“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at Aalesund, and it is not being withdrawn.
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.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Elias Myrlid. 1‑0 against Kongsvinger, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Somebody else has been better, the manager has said so with a team sheet, and there is no argument to be had. He will get the shirt back the only way it can be got back.
“We earned that. I asked them for a reaction and I got one, and now I want the same again on Saturday.” Erling Svensson on a 1‑0 afternoon that pleased him more than he was prepared to show.
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Aalesund may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Squad25 Oct 2027
Words at Aalesund training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ulrik Fredriksen 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 23 he is being sung about by people twice his age, which is an affection a signing has to earn over years and a local kid gets for turning up. It is also the hardest thing in football to live up to.
Marked 8.30 — 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.
10 combined actions and 6.75. The job he did is the one that shows up as other people looking good, and the only reliable way to notice it is to watch what happens on the afternoons he is missing.
The team sheet says it in public every week until it changes. The only version of being dropped a footballer cannot argue with, and the one he takes hardest.
“We earned that. I asked them for a reaction and I got one, and now I want the same again on Saturday.” Erling Svensson on a 2‑1 afternoon that pleased him more than he was prepared to show.
Centre-halves are allowed forward twice a season and are judged on what they do when they get there. Jakob Nyland Ørsahl scored, was marked 7.73, and got back before anybody noticed he had gone.
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 18 he is doing things at this level he could not do at the start of the season, and the coaching staff will tell you exactly which of them.
Squad18 Oct 2027
Words at Aalesund training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ulrik Fredriksen is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
He found out with everybody else, an hour before kick-off, from a sheet of paper on a wall. Nobody at Aalesund pretended it was anything other than a decision about him.
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Erling Svensson after 1‑2, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
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.
The team at the top of the table next, and the honest measure of where this side actually is. Anybody can beat the club below them; the question is what happens against Lillestrom.
Every squad has one of these fixtures for somebody every season. This one is Tobias Bjørnebye’s: the club that knew him first, the supporters who will decide in the first minute whether to applaud, and Aalesund needing him to play as if none of it matters.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Endre Osenbroch trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Sander Kartum signs something — a contract at Aalesund or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
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.
Somebody else has been better, the manager has said so with a team sheet, and there is no argument to be had. He will get the shirt back the only way it can be got back.
A month is long enough that nobody gets in by accident. Cheikh Mbacke Diop is in the division's best eleven for it, which is a quieter compliment than an award and a more reliable one.
“There are things I liked and things we will be doing on Tuesday until they are right.” 1‑1, and a manager who had already decided what Tuesday looked like.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Marius Andresen signs something — a contract at Aalesund or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
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 7.68 on an afternoon he ran from the first whistle to the last. Whatever else went wrong, Aalesund had the best player on the pitch.
The dugout27 Sep 2027
The view from the dugout
“We controlled it. There were spells I did not like and we will look at them, but the group showed me something.” Erling Svensson, on a 1‑0 win that he was already picking apart on the walk to the press room.
“The players deserve the credit. My job was easy today.” It was not, and everybody in the room knew it; after 1‑0, Erling Svensson could afford to be generous.
“The manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Philip Storås has his answer from Aalesund; what he does with it is the next window’s story.
Nobody at Aalesund 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.
He used to wear the other shirt. On Saturday he plays against Moss in this one, and whatever he says this week about it being just another game will be untrue.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Emil Engqvist signs something — a contract at Aalesund or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
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 Aalesund, and 1 appearances in 5 say he has earned the hearing.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Sander Kartum signs something — a contract at Aalesund or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
“I have done everything asked of me in training and it has not changed a thing on a Saturday.” The most familiar complaint in football, and one Aalesund will have to answer with minutes or with a transfer.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Aalesund can pretend not to have heard.
The accountants will call it good business and they will be right, which is not the point anybody outside the boardroom is making. Paul Ngongo was one of the reasons people came, and $3.0M does not replace that by itself.
