57 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Molde lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 21 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Molde have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Halldor Stenevik 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 had been thinking. Birk Risa is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
“There is a gap, and pretending there is not helps nobody.” Neither side has moved, and the calendar is working for exactly one of them.
The dugout12 Nov 2029
The manager has not finished forgetting Eirik Haugan'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 Molde 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.
65 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Molde lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Molde will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at Molde, and it is not being withdrawn.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Trent Kone-Doherty will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Molde the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Isak Helstad Amundsen 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 Eirik Hestad was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“The manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Erlend Segberg has his answer from Molde; what he does with it is the next window’s story.
72 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Molde lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Position 7 on 45 points. Every season is a story and this is the last line of it, and now the club has three months to decide what the next one is about.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Molde will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at Molde, 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 Molde 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 Birk Risa was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“The manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Tobias Børkeeiet has his answer from Molde; what he does with it is the next window’s story.
80 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Molde lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Molde will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Molde 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 Birk Risa was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
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.
87 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Molde lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Molde will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Molde can pretend not to have heard.
Isak Helstad Amundsen and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad15 Oct 2029
Eirik Hestad 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.
Bodo/Glimt left with the points after a 0‑1 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
The dugout15 Oct 2029
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 Lars Pedersen to a room that had heard them before.
Nobody will confirm this and nothing else explains the last month of selections. A costly error buys a player a period of being second choice that is always longer than the error was.
The words a physio says slowly. 95 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Molde will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at Molde, and it is not being withdrawn.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Molde they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Isak Helstad Amundsen 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 Birk Risa was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Marked 8.08 — 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.
Minute 91, against Lillestrom, and a goal that felt like a win to everybody who had stayed. It was a draw. Nobody leaving the ground will describe it as one.
104 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Molde lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Isak Helstad Amundsen 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 had been thinking. Eirik Hestad 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.
111 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Molde lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Molde can pretend not to have heard.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Molde 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 Eirik Hestad was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Lars Pedersen after 0‑3, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
A player who expected to start watched it instead. The manager will call it a decision for the team; Tobias Børkeeiet will call it something else in private.
The words a physio says slowly. 118 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Birk Risa was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Rosenborg next, which means a week that starts on Monday. Everything else on this page will be forgotten by Saturday; this fixture will not be forgotten for a year.
126 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Molde lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Molde they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Birk Risa 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 chances are being made and something is happening between the making and the finishing. 3 matches now, and the anxiety in the ground arrives a little earlier every week.
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.
46 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Molde lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Molde asked and Bodo/Glimt said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Molde this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
22 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Molde lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
The fee was agreed and the flight was looked at — and then the phone stopped ringing. Stromsgodset moved on, Samukele Kabini reports back to Molde, and everybody pretends Monday is just Monday.
Successful dribbles: 22. 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.
Squad27 Aug 2029
Birk Risa 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.
Eirik Haugan 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 words a physio says slowly. 29 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.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Molde have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
The deadline has passed and the squad is the squad. 14 arrived, 14 left, and everything else printed about this club last month was a rumour that stayed one.
“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 Molde, and it is not being withdrawn.
Halldor Stenevik 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 had been thinking. Birk Risa 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.
37 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Molde lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Molde is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at Manchester City is saying, and nobody at Molde is enjoying the guessing.
Isak Helstad Amundsen 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 Eirik Hestad was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Molde asked and Tondela said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
200 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.
44 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Molde lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Footballers are asked about their boyhood club so often that nobody listens to the answer. Frank Stople has just signed for Molde, and for once the answer mattered.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Molde can pretend not to have heard.
The offer from IFK Goteborg for Kristian Lonebu 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.
Molde asked and Bodo/Glimt said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Molde 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 Birk Risa was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
51 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Molde lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at Molde, and it is not being withdrawn.
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Molde people have started saying his name in the past tense.
Centre-halves are allowed forward twice a season and are judged on what they do when they get there. Jacob Christensen scored, was marked 7.85, and got back before anybody noticed he had gone.
7.94, 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.
Halldor Stenevik 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.
Molde offered $490.0K; 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Birk Risa was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Nothing happens for months and then he simply arrives, at no cost, having signed a pre-contract while still turning out for somebody else. It is the least dramatic way to sign a footballer and frequently the shrewdest.
