Successful dribbles: 32. 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.
Samuel Kalu 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.
Defending was optional and nobody took up the option. 6 goals between Odd and Mjondalen, and not one of the people who paid to be there will ask for the money back.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Filip Rønningen Jørgensen 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 particular warmth a ground reserves for a 22-year-old it feels ownership of. Abduljeleel Abdulateef 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.
2 goals to the good, and then a slow surrender of everything that had been earned. Abduljeleel Abdulateef will not be the one blamed for it, but nobody at Odd escapes the conversation that follows a collapse like this.
Samuel Kalu and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Footballers are asked about their boyhood club so often that nobody listens to the answer. Tom Auvré has just signed for Odd, and for once the answer mattered.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Filip Rønningen Jørgensen was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“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.
Nobody's fault and entirely his: a goal that goes into the book with his name against it and nothing about it intended. Odd deserved better, and so did he.
“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 Odd will have to give him a reason to stay or an exit.
Four weeks in which nobody in the division did his job better. The award goes on a shelf and the player goes back into the side, which is the order Odd prefer.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Casper Glenna was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout5 Jun 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 0‑1 defeat, delivered by Tobias Strandberg to a room that had heard them before.
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Odd 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 Filip Rønningen Jørgensen was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Marked 8.68 — the sort of number a correspondent writes down twice to be sure. Everything he tried came off, and what he did not try was not worth trying.
Marked 8.06 — 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.
“I am grateful for the games, but I did not become a footballer to be somebody else's spare part.” He wants to be at Odd, and 0 appearances in 17 say he has earned the hearing.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 9 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Samuel Kalu 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.
6 goals in one match, Samuel Kalu on the scoresheet, and a scoreline that will look like a misprint. Neutrals could not have asked more of Odd and Tromso.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Samuel Kalu. 4‑2 against Tromso, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Filip Rønningen Jørgensen 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.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 9 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
Samuel Kalu had done his part in building a 4-goal cushion. What happened after that was collective, and Valerenga were allowed back into a match that had been finished with.
Two goals and a mark of 9.40 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
He is 21 and the ground already sings his name, which is a thing that happens to local boys and almost never to signings. Everything from here is measured against an affection he did nothing to earn except be from here.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 8 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at Odd has been clear about where Daniel Söderberg stands, which is more than many ever get.
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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Odd this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Filip Rønningen Jørgensen 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.
Three points for Odd, 3‑1 the final word against Lillestrom in a contest settled by the finer margins.
Player ratings1 May 2028
Samuel Kalu was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.69. There are performances a supporter describes to somebody who was not there and cannot quite convey; this was one, and the number does not help either.
“I have given this everything, but my family is not here and neither am I, not really.” A footballer can be coached out of bad form. Nobody has ever been coached out of this, and Odd know it.
“I am grateful for the games, but I did not become a footballer to be somebody else's spare part.” He wants to be at Odd, and 0 appearances in 13 say he has earned the hearing.
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.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 7 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Samuel Kalu 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 makes a documentary about a hamstring and everybody in the game fears one. Odd will be careful with the return date, because the second one is always worse than the first.
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.
Samuel Kalu 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 Filip Rønningen Jørgensen was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
In brief
The dugoutJustin Salmon knocks on the manager's door
Successful dribbles: 23. 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.
The shirt still fits. Lorenzo Delaygue is back at Odd, and half the ground remembers him in these colours already. Some signings need selling to the town; this one sold itself.
Some transfers need a press campaign. This one needed a shirt with the old number on it. Nolhann Bélise is a Odd player again, and the town has its story of the summer.
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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Filip Rønningen Jørgensen was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The paperwork is done long before the player is. Ole Aanvik Wingsternæs has agreed terms to come here when his current deal runs out, which means Odd have spent a summer's transfer budget on a phone call.
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Hakon Singh is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
The deadline has passed and the squad is the squad. 15 arrived, 3 left, and everything else printed about this club last month was a rumour that stayed one.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Odd 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 Casper Glenna was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Nobody at Odd 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. Odd know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
Commercial news is the news nobody sings about and everything else is paid for with. The board will call it a partnership; the accountants will call it the difference between this squad and a smaller one.
