Sunday at 15.00: Watch Stjørdals-Blink-Brann on TV 2 Play.
Three years ago, on the last day of the season, Stjørdals-Blink secured promotion to the Obosligaen.
The semi-professional gang from Stjørdal was among the best for the first time in 26 years.
Only days after the promotion in October 2019, the planning begins. New stadium must be in place. At record speed, in the middle of a pandemic, MUS Stadion Sandskogan became a fact.
It took nine weeks from the first sod roof was taken, until the facility with 960 seats was completed. The price tag?
Around 30 million kroner – over three times as much as the club’s annual budget the same year.
– It is the case that when you moved up to Obos in 2019, it required a lot of new facilities, it is the great facility you see here. Behind that facade, it is clear that the costs have increased for the club. At the same time, we have not been as good at getting sponsors, which means that we have a revenue side that increases correspondingly. Therefore, the new board now had to pull up the brakes in May and say that now we must have some corrosion by industry, says Blink’s chairman Erling Johansen.
The club’s new chairman of the board meets TV 2 at Blink’s home arena.
Johansen, who took over as chairman of the board in March this year, makes no secret of the fact that the club is facing a major challenge.
– It’s a bit boring that it’s like that either or, because that’s what it is. It’s either or. It hurts to be burdensome.
Announced pay cut
Because it is only now, almost three years after the promotion to the Obosligaen, that the broad club from Stjørdal really feels the back of the medal at top football.
– If we continue to do nothing now, then we are heading for a large million deficit, close to four million in deficit. That is why we now chose to stop and take action as quickly as possible, says Johansen and elaborates:
– As the situation is today, where we do not have coverage for the next four million in costs, it is a pretty tough, intrusive we are facing. Today we are looking at hypotheses about having minimum salaries for the vast majority of players.
In the budget for 2022, where the total is just over NOK 15 million, almost seven of these millions are wage costs.
– IN A MILLION CRISIS: The chairman of the board of Stjørdals-Blink, Erling Johansen, announces pay cuts for the club’s employees. Photo: Øyvind Hermstad
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Since the promotion in 2019, these costs have increased by almost NOK 5.5 million. Johansen makes no secret of the fact that it is challenging to run a semi-professional football team in the Obosligaen.
– Yes, it is. But at the same time, I think we go a few steps back and think that we must be in that division and have players on salaries where we have the finances to bear it. It may well have some consequences for player numbers and further investment around Oboslaget in the future, says the chairman of the board and adds:
– The thing in itself, that you can not service your debt, is a crisis. But we are working with energy to get this to balance at the turn of the year.
The captain: – A shock
And should that budget go up, a pay cut is probably the most obvious solution.
– In the beginning, it is of course a shock for the players, because no one has received any warning that the situation is as it is. People also need to look a little at the private side and the financial there. People have mortgages, they have studies and some have a part-time job. Then there are also some who have family and children, so the situation is not particularly simple, says Blink captain Aleksander Foosnæs.
The left-back came to Blink from Bodø / Glimt before last season.
Then he also went from a professional life, to becoming a part-time football player. Like the rest of the players, the 28-year-old must combine games in the Obosliga with work to make ends meet.
– A SHOCK: Blink captain Aleksander Foosnæs and the rest of the player group must prepare for a pay cut. Photo: Per-Atle Karlsen
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– It is clearly demanding for everyone to be part of a pay cut, there is no doubt about that. It is not the case that there are some who live with some abundance of money, because everyone studies or works next door, Foosnæs explains.
The club’s head coach, Snorre Lillebo, who by the way got the job before the current season, is also among those who have to settle for a cut.
– It’s not fun to hear that you should go down in salary and that there is an opportunity for yours and hers, but I relate to honest people who are neat and good at what they do, than that you should live in uncertainty or feeling cheated. That can not be the case, says Lillebo.
“Can’t we cut that washing deal?”
Although no one in the club, which is in 15th place in the Obosligaen, wants to reduce their salary, Stjørdals-Blink has an invaluable advantage in the midst of the economic crisis: Unity.
That unity secured promotion in 2019 and qualifying victory in the Obosliga in both 2020 and 2021. Now it will ensure the club’s continued existence.
