0‑4 to Malmo FF, and it was every bit as bad as the number suggests. There are defeats you argue about and defeats you apologise for; this was the second kind.
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.
3 matches, no goals, and a training ground that has tried everything. It will end — droughts always do — but nobody at GIF Sundsvall can tell you which week it ends in.
Position 15, 5 points, and every result so far reduced to one line. The second half of the season starts with the same squad and a different set of expectations.
0‑5 to Orebro, and it was every bit as bad as the number suggests. There are defeats you argue about and defeats you apologise for; this was the second kind.
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.
The board have said in public what they had been saying in private. Results between now and the next meeting decide it, and everybody in the building knows the arithmetic.
The official line will be that it was routine. It was not routine, the timing says so, and every person in that room knows what the next bad result costs.
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.
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.
5 matches, no goals, and a training ground that has tried everything. It will end — droughts always do — but nobody at GIF Sundsvall can tell you which week it ends in.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Alexandros Pantelidis was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
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 Kevin Filling is on it.
“There are things I liked and things we will be doing on Tuesday until they are right.” 0‑0, and a manager who had already decided what Tuesday looked like.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 37 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
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.
“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 Miguel Sandberg.
10 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 chances are being made and something is happening between the making and the finishing. 6 matches now, and the anxiety in the ground arrives a little earlier every week.
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.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Emil Bengtsson and GIF Sundsvall agree another 3 years.
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.
“There are things I liked and things we will be doing on Tuesday until they are right.” 0‑0, and a manager who had already decided what Tuesday looked like.
9 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.
0‑3 against IF Elfsborg, and no complaints that would survive the replay. The manager spoke about character afterwards; the terraces used shorter words.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. GIF Sundsvall will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
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.
The chances are being made and something is happening between the making and the finishing. 5 matches now, and the anxiety in the ground arrives a little earlier every week.
There is no worse way to lose a footballer. Leon Beronius 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.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what GIF Sundsvall can pretend not to have heard.
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. GIF Sundsvall have done the hard part with IFK Norrkoping, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
Lucas Forsberg 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 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.
Squad18 Mar 2030
Words at GIF Sundsvall training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Jesper Westermark 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.
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.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what GIF Sundsvall can pretend not to have heard.
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.
Squad25 Feb 2030
Words at GIF Sundsvall training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Jesper Westermark 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.
GIF Sundsvall have made the call to Malmo FF. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
A loan enquiry to IFK Norrkoping: cover, or a look at somebody the club cannot afford to buy yet. Either way the answer will come back inside the week.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Mille Eriksson signs something — a contract at GIF Sundsvall or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
The clubs have shaken hands with Djurgarden; the player has not yet. Personal terms are next, and personal terms are where more deals die than anybody prints.
The chase for Kevin Filling ended with $820.0K changing hands and BK Hacken out of reasons to say no. The supporters will judge the fee the only way that matters: on Saturdays.
Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at Malmo FF is saying, and nobody at GIF Sundsvall is enjoying the guessing.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Jesper Westermark was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
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.
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.
Squad28 Jan 2030
Words at GIF Sundsvall training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Jesper Westermark 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.
A conversation in the manager’s office, and a commitment that came out of it. Promises like that are cheap to make and expensive to break, and Daniel Henareh has written the date down.
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.
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 Lukas Bergquist is on it.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Adrian Skogmar signs something — a contract at GIF Sundsvall or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
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.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Herman Eriksson Björnfot trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
It has stopped being a mood in the stands and started being something organised. Boards can ignore a bad atmosphere for a long time; they cannot ignore this stage of it for very long at all.
The board’s statement ran to three sentences and one of them mentioned results. Viktor Hiljemark has managed long enough to translate: win soon, or the next statement is shorter.
The official line will be that it was routine. It was not routine, the timing says so, and every person in that room knows what the next bad result costs.
Ben Engdahl 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 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.
Every squad is half players the manager chose and half players he inherited. Leon Beronius was chosen, the man who chose him has gone, and he starts again from nothing under the next one.
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at GIF Sundsvall has been clear about where Leon Beronius stands, which is more than many ever get.
Squad26 Nov 2029
Words at GIF Sundsvall training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Daniel Mabomba 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.
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.
Ben Engdahl 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 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.
A conversation in the manager’s office, and a commitment that came out of it. Promises like that are cheap to make and expensive to break, and Daniel Henareh has written the date down.
“I did not come here to warm up in front of people.” He is out of contract eventually, he is old enough to count the weeks, and GIF Sundsvall will have to give him a reason to stay or an exit.
In brief
SquadHugo Östlund is not doing himself any favours
What was said behind closed doors has now been said in front of a microphone. Everybody at GIF Sundsvall can do the arithmetic, including the man it is aimed at.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what GIF Sundsvall can pretend not to have heard.
“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.
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.
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.
Every squad has men who were signed by a particular manager and men who were merely inherited. Leon Beronius is in the first group, and the man who wanted him here is no longer in the building.
Nothing is announced when this happens and everybody knows. He is a bigger part of the plan at GIF Sundsvall than he was a month ago, and the training ground worked that out before the team sheet said so.
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.
Position 14 and 13 points, and the table gets read bottom-up in this part of town. The calendar has stopped being a schedule and started being a countdown.
Lukas Bergquist 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 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.
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.
The dugout24 Sep 2029
The manager’s verdict
“I am frustrated, honestly. We did enough to win and we did not win.” Viktor Hiljemark was not hiding it after 0‑0, and nobody in the GIF Sundsvall dressing room was either.
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.
In brief
The dugoutLeon Beronius dropped after a run of poor form
A deal that was a phone call from completion at lunchtime was dead by midnight. GIF Sundsvall will try again when the window opens; BK Hacken may not be selling by then.
There is a version of every career where the player ends up somewhere he chose rather than somewhere that chose him. Leon Beronius is living that version at GIF Sundsvall, and it tends to show in the first month.
Lukas Bergquist 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.
GIF Sundsvall asked and BK Hacken said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.