Marked for Benjamin Twum
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match16 Aug 2036
11 matches without a win for Degerfors
The run now stands at 11, and the questions being asked around Degerfors are no longer polite ones.
Market18 Aug 2036
“I listened, I thought about it, and I am staying. That is the whole story.” The clubs had agreed a fee. Benjamin Twum had not agreed to go, which turned out to be the part that mattered.
Boardroom18 Aug 2036
Deadline passes with 10 signed and 15 gone
That is the business done at Degerfors 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.
Transfer targets18 Aug 2036
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Degerfors have done the hard part with Västerås SK, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
Transfer targets18 Aug 2036
Degerfors asked and Slavia Prague said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Squad18 Aug 2036
Words at Degerfors training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Rory Whittaker 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.
Match16 Aug 2036
A point taken on 89 minutes is worth exactly one point and considerably more than that to a dressing room. This side does not stop, which is a reputation worth more than the result.
Squad18 Aug 2036
Jussi Tanska and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
The dugout18 Aug 2036
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.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Crisis
The terraces4 Aug 2036
Supporters organise against the Degerfors board
A bad atmosphere can be waited out. A group of people meeting afterwards to decide what to do about it cannot, and everybody in the building knows which stage this is.
Match2 Aug 2036
The wait goes on for Degerfors
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.
Boardroom4 Aug 2036
The scrutiny sharpens at Degerfors
Nobody upstairs has said anything, which is the loudest thing they could do. Results buy silence in this game; the account at Degerfors is running low.
Market4 Aug 2036
“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.
Squad4 Aug 2036
398 appearances across 11 seasons in these colours. Careers like that are not built any more, and Degerfors know what they have.
Market4 Aug 2036
The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.
Transfer targets4 Aug 2036
The deal with FC Copenhagen 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.
Transfer targets4 Aug 2036
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.
Squad4 Aug 2036
A row about effort at Degerfors
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Rory Whittaker was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad14 Apr 2036
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 54 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Match12 Apr 2036
No end in sight to Degerfors's wait for a win
7 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Degerfors has to find a result from somewhere.
The dugout14 Apr 2036
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Degerfors may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Match12 Apr 2036
Degerfors cannot find the net
4 games without scoring. Strikers stop looking up, midfielders take the extra touch, and every shot that clears the bar is followed by a groan that has been building since the last goal.
Transfer targets14 Apr 2036
Mjällby wanted more than $330.0K and the board would not go there. Walked away, for now, which in a transfer window means until somebody blinks.
Squad14 Apr 2036
Words at Degerfors training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Arman Taranis 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.
Squad14 Apr 2036
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Erik Augustinsson and Degerfors agree another 4 years.
Transfer targets14 Apr 2036
Degerfors 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.
Squad14 Apr 2036
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Degerfors this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
In brief
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Match
Degerfors come up short against GAIS
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The dugout
The manager makes an example of Benjamin Twum
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The dugout
The view from the dugout
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market7 Apr 2036
“I listened, I thought about it, and I am staying. That is the whole story.” The clubs had agreed a fee. Benjamin Twum had not agreed to go, which turned out to be the part that mattered.
Squad7 Apr 2036
61 days out for Ludwig Guidetti after a fracture
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Degerfors will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
The dugout7 Apr 2036
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Degerfors may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Squad7 Apr 2036
Victor Lindstrom arrives at the club he grew up with
Every footballer has an answer to the question about his boyhood club, and most of them never get to act on it. Victor Lindstrom has, at Degerfors, and the first month will show what that does to a man.
Match5 Apr 2036
6 matches without a win for Degerfors
The run now stands at 6, and the questions being asked around Degerfors are no longer polite ones.
Boardroom7 Apr 2036
Degerfors close the window on a squad of their own making
9 in and 13 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.
Squad7 Apr 2036
“The easiest signature of my career.” Arman Taranis and Degerfors agree another 2 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Transfer targets7 Apr 2036
The offer went to Mjällby 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.
