Marked for Jonathan Hutters
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Transfer targets31 Jul 2028
$800.0K settles it between the clubs for Mikael Anderson
AGF have accepted the money. What HB Køge do not yet have is the man, and between here and the photograph is a conversation about wages that both sides are dreading.
Match29 Jul 2028
The wait goes on for HB Køge
5 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
Transfer targets31 Jul 2028
The deal with SonderjyskE died in the treatment room. Nobody will say what was found and everybody in the game will find out by Friday.
Squad31 Jul 2028
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at HB Køge this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad31 Jul 2028
Nicolai Boilesen falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Transfer targets31 Jul 2028
The approach was made and the answer came back in a sentence. There is no number on the table because there was no number that would have been enough.
The dugout31 Jul 2028
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Jonathan Hutters, and the manager let it.
Match29 Jul 2028
A bad afternoon for HB Køge against Hobro
0‑1 to Hobro, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Player ratings31 Jul 2028
Successful dribbles: 16. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Market24 Jul 2028
HB Køge say no — this time
The offer from Vejle for Jonathan Hutters was heard out and sent back the same day. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loudly the door closes.
Market24 Jul 2028
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at HB Køge, and it is not being withdrawn.
The terraces24 Jul 2028
HB Køge sell a favourite for $1.1M
The accountants will call it good business and they will be right, which is not the point anybody outside the boardroom is making. Araphat Mohammed was one of the reasons people came, and $1.1M does not replace that by itself.
The dugout24 Jul 2028
Søren Andreasen: that is not what I was promised
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” HB Køge have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Transfer targets24 Jul 2028
The deal with Hvidovre is done in every sense but the one that puts him on the pitch. Nothing goes wrong at this stage, except on the occasions when it does.
Boardroom24 Jul 2028
HB Køge moved before anybody else could: a new deal for Simon Braithwaite, agreed quietly and announced loudly. Boards extend managers for many reasons; the good one is the one this looks like.
Match22 Jul 2028
The wait goes on for HB Køge
4 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
Boardroom24 Jul 2028
5 academy graduates step up at HB Køge
Senior shirt numbers handed to boys the coaches have known since they were twelve. Most will not make it and all of them have already done the hard part.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad24 Apr 2028
The medical room confirms 43 days on the sidelines for Jonathan Hutters, and a plan built around him now has to be rebuilt.
Squad24 Apr 2028
Oliver Kjærgaard was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
The dugout24 Apr 2028
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.
Squad24 Apr 2028
Words at HB Køge training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Laurits Bust is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Squad24 Apr 2028
“I respect the manager and I am not going to sit here and pretend I am happy.” It is the most common sentence in football and it has never once been the end of a story.
The dugout24 Apr 2028
Erkan Semovski knocks on the manager’s door
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Erkan Semovski trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad27 Dec 2027
7 saves, and a scoreline the ten men in front of him had no right to. Goalkeepers only get noticed on the bad days; this was one of the other ones.
Transfer targets27 Dec 2027
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: another club keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
Squad27 Dec 2027
A falling-out at HB Køge
Oliver Kjærgaard and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad27 Dec 2027
Words at HB Køge training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Nicolai Boilesen is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Match25 Dec 2027
Lyngby left with the points after a 0‑1 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Loan watch27 Dec 2027
“I did not go to Hillerød to sit and watch. I want to come back to HB Køge and fight for my place.” 3 appearances in 25 matches say the rest.
The dugout27 Dec 2027
“I could talk about decisions and I could talk about luck. I will not. We lost.” The manager, 0‑1, and a press conference that lasted four minutes.
Player ratings27 Dec 2027
Successful dribbles: 15. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
The dugout27 Dec 2027
The manager makes an example of Niklas Jakobsen
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Player ratings29 Nov 2027
Two goals and a mark of 8.22 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Market29 Nov 2027
Laurits Bust hands in a written request
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what HB Køge can pretend not to have heard.
