Marked for Conor McManus
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market19 Jul 2027
“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 The request is on a desk at Halmstad, and it is not being withdrawn.
The dugout19 Jul 2027
Conor McManus: 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.” Halmstad have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Player ratings19 Jul 2027
Mbaye Cissé 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.
Transfer targets19 Jul 2027
Halmstad have gone to Djurgarden with a bid, and the supporters have gone to the internet with an opinion about it. Whether either changes anything is up to the selling club.
Squad19 Jul 2027
Words exchanged at Halmstad
Rami Kaib 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.
Squad19 Jul 2027
A row about effort at Halmstad
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Joel Allansson was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Match17 Jul 2027
The goals have deserted Halmstad
3 matches, no goals, and a training ground that has tried everything. It will end — droughts always do — but nobody at Halmstad can tell you which week it ends in.
Market19 Jul 2027
Add another name to the list: Djurgarden have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Tom Trybull. The answer from Halmstad has not changed — yet.
Transfer targets19 Jul 2027
A loan enquiry to Malmo FF: cover, or a look at somebody the club cannot afford to buy yet. Either way the answer will come back inside the week.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad15 Feb 2027
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 18 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Match15 Feb 2027
Halmstad are in real trouble now
Position 14, 10 points, and a fixture list with fewer games left in it than excuses. The arithmetic is not cruel yet, but it has stopped being kind.
Market15 Feb 2027
The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.
Transfer targets15 Feb 2027
Halmstad had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at Malmo FF, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.
Squad15 Feb 2027
A falling-out at Halmstad
Rami Kaib and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Transfer targets15 Feb 2027
Halmstad asked and Molde said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
The dugout15 Feb 2027
The manager makes an example of Ajdin Zeljković
“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.
Squad15 Feb 2027
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Vincent Johansson commits to Halmstad for another 4 years.
Squad15 Feb 2027
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Halmstad can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad18 Jan 2027
52 days out for Ajdin Zeljković after a fracture
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Halmstad will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Match18 Jan 2027
Halmstad are in real trouble now
Position 14, 10 points, and a fixture list with fewer games left in it than excuses. The arithmetic is not cruel yet, but it has stopped being kind.
Squad18 Jan 2027
A falling-out at Halmstad
Rami Kaib and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad18 Jan 2027
Fran Topić 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 dugout18 Jan 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Aleksander Damnjanović Nilsson, and the manager let it.
The dugout18 Jan 2027
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Halmstad, and both men came out saying it was fine.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad4 Jan 2027
A fracture rules Ajdin Zeljković out for 67 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Halmstad will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Boardroom4 Jan 2027
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.
Boardroom4 Jan 2027
The scrutiny sharpens at Halmstad
Nobody upstairs has said anything, which is the loudest thing they could do. Results buy silence in this game; the account at Halmstad is running low.
Market4 Jan 2027
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Halmstad can pretend not to have heard.
Squad4 Jan 2027
Rami Kaib 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 dugout4 Jan 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.
The dugout4 Jan 2027
Omar Faraj without the man who signed him
Every squad is half players the manager chose and half players he inherited. Omar Faraj was chosen, the man who chose him has gone, and he starts again from nothing under the next one.
Squad4 Jan 2027
Conor McManus slips down the pecking order
The demotion a club never announces and a dressing room always notices. Conor McManus is further from the side than he was, and the reason will not be given until he asks.
Market4 Jan 2027
“We are a long way apart, and pretending otherwise helps nobody.” Neither side is close, and the calendar is not on the club's side.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad21 Dec 2026
A fracture rules Ajdin Zeljković out for 85 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Halmstad will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Match21 Dec 2026
Halmstad are in real trouble now
Position 14, 10 points, and a fixture list with fewer games left in it than excuses. The arithmetic is not cruel yet, but it has stopped being kind.
The dugout21 Dec 2026
“I was told what my role would be, and I signed on that basis. It has not happened.” A grievance with a date attached is the hardest kind to settle.
Squad21 Dec 2026
Words at Halmstad training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Fran Topić 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.
Squad21 Dec 2026
Conor McManus 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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad14 Dec 2026
94 days out for Ajdin Zeljković after a fracture
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Halmstad will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Squad14 Dec 2026
Rami Kaib in a row with a teammate
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Halmstad this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The dugout14 Dec 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Ajdin Zeljković, and the manager let it.
Squad14 Dec 2026
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Conor McManus and Halmstad agree another 4 years.
Market14 Dec 2026
The Omar Faraj talk will not go away
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Halmstad know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
The dugout14 Dec 2026
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.