Squad7 Apr 2036
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Degerfors this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad31 Mar 2036
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 68 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Market31 Mar 2036
“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.
Market31 Mar 2036
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Degerfors is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Squad31 Mar 2036
Words at Degerfors training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Arman Taranis 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.
Transfer targets31 Mar 2036
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.
Squad31 Mar 2036
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Degerfors this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Market31 Mar 2036
“They were honest with me, and I would rather know.” Oscar Forsberg has been informed he is not in the manager's thinking at Degerfors.
The dugout31 Mar 2036
The manager makes an example of Hugo Sosa
“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.
Market31 Mar 2036
Every press conference now starts and ends the same way: with Philip Fjellman’s future. The manager has run out of new ways to say nothing.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad17 Mar 2036
27 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Degerfors lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Market17 Mar 2036
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Degerfors have lost him in all but the paperwork.
Squad17 Mar 2036
A fracture rules Ludwig Guidetti out for 82 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Degerfors will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Market17 Mar 2036
Donát Kákonyi hands in a written request
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Degerfors can pretend not to have heard.
Squad17 Mar 2036
Arman Taranis and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad17 Mar 2036
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Degerfors can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
Transfer targets17 Mar 2036
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.
Transfer targets17 Mar 2036
Rosenborg have been asked whether they would lend him. Loans are agreed quickly or not at all, and this one will be one or the other by the weekend.
Transfer targets17 Mar 2036
A loan enquiry to Brann: cover, or a look at somebody the club cannot afford to buy yet. Either way the answer will come back inside the week.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad10 Mar 2036
Philip Fjellman damages knee ligaments — 34 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 34 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
Squad10 Mar 2036
A fracture rules Ludwig Guidetti out for 89 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Degerfors will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Market10 Mar 2036
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Degerfors is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Market10 Mar 2036
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Degerfors can pretend not to have heard.
Transfer targets10 Mar 2036
Fee done, terms next for Robin Isak
Degerfors and Mjällby have settled on $320.0K. The rest belongs to the player and his agent, and a supporter who has watched one of these before knows not to buy the shirt yet.
Transfer targets10 Mar 2036
Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at HJK is saying, and nobody at Degerfors is enjoying the guessing.
Transfer targets10 Mar 2036
Brommapojkarna wanted more than $180.0K and the board would not go there. Walked away, for now, which in a transfer window means until somebody blinks.
Squad10 Mar 2036
Words at Degerfors training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Arman Taranis 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.
Transfer targets10 Mar 2036
Degerfors asked and FC Copenhagen said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad3 Mar 2036
41 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Degerfors lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Squad3 Mar 2036
A fracture rules Ludwig Guidetti out for 96 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Degerfors will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Market3 Mar 2036
“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 Degerfors, and it is not being withdrawn.
Market3 Mar 2036
Edis Međedović has one foot out of the door
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Degerfors they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Transfer targets3 Mar 2036
$180.0K on the table at Brommapojkarna. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.
Squad3 Mar 2036
Arman Taranis 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.
Transfer targets3 Mar 2036
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.
Transfer targets3 Mar 2036
A loan move for Caleb Kporha is in the works
Degerfors have made the call to HJK. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
Squad3 Mar 2036
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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad25 Feb 2036
48 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Degerfors lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Squad25 Feb 2036
A fracture rules Ludwig Guidetti out for 103 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Degerfors will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Market25 Feb 2036
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Degerfors can pretend not to have heard.
Transfer targets25 Feb 2036
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Degerfors have done the hard part with IK Sirius, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
Squad25 Feb 2036
Words exchanged at Degerfors
Arman Taranis 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.
Transfer targets25 Feb 2036
Degerfors 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.
Squad25 Feb 2036
Words at Degerfors training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Rory Whittaker 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.
Market25 Feb 2036
“The manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Benjamin Twum has his answer from Degerfors; what he does with it is the next window’s story.
The dugout25 Feb 2036
The manager makes an example of Hugo Sosa
“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
Squad18 Feb 2036
Philip Fjellman damages knee ligaments — 55 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 55 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
Market18 Feb 2036
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Degerfors people have started saying his name in the past tense.