Match27 Nov 2027
HB Køge make it 3 in a row
Momentum is a hard thing to buy and an easy thing to lose, and right now HB Køge have 3 straight wins of it.
Squad29 Nov 2027
A falling-out at HB Køge
Oliver Kjærgaard and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Match27 Nov 2027
It finished 3‑1, and it was Oliver Kjærgaard’s afternoon: on the scoresheet when it mattered, and the reason the points belong to HB Køge.
The terraces29 Nov 2027
At 23 he is being sung about by people twice his age, which is an affection a signing has to earn over years and a local kid gets for turning up. It is also the hardest thing in football to live up to.
Loan watch29 Nov 2027
“I did not go to Hillerød to sit and watch. I want to come back to HB Køge and fight for my place.” 3 appearances in 21 matches say the rest.
The dugout29 Nov 2027
Mads Kaalund left out for the big one
A player who expected to start watched it instead. The manager will call it a decision for the team; Mads Kaalund will call it something else in private.
The dugout29 Nov 2027
The view from the dugout
“We controlled it. There were spells I did not like and we will look at them, but the group showed me something.” Simon Braithwaite, on a 3‑1 win that he was already picking apart on the walk to the press room.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Match27 Oct 2027
HB Køge bow out of the cup
FC Midtjylland go through and HB Køge go home, 2‑3 the scoreline that did it. The dressing room will call the league the priority now, because that is what dressing rooms say.
Player ratings1 Nov 2027
Viktor Bjarki Daðason, 19, plays like he has been here for years — 8.11
A mark of 8.11 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 19-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
Market1 Nov 2027
Abel Ogwuche hands in a written request
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what HB Køge can pretend not to have heard.
Squad1 Nov 2027
A falling-out at HB Køge
Oliver Kjærgaard and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad1 Nov 2027
Words at HB Køge training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Nicolai Boilesen is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Loan watch1 Nov 2027
“I am grateful for the games, but I did not become a footballer to be somebody else's spare part.” He wants to be at HB Køge, and 3 appearances in 17 say he has earned the hearing.
The terraces1 Nov 2027
At 23 he is being sung about by people twice his age, which is an affection a signing has to earn over years and a local kid gets for turning up. It is also the hardest thing in football to live up to.
The dugout1 Nov 2027
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.
Loan watch1 Nov 2027
Christian Tue: I did not sign for HB Køge to play for other people
“Every summer it is another club, another set of team-mates, another manager to convince. I have done all that. Now I want a pre-season at HB Køge and a proper look at me.” He remains Hobro’s player until the spell runs out — but the argument is with the club that owns him.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Player ratings27 Sep 2027
Successful dribbles: 25. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
Squad27 Sep 2027
A season average of 7.00 at an age when most of his year group are still in the youth team. HB Køge know what they have, and so, by now, does everybody else.
Squad27 Sep 2027
Words exchanged at HB Køge
Nicolai Boilesen and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
The dugout27 Sep 2027
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
Match25 Sep 2027
Lyngby left with the points after a 0‑1 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
The dugout27 Sep 2027
“I could talk about decisions and I could talk about luck. I will not. We lost.” The manager, 0‑1, and a press conference that lasted four minutes.
The dugout27 Sep 2027
The plan did not have a place for Tobias Thomsen
Nobody at HB Køge is suggesting he is out of form. The manager simply wanted somebody with a different set of qualities for ninety specific minutes, and there is nothing a player can train to fix that.
Player ratings27 Sep 2027
8 shots, and a count that reads like a good afternoon until you check the other column. Strikers survive weeks like this on the understanding that the chances keep arriving; the day they stop is the day it becomes a problem.
The dugout27 Sep 2027
Niklas Jakobsen has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at HB Køge will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad9 Aug 2027
63 days out for Simon Neudhart after a fracture
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. HB Køge will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Match7 Aug 2027
The wait goes on for HB Køge
8 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
Match7 Aug 2027
The run is over for HB Køge
8 matches without defeat, and then Viborg. Nobody at the ground pretended it would go on forever; nobody expected it to stop here either.
