One of Norwegian football’s most attractive coaches has committed football’s ultimate sin – leaving his club for his arch-rival. Nothing evokes a more intense and long-lasting hatred than just that. Especially when the reasons are as obvious as they are right now. And they are not sporty. There is still an almost religious belief that there is something more to football than meets the eye and the brain understands. This indefinable thing that can be called “soul” or “heart” – and which is the reason why the supporters support their club, their players and even their coaches, even when they do not perform close to what one dreams of from the stands. The Emperor’s New Clothes moments come when someone exposes the illusion. Like when the coach of your beloved team does the only truly unforgivable thing he can do, by going to the archrival. And where the reason is one and only: Money. WEAR: Geir Bakke explains the transition to Vålerenga partly with wear and tear between himself and the player group in Lillestrøm. Photo: Ole Martin Wold / NTB Not to be believed Geir Bakke can talk as much as he wants about this being a challenge at the right time or about an increasingly demanding relationship with the player group in Lillestrøm for himself and apparently especially assistant coach Petter Myhre. He is still not believed. It is not possible to see this as a logical choice purely sportingly for Bakke. Well, it is still somewhat accepted truth in Norwegian football that Vålerenga is a sleeping giant in terms of sport. But in that case that sleep is of a length somewhere between Sleeping Beauty and Tut-ankh-Amon. An offer he couldn’t resist This truly shocking coaching change is probably only due to the fact that Vålerenga owner Tor Olav Trøim has significantly improved Bakke’s salary offer in the last couple of weeks, to the extent that it has probably ended up over NOK 5 million per year in the 4, The contract is for 5 years. STRONG BUY: Tor Olav Trøim. Photo: Vegard Wivestad Grøtt / NTB In addition, Vålerenga had to pay out a sum with a clause in Bakke’s contract with Lillestrøm, estimated to be around NOK 3 million. The total expenditure for Trøim and Vålerenga is therefore estimated to be around NOK 25 million. Also called a lot of money in Norwegian football. A month ago, the club sold the talent Odin Thiago Holm to Celtic for NOK 10 million more. Overall, there is actually a form of financial logic to this. Isolated set. But the expenditure is unlikely to end with this for the club, which had a loss of NOK 42 million last year and is completely dependent on the grants from the aforementioned Trøim. Geir Bakke is unlikely to go to Valle without promises of up to several purchases of established stars during the summer. It is possible to think that players like Ohi, Sigurd Rosted or Håvard Nielsen could be relevant. But that in no way makes the time and circumstances otherwise something someone would have chosen voluntarily. If you were not paid well enough. You are a pig “You will never be shocked in that game here”, as Lillestrøm’s sporting director Simon Mesfin expressed it at a press conference in connection with today’s transfer. But you still become one. Because it is so rare. And because it breaks so many moral and emotional boundaries. Such as has been experienced internationally when Sol Campbell went from Tottenham to Arsenal, when Mo Johnston went from Celtic to Rangers or when Luis Figo went from Barcelona to arch-rival Real Madrid. CLEAR MESSAGE: This was the Barcelona fans’ last thanks to Luis Figo in the match against arch-rivals Real Madrid in 2002. The transition was not to their liking. Photo: AP Figo got a reaction from the fans that has gone down in football folklore. In his first appearance at the Nou Camp in a Real Madrid kit, Figo would take a corner kick, to huge boos. Then suddenly a whole pig’s head was thrown from the stands onto the grass next to Figo. The symbolism was obvious. You betrayed us. You are a pig. Norwegian football’s original hate match is precisely Lillestrøm against Vålerenga. The original sin Everything started as ordinary as you feel you can get, namely with Olsen and Hansen – or Terje and Rune, as they were also called – who before the 1976 season went from a newly drunken Vålerenga to Lillestrøm, which at the time was on its way to become Norwegian football’s new superpower. This triggered emotions Norwegian football had rarely experienced. To the extent that it ended up as hate poetry. In the book former Vålerenga captain and news legend Viggo Johansen has written about the club, “Vålerenga in our hearts”, he has reproduced a poem written by the district’s great poet, simply called “Kyter’n”, after the two transitions from the capital club of the upstarts from Rome: LØNNEN Hør, Terje and Rune from Vålerenga. Judas Iscariot was tempted by the money. As a reward for his deed, his bad performance, Judas was hunted by the gang – the apostles. Then he regretted it bitterly. By then it was too late. For all who fail get the wages they deserve. It could just as easily have been written in Lillestrøm today. Since then, the rivalry between the two clubs has been intense. Bakke yellow and blue “A controversial transition”, Bakke called it himself today. And it sounded like he thought that was all there was. An understatement could not be stronger. Romerikingen Bakke, who is from Skedsmo and himself played for a long time in his childhood club Strømmen, was also asked today if he now felt more blue or yellow. This is where he really made himself laugh. Bakke’s answer was namely “I feel yellow and blue”. You are not one or the other in football. It violates everything football is built on. And Bakke should know that well. If Bakke feels yellow and blue, he should rather take over Jerv, who also needs a new coach, after Arne Sandstø went to Danish Midtjylland this week. A GOOD DEAL: Vålerenga chairman Tuva Ørbeck Sørheim smiled when Geir Bakke was presented as Vålerenga’s new coach on Wednesday. Photo: NTB Good choice “Once I’ve been through the centrifuge today and the next few days and maybe even a little more” then surely everything will get better, believes Bakke. But it is far from certain that this will happen. If Vålerenga are happy with their new coach, and probably rightly so, there is no guarantee of success. For Bakke will be under pressure to perform from day one, with a team that has reached mediocrity at best this season. But Bakke has made his choice, which both he and Vålerenga hope will be the happy one. It’s worse for his brother. Ulf Erik Bakke sits on the municipal council in Lillestrøm. This autumn, he is seeking re-election as number 7 on the Labor Party’s list. No one should claim that little brother Geir has made it easier for an already yellow-blue family to also get red votes in the station town without a head coach when it comes to September.
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