Ulrik Fredriksen and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Aalesund, another week without a signature from Ulrik Fredriksen.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Ulrik Fredriksen trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Aalesund will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
“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 dugout30 Aug 2027
The manager’s verdict
“That is on me. I pick the team and I picked wrong.” Managers say that when they mean it and when they need to be seen to, and after 0‑2 Erling Svensson left the room before anybody could ask which.
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 dugout30 Aug 2027
Somebody else is better right now than Max Nielsen
The team sheet says it in public every week until it changes. The only version of being dropped a footballer cannot argue with, and the one he takes hardest.
20 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Aalesund lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 24 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Boardroom23 Aug 2027
Aalesund close the window on a squad of their own making
12 in and 13 out, and no more changes for months. The manager has what he has, the supporters have their opinion of it, and the table will have the last word.
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Erling Svensson after 1‑2, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
Squad23 Aug 2027
The division's best last weekend was a Aalesund man
It is a small honour and it is not nothing: somebody watched every match in the division and decided that Paul Ngongo was the best thing in any of them.
Nobody at Aalesund 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.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Aalesund, and both men came out saying it was fine.
The words a physio says slowly. 28 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.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Aalesund will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Bryne have kept their man, and Aalesund go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
He is 23 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.
Marked 8.33. Players have careers without a single afternoon like this in them, and he has just had one in front of everybody at Aalesund.
The dugout16 Aug 2027
The view from the dugout
“We controlled it. There were spells I did not like and we will look at them, but the group showed me something.” Erling Svensson, on a 4‑1 win that he was already picking apart on the walk to the press room.
38 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Aalesund lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Aalesund will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Successful dribbles: 15. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
The dugout9 Aug 2027
The view from the dugout
“We did not lose. Some weeks that is all you get, and I would rather have the point than not.” Erling Svensson chose the glass-half-full version of 0‑0; the supporters left with the other one.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Aalesund, and both men came out saying it was fine.
47 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Aalesund lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
2 in front and in complete control, and it finished with Kristiansund the happier side. There is no version of this afternoon that Aalesund will enjoy reviewing.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 48 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Player ratings2 Aug 2027
Niklas Fuglestad, 21, plays like he has been here for years — 7.66
A mark of 7.66 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.
“There are things I liked and things we will be doing on Tuesday until they are right.” 2‑2, and a manager who had already decided what Tuesday looked like.
The words a physio says slowly. 54 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.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Aalesund will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Every club in football pays most of what it earns to its players. Paying nearly all of it is a different arrangement, and it has ended the same way every time somebody has tried it.
“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 0‑2, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
63 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Aalesund lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 64 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Ulrik Fredriksen 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.
Aalesund asked and Bryne said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Erling Svensson after 0‑1, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Aalesund, and both men came out saying it was fine.
70 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Aalesund lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Aalesund will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Marked 7.68 on 12 actions at both ends of the pitch. Midfielders like this get described as unspectacular by people who have never tried to play against one.
Player ratings12 Jul 2027
Paul Ngongo was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.06. 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. 78 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.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 79 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Two goals and a mark of 8.93 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Elias Myrlid. 3‑1 against Kongsvinger, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
None of them will be seen by anybody outside the training ground for three years, most of them will never play a senior match, and one of them might change the club. That is the whole proposition, and it is why academies exist.
Four or five weekends of consistency, judged against everybody in the division doing his job. Niklas Fuglestad has come out of that comparison in the side, and Aalesund have had the benefit of every one of those afternoons.
“We earned that. I asked them for a reaction and I got one, and now I want the same again on Saturday.” Erling Svensson on a 3‑1 afternoon that pleased him more than he was prepared to show.
85 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Aalesund lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Aalesund will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
There is a figure at which a wage bill stops being ambitious and becomes the reason nothing else is possible, and this club has reached it. Nothing is left over for a transfer, a stand or a rainy afternoon.
