Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Jacob Dicko Eng will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around IK Start the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Eirik Schulze and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at IK Start has been clear about where Harald Woxen stands, which is more than many ever get.
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 had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at IK Start, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Jacob Pryts 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.
Squad24 Sep 2029
Words at IK Start training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Nikolas Koutsakos 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.
“There are things I liked and things we will be doing on Tuesday until they are right.” 1‑1, and a manager who had already decided what Tuesday looked like.
Sarpsborg 08 next, and one man in the IK Start dressing room knows their training ground better than his own. The reception will tell him what they thought of him.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. IK Start know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” IK Start 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 IK Start 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 Herman Waage was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what IK Start can pretend not to have heard.
Eirik Schulze was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Odd left with the points after a 1‑2 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
The dugout10 Sep 2029
The manager’s verdict
“That is on me. I pick the team and I picked wrong.” Managers say that when they mean it and when they need to be seen to, and after 1‑2 Tobias Ajer left the room before anybody could ask which.
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. IK Start know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
“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 IK Start, and it is not being withdrawn.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at IK Start is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Eirik Schulze 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 Nikolas Koutsakos was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at IK Start, another week without a signature from Jacob Pryts.
Successful dribbles: 25. 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.
Everything was agreed until it was not, and Terry Benjamin reports back to IK Start with a summer to forget. Neither club is saying who walked away from the table.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Südtirol have kept their man, and IK Start go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
The deadline has passed and the squad is the squad. 11 arrived, 27 left, and everything else printed about this club last month was a rumour that stayed one.
8 without a win is the sort of run that changes how a town talks about its club, and Tromso were the afternoon it stopped. Nothing is fixed by one result and everything feels different by one.
IK Start have gone to Haugesund 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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at IK Start this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Molde have kept their man, and IK Start go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Squad20 Aug 2029
Harald Woxen 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.
Lillestrom will keep picking him until June and will get nothing for him after it. Carl Christensen has pre-agreed a move to IK Start, and the only people who lose in that arrangement are the ones who let the contract run down.
IK Start and Bodo/Glimt have settled on $53.0K. The rest belongs to the player and his agent, and a supporter who has watched one of these before knows not to buy the shirt yet.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at IK Start is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Håkon Lorentzen and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad13 Aug 2029
Words at IK Start training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Harald Woxen 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.
0‑3 to Bodo/Glimt, 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.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what IK Start can pretend not to have heard.
Every footballer has an answer to the question about his boyhood club, and most of them never get to act on it. Sebastian Heredia-Randen has, at IK Start, and the first month will show what that does to a man.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around IK Start 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 IK Start this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
IK Start asked and Torres said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what IK Start can pretend not to have heard.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Odd waiting with a shirt. Nobody at IK Start is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
1‑3 to Lillestrom, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Squad30 Jul 2029
Words at IK Start training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Harald Woxen 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.
IK Start 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.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Aalesund waiting with a shirt. Nobody at IK Start is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
5 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at IK Start is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at IK Start this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
IK Start asked and Molde said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Harald Woxen was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Rosenborg go through and IK Start go home, 0‑6 the scoreline that did it. The dressing room will call the league the priority now, because that is what dressing rooms say.
“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 IK Start, and it is not being withdrawn.
0-6, and long before the end the away end had switched from encouragement to something considerably more pointed. Nobody rings a phone-in about losing narrowly.
The terraces16 Jul 2029
The ground has had enough
“We travel everywhere and we get this.” 6 of the 30 senior players heard it walking off, and the ones who did not hear it were not playing.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Altin Ujkani will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around IK Start the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Eirik Schulze 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.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around IK Start they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
“The easiest signature of my career.” Erlend Dahl Reitan and IK Start agree another 3 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Squad9 Jul 2029
Harald Woxen 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.
Ousmane Diallo 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.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Jacob Pryts trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
“The easiest signature of my career.” Erlend Dahl Reitan and IK Start agree another 3 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Eirik Schulze and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad2 Jul 2029
Words at IK Start training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Harald Woxen is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at IK Start has been clear about where Eirik Schulze stands, which is more than many ever get.