58 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Molde lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
The offer from Stromsgodset for Samukele Kabini was heard out and sent back the same day. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loudly the door closes.
The clubs have shaken hands with Bodo/Glimt; the player has not yet. Personal terms are next, and personal terms are where more deals die than anybody prints.
5 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 matches, no goals, and a training ground that has tried everything. It will end — droughts always do — but nobody at Molde can tell you which week it ends in.
$490.0K on the table at Stromsgodset. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.
Halldor Stenevik 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 had been thinking. Eirik Hestad 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.
66 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Molde lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Molde they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
4 games without scoring. Strikers stop looking up, midfielders take the extra touch, and every shot that clears the bar is followed by a groan that has been building since the last goal.
The name of Kristian Lonebu has come up in conversations Molde were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
Squad16 Jul 2029
Birk Risa 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.
75 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Molde lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Erik Gunnarsson will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Molde the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Birk Risa was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The chances are being made and something is happening between the making and the finishing. 3 matches now, and the anxiety in the ground arrives a little earlier every week.
Martin Bjørnbak 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.
84 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Molde lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Halldor Stenevik 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.
Squad2 Jul 2029
Eirik Hestad 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.” Lars Pedersen after 0‑2, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
91 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Molde lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Crawley Town waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Molde is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Birk Risa was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Eirik Haugan 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.
99 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Molde 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. Sebastian Olderheim provided it, and the 8.85 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Molde they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Squad18 Jun 2029
Birk Risa 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 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.
Successful dribbles: 17. 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.
106 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Molde lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Molde is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Isak Helstad Amundsen 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 name of Kristian Lonebu has come up in conversations Molde were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Eirik Hestad was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
113 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Molde lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Molde can pretend not to have heard.
The first defeat in 10 matches. The manager will say it had to come; the dressing room will say it did not have to come against Stabaek; the supporters will say both, in that order, all week.
Squad4 Jun 2029
Birk Risa 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.
Eirik Haugan 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.
Nothing about the week ahead is ordinary. Rosenborg on Saturday, a town that has already started talking about it, and a dressing room that does not need telling what it means.
120 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Molde lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Birk Risa was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
A point taken on 86 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.
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 Birk Risa is on it.
127 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Molde lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
At 33 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 8.03 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Trent Kone-Doherty will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Molde the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Eirik Hestad was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The board was up, the win was priced in, and then Viking scored. There is no worse minute to concede in and the ground emptied in the silence that follows one.
14 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Molde lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
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.
IK Start go through and Molde go home, 0‑0 the scoreline that did it. The dressing room will call the league the priority now, because that is what dressing rooms say.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Molde is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Birk Risa was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Eirik Haugan 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.
22 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Molde lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
4 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Birk Risa was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Molde this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
29 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Molde lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Isak Helstad Amundsen 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 had been thinking. Sebastian Olderheim 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.
Successful dribbles: 15. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at Molde has been clear about where Martin Bjørnbak stands, which is more than many ever get.
37 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Molde lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Molde they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Birk Risa 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.
Eirik Haugan 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 words a physio says slowly. 44 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Molde can pretend not to have heard.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Molde they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Squad16 Apr 2029
Birk Risa 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.
Eirik Haugan 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.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Jalal Abdullai. 1‑0 against Sandefjord, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
The words a physio says slowly. 53 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
“I know what people will say. I know what I want, and it is here.” Mjondalen had the fee agreed and the shirt ready; they did not have the player, and now they will not.
Successful dribbles: 26. 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.
Molde moved before anybody else could: a new deal for Lars Pedersen, agreed quietly and announced loudly. Boards extend managers for many reasons; the good one is the one this looks like.
Isak Helstad Amundsen 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.
Senior shirt numbers handed to boys the coaches have known since they were twelve. Most will not make it and all of them have already done the hard part.
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.
62 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Molde lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
The deadline has passed and the squad is the squad. 1 arrived, 5 left, and everything else printed about this club last month was a rumour that stayed one.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Birk Risa was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Tobias Børkeeiet 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.