5 saves does not settle the argument about whose fault it was, and the argument will run all week. Goalkeepers carry these scorelines whoever caused them.
In brief
The dugoutAdrian Rogulj has become a man the manager trusts
92 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Aalesund lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Aalesund will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Marked 9.64 — 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.
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.
99 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Aalesund lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 104 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
6 without a win is the sort of run that changes how a town talks about its club, and Mjondalen were the afternoon it stopped. Nothing is fixed by one result and everything feels different by one.
“I watch every Aalesund game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at KFUM Oslo runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Davíð Snær Jóhannsson. 1‑0 against Mjondalen, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Marked 8.29 — 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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Aalesund this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“We earned that. I asked them for a reaction and I got one, and now I want the same again on Saturday.” Erling Svensson on a 1‑0 afternoon that pleased him more than he was prepared to show.
107 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Aalesund lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Aalesund will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
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.
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 dugout7 Jun 2027
The view from the dugout
“We will look at it, we will learn from it, and we go again.” The three sentences every manager keeps for a 0‑1 defeat, delivered by Erling Svensson to a room that had heard them before.
115 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Aalesund lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Aalesund will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Aalesund this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Every club in football pays most of what it earns to its players. Paying nearly all of it is a different arrangement, and it has ended the same way every time somebody has tried it.
123 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Aalesund lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 126 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
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.
The shape wanted a different profile against this opponent, which is a real football answer and no comfort at all to the man it is about. He did nothing wrong and he did not play.
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 Adrian Rogulj is on it.
130 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Aalesund lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Aalesund will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Behind, and beaten by any honest reading, until minute 86. Sandefjord had the points in their pocket and a corner of the ground still believed, which is generally when it happens.
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.
5 signings in three months. Every one of them may be an upgrade and the team can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild that never appears in the transfer-window verdicts.
Something was said to Elias Myrlid and then it happened. In this industry that passes for remarkable, and the dressing room noticed faster than any supporter could.
The words a physio says slowly. 139 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 9 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Aalesund have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
6 goals. Both benches spent the second half looking at each other rather than at the pitch. Purists will complain about Aalesund and HamKam in equal measure; everybody else had a wonderful time.
Behind, and beaten by any honest reading, until minute 90. Skeid had the points in their pocket and a corner of the ground still believed, which is generally when it happens.
147 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Aalesund lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Aalesund have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
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 7.99 for the rest of it.
There is a figure at which a wage bill stops being ambitious and becomes the reason nothing else is possible, and this club has reached it. Nothing is left over for a transfer, a stand or a rainy afternoon.
Janus Seehusen 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 players deserve the credit. My job was easy today.” It was not, and everybody in the room knew it; after 1‑0, Erling Svensson could afford to be generous.
The demotion a club never announces and a dressing room always notices. Tor Erik Larsen is further from the side than he was, and the reason will not be given until he asks.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Aalesund will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Ulrik Fredriksen was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Janus Seehusen and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
The dugout26 Apr 2027
The view from the dugout
“We will look at it, we will learn from it, and we go again.” The three sentences every manager keeps for a 0‑1 defeat, delivered by Erling Svensson to a room that had heard them before.
Ninety specific minutes wanted a different sort of player, and the manager picked one. He is not out of form and he is not in the side, and both are true.
1‑4 against Kristiansund, and no complaints that would survive the replay. The manager spoke about character afterwards; the terraces used shorter words.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 22 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Ulrik Fredriksen 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.
Squad19 Apr 2027
Words at Aalesund training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Uba Charles 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 did not go to KFUM Oslo to sit and watch. I want to come back to Aalesund and fight for my place.” 0 appearances in 5 matches say the rest.
The dugout19 Apr 2027
The manager’s verdict
“That is on me. I pick the team and I picked wrong.” Managers say that when they mean it and when they need to be seen to, and after 1‑4 Erling Svensson left the room before anybody could ask which.