It is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. IK Start told Harald Woxen something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
7 arrivals, an average age nobody would call a squad, and a set of parents being shown around a building their sons will spend more time in than at home. The scouting has already happened; today is only the paperwork.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” IK Start have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Storm Strand-Kolbjørnsen will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around IK Start the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Håkon Lorentzen 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.
100 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.
At 23 he is being sung about by people twice his age, which is an affection a signing has to earn over years and a local kid gets for turning up. It is also the hardest thing in football to live up to.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at IK Start is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
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.
Sarpsborg 08 held the lead for 2 minutes, which is not long enough to enjoy it. IK Start answered before the celebration had properly finished, and the shape of the afternoon changed with it.
“It is not the end of the world and it is not good enough. Both of those are true.” The manager, after a 1‑1 draw, said the honest thing and then went to say it again inside.
Nobody at IK Start 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.
“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 IK Start, and it is not being withdrawn.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Jacob Dicko Eng will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around IK Start the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Eirik Schulze and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
The dugout11 Jun 2029
The manager’s verdict
“That is on me. I pick the team and I picked wrong.” Managers say that when they mean it and when they need to be seen to, and after 1‑2 Tobias Ajer left the room before anybody could ask which.
There was one mistake and it ended in the net. Defenders are judged on the worst thing they did rather than on the eighty-nine minutes either side of it, which is unfair and is also the job.
“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 IK Start, and it is not being withdrawn.
Player ratings4 Jun 2029
Harald Woxen, 21, plays like he has been here for years — 7.98
A mark of 7.98 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 21-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 21-year-old it feels ownership of. Harald Woxen 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.
It finished 2‑0, and it was Harald Woxen’s afternoon: on the scoresheet when it mattered, and the reason the points belong to IK Start.
Player ratings4 Jun 2029
Gustav Nyheim was on a different afternoon to everybody else
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.
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at IK Start, another week without a signature from Jacob Pryts.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what IK Start can pretend not to have heard.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Storm Strand-Kolbjørnsen will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around IK Start the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Eirik Schulze 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 Harald Woxen was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Håkon Lorentzen provided it, and the 8.76 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Altin Ujkani will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around IK Start the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Words at IK Start training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Harald Woxen 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 easiest signature of my career.” Magnus Mevik Eidal and IK Start agree another 4 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
He won it back and then made something of it, which is two jobs and the reason the scoreline looks the way it does. 9 combined actions and a mark of 7.41, and not one of them will make a highlights package.
3 kept out from twelve yards, and a stadium that will describe each of them for twenty years. A goalkeeper needs one night like this in a career, and this was it.
Two goals and a mark of 8.04 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Jacob Dicko Eng will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around IK Start the goodbyes have quietly begun.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” IK Start have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
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.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what IK Start can pretend not to have heard.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at IK Start this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“The easiest signature of my career.” Danny Amankwaa and IK Start agree another 1 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Squad7 May 2029
Words at IK Start training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Harald Woxen is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at IK Start has been clear about where Ousmane Diallo stands, which is more than many ever get.
Successful dribbles: 14. 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.
In brief
The dugoutHarald Woxen knocks on the manager's door
The dugoutDanny Amankwaa dropped after a run of poor form
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what IK Start can pretend not to have heard.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around IK Start they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Jacob Pryts and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad30 Apr 2029
Words at IK Start training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Harald Woxen 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 team sheet says it in public every week until it changes. The only version of being dropped a footballer cannot argue with, and the one he takes hardest.
The 87th minute, half the ground already edging towards the exits, and Håkon Lorentzen decided nobody was going anywhere. Bodo/Glimt had no time left to answer.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at IK Start is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at IK Start this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at IK Start is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
“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 IK Start, and it is not being withdrawn.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” IK Start have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Eirik Schulze and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad16 Apr 2029
Words at IK Start training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Harald Woxen is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
3 matches, no goals, and a training ground that has tried everything. It will end — droughts always do — but nobody at IK Start can tell you which week it ends in.