Stockport County have been asked whether they would lend him. Loans are agreed quickly or not at all, and this one will be one or the other by the weekend.
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 Jalal Abdullai is on it.
Nothing is announced when this happens and everybody knows. He is a bigger part of the plan at Molde than he was a month ago, and the training ground worked that out before the team sheet said so.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Emil Breivik signs something — a contract at Molde or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
71 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Molde lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Molde have lost him in all but the paperwork.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Molde they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Eirik Haugan 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 had been thinking. Jacob Christensen 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 Birk Risa is on it.
A window away with the national side, and a shirt at Molde that briefly doubles as an advertisement. A call-up flatters the player and the club that built him in the same breath.
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.
78 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Molde lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Molde have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Molde have gone to Viking 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.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Molde they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
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.
Eirik Haugan 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.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Manchester United have kept their man, and Molde go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
The words a physio says slowly. 88 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. Sivert Sira Hansen will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Molde the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Add another name to the list: Haugesund have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Eivind Willumsen. The answer from Molde has not changed — yet.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Birk Risa was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Molde this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Southampton have kept their man, and Molde go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
A loan enquiry to Manchester United: cover, or a look at somebody the club cannot afford to buy yet. Either way the answer will come back inside the week.
96 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Molde lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Molde 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.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Fredrik Kristensen Dahl and Molde agree another 3 years.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Birk Risa 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.
FC Nordsjaelland have been asked whether they would lend him. Loans are agreed quickly or not at all, and this one will be one or the other by the weekend.
Nobody at Molde 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.
106 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Molde lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Mjondalen waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Molde is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Trent Kone-Doherty will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Molde the goodbyes have quietly begun.
The deal with Sporting CP 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Sebastian Olderheim 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.
Eirik Haugan and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Nobody at Molde 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 Molde, and both men came out saying it was fine.
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.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Molde they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Squad19 Feb 2029
Birk Risa 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.
Eirik Haugan 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.
Molde asked and Bayern Munich 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 2, 65 points, and the result everyone checks first is now theirs. The word is still not being said around the ground, which is how you know everyone is thinking it.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Molde can pretend not to have heard.
Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at Frosinone is saying, and nobody at Molde is enjoying the guessing.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Birk Risa 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 Molde this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Stockport County have been asked whether they would lend him. Loans are agreed quickly or not at all, and this one will be one or the other by the weekend.
In brief
The dugoutCaleb Zady Sery has become a man the manager trusts
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Sebastian Olderheim 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 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 Emil Breivik signs something — a contract at Molde or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Molde they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Birk Risa 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.
Eirik Haugan 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 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.
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 Samukele Kabini has written the date down.
Birk Risa 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.
Eirik Haugan was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Molde know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
Two hours a week with a tutor, which is the least glamorous thing at Molde and the one that decides whether a foreign signing is still here in two years.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Sebastian Olderheim was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Molde this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Nobody at Molde 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.
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at Molde. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Birk Risa was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Nobody at Molde 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 has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Emil Breivik signs something — a contract at Molde 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 Samukele Kabini trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
“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 Molde will have to give him a reason to stay or an exit.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Molde is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Squad1 Jan 2029
Birk Risa 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.
Eirik Haugan 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 demotion a club never announces and a dressing room always notices. Kristian Lonebu is further from the side than he was, and the reason will not be given until he asks.
Nobody at Molde 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 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.
Eirik Haugan was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Nobody at Molde 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.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Molde know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
1‑0 against Istanbulspor, and a performance that will be described to people who were not there for the rest of the season. Jalal Abdullai was at the centre of the description.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Birk Risa was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Molde this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 23-year-old it feels ownership of. Jalal Abdullai 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 had been thinking. Birk Risa is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Nobody at Molde 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 has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Emil Breivik signs something — a contract at Molde or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
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.
Qualification is done, and next season the floodlights come on for something bigger. A stage for the players, oxygen for the accounts and a passport for everybody else.
1‑2 against Zbrojovka Brno, and an evening that measured the gap rather than the ninety minutes. Nothing about it was a disgrace and nothing about it was close.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Molde they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
5 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
The 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.
Eirik Haugan 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 had been thinking. Birk Risa 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.
