When Kari Lindvik applied and later got a job as general manager of the departmental association, she was simultaneously the chairperson of the board of directors of the interest organization. Vice Chairman Hugo Kelseth participated in the appointment, and inherited the position of Chairman.
Meanwhile, Kjelseth has been marketing on social media that his recruitment firm helped when the divisional union – with nearly 100 member clubs of Football Norway – searched for a new general manager. He denies that his own company is involved in the recruitment process and says he has not received or will not be paid.
The divisional association is concerned with the interests of men’s second and third division clubs in Norwegian football. In 2020, they described themselves as Norway’s largest club interests organization with 99 member clubs (98 in 2021), and since Arne Knauf resigned as general manager in May last year, Kari Lindevik has been chairman of the board.
In June of this year, the Division of Divisions applied for a new general manager in a full-time position, and on August 10 it was announced that Lindevik had been awarded the job.
On the same date, she resigned as Chairman of the Board of Directors. Then Vice Chairman Hugo Kelseth stepped up as the new Chairman of the Board – as he stated at the request of the rest of the Board of Directors. Same Kjelseth and Board Member Kristian Jæger were behind the hiring process with a new General Manager.
Now there are many more responsive member clubs. When Kgelseth was asked if Lindvik should resign as chair of the board when she was also a job seeker and should be evaluated by her fellow board members, Kgelseth replied as follows:
– Looking back, we see that it might have been more orderly. We simply did not think about it, in that it was not she who dealt with her, and that we who cared for her, of course, behaved kindly and professionally in connection with the process.
– Why do you see it now and not then?
Neither of us on the board thought about it, nor did any of the people we spoke to. We simply didn’t think about it, as there were two other people on the board who had to deal with it. Practically speaking, it didn’t make any difference, but it probably looked a lot neater from the outside.
He will not become the chairman of the board of directors
Kjelseth denies he had a desire to become the new chairman of the Divisional League’s board of directors, but agreed when the rest of the board wanted him.
Do you see any problem with impartiality with the fact that you are involved in appointing your own chairman?
– Not the way the operation was carried out. But I can see that some might think it was a little special, yeah. So, we chose to be open about the matter along the way, who ran the process and how we should do it, Kgelseth replied.
– What is your relationship with Carrie Lindvik? Do you know each other well?
– To the extent that we’ve been working together since 2014, I must say we know each other very well. But not beyond being fellow board members.
Does this mean that you will resign as Chairman of the Board of Directors at the annual meeting next year?
– Basically, I sit this period. If you want to keep going, it may not be enough. Harstad FC must move up (a player in the fourth tier) so that I can continue to chair the board. The plan all along is that I’m going to retire in March. Then we’ll see what happens. If Harstad comes up and the nominating committee wants to ask me about re-election, I should think about it. I didn’t think about it now, says Hugo Kelseth.
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General manager Daniel Holmaid-Strand at second-tier club Skeid in Oslo says he has “a great deal of confidence in the current board” and claims many clubs have reacted to how the special interest organization handles many issues.
In this case, by applying for this job there, but while remaining as chairman of the board, Lindevik has put his board of directors in a difficult position. If she’s rejected, she’ll come back as chair of the board and be a kind of boss to the person who got the job she wanted. You should have resigned immediately. Strand tells VG that they did not inform the nominating or membership committee, and warns the dishes at the next membership meeting.
– But does Lindevik have relevant experience as a working chair of the board of directors?
The way the Divisional League has acted, especially during the Corona pandemic, has been very little as an interest organization. They listened to the Norwegian Football Association rather than caring about the members. I mean to know that there have been many good and qualified candidates who have come forward, replies the Skeid leader.
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“Since the operation has been run as it has been run, and I have been completely sidelined, I see no problem in continuing my work as Chief Business Officer of the Board of Directors,” says Kari Lindevik herself.
Do you think it is incompetent to be appointed by your board of directors?
– No. They managed the process on behalf of the Board of Directors and carried it out professionally. I had no idea who the other applicants were, after which I don’t consider that a problem, answers Lindevik, who was also part of the Norwegian Football Association. choose diameter This spring.
– Incredibly clumsy
Regarding criticism from Skeid leader Daniel Holmide Strand, Lindevik says that everyone has a right to express their opinions.
– Throughout the year with the spread of the epidemic, they did their best based on the circumstances. The PostNord League started last year and neither the norwegian tipping federation was neither the fault of the NFL nor the divisional association. We worked closely with NFF, Norsk Toppfotball, and Toppfotball Kvinner in a way that we thought was appropriate then and there, she explains.
Espen Nystuen, general manager of second-division club Kongsvinger, thinks divisional management should have seen the problems up front:
– Given that things happened the way you say it was, it was handled in an incredibly clumsy way. The chairwoman must understand that she is not applying for a job, as she has hired people from her board of directors to manage the hiring process, and at the same time remains seated. She has put her own board in a hopeless situation. The vice president and the rest of the board of directors in this case have to understand that they are incompetent in the hiring process, says Kongsvinger’s president for VG.
He himself has sat for four years as a board member of Norsk Toppfotball, the interests organization for 32 clubs in Eliteserien and Obosligaen and has nine years as a football captain behind him. He also predicts the consequences:
We expect to have a comprehensive statement on this at the next members meeting. And if that’s how you describe it, it’s bound to have consequences. We do not trust that people with such judgment will represent us in any context. I also hope the rest of the Norwegian soccer team won’t want to be aware of this, says Espen Nystoen.
Mixing allowed
Current Chairman Hugo Kjelseth answers the question of why his company Kjelseth Consulting did the Facebook marketing that helped find a general manager in the divisional association:
– Yes, then there is a little confusion. I’m the only employee there, so maybe it shouldn’t be like this. At least it wasn’t Kjelseth Consulting that did it. Kgelseth asserts that he serves as a member of the Board of Directors on a voluntary basis.
– If you are the only employee, maybe you are the one managing the Facebook page as well?
– Yes, that’s for sure. Hugo Kjelseth says he’s the one who contributed Hugo, maybe I should make that clear.
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