The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at GIF Sundsvall is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
“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.
He asked about his future and was given an answer with minutes in it. The manager has now made a promise in a building where promises are remembered, and the clock on it has started.
There is a version of every career where the player ends up somewhere he chose rather than somewhere that chose him. Saeed Al-Qahtani is living that version at GIF Sundsvall, and it tends to show in the first month.
Squad17 Jan 2028
Asker Beck 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.
He is 15, and nobody at GIF Sundsvall signed him for this season. Deals like this are judged in four years, by people who may not still be in the building.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at GIF Sundsvall, and both men came out saying it was fine.
He trains hard, says the right things and goes home to an empty flat. Nobody at GIF Sundsvall has done anything wrong, which is exactly what makes it so difficult to fix.
He asked about his future and was given an answer with minutes in it. The manager has now made a promise in a building where promises are remembered, and the clock on it has started.
In brief
MarketThe clock does Marius Refsnes’s negotiating for him
Nobody upstairs has said anything, which is the loudest thing they could do. Results buy silence in this game; the account at GIF Sundsvall is running low.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around GIF Sundsvall they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
“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.
Squad27 Dec 2027
Words at GIF Sundsvall training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Asker Beck 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.
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at GIF Sundsvall, another week without a signature from Elvis Hansson.
Nobody at GIF Sundsvall 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.
Nobody will confirm this and nothing else explains the last month of selections. A costly error buys a player a period of being second choice that is always longer than the error was.
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at GIF Sundsvall, another week without a signature from Samuel Tammivuori.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. GIF Sundsvall know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
The language has come, the shrug has gone, and he argues in training like a man who expects to be here next year. None of it shows up on a fee and all of it shows up on the pitch.
Somebody to talk to at the next peg, a few words of the language, and a training ground that has stopped being a foreign country. It never appears in a scouting report and it decides most signings.
In brief
BoardroomThe GIF Sundsvall production line keeps running
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” GIF Sundsvall have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Asker Beck was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
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.
The dugout15 Nov 2027
Elvis Hansson is still being punished for one mistake
Nobody will confirm it and the team sheets confirm it every week. One error has bought him a spell as second choice that is already longer than the error deserved.
A year in and the city has not opened up, the language has not come, and lunch is eaten alone more often than anybody at GIF Sundsvall would admit. It shows on Saturdays.
“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.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. GIF Sundsvall know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
In brief
MarketThe clock does Amaro Bahtijar’s negotiating for him
“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.
Squad18 Oct 2027
Words at GIF Sundsvall training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Asker Beck 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.
The dugout18 Oct 2027
The manager’s verdict
“That is on me. I pick the team and I picked wrong.” Managers say that when they mean it and when they need to be seen to, and after 1‑2 Mattias Jansson left the room before anybody could ask which.
Randy Obam Bandolo 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.
Nobody will confirm this and nothing else explains the last month of selections. A costly error buys a player a period of being second choice that is always longer than the error was.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Rio von Schéele Rosén and GIF Sundsvall agree another 4 years.
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at GIF Sundsvall, another week without a signature from Jonas Olsson.
Every shape has positions in it and this one does not have his. GIF Sundsvall will either change the shape, change his job, or change his club, and he is waiting to hear which.
It is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. GIF Sundsvall told James Bogere something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
5 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.
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 Jonas Olsson is on it.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Alexander Bundgaard trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” GIF Sundsvall have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
He is 21, he is averaging 7.01, and older professionals have started passing to him in the difficult minutes. That last part is the real scouting report.
“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 1‑2, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at GIF Sundsvall, another week without a signature from Malte Hallin.
He is not being dropped. There is simply nowhere in the formation GIF Sundsvall are playing to put a man who does what he does, which is a harder thing to be told than any team sheet.
6 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.
The number the board signed off was not enough. It has been asked again and raised its own offer to $55.6K — a club that wants Clancy Biten Valere enough to be asked twice.
$360.0K was the most the club would pay and Falkenberg were asking for more. Deals like this are revived in the last week of a window roughly half the time, and everybody involved knows it.
The offer went to Helsingborg this week and it is theirs to answer. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loud the door closes.
GIF Sundsvall asked and IFK Goteborg said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
At 22 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.
Successful dribbles: 20. 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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at GIF Sundsvall this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 22-year-old it feels ownership of. Montader Madjed has it now, and everything he does for the rest of his time here will be measured against the goodwill he was handed for free.
“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 ratings5 Jul 2027
Montader Madjed was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.04. There are performances a supporter describes to somebody who was not there and cannot quite convey; this was one, and the number does not help either.
