The 88th minute, half the ground already edging towards the exits, and Pyry Hannola decided nobody was going anywhere. Tromso had no time left to answer.
Player ratings20 Sep 2027
A brace, and Pyry Hannola takes the afternoon — 8.24
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Pyry Hannola provided it, and the 8.24 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Sory Diarra 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 Mathias Grundetjern was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
At 22 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.
Player ratings20 Sep 2027
Sory Diarra was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.02. There are performances a supporter describes to somebody who was not there and cannot quite convey; this was one, and the number does not help either.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 11 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 1‑4, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Haugesund can pretend not to have heard.
Nobody upstairs has said anything, which is the loudest thing they could do. Results buy silence in this game; the account at Haugesund is running low.
A bad atmosphere can be waited out. A group of people meeting afterwards to decide what to do about it cannot, and everybody in the building knows which stage this is.
Sory Diarra 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. Lillestrom have kept their man, and Haugesund go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Successful dribbles: 16. 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.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 10 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
A 0‑3 beating by Molde was the sort of result that empties a stadium long before the final whistle.
Boardroom23 Aug 2027
Haugesund close the window on a squad of their own making
9 in and 7 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.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Viking have kept their man, and Haugesund go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Gustav Nyheim and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad23 Aug 2027
Words at Haugesund training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Mathias Grundetjern 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.
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Jonas Sorloth 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. Sander Singh 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.
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Ole Selnaes 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.
Mathias Grundetjern 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.
Haugesund asked and Viking said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
“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 dugout16 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 1‑2 Alexander Thorsby left the room before anybody could ask which.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Vegard Solheim was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Haugesund can pretend not to have heard.
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Mathias Grundetjern provided it, and the 9.30 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Haugesund this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad9 Aug 2027
Words at Haugesund training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Pyry Hannola is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
At 20 he is being sung about by people twice his age, which is an affection a signing has to earn over years and a local kid gets for turning up. It is also the hardest thing in football to live up to.
A bad atmosphere can be waited out. A group of people meeting afterwards to decide what to do about it cannot, and everybody in the building knows which stage this is.
At 2 goals adrift this was a formality, and the formality lasted right up until it did not. Haugesund found something the first half had given no notice of, and Stromsgodset could not hold what they had.
The hardest thing about being 21 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Gustav Nyheim did not need any: 7.97, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
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.
Haugesund asked and Viking said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Add another name to the list: Stabaek have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Vegard Solheim. The answer from Haugesund has not changed — yet.
Mathias Grundetjern 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 Pyry Hannola was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Haugesund asked and Lillestrom said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Position 15, 10 points, and every result so far reduced to one line. The second half of the season starts with the same squad and a different set of expectations.
Everyone has stopped pretending: Aalesund will make the call about Harald Martin Hauso this week. Haugesund have a number in mind, and the number is not shy.
Sory Diarra had done his part in building a 2-goal cushion. What happened after that was collective, and Aalesund were allowed back into a match that had been finished with.
Mathias Grundetjern was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Squad12 Jul 2027
Words at Haugesund training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Miika Koskela is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Marked 8.42 — 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.
8.19. 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.
Marked 8.00 — 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.
Mjondalen will want this one forgotten quickly: 5‑1, every duel lost, and a long ride home. Haugesund were ruthless in the way good sides are ruthless.
A bad atmosphere can be waited out. A group of people meeting afterwards to decide what to do about it cannot, and everybody in the building knows which stage this is.
Position 15 and 9 points, and the table gets read bottom-up in this part of town. The calendar has stopped being a schedule and started being a countdown.
Marked 10.00 — 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.
Defending was optional and nobody took up the option. 6 goals between Haugesund and Mjondalen, and not one of the people who paid to be there will ask for the money back.
Squad5 Jul 2027
Miika Koskela falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 20-year-old it feels ownership of. Fabian André Jakobsen 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.
In brief
Player ratingsSory Diarra was on a different afternoon to everybody else
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Pyry Hannola was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
8.28. 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.