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 Zakaria Mugeese has written the date down.
Nothing is announced when this happens and everybody knows. He is a bigger part of the plan at Odd than he was a month ago, and the training ground worked that out before the team sheet said so.
Samuel Kalu was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Filip Rønningen Jørgensen was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
A year in and the city has not opened up, the language has not come, and lunch is eaten alone more often than anybody at Odd would admit. It shows on Saturdays.
In brief
The dugoutFouad Halil knocks on the manager's door
Samuel Kalu 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. Filip Rønningen Jørgensen 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.
Odd asked and Rosenborg said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
He is not being dropped. There is simply nowhere in the formation Odd are playing to put a man who does what he does, which is a harder thing to be told than any team sheet.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Filip Rønningen Jørgensen signs something — a contract at Odd or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
The best deals are the ones the accountants never notice. Fouad Halil arrives at Odd with his wages the only cost and something to prove the only clause.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Josef Baccay was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
7 new signings in one window. Every one may be an upgrade and the side can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild the verdicts never mention.
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Zakaria Mugeese signs something — a contract at Odd 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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Odd this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Every footballer has an answer to the question about his boyhood club, and most of them never get to act on it. Luka Radaković has, at Odd, and the first month will show what that does to a man.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Josef Baccay 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.
Luka Radaković is 20, and Odd have signed him for the player he will be rather than the one he is. The first team can wait; the point of a deal like this is the years it buys.
Nobody at Odd will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Odd can pretend not to have heard.
Samuel Kalu 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 version of every career where the player ends up somewhere he chose rather than somewhere that chose him. Marin Modrić is living that version at Odd, and it tends to show in the first month.
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.
Marin Modrić is 18, and Odd have signed him for the player he will be rather than the one he is. The first team can wait; the point of a deal like this is the years it buys.
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 Zakaria Mugeese is on it.
Samuel Kalu 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. Josef Baccay 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.
Odd asked and Rosenborg 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 shape has positions in it and this one does not have his. Odd will either change the shape, change his job, or change his club, and he is waiting to hear which.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Filip Rønningen Jørgensen signs something — a contract at Odd or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
A season average of 6.54 at an age when most of his year group are still in the youth team. Odd know what they have, and so, by now, does everybody else.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Josef Baccay 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 no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Alexander King has been at this club since he was a boy and is now, formally, one of the first-team squad — which for a local readership beats any signing of any size.
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Hakon Daehli is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Magnus Strandberg 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.
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Morten Thorsby 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.
A season average of 6.58 at an age when most of his year group are still in the youth team. Odd know what they have, and so, by now, does everybody else.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Odd this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Jacob Buus 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.
Mathias Dovland is 19, and Odd have signed him for the player he will be rather than the one he is. The first team can wait; the point of a deal like this is the years it buys.
In brief
The dugoutIsak Määttä has become a man the manager trusts
Eirik Holmen and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad31 Jan 2028
Josef Baccay 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.
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 Zakaria Mugeese is on it.
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.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Odd, and both men came out saying it was fine.
The hardest part of developing a footballer is admitting he needs to be somewhere else for a while. Alem Omerinović leaves on loan to get the football he was not going to get here, which is the point of the exercise and not an admission of anything.
The message was aimed at the stands as much as the dressing room: Filip Rønningen Jørgensen plays, and the argument is closed until the manager decides otherwise.
The phone has started ringing about Alem Omerinović again, and this time the name on the line is Hobro. Odd are listening politely and promising nothing.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Josef Baccay 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 Odd this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Odd have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Odd 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 Josef Baccay was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Nobody at Odd 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 Odd, and both men came out saying it was fine.
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. Odd will be quietly delighted and privately nervous.
The most common injury in the game and the most rushed back from. Odd will quote 14 days and will be careful with it, because the second one is always worse than the first.
Josef Baccay 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.
It will be explained as a change for the team and it may even be one. Nobody who has worn one believes that, and neither does the man who has just had it taken away.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Isak Määttä signs something — a contract at Odd or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Odd, and both men came out saying it was fine.
