain kind of club.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Tobias Bjørnstad will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Stromsgodset the goodbyes have quietly begun.
The rules permit it and it stings anyway. Tobias Bjørnstad has agreed terms with Valerenga for the summer, and until then he pulls on this shirt as a player who has already chosen his next one.
Mattias Lamhauge 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.
Boards get told what they have done wrong for years and hear nothing on the days they get it right. This is one of those days: Mikkel Ceïde from Rosenborg for $2.3M, and a ticket office having a very good morning.
Squad2 Aug 2027
Mikkel Ceïde 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 paperwork is done: Håkon Evjen joins from Bodo/Glimt in a deal worth $5.0M. Now comes the harder part.
Player ratings26 Jul 2027
Amin Chiakha, 21, plays like he has been here for years — 7.96
A mark of 7.96 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 21-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
Aslak Fonn Witry 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.
Boards get told what they have done wrong for years and hear nothing on the days they get it right. This is one of those days: Håkon Evjen from Bodo/Glimt for $5.0M, and a ticket office having a very good morning.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 21-year-old it feels ownership of. Amin Chiakha 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.
Everyone has stopped pretending: Stromsgodset will make the call about Mikkel Ceïde this week. Rosenborg have a number in mind, and the number is not shy.
The name of Stefan Riise has come up in conversations Rosenborg were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
In brief
SquadWords at Rosenborg training over how hard people work
The offer from Viking for Dino Islamović was heard out and sent back the same day. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loudly the door closes.
The hardest thing about being 21 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Jesper Reitan-Sunde did not need any: 8.51, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
The terraces19 Jul 2027
The boos come down from three sides
“We pay for this every fortnight. The least we want is somebody who looks like he cares.” 6 of the 29 senior players walked off into it; the rest were not playing.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Rosenborg this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Viking will keep picking him until June and will get nothing for him after it. Tobias Moi has pre-agreed a move to Rosenborg, and the only people who lose in that arrangement are the ones who let the contract run down.
11 without defeat on their own grass. The pitch has not changed; the crowd has — louder earlier, and quicker to sense when the opposition would rather be somewhere else.
“I want to be playing for trophies while my legs still let me.” Nothing in that sentence is a transfer request, and nobody at Rosenborg heard it as anything else.
Ole Selnæs 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.
9 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 was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Rosenborg this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
10 home matches unbeaten. Visiting sides arrive already talking about the atmosphere, which is usually the sign that they have half-lost before kickoff.
Lillestrom made Rosenborg work for it, but the scoreboard read 2‑0 at the end and the table does not ask how.
Squad21 Jun 2027
Mads Bomholt 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.
“I watch every Rosenborg game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Bodo/Glimt runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
Nobody at Rosenborg will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
“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 Rosenborg, and it is not being withdrawn.
The hardest thing about being 17 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Aleksander Borgersen did not need any: 8.14, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Rosenborg this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
At 17 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.
“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 Rosenborg, and 1 appearances in 13 say he has earned the hearing.
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.
Aslak Fonn Witry 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.
8 goals. Both benches spent the second half looking at each other rather than at the pitch. Purists will complain about Rosenborg and Haugesund in equal measure; everybody else had a wonderful time.
Marked 8.44 — 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.
Squad3 May 2027
Words at Rosenborg training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Adrian Pereira 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.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Rosenborg can pretend not to have heard.
Player ratings19 Apr 2027
Amin Chiakha, 21, plays like he has been here for years — 7.83
A mark of 7.83 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 21-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Rosenborg this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
At 21 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.
Conceding is one thing; the response is what tells you about a dressing room. Amin Chiakha had Rosenborg level again within 2 minutes, and Odd never got to play with a lead at all.
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 21 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 Rosenborg this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“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 Rosenborg, and 0 appearances in 7 say he has earned the hearing.
Aslak Fonn Witry 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.
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.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Rosenborg 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 Rosenborg this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.