Squad9 Aug 2027
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Dylan Gissi and HB Køge agree another 1 years.
Squad9 Aug 2027
Nicolai Boilesen falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Transfer targets9 Aug 2027
The approach was made and the answer came back in a sentence. There is no number on the table because there was no number that would have been enough.
Squad9 Aug 2027
Brage Hylen was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Match7 Aug 2027
Viborg left with the points after a 0‑2 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
The dugout9 Aug 2027
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad15 Mar 2027
Oliver Kjærgaard was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
The dugout15 Mar 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Nicolai Boilesen, and the manager let it.
Squad15 Mar 2027
Philip Slørdahl falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Squad15 Mar 2027
He trains hard, says the right things and goes home to an empty flat. Nobody at HB Køge has done anything wrong, which is exactly what makes it so difficult to fix.
Market15 Mar 2027
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. HB Køge know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
The dugout15 Mar 2027
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
The terraces18 Jan 2027
Alfred Gøthler has gone, the accounts have $510.0K in them, and the supporters have the feeling of having been sold something themselves. Good business and a good decision are not always the same thing.
Market18 Jan 2027
The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.
Market18 Jan 2027
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
Squad18 Jan 2027
Oliver Kjærgaard was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Market18 Jan 2027
AC Horsens paid $510.0K and HB Køge took it, which is the whole story in one sentence. The longer version involves a wage budget and will be told all season.
The dugout18 Jan 2027
It is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. HB Køge told Jonathan Hutters something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
Squad18 Jan 2027
Gabriël Çulhaci falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Transfer targets18 Jan 2027
A loan move for Emmanuel Yeboah is in the works
HB Køge have made the call to Brondby. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
Transfer targets18 Jan 2027
A loan enquiry to Tromso: cover, or a look at somebody the club cannot afford to buy yet. Either way the answer will come back inside the week.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Match19 Dec 2026
Oliver Kjærgaard had done his part in building a 2-goal cushion. What happened after that was collective, and Lyngby were allowed back into a match that had been finished with.
Player ratings21 Dec 2026
Two goals and a mark of 8.22 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Player ratings21 Dec 2026
Successful dribbles: 27. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
Squad21 Dec 2026
Oliver Kjærgaard was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
The dugout21 Dec 2026
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.
Player ratings21 Dec 2026
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.45, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
Match19 Dec 2026
A 3‑3 draw with Lyngby leaves the dressing room somewhere between relief and regret.
Squad21 Dec 2026
A row about effort at HB Køge
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Gabriël Çulhaci was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout21 Dec 2026
The view from the dugout
“We did not lose. Some weeks that is all you get, and I would rather have the point than not.” Simon Braithwaite chose the glass-half-full version of 3‑3; the supporters left with the other one.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad14 Dec 2026
There were 8 saves in it, and at least three that had no business being saves at all. The ten outfield players owe him a drink and they know it.
Player ratings14 Dec 2026
Successful dribbles: 25. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad14 Dec 2026
Oliver Kjærgaard falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
The terraces14 Dec 2026
He is 22 and the ground already sings his name, which is a thing that happens to local boys and almost never to signings. Everything from here is measured against an affection he did nothing to earn except be from here.
Squad14 Dec 2026
Laurits Bust was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
The dugout14 Dec 2026
The manager makes an example of Gabriël Çulhaci
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.
The dugout14 Dec 2026
Nicolai Boilesen asks for a word with the manager
“I would rather say it to his face than read about it.” The meeting was requested by the player, which tells you most of what you need to know.
The dugout14 Dec 2026
“A point is a point and I will take it, but we should have had all three.” Simon Braithwaite after the 0‑0 draw, and the sentence every manager in the country said at some stage this weekend.
