– If I had walked in here now I would probably have gotten a high five and a pat on the back, says André Bergdølmo as he strolls past Martins Pub in Lillestrøm. It is the gathering place for Canary fans. – What if you had gone in there a few years ago? – Then it would probably have been a little different. news meets the former defensive champion at a cafe in Lillestrøm. The city is bathed in sunshine this Friday and Bergdølmo is beaming as it competes with the sun. He has had a good start to life as a coach for LSK Kvinner after he got the job in December last year. His team is unbeaten after five games and is in third place in the Toppserien. – Right now it is very nice to be LSK Women’s coach, he emphasizes. In the previous round, they beat none other than Rosenborg, a club that has meant a lot – both good and bad – to Bergdølmo. It was not a given that everything would go smoothly when Bergdølmo returned to the club as assistant to Henning Berg before the 2009 season. Then he had to lie flat opposite the Kanarifansen. Got a written apology In 1997, Bergdølmo went from Lillestrøm to rival Rosenborg. It was not particularly popular with the former as Bergdølmo had progressed from a small boy player to the A team. A newspaper advertisement in Adresseavisen didn’t help either. André Bergdølmo as a Rosenborg player. Here from a Champions League match against Galatasaray in 1998. Photo: Erik Johansen / NTB It established that Bergdølmo had “tricked” Lillestrøm and that it “was good”. – It came out completely wrong. And so it is that the truth for some is what you read in newspapers. It wasn’t meant to be like that, but nevertheless it turned out that way. It was a bit sad, says Bergdølmo. – You never tried to trick Lillestrøm? – No, absolutely not. Bergdølmo had one year left on his LSK contract when he asked to move to Trondheim. There he wanted to combine football with a job as a salesman, but when he came to Rosenborg he became a full-time professional instead. Lillestrøm received NOK 700,000 for Bergdølmo. After the famous Adressa article, Bergdølmo received a written apology from the newspaper. Bergdølmo ended up becoming one of Norway’s most meritorious footballers. In Trondheim, he won the Tippeligaen four years in a row, before moving on to Ajax and Borussia Dortmund. In the Dutch capital, he helped win both the cup and the series. He also won both the league and the Scandinavian tournament Royal League twice with FC Copenhagen. In addition, he had 63 matches with the Norwegian flag on his chest. Bergdølmo had a big star wherever he went. Except where it all began. André Bergdølmo is high up on the nobility calendar for the Norwegian national team. He is number 22 on the list of players with the most caps for Norway’s men’s national team. Photo: Tor Richardsen / NTB Was spat on – During the worst period, I had a few incidents where I experienced some slurs when I walked in the street, even though I was walking with my son. It wasn’t that cool. And then I was spat on a bit after when I came back for Christmas holidays and so on, he says. – It wasn’t pleasant, but that time has passed. Thank God. However, the relationship with the Lillestrøm fans is good now. Bergdølmo met the fans in a pub in Lillestrøm and shared his side of the story – eleven years after he left. – After I came back as a coach under Henning Berg, we had a gathering in a pub and I lay flat. Bergdølmo cannot remember having played a single good match for Rosenborg against Lillestrøm. The Canaries fans psyched him out. “It was well done by them,” he says. – That’s why it feels extra good to be able to come back and at least now do so well in Lillestrøm. Yellow and black, it suits me, he smiles. André Bergdølmo experienced great success in the late 1990s for Rosenborg. However, he was anything but popular in Lillestrøm. Photo: Jan Kåre Ness / NTB Keeping the cage clean Not many left LSK Women the big chances this season. news had them in fourth place in the table tip before the season. But everything has gone smoothly so far and LSK Kvinner is, at the time of writing, the only team that still has the advantage of conceding goals. The former defender is not surprised. – Now I have been involved since January, and have seen the progression of all the players. They have made great strides, learned from mistakes in training and in battle. They are girls who are willing to learn and have one goal in mind: To make LSK Kvinner a better team, says Bergdølmo, and continues: André Bergdølmo is at home and feels like he can walk the streets of Lillestrøm with his head held high. Photo: Håvard Greger Hagen / news – So I’m not surprised, but at the same time I understand that a number of experts have tipped us a little further down after, not a deplorable season, but seventh place last year… It’s not usual for LSK women who has been at the top for so many years. Chasing a medal spot LSK Kvinner is the most successful team in Toppserien’s history with its seven titles. They won six in a row between 2014 and 2019, but have not won since. Bergdølmo wants to see an LSK Women’s team fighting for both league and cup gold again. – That is the goal. Whether that happens in the first season is unknown. But the girls have made enormous strides since January and are super professionals. If we manage to take the team to a medal position, it will be absolutely huge. It has been a good start to the season for LSK Women. Five matches have resulted in three wins and two draws. Here they celebrate the 1-0 victory over Rosenborg. Photo: Jan Kåre Ness / NTB On Saturday, they take on Røa at home in the LSK hall, before an away game against league leader – and so far the superb Vålerenga – awaits. – We get to test ourselves there, and it’s just fun, he says. Bergdølmo will at least take the team to Oslo – and other places in the country – with the supporters behind him. – I have only received positive feedback. There are many who think it is cool that it is a former Lillestrøm player who has been given the job.
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