11 without a win is the sort of run that changes how a town talks about its club, and AIK were the afternoon it stopped. Nothing is fixed by one result and everything feels different by one.
The hardest thing about being 20 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Suwaibou Kebbeh did not need any: 7.98, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
Noel Hansson 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.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 20-year-old it feels ownership of. Suwaibou Kebbeh has it now, and everything he does for the rest of his time here will be measured against the goodwill he was handed for free.
Successful dribbles: 21. 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.
Halmstad held the lead for 2 minutes, which is not long enough to enjoy it. GIF Sundsvall answered before the celebration had properly finished, and the shape of the afternoon changed with it.
“It is not the end of the world and it is not good enough. Both of those are true.” The manager, after a 2‑2 draw, said the honest thing and then went to say it again inside.
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at GIF Sundsvall, another week without a signature from Amaro Bahtijar.
The one version of being left out a player cannot argue with, and the one he takes worst. Somebody else has been better and the team sheet says so, in public, every week until it changes.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at GIF Sundsvall this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at GIF Sundsvall, another week without a signature from Noel Hansson.
Something was said to Ola Visted and then it happened. In this industry that passes for remarkable, and the dressing room noticed faster than any supporter could.
“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 0‑1, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
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 Jonas Olsson is on it.
Hammarby go through and GIF Sundsvall go home, 1‑3 the scoreline that did it. The dressing room will call the league the priority now, because that is what dressing rooms say.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at GIF Sundsvall this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 22-year-old it feels ownership of. Ola Visted has it now, and everything he does for the rest of his time here will be measured against the goodwill he was handed for free.
1 error, one goal, and a night in front of the same three seconds. He will see it tonight, tomorrow and probably in February, and everybody who has played knows exactly which frame he keeps stopping on.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Alieu Atlee Manneh and GIF Sundsvall agree another 4 years.
The dugout26 Apr 2027
The manager’s verdict
“That is on me. I pick the team and I picked wrong.” Managers say that when they mean it and when they need to be seen to, and after 2‑3 Mattias Jansson left the room before anybody could ask which.
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at GIF Sundsvall, another week without a signature from Alexandros Pantelidis.
Somebody else has been better, the manager has said so with a team sheet, and there is no argument to be had. He will get the shirt back the only way it can be got back.
Ninety specific minutes wanted a different sort of player, and the manager picked one. He is not out of form and he is not in the side, and both are true.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Marc Manchón will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around GIF Sundsvall the goodbyes have quietly begun.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at GIF Sundsvall this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
10 new signings in one window. Every one may be an upgrade and the side can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild the verdicts never mention.
Nobody will confirm this and nothing else explains the last month of selections. A costly error buys a player a period of being second choice that is always longer than the error was.
The dugout21 Sep 2026
The manager’s verdict
“That is on me. I pick the team and I picked wrong.” Managers say that when they mean it and when they need to be seen to, and after 0‑1 Mattias Jansson left the room before anybody could ask which.
Nobody at GIF Sundsvall 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.
Squad21 Sep 2026
A GIF Sundsvall teenager takes the young player award
Mille Eriksson is 20, and for one weekend he was the best of everybody his age in the division. Nobody should build a career on it and everybody quietly does.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Hugo Aviander will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around GIF Sundsvall the goodbyes have quietly begun.
The hardest thing about being 19 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Mille Eriksson did not need any: 8.53, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 19-year-old it feels ownership of. Mille Eriksson has it now, and everything he does for the rest of his time here will be measured against the goodwill he was handed for free.
Every shape has positions in it and this one does not have his. GIF Sundsvall will either change the shape, change his job, or change his club, and he is waiting to hear which.
In brief
SquadA GIF Sundsvall teenager takes the young player award
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 9 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
Hammarby go through and GIF Sundsvall go home, 0‑2 the scoreline that did it. The dressing room will call the league the priority now, because that is what dressing rooms say.
The offer from Malmo FF for Taiki Kagayama 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.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around GIF Sundsvall they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Boardroom17 Aug 2026
Deadline passes with 15 signed and 1 gone
That is the business done at GIF Sundsvall until the window opens again. Whether it was enough will be answered on Saturdays rather than in a column, and the first Saturday is close.
There is no worse way to lose a footballer. Samuel Tammivuori has pre-agreed a move away, which means every appearance between now and June is made by a man the club can no longer sell, and somebody upstairs will be asked why the contract was allowed to get here.
Marc Manchón 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.
In brief
The dugoutThe manager makes an example of Jonas Olsson