“We earned that. I asked them for a reaction and I got one, and now I want the same again on Saturday.” Alexander Thorsby on a 2‑1 afternoon that pleased him more than he was prepared to show.
9 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.
7 games now with at least two against. The back line has been rearranged, the goalkeeper has been backed publicly, and the goals keep going in anyway.
Squad21 Jun 2027
A muscle injury sidelines Amund Wichne for 14 days
Nobody makes a documentary about a hamstring and everybody in the game fears one. Haugesund will be careful with the return date, because the second one is always worse than the first.
Mathias Grundetjern 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.
1‑3 to Sandefjord, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Squad21 Jun 2027
Words at Haugesund training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Miika Koskela is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
The dugout21 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 1‑3 defeat, delivered by Alexander Thorsby to a room that had heard them before.
In brief
The dugoutMiika Koskela knocks on the manager's door
Mathias Grundetjern 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.
Beaten 1‑3, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Squad14 Jun 2027
Miika Koskela falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Alexander Thorsby after 1‑3, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
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.
Two goals and a mark of 8.81 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Haugesund this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Two or more conceded in each of the last 5 matches. It is not one mistake repeating itself, which would be the easier thing to fix; it is a different one every week.
7 goals in one match, Sory Diarra on the scoresheet, and a scoreline that will look like a misprint. Neutrals could not have asked more of Haugesund and Tromso.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Pyry Hannola was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
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.
Mathias Grundetjern and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad31 May 2027
Miika Koskela 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 manager kept them in and said what needed saying. A response is expected on Saturday, and if it does not come the questions move upstairs.
The dugout31 May 2027
The view from the dugout
“We will look at it, we will learn from it, and we go again.” The three sentences every manager keeps for a 0‑3 defeat, delivered by Alexander Thorsby to a room that had heard them before.
Sory Diarra and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad24 May 2027
Miika Koskela falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Marked 7.05 on 9 actions at both ends of the pitch. Midfielders like this get described as unspectacular by people who have never tried to play against one.
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Alexander Thorsby after 0‑2, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
The dugout24 May 2027
The manager has not finished forgetting Miika Koskela'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.
Mathias Grundetjern 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Pyry Hannola was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Marked 8.40 — 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.
Marked 8.26 — the sort of number a correspondent writes down twice to be sure. Everything he tried came off, and what he did not try was not worth trying.
The dugout17 May 2027
The manager’s verdict
“That is on me. I pick the team and I picked wrong.” Managers say that when they mean it and when they need to be seen to, and after 2‑3 Alexander Thorsby left the room before anybody could ask which.
The dugout17 May 2027
Pyry Hannola 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.
In brief
The dugoutAmund Wichne has become a man the manager trusts
Player ratingsPyry Hannola could not find anything
2 kept out in the shoot-out, and a stadium that will still be describing them in twenty years. A goalkeeper only needs one of these to be remembered forever.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Haugesund this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Defending was optional and nobody took up the option. 7 goals between Haugesund and Molde, and not one of the people who paid to be there will ask for the money back.
Squad10 May 2027
Words at Haugesund training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Miika Koskela 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.
3 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.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 14 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Mikkel Hope and Haugesund agree another 5 years.
Squad3 May 2027
Miika Koskela falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Alexander Thorsby after 0‑4, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
The 2-goal deficit was real and so was the recovery. Emil Rohd was at the centre of it, Stabaek were at the end of it, and everybody who left early will hear about this one for years.
Mathias Grundetjern 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 Pyry Hannola was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
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.
8.60. 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.
Marked 8.16 — the sort of number a correspondent writes down twice to be sure. Everything he tried came off, and what he did not try was not worth trying.
Player ratings26 Apr 2027
Emil Rohd was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.16. 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.
Mathias Grundetjern 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.
Beaten 2‑3, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Squad19 Apr 2027
Words at Haugesund training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Pyry Hannola 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.
