Marked for Malik Kron
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match6 Sep 2027
37 points and nobody above them. The word is not being said around the ground yet, and it is being thought in every seat.
Market6 Sep 2027
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
Squad6 Sep 2027
Lucas Forsten-Kaufmann 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.
Squad6 Sep 2027
A row about effort at Ekenäs IF
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Asla Peltola was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout6 Sep 2027
Hugo Parra gets it from the manager
“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.
Boardroom6 Sep 2027
Wages swallow 93% of the Ekenäs IF income
Every club pays most of what it earns to its players. Paying nearly all of it is a different arrangement, and it has ended the same way every time it has been tried.
Squad6 Sep 2027
Somebody has moved past him. It is not a dropping and it is worse than one, because a dropping is about a Saturday and this is about where he stands.
Squad6 Sep 2027
It will be explained as a change for the team and it may even be one. Nobody who has worn one believes that, and neither does the man who has just had it taken away.
The dugout6 Sep 2027
Arttu Sivonen has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at Ekenäs IF 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.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market23 Aug 2027
Ekenäs IF say no — this time
The offer from IF Gnistan for Lucas Pimentel 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.
Market23 Aug 2027
Only the photograph left for Saidou Bah
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Saidou Bah will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Ekenäs IF the goodbyes have quietly begun.
The dugout23 Aug 2027
“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.
Boardroom23 Aug 2027
Deadline passes with 24 signed and 5 gone
That is the business done at Ekenäs IF 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.
Market23 Aug 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 Ekenäs IF, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad23 Aug 2027
Lucas Forsten-Kaufmann and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Transfer targets23 Aug 2027
Ekenäs IF asked and Pro Vercelli said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Squad23 Aug 2027
Asla Peltola 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 dugout23 Aug 2027
Asla Peltola gets it from the manager
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad15 Feb 2027
Felipe Afonso gets the move he always wanted
Footballers are asked about their boyhood club so often that nobody listens to the answer. Felipe Afonso has just signed for Ekenäs IF, and for once the answer mattered.
Boardroom15 Feb 2027
The number the board signed off was not enough. It has been asked again and raised its own offer to $33.4K — a club that wants Imani Lanquedoc enough to be asked twice.
Transfer targets15 Feb 2027
IF Gnistan wanted more than $870.0K and the board would not go there. Walked away, for now, which in a transfer window means until somebody blinks.
Squad15 Feb 2027
Matias Paavola 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.
Transfer targets15 Feb 2027
The offer went to Haka 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.
Transfer targets15 Feb 2027
The offer went to KTP 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.
Transfer targets15 Feb 2027
Ekenäs IF asked and HJK said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Squad15 Feb 2027
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Lucas Pimentel and Ekenäs IF agree another 3 years.
Squad15 Feb 2027
Too much change too quickly at Ekenäs IF
8 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.