The message was aimed at the stands as much as the dressing room: Abduljeleel Abdulateef plays, and the argument is closed until the manager decides otherwise.
Josef Baccay and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Zakaria Mugeese signs something — a contract at Odd or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Odd, and both men came out saying it was fine.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Odd this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad20 Dec 2027
Josef Baccay 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 Holmen and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad13 Dec 2027
Josef Baccay falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
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 Alem Omerinović has written the date down.
The language is arriving, the jokes are landing, and there is somebody at the next peg to talk to. None of it appears in a scouting report and all of it shows up on the pitch.
An individual honour is a strange thing in a team game, and the best of them are never argued with. He has had the sort of year that ends with his name being read out, and Odd have had the benefit of it.
Josef Baccay 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 Odd 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 Isak Määttä signs something — a contract at Odd or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
Public backing, and the sort that costs a manager something if it turns out to be wrong. Zakaria Mugeese has been told in front of everybody that the shirt is his.
Individual work, away from the group, aimed at one specific thing the coaches think is holding him back. It rarely makes the news and it is how most improvement actually happens.
At 20 he is doing things this season that he could not do last season, and doing them every week. Form comes and goes; this has stayed long enough to be called something else.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Josef Baccay was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Zakaria Mugeese signs something — a contract at Odd or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
Samuel Kalu 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.
Squad22 Nov 2027
Josef Baccay 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.
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 Anders Hiim is on it.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Filip Rønningen Jørgensen signs something — a contract at Odd or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Odd this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Nobody at Odd will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Samuel Skree Skjeldal trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
A window away with the national side, and a shirt at Odd that briefly doubles as an advertisement. A call-up flatters the player and the club that built him in the same breath.
Eirik Holmen 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. Josef Baccay 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.
One weekend, judged against everybody else's. Samuel Kalu has come out on top of it, and for most footballers a weekly award is the only silverware a career ever produces.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Isak Määttä signs something — a contract at Odd or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at Odd. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Odd, and both men came out saying it was fine.
The hardest thing about being 21 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Abduljeleel Abdulateef did not need any: 7.95, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
Eirik Holmen 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 version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 10.00, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
Player ratings1 Nov 2027
Zakaria Mugeese was on a different afternoon to everybody else
10.00. 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.
100 games in this shirt, through managers and relegations and everything else. Service like it is disappearing from the game and the crowd knows what it is watching.
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at Odd has been clear about where Nikolas Walstad stands, which is more than many ever get.
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.
The dugout25 Oct 2027
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 Tobias Strandberg to a room that had heard them before.
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
Ninety specific minutes wanted a different sort of player, and the manager picked one. He is not out of form and he is not in the side, and both are true.
Hard to beat is not the same as winning, but 6 matches without defeat is a foundation Odd did not have in the autumn.
Squad18 Oct 2027
Josef Baccay falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
A 1‑1 draw with Sarpsborg 08 leaves the dressing room somewhere between relief and regret.
The dugout18 Oct 2027
The manager’s verdict
“I am frustrated, honestly. We did enough to win and we did not win.” Tobias Strandberg was not hiding it after 1‑1, and nobody in the Odd dressing room was either.
Viking next, and one man in the Odd dressing room knows their training ground better than his own. The reception will tell him what they thought of him.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Odd have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Odd this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Josef Baccay 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 not the end of the world and it is not good enough. Both of those are true.” The manager, after a 0‑0 draw, said the honest thing and then went to say it again inside.
One weekend, judged against everybody else's. Samuel Kalu has come out on top of it, and for most footballers a weekly award is the only silverware a career ever produces.
Two goals and a mark of 9.65 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Josef Baccay and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
6 goals in one match, Samuel Kalu on the scoresheet, and a scoreline that will look like a misprint. Neutrals could not have asked more of Odd and Mjondalen.
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 Syver Aas.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Josef Baccay 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 Odd this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
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.
“There are things I liked and things we will be doing on Tuesday until they are right.” 0‑0, and a manager who had already decided what Tuesday looked like.
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.
At 21 he is doing things this season that he could not do last season, and doing them every week. Form comes and goes; this has stayed long enough to be called something else.
