Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Billy Gee will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Mjondalen the goodbyes have quietly begun.
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Ruben Meling after 1‑2, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
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.
Nobody upstairs has said anything, which is the loudest thing they could do. Results buy silence in this game; the account at Mjondalen is running low.
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Oliver Midtgård provided it, and the 8.74 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 Mjondalen 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.
“The players deserve the credit. My job was easy today.” It was not, and everybody in the room knew it; after 3‑1, Ruben Meling could afford to be generous.
Warm-up bib, ninety minutes of watching, and a handshake at the end that fooled nobody. Big matches tell you who a manager trusts; this one told Benjamin Sundo.
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.
2‑5 to Lillestrom, and it was every bit as bad as the number suggests. There are defeats you argue about and defeats you apologise for; this was the second kind.
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Jonas Bruusgaard provided it, and the 8.01 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Defending was optional and nobody took up the option. 7 goals between Mjondalen and Lillestrom, and not one of the people who paid to be there will ask for the money back.
10 combined actions and 7.07. 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.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Mjondalen they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
He will play here until the summer and then walk out of the door for free, having already signed elsewhere. Supporters will manage the first part of that sentence; it is the second they will struggle with.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Mjondalen this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Oliver Midtgård signs something — a contract at Mjondalen or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
3 goals in 10 games at HB Køge — numbers that travel home faster than he does. Somebody at Mjondalen updates a spreadsheet every Monday, and it makes better reading each week.
They sit in position 2 and they will be waiting. Away form is where a season shows its true character, and this side has a point to make about its own.
What was said behind closed doors has now been said in front of a microphone. Everybody at Mjondalen can do the arithmetic, including the man it is aimed at.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Mjondalen they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Nobody upstairs has said anything, which is the loudest thing they could do. Results buy silence in this game; the account at Mjondalen is running low.
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Oliver Midtgård provided it, and the 8.89 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
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.
Alexander Groven was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
In brief
BoardroomWages eat 103% of everything Mjondalen earn
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.
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.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Camil Mmaee. 1‑0 against Sandefjord, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Ware Peter Natana 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.
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.
The dugout20 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.” Ruben Meling, on a 1‑0 win that he was already picking apart on the walk to the press room.
A player who expected to start watched it instead. The manager will call it a decision for the team; Benjamin Sundo will call it something else in private.
Nobody makes a documentary about a hamstring and everybody in the game fears one. Mjondalen will be careful with the return date, because the second one is always worse than the first.
He will play here until the summer and then walk out of the door for free, having already signed elsewhere. Supporters will manage the first part of that sentence; it is the second they will struggle with.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Mjondalen this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“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 dugout13 Sep 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.” Ruben Meling 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 Mjondalen, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Ninety minutes, no goals, and the argument started before the car park emptied: a point gained, or two thrown away against Stabaek? Both sides of it will still be going on Thursday.
The board have said in public what they had been saying in private. Results between now and the next meeting decide it, and everybody in the building knows the arithmetic.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Mjondalen can pretend not to have heard.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Mjondalen have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Mjondalen they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Peder Klausen 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 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.
He is 17, and nobody at Mjondalen signed him for this season. Deals like this are judged in four years, by people who may not still be in the building.
0 appearances, 0 clean sheets, and a goalkeeper no further forward than the day he left. Whether that belongs to him, to the club that borrowed him or to the people who arranged it is the argument Mjondalen will have this month.
Nobody upstairs has said anything, which is the loudest thing they could do. Results buy silence in this game; the account at Mjondalen is running low.
7.95, 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.
Lucas Nicol 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.
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.
The dugout30 Aug 2027
The manager has not finished forgetting Fredrik Holmé'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.
Nobody at Mjondalen will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
The dugout30 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.” Ruben Meling chose the glass-half-full version of 1‑1; the supporters left with the other one.
The fee was agreed and the flight was looked at — and then the phone stopped ringing. Bryne moved on, Oliver Midtgård reports back to Mjondalen, and everybody pretends Monday is just Monday.
The offer from B.93 for Mikkel Søfeldt 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.
Boardroom23 Aug 2027
Mjondalen close the window on a squad of their own making
15 in and 9 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.
Thomas Grøgaard 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 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.