Squad18 Feb 2036
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 110 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Transfer targets18 Feb 2036
The deal with Brommapojkarna 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.
Squad18 Feb 2036
Arman Taranis 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.
Transfer targets18 Feb 2036
Degerfors asked and AIK said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Squad18 Feb 2036
Words exchanged at Degerfors
Edis Međedović 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 dugout18 Feb 2036
“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.
Transfer targets18 Feb 2036
Degerfors have made the call to GAIS. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad11 Feb 2036
62 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Degerfors lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Squad11 Feb 2036
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 117 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Market11 Feb 2036
Degerfors say no — this time
The offer from Varbergs BoIS for Benjamin Twum 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.
Squad11 Feb 2036
Words at Degerfors training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Arman Taranis 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.
Transfer targets11 Feb 2036
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Vitoria Guimaraes have kept their man, and Degerfors go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Squad11 Feb 2036
Edis Međedović 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 dugout11 Feb 2036
The manager has not finished forgetting Benjamin Twum'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.
The dugout11 Feb 2036
“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.
Market11 Feb 2036
Every press conference now starts and ends the same way: with Marcus Rafferty’s future. The manager has run out of new ways to say nothing.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad28 Jan 2036
76 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Degerfors lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Squad28 Jan 2036
Arman Taranis 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.
Squad28 Jan 2036
Edis Međedović and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad14 Jan 2036
90 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Degerfors lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Market14 Jan 2036
“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 Degerfors, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad14 Jan 2036
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Degerfors this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad14 Jan 2036
A row about effort at Degerfors
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Rory Whittaker was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout14 Jan 2036
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.
Market14 Jan 2036
Every press conference now starts and ends the same way: with Marcus Rafferty’s future. The manager has run out of new ways to say nothing.
Market14 Jan 2036
“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 dugout14 Jan 2036
Benjamin Twum knocks on the manager's door
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Degerfors, and both men came out saying it was fine.
The dugout14 Jan 2036
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 Oscar Forsberg has written the date down.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad7 Jan 2036
97 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Degerfors lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Market7 Jan 2036
Edis Međedović has one foot out of the door
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Degerfors they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Market7 Jan 2036
“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.
Squad7 Jan 2036
A row about effort at Degerfors
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Arman Taranis was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Squad7 Jan 2036
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Degerfors this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Market7 Jan 2036
“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 dugout7 Jan 2036
The manager makes an example of Jens Berge
“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.
The dugout7 Jan 2036
Benjamin Twum knocks on the manager's door
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Degerfors, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Market7 Jan 2036
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Degerfors know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad17 Dec 2035
Philip Fjellman damages knee ligaments — 118 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 118 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
Market17 Dec 2035
Ruben Meling hands in a written request
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Degerfors can pretend not to have heard.
Squad17 Dec 2035
A row about effort at Degerfors
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Arman Taranis was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Squad17 Dec 2035
Edis Međedović 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.
Squad17 Dec 2035
Everybody saw it before anybody said it. At 34 the numbers say 3 points down on what he was, and the question for Degerfors is how to handle a man they owe a great deal.
The dugout17 Dec 2035
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Edis Međedović, and the manager let it.
The dugout17 Dec 2035
The manager has not finished forgetting Benjamin Twum'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.
Market17 Dec 2035
Every press conference now starts and ends the same way: with Marcus Rafferty’s future. The manager has run out of new ways to say nothing.
Market17 Dec 2035
4 months left and the two sides are nowhere near each other. Every week this drags on takes money off what Degerfors could get for him.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad26 Nov 2035
139 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Degerfors lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
The dugout26 Nov 2035
Emil Hiljemark: 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.” Degerfors have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Squad26 Nov 2035
Marcus Rafferty 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 dugout26 Nov 2035
The manager makes an example of Hans Müller
“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.
