Marked for Mikkel Ceïde
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad9 Oct 2028
34 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Viking lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Match5 Oct 2028
2‑0 against Rizespor, and a performance that will be described to people who were not there for the rest of the season. Ruben Alte was at the centre of the description.
Match8 Oct 2028
11 unbeaten for Viking
Hard to beat is not the same as winning, but 11 matches without defeat is a foundation Viking did not have in the autumn.
Player ratings9 Oct 2028
25 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.
Market9 Oct 2028
“I want to be playing for trophies while my legs still let me.” Nothing in that sentence is a transfer request, and nobody at Viking heard it as anything else.
Match8 Oct 2028
Viking make home a hard place to visit
8 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.
Squad9 Oct 2028
200 times in these colours, in all weathers and under four or five different managers. That kind of service is quietly disappearing from the game.
Player ratings9 Oct 2028
A performance of 8.13 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
The dugout9 Oct 2028
“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.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Match21 Sep 2028
A European night to remember for Viking
2‑1 against OB, under lights, against people who do not speak the same language as the crowd. These are the evenings a club measures its decade in, and there are never as many of them as anybody expects.
Match21 Sep 2028
Erik Botheim wins it after the whistle should have gone
93 minutes played. Erik Botheim found the finish in time that only existed because of earlier delays, and OB went from a point to nothing inside one movement.
Match25 Sep 2028
Viking up to position 2
47 points on the board and a place in the leading group. Nobody at the ground is saying the word out loud yet.
The dugout25 Sep 2028
This is not rotation. Zlatko Tripic has not been in the manager's plans for some time, and nobody at Viking is pretending otherwise.
The dugout25 Sep 2028
“I was told what my role would be, and I signed on that basis. It has not happened.” A grievance with a date attached is the hardest kind to settle.
Match24 Sep 2028
8 unbeaten for Viking
Hard to beat is not the same as winning, but 8 matches without defeat is a foundation Viking did not have in the autumn.
Squad25 Sep 2028
A falling-out at Viking
Ruben Alte and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Match24 Sep 2028
Every run ends on an afternoon somebody had marked down as routine. This one went 6 matches, which is long enough that a town had stopped counting, and short enough that it will remember exactly who stopped it.
The terraces25 Sep 2028
Viking supporters have found a favourite in Ola Visted
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 23-year-old it feels ownership of. Ola Visted 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.
From our football correspondent
Triumph
Match18 Sep 2028
The view from the top for Viking
46 points, and the rest of the division looking up. Every side that finishes first spends the season pretending it is not thinking about it, and this one has started pretending.
Player ratings18 Sep 2028
Two goals and a mark of 9.17 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Match16 Sep 2028
Viking cannot stop winning
5 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.
Squad18 Sep 2028
Ruben Alte in a row with a teammate
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Viking this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad18 Sep 2028
Defences have started doubling up on Erik Botheim
14 goals and a season average of 7.32 will do that. The space he used to find has gone; he keeps scoring anyway, which is the mark of the real thing.
Match16 Sep 2028
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Erik Botheim. 2‑1 against Rosenborg, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
The terraces18 Sep 2028
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 23-year-old it feels ownership of. Jakob Segadal Hansen 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.
Match16 Sep 2028
Viking settle it inside twenty minutes
2 goals before the ground had finished arriving. Rosenborg spent the rest of the afternoon playing a match that had already been decided, and everybody in the stadium knew it.
The dugout18 Sep 2028
“We earned that. I asked them for a reaction and I got one, and now I want the same again on Saturday.” Fredrik Svensson on a 2‑1 afternoon that pleased him more than he was prepared to show.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Match28 Aug 2028
Viking refuse to drop out of the race
Position 2, 40 points, and the result everyone checks first is now theirs. The word is still not being said around the ground, which is how you know everyone is thinking it.
Market28 Aug 2028
Viking say no — this time
The offer from Zurich for Ľubomír Belko 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 dugout28 Aug 2028
This is not rotation. Zlatko Tripic has not been in the manager's plans for some time, and nobody at Viking is pretending otherwise.
Market28 Aug 2028
The fee was agreed and the flight was looked at — and then the phone stopped ringing. Stromsgodset moved on, Kristoffer Haugen reports back to Viking, and everybody pretends Monday is just Monday.
Match26 Aug 2028
Viking make it 3 in a row
Momentum is a hard thing to buy and an easy thing to lose, and right now Viking have 3 straight wins of it.