– MUST CUT COSTS: After the promotion in 2019, Blink invested almost NOK 30 million in a new facility. Now they pay the price. Photo: Øyvind Hermstad.
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– The first year we were in Obos, I think I sold 24 packs of dope paper to be allowed to be a coach in the league, so we have taken a few steps from there. Stjørdals-Blink Football does not stand and falls that it is working with the economy now. It sounds like it’s painted black, and it does not. We are cleaning up and arranging a structure that is livable for the club over time, we are very concerned about that, says Lillebo firmly, and continues:
– Injecting some money now and getting a little emergency help here and now, it’s like pissing in your pants. We have to look at it in a slightly longer perspective. We have decided as a club that we will be established in the Obosliga. If it leads to a relegation for a year, then it should not stop the project, then it should be to get up as soon as possible.
Now both he and a unison group of players are ready to do what is needed.
– When people have pondered it a bit, it is only a positive attitude to contribute in the form of cuts or other contributions. There it is very interesting to see how many ideas come up along the way when you sit and talk a bit about what you can do to increase the income and help the club.
Already at the first training after the holiday, the question immediately arose about “Can we not cut that washing agreement? We can then wash the clothes ourselves ». So that spirit of hard work is sprouting right now, and it’s a little fun to watch. Then I also think it’s a sign that the player group is very willing to contribute in a way, then we’ll see what we end up with in the end, Foosnæs grins.
Standing together
There is no doubt that the unity of the gang that lasts a little half an hour north of Trondheim is strong. At the first training after the holiday, it is laughter, nonsense and ball that characterize the brand new artificial turf at Sandskogan. The fact that the club is in financial crisis and stands with only one victory in the first nine league games, does not seem to affect those involved significantly.
– It is the people in this club who are the most important and we stand in this together. I think it hurts for people to be part of such a cut, but that almost everyone is positive, as I have received it with me, says Foosnæs, who boasts of the board’s openness in a difficult time.
– It has been excellent. They have been very neat and open about the situation. As far as I understand, they have also come with the message as early as possible, so there I have nothing to complain about, and the dialogue is crystal clear now as well. Then we are also excited to see what conclusion the board comes up with and what we have to do to achieve this, because it is not an easy situation we are in.
Head coach Lillebo, who has spent most of his football life in Blink, is, however, in no doubt that the club will emerge stronger from the situation.
– OPTIMIST: Blink coach Snorre Lillebo is confident that the club will recover from the financial crisis. Photo: Øyvind Hermstad
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– Stjørdals-Blink Football will eventually go green, and we will become a club that operates sensibly. Only this process I think says a bit about it, because I think many others might have thought differently and tried many other options than what we are doing now. I think the process we are doing now will define Stjørdals-Blink Football for many years to come.
Bergen’s happy boys
Now both the board, the players and the rest of the sports apparatus look ahead. They are going to get out of the economic crisis, at the same time as they have big plans to avoid a new relegation qualifier towards the end of the season.
– In Obos it is even. If you take one point on average, then you end up in a relegation battle, if you take one and a half, then you play qualifier and if you take two then you move up. It is difficult to balance between one point on average and one and a half, then it is the margins that separate and we have noticed this year as well. So that we have managed to qualify the first two years, we have been very happy with. We have handled the qualifiers very well. Then we have a plan this year to avoid that quality then, then we’ll see, Lillebo smiles.
Before Sunday’s meeting with league leader Brann, Blink is below the relegation line, with two points up to a safe place. The victory against Grorud before the holiday has, however, given the people of Trøndelag a new lease of life – on Sunday they go to shock undefeated people from Bergen.
– Now they beat Mjøndalen 7-0 last and they are undefeated. They are in great shape. Then they will definitely come up with a couple of hundred pieces of Bergen’s happy boys and create an atmosphere, we look forward to that. They will lose sooner or later this year too, but it has been very fun if they have done it here, says Lillebo and gets support from his captain.
– It will be an extremely exciting match. I have no desire to fire up that fight, because I would like them to come here and think it will be a good scouring, but I’m pretty sure it will not be, because it’s not easy to get here, Foosnæs concludes with a sly smile.
Sunday at 15.00: Watch Stjørdals-Blink-Brann on TV 2 Play.
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