7 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.
Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at Inter is saying, and nobody at IK Start is enjoying the guessing.
Eirik Schulze 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.
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.
Squad9 Apr 2029
Harald Woxen falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Alexander Thorsby 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. Bjorn Haaland has come through every age group the club runs and has now been handed a senior number, and the people who coached him at twelve will be the proudest in the building.
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Ruben Thorsby is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around IK Start people have started saying his name in the past tense.
The deadline has passed and the squad is the squad. 3 arrived, 15 left, and everything else printed about this club last month was a rumour that stayed one.
The deal with Reggiana is done in every sense but the one that puts him on the pitch. Nothing goes wrong at this stage, except on the occasions when it does.
IK Start asked and Molde said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at IK Start this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
IK Start and Sarpsborg 08 have settled on $1.0M. The rest belongs to the player and his agent, and a supporter who has watched one of these before knows not to buy the shirt yet.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Storm Strand-Kolbjørnsen will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around IK Start the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Add another name to the list: Mjondalen have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Jacob Dicko Eng. The answer from IK Start has not changed — yet.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at IK Start 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 Harald Woxen was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
IK Start asked and Ajax said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Altin Ujkani will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around IK Start the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Footballers are asked about their boyhood club so often that nobody listens to the answer. Jonas Dahlberg Strand has just signed for IK Start, and for once the answer mattered.
Jacob Pryts was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Squad19 Mar 2029
Harald Woxen 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. Malmo FF have kept their man, and IK Start go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
The name of Terry Benjamin has come up in conversations IK Start were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
“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 IK Start, and it is not being withdrawn.
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around IK Start people have started saying his name in the past tense.
$1.0M on the table at Sarpsborg 08. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. IK Start have done the hard part with FC Nantes, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at IK Start 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 Jacob Dicko Eng 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 Håkon Lorentzen is on it.
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at IK Start, and it is not being withdrawn.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. IK Start will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. IK Start have lost him in all but the paperwork.
Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at Porto is saying, and nobody at IK Start is enjoying the guessing.
Eirik Schulze was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Stabaek have kept their man, and IK Start go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Harald Woxen was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at IK Start, another week without a signature from Erlend Dahl Reitan.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. IK Start will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what IK Start can pretend not to have heard.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” IK Start have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at Southampton is saying, and nobody at IK Start is enjoying the guessing.
The rules permit it and it stings anyway. Storm Strand-Kolbjørnsen has agreed terms with Tromso for the summer, and until then he pulls on this shirt as a player who has already chosen his next 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 IK Start this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad26 Feb 2029
Words at IK Start training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Harald Woxen 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 bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. IK Start will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what IK Start can pretend not to have heard.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Altin Ujkani will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around IK Start the goodbyes have quietly begun.
The rules permit it and it stings anyway. Altin Ujkani has agreed terms with Viking for the summer, and until then he pulls on this shirt as a player who has already chosen his next one.
IK Start asked and Malmo FF said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Squad19 Feb 2029
Words at IK Start training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Jacob Dicko Eng 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.
IK Start have made the call to Southampton. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. IK Start will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Stabaek have kept their man, and IK Start go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Harald Woxen 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.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason IK Start will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
“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 IK Start, and it is not being withdrawn.
The deal with Sandefjord is done in every sense but the one that puts him on the pitch. Nothing goes wrong at this stage, except on the occasions when it does.
Eirik Schulze was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Squad5 Feb 2029
Words at IK Start training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Harald Woxen 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.
IK Start asked and Benfica said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at IK Start, and both men came out saying it was fine.
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 Altin Ujkani is on it.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. IK Start will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what IK Start can pretend not to have heard.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around IK Start 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 IK Start 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 Jacob Dicko Eng was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
20 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. IK Start lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. IK Start will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what IK Start can pretend not to have heard.
Jacob Pryts 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.
Squad22 Jan 2029
Words at IK Start training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Harald Woxen 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 has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Gustav Nyheim signs something — a contract at IK Start or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
The words a physio says slowly. 27 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason IK Start will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Eirik Schulze 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.