Match26 Aug 2028
A 1‑0 win over Bodo/Glimt, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
Player ratings28 Aug 2028
Some games turn on a moment; this one turned on a man. 7.74 on the card, and the Viking support went home talking about one name.
The dugout28 Aug 2028
“We earned that. I asked them for a reaction and I got one, and now I want the same again on Saturday.” Fredrik Svensson on a 1‑0 afternoon that pleased him more than he was prepared to show.
The dugout28 Aug 2028
When it matters, Ruben Alte plays
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.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market7 Aug 2028
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Mathias Bringaker will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Viking the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Market7 Aug 2028
Viking say no — this time
The offer from Degerfors for Isak Pettersson 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.
Match5 Aug 2028
No end in sight to Viking's wait for a win
4 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Viking has to find a result from somewhere.
Squad7 Aug 2028
Tempers go at Viking
Ruben Alte 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.
Match5 Aug 2028
Viking cannot find the net
4 games without scoring. Strikers stop looking up, midfielders take the extra touch, and every shot that clears the bar is followed by a groan that has been building since the last goal.
Transfer targets7 Aug 2028
Åsane wanted more than $410.0K and the board would not go there. Walked away, for now, which in a transfer window means until somebody blinks.
Transfer targets7 Aug 2028
The approach was made and the answer came back in a sentence. There is no number on the table because there was no number that would have been enough.
Market7 Aug 2028
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Viking, another week without a signature from Mikkel Ceïde.
Player ratings7 Aug 2028
Successful dribbles: 15. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad24 Jul 2028
“The easiest signature of my career.” Henrik Falchener and Viking agree another 5 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Market24 Jul 2028
Viking get their man
The chase for Yaw Paintsil ended with $410.0K changing hands and Lillestrom out of reasons to say no. The supporters will judge the fee the only way that matters: on Saturdays.
Transfer targets24 Jul 2028
Viking asked and Ranheim said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Market24 Jul 2028
The name of Arild Østbø has come up in conversations Viking were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
The dugout24 Jul 2028
“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 dugout24 Jul 2028
Ľubomír Belko has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at Viking 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.
The dugout24 Jul 2028
“It is not the end of the world and it is not good enough. Both of those are true.” The manager, after a 0‑0 draw, said the honest thing and then went to say it again inside.
Squad24 Jul 2028
No place for Yaw Paintsil in the new shape
He is not being dropped. There is simply nowhere in the formation Viking are playing to put a man who does what he does, which is a harder thing to be told than any team sheet.
The dugout24 Jul 2028
A promise honoured at Viking
Something was said to Herman Haugen and then it happened. In this industry that passes for remarkable, and the dressing room noticed faster than any supporter could.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad5 Jun 2028
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 8 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Match5 Jun 2028
Viking up to position 3
20 points on the board and a place in the leading group. Nobody at the ground is saying the word out loud yet.
The dugout5 Jun 2028
This is not rotation. Zlatko Tripic has not been in the manager's plans for some time, and nobody at Viking is pretending otherwise.
Player ratings5 Jun 2028
At 34 every good afternoon gets called a throwback, and this one was: 7.80, and nobody on the pitch better.
Squad5 Jun 2028
Ruben Alte in a row with a teammate
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Viking this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad5 Jun 2028
200 games in these colours. Service of that kind gets rarer every season, and the crowd knows it.
Player ratings5 Jun 2028
Headers, blocks, tackles, interceptions — 18 of them, and not one goal behind him. The sort of performance that never makes a highlight reel and wins football matches.
The dugout5 Jun 2028
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Kristoffer Askildsen, and the manager let it.
The dugout5 Jun 2028
Mikkel Ceïde 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.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad13 Mar 2028
24 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Viking lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Market13 Mar 2028
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Viking can pretend not to have heard.
The dugout13 Mar 2028
This is not rotation. Zlatko Tripic has not been in the manager's plans for some time, and nobody at Viking is pretending otherwise.
Market13 Mar 2028
Viking say no — this time
The offer from Fredrikstad for Arild Østbø 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.
Market13 Mar 2028
Molde pay $1.2M, and the deal is done. The number reads well on a balance sheet; whether it reads well on the pitch is next season's question.
Squad13 Mar 2028
Ruben Alte in a row with a teammate
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Viking this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad13 Mar 2028
Words at Viking training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Martin Ove Roseth 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 dugout13 Mar 2028
Mikkel Ceïde 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.