It finished 2‑0, and it was Camil Mmaee’s afternoon: on the scoresheet when it mattered, and the reason the points belong to Mjondalen.
Player ratings23 Aug 2027
Anders Hiim was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.18. There are performances a supporter describes to somebody who was not there and cannot quite convey; this was one, and the number does not help either.
“I watch every Mjondalen game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Kristiansund runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Ruben Meling after 1‑2, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
Squad16 Aug 2027
Words at Mjondalen training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Kweku Kekeli 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 had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Mjondalen, and both men came out saying it was fine.
In brief
Player ratingsCamil Mmaee beats them one at a time
“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 Mjondalen, and it is not being withdrawn.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Fredrikstad have kept their man, and Mjondalen go back to a list with one name crossed off 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 Mjondalen this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The dugout9 Aug 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 2‑3 defeat, delivered by Ruben Meling to a room that had heard them before.
“I did not sign to watch. Nobody does.” The oldest complaint in the game, and Mjondalen will have to answer it with minutes or with a move.
Squad9 Aug 2027
Words at Mjondalen training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Øyvind Alseth is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
In brief
The dugoutTobias Flem knocks on the manager’s door
The board’s statement ran to three sentences and one of them mentioned results. Ruben Meling has managed long enough to translate: win soon, or the next statement is shorter.
Nobody upstairs has said anything, which is the loudest thing they could do. Results buy silence in this game; the account at Mjondalen is running low.
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 7.81 at 34, and nobody on the pitch was better.
Kweku Kekeli 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.
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.
“The players deserve the credit. My job was easy today.” It was not, and everybody in the room knew it; after 1‑0, Ruben Meling could afford to be generous.
In brief
The dugoutFredrik Holmé loses the manager who believed in him
Thomas Grøgaard 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.
0‑1 to Raufoss, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Squad26 Jul 2027
Kweku Kekeli falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Fredrik Dimmen Gjerde, and the manager let it.
The dugout26 Jul 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 Ruben Meling to a room that had heard them before.
He is doing things every Saturday that nobody around him can answer. It is flattering for a season and a problem after that, and Mjondalen know which stage they are at.
The manager wanted a different profile for this opponent, which is a real football reason and no consolation. He did nothing wrong and he did not play.
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.
“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 Mjondalen, and it is not being withdrawn.
Everything agreed with Fredrikstad, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
Peder Klausen 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.
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.
“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 Mjondalen, and it is not being withdrawn.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Mjondalen this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“A point is a point and I will take it, but we should have had all three.” Ruben Meling after the 0‑0 draw, and the sentence every manager in the country said at some stage this weekend.
The crowd waited for a goal that never came. Åsane defended in numbers and left with what they came for, and the two sides could be playing still without troubling a scorer.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Mjondalen, and both men came out saying it was fine.
10 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.
It has stopped being a mood in the stands and started being something organised. Boards can ignore a bad atmosphere for a long time; they cannot ignore this stage of it for very long at all.
Thomas Grøgaard 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 Kweku Kekeli was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
100 games in the shirt. Nobody sets out to build a record like that; it happens to a certain kind of player at a certain kind of club, and this town knows what it has.
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.
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.
100 games in the shirt. Nobody sets out to build a record like that; it happens to a certain kind of player at a certain kind of club, and this town knows what it has.
He won it back and then made something of it, which is two jobs and the reason the scoreline looks the way it does. 9 combined actions and a mark of 6.69, and not one of them will make a highlights package.
“A point is a point and I will take it, but we should have had all three.” Ruben Meling after the 1‑1 draw, and the sentence every manager in the country said at some stage this weekend.
There were 6 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.
Player ratings21 Jun 2027
Up for the corner, and Tobias Flem delivers — 7.91
Centre-halves are allowed forward twice a season and are judged on what they do when they get there. Tobias Flem scored, was marked 7.91, and got back before anybody noticed he had gone.
100 games in this shirt, through managers and relegations and everything else. Service like it is disappearing from the game and the crowd knows what it is watching.
“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 Mjondalen, and 0 appearances in 10 say he has earned the hearing.
Kristian Kongelf was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Successful dribbles: 18. 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.