Successful dribbles: 23. 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.
Eirik Holmen and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad20 Sep 2027
Josef Baccay 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 23 he is being sung about by people twice his age, which is an affection a signing has to earn over years and a local kid gets for turning up. It is also the hardest thing in football to live up to.
Marked 7.99 on an afternoon he ran from the first whistle to the last. Whatever else went wrong, Odd had the best player on the pitch.
The dugout20 Sep 2027
The manager’s verdict
“I am not going to get carried away and I will not let them either. It was a good day. There will be harder ones.” Tobias Strandberg kept it short after the 1‑0 win, which is what managers do when they are happy.
1 for Filip Rønningen Jørgensen, marked 7.91, and a centre-half's name in the part of the report he normally only reaches by mistake. He will not be allowed to forget it in the dressing room for a month.
Josef Baccay 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 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.
“We earned that. I asked them for a reaction and I got one, and now I want the same again on Saturday.” Tobias Strandberg on a 1‑0 afternoon that pleased him more than he was prepared to show.
Something was said to Villads Rasmussen and then it happened. In this industry that passes for remarkable, and the dressing room noticed faster than any supporter could.
He is the name in every column and on every phone-in, which is a heavy thing to carry at any age. Some footballers thrive on it; others are quietly finished by it.
Chances created: 9. Not on the scoresheet and not remotely anonymous — a passing performance that pulled a defence apart without leaving a mark on the column that gets read.
4 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
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.
Eirik Holmen 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.
Squad6 Sep 2027
Josef Baccay 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.” Tobias Strandberg after 0‑1, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
10 games now with at least two against. The back line has been rearranged, the goalkeeper has been backed publicly, and the goals keep going in anyway.
Odd had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at Atromitos, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.
Marked 7.94. There is a kind of forward whose value only shows up when you count what he was involved in rather than what he finished, and this is the day that argument makes itself.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Josef Baccay 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 Odd this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
9 matches, two or more conceded in every one of them. Sides that create as much as this can live with it for a while. Nobody lives with it forever.
Boardroom23 Aug 2027
Odd close the window on a squad of their own making
12 in and 2 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.
Odd had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at Haladas, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.
Samuel Kalu was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
A point taken on 93 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.
3‑6 to Lillestrom, and it was every bit as bad as the number suggests. There are defeats you argue about and defeats you apologise for; this was the second kind.
Two goals and a mark of 8.57 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Odd have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: another club keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Odd this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
23 goals and a season average of 7.71. Form like that gets noticed well beyond this town.
Match7 Aug 2027
Samuel Kalu wins it after the whistle should have gone
94 minutes played. Samuel Kalu found the finish in time that only existed because of earlier delays, and Molde went from a point to nothing inside one movement.
Odd offered $3.4M; Stabaek said it was not close. The manager will be told the money is still there for the right player, which is what managers are told.
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: Karpaty keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
A 3‑2 win over Molde, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
Squad9 Aug 2027
Josef Baccay 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.
Odd have gone to Stabaek 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.
The fee is $370.0K, the contract is signed, and the argument about whether he is worth it can begin. Lillestrom drove a hard bargain; time will say who won it.
The chase for Sebastian Heredia-Randen ended with $200.0K changing hands and Stabaek out of reasons to say no. The supporters will judge the fee the only way that matters: on Saturdays.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Odd this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Successful dribbles: 19. 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.
The dugoutThe manager makes an example of Anders Hiim
52Edition
The Odd Post
26 Jul 2027
From our football correspondentUpbeat
Player ratings26 Jul 2027
A brace, and Samuel Kalu takes the afternoon — 9.83
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Samuel Kalu provided it, and the 9.83 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Two goals and a mark of 9.45 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
19 goals and a season average of 7.61. Form like that gets noticed well beyond this town.
Transfer targets26 Jul 2027
$370.0K settles it between the clubs for Gustav Nyheim
Lillestrom have accepted the money. What Odd do not yet have is the man, and between here and the photograph is a conversation about wages that both sides are dreading.