Squad15 Jan 2029
Harald Woxen 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 IK Start 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 list is a quiet document with a loud meaning. Kristian Hjelvik Halvorsen may talk to anybody who asks, and everybody at the club understands what that means.
7 months left, and both sides know what that means: every week without a signature, the fee IK Start could ask drops and the wages Altin Ujkani can ask rise.
The words a physio says slowly. 34 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason IK Start will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
“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 IK Start, and it is not being withdrawn.
Eirik Schulze was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Nothing happens for months and then he simply arrives, at no cost, having signed a pre-contract while still turning out for somebody else. It is the least dramatic way to sign a footballer and frequently the shrewdest.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Jacob Dicko Eng was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
41 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. IK Start lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 82 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what IK Start can pretend not to have heard.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at IK Start is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at IK Start 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 Jacob Dicko Eng was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at IK Start, another week without a signature from Jacob Pryts.
48 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. IK Start lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason IK Start will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
“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 IK Start, and it is not being withdrawn.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at IK Start is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Harald Woxen was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Nikolas Koutsakos and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at IK Start, and both men came out saying it was fine.
The words a physio says slowly. 55 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason IK Start will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what IK Start can pretend not to have heard.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at IK Start is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Eirik Schulze and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Nobody at IK Start 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 IK Start can pretend not to have heard.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” IK Start have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Eirik Schulze 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 Harald Woxen was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Nobody at IK Start 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. IK Start know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
1 months left, and both sides know what that means: every week without a signature, the fee IK Start could ask drops and the wages Erlend Segberg can ask rise.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” IK Start have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at IK Start is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Jacob Pryts 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 Harald Woxen was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at IK Start, another week without a signature from Jacob Pryts.
The manager has re-ordered his thinking and Pietro Miranda has come out of it lower. He will be told it is temporary, and the players who have heard that before will avoid his eye.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at IK Start, and both men came out saying it was fine.
“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 IK Start, and it is not being withdrawn.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around IK Start they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Jacob Dicko Eng 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 Gustav Nyheim signs something — a contract at IK Start or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Erlend Segberg will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around IK Start the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Eirik Schulze 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 Harald Woxen 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.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Erlend Segberg trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason IK Start will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” IK Start have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Eirik Schulze 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.
Squad13 Nov 2028
Words at IK Start training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Harald Woxen is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
“The manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Deni Dashaev has his answer from IK Start; what he does with it is the next window’s story.
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 bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. IK Start will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at IK Start is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
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.
Nikolas Koutsakos 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 month is long enough that nobody gets in by accident. Harald Woxen is in the division's best eleven for it, which is a quieter compliment than an award and a more reliable one.
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.
6 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around IK Start they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Words at IK Start training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Harald Woxen 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 words a physio says slowly. 15 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.
“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 IK Start, and it is not being withdrawn.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around IK Start they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Eirik Schulze 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.
Squad23 Oct 2028
Words at IK Start training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Harald Woxen is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Successful dribbles: 20. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
Behind, and beaten by any honest reading, until minute 90. Stabaek had the points in their pocket and a corner of the ground still believed, which is generally when it happens.
The words a physio says slowly. 22 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what IK Start can pretend not to have heard.
3 games without scoring. Strikers stop looking up, midfielders take the extra touch, and every shot that clears the bar is followed by a groan that has been building since the last goal.
200 games in the shirt. Nobody sets out to build a record like that; it happens to a certain kind of player at a certain kind of club, and this town knows what it has.
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.
20 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. IK Start lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around IK Start 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 IK Start 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 Harald Woxen was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The one version of being left out a player cannot argue with, and the one he takes worst. Somebody else has been better and the team sheet says so, in public, every week until it changes.
The words a physio says slowly. 27 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.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around IK Start they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Harald Woxen was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at IK Start can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
“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.
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.
34 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. IK Start lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at IK Start is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Eirik Schulze and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Successful dribbles: 17. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
It is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. IK Start told Harald Woxen something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
The dugout25 Sep 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 1‑2 defeat, delivered by Tobias Ajer to a room that had heard them before.