“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 Mjondalen, and 1 appearances in 14 say he has earned the hearing.
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Ruben Meling after 0‑1, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer 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 Mjondalen this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Mjondalen, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Mjondalen know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 9 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
Position 15 and 7 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.
Two or more conceded in each of the last 7 matches. It is not one mistake repeating itself, which would be the easier thing to fix; it is a different one every week.
Thomas Grøgaard 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 for Tobias Flem, marked 7.34, 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.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Mjondalen have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
“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 dugout31 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 1‑2 Ruben Meling left the room before anybody could ask which.
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.
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.
Billy Gee 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.
“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 Mjondalen, and 0 appearances in 6 say he has earned the hearing.
“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 Mjondalen will have to answer with minutes or with a transfer.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Oliver Midtgård signs something — a contract at Mjondalen or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
It is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. Mjondalen told Anders Hiim something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
“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.
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.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Mjondalen have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
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.
The terraces10 May 2027
Mjondalen are taken apart by Brann — and the town wants answers
It finished 0-3. A cup exit is a disappointment; this was a public dismantling, and the difference between the two is the number of people who will still be talking about it in August.
Player ratings10 May 2027
Up for the corner, and Tobias Flem delivers — 7.46
Centre-halves are allowed forward twice a season and are judged on what they do when they get there. Tobias Flem scored, was marked 7.46, and got back before anybody noticed he had gone.
100 games in the shirt. Nobody sets out to build a record like that; it happens to a certain kind of player at a certain kind of club, and this town knows what it has.
The dugoutAnders Hiim has become a man the manager trusts
40Edition
The Mjondalen Chronicle
3 May 2027
From our football correspondentSteady
Player ratings3 May 2027
A brace, and Camil Mmaee takes the afternoon — 8.39
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Camil Mmaee provided it, and the 8.39 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
7 goals in one match, Camil Mmaee on the scoresheet, and a scoreline that will look like a misprint. Neutrals could not have asked more of Mjondalen and Kongsvinger.
The new man at Mjondalen has worked with Anders Hiim before and it went well. He arrives with a view of the player already formed, which is worth more than any pre-season.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 20-year-old it feels ownership of. Fallou Sock 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.
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.
13 combined actions and 6.82. 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 new man at Mjondalen has worked with Anders Hiim before and it went well. He arrives with a view of the player already formed, which is worth more than any pre-season.
Ard Ragnar Sundal 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.
The dugout26 Apr 2027
The manager’s verdict
“I am frustrated, honestly. We did enough to win and we did not win.” Ruben Meling was not hiding it after 1‑1, and nobody in the Mjondalen dressing room was either.
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Jonas Bruusgaard provided it, and the 8.10 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 7 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
Involvement in 2 goals, from a player who spent the ninety minutes doing the thing a manager actually wants: being where the ball was going to end up. 7.68 beside his name.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Mjondalen this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“I have given this everything, but my family is not here and neither am I, not really.” A footballer can be coached out of bad form. Nobody has ever been coached out of this, and Mjondalen know it.
The new man at Mjondalen has worked with Anders Hiim before and it went well. He arrives with a view of the player already formed, which is worth more than any pre-season.
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.
The offer from IFK Värnamo for Fallou Sock 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.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 6 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Mjondalen have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
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.
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.
The new man at Mjondalen has worked with Anders Hiim before and it went well. He arrives with a view of the player already formed, which is worth more than any pre-season.
Marked 6.74 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.
What was said behind closed doors has now been said in front of a microphone. Everybody at Mjondalen can do the arithmetic, including the man it is aimed at.
Boardroom5 Apr 2027
Mjondalen close the window on a squad of their own making
8 in and 6 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.
Mjondalen had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at Fredrikstad, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.
The phone has started ringing about Fallou Sock again, and this time the name on the line is IFK Värnamo. Mjondalen are listening politely and promising nothing.
At 20 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.
The new man at Mjondalen has worked with Anders Hiim before and it went well. He arrives with a view of the player already formed, which is worth more than any pre-season.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Mjondalen this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Mjondalen can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
In brief
Squad8 new faces, and Mjondalen are still learning each other
Mjondalen had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at Viking, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 20 he is doing things at this level he could not do at the start of the season, and the coaching staff will tell you exactly which of them.
