For years, Dag-Eilev Fagermo has been described as a distinctive, demanding and uncompromising coach profile in Norwegian football. A clear voice. A strong personality. A man with clear opinions about how football should be played – and how locker rooms should be managed.
The problem is just this: the results and consequences have ceased to justify the method.
When you look at his last three coaching jobs, Vålerenga, Lillestrøm and Strømsgodset, a pattern emerges that is difficult to explain away.
Chaos in Strømsgodset and trouble for Dag-Eilev Fagermo
Once again, Fagermo is under great pressure, this time in Strømsgodset. As is well known, Godset was relegated from the Eliteserien after this season, and the team struggled heavily in terms of sportsmanship under his leadership. The results were so poor that many supporters and commentators believed the club was performing below the level expected in the top division. At the end of the season, Fagermo himself stated that the team was “not worthy of an eliteserien team” after a big loss against Sandefjord. According to well-known media outlets, Strømsgodset is working on plans to replace the head coach, even though he has a contract until 2027. The club believes they have a clause in the contract that could give them the right to terminate the collaboration without a full severance package, but Fagermo denies that such a clause exists and is demanding compensation if they want to release him from his contract.
According to press releases from the club, the club has publicly confirmed that there are several reports against Fagermo regarding his behavior at the club. This has led to the club initiating an external investigation to clarify the facts and provide fair treatment to all parties. Fagermo is currently on sick leave and has not commented on the matter himself.
Fagermo's lawyer responds forcefully
Fagermo's lawyer says the process has been "ugly" and claims the club has tried to pressure him into resigning by threatening negative media coverage. The lawyer says Fagermo wants to do his job and let the parties meet after the New Year, and disputes that the club has the cover to terminate the agreement on the terms they mention.
Should the club management in Strømsgodset have seen this coming?
He has previously coached Vålerenga and Lillestrøm without much success, and many of the problems have been known before. Let's take a closer look at the other two coaching periods.
Vålerenga: When it started to smell like old-fashioned power play
Vålerenga started with hope and ended in frustration. After the bronze medal in 2020, the club was supposed to take new steps. Instead, everything came to a standstill.
But what really left its mark were the rumors about culture and attitudes. According to persistent claims in and around the club, Fagermo was clear that men's and women's football should be kept strictly separate, the women's team was not wanted as spectators at the men's team's training sessions and they were not to train in the same gym. His signals internally were that the women's and men's teams should be two completely separate clubs/departments within the club.
This is not confirmed facts, but well-known figures in the club have previously reported this. The rumors lived, and never died. This was not a desired situation for a club that profiles itself on community, equality and wholeness, and thus this hit extremely badly. The impression internally was that Fagermo was more concerned with control and hierarchy than with modern club culture. He did not relegate with Vålerenga, but the injuries had already occurred, and were avoidable that season.
Lillestrøm: Rescuer who didn't save
In Lillestrøm, Fagermo was brought in as a crisis manager. The mandate was crystal clear: Keep the club in the Eliteserien.
He couldn't do that.
Yes, the starting point was difficult. Yes, he came in late, but there was no clear sporting reaction. No clear change in identity and no lasting points.
The result was that LSK was relegated, Fagermo's defense showed up by the back door without an extension, without a fight for further cooperation, without signals that he was the man for the way forward.
That speaks for itself.
A career at a crossroads
Dag-Eilev Fagermo has had a long and distinguished coaching career in Norwegian football. But the last few years have left a clear impression. Projects that have not worked, clubs that have had to clean up, and environments that have been more characterized by conflict rather than sporting development.
In modern top-flight football, the role of a coach is more than tactics and intensity. It's about culture, relationships and the ability to bring an entire club together. The question is whether Fagermo's method still fits into that reality.
For Norwegian top football, this may be the time when you have to stop hoping that history will be different this time – and start dealing with what has actually happened.
And thus a question arises that many in the football community are now asking aloud:
Have Norwegian top clubs really learned anything – when three out of three clubs end up relegated under the same coach?