Squad19 Apr 2027
5 new faces, and Aalesund 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.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 29 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Centre-halves are allowed forward twice a season and are judged on what they do when they get there. Tobias Bjørnebye scored, was marked 7.19, 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 Aalesund this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
5 boys move up, and somewhere in the building the people who coached them at twelve are quietly having the best morning of their working year. Nothing about this shows up in a result and it is why the academy exists.
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.
Squad12 Apr 2027
Words at Aalesund training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Uba Charles 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. Erling Riise 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.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 36 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.
Boardroom5 Apr 2027
Aalesund close the window on a squad of their own making
6 in and 10 out, and no more changes for months. The manager has what he has, the supporters have their opinion of it, and the table will have the last word.
Marius Andresen 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.
At 19 he is doing things this season that he could not do last season, and doing them every week. Form comes and goes; this has stayed long enough to be called something else.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Ulrik Fredriksen was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Emil Engqvist trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
He used to wear the other shirt. On Saturday he plays against Ranheim in this one, and whatever he says this week about it being just another game will be untrue.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Aalesund will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Ulrik Fredriksen was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Håkon Hammer 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.
“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 dugout29 Mar 2027
The manager has not finished forgetting Emil Engqvist'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.
In brief
The dugoutEmil Engqvist asks for a word with the manager
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 51 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Squad22 Mar 2027
Words at Aalesund training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Uba Charles 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.
Aalesund asked and Pobeda said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Philip Aukland and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad22 Mar 2027
5 new faces, and Aalesund 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.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Aalesund, and both men came out saying it was fine.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Sander Kartum signs something — a contract at Aalesund or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
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 Frøysa is on 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 Aalesund, and it is not being withdrawn.
Aalesund offered $1.4M; Astana said it was not close. The manager will be told the money is still there for the right player, which is what managers are told.
Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at Haugesund is saying, and nobody at Aalesund is enjoying the guessing.
Squad15 Mar 2027
Words at Aalesund training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ulrik Fredriksen 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.
Janus Seehusen 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 system has changed and his position has not. A footballer can improve his form; he cannot improve the manager’s formation, and that is the whole of the problem.
“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 Aalesund will have to give him a reason to stay or an exit.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Uba Charles signs something — a contract at Aalesund or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Aalesund can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
The 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.
Aalesund asked and IK Start said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
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. Aalesund will not keep him by pretending otherwise.
Aalesund have made the call to Haugesund. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Aleksander Hammer Kjelsen trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
“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; Aalesund are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
Ulrik Fredriksen 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.
Footballers are asked about their boyhood club so often that nobody listens to the answer. Mamadou Camara has just signed for Aalesund, and for once the answer mattered.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Uba Charles was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
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.
Noham Aini is 18, and Aalesund have signed him for the player he will be rather than the one he is. The first team can wait; the point of a deal like this is the years it buys.
Mamadou Camara is 19, and Aalesund have signed him for the player he will be rather than the one he is. The first team can wait; the point of a deal like this is the years it buys.
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at Aalesund, and it is not being withdrawn.
Cheikh Mbacke Diop and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Ulrik Fredriksen was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Every club in football pays most of what it earns to its players. Paying nearly all of it is a different arrangement, and it has ended the same way every time somebody has tried it.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Aalesund, and both men came out saying it was fine.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Sander Kartum signs something — a contract at Aalesund or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
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.
Marius Andresen 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.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Stromsgodset have kept their man, and Aalesund go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Uba Charles signs something — a contract at Aalesund or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
He trains hard, says the right things and goes home to an empty flat. Nobody at Aalesund has done anything wrong, which is exactly what makes it so difficult to fix.
It 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 clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Aalesund people have started saying his name in the past tense.
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at Aalesund, and it is not being withdrawn.
Ólafur Guðmundsson has left for Bryne in a $340.0K deal. The accountants are pleased; the supporters are less certain.
Squad8 Feb 2027
Uba Charles 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.