The deal with Tromso 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.
The new man at Mjondalen has worked with Anders Hiim before and it went well. He arrives with a view of the player already formed, which is worth more than any pre-season.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Mjondalen know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
“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 Mjondalen will have to answer with minutes or with a transfer.
Viking have accepted the money. What Mjondalen do not yet have is the man, and between here and the photograph is a conversation about wages that both sides are dreading.
The deal with Fredrikstad 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.
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Mikkel Søfeldt is 20, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
The new man at Mjondalen has worked with Anders Hiim before and it went well. He arrives with a view of the player already formed, which is worth more than any pre-season.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Mjondalen this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“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 Mjondalen will have to answer with minutes or with a transfer.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Oliver Midtgård signs something — a contract at Mjondalen or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Mikkel Søfeldt trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
The offer from IFK Norrkoping for Mikkel Søfeldt 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.
Mjondalen 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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Mjondalen this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The new man at Mjondalen has worked with Anders Hiim before and it went well. He arrives with a view of the player already formed, which is worth more than any pre-season.
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. Mjondalen will not keep him by pretending otherwise.
A year in and the city has not opened up, the language has not come, and lunch is eaten alone more often than anybody at Mjondalen would admit. It shows on Saturdays.
A new face in his position and a shirt he thought he owned suddenly up for discussion. Mjondalen have promised nothing, which is what clubs promise at this stage.
In brief
The dugoutBrinder Singh knocks on the manager's door
What was said behind closed doors has now been said in front of a microphone. Everybody at Mjondalen can do the arithmetic, including the man it is aimed at.
Thomas Grøgaard 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.
IK Start paid $300.0K and Mjondalen took it, which is the whole story in one sentence. The longer version involves a wage budget and will be told all season.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Tromso have kept their man, and Mjondalen go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
8 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.
Every squad has men who were signed by a particular manager and men who were merely inherited. Thomas Grøgaard is in the first group, and the man who wanted him here is no longer in the building.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Øyvind Alseth was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Nobody upstairs has said anything, which is the loudest thing they could do. Results buy silence in this game; the account at Mjondalen is running low.
The deal with IK Start 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.
Add another name to the list: IK Start have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Nickolay Årsbog. The answer from Mjondalen has not changed — yet.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Kweku Kekeli was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Every squad is half players the manager chose and half players he inherited. Thomas Grøgaard was chosen, the man who chose him has gone, and he starts again from nothing under the next one.
Not a new contract, not a new number: a new place in the manager’s thinking, which is the only promotion in football that actually matters. Fredrik Dimmen Gjerde has moved up it.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Benjamin Sundo trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
The deal that would have taken Kweku Kekeli to Odd has collapsed at the last stage, and he reports back to Mjondalen with a summer to forget and a season still to play. Nobody is saying which side walked away.
Peder Klausen 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 Kweku Kekeli was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Mjondalen have made the call to Rosenborg. 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 Oliver Midtgård trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Åsane paid $110.0K and Mjondalen took it, which is the whole story in one sentence. The longer version involves a wage budget and will be told all season.
“I have given this everything, but my family is not here and neither am I, not really.” A footballer can be coached out of bad form. Nobody has ever been coached out of this, and Mjondalen know it.
Mjondalen 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.
“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.
Squad15 Feb 2027
Words at Mjondalen training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Kweku Kekeli 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 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.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Markus Ottesen trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Thomas Grøgaard 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.
Every footballer has an answer to the question about his boyhood club, and most of them never get to act on it. Billy Gee has, at Mjondalen, and the first month will show what that does to a man.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Tromso have kept their man, and Mjondalen go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Add another name to the list: Åsane have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Erik Kristiansen. The answer from Mjondalen has not changed — yet.
Squad8 Feb 2027
Words at Mjondalen training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Tobias Bjørnebye 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.
Oskar Fenger is 18, and Mjondalen 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.
Timon Railić is 20, and Mjondalen 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 Mjondalen, and it is not being withdrawn.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Tobias Bjørnebye was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The injury that keeps coming back, keeps being rushed back from, and quietly costs more careers than the dramatic ones. 14 days is the estimate; the honest figure depends on whether anybody is patient.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Kweku Kekeli 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.