Squad14 Dec 2026
Somebody watched every match in the division at the weekend and decided he was the best thing in any of them. A small honour, and most careers end without one.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Market30 Nov 2026
Only the photograph left for Christian Tue
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Christian Tue will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around HB Køge the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Squad30 Nov 2026
Abdoulaye Camara was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Match28 Nov 2026
Aalborg left with the points after a 0‑1 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Squad30 Nov 2026
200 times in these colours, in all weathers and under four or five different managers. That kind of service is quietly disappearing from the game.
Player ratings30 Nov 2026
Successful dribbles: 18. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Boardroom30 Nov 2026
Wages swallow 112% of the HB Køge income
Every club pays most of what it earns to its players. Paying nearly all of it is a different arrangement, and it has ended the same way every time it has been tried.
The dugout30 Nov 2026
The view from the dugout
“We will look at it, we will learn from it, and we go again.” The three sentences every manager keeps for a 0‑1 defeat, delivered by Simon Braithwaite to a room that had heard them before.
Squad30 Nov 2026
Gabriël Çulhaci falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
The dugout30 Nov 2026
Jonathan Hutters asks for a word with the manager
“I would rather say it to his face than read about it.” The meeting was requested by the player, which tells you most of what you need to know.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad23 Nov 2026
There were 7 saves in it, and at least three that had no business being saves at all. The ten outfield players owe him a drink and they know it.
Player ratings23 Nov 2026
Angelo Nehme beats them one at a time
Successful dribbles: 24. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
Squad23 Nov 2026
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at HB Køge this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad23 Nov 2026
Words at HB Køge training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Julian Faye Lund is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Match21 Nov 2026
Beaten 0‑1, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
The dugout23 Nov 2026
The view from the dugout
“We will look at it, we will learn from it, and we go again.” The three sentences every manager keeps for a 0‑1 defeat, delivered by Simon Braithwaite to a room that had heard them before.
The dugout23 Nov 2026
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at HB Køge, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Looking ahead23 Nov 2026
HB Køge take on the side everybody is chasing
Aalborg arrive as leaders. A side at the top is beaten roughly once a month, and the club that does it gets a week it remembers for a year.
The dugout23 Nov 2026
The manager makes an example of Bertil Grønkjær
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad12 Oct 2026
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 52 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Squad12 Oct 2026
Words exchanged at HB Køge
Abdoulaye Camara and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Squad12 Oct 2026
A row about effort at HB Køge
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Julian Faye Lund was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout12 Oct 2026
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
The dugout12 Oct 2026
Clubs make promises constantly and the page usually only hears about them when they are broken. This one was honoured, and the dressing room noticed that faster than any supporter did.
Squad12 Oct 2026
Too much change too quickly at HB Køge
10 signings in three months. Every one of them may be an upgrade and the team can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild that never appears in the transfer-window verdicts.
The dugout12 Oct 2026
Markus Walker gets picked when it counts
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Markus Walker is on it.
Market12 Oct 2026
Mike Jensen told to find a new club
“They were honest with me, and I would rather know.” Mike Jensen has been informed he is not in the manager's thinking at HB Køge.
Looking ahead12 Oct 2026
He used to wear the other shirt. On Saturday he plays against AC Horsens in this one, and whatever he says this week about it being just another game will be untrue.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad5 Oct 2026
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 60 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Market5 Oct 2026
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at HB Køge is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Squad5 Oct 2026
“I have given this everything, but my family is not here and neither am I, not really.” A footballer can be coached out of bad form. Nobody has ever been coached out of this, and HB Køge know it.
Squad5 Oct 2026
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at HB Køge this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The dugout5 Oct 2026
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.
Boardroom5 Oct 2026
134% of the income goes out in wages at HB Køge
Every club in football pays most of what it earns to its players. Paying nearly all of it is a different arrangement, and it has ended the same way every time somebody has tried it.
Player ratings5 Oct 2026
Successful dribbles: 16. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Player ratings5 Oct 2026
Marked 7.97 on an afternoon he ran from the first whistle to the last. Whatever else went wrong, HB Køge had the best player on the pitch.
Squad5 Oct 2026
Gabriël Çulhaci falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.