The words a physio says slowly. 50 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.
“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 IK Start, and it is not being withdrawn.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Harald Woxen was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Ousmane Diallo and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
He is 23 and the ground already sings his name, which is a thing that happens to local boys and almost never to signings. Everything from here is measured against an affection he did nothing to earn except be from here.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what IK Start can pretend not to have heard.
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 7.86 at 35, and nobody on the pitch was better.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Storm Strand-Kolbjørnsen will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around IK Start the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Harald Woxen was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at IK Start, another week without a signature from Jacob Pryts.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at IK Start is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at IK Start this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Eirik Schulze. 3‑1 against Sandefjord, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
He is 22 and the ground already sings his name, which is a thing that happens to local boys and almost never to signings. Everything from here is measured against an affection he did nothing to earn except be from here.
IK Start ran out of time with Odd. The paperwork was open when the deadline passed, and a transfer that was almost done is now a transfer that never happened.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Ousmane Diallo was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at IK Start is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
4 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
The clock did what Sarpsborg 08 would not, and ended it. Supporters who watched the countdown will spend the next window doing it again.
Squad28 Aug 2028
Words at IK Start training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Harald Woxen is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Successful dribbles: 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.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 17 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
Player ratings21 Aug 2028
Harald Woxen, 20, plays like he has been here for years — 7.83
A mark of 7.83 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 20-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.
Boardroom21 Aug 2028
IK Start close the window on a squad of their own making
13 in and 15 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.
$1.0M on the table at Sarpsborg 08. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.
Involvement in 2 goals, from a player who spent the ninety minutes doing the thing a manager actually wants: being where the ball was going to end up. 7.88 beside his name.
Eirik Schulze and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. IK Start will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what IK Start can pretend not to have heard.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at IK Start is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
IK Start asked and Porto said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason IK Start will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Transfer targets7 Aug 2028
$1.6M settles it between the clubs for Andreas Nibe
Sarpsborg 08 have accepted the money. What IK Start do not yet have is the man, and between here and the photograph is a conversation about wages that both sides are dreading.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around IK Start they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at IK Start, and it is not being withdrawn.
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: Hobro 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 IK Start this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The paperwork is done long before the player is. Danny Amankwaa has agreed terms to come here when his current deal runs out, which means IK Start have spent a summer's transfer budget on a phone call.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Harald Woxen was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
IK Start asked and RB Leipzig said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. IK Start will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at IK Start is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
The clubs have shaken hands with Odd; the player has not yet. Personal terms are next, and personal terms are where more deals die than anybody prints.
IK Start had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at Monaco, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.
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.
Tobias Børkeeiet and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Squad31 Jul 2028
Harald Woxen 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.
“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 IK Start, and it is not being withdrawn.
The offer from Rosenborg for Tobias Børkeeiet was heard out and sent back the same day. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loudly the door closes.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at IK Start is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
The rules permit it and it stings anyway. Johan Meyer has agreed terms with Molde for the summer, and until then he pulls on this shirt as a player who has already chosen his next one.
Eirik Schulze 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 Dicko Eng was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“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 IK Start, and it is not being withdrawn.
Eirik Schulze and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad17 Jul 2028
Words at IK Start training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Harald Woxen 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.
17 points at the turn. The first half of a season is a promise; the second is a bill, and the town is about to find out which of the two this one was.
The dugout17 Jul 2028
The view from the dugout
“We will look at it, we will learn from it, and we go again.” The three sentences every manager keeps for a 0‑2 defeat, delivered by Tobias Ajer to a room that had heard them before.
12 home matches unbeaten. Visiting sides arrive already talking about the atmosphere, which is usually the sign that they have half-lost before kickoff.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at IK Start 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 Harald Woxen was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at IK Start, and both men came out saying it was fine.