6 goals. Both benches spent the second half looking at each other rather than at the pitch. Purists will complain about Odd and Stabaek in equal measure; everybody else had a wonderful time.
The hardest thing about being 21 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Abduljeleel Abdulateef did not need any: 8.81, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
Odd have gone to Valerenga 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.
$150.0K on the table at Sandefjord. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.
Eirik Holmen and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
6 goals. Both benches spent the second half looking at each other rather than at the pitch. Purists will complain about Odd and Stromsgodset in equal measure; everybody else had a wonderful time.
Marked 9.78 — 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.
19 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Odd lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Josef Baccay 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. Hinrik Harðarson 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.
Marked 8.70 — 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.
Behind, and beaten by any honest reading, until minute 93. Viking had the points in their pocket and a corner of the ground still believed, which is generally when it happens.
27 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Odd lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Two goals and a mark of 9.80 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Samuel Kalu 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.
8 goals in one match, Samuel Kalu on the scoresheet, and a scoreline that will look like a misprint. Neutrals could not have asked more of Odd and Sarpsborg 08.
Marked 8.66 — 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.
Samuel Kalu 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: Samuel Kalu. 3‑2 against Haugesund, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Josef Baccay was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
A season average of 7.29 with 11 goals behind it. Opponents have started planning around him, which is the sincerest compliment football pays.
Player ratings28 Jun 2027
Zakaria Mugeese was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.90. 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.
Josef Baccay 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.
50 for the club now, each one filed in somebody’s memory with a date and a scoreline. Numbers like this are what supporters argue about in twenty years.
“The players deserve the credit. My job was easy today.” It was not, and everybody in the room knew it; after 1‑0, Tobias Strandberg could afford to be generous.
He used to wear the other shirt. On Saturday he plays against Haugesund in this one, and whatever he says this week about it being just another game will be untrue.
4‑0, and Samuel Kalu took the headlines on an afternoon when everything Odd tried came off. Days like this are retold all winter.
Player ratings14 Jun 2027
A brace, and Samuel Kalu takes the afternoon — 9.55
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Samuel Kalu provided it, and the 9.55 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Odd will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Eirik Holmen 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. Josef Baccay 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.
It is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. Odd told Samuel Kalu something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Odd 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 Odd this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Josef Baccay 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.
“A point is a point and I will take it, but we should have had all three.” Tobias Strandberg after the 0‑0 draw, and the sentence every manager in the country said at some stage this weekend.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Odd, and both men came out saying it was fine.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Odd will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
“We earned that. I asked them for a reaction and I got one, and now I want the same again on Saturday.” Tobias Strandberg on a 1‑0 afternoon that pleased him more than he was prepared to show.
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 Anders Hiim is on it.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Villads Rasmussen trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Odd will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
4 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
Squad24 May 2027
Josef Baccay 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.
Samuel Skree Skjeldal 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.
Marked 8.02 — 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.
In brief
The dugoutIsak Määttä is still paying for one afternoon at Odd
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Odd 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 Josef Baccay was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“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.
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
He is the name in every column and on every phone-in, which is a heavy thing to carry at any age. Some footballers thrive on it; others are quietly finished by it.
Nobody at Odd is suggesting he is out of form. The manager simply wanted somebody with a different set of qualities for ninety specific minutes, and there is nothing a player can train to fix that.
Stabaek go through and Odd go home, 1‑2 the scoreline that did it. The dressing room will call the league the priority now, because that is what dressing rooms say.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Odd have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Samuel Kalu 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.
Marked 8.05 — the sort of number a correspondent writes down twice to be sure. Everything he tried came off, and what he did not try was not worth trying.
The dugout10 May 2027
The view from the dugout
“We will look at it, we will learn from it, and we go again.” The three sentences every manager keeps for a 1‑2 defeat, delivered by Tobias Strandberg to a room that had heard them before.
Somebody watched every match in the division at the weekend and decided he was the best thing in any of them. A small honour, and most careers end without one.
Two goals and a mark of 9.45 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 21 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. John Dembe did not need any: 8.25, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Josef Baccay 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: Samuel Kalu. 3‑1 against Lillestrom, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
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.
