Sports, Football | Checked Facebook. Then Anders (30) was about to fall off the chair

TABLE TIP ELITE SERIES:

8th place: Tromsø IL

Nettavisen: Life can turn around suddenly. Anders Finjord Jenssen (30) can sign for that.

For a long time he lived a fairly ordinary A4 life in his 20s with education and an office job. In his “free time” he played football for Tromsdalen. In earlier days he played at Medkila and Harstad Idrettslag.

However, football was time-consuming and Jenssen considered putting it away to focus on his job as an auditor at Ernest & Young.

During a customer meeting, however, he saw that a message had arrived on Facebook. He assumed it was from the “mutter”.

Also read: Here is Nettavisen’s table tip for Eliteserien 2024

– Was taken aback

So mistakes can be made. When he finally finished the meeting and checked the phone properly, he got a chin drop.

– It’s a bit distant now, because it was a few years ago. Strictly speaking, I was on a business trip, and sat in the middle of a customer meeting. I was a bit taken aback when such an opportunity suddenly appeared, the 30-year-old Tromsø boatman tells Nettavisen.

The message that ticked in came from Tromsø IL with an offer for a trial game and a training stay. The defender took good care of the chance and got a contract. During the last five years, he has been a regular feature in the back ranks of the team from Northern Norway.

– I had actually started to realize that the combination of being semi-professional and having a full-time job on the side, with a lot of travel, was a demanding solitaire. The plan was that if nothing came up now, I would explore other career paths.

– So the offer came in the count’s time, so to speak, recalls the 30-year-old, who was 25 when the offer came.

READ ALSO: The profile cut one thing from the diet. Notice the effect

He trooped up to training camp almost in a white shirt and trousers and quickly felt the difference from the everyday life he was used to.

– It was clearly a big transition. I didn’t feel any level of shock, but it was a shock with the circumstances and everyday life. It was a huge difference compared to what we were doing in Tromsdalen. But it was also a dream opportunity.

– Now Tromsø is actually the club I have played for the longest in my senior career. I would not have thought so, but I am very grateful.

– Then they give up

In a football world where you would prefer to have a contract with Liverpool or Real Madrid by the time you are 20 years old, in order to fulfill your own and the outside world’s ambitions, Jenssen is a rare commodity. iTromsø commentator Rune Robertsen has called the veteran a “dying breed” in football.

Jenssen himself believes it is an apt description, as he experiences top football up close.

– I think he is on to something and that is an appropriate description. There are many here in our academy who are much more talented than what I was at that age, who train more but don’t break through. Then they give up to explore other possibilities, he says.

– It is of course completely up to each individual, but it is a shame to see it go that way, says Jenssen.

However, he singles out Markus Johnsgård, brought in to Tromsø this winter, as someone who is in similar shoes to himself.

– He is in a somewhat similar situation to me. He has played his way up through the division system and now gets the opportunity in a fully professional environment. It’s nice to see that there are others who also take that path and show that it works, even if you don’t break through in an academy as a 19-year-old.

From experience, the defender nevertheless has a great understanding that many people make a choice to give up football already at a young age.

– You compare yourself to the whole world and see 19-year-olds playing at a sky-high international level and 16-year-olds playing havoc for Barcelona. Then it is easy to think that you are behind. I myself had that drive all the way, and loved the process of that journey. But it’s demanding to keep up. You get older and eventually have to think about studies and work, in order to finance your life, says Jenssen.

Helstrup to Glimt

For large parts of his Tromsø career, Jenssen has played under Gaute Helstrup. Jenssen was brought in before the 2019 season, while Helstrup came in from HamKam just over a year later. This winter, however, came the shock news about the popular and successful head coach.

READ ALSO: Received a tragic message: – You go into complete shock when you get a phone call like this

Helstrup had signed for arch-rival Bodø/Glimt, as assistant coach for Kjetil Knutsen. The news naturally shook Tromsø.

Internally at the club, however, the shock subsided quickly.

– It is clear, the first period there, it was quite chaotic for us as well. It took a few days before we realized what had happened, but there has undoubtedly been more noise externally than internally. But it is not unusual for such transitions to arouse interest, says Jenssen.

