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Ståle Solbakken (52) speaks in public for the first time since he was fired from FC Copenhagen. But he will not yet come out with his opinion on the abrupt exit after a total of 13 years at the club.
GOED TO HAMAR: Ståle Solbakken has mainly stayed in Hamar after the dismissal in Copenhagen. Photo: Sascha Steinbach / AP POOL
– No, I’ll talk when that time comes. I’ll still count to 10, he tells Hamar Arbeiderblad’s Puckpodden. In an SMS to VG, Solbakken writes that he does not want to say anything more now.
He says on the podcast that he “has enjoyed Hamar’s life for a month” but will now return to Denmark.
– Wife and daughter live there and that is probably where we will have a place to live.
VG national team commentator Knut Espen Svegaarden has written several times that the health brand is the right man for Norway, when the opportunity arises. Solbakken jumped out of the future contract with NFF nine years ago. For Hamar Arbeiderblad, Solbakken will say nothing about a possible future at the Ullevaal stadium.
– In fact, I’m completely honest when I say that I have not been there at all, he says.
– I’ve had more than enough to digest what happened a month ago, says Solbakken, who last week was replaced by Jess Thorup at FCK. Solbakken just brought Thorup to HamKam, playing in 2015.
Now his son Markus Solbakken (20) plays for a HamKam that in recent months has turned adversity in the Obos league into a possible qualifier for the elite series.
– The air has been a bit better for me in Hamar than in “Køben” last month. I really enjoy going to Briskeby. It is not often that I see my son or HamKam train live. So for me it has been a perfect relaxation, says Solbakken. He still refers to HamKam as “we” and hands out verbal flowers to both board chairman Rune Strand and coach Kjetil Rekdal.
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Solbakken talks about his close relationship at times with ice hockey and clearly appreciates that Hamar’s neighbor Ole Einar Engeland Andersen (21) now plays with legend Patrick Thoresen in Storhamar.
– I’m a bit like Drillo. He once said that all sports without offside are useless. I somewhat agree with that. I’ve seen an incredible number of hockey games in my life, he says.
Ståle Solbakken is clear that it is never relevant to commit to one’s own principles and attitudes when adversity strikes in full force.
– The most important thing is not to deviate from the principles, but you should also start a dialogue with those who will do it for you, the players, and start it. But you also always have to keep in mind that players have their own agenda. There is a balance point there, he says on the podcast.
Solbakken points out that it is almost only Pep Guardiola who has never experienced the dismissal.
– Even the last 7-8 months of (Jürgen) Klopp in Dortmund, it was “we didn’t fire you, but after this season you’ll stop. It always comes to a point, Solbakken says, and tells a story that former Denmark national team manager Morten Olsen once said that Solbakken is not a suitable coach until he has been fired two or three times.
– Only then will you have understood all the mechanisms. There’s probably something in it, says Solbakken. He has now featured three shots: Cologne (2012), Wolverhampton (2013) and FC Copenhagen (2020).