“A point is a point and I will take it, but we should have had all three.” Tobias Ajer after the 0‑0 draw, and the sentence every manager in the country said at some stage this weekend.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” IK Start have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
11 home matches unbeaten. Visiting sides arrive already talking about the atmosphere, which is usually the sign that they have half-lost before kickoff.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around IK Start they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Eirik Schulze 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 22 and the ground already sings his name, which is a thing that happens to local boys and almost never to signings. Everything from here is measured against an affection he did nothing to earn except be from here.
Marked 8.09 — the sort of number a correspondent writes down twice to be sure. Everything he tried came off, and what he did not try was not worth trying.
The most common injury in the game and the most rushed back from. IK Start will quote 15 days and will be careful with it, because the second one is always worse than the first.
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Håkon Lorentzen provided it, and the 8.95 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around IK Start they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Eirik Schulze 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.
200 games in this shirt, through managers and relegations and everything else. Service like it is disappearing from the game and the crowd knows what it is watching.
Squad26 Jun 2028
Harald Woxen 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.
Behind, and beaten by any honest reading, until minute 91. Viking had the points in their pocket and a corner of the ground still believed, which is generally when it happens.
Something was said to Erlend Segberg and then it happened. In this industry that passes for remarkable, and the dressing room noticed faster than any supporter could.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around IK Start they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
10 without defeat on their own grass. The pitch has not changed; the crowd has — louder earlier, and quicker to sense when the opposition would rather be somewhere else.
Squad19 Jun 2028
Johan Meyer 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.
“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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Johan Meyer was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The one version of being left out a player cannot argue with, and the one he takes worst. Somebody else has been better and the team sheet says so, in public, every week until it changes.
“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.
Nobody at IK Start will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
Ninety minutes, no goals, and the argument started before the car park emptied: a point gained, or two thrown away against Haugesund? Both sides of it will still be going on Thursday.
“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 IK Start, and it is not being withdrawn.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around IK Start they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Eirik Schulze 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.
9 home matches unbeaten. Visiting sides arrive already talking about the atmosphere, which is usually the sign that they have half-lost before kickoff.
At 20 he is being sung about by people twice his age, which is an affection a signing has to earn over years and a local kid gets for turning up. It is also the hardest thing in football to live up to.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Fredrik Pålerud will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around IK Start the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Eirik Schulze 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 Johan Meyer 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.” 0‑1, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
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 Tobias Børkeeiet is on it.
Somebody else has been better, the manager has said so with a team sheet, and there is no argument to be had. He will get the shirt back the only way it can be got back.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around IK Start they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
8 without defeat on their own grass. The pitch has not changed; the crowd has — louder earlier, and quicker to sense when the opposition would rather be somewhere else.
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.25, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
Squad22 May 2028
Words at IK Start training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Fredrik Pålerud 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 May 2028
Somebody else is better right now than Eirik Schulze
The team sheet says it in public every week until it changes. The only version of being dropped a footballer cannot argue with, and the one he takes hardest.
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 8.15 at 35, and nobody on the pitch was better.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at IK Start this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
6 without a win is the sort of run that changes how a town talks about its club, and Aalesund were the afternoon it stopped. Nothing is fixed by one result and everything feels different by one.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 22-year-old it feels ownership of. Gustav Nyheim 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 8.28 — 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.
Squad15 May 2028
Words at IK Start training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Harald Woxen is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” IK Start have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
5 games without scoring. Strikers stop looking up, midfielders take the extra touch, and every shot that clears the bar is followed by a groan that has been building since the last goal.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Storm Strand-Kolbjørnsen will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around IK Start the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Eirik Schulze was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Successful dribbles: 21. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad8 May 2028
Words at IK Start training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Harald Woxen is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at IK Start has been clear about where Fredrik Pålerud stands, which is more than many ever get.
In brief
The dugoutThe manager makes an example of Deni Dashaev
“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 IK Start, and it is not being withdrawn.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Fredrik Pålerud will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around IK Start the goodbyes have quietly begun.
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.
4 matches, no goals, and a training ground that has tried everything. It will end — droughts always do — but nobody at IK Start can tell you which week it ends in.
Eirik Schulze 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.