Squad13 Mar 2028
“The easiest signature of my career.” Godwill Kukonki and Viking agree another 4 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market14 Feb 2028
The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.
Transfer targets14 Feb 2028
Viking 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.
The dugout14 Feb 2028
This is not rotation. Zlatko Tripic has not been in the manager's plans for some time, and nobody at Viking is pretending otherwise.
Market14 Feb 2028
The paperwork is done: Isak Pettersson joins from Kongsvinger in a deal worth $430.0K. Now comes the harder part.
Market14 Feb 2028
Haugesund paid $400.0K and Viking took it, which is the whole story in one sentence. The longer version involves a wage budget and will be told all season.
Market14 Feb 2028
The name of Niklas Fuglestad has come up in conversations Viking were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
Squad14 Feb 2028
Tempers go at Viking
Gustav Nyheim 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 dugout14 Feb 2028
Mikkel Ceïde 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.
The dugout14 Feb 2028
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.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market31 Jan 2028
Viking say no — this time
The offer from Viborg for Veton Berisha 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.
Squad31 Jan 2028
Words exchanged at Viking
Ruben Alte 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 dugout31 Jan 2028
The manager makes an example of Nick D'Agostino
“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 dugout31 Jan 2028
Erik Botheim gets picked when it counts
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 Erik Botheim is on it.
Market31 Jan 2028
Every press conference now starts and ends the same way: with Erik Botheim’s future. The manager has run out of new ways to say nothing.
The dugout31 Jan 2028
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Peter Christiansen trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad24 Jan 2028
Tempers go at Viking
Ruben Alte 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.
Squad24 Jan 2028
18 days, the scan says, and scans are kinder than reality. The fixtures in that window have just become somebody else’s job.
The dugout24 Jan 2028
“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 dugout24 Jan 2028
When it matters, Ruben Alte plays
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 dugout24 Jan 2028
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Peter Christiansen trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Market24 Jan 2028
Every press conference now starts and ends the same way: with Henrik Falchener’s future. The manager has run out of new ways to say nothing.
In brief
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Boardroom
The Viking academy earns its keep
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The dugout
The manager plants his flag on Mikkel Ceïde
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Squad
Erik Botheim is training like a man with a point to make
From our football correspondent
Steady
The dugout17 Jan 2028
This is not rotation. Zlatko Tripic has not been in the manager's plans for some time, and nobody at Viking is pretending otherwise.
Squad17 Jan 2028
Erik Botheim in a row with a teammate
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Viking this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad17 Jan 2028
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Gustav Nyheim and Viking agree another 5 years.
The dugout17 Jan 2028
Mikkel Ceïde is still paying for one afternoon at Viking
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.
The dugout17 Jan 2028
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.
Market17 Jan 2028
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Viking know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
From our football correspondent
Steady
The dugout20 Dec 2027
This is not rotation. Zlatko Tripic has not been in the manager's plans for some time, and nobody at Viking is pretending otherwise.
Squad20 Dec 2027
Tempers go at Viking
Ruben Alte 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 dugout20 Dec 2027
Mikkel Ceïde is still paying for one afternoon at Viking
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.
The dugout20 Dec 2027
“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 dugout20 Dec 2027
Ľubomír Belko gets picked when it counts
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 Ľubomír Belko is on it.
Market20 Dec 2027
The name of Veton Berisha keeps appearing in other people's back pages. Viking say nothing, which says plenty.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Match20 Nov 2027
Viking win it in stoppage time
The board had gone up, the arguing had started, and then the ball was in the net in the 94th minute. Brann will replay every second of the added time for a week.
Match22 Nov 2027
Viking finish in position 7
43 points, and the season has a number on it. Whatever it felt like from the inside, this is what it will look like in a book.
Squad22 Nov 2027
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 8 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
Player ratings22 Nov 2027
Both of them Ruben Alte's — 8.15
2 goals, and the second was the one that settled it. Marked 8.15, and he could have had a third with better luck at the near post.
Player ratings22 Nov 2027
No sign of nerves from Gustav Nyheim at 21 — 8.37
The hardest thing about being 21 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Gustav Nyheim did not need any: 8.37, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
The dugout22 Nov 2027
This is not rotation. Zlatko Tripic has not been in the manager's plans for some time, and nobody at Viking is pretending otherwise.
Squad22 Nov 2027
Tempers go at Viking
Ruben Alte 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.
