Viking chairman resigns

Viking Fotball AS chairman Thor Steinar Sandvik resigns after enormous pressure.

Arena SR-Bank: There has been a lot of pressure on Viking and Sandvik after it emerged on Thursday last week that head coach Bjarne Berntsen has ended up at the club after the current season.

When the club urgently called a press conference on Tuesday afternoon, Sandvik confirmed that he is now resigning as chairman of the board of Viking Fotball AS. At the time, there had been a hectic activity at meetings at SR-Bank Arena throughout the day.

– It has been very hard the last few days. It has affected a lot, including my closest ones. There has been something new every morning. I received support and expected it to decrease, but it has only increased, says Sandvik.

The outgoing chairman of the board has previously said that he has received threats and messages of harassment after Berntsen’s departure became known, and Sandvik admits that this also affected his resignation.

– It would have been a lie if he had said something else, he tells Aftenbladet.

• SEE THE WHOLE PRESS SESSION WITH SANDVIK HERE:

– Best for Viking

It was a distinguished Sandvik who met the press. With blank eyes, he justified the decision to withdraw:

– The best thing for Viking is that he resigns as president of the board, now the club must have peace. They need to start working on what they are going to work on.

Following the announcement, Sandvik urged the entire club to calm down.

– Support the way forward. Don’t prick, don’t prick, don’t do too much of that. There is much good that will sprout and grow here, he said.

Sandvik replaced Stig H. Christiansen as chairman of the Viking Fotball AS board of directors earlier this year, but resigns after only a few months in office.

– I intended to sit longer, but it was love for Viking that became decisive, says Sandvik.

Sandvik is the constructor, general manager and owner of TS Byggtjenester AS, and the fourth largest shareholder in Viking Fotball AS.

– I will continue as a sponsor and I will continue going to the stadium, because I love the club, he says.

Armor

The news of Berntsen’s resignation came as a shock to those around him, and several of the club’s shareholders reacted to the fact that they were not contacted prior to the AS board’s decision.

The Vikings fans have also been armed after the news, something they expressed emphatically in Saturday’s game against Start.

Field O, who is a mix of the Viking hordes and various alternative groups, arrived with a clear message that they wanted the chairman of the board to resign. On Tuesday they were heard.

Sandvik says that from day one as chairman of the board he has only wanted the best of the Vikings, and that is why he is now stepping aside.

– I’ve been a Viking sponsor for 25 years – and it’s a few years younger. The club has always meant a lot to me. It’s been incredibly exciting to see Viking from the inside out, he says of his time as chairman of the board.

• PODKAST: The chairman of the board received threats after Berntsen’s departure, now he apologizes

Violation of the rules

On Monday night, Aftenbladet published an article explaining how Viking has broken the sport’s own rules in the case of head coach Bjarne Berntsen.

The reason is that it was the Vikings AS board, and not Viking Football Club, that carried out the negotiations with Berntsen.

Viking FK Chairman of the Board of Directors Rune Bertelsen admits that they have made a mistake.

– When the negotiations between the chairman of the AS board and Bjarne Berntsen turned into a discussion about employment conditions after the 2021 season, we, as employers, should have stepped in and took over the negotiations. We must bear the consequences of the mistakes we have made at both AS and FK. The best of the Vikings should come first, FK chairman Rune Bertelsen told Aftenbladet on Tuesday.

NFF has also announced that they will discuss how Viking has handled this case.