Eirik Haugan was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Nobody at Molde 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.
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 Tobias Børkeeiet has written the date down.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Birk Risa 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 Molde this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
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.
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at Molde. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
16 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Molde lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Molde will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
0‑2 away to the standard of Twente. Nobody will pretend this was a scandal; the gap is real, it is measurable, and closing it is a project rather than a team talk.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Sebastian Olderheim is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.
The dugout13 Nov 2028
The view from the dugout
“We will look at it, we will learn from it, and we go again.” The three sentences every manager keeps for a 0‑2 defeat, delivered by Lars Pedersen to a room that had heard them before.
In brief
The dugoutThe team sheet said everything about Rasmus Sandberg
23 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Molde lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Molde will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Molde is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Birk Risa 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.
Eirik Haugan 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 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.
31 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Molde lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 38 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
1‑2 against Twente. Continental football is unforgiving about the things a domestic league lets a side get away with, and this was a night spent finding out which of those the club still has.
The hardest thing about being 20 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. James Bogere did not need any: 7.78, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
Rasmus Sandberg 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 words a physio says slowly. 38 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Molde this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Two sides from the top of the table, one afternoon, and a month of talk decided in ninety minutes. Molde will not use the word title this week and will not stop thinking it.
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 Fredrik Kristensen Dahl.
Two goals and a mark of 8.80 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Birk Risa was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Fredrik Gulbrandsen. 2‑1 against Bodo/Glimt, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
11 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.
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 Halldor Stenevik.
“The manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Martin Bjørnbak has his answer from Molde; what he does with it is the next window’s story.
0‑2 against Istanbulspor, and an evening that measured the gap rather than the ninety minutes. Nothing about it was a disgrace and nothing about it was close.
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.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Molde is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Rasmus Sandberg 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 had been thinking. Birk Risa 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.
200 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.
Bodo/Glimt next, and the two sides the division is watching meet each other. Whoever wins will be told nothing is decided in the same breath as being congratulated.
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Jalal Abdullai provided it, and the 9.21 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Rasmus Sandberg was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 23-year-old it feels ownership of. Jalal Abdullai 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 Isak Helstad Amundsen was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Headers, blocks, tackles, interceptions — 17 of them, and not one goal behind him. The sort of performance that never makes a highlight reel and wins football matches.
0‑1 against Zbrojovka Brno. Continental football is unforgiving about the things a domestic league lets a side get away with, and this was a night spent finding out which of those the club still has.
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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Molde this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Birk Risa 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 supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 2‑3, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
In brief
Player ratingsEmil Breivik beats them one at a time
Two goals and a mark of 9.07 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
The hardest thing about being 20 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. James Bogere did not need any: 7.73, 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Birk Risa 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 fixture the calendar is arranged around. Form goes out of the window, the table is not consulted, and for ninety minutes Molde will be judged on one thing only.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Molde they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Rasmus Sandberg 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 had been thinking. Isak Helstad Amundsen is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
He found out with everybody else, an hour before kick-off, from a sheet of paper on a wall. Nobody at Molde pretended it was anything other than a decision about him.
Rasmus Sandberg 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 Birk Risa was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
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.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Birk Risa is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
At 23 he is being sung about by people twice his age, which is an affection a signing has to earn over years and a local kid gets for turning up. It is also the hardest thing in football to live up to.
A point taken on 90 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.
Squad11 new faces, and Molde are still learning each other
108Edition
The Molde Chronicle
21 Aug 2028
From our football correspondentSteady
Boardroom21 Aug 2028
Deadline passes with 25 signed and 16 gone
That is the business done at Molde until the window opens again. Whether it was enough will be answered on Saturdays rather than in a column, and the first Saturday is close.
The offer from Rosenborg for Sivert Sira Hansen was heard out and sent back the same day. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loudly the door closes.
The deal with Stromsgodset 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.
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 offer went to Sarpsborg 08 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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Molde 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 Sebastian Olderheim 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 Molde can pretend not to have heard.
The offer from Viking for Eivind Willumsen was heard out and sent back the same day. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loudly the door closes.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Molde is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Molde have done the hard part with AGF, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
Molde had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at FC Nordsjaelland, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Jalal Abdullai and Molde agree another 5 years.