Match20 Nov 2027
Viking get the job done against Brann
A 3‑2 win over Brann, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
The terraces22 Nov 2027
He is 21 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.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Player ratings1 Nov 2027
Successful dribbles: 26. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad1 Nov 2027
Ruben Alte in a row with a teammate
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Viking this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Player ratings1 Nov 2027
A mark of 7.54, and nobody in the ground would argue with it. He was involved in everything that mattered and most of what did not.
The dugout1 Nov 2027
It is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. Viking told Romano Postema something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
The dugout1 Nov 2027
Ruben Alte gets picked when it counts
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 Ruben Alte is on it.
The dugout1 Nov 2027
“A point is a point and I will take it, but we should have had all three.” Fredrik Svensson after the 0‑0 draw, and the sentence every manager in the country said at some stage this weekend.
Squad1 Nov 2027
Sondre Tveiten 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.
Squad1 Nov 2027
Ruben Alte has to sit this one out
A booking nobody needed, on a night the game was already won. Viking lose a player for the most avoidable reason there is.
The dugout1 Nov 2027
Franco Lino dropped after a run of poor form
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.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad25 Oct 2027
Tempers go at Viking
Ruben Alte 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
50 goals in these colours now, every one of them somebody’s memory. There is a supporter in the stand who can tell you where he was for most of them.
Squad25 Oct 2027
Words at Viking training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Peter Christiansen 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.
Squad25 Oct 2027
“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 Viking know it.
Player ratings25 Oct 2027
Marked 7.96. Ask anyone leaving the ground what settled it and you will get one name, which is the only award that has ever really counted.
The dugout25 Oct 2027
The manager has not finished forgetting Mikkel Ceïde'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.
The dugout25 Oct 2027
The manager makes an example of Sondre Skogen
“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 dugout25 Oct 2027
Ľubomír Belko has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at Viking 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.
Match23 Oct 2027
It finished 1‑1, and it somehow always looked like it would. One of those afternoons where the table moves less than the tempers.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Match25 Sep 2027
Rarely has this fixture seen a display like it: 3‑0 against Mjondalen, and it could have been more.
Player ratings27 Sep 2027
Two goals and a mark of 8.89 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Squad27 Sep 2027
Words exchanged at Viking
Zlatko Tripic 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.
Market27 Sep 2027
As if he never left: Vebjørn Molund returns
Some transfers need a press campaign. This one needed a shirt with the old number on it. Vebjørn Molund is a Viking player again, and the town has its story of the summer.
Squad27 Sep 2027
Words at Viking training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ruben Alte 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.
Player ratings27 Sep 2027
Ruben Alte beats them one at a time
Successful dribbles: 19. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
Player ratings27 Sep 2027
Zlatko Tripic ran the middle of the pitch — 6.99
He won it back and then made something of it, which is two jobs and the reason the scoreline looks the way it does. 11 combined actions and a mark of 6.99, and not one of them will make a highlights package.
Player ratings27 Sep 2027
Mikkel Ceïde was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.01. There are performances a supporter describes to somebody who was not there and cannot quite convey; this was one, and the number does not help either.
The dugout27 Sep 2027
No place for Veton Berisha on the big day
He found out with everybody else, an hour before kick-off, from a sheet of paper on a wall. Nobody at Viking pretended it was anything other than a decision about him.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Player ratings21 Jun 2027
Herman Haugen pops up at the right end — 7.55
7.55, 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.
Player ratings21 Jun 2027
Successful dribbles: 23. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad21 Jun 2027
The step up is real for Ola Visted
At 22 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.
Squad21 Jun 2027
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Viking this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad21 Jun 2027
Peter Christiansen 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 dugout21 Jun 2027
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Fredrik Svensson after 1‑2, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
The dugout21 Jun 2027
A promise honoured at Viking
Something was said to Kristoffer Haugen and then it happened. In this industry that passes for remarkable, and the dressing room noticed faster than any supporter could.
The dugout21 Jun 2027
Ľubomír Belko gets picked when it counts
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 Ľubomír Belko is on it.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Match22 May 2027
Viking win it in stoppage time
The board had gone up, the arguing had started, and then the ball was in the net in the 91th minute. Stromsgodset will replay every second of the added time for a week.
Player ratings24 May 2027
Age has not caught Veton Berisha yet — 7.98
At 33 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 7.98 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
Squad24 May 2027
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Viking this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Match22 May 2027
Still nobody has beaten Viking
The unbeaten run reaches 7. Some of them were wins and some were escapes, but a side that refuses to lose is a side other dressing rooms talk about.