Market26 Nov 2035
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Arman Taranis signs something — a contract at Degerfors or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
The dugout26 Nov 2035
Benjamin Twum knocks on the manager’s door
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Benjamin Twum trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
The dugout26 Nov 2035
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.
Market26 Nov 2035
The clock does Oliver Hintsa’s negotiating for him
4 months left, and both sides know what that means: every week without a signature, the fee Degerfors could ask drops and the wages Oliver Hintsa can ask rise.
Market26 Nov 2035
Degerfors have made Linus Tankovic available for transfer. A career at this club is over in all but paperwork.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market19 Nov 2035
“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 Degerfors, and it is not being withdrawn.
Boardroom19 Nov 2035
The rules permit it and it stings anyway. Edis Međedović has agreed terms with IFK Goteborg for the summer, and until then he pulls on this shirt as a player who has already chosen his next one.
Squad19 Nov 2035
A row about effort at Degerfors
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Arman Taranis was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Squad19 Nov 2035
Gabriel Granberg 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 dugout19 Nov 2035
“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 dugout19 Nov 2035
The manager has not finished forgetting Benjamin Twum'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.
Squad19 Nov 2035
Sam Lindelof: “I am not a substitute”
“I have done everything asked of me in training and it has not changed a thing on a Saturday.” The most familiar complaint in football, and one Degerfors will have to answer with minutes or with a transfer.
Market19 Nov 2035
Every press conference now starts and ends the same way: with Marcus Rafferty’s future. The manager has run out of new ways to say nothing.
The dugout19 Nov 2035
“I would rather say it to his face than read about it.” The meeting was requested by the player, which tells you most of what you need to know.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad5 Nov 2035
Carl Svanberg gets the move he always wanted
Footballers are asked about their boyhood club so often that nobody listens to the answer. Carl Svanberg has just signed for Degerfors, and for once the answer mattered.
Market5 Nov 2035
Only the photograph left for Ruben Meling
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Ruben Meling will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Degerfors the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Match3 Nov 2035
The wait goes on for Degerfors
4 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.
Squad5 Nov 2035
Words at Degerfors training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Arman Taranis 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.
Squad5 Nov 2035
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Gabriel Granberg commits to Degerfors for another 4 years.
Squad5 Nov 2035
Edis Međedović and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Match3 Nov 2035
A bad afternoon for Degerfors against AIK
0‑2 to AIK, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
The dugout5 Nov 2035
The view from the dugout
“We will look at it, we will learn from it, and we go again.” The three sentences every manager keeps for a 0‑2 defeat, delivered by Interim Coach to a room that had heard them before.
The dugout5 Nov 2035
The team sheet said everything about Benjamin Twum
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 Benjamin Twum.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match20 Oct 2035
After 8 games, Degerfors finally taste it again
The first defeat in 8 matches. The manager will say it had to come; the dressing room will say it did not have to come against IFK Goteborg; the supporters will say both, in that order, all week.
Squad22 Oct 2035
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Degerfors this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad22 Oct 2035
Words at Degerfors training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Rory Whittaker 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.
Match20 Oct 2035
Beaten 1‑2, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Squad22 Oct 2035
A goalkeeper’s error has no defender behind it to tidy it away. He knew before the ball crossed the line, the crowd knew a second later, and there is nothing anybody can say tonight.
The dugout22 Oct 2035
The view from the dugout
“We will look at it, we will learn from it, and we go again.” The three sentences every manager keeps for a 1‑2 defeat, delivered by Interim Coach to a room that had heard them before.
The dugout22 Oct 2035
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 dugout22 Oct 2035
There is no complaint available here and everybody involved knows it, which does not make the walk to the bench any shorter. Form is the only currency in football that cannot be borrowed against.
Looking ahead22 Oct 2035
The leaders are next for Degerfors
Hammarby top the table and they are coming into view. Nothing to lose, which is what every manager says before losing.
From our football correspondent
Steady
The dugout8 Oct 2035
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Degerfors may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Match6 Oct 2035
Whatever happens, Degerfors do not lose
8 games unbeaten now. Some were earned and some were survived, but a habit is forming — and habits are the hardest thing in football to play against.