Although the 30-year-old describes a good relationship with Helstrup, a coach he also worked with in Tromsdalen, he is by no means crying over spilled milk. In the Tromsø camp, it has been “business as usual” for most of the season run-up in 2024.

– In the football industry, we are quite used to people coming and going. We’ve been pretty good at keeping our heads down and doing what we have to do.

– It was chaotic at the start, but then it has rolled and moved on, he says.

The replacement arrived relatively quickly. Helstrup’s assistant Jørgen Vik takes over the wheel and brings Gard Holme along as head coach. We have set several examples of this kind of shared coaching responsibility in the Eliteserien in recent years. Among other things in Viking and Sandefjord,

– For us, it has been very nice to have Jørgen in as head coach. We have started from scratch. Much is the same as it has been in recent years. He stands for continuity in the way we work and think about football, day by day. Both Jørgen and the rest of the team.

The stopper believes this gives Tromsø a platform to continue the good pace shown last season.

– The strength in recent years is that we have been able to work undisturbed with our work, and have taken small steps over time. It has made us better. Therefore, it is good to continue with the same principles and not make a big U-turn with a new coach and new philosophy.

– Have cleaned up

He believes that Tromsø IL has made great strides as a club since he himself joined in 2019 and boasts about the work that has been done.

– No doubt about it. We have worked smartly with transitions and created a strong internal culture. Young players are allowed to come in, develop, and they have found their place here. The club has developed a lot since I joined, old fun has been cleaned up.

– The club is in a completely different place financially. There has been good, sensible club management over time. A direction has been chosen and the club has stood by it. There have been some storms, both under Helstrup and at club level, but we have gone in the same direction.

Despite the fact that the club has lost some profiles this summer, we can still find Oslo boy Jakob Napoleon Romsaas in Tromsø, among others. He had a breakthrough last season. The great talent Jens Hjertø-Dahl is another to watch out for in the coming season.

The results in the run-up have been so-so, but Jenssen has faith in a good 2024 season.

– The results have not been great, but there is a lot behind the results and I think we look okay. I understand that it may seem from the outside that it has been turbulent and chaos, with Glimt, Gaute, Jostein Gundersen, and everything, but internally we feel that we are on track.

READ ALSO: The VIF fans got upset during the drama: – Could have been beaten

After the conversation with Jenssen, it also became clear that former Tromsø player August Mikkelsen will play for Glimt in 2024. Mikkelsen went to Hammarby last year, but has a long career behind him in Tromsø and was at the club between 2015 and 2023.

– Then it takes time for things to adjust. We feel we are where we want to be and are looking forward to the season. It suits us well to be a bit of an underdog. We must not forget that much of our success comes from collective, sacrificial defensive play, a mentality that suits us well.

– It can boil over

In the warm-up match against Vålerenga in March, it was at least clear that there is nothing wrong with the team spirit and the ability to stand up for each other. After VIF’s Henrik Bjørdal was too late in a tackle, it really slammed from the Tromsø camp.

Newcomer Vetle Skjærstad was sent off for the way he confronted the Vålerenga player and coach Jørgen Vik also received a red card.

– There is certainly a strong unity and it can boil over from time to time. But I think such reactions are good, That is where we want to be and then we just have to deal with the referee, lines and lists that are added at any time. But it’s nice to feel a little fired up.

On 1 April, it’s serious when Brann comes to visit Romssa Arena. The hosts won the corresponding match last season 3–1.

Transitions in winter:

In: Vetle Skjærvik (Lillestrøm), Yoro Ba (Academie Bloc 16 Diamamague), Markus Johnsgård (Raufoss), Jesper Robertsen (Mjøndalen, back from loan), Elias Aarflot (Grorud, back from loan), Mats Trige (Alta, back from loan), Isak Kjelsrud Vik (Tromsdalen, back from loan).

Out: Niklas Vesterlund (Utrecht), El Hadji Malick Diouf (Slavia Praha), Tobias Hafstad (Tromsdalen), Jostein Gundersen (Bodø/Glimt), Mai Traoré (Viking, loan ended), Gaute Helstrup (coach, Bodø/Glimt), Thomas Bjørgve (contract expired), Marius Tollefsen (contract expired).