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 Fallou Sock has written the date down.
Thomas Grøgaard 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.
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.
Thomas Grøgaard 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.
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Oliver Midtgård, and the manager let it.
Squad11 Jan 2027
Words at Mjondalen training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Tobias Bjørnebye 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 shape has positions in it and this one does not have his. Mjondalen will either change the shape, change his job, or change his club, and he is waiting to hear which.
Nobody upstairs has said anything, which is the loudest thing they could do. Results buy silence in this game; the account at Mjondalen is running low.
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Mikkel Søfeldt is 20, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Peder Klausen 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.
“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.
Squad4 Jan 2027
Words at Mjondalen training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Kweku Kekeli 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.
Daniel Valan is 17, and Mjondalen 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.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Mjondalen, and both men came out saying it was fine.
In brief
Boardroom$776.6K taken back off the Mjondalen table
Peder Klausen 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 Tobias Bjørnebye 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.
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.
Kweku Kekeli 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 had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Mjondalen, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Mathias Bringaker will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Mjondalen the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Lucas Nicol 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 Kweku Kekeli was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“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 Mjondalen will have to answer with minutes or with a transfer.
Words at Mjondalen training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Tobias Bjørnebye 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 Mjondalen this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Mjondalen this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
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.
“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.
Squad30 Nov 2026
Words at Mjondalen training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Tobias Bjørnebye 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.
Numbers do not stay secret in a dressing room and never have. He is not asking for more than he is worth; he is asking why somebody beside him is worth more, and at Mjondalen that is a harder question to answer.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Mjondalen have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Thomas Grøgaard 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 supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 1‑3, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Kweku Kekeli was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
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.
The words a physio says slowly. 17 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.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Mathias Bringaker will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Mjondalen the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Mikkel Søfeldt 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.
Squad16 Nov 2026
7 new faces, and Mjondalen 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Tobias Bjørnebye 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.
Something was said to Oliver Rotihaug and then it happened. In this industry that passes for remarkable, and the dressing room noticed faster than any supporter could.
Sogndal next, and one man in the Mjondalen dressing room knows their training ground better than his own. The reception will tell him what they thought of him.
25 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Mjondalen lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Mathias Bringaker provided it, and the 8.47 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 6 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Per-Egil Flo 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.
A point taken on 94 minutes is worth exactly one point and considerably more than that to a dressing room. This side does not stop, which is a reputation worth more than the result.
“There are things I liked and things we will be doing on Tuesday until they are right.” 3‑3, and a manager who had already decided what Tuesday looked like.
In brief
The dugoutMarkus Ottesen asks for a word with the manager
The words a physio says slowly. 32 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.
Storm Strand-Kolbjørnsen 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.
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.
The manager has re-ordered his thinking and Per-Egil Flo 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.
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.
The words a physio says slowly. 40 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 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 7.87 for the rest of it.
Successful dribbles: 20. 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.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 22-year-old it feels ownership of. Noah Jenssen Riise 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Tobias Bjørnebye was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
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.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Mjondalen is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Mjondalen this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Defending was optional and nobody took up the option. 6 goals between Mjondalen and Lillestrom, and not one of the people who paid to be there will ask for the money back.
It happens to all of them and it is still the hardest paragraph a local paper has to write. 34 years old, 3 points down on where he was, and a body that has started charging interest on a career.
24 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.
Per-Egil Flo 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.
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.
Squad12 Oct 2026
Words at Mjondalen training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Kweku Kekeli 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 respect the manager and I am not going to sit here and pretend I am happy.” It is the most common sentence in football and it has never once been the end of a story.
Every squad has one of these fixtures for somebody every season. This one is Noah Jenssen Riise’s: the club that knew him first, the supporters who will decide in the first minute whether to applaud, and Mjondalen needing him to play as if none of it matters.
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.
What was a back-page link has become a chant, and the chant is not friendly. Mjondalen would rather it were settled quietly, and it has stopped being quiet.
Per-Egil Flo 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.
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 19 he is doing things at this level he could not do at the start of the season, and the coaching staff will tell you exactly which of them.
