Scout John Vik (second from left) in the stands during a training match in Marbella in 2020. Next to him sits Ole Gunnar Solskjær, who was Manchester United coach at the time. Photo: Jan Kåre Ness / NTB
Scout John Vik has a role in Molde at the same time as he works for agent Jim Solbakken. Terje Liverød does not believe what he sees.
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Less than 2 hours ago
- The long-time scout and agent Terje Liverød reacts to scout John Vik working for both Jim Solbakken and Molde
- Agent Jim Solbakken represents 18 of Molde’s 28 A team players
- Liverød calls the case “ridiculous” and believes it opens up questionable scenarios
- The Norwegian Football Association finds no breach of the rules in the collaboration between Solbakken and Molde
- Molde director Øystein Neerland says that John Vik works as a consultant for the club in the USA, and that the number of players an agent has in the squad will be fluid.
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– That the NFFNFFNorwegian Football Association does not want to look at it is anything but good. It is not in accordance with the healthy operation of Norwegian clubs.
That’s what Terje Liverød says on the phone from Germany. He has come across VG’s article about Jim Solbakken’s 18 clients in Molde’s stable.
It is a number that former football manager and player Liverød reacts to.
In addition, he does not believe what he hears about Scout John Vik’s role:
The former chief scout in Molde has moved to the United States. He is part of the company of Jim Solbakkenat the same time as he has a consulting role in Molde.
That combined with the fact that Solbakken represents over two thirds of the club’s A team.
– It opens up a number of questionable scenarios that could damage the football club in the long run. In Germany, it would be called frivolous. There must be arm’s length distance between agents and club, not to mention finances and operations. Here you twist your arms together like an octopus. It’s actually ridiculous, says Liverød.
Terje Liverød, photographed here in 2018. Photo: Gøran Bohlin / VG
This is not the first time Liverød has been critical of Solbakken. Ten years ago, he came out harshly against the agent and Ole Gunnar Solskjær in an article in The online newspaper.
The Sandefjord man has for many decades made a living as a scout and agent. For a long time he worked for the big German club Schalke 04, and believes that a figure such as 18 players on one agent could never occur there.
– That an agent has 18 players in a club is far more than a potential problem. During my time at Schalke, a red warning light was lit if an agent could get more than three players in the stable. I can repeat what our legendary manager Rudi Assauer said: “If an agent has four players or more, it is no longer me or the club who decides, but him”, says Liverød.
Info
The regulations
In the Norwegian Football Association’s regulations, it is stated, among other things, that agents must:
“Limit conflicts of interest to protect clients from unethical behavior”
“Ensure greater financial and administrative transparency”
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The Norwegian Football Association enforces the regulations with agents in Norway. They do not find any violation of the rules in the way Solbakken and Molde behave.
– The regulations do not say anything about how many players an agent can represent in a squad for a given club, and the NFF does not see it as expedient either. There can be various reasons why an agent has a particularly large number of players in a club. Having said that, it is important that there is a great awareness of the issues surrounding potential ties, and that there is clarity on which interests are represented as mediators, says Nils Fisketjønn, competition director at the NFF.
When asked about the role of John Vik, Fisketjønn repeats that transparency is key.
– It is important that there is transparency around different roles and which hat you are wearing at any given time, compare the example of the scout. When a mediator has so many players in a stable, it becomes extra important that there is a high awareness of issues surrounding possible ties and a good understanding of roles. In any case, we assume that the club wants to connect the best possible players, regardless of which intermediary a player uses, says Fisketjønn.
Info
Agent with the most players per club
Mould: Jim Solbakken (18 players)
Bodø/Glimpse: Atta Aneke (6 players)
Viking: Jim Solbakken (6 players)
Lillestrom: Atta Aneke (5 players)
Haugesund: Imad el Hammichi (5 players)
Fire: Morten Wivestad/Mike Kjølø (5 players)
YMCA: Mikal Adampour and André Schei Lindbæk (5 players each)
Rosenborg: Nordic Sky (4 players)
Odd: Atta Aneke (4 players)
Sarpsborg 08: Jim Solbakken (4 players)
Tromsø: Morten Wivestad/Mike Kjølø (4 players)
Power goods: Jim Solbakken and Remi Wulff (4 players each)
Kristiansund: Mikail Adampour (4 players)
Fredrikstad: Dan Eggen (3 players)
HamKam: Atta Aneke and Wivestad/Kjølø (2 players each)
Sandefjord: Tore Pedersen, Nima Modyr and Sanel Pajic (2 players each).
The list is taken from the website Transfermarkt.
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VG has been in contact with John Vik, who is referring to Øystein Neerland in Molde.
The Molde boss says that Vik works as a consultant for the club. He is still listed as “chief scout” on Molde’s website.
– He has not been employed by Molde FK. John ended the collaboration in Molde when he moved to the USA. MFK took a new initiative and they agreed on a new and smaller consultancy agreement where he now also scouts for MFK in the USA, says Neerland to VG.
Jim Solbakken has not answered our questions on the matter.
– The number of players with an agent is high right now, this is not a static figure. That will change throughout the transfer windows. In all football clubs, player logistics is central, on average a player spends three years at the club, in total there are approximately 30 players in a club, says Molde director Neerland.
Published:
Published: 29.01.24 at 11:31
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2024-01-29 10:31:41
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