Aalesund asked and IK Start said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Emil Engqvist trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Nobody at Aalesund 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 given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
Squad1 Feb 2027
Words at Aalesund training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ulrik Fredriksen 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 Aalesund this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The dugout1 Feb 2027
The manager has not finished forgetting Emil Engqvist'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.
A year in and the language has not come, the city has not opened up, and he eats alone more often than anybody at Aalesund would like to admit. It is showing on Saturdays.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Ulrik Fredriksen was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Every club pays most of what it earns to its players. Paying nearly all of it is a different arrangement, and it has ended the same way every time it has been tried.
Nobody at Aalesund 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.
In brief
The dugoutThe manager makes Elias Myrlid a promise
Words at Aalesund training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Uba Charles 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.
Janus Seehusen and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Uba Charles signs something — a contract at Aalesund or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
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.
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.
Squad11 Jan 2027
Words at Aalesund training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ulrik Fredriksen is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
He is doing things every Saturday that nobody around him can answer. It is flattering for a season and a problem after that, and Aalesund know which stage they are at.
Janus Seehusen 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 had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Aalesund, and both men came out saying it was fine.
There is a version of every career where the player ends up somewhere he chose rather than somewhere that chose him. Ulrik Fredriksen is living that version at Aalesund, and it tends to show in the first month.
Uba Charles was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Philip Storås is 19, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Squad4 Jan 2027
Words at Aalesund training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ulrik Fredriksen 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 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.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Paul Ngongo signs something — a contract at Aalesund or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
Elias Hagen was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
There is a figure at which a wage bill stops being ambitious and becomes the reason nothing else is possible, and this club has reached it. Nothing is left over for a transfer, a stand or a rainy afternoon.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Max Nielsen was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Max Nielsen trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Uba Charles signs something — a contract at Aalesund or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
Nobody at Aalesund 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 Aalesund can pretend not to have heard.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Elias Hagen was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Janus Seehusen 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.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Aalesund know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Elias Hagen was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Aalesund this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Four or five weekends of consistency, measured against everybody else in the division. A quieter compliment than an award and a more reliable one.
The dugout7 Dec 2026
Emil Engqvist 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.
There is a figure at which a wage bill stops being ambitious and becomes the reason nothing else is possible, and this club has reached it. Nothing is left over for a transfer, a stand or a rainy afternoon.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Aalesund, and both men came out saying it was fine.
A conversation in the manager’s office, and a commitment that came out of it. Promises like that are cheap to make and expensive to break, and Ivan Djantou has written the date down.
There were 7 saves in it, and at least three that had no business being saves at all. The ten outfield players owe him a drink and they know it.
Squad23 Nov 2026
Elias Hagen 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.
Janus Seehusen 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.
Successful dribbles: 15. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
The dugout23 Nov 2026
The manager’s verdict
“I am not going to get carried away and I will not let them either. It was a good day. There will be harder ones.” Erling Svensson kept it short after the 1‑0 win, which is what managers do when they are happy.
“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.
Squad16 Nov 2026
Words at Aalesund training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Elias Hagen 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.
Janus Seehusen 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.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Aalesund know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
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 Mathias Kristensen is on it.
Ivan Djantou has done the arithmetic and does not like the answer. Nothing corrodes a squad faster, and no club has ever solved it by explaining the wage structure to a footballer.
Next up on the road: Egersund, position 6. The supporters who go will talk about it all week and the ones who do not will check their phones at ten to five.
7.78, 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.
Elias Hagen 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.
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.
“It is not the end of the world and it is not good enough. Both of those are true.” The manager, after a 1‑1 draw, said the honest thing and then went to say it again inside.
Marked 4.69. Nothing he attempted worked and by the hour mark he had stopped attempting much, which is the part a manager notices rather than the mistakes.
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.
He won it back and then made something of it, which is two jobs and the reason the scoreline looks the way it does. 16 combined actions and a mark of 7.04, and not one of them will make a highlights package.
