In January 2014, six months after leaving Southampton, Vegard Forren was caught speeding in a Mercedes on West Quay Road, one of the busier routes in the city centre.

He was convicted of a motoring offence, having allegedly failed to tell police the driver’s identity two months after the incident and decided against returning to Southampton from Norway to attend the court hearing. Forren was fined £600, ordered to pay a £60 victim surcharge and £85 costs, and had six penalty points added to his driving licence.

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It was probably the most remarkable thing that happened to him in Southampton.

In January 2013, the centre-back became the first recruit of the Mauricio Pochettino era, signing from Molde FK, then managed by Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, for £4million. He left six months later without making a single first-team appearance, despite his agent at the time, Jim Solbakken — who also looks after the former Manchester United manager — saying he “absolutely” intended to stay and was “definitely” in the club’s plans. Instead, Forren went back to Molde for a fee which saw Southampton get their money back on him.

Another spell in England followed at Brighton & Hove Albion in 2017. But, again, Forren left without playing a game — lasting only four months — and then re-joined Molde once more.

Since then, Forren, a Norway international with 33 caps who made headlines in September 2014 for describing Wayne Rooney as “chubby” before a friendly against England, has largely faded into obscurity.

In his homeland, however, he has been engulfed by scandal.

In May 2020, Forren’s contract at Molde was terminated after he was accused of taking money out of the team’s fine fund to cover his gambling debts.

Then, last August, he was charged with raping a woman at a late-night, unsanctioned party at a football stadium which also broke COVID-19 rules.

He was not named by police at the time and the charges were dropped in October. In February this year, Forren confirmed he was the man charged with rape. He has repeatedly denied the accusations and labelled the ordeal a “brutal experience”.

When contacted by The Athletic, Forren declined the chance to participate in an interview, with the player’s representative citing his preference to maintain a low profile.

He is still playing football, aged 34, for a Norwegian third-division side.

In March 2019, Forren signed a new two-year deal at Molde.

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“This is a big day for me, hopefully also for the fans and the club as well,” said Forren. “We have some exciting years ahead of us. We have built up the club in recent years and set a standard. I will be involved in the ambitions we now have for several years to come.”

Fourteen months later, though, his time at Molde came to an abrupt and divisive end.

Forren had been responsible for collecting the player’s fines over the previous two years. He called himself the “fine manager”. The money was supposed to be used for team bonding trips, with a proportion going to charity.

Forren was accused of stealing money gathered from the team’s “penalty fund” to cover his gambling debts and later admitted he made a “number of withdrawals as short-term loans” from the kitty to settle debts to friends. He then attempted to reimburse the pot at a later date, so his actions would go undetected. “I never intended to steal,” he told Norwegian outlet TV 2. “I always had an intention to repay everything. But I haven’t managed that.”

In a club statement, Molde announced Forren would leave by mutual agreement on May 31, 2020.

The exact details of his departure remained confidential between Molde and Forren, although he was asked to settle any outstanding debt to the penalty fund. 

Molde had first been made aware of Forren’s gambling issues in 2015 when both parties decided he should seek professional help. In March 2020, two months before his contract was ripped up, the player consented to further support.

In his TV interview, Forren accepted his gambling had become an “illness”.

“It has been a challenge since I started making money,” he added. “You come home and are afraid that she (his wife, designer Cathrine Valgermo Forren) will find out at home. It takes away energy. It has taken me a long time to understand that. But I am satisfied with the support from those close to me.”

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Senior officials at Molde did not reply to The Athletic’s request for comment.

Forren, though, was a Norway international and a free agent and he attracted interest from other top-flight Norwegian sides. Nine days after leaving Molde, he signed a one-year deal with SK Brann.

He made 36 appearances for Brann over two campaigns. Then, on August 11, 2021, midway through his second season at the club, Brann and Forren announced they had agreed to terminate his contract due to “family reasons”.

This came two days after Forren went to an unsanctioned late-night party in a downstairs common room inside the club’s stadium. Brann insisted the two incidents were unrelated.

Twelve players and seven women attended the party which went into the early hours of the next day. On August 26, less than a fortnight on, one of the players was formally charged with Section 291 of the Norwegian Criminal Code. There were allegations of rape and a woman being bitten at the party.

The player, who had his phone seized by Norway’s west district police and was questioned twice, denied the charges. The case was dropped on the account of insufficient evidence on October 20.

The incident attracted huge media attention in Norway. What was painted as an unsanctioned team-bonding exercise to boost morale that went wrong turned into a moral debate about a booze-filled party attended by footballers at a time when Norway was under strict COVID-19 rules. CCTV cameras at the 18,000-capacity Brann Stadion had captured many aspects of what happened that night.

Brann’s supporters were indignant and demanded answers. In their first home game after the party, a banner reading “Scum” was held aloft in the crowd. Supporters then held a silent protest during the match, where an eerie silence greeted a goal scored by their own team.

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“The club has worked intensively to get to the bottom of the very serious breaches of trust from 12 of our players,” said Brann in a statement shortly afterwards. “The investigation showed a breach of guidelines, general norms, corona(virus) restriction rules and reasonable expectations of our employees.”

In February this year, Forren publicly revealed he was the player who had been charged with rape six months earlier, insisting it was an accusation he still denied. He also denied all alleged breaches of Section 291 of the Criminal Code, which includes sexual intercourse with violence or threatening behaviour.

Speaking to Molde-based newspaper Romsdals Budstikke, he labelled the investigation “unfair”. The 34-year-old went on to detail his struggles sleeping while inquiries were ongoing, labelling it a “brutal experience”.

“I found it unfair that I was under investigation for something serious that I was sure I was not guilty of,” he said. “I regret the choice we made when we went to the stadium. It was a bad assessment that had consequences for many.

“It was extra hard because so many people around me were affected by the situation. At the same time, I felt support and love from many that I myself felt I did not deserve. I found out who my friends were during this time.”

Norwegian lawyer Beate Hamre, who provided legal aid to the alleged victim, did not respond to The Athletic’s request for comment.

Brann declined to comment when approached by The Athletic, saying they were not prepared to make a statement on a matter that took place last year and that wished to move on from the incident.

The club pointed to the statement confirming Forren’s exit last August, made by sporting director Jimmi Nagel Jacobsen: “In recent weeks, we have been looking for opportunities for Vegard to find a new club. He has not been able to contribute as much as he wanted on the pitch this season due to injuries, and he has a family situation that has made the last few days difficult for him.

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“We have tried to find a new club for him, but so far it has not been successful. By ending the employment relationship now, there is still time before the transfer window closes.”

On September 22, 2021 six weeks after leaving Brann, Forren signed for Eide og Omegn FK, a part-time team third from bottom in Norway’s fourth division. “I needed to get out and do something,” said Forren.

With all charges dropped, Forren was free to continue his career. He joined his fourth club in two years on February 11, agreeing a deal with third-tier side SK Traeff until December 31.

A club official said: “We as a club are happy that Vegard is here playing for us with his background as a former professional and national player. He contributes on a professional level on and off the field and has a high star among his fellow team-mates. We hope that we together with Vegard can bring our club to the best position possible in SK Taeff’s league history.”

(Top photo: Trond Tandberg/Getty Images)