Fee agreed, wages agreed, and PK-35 waiting with a shirt. Nobody at GAIS is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at GAIS is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
“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 The request is on a desk at GAIS, and it is not being withdrawn.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Hammarby have kept their man, and GAIS go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Squad21 Feb 2033
Lovre Lončar 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.
“There is a gap, and pretending there is not helps nobody.” Neither side has moved, and the calendar is working for exactly one of them.
The dugout21 Feb 2033
The manager has not finished forgetting Ayman Benarous's mistake
Publicly it is behind everybody. It is not behind the man who picks the team, and the only place that shows is a team sheet. He will get another chance; he will get it in a match that matters less.
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.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Östersund waiting with a shirt. Nobody at GAIS is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around GAIS they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at GAIS this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Nassef Chourak 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 phone has started ringing about Alex Rahm again, and this time the name on the line is Östersund. GAIS are listening politely and promising nothing.
The offer from Oddevold for Freddy Bomo 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.
Elliot Stroud 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.
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Alex Rahm, and the manager let it.
Squad7 Feb 2033
Lovre Lončar 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.
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 Elliot Stroud is on it.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at GAIS is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Kevin Holmén 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.
Squad31 Jan 2033
Lovre Lončar 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.
“Some mornings you wake up and you are still a long way from everything you know.” It is not the football and it never was; GAIS are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Alex Rahm trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Nobody at GAIS 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.
Numbers do not stay secret in a dressing room and never have. He is not asking for more than he is worth; he is asking why somebody beside him is worth more, and at GAIS that is a harder question to answer.
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 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.
Nobody at GAIS 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.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Daníel Guðjohnsen signs something — a contract at GAIS or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason GAIS will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Position 3, 59 points, and the result everyone checks first is now theirs. The word is still not being said around the ground, which is how you know everyone is thinking it.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around GAIS they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
“I have ambitions, and I would like the club to share them.” Nobody has asked to leave and nobody has been shown the door — but a player chooses that sentence carefully, and a boardroom hears it exactly as it was meant.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at GAIS this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Lovre Lončar 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 GAIS, another week without a signature from Ayman Benarous.
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 Holmén is on it.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 28 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
There are footballers who have a good season and footballers a season is remembered for, and the second kind get their names read out in a hall in the summer. GAIS will be quietly delighted and privately nervous.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at GAIS is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Kevin Holmén 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.
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at GAIS, another week without a signature from Anton Eriksson.
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 Lovre Lončar is on it.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. GAIS will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around GAIS they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Lovre Lončar 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 dugout27 Dec 2032
The manager has not finished forgetting Ayman Benarous's mistake
Publicly it is behind everybody. It is not behind the man who picks the team, and the only place that shows is a team sheet. He will get another chance; he will get it in a match that matters less.
Nobody at GAIS 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.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around GAIS they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at GAIS this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad20 Dec 2032
Lovre Lončar 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.
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.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at GAIS, and both men came out saying it was fine.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at GAIS is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Elliot Stroud 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Lovre Lončar was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at GAIS has been clear about where Emmanuel Gono stands, which is more than many ever get.
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 Lovre Lončar is on it.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at GAIS is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
“I want to be playing for trophies while my legs still let me.” Nothing in that sentence is a transfer request, and nobody at GAIS heard it as anything else.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at GAIS this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
28 games and 11 goals away from here, and a man the manager did not have last summer. The loan did what loans are supposed to do and almost never do.
Squad29 Nov 2032
Lovre Lončar 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.
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.
There is a figure at which a wage bill stops being ambitious and becomes the reason nothing else is possible, and this club has reached it. Nothing is left over for a transfer, a stand or a rainy afternoon.
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.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around GAIS they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” GAIS have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Nassef Chourak 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.
6 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.
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 Holmén is on it.
Qualification is secured, and next season the big floodlit nights are continental ones. For the players it is a stage; for the accounts it is a lifeline; for the supporters it is passports.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” GAIS have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
There are footballers who have a good season and footballers a season is remembered for, and the second kind get their names read out in a hall in the summer. GAIS will be quietly delighted and privately nervous.