0‑4 to Molde, and it was every bit as bad as the number suggests. There are defeats you argue about and defeats you apologise for; this was the second kind.
Eirik Holmen and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Squad26 Apr 2027
Josef Baccay 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.
3 matches, no goals, and a training ground that has tried everything. It will end — droughts always do — but nobody at Odd can tell you which week it ends in.
The music was off and the showers ran late. What was said in that dressing room stays there, but Saturday will publish the minutes.
The dugout26 Apr 2027
The view from the dugout
“We will look at it, we will learn from it, and we go again.” The three sentences every manager keeps for a 0‑4 defeat, delivered by Tobias Strandberg to a room that had heard them before.
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 Anders Hiim is on it.
The words a physio says slowly. 20 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.
Eirik Holmen 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 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.
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.
“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 Odd will have to give him a reason to stay or an exit.
28 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Odd lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
5 boys move up, and somewhere in the building the people who coached them at twelve are quietly having the best morning of their working year. Nothing about this shows up in a result and it is why the academy exists.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Josef Baccay was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Martin Bohinen 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. Bjorn Daehli 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. Morten King has come through every age group the club runs and has now been handed a senior number, and the people who coached him at twelve will be the proudest in the building.
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Sander Berge 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.
35 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Odd lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.
Boardroom5 Apr 2027
Odd close the window on a squad of their own making
4 in and 1 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.
A deal that was a phone call from completion at lunchtime was dead by midnight. Odd will try again when the window opens; Asante Kotoko may not be selling by then.
Squad5 Apr 2027
Josef Baccay 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 Odd this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The system has changed and his position has not. A footballer can improve his form; he cannot improve the manager’s formation, and that is the whole of the problem.
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 Zakaria Mugeese is on it.
42 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Odd lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
$4.7M on the table at Asante Kotoko. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.
Every shape has positions in it and this one does not have his. Odd will either change the shape, change his job, or change his club, and he is waiting to hear which.
Nobody at Odd 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.
50 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Odd lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Odd have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Odd this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad22 Mar 2027
Josef Baccay 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.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. NK Osijek have kept their man, and Odd go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
“They were honest with me, and I would rather know.” Nikolas Walstad has been informed he is not in the manager's thinking at Odd.
The dugout22 Mar 2027
The manager has not finished forgetting Josef Baccay'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.
57 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Odd lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Odd had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at Sigma Olomouc, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.
Samuel Kalu was the name on every phone-in, and the club has gone and signed him for $7.0M. For one week the board can do no wrong, which is a week most boards never get.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Josef Baccay was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
64 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Odd 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 Odd, and it is not being withdrawn.
$7.0M on the table at Botev Plovdiv. 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 clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: Teplice keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Odd this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Sigma Olomouc 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.
71 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Odd lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Eirik Holmen was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Zakaria Mugeese was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The words a physio says slowly. 78 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Rosenborg have kept their man, and Odd go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Eirik Holmen 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 Buus 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 dugout22 Feb 2027
The manager has not finished forgetting Josef Baccay'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.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Isak Määttä signs something — a contract at Odd or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
85 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Odd lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Odd this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Odd have made the call to Lokomotiva Zagreb. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
92 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Odd lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
The offer went to IK Start 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.
Squad8 Feb 2027
Josef Baccay falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Nobody at Odd 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.
101 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Odd lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Josef Baccay 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.
Samuel Skree Skjeldal 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.
111 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Odd lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Josef Baccay 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 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.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Justin Salmon trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Isak Määttä signs something — a contract at Odd or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
118 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Odd lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Josef Baccay 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 was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Odd this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Jacob Buus 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.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Hinrik Harðarson trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
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 Filip Rønningen Jørgensen signs something — a contract at Odd or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
In brief
SquadEirik Holmen has seen what the next man earns
Eirik Holmen 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.
Still no offer on the table, and Jacob Buus’s deal keeps shrinking. In boardroom language, silence this long stops being an oversight and starts being an answer.
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 Nikolas Walstad has written the date down.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Josef Baccay 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.
