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Kjetil Rekdal (52) has an outgoing contract at HamKam. Now your future can be decided in no time.
ABOUT THE CURRENT CONTRACT: Kjetil Rekdal still doesn’t know what he will do next year. Photo: Tor Erik Schrøder / NTB scanpix
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Sporting director Espen Olsen confirms to VG that HamKam is in negotiations with Rekdal to extend his contract as the club’s head coach.
In August, Rekdal signed a deal that ran through the 2020 season. On Sunday, the team won 3-1 away against Øygarden in the final game of the season.
– They were in. We want to keep Kjetil. We are optimistic, Olsen tells VG.
– When do you expect a solution to exist?
– As soon as possible.
Olsen stresses that he himself is the sports director with the outgoing contract, and that he is also negotiating a new agreement with the club.
Kjetil Rekdal himself tells VG that an extension with HamKam “may be relevant”, but makes some clear demands:
– We must build together a stronger collective than the one we have now. Then I refer to the support staff and the number of players. The starting point must be better than it is now. I usually deliver where I am, so it is important to me that arrangements are made for the opportunity to deliver.
– What does that mean?
– I want to win games, be successful and get up. It is natural that the next step is to fight for the qualification to the Elite Series. So reality must match ambitions. I want all the facts on the table. I don’t think HamKam should invest in death, but I should have the peace to take the club further, says Rekdal.
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Their requirements are to invest in both support staff and the number of players. He notes, for example, that the club currently has goalkeeping coach Rolf Høgmo at a 30 percent position.
– You can’t have that. If we want to develop players, we must have more manpower in a support apparatus, says Rekdal, who points out that both sports director Olsen and assistant Geir Frigård have an outgoing contract.
On the number of players, he says:
– We must make sure that the first student is at least as good as now, and then try to strengthen a little more. So we have taken the step we have talked about.
The chairman of the board of directors, Rune Strand, who is responsible for the negotiations with the coach, has not responded to VG’s inquiries.
General Manager John Anders Rise writes in a text message that he will return with more information.
In August, Rekdal took over a HamKam team that had not won after nine league rounds in the Obos league. Since then, the former national team player has led an impressive restructuring operation.
In the “Rekdal table”, from the tenth round of the series to the end of the season, HamKam ranks third in the Obos league. Only Lillestrøm and Tromsø, who moved up, have scored more points than HamKam since Rekdal took over.