Squad2 Nov 2026
Words at Aalesund training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Elias Hagen is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
He is 22 and the ground already sings his name, which is a thing that happens to local boys and almost never to signings. Everything from here is measured against an affection he did nothing to earn except be from here.
There is a figure at which a wage bill stops being ambitious and becomes the reason nothing else is possible, and this club has reached it. Nothing is left over for a transfer, a stand or a rainy afternoon.
Conceding is one thing; the response is what tells you about a dressing room. Kristoffer Nessø had Aalesund level again within 4 minutes, and Kongsvinger never got to play with a lead at all.
“We earned that. I asked them for a reaction and I got one, and now I want the same again on Saturday.” Erling Svensson on a 3‑1 afternoon that pleased him more than he was prepared to show.
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.
Squad26 Oct 2026
Elias Hagen 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.
Janus Seehusen and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Squad26 Oct 2026
10 new faces, and Aalesund 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.
“A point is a point and I will take it, but we should have had all three.” Erling Svensson after the 1‑1 draw, and the sentence every manager in the country said at some stage this weekend.
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Storm Karlsson Knutsen is 19, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
He won it back and then made something of it, which is two jobs and the reason the scoreline looks the way it does. 12 combined actions and a mark of 6.74, and not one of them will make a highlights package.
Janus Seehusen 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 not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. Aalesund told Marius Andresen something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
“It is not the end of the world and it is not good enough. Both of those are true.” The manager, after a 1‑1 draw, said the honest thing and then went to say it again inside.
At 19 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.
Squad12 Oct 2026
Elias Hagen 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 was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Aalesund this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Nobody at Aalesund 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.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Cheikh Mbacke Diop trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Paul Ngongo signs something — a contract at Aalesund or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
A conversation in the manager’s office, and a commitment that came out of it. Promises like that are cheap to make and expensive to break, and Ivan Djantou has written the date down.
At 18 he is doing things this season that he could not do last season, and doing them every week. Form comes and goes; this has stayed long enough to be called something else.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Elias Hagen was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Every club in football pays most of what it earns to its players. Paying nearly all of it is a different arrangement, and it has ended the same way every time somebody has tried it.
Janus Seehusen and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
The dugout5 Oct 2026
The view from the dugout
“We will look at it, we will learn from it, and we go again.” The three sentences every manager keeps for a 0‑2 defeat, delivered by Erling Svensson to a room that had heard them before.
A month is long enough that nobody gets in by accident. Emil Engqvist is in the division's best eleven for it, which is a quieter compliment than an award and a more reliable one.
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.
2 goals to the good, and then a slow surrender of everything that had been earned. Elias Myrlid will not be the one blamed for it, but nobody at Aalesund escapes the conversation that follows a collapse like this.
Two goals and a mark of 8.48 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Marked 8.33 — 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.
10 signings in three months. Every one of them may be an upgrade and the team can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild that never appears in the transfer-window verdicts.
“There are things I liked and things we will be doing on Tuesday until they are right.” 4‑4, and a manager who had already decided what Tuesday looked like.
The 89th minute, half the ground already edging towards the exits, and Emil Engqvist decided nobody was going anywhere. Odd had no time left to answer.
Squad21 Sep 2026
Elias Hagen 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 was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Aalesund this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Marked 8.09 — 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.
“We earned that. I asked them for a reaction and I got one, and now I want the same again on Saturday.” Erling Svensson on a 1‑0 afternoon that pleased him more than he was prepared to show.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Max Nielsen trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
He used to wear the other shirt. On Saturday he plays against Moss in this one, and whatever he says this week about it being just another game will be untrue.
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Philip Storås is 19, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
“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 dugout14 Sep 2026
The view from the dugout
“We will look at it, we will learn from it, and we go again.” The three sentences every manager keeps for a 0‑1 defeat, delivered by Erling Svensson to a room that had heard them before.