Samuel Skree Skjeldal and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Nobody will confirm this and nothing else explains the last month of selections. A costly error buys a player a period of being second choice that is always longer than the error was.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Isak Määttä signs something — a contract at Odd or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
A conversation in the manager’s office, and a commitment that came out of it. Promises like that are cheap to make and expensive to break, and Sondre Rossbach has written the date down.
Josef Baccay 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.
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 Isak Määttä is on it.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Hinrik Harðarson signs something — a contract at Odd or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at Odd. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
The standards have slipped, and in a building where everybody watches everybody it has not gone unremarked. This is how a player loses a place before he loses one.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Odd this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Nobody at Odd will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Justin Salmon trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Filip Rønningen Jørgensen signs something — a contract at Odd or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
In brief
SquadEirik Holmen has seen what the next man earns
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Josef Baccay was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Samuel Skree Skjeldal was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Every 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 Anders Hiim is on it.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Justin Salmon trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Eirik Holmen 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 Buus 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 dugout30 Nov 2026
Josef Baccay is still being punished for one mistake
Nobody will confirm it and the team sheets confirm it every week. One error has bought him a spell as second choice that is already longer than the error deserved.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Isak Määttä signs something — a contract at Odd or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
Nobody at Odd 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.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Odd have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Odd 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 Josef Baccay 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 Zakaria Mugeese is on it.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Filip Rønningen Jørgensen signs something — a contract at Odd or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
Josef Baccay 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 Jacob Buus 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 Anders Hiim is on it.
Nobody will confirm this and nothing else explains the last month of selections. A costly error buys a player a period of being second choice that is always longer than the error was.
The dugout2 Nov 2026
The manager’s verdict
“That is on me. I pick the team and I picked wrong.” Managers say that when they mean it and when they need to be seen to, and after 2‑3 Tobias Strandberg left the room before anybody could ask which.
There was no pressure on him and nowhere he had to be. Odd lost a goal to a decision that took half a second and will be discussed all week.
Squad2 Nov 2026
A place in the month's best eleven for Eirik Holmen
Four or five weekends of consistency, judged against everybody in the division doing his job. Eirik Holmen has come out of that comparison in the side, and Odd have had the benefit of every one of those afternoons.
It is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. Odd told Samuel Skree Skjeldal something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
Somebody else has been better, the manager has said so with a team sheet, and there is no argument to be had. He will get the shirt back the only way it can be got back.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Odd is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Squad26 Oct 2026
Josef Baccay falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
Squad26 Oct 2026
12 new faces, and Odd 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.
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 Isak Määttä is on it.
In brief
The dugoutSomebody else is better right now than Nikolas Walstad
93 minutes played. Zakaria Mugeese found the finish in time that only existed because of earlier delays, and Sarpsborg 08 went from a point to nothing inside one movement.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 7 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
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.
Eirik Holmen 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.
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
The dugout12 Oct 2026
The manager’s verdict
“I am not going to get carried away and I will not let them either. It was a good day. There will be harder ones.” Tobias Strandberg kept it short after the 2‑0 win, which is what managers do when they are happy.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Odd, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Elion Krosa is 18, and for one weekend he was the best of everybody his age in the division. Nobody should build a career on it and everybody quietly does.
Successful dribbles: 12. 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.
Eirik Holmen and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Successful dribbles: 21. 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Josef Baccay was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Marked 8.13. Players have careers without a single afternoon like this in them, and he has just had one in front of everybody at Odd.
Squad5 Oct 2026
A place in the month's best eleven for Isak Määttä
Four or five weekends of consistency, judged against everybody in the division doing his job. Isak Määttä has come out of that comparison in the side, and Odd have had the benefit of every one of those afternoons.
“We earned that. I asked them for a reaction and I got one, and now I want the same again on Saturday.” Tobias Strandberg on a 1‑0 afternoon that pleased him more than he was prepared to show.
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.
15 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Odd lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Minute 93, against Aalesund, 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Jacob Buus was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
12 signings in three months. Every one of them may be an upgrade and the team can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild that never appears in the transfer-window verdicts.