Player ratings24 May 2027
Successful dribbles: 20. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
Match22 May 2027
Stromsgodset made Viking work for it, but the scoreboard read 2‑1 at the end and the table does not ask how.
The terraces24 May 2027
Viking supporters have found a favourite in Ola Visted
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 22-year-old it feels ownership of. Ola Visted 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.
Squad24 May 2027
A row about effort at Viking
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Peter Christiansen was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout24 May 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Anders Bærtelsen, and the manager let it.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Player ratings17 May 2027
Successful dribbles: 26. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Market17 May 2027
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Niklas Fuglestad will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Viking the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Match15 May 2027
No end in sight to Viking's wait for a win
4 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Viking has to find a result from somewhere.
Match15 May 2027
Whatever happens, Viking do not lose
6 games unbeaten now. Some were earned and some were survived, but a habit is forming — and habits are the hardest thing in football to play against.
Squad17 May 2027
Tempers go at Viking
Veton Berisha 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 dugout17 May 2027
“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.
Player ratings17 May 2027
Marked 7.47. Ask anyone leaving the ground what settled it and you will get one name, which is the only award that has ever really counted.
The dugout17 May 2027
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 dugout17 May 2027
“It is not the end of the world and it is not good enough. Both of those are true.” The manager, after a 0‑0 draw, said the honest thing and then went to say it again inside.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad4 Jan 2027
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 Rosenborg have had the benefit of it.
Squad4 Jan 2027
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.
Squad4 Jan 2027
“The easiest signature of my career.” Mads Bomholt and Rosenborg agree another 5 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Squad4 Jan 2027
Mathias Kjølø 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.
Market4 Jan 2027
FC Copenhagen are about to pick up the phone
A conversation is coming this week. Rosenborg will put a number on him, and from there it stops being football and becomes arithmetic.
The dugout4 Jan 2027
Tomáš Nemčík has become a man the manager trusts
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.
The dugout4 Jan 2027
The manager makes an example of Rasmus Sandberg
“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.
Market4 Jan 2027
The name of Patrick Berg keeps appearing in other people's back pages. Rosenborg say nothing, which says plenty.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad4 Jan 2027
The kind of year that ends with a name being read out in a hall. Viking had the benefit of it every week and now have the problem of everybody else knowing.
Squad4 Jan 2027
Words exchanged at Viking
Joe Bell 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.
Market4 Jan 2027
He left as a boy and has come back still knowing where the away end is. Most signings have to be explained to a town; this one needed a photograph and nothing else.
Squad4 Jan 2027
He is doing things every Saturday that nobody around him can answer. It is flattering for a season and a problem after that, and Viking know which stage they are at.
The dugout4 Jan 2027
It is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. Viking told Henrik Heggheim something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
The dugout4 Jan 2027
Henrik Falchener has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at Viking 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.
Squad4 Jan 2027
It will be explained as a change for the team and it may even be one. Nobody who has worn one believes that, and neither does the man who has just had it taken away.
The dugout4 Jan 2027
Arild Østbø gets it from the manager
“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 dugout4 Jan 2027
Anders Bærtelsen asks for a word with the manager
“I would rather say it to his face than read about it.” The meeting was requested by the player, which tells you most of what you need to know.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market14 Dec 2026
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Rosenborg is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Squad14 Dec 2026
Dávid Ďuriš 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 dugout14 Dec 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Santeri Väänänen, and the manager let it.
The dugout14 Dec 2026
Dávid Ďuriš has become a man the manager trusts
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.
The dugout14 Dec 2026
Noah Sahsah asks for a word with the manager
“I would rather say it to his face than read about it.” The meeting was requested by the player, which tells you most of what you need to know.
Market14 Dec 2026
The Tomáš Nemčík talk will not go away
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Rosenborg know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
Market14 Dec 2026
1 months left and the two sides are nowhere near each other. Every week this drags on takes money off what Rosenborg could get for him.
Squad14 Dec 2026
Mads Bomholt has had enough of the bench
“I did not come here to warm up in front of people.” He is out of contract eventually, he is old enough to count the weeks, and Rosenborg will have to give him a reason to stay or an exit.
Squad14 Dec 2026
Mikkel Ceïde has seen what the next man earns
Numbers do not stay secret in a dressing room and never have. He is not asking for more than he is worth; he is asking why somebody beside him is worth more, and at Rosenborg that is a harder question to answer.