Stromsgodset held the lead for 1 minutes, which is not long enough to enjoy it. Haugesund answered before the celebration had properly finished, and the shape of the afternoon changed with it.
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.
In brief
Player ratingsThe one thing Sory Diarra could not do
The dugoutThe plan did not have a place for Pyry Hannola
Viking left with the points after a 0‑1 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Squad12 Apr 2027
Words at Haugesund training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Parfait Bizoza 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 dugout12 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 0‑1 Alexander Thorsby left the room before anybody could ask which.
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.
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.
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 Håvard Vatland Karlsen has written the date down.
“I know what people will say. I know what I want, and it is here.” GIF Sundsvall had the fee agreed and the shirt ready; they did not have the player, and now they will not.
The deadline has passed and the squad is the squad. 2 arrived, 2 left, and everything else printed about this club last month was a rumour that stayed one.
Sory Diarra 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.
Squad5 Apr 2027
Words at Haugesund training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Pyry Hannola 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 manager has re-ordered his thinking and Alexander Ruud Tveter 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.
Viking next, and one man in the Haugesund dressing room knows their training ground better than his own. The reception will tell him what they thought of him.
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at Haugesund. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 18 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Mathias Grundetjern 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Pyry Hannola was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“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 Haugesund, and 0 appearances in 5 say he has earned the hearing.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Haugesund will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: Viktoria Plzen keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
Mathias Grundetjern and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
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.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Haugesund will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
The deal with Viktoria Plzen is done in every sense but the one that puts him on the pitch. Nothing goes wrong at this stage, except on the occasions when it does.
Haugesund offered $80.0K; Molde 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.
Squad15 Mar 2027
Words at Haugesund training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Pyry Hannola 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.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Volos NPS have kept their man, and Haugesund go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
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 Amund Wichne is on it.
In brief
The dugoutParfait Bizoza 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. 43 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Lillestrom waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Haugesund is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
Haugesund had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at Shakhtar, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.
Haugesund offered $490.0K; Rosenborg 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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Haugesund this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Haugesund have gone to Molde 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.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Stromsgodset have kept their man, and Haugesund go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
In brief
SquadPyry Hannola falls out with a teammate over standards
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Haugesund will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
“I listened, I thought about it, and I am staying. That is the whole story.” The clubs had agreed a fee. Håvard Vatland Karlsen had not agreed to go, which turned out to be the part that mattered.
“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 Haugesund, and it is not being withdrawn.
$490.0K on the table at Rosenborg. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.
Haugesund asked and Stabaek said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Mathias Grundetjern 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.
$400.0K was the most the club would pay and Viking 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.
Squad1 Mar 2027
Miika Koskela 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 offer from GIF Sundsvall for Ismaël Seoné 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.
Lillestrom did not want to sell and the number is why they did. $750.0K for Gustav Nyheim, and the expectation that arrives with him is the kind no amount of settling-in period softens.
Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at MSK Zilina is saying, and nobody at Haugesund is enjoying the guessing.
The name of Håvard Vatland Karlsen has come up in conversations Haugesund were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
The offer went to Viking 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.
Mathias Grundetjern 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.
Haugesund offered $33.0K; Odd 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Pyry Hannola was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Everything agreed with Lillestrom, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
Haugesund asked and Stabaek said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Sory Diarra 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.
$29.0K was the most the club would pay and Molde 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.
Squad15 Feb 2027
Words at Haugesund training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Pyry Hannola is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Every 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 Amund Wichne is on it.
Every shape has positions in it and this one does not have his. Haugesund will either change the shape, change his job, or change his club, and he is waiting to hear which.
Add another name to the list: GIF Sundsvall have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Ismaël Seoné. The answer from Haugesund has not changed — yet.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Haugesund this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Haugesund offered $48.0K; Odd 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.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Molde have kept their man, and Haugesund go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Parfait Bizoza was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Haugesund know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
Mathias Grundetjern 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Pyry Hannola was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The manager has re-ordered his thinking and Christopher Kjensteberg 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.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Haugesund know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
He asked about his future and was given an answer with minutes in it. The manager has now made a promise in a building where promises are remembered, and the clock on it has started.