Kevin Holmén 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 one award nobody else on the pitch can win goes to Viktor Andersson, on 16 clean sheets across the season. Keepers wait a career for a season like it.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Lovre Lončar was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
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.
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 board had gone up, the arguing had started, and then the ball was in the net in the 92th minute. IFK Goteborg will replay every second of the added time for a week.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around GAIS they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Elliot Stroud 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Lovre Lončar was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
A player who expected to start watched it instead. The manager will call it a decision for the team; Ayman Benarous will call it something else in private.
In brief
The dugoutThe manager makes an example of Sander Larsen
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around GAIS they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
4 wins in a row changes how opponents warm up: quieter, more glances across. Runs end, everybody knows that — but nobody in this dressing room is planning for it.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at GAIS this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Nassef Chourak 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 player who expected to start watched it instead. The manager will call it a decision for the team; Ibrahim Diabaté will call it something else in private.
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.
Two goals and a mark of 8.74 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what GAIS can pretend not to have heard.
3 wins in a row changes how opponents warm up: quieter, more glances across. Runs end, everybody knows that — but nobody in this dressing room is planning for it.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Ibrahim Diabaté. 2‑0 against Västerås SK, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
25 appearances away from home and 13 goals to show for them. Every one of them makes next summer's conversation a little more expensive.
Squad25 Oct 2032
Lovre Lončar 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 board had gone up, the arguing had started, and then the ball was in the net in the 93th minute. Brommapojkarna will replay every second of the added time for a week.
Elliot Stroud 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.
Marked 9.50 — the sort of number a correspondent writes down twice to be sure. Everything he tried came off, and what he did not try was not worth trying.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Lovre Lončar 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 earned that. I asked them for a reaction and I got one, and now I want the same again on Saturday.” Adam Lustig on a 3‑2 afternoon that pleased him more than he was prepared to show.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around GAIS they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
“I have ambitions, and I would like the club to share them.” Nobody has asked to leave and nobody has been shown the door — but a player chooses that sentence carefully, and a boardroom hears it exactly as it was meant.
Elliot Stroud 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Nassef Chourak was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Every long career reaches the week the last one is thought about. He would like it to be where he started, and GAIS know now that the thought has arrived.
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.
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at GAIS, another week without a signature from Anton Eriksson.
There is no worse way to lose a footballer. Lovre Lončar 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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at GAIS this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: James Bogere. 2‑0 against IFK Värnamo, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Lovre Lončar was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Player ratings4 Oct 2032
Ibrahim Diabaté was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.16. 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.
“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 GAIS know it.
AIK go through and GAIS go home, 0‑1 the scoreline that did it. The dressing room will call the league the priority now, because that is what dressing rooms say.
23 appearances away from home and 13 goals to show for them. Every one of them makes next summer's conversation a little more expensive.
Squad27 Sep 2032
Lovre Lončar 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.
100 games in the shirt. Nobody sets out to build a record like that; it happens to a certain kind of player at a certain kind of club, and this town knows what it has.
15 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.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what GAIS can pretend not to have heard.
3 wins on the spin now, and the question has changed from whether the run ends to who ends it. Confidence like this cannot be bought; it has to be earned exactly this way.
Elliot Stroud 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.
Warm-up bib, ninety minutes of watching, and a handshake at the end that fooled nobody. Big matches tell you who a manager trusts; this one told James Bogere.
“The players deserve the credit. My job was easy today.” It was not, and everybody in the room knew it; after 1‑0, Adam Lustig could afford to be generous.
Elliot Stroud 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.
Successful dribbles: 18. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad13 Sep 2032
Lovre Lončar 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 dugout13 Sep 2032
The manager’s verdict
“I am not going to get carried away and I will not let them either. It was a good day. There will be harder ones.” Adam Lustig kept it short after the 2‑0 win, which is what managers do when they are happy.
Nobody at GAIS 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.
Omar Faraj has gone, the accounts have $2.0M 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.
“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 GAIS, and it is not being withdrawn.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Jonás Oberman will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around GAIS the goodbyes have quietly begun.