Squad14 Aug 2028
Birk Risa 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.
Eirik Haugan 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.
Molde asked and Newcastle United said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Footballers are asked about their boyhood club so often that nobody listens to the answer. Tobias Børkeeiet has just signed for Molde, and for once the answer 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 Molde, and it is not being withdrawn.
He left as a boy and has come back still knowing where the away end is. Most signings have to be explained to a town; this one needed a photograph and nothing else.
The name of Eivind Willumsen has come up in conversations Molde were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Birk Risa was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Eirik Haugan 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.
Molde 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.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Valerenga waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Molde is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Molde have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
“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 Molde, and it is not being withdrawn.
The chase for Brage Kvithyld ended with $450.0K changing hands and Lillestrom out of reasons to say no. The supporters will judge the fee the only way that matters: on Saturdays.
Molde 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Sebastian Olderheim was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
In brief
Player ratingsJalal Abdullai was on a different afternoon to everybody else
The accountants will call it good business and they will be right, which is not the point anybody outside the boardroom is making. Patrick Cutrone was one of the reasons people came, and $12.0M does not replace that by itself.
$1.5M on the table at Sarpsborg 08. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.
The deal with Lillestrom 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.
Footballers are asked about their boyhood club so often that nobody listens to the answer. Josh Robinson has just signed for Molde, and for once the answer mattered.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Birk Risa 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 Molde this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The phone has started ringing about Patrick Cutrone again, and this time the name on the line is Lech. Molde are listening politely and promising nothing.
$1.2M on the table at Sarpsborg 08. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.
$420.0K on the table at Lillestrom. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Birk Risa was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Molde asked and Valerenga said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Eirik Haugan 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 paperwork is done long before the player is. Jonas Mortensen has agreed terms to come here when his current deal runs out, which means Molde have spent a summer's transfer budget on a phone call.
Every run ends on an afternoon somebody had marked down as routine. This one went 6 matches, which is long enough that a town had stopped counting, and short enough that it will remember exactly who stopped it.
The fixture the rest of the division is looking forward to more than either of the sides in it. Both know a win changes the season and a defeat does not end it, which is what makes it hard to play.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Sebastian Olderheim was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Patrick Cutrone provided it, and the 8.92 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Birk Risa was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
5 wins on the spin now, and the question has changed from whether the run ends to who ends it. Confidence like this cannot be bought; it has to be earned exactly this way.
At 33 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 8.20 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
Add another name to the list: Cardiff City have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Jalal Abdullai. The answer from Molde has not changed — yet.
Squad26 Jun 2028
Birk Risa 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.
Mats Møller Dæhli 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.
He is 20 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.
4 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.
Eirik Haugan 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.
Nobody at Molde 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.
“We earned that. I asked them for a reaction and I got one, and now I want the same again on Saturday.” Lars Pedersen on a 2‑1 afternoon that pleased him more than he was prepared to show.
Derby days make names, and Patrick Cutrone made his against Rosenborg. 2‑1, bragging rights secured, and one half of town will be tired of hearing about him by Tuesday.
“I know what people will say. I know what I want, and it is here.” AGF had the fee agreed and the shirt ready; they did not have the player, and now they will not.
Footballers are asked about their boyhood club so often that nobody listens to the answer. Rasmus Sandberg has just signed for Molde, and for once the answer mattered.
There are goals, and then there are goals against that particular opponent. The Molde support have their bragging rights for a year and they know exactly whose name is on them.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Birk Risa 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.
Position 2, 22 points, and the result everyone checks first is now theirs. The word is still not being said around the ground, which is how you know everyone is thinking it.
The offer from Cardiff City for Jalal Abdullai 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.
Defending was optional and nobody took up the option. 6 goals between Molde and Stabaek, and not one of the people who paid to be there will ask for the money back.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Birk Risa was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Two goals and a mark of 8.77 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Molde this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Samukele Kabini 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 players deserve the credit. My job was easy today.” It was not, and everybody in the room knew it; after 2‑1, Lars Pedersen could afford to be generous.
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.
Birk Risa 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.
Eirik Haugan 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.” 0‑1, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
Nobody at Molde 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.