Mathias Grundetjern and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.
Squad25 Jan 2027
Rasmus Møller 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.
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.
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 Alexander Ruud Tveter has written the date down.
Mathias Grundetjern and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad18 Jan 2027
Miika Koskela falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Haugesund this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Pyry Hannola was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Magnus Hauge has been at this club since he was a boy and is now, formally, one of the first-team squad — which for a local readership beats any signing of any size.
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 Haugesund have had the benefit of it.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Haugesund this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Einar Fauskanger is 18, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Every shape has positions in it and this one does not have his. Haugesund will either change the shape, change his job, or change his club, and he is waiting to hear which.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Haugesund know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at Haugesund. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Vegard Solheim trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
“The easiest signature of my career.” Petcho Camara and Haugesund agree another 5 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Squad28 Dec 2026
Words at Haugesund training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Miika Koskela 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 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Pyry Hannola was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Nobody at Haugesund 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 Haugesund, 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 Alexander Ruud Tveter has written the date down.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Haugesund this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Stian Johansen 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.
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Erling Linnes 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.
Squad14 Dec 2026
Rasmus Møller 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.
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 Alexander Ruud Tveter has written the date down.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Haugesund know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
In brief
SquadThe training reports on Anders Bondhus are not good
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Haugesund have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
There are footballers who have a good season and footballers a season is remembered for, and the second kind get their names read out in a hall in the summer. Haugesund will be quietly delighted and privately nervous.
Pyry Hannola 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.
Squad7 Dec 2026
Words at Haugesund training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Miika Koskela 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.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Haugesund have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Mathias Grundetjern 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.
Squad30 Nov 2026
Words at Haugesund training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Pyry Hannola 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 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.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Parfait Bizoza trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Harald Martin Hauso was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
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.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Mathias Grundetjern signs something — a contract at Haugesund or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Haugesund, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Sory Diarra 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.
Squad16 Nov 2026
Words at Haugesund training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Miika Koskela 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.
Clubs make promises constantly and the page usually only hears about them when they are broken. This one was honoured, and the dressing room noticed that faster than any supporter did.
“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 Haugesund will have to answer with minutes or with a transfer.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Haugesund this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad9 Nov 2026
Words at Haugesund training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Pyry Hannola 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.
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Lars Daehli is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Marcus Strandberg is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
Mathias Grundetjern 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.
9 goals. Both benches spent the second half looking at each other rather than at the pitch. Purists will complain about Haugesund and Sarpsborg 08 in equal measure; everybody else had a wonderful time.
Marked 8.01 — 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.
Centre-halves are allowed forward twice a season and are judged on what they do when they get there. Jonathan Norbye scored, was marked 7.19, and got back before anybody noticed he had gone.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Miika Koskela was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
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 dugout26 Oct 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.” Alexander Thorsby chose the glass-half-full version of 1‑1; the supporters left with the other one.
He wheeled away like a man who had been carrying it for months, because he had. Haugesund have their signing off the mark and one press-conference question retired.
The hardest thing about being 21 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Emil Rohd did not need any: 8.44, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
3 wins in a row changes how opponents warm up: quieter, more glances across. Runs end, everybody knows that — but nobody in this dressing room is planning for it.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Haugesund this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Pyry Hannola was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
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.
“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.
Player ratings19 Oct 2026
Niklas Sandberg was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.11. 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.
Marked 8.04 — 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.
Mathias Grundetjern 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.
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.
Player ratings12 Oct 2026
Sory Diarra was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.86. 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 academy exists for exactly this morning. Vegard Linnes 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.
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Parfait Bizoza, and the manager let it.
The dugout12 Oct 2026
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.” Alexander Thorsby, on a 3‑0 win that he was already picking apart on the walk to the press room.