The number the board signed off was not enough. It has been asked again and raised its own offer to $35.0K — a club that wants Mouhamadou Fall enough to be asked twice.
$31.0K on the table at IFK Värnamo. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.
GAIS have gone to BK Hacken 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.
Squad26 Jul 2032
Elliot Stroud 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.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what GAIS can pretend not to have heard.
The clubs have shaken hands with AIK; the player has not yet. Personal terms are next, and personal terms are where more deals die than anybody prints.
Kevin Holmén 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.
$200.0K on the table at IFK Värnamo. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Elliot Stroud 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.
Nothing happens for months and then he simply arrives, at no cost, having signed a pre-contract while still turning out for somebody else. It is the least dramatic way to sign a footballer and frequently the shrewdest.
The run now stands at 4, and the questions being asked around GAIS are no longer polite ones.
Squad7 Jun 2032
Elliot Stroud 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 clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at GAIS is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
“I have ambitions, and I would like the club to share them.” Nobody has asked to leave and nobody has been shown the door — but a player chooses that sentence carefully, and a boardroom hears it exactly as it was meant.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Elliot Stroud was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“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 GAIS know it.
“A point is a point and I will take it, but we should have had all three.” Adam Lustig after the 1‑1 draw, and the sentence every manager in the country said at some stage this weekend.
Two goals and a mark of 8.76 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Simon Stüker will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around GAIS the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Squad26 Apr 2032
Elliot Stroud 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.
Nobody at GAIS 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.
Arseniy Skopets 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
Looking aheadGAIS take on the side everybody is chasing
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. GAIS have lost him in all but the paperwork.
He arrived for a fee and leaves for a fraction of it. $42.3K of what GAIS paid for Awaka Djoro is money the club will not see again, and the boardroom will be asked about it for two seasons.
“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 GAIS, and it is not being withdrawn.
Boardroom5 Apr 2032
Deadline passes with 15 signed and 14 gone
That is the business done at GAIS 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.
The offer from Västerås SK for Hugo Komano 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Elliot Stroud 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.
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.
“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 GAIS, and it is not being withdrawn.
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around GAIS people have started saying his name in the past tense.
“I want to be playing for trophies while my legs still let me.” Nothing in that sentence is a transfer request, and nobody at GAIS heard it as anything else.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Elliot Stroud 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.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Djurgarden have kept their man, and GAIS go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Alex Rahm 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.
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.
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.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at GAIS is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
The clubs have shaken hands with Västerås SK; the player has not yet. Personal terms are next, and personal terms are where more deals die than anybody prints.
Kevin Holmén 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Elliot Stroud was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
GAIS asked and Hammarby 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 clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around GAIS people have started saying his name in the past tense.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what GAIS can pretend not to have heard.
Add another name to the list: IFK Värnamo have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Leo Östman. The answer from GAIS has not changed — yet.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Elliot Stroud was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at GAIS this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“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 GAIS, and it is not being withdrawn.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Halmstad waiting with a shirt. Nobody at GAIS is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
“I want to be playing for trophies while my legs still let me.” Nothing in that sentence is a transfer request, and nobody at GAIS heard it as anything else.
Kevin Holmén 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Elliot Stroud 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.
GAIS asked and Djurgarden said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
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.
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.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around GAIS they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Kevin Holmén 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.
Squad26 Jan 2032
Elliot Stroud 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.
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 Lovre Lončar is on it.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. GAIS know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at GAIS, and both men came out saying it was fine.
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 Massimo Bertagnoli has written the date down.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Zakhar Gitselev will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around GAIS the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Elliot Stroud 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Marinus Larsen 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.
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 Omar Faraj is on it.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at GAIS, and both men came out saying it was fine.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what GAIS can pretend not to have heard.
Squad12 Jan 2032
Elliot Stroud 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.
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 Holmén is on it.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Teo Helge trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Position 5, 54 points, and a run-in that decides whether next season has Thursday nights in it. Nobody is calling it a race yet, which is what people say during one.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 26 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at GAIS is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Marinus Larsen was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Simon Stüker 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.
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 Lovre Lončar is on it.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. GAIS know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
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.