Somebody else has been better, the manager has said so with a team sheet, and there is no argument to be had. He will get the shirt back the only way it can be got back.
A shoot-out is remembered by its ending, and this one ends with Mads Eikrem Myklebust: 1 kept out, and a set of supporters who will describe every one of them for the next twenty years.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Birk Risa 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.
Eirik Haugan 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.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 23-year-old it feels ownership of. Jalal Abdullai 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.
Mats Møller Dæhli 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.
“The manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Martin Linnes has his answer from Molde; what he does with it is the next window’s story.
Four or five weekends of consistency, judged against everybody in the division doing his job. Caleb Zady Sery has come out of that comparison in the side, and Molde have had the benefit of every one of those afternoons.
Nobody at Molde 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.
4 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.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Fredrik Gulbrandsen and Molde agree another 1 years.
Squad1 May 2028
Birk Risa falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Molde this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“I listened, I thought about it, and I am staying. That is the whole story.” The clubs had agreed a fee. Jalal Abdullai had not agreed to go, which turned out to be the part that mattered.
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.
6 goals. Both benches spent the second half looking at each other rather than at the pitch. Purists will complain about Molde and Odd in equal measure; everybody else had a wonderful time.
Marked 9.90 — 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Birk Risa was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Molde this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The phone has started ringing about Jalal Abdullai again, and this time the name on the line is Austin FC. Molde are listening politely and promising nothing.
Eirik Haugan 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.
2 goals before the ground had finished arriving. Sandefjord spent the rest of the afternoon playing a match that had already been decided, and everybody in the stadium knew it.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Samukele Kabini was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
A new deal for the man in the dugout, and the clearest thing a board can say without calling a press conference about it. Stability is cheap to promise and expensive to deliver.
The shirt still fits. Cheick Diarra is back at Molde, and half the ground remembers him in these colours already. Some signings need selling to the town; this one sold itself.
Footballers are asked about their boyhood club so often that nobody listens to the answer. Cheick Diarra has just signed for Molde, and for once the answer mattered.
Senior shirt numbers handed to boys the coaches have known since they were twelve. Most will not make it and all of them have already done the hard part.
Player ratings10 Apr 2028
Patrick Cutrone was on a different afternoon to everybody else
9.46. 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Birk Risa 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.
16 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Molde lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: Blackburn Rovers keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
Boardroom3 Apr 2028
Molde close the window on a squad of their own making
7 in and 8 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.
Everything agreed with another club, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Birk Risa was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Molde this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The manager has re-ordered his thinking and Trent Kone-Doherty has come out of it lower. He will be told it is temporary, and the players who have heard that before will avoid his eye.
Every 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 Birk Risa is on it.
4 goals in 11 games at Torres — numbers that travel home faster than he does. Somebody at Molde updates a spreadsheet every Monday, and it makes better reading each week.
In brief
The dugoutThe manager makes Jakob Larsen a promise
24 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Molde lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
The offer went to Blackburn Rovers 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.
$22.3M was the most the club would pay and Sochi 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.
0‑1 away to the standard of Basel. Nobody will pretend this was a scandal; the gap is real, it is measurable, and closing it is a project rather than a team talk.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. DAC Dunajska Streda have kept their man, and Molde go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Eirik Haugan 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 paperwork is done long before the player is. Tobias Børkeeiet has agreed terms to come here when his current deal runs out, which means Molde have spent a summer's transfer budget on a phone call.
3 games without scoring. Strikers stop looking up, midfielders take the extra touch, and every shot that clears the bar is followed by a groan that has been building since the last goal.
In brief
SquadWords at Molde training over how hard people work
31 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Molde lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Birk Risa 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.
Eirik Haugan 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 found out with everybody else, an hour before kick-off, from a sheet of paper on a wall. Nobody at Molde pretended it was anything other than a decision about him.
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
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.
39 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Molde lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Position 2, 68 points, and the result everyone checks first is now theirs. The word is still not being said around the ground, which is how you know everyone is thinking it.
He left as a boy and has come back still knowing where the away end is. Most signings have to be explained to a town; this one needed a photograph and nothing else.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Birk Risa was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Molde asked and Puskas Akademia said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
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 Patrick Cutrone is on it.