Nobody at Odd 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 words a physio says slowly. 23 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.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Odd is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
1 for Josef Baccay, marked 7.97, and a centre-half's name in the part of the report he normally only reaches by mistake. He will not be allowed to forget it in the dressing room for a month.
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.
He is 21 and the ground already sings his name, which is a thing that happens to local boys and almost never to signings. Everything from here is measured against an affection he did nothing to earn except be from here.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Josef Baccay. 1‑0 against Sandefjord, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
30 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Odd 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 Josef Baccay was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
8.08. There are performances a supporter describes to somebody who was not there and cannot quite convey; this was one, and the number does not help either.
“The players deserve the credit. My job was easy today.” It was not, and everybody in the room knew it; after 1‑0, Tobias Strandberg could afford to be generous.
Every signing waits for it and every press conference asks about it until it comes. It has come, Odd have their man off the mark, and the second one is always easier.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Samuel Skree Skjeldal trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
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.
7.78, 1 on the scoresheet, and the specific comedy of a back-four player celebrating like somebody who does this every week. He does not, and that is exactly why the ground reacted the way it did.
Successful dribbles: 24. 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.
Squad7 Sep 2026
Josef Baccay 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.
Samuel Skree Skjeldal 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.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Odd they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Odd this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
12 signings in three months. Every one of them may be an upgrade and the team can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild that never appears in the transfer-window verdicts.
The dugout31 Aug 2026
The view from the dugout
“We will look at it, we will learn from it, and we go again.” The three sentences every manager keeps for a 1‑2 defeat, delivered by Tobias Strandberg to a room that had heard them before.
In brief
The dugoutSomebody else is better right now than Nikolas Walstad
Two goals and a mark of 8.61 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Odd they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 7 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
The terraces24 Aug 2026
A cup hiding at Rosenborg leaves Odd explaining themselves
0-7, and long before the end the away end had switched from encouragement to something considerably more pointed. Nobody rings a phone-in about losing narrowly.
Everything was agreed until it was not, and Justin Salmon reports back to Odd with a summer to forget. Neither club is saying who walked away from the table.
He will play here until the summer and then walk out of the door for free, having already signed elsewhere. Supporters will manage the first part of that sentence; it is the second they will struggle with.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Odd this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Going 2 down does something to a side, and what it usually does is finish them. Not here. Odd rebuilt the afternoon goal by goal, and Stromsgodset had no answer to any of it.
This is not cover and nobody is pretending it is. $3.3M has been paid because Isak Määttä is straightforwardly better than what was already here, and the club has decided to stop waiting.
7.91, 1 on the scoresheet, and the specific comedy of a back-four player celebrating like somebody who does this every week. He does not, and that is exactly why the ground reacted the way it did.
A defender on the scoresheet, which happens rarely enough that everybody in the ground remembers who took the corner. 1 for him, and a mark of 7.93 for the rest of it.
Boardroom17 Aug 2026
Deadline passes with 19 signed and 0 gone
That is the business done at Odd 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.
This is not cover and nobody is pretending it is. $1.1M has been paid because Anders Hiim is straightforwardly better than what was already here, and the club has decided to stop waiting.
The phone has started ringing about Justin Salmon again, and this time the name on the line is Stromsgodset. Odd are listening politely and promising nothing.
Footballers are asked about their boyhood club so often that nobody listens to the answer. Eirik Holmen has just signed for Odd, and for once the answer mattered.
Everything agreed with Bodo/Glimt, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
Player ratings10 Aug 2026
Elion Krosa, 18, plays like he has been here for years — 7.65
A mark of 7.65 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 18-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
Rosenborg will keep picking him until June and will get nothing for him after it. Elias Hovdahl Sandrød has pre-agreed a move to Odd, and the only people who lose in that arrangement are the ones who let the contract run down.
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Marcus Selnaes has come through every age group the club runs and has now been handed a senior number, and the people who coached him at twelve will be the proudest in the building.
$2.9M on the table at Bodo/Glimt. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.
Odd have gone to Sarpsborg 08 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.
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.
“The easiest signature of my career.” Filip Rønningen Jørgensen and Odd agree another 4 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Josef Baccay was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Samuel Skree Skjeldal 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.