Squad1 May 2028
Words at IK Start training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Johan Meyer is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
“The manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Erlend Segberg has his answer from IK Start; what he does with it is the next window’s story.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 20 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at IK Start is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at IK Start this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
3 matches, no goals, and a training ground that has tried everything. It will end — droughts always do — but nobody at IK Start can tell you which week it ends in.
0‑1 to Bodo/Glimt, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Squad24 Apr 2028
Johan Meyer falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
“The 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.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. IK Start will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about 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 IK Start 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 Harald Woxen was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The one version of being left out a player cannot argue with, and the one he takes worst. Somebody else has been better and the team sheet says so, in public, every week until it changes.
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
The dugout17 Apr 2028
The view from the dugout
“We did not lose. Some weeks that is all you get, and I would rather have the point than not.” Tobias Ajer chose the glass-half-full version of 0‑0; the supporters left with the other one.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason IK Start will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
“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 IK Start, and it is not being withdrawn.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Storm Strand-Kolbjørnsen will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around IK Start the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Every run ends on an afternoon somebody had marked down as routine. This one went 9 matches, which is long enough that a town had stopped counting, and short enough that it will remember exactly who stopped it.
Eirik Schulze was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Senior shirt numbers handed to boys the coaches have known since they were twelve. Most will not make it and all of them have already done the hard part.
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Bjorn Riise 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. Patrick Svensson has come through every age group the club runs and has now been handed a senior number, and the people who coached him at twelve will be the proudest in the building.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 41 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what IK Start can pretend not to have heard.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at IK Start is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Boardroom3 Apr 2028
Deadline passes with 2 signed and 5 gone
That is the business done at IK Start 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.
Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at Stabaek is saying, and nobody at IK Start is enjoying the guessing.
Eirik Schulze 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.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 48 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around IK Start they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what IK Start can pretend not to have heard.
There is no worse way to lose a footballer. Tobias Børkeeiet has pre-agreed a move away, which means every appearance between now and June is made by a man the club can no longer sell, and somebody upstairs will be asked why the contract was allowed to get here.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Steve Mvoué was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
IK Start asked and Stevenage said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Nobody at IK Start 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.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason IK Start will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
“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 IK Start, and it is not being withdrawn.
IK Start had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at HNK Gorica, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at IK Start this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The approach was made and the answer came back in a sentence. There is no number on the table because there was no number that would have been enough.
Squad20 Mar 2028
Words at IK Start training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Johan Meyer is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Erlend Segberg is on it.
Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at Haladas is saying, and nobody at IK Start is enjoying the guessing.
Eirik Schulze was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Odd have kept their man, and IK Start go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Squad13 Mar 2028
Words at IK Start training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Harald Woxen 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 medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. IK Start have done the hard part with Stabaek, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around IK Start they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
IK Start had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at AFC Wimbledon, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.
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.
Tobias Børkeeiet 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 Steve Mvoué was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Odd have accepted the money. What IK Start do not yet have is the man, and between here and the photograph is a conversation about wages that both sides are dreading.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at IK Start is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Steve Mvoué was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Zbrojovka Brno have kept their man, and IK Start go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Håkon Lorentzen is on it.
The offer from Aalesund for Storm Strand-Kolbjørnsen was heard out and sent back the same day. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loudly the door closes.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at IK Start this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
IK Start asked and Baltika said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
The 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.
6 months left, and both sides know what that means: every week without a signature, the fee IK Start could ask drops and the wages Tobias Børkeeiet can ask rise.
He is going to Viking, the club has $1.8M it did not have on Friday, and the phone-ins have already decided how they feel about that. Selling well and selling somebody they loved are not the same skill.
Eirik Schulze 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.
Squad14 Feb 2028
Steve Mvoué 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. Chaves have kept their man, and IK Start go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Add another name to the list: Aalesund have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Storm Strand-Kolbjørnsen. The answer from IK Start has not changed — yet.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what IK Start can pretend not to have heard.
Everything agreed with AFC Wimbledon, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
IK Start 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.