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Mathias Grundetjern provided it, and the 9.30 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 6 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
Player ratings5 Oct 2026
Petcho Camara, 19, plays like he has been here for years — 7.60
A mark of 7.60 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 19-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
Mathias Grundetjern 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.
A 3‑1 win over Sandefjord, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
Squad5 Oct 2026
Miika Koskela 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.
At 19 he is being sung about by people twice his age, which is an affection a signing has to earn over years and a local kid gets for turning up. It is also the hardest thing in football to live up to.
Position 14 and 5 points, and the table gets read bottom-up in this part of town. The calendar has stopped being a schedule and started being a countdown.
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.
Sory Diarra 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.
Squad28 Sep 2026
Pyry Hannola falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
He won it back and then made something of it, which is two jobs and the reason the scoreline looks the way it does. 10 combined actions and a mark of 6.54, and not one of them will make a highlights package.
Sory Diarra 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.
13 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.
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.
Mathias Grundetjern 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Miika Koskela was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“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.
Mathias Grundetjern 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.
1‑3 to Bodo/Glimt, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Squad7 Sep 2026
Words at Haugesund training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Pyry Hannola 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 manager has re-ordered his thinking and Jonathan Norbye 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.
“We are a long way apart, and pretending otherwise helps nobody.” Neither side is close, and the calendar is not on the club's side.
The dugout7 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 1‑3 defeat, delivered by Alexander Thorsby to a room that had heard them before.
8 shots, and a count that reads like a good afternoon until you check the other column. Strikers survive weeks like this on the understanding that the chances keep arriving; the day they stop is the day it becomes a problem.
Sory Diarra 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.
Haugesund offered $57.0K; Stromsgodset 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.
The paperwork is done long before the player is. Christopher Kjensteberg has agreed terms to come here when his current deal runs out, which means Haugesund have spent a summer's transfer budget on a phone call.
“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 Haugesund will have to give him a reason to stay or an exit.
He used to wear the other shirt. On Saturday he plays against Bodo/Glimt in this one, and whatever he says this week about it being just another game will be untrue.
In brief
Player ratingsThe chances came and went for Petcho Camara
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 12 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
$1.7M was the most the club would pay and Bodo/Glimt 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.
Sory Diarra 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Miika Koskela was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“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.
Squad24 Aug 2026
13 new faces, and Haugesund 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.
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Alexander Thorsby after 0‑1, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
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.
In brief
The dugoutThe manager has not finished forgetting Vegard Solheim's mistake
Stabaek go through and Haugesund go home, 0‑1 the scoreline that did it. The dressing room will call the league the priority now, because that is what dressing rooms say.
Everything was agreed until it was not, and Sory Diarra reports back to Haugesund with a summer to forget. Neither club is saying who walked away from the table.
Boardroom17 Aug 2026
Haugesund close the window on a squad of their own making
17 in and 0 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.
The rules permit it and it stings anyway. Sory Diarra has agreed terms with Molde for the summer, and until then he pulls on this shirt as a player who has already chosen his next one.
One scored and one made, which is a different afternoon from scoring twice and an easier one to overlook. Marked 7.91, and involved in 2 of his side's goals.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Haugesund this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
This is not cover and nobody is pretending it is. $1.6M has been paid because Mathias Grundetjern is straightforwardly better than what was already here, and the club has decided to stop waiting.
Sory Diarra 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.
6 goals in one match, Sory Diarra on the scoresheet, and a scoreline that will look like a misprint. Neutrals could not have asked more of Haugesund and Stabaek.
Mathias Grundetjern was the name on every phone-in, and the club has gone and signed him for $1.6M. For one week the board can do no wrong, which is a week most boards never get.
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Ole Hauge 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.
Sory Diarra and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad3 Aug 2026
Words at Haugesund training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Pyry Hannola 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.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Randers have kept their man, and Haugesund go back to a list with one name crossed off it.