Numbers do not stay secret in a dressing room. He is not asking for more than he is worth; he is asking why somebody beside him is worth more, and GAIS have no good answer.
In brief
The dugoutMarco Burch knocks on the manager’s door
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. GAIS will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Anthony Olusanya will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around GAIS the goodbyes have quietly begun.
There is no worse way to lose a footballer. Zakhar Gitselev 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.
Elliot Stroud 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Marinus Larsen was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at GAIS, and both men came out saying it was fine.
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.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Marinus Larsen 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.
“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 GAIS know it.
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.
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.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at GAIS, and both men came out saying it was fine.
A brace, and Lovre Lončar takes the afternoon — 8.22
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Lovre Lončar provided it, and the 8.22 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
0 on the scoresheet on his first appearance and a mark of 7.23 beside it. Most debuts are got through; this one was enjoyed, by him and by everybody watching it.
Nobody upstairs has said anything, which is the loudest thing they could do. Results buy silence in this game; the account at Falkenberg is running low.
Maxim Tarasenko 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Matteo Porta was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Liam Karlsson was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Maxim Tarasenko 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.
“We earned that. I asked them for a reaction and I got one, and now I want the same again on Saturday.” Interim Coach on a 2‑0 afternoon that pleased him more than he was prepared to show.
Boardroom27 Oct 2031
Nobody arrives at Falkenberg until somebody leaves
The club is not barred from spending; it simply has nothing to spend that it has not first raised. Every name linked with Falkenberg this window arrives with a name leaving in the same sentence.
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at Falkenberg has been clear about where Alexandru Greab stands, which is more than many ever get.
A brace, and Lovre Lončar takes the afternoon — 8.16
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Lovre Lončar provided it, and the 8.16 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Squad20 Oct 2031
Liam Karlsson 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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Falkenberg this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Lovre Lončar. 2‑0 against Kalmar FF, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
There is a figure at which a wage bill stops being ambitious and becomes the reason nothing else is possible, and this club has reached it. Nothing is left over for a transfer, a stand or a rainy afternoon.
Something was said to Lovre Lončar and then it happened. In this industry that passes for remarkable, and the dressing room noticed faster than any supporter could.
The dugout20 Oct 2031
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.” Interim Coach, on a 2‑0 win that he was already picking apart on the walk to the press room.
Nobody at Falkenberg 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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Falkenberg this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Boardroom22 Sep 2031
135% of the income goes out in wages at Falkenberg
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.
Squad22 Sep 2031
Matteo Porta 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.
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 Liam Karlsson is on it.
The dugout22 Sep 2031
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.” Interim Coach chose the glass-half-full version of 1‑1; the supporters left with the other one.
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.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Falkenberg can pretend not to have heard.
Squad15 Sep 2031
Words at Falkenberg training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Liam Karlsson 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 players deserve the credit. My job was easy today.” It was not, and everybody in the room knew it; after 2‑0, Interim Coach could afford to be generous.
He wheeled away like a man who had been carrying it for months, because he had. Falkenberg have their signing off the mark and one press-conference question retired.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Falkenberg can pretend not to have heard.
Squad8 Sep 2031
Liam Karlsson 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.
Maxim Tarasenko 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.
“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 Falkenberg will have to give him a reason to stay or an exit.
Umeå FC next, and one man in the Falkenberg dressing room knows their training ground better than his own. The reception will tell him what they thought of him.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Falkenberg know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
“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 Falkenberg, and it is not being withdrawn.
1 for Matteo Porta, marked 7.75, and a centre-half's name in the part of the report he normally only reaches by mistake. He will not be allowed to forget it in the dressing room for a month.
Maxim Tarasenko 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.
Squad1 Sep 2031
Matteo Porta 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.
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Hugo Östlund, and the manager let it.
The dugout1 Sep 2031
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.” Interim Coach, on a 2‑1 win that he was already picking apart on the walk to the press room.
The manager has a list and the board has a condition attached to it. That is not a crisis — half of football works this way — but it decides which of the two of them gets his way in August.
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Falkenberg, another week without a signature from Hugo Östlund.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Falkenberg have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
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.