Eirik Schulze 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.
Nothing happens for months and then he simply arrives, at no cost, having signed a pre-contract while still turning out for somebody else. It is the least dramatic way to sign a footballer and frequently the shrewdest.
The approach was made and the answer came back in a sentence. There is no number on the table because there was no number that would have been enough.
Squad7 Feb 2028
Johan Meyer 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 keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at IK Start, another week without a signature from Tobias Børkeeiet.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around IK Start they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Nobody at IK Start 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 was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at IK Start this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Gustav Nyheim, and the manager let it.
Squad24 Jan 2028
Words at IK Start training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ousmane Diallo is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Altin Ujkani is on 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 Fredrik Pålerud has written the date down.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around IK Start they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Tobias Børkeeiet and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Fredrik Pålerud was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Nobody at IK Start 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 Håkon Lorentzen signs something — a contract at IK Start or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
7 months left, and both sides know what that means: every week without a signature, the fee IK Start could ask drops and the wages Fredrik Pålerud can ask rise.
“Judge me on him.” Managers do not say that kind of thing by accident — it moves the pressure from Jesper Cornelius’s shoulders onto his own, and both of them know it.
In brief
SquadGustav Nyheim is training like a man with a point to make
Eirik Schulze 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 easiest signature of my career.” Alexander Gurendal and IK Start 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 Fredrik Pålerud was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Nobody at IK Start 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 Jacob Dicko Eng trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around IK Start they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Eirik Schulze 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 easiest signature of my career.” Alexander Gurendal and IK Start agree another 4 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
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 Håkon Lorentzen is on it.
Eirik Schulze 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.
Squad27 Dec 2027
Words at IK Start training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Fredrik Pålerud is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Altin Ujkani is on it.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Jesper Cornelius signs something — a contract at IK Start 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 Storm Strand-Kolbjørnsen has written the date down.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at IK Start is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at IK Start 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 Fredrik Pålerud was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Nobody at IK Start 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.
What was a back-page story is now a matter for the terraces, and the terraces do not do nuance. IK Start would like it dealt with before it becomes the only question anybody asks.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Eirik Schulze signs something — a contract at IK Start 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 Fredrik Pålerud has written the date down.
A manager forgives a bad Saturday far more readily than a bad Tuesday, because one of them he can explain and the other one he chose. The reports this week have not been good.
The word out of the training ground is that he has been the sharpest man there all week. It is the quietest story a paper carries and it usually runs the week before somebody's run in the side begins.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Storm Strand-Kolbjørnsen will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around IK Start the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Eirik Schulze and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at IK Start, another week without a signature from Tobias Børkeeiet.
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 IK Start will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
He used to be one of the options. He is now one of the men the options are picked around, and the change happened quietly enough that only the dressing room noticed on the day.
In brief
The dugoutAltin Ujkani knocks on the manager’s door
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” IK Start have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
The rules permit it and it stings anyway. Godfred Boakye has agreed terms with Tromso for the summer, and until then he pulls on this shirt as a player who has already chosen his next one.
Tobias Børkeeiet and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Markus Soomets was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Nobody at IK Start 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.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Godfred Boakye will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around IK Start the goodbyes have quietly begun.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at IK Start 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 Markus Soomets 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 Tobias Børkeeiet is on 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 IK Start, and both men came out saying it was fine.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Nikolas Koutsakos and IK Start agree another 4 years.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
“I am grateful for the games, but I did not become a footballer to be somebody else's spare part.” He wants to be at IK Start, and 7 appearances in 37 say he has earned the hearing.
Nobody at IK Start 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 Eirik Schulze signs something — a contract at IK Start or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at IK Start is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Eirik Schulze and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
A month is long enough that nobody gets in by accident. Steve Mvoué is in the division's best eleven for it, which is a quieter compliment than an award and a more reliable one.
Nobody at IK Start 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 done everything asked of me in training and it has not changed a thing on a Saturday.” The most familiar complaint in football, and one IK Start will have to answer with minutes or with a transfer.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at IK Start, and both men came out saying it was fine.