Market8 Oct 2035
Ruben Meling has one foot out of the door
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Degerfors they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Squad8 Oct 2035
Marcus Rafferty 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.
Squad8 Oct 2035
Edis Međedović and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Match6 Oct 2035
A point taken on 86 minutes is worth exactly one point and considerably more than that to a dressing room. This side does not stop, which is a reputation worth more than the result.
The dugout8 Oct 2035
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Benjamin Twum, and the manager let it.
Squad8 Oct 2035
Oliver Hintsa named in the team of the month
A month is long enough that nobody gets in by accident. Oliver Hintsa is in the division's best eleven for it, which is a quieter compliment than an award and a more reliable one.
Match6 Oct 2035
1‑1, and both dressing rooms will call it two points lost. A draw that asked plenty of questions and answered none of them.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad27 Aug 2035
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 30 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Market27 Aug 2035
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Elliott Andersson will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Degerfors the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Market27 Aug 2035
So close: Benjamin Twum’s move dies late
The fee was agreed and the flight was looked at — and then the phone stopped ringing. IK Sirius moved on, Benjamin Twum reports back to Degerfors, and everybody pretends Monday is just Monday.
Transfer targets27 Aug 2035
No thanks: Marino Skelin rejects the move
Degerfors had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at FC Nordsjaelland, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.
Squad27 Aug 2035
Marcus Rafferty 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.
Squad27 Aug 2035
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Sam Lindelof and Degerfors agree another 4 years.
Transfer targets27 Aug 2035
Degerfors asked and Malmo FF said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Market27 Aug 2035
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Simon Ibrahimovic is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
Market27 Aug 2035
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Robin Berg is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad20 Aug 2035
37 days out for Mikael Jansson after a fracture
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Degerfors will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Squad20 Aug 2035
Sam Lindelof arrives at the club he grew up with
Every footballer has an answer to the question about his boyhood club, and most of them never get to act on it. Sam Lindelof has, at Degerfors, and the first month will show what that does to a man.
Market20 Aug 2035
The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.
Market20 Aug 2035
“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.
Market20 Aug 2035
The interest is real enough to have reached print. Degerfors have said nothing, which in a transfer window is its own kind of answer.
Boardroom20 Aug 2035
Degerfors close the window on a squad of their own making
16 in and 22 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.
Squad20 Aug 2035
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Sam Lindelof and Degerfors agree another 4 years.
Transfer targets20 Aug 2035
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.
Squad20 Aug 2035
A row about effort at Degerfors
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Rory Whittaker was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad13 Aug 2035
A fracture rules Mikael Jansson out for 44 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Degerfors will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Market13 Aug 2035
Kalmar FF come back empty-handed
The bid was some way short and Degerfors did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.
Market13 Aug 2035
Benjamin Twum hands in a written request
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Degerfors can pretend not to have heard.
Squad13 Aug 2035
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 6 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
Transfer targets13 Aug 2035
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Degerfors have done the hard part with Hammarby, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
Squad13 Aug 2035
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Degerfors this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad13 Aug 2035
Words at Degerfors training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Marcus Rafferty 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.
Transfer targets13 Aug 2035
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Hammarby have kept their man, and Degerfors go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
In brief
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Market
Ruben Meling attracts admirers
-
Player ratings
Rory Whittaker was on a different afternoon to everybody else
-
The dugout
The view from the dugout
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad23 Jul 2035
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 65 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Transfer targets23 Jul 2035
Degerfors and Brommapojkarna have settled on $170.0K. The rest belongs to the player and his agent, and a supporter who has watched one of these before knows not to buy the shirt yet.
Market23 Jul 2035
The phone has started ringing about Elliott Andersson again, and this time the name on the line is BK Hacken. Degerfors are listening politely and promising nothing.
Match21 Jul 2035
The wait goes on for Degerfors
4 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.