It happens to all of them and it is still the hardest paragraph a local paper has to write. 37 years old, 3 points down on where he was, and a body that has started charging interest on a career.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 23-year-old it feels ownership of. Peder Klausen 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.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Oliver Midtgård. 2‑0 against Aalesund, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
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.
Kweku Kekeli 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 Tobias Bjørnebye 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 0‑0 draw, said the honest thing and then went to say it again inside.
Ninety minutes, no goals, and the argument started before the car park emptied: a point gained, or two thrown away against Odd? Both sides of it will still be going on Thursday.
He used to wear the other shirt. On Saturday he plays against Aalesund in this one, and whatever he says this week about it being just another game will be untrue.
7.95, 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.
A midfielder is measured on whether the team functions when he is on the pitch, which is nearly impossible to see and completely obvious in retrospect. 19 actions, 7.01, and a manager who will not be substituting him again in a hurry.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Mathias Bringaker will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Mjondalen the goodbyes have quietly begun.
There is no worse way to lose a footballer. Mathias Bringaker has pre-agreed a move away, which means every appearance between now and June is made by a man the club can no longer sell, and somebody upstairs will be asked why the contract was allowed to get here.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Mjondalen this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
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.
7.72, 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.
Storm Strand-Kolbjørnsen 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 Tobias Bjørnebye 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.
The dugout14 Sep 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.” Ruben Meling chose the glass-half-full version of 2‑2; the supporters left with the other one.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Mjondalen can pretend not to have heard.
Anders Hiim 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.
Somebody has moved past him. It is not a dropping and it is worse than one, because a dropping is about a Saturday and this is about where he stands.
Squad7 Sep 2026
A place in the month's best eleven for Fallou Sock
Four or five weekends of consistency, judged against everybody in the division doing his job. Fallou Sock has come out of that comparison in the side, and Mjondalen have had the benefit of every one of those afternoons.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Storm Strand-Kolbjørnsen trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Every squad has one of these fixtures for somebody every season. This one is Nickolay Årsbog’s: the club that knew him first, the supporters who will decide in the first minute whether to applaud, and Mjondalen needing him to play as if none of it matters.
7.80, 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.
There is a version of every career where the player ends up somewhere he chose rather than somewhere that chose him. Kristian Kongelf is living that version at Mjondalen, and it tends to show in the first month.
Kweku Kekeli 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 were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Ruben Meling after 1‑3, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer 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.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Kristian Kongelf and Mjondalen agree another 4 years.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Mjondalen this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Mathias Bringaker. 1‑0 against Egersund, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Kweku Kekeli was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
22 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.
“The players deserve the credit. My job was easy today.” It was not, and everybody in the room knew it; after 1‑0, Ruben Meling could afford to be generous.
“I respect the manager and I am not going to sit here and pretend I am happy.” It is the most common sentence in football and it has never once been the end of a story.
In brief
The dugoutAnders Hiim has become a man the manager trusts
It finished 1-4. A cup exit is a disappointment; this was a public dismantling, and the difference between the two is the number of people who will still be talking about it in August.
1 for Tobias Flem, marked 7.56, 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.
Boardroom17 Aug 2026
Deadline passes with 19 signed and 0 gone
That is the business done at Mjondalen 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.
$380.0K was the most the club would pay and KFUM Oslo 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.
0‑3 to Lyn, and it was every bit as bad as the number suggests. There are defeats you argue about and defeats you apologise for; this was the second kind.
There is a version of every career where the player ends up somewhere he chose rather than somewhere that chose him. David de Ornelas is living that version at Mjondalen, and it tends to show in the first month.
$280.0K on the table at KFUM Oslo. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Bryne have kept their man, and Mjondalen go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” David de Ornelas and Mjondalen agree another 5 years.
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Vegard King 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.
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Bjorn Normann 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.
There is a version of every career where the player ends up somewhere he chose rather than somewhere that chose him. Mikkel Søfeldt is living that version at Mjondalen, and it tends to show in the first month.
“The easiest signature of my career.” Sander Marthinussen and Mjondalen agree another 4 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Mjondalen this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
6 goals in one match, Oliver Midtgård on the scoresheet, and a scoreline that will look like a misprint. Neutrals could not have asked more of Mjondalen and Moss.