He is not being dropped. There is simply nowhere in the formation Molde are playing to put a man who does what he does, which is a harder thing to be told than any team sheet.
49 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Molde lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Molde will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
The deal with Lillestrom 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.
Nothing happens for months and then he simply arrives, at no cost, having signed a pre-contract while still turning out for somebody else. It is the least dramatic way to sign a footballer and frequently the shrewdest.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Rapid Wien have kept their man, and Molde go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Thomas Haaland 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.
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Vegard Ryerson 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. Marcus Ajer has come through every age group the club runs and has now been handed a senior number, and the people who coached him at twelve will be the proudest in the building.
The words a physio says slowly. 57 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 23 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
“I know what people will say. I know what I want, and it is here.” Nashville SC had the fee agreed and the shirt ready; they did not have the player, and now they will not.
0‑1 against Basel. Continental football is unforgiving about the things a domestic league lets a side get away with, and this was a night spent finding out which of those the club still has.
Molde offered $7.3M; Vicenza 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.
Squad28 Feb 2028
Birk Risa 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.
Molde 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.
Nothing happens for months and then he simply arrives, at no cost, having signed a pre-contract while still turning out for somebody else. It is the least dramatic way to sign a footballer and frequently the shrewdest.
In brief
Player ratingsEmil Breivik beats them one at a time
The words a physio says slowly. 65 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Molde will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
$7.3M on the table at Vicenza. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.
Squad21 Feb 2028
Birk Risa 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.
Eirik Haugan 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 paperwork is done long before the player is. Vegar Eggen Hedenstad has agreed terms to come here when his current deal runs out, which means Molde have spent a summer's transfer budget on a phone call.
Nobody at Molde 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.
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 Thomas Drage has written the date down.
The words a physio says slowly. 76 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 39 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Position 2, 68 points, and the result everyone checks first is now theirs. The word is still not being said around the ground, which is how you know everyone is thinking it.
The chase for Frederik Elkær ended with $450.0K changing hands and Lillestrom out of reasons to say no. The supporters will judge the fee the only way that matters: on Saturdays.
The paperwork is done long before the player is. Martin Bjørnbak has agreed terms to come here when his current deal runs out, which means Molde have spent a summer's transfer budget on a phone call.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Metalist have kept their man, and Molde 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 Samukele Kabini was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
A loan enquiry to FC Midtjylland: cover, or a look at somebody the club cannot afford to buy yet. Either way the answer will come back inside the week.
In brief
The dugoutPatrick Cutrone has become a man the manager trusts
The words a physio says slowly. 83 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Molde will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Molde can pretend not to have heard.
$840.0K was the most the club would pay and IK Start 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.
$54.0K on the table at Lillestrom. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Birk Risa 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 Molde this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Molde 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.
The words a physio says slowly. 91 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 55 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Birk Risa 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.
Eirik Haugan was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
99 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Molde lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 63 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Eirik Haugan 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 Sebastian Olderheim was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
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 Emil Breivik is on it.
107 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Molde lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 71 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Position 2, 68 points, and the result everyone checks first is now theirs. The word is still not being said around the ground, which is how you know everyone is thinking it.
Add another name to the list: Aalborg have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Jalal Abdullai. The answer from Molde has not changed — yet.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Birk Risa was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Isak Helstad Amundsen 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.
In brief
The dugoutPatrick Cutrone has become a man the manager trusts
The words a physio says slowly. 114 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Molde will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Squad10 Jan 2028
Birk Risa falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Molde this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
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.
122 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Molde lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 87 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
The offer from OB for Jalal Abdullai 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.
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. Molde will be quietly delighted and privately nervous.
The name of Kristian Lonebu has come up in conversations Molde were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Molde this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Molde will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Birk Risa was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
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 Emil Breivik is on it.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Mads Kikkenborg trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Nobody writes a headline about a tutor. Nobody has to be told, either, what happens to a signing who spends two years being the man nobody can talk to at lunch.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Molde will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Birk Risa was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Eirik Haugan 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.
Squad20 Dec 2027
6 new faces, and Molde 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.
Nobody at Molde 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 Molde, and both men came out saying it was fine.