Squad25 Aug 2031
Liam Karlsson 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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Falkenberg this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Boardroom25 Aug 2031
121% of the income goes out in wages at Falkenberg
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.
He is doing things every Saturday that nobody around him can answer. It is flattering for a season and a problem after that, and Falkenberg know which stage they are at.
Nobody at Falkenberg 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.
“A point is a point and I will take it, but we should have had all three.” Interim Coach after the 0‑0 draw, and the sentence every manager in the country said at some stage this weekend.
Some goals win a match and some take one off somebody else. Albin Andersson scored in the 89th minute, Öster had already begun thinking about the journey home, and Falkenberg took the lot.
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Falkenberg may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Boardroom18 Aug 2031
Deadline passes with 15 signed and 12 gone
That is the business done at Falkenberg 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.
The deal with GAIS 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.
Falkenberg had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at Västerås SK, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.
Falkenberg asked and Degerfors said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Albin Andersson. 2‑1 against Öster, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
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.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Falkenberg waiting with a shirt. Nobody at GAIS is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what GAIS can pretend not to have heard.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around GAIS they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Boardroom18 Aug 2031
GAIS close the window on a squad of their own making
26 in and 16 out, and no more changes for months. The manager has what he has, the supporters have their opinion of it, and the table will have the last word.
The fee was agreed and the flight was looked at — and then the phone stopped ringing. Malmo FF moved on, Leo Östman reports back to GAIS, and everybody pretends Monday is just Monday.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Elliot Stroud was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. RB Leipzig have kept their man, and GAIS go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. GAIS have done the hard part with AIK, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at GAIS is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Elliot Stroud 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.
GAIS asked and TSG Hoffenheim said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Simon Olsson was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Örgryte waiting with a shirt. Nobody at GAIS is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what GAIS can pretend not to have heard.
The clubs have shaken hands with Hammarby; the player has not yet. Personal terms are next, and personal terms are where more deals die than anybody prints.
One scored and one made, which is a different afternoon from scoring twice and an easier one to overlook. Marked 7.83, and involved in 2 of his side's goals.
GAIS offered $310.0K; Hammarby said it was not close. The manager will be told the money is still there for the right player, which is what managers are told.
He won it back and then made something of it, which is two jobs and the reason the scoreline looks the way it does. 13 combined actions and a mark of 7.20, and not one of them will make a highlights package.
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.
Nothing happens for months and then he simply arrives, at no cost, having signed a pre-contract while still turning out for somebody else. It is the least dramatic way to sign a footballer and frequently the shrewdest.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Ntandoyenkosi Mabaso will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around GAIS the goodbyes have quietly begun.
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.
GAIS have gone to Öster 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.
Add another name to the list: Örgryte have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Lovre Lončar. The answer from GAIS has not changed — yet.
The number the board signed off was not enough. It has been asked again and raised its own offer to $1.3M — a club that wants Vilmer Tyrén enough to be asked twice.
$320.0K on the table at Helsingborg. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.
Footballers are asked about their boyhood club so often that nobody listens to the answer. Aleksandar Janković has just signed for GAIS, and for once the answer mattered.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Elliot Stroud was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at GAIS is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Kevin Holmén 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.
Squad14 Jul 2031
Elliot Stroud 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.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Lovre Lončar. 2‑0 against Halmstad, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Half the programme played, position 7, 24 on the board. Doubling it is the sum every supporter has done and the only one nobody at the club will do out loud.
“We earned that. I asked them for a reaction and I got one, and now I want the same again on Saturday.” Adam Lustig on a 2‑0 afternoon that pleased him more than he was prepared to show.
3‑0, and the margin flattered nobody — it could have carried another goal or two without complaint. Afternoons like this are why people keep coming.
Player ratings16 Jun 2031
A brace, and Omar Faraj takes the afternoon — 9.02
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Omar Faraj provided it, and the 9.02 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around GAIS they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Elliot Stroud 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Marinus Larsen was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
200 games in the shirt. Nobody sets out to build a record like that; it happens to a certain kind of player at a certain kind of club, and this town knows what it has.