Every squad has one of these fixtures for somebody every season. This one is Ivan Djantou’s: the club that knew him first, the supporters who will decide in the first minute whether to applaud, and Aalesund needing him to play as if none of it matters.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Paul Ngongo signs something — a contract at Aalesund or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
Nobody at Aalesund is suggesting he is out of form. The manager simply wanted somebody with a different set of qualities for ninety specific minutes, and there is nothing a player can train to fix that.
Nobody at Aalesund 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 Aalesund can pretend not to have heard.
The manager has re-ordered his thinking and Ulrik Valderhaug Syversen has come out of it lower. He will be told it is temporary, and the players who have heard that before will avoid his eye.
Every squad has one of these fixtures for somebody every season. This one is Kristoffer Nessø’s: the club that knew him first, the supporters who will decide in the first minute whether to applaud, and Aalesund needing him to play as if none of it matters.
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.
He used to be one of the options. He is now one of the men the options are picked around, and the change happened quietly enough that only the dressing room noticed on the day.
A conversation in the manager’s office, and a commitment that came out of it. Promises like that are cheap to make and expensive to break, and Simen Haram has written the date down.
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
Squad31 Aug 2026
Words at Aalesund training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Elias Hagen 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.
Janus Seehusen 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.
10 new signings in one window. Every one may be an upgrade and the side can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild the verdicts never mention.
The dugout31 Aug 2026
The view from the dugout
“We did not lose. Some weeks that is all you get, and I would rather have the point than not.” Erling Svensson chose the glass-half-full version of 0‑0; the supporters left with the other one.
Nobody at Aalesund 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.
Ninety specific minutes wanted a different sort of player, and the manager picked one. He is not out of form and he is not in the side, and both are true.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 7 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
The terraces24 Aug 2026
A cup hiding at Brann leaves Aalesund explaining themselves
0-6, and long before the end the away end had switched from encouragement to something considerably more pointed. Nobody rings a phone-in about losing narrowly.
1 for Håkon Hammer, marked 7.94, and a centre-half's name in the part of the report he normally only reaches by mistake. He will not be allowed to forget it in the dressing room for a month.
The number the board signed off was not enough. It has been asked again and raised its own offer to $87.0K — a club that wants Michael Lansing enough to be asked twice.
Defending was optional and nobody took up the option. 6 goals between Aalesund and Brann, and not one of the people who paid to be there will ask for the money back.
$82.0K was the most the club would pay and Kristiansund were asking for more. Deals like this are revived in the last week of a window roughly half the time, and everybody involved knows it.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Elias Hagen was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
2 goals, and the second was the one that settled it. Marked 8.60, and he could have had a third with better luck at the near post.
Boardroom17 Aug 2026
Deadline passes with 9 signed and 1 gone
That is the business done at Aalesund until the window opens again. Whether it was enough will be answered on Saturdays rather than in a column, and the first Saturday is close.
The number the board signed off was not enough. It has been asked again and raised its own offer to $284.4K — a club that wants Emil Ødegaard enough to be asked twice.
Aalesund had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at AZ, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.
The offer went to Kristiansund this week and it is theirs to answer. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loud the door closes.
Aalesund asked and Kristiansund said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
At 18 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.
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.
Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at Tromso is saying, and nobody at Aalesund is enjoying the guessing.
Aalesund have gone to Egersund with a bid, and the supporters have gone to the internet with an opinion about it. Whether either changes anything is up to the selling club.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Emil Engqvist and Aalesund agree another 4 years.
Squad10 Aug 2026
Elias Hagen 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 spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Tobias Elyounoussi is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Vegard Bjorkan 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. Martin Johansen is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Henrik Ajer 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.
1 for Uba Charles, marked 7.59, and a centre-half's name in the part of the report he normally only reaches by mistake. He will not be allowed to forget it in the dressing room for a month.
The offer went to Tromso this week and it is theirs to answer. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loud the door closes.
Elias Hagen 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.
Aalesund asked and AGF said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
He is 23 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.