Match21 Jul 2035
The goals have deserted Degerfors
4 matches, no goals, and a training ground that has tried everything. It will end — droughts always do — but nobody at Degerfors can tell you which week it ends in.
Squad23 Jul 2035
Elliott Andersson and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad23 Jul 2035
Marcus Rafferty 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.
Transfer targets23 Jul 2035
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.
Transfer targets23 Jul 2035
Degerfors have made the call to HJK. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad16 Jul 2035
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 72 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Market16 Jul 2035
“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.
Squad16 Jul 2035
Arman Taranis 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.
Squad16 Jul 2035
Marcus Rafferty 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.
Match14 Jul 2035
The goals have deserted Degerfors
3 matches, no goals, and a training ground that has tried everything. It will end — droughts always do — but nobody at Degerfors can tell you which week it ends in.
Squad16 Jul 2035
A goalkeeper's career is counted in the games nobody scored in, and Benjamin Twum now has 25 of them across 110 appearances. Nothing about that number was luck.
Match16 Jul 2035
Halfway: Degerfors sit in position 12
16 points at the turn. The first half of a season is a promise; the second is a bill, and the town is about to find out which of the two this one was.
Player ratings16 Jul 2035
Marked 7.45 on an afternoon he ran from the first whistle to the last. Whatever else went wrong, Degerfors had the best player on the pitch.
Market16 Jul 2035
“They were honest with me, and I would rather know.” Mustapha Jibrin has been informed he is not in the manager's thinking at Degerfors.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad4 Jun 2035
A knee injury of the worst kind for Gabriel Granberg
15 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Degerfors lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Market4 Jun 2035
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Degerfors can pretend not to have heard.
Squad4 Jun 2035
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 6 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
Match2 Jun 2035
No end in sight to Degerfors's wait for a win
4 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Degerfors has to find a result from somewhere.
Squad4 Jun 2035
Arman Taranis and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad4 Jun 2035
Rory Whittaker 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.
Match2 Jun 2035
No clean sheets in sight for Degerfors
4 games now with at least two against. The back line has been rearranged, the goalkeeper has been backed publicly, and the goals keep going in anyway.
Loan watch4 Jun 2035
“I did not go to Landskrona BoIS to sit and watch. I want to come back to Degerfors and fight for my place.” 1 appearances in 8 matches say the rest.
Match2 Jun 2035
Brommapojkarna left with the points after a 0‑2 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad14 May 2035
36 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Degerfors lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Market14 May 2035
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Degerfors they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Squad14 May 2035
Words at Degerfors training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Marcus Rafferty 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.
Match12 May 2035
1‑2 to Djurgarden, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
The dugout14 May 2035
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 Interim Coach left the room before anybody could ask which.
Squad14 May 2035
Edis Međedović 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 May 2035
Too much change too quickly at Degerfors
6 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.
Player ratings14 May 2035
Successful dribbles: 14. 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.
The dugout14 May 2035
Tin Livaja knocks on the manager's door
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Degerfors, and both men came out saying it was fine.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market16 Apr 2035
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Degerfors is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Market16 Apr 2035
“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.
Transfer targets16 Apr 2035
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: Hammarby keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
Squad16 Apr 2035
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Degerfors this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Transfer targets16 Apr 2035
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Brondby have kept their man, and Degerfors go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Squad16 Apr 2035
Words at Degerfors training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Rory Whittaker 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.
Squad16 Apr 2035
Everybody saw it before anybody said it. At 34 the numbers say 3 points down on what he was, and the question for Degerfors is how to handle a man they owe a great deal.
Player ratings16 Apr 2035
Szymon Łapiński did the work nobody counts — 6.62
10 combined actions and 6.62. The job he did is the one that shows up as other people looking good, and the only reliable way to notice it is to watch what happens on the afternoons he is missing.
The dugout16 Apr 2035
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Edis Međedović, and the manager let it.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Boardroom26 Mar 2035
The silence upstairs is getting loud at Degerfors
Nobody on the board has said anything against the manager, which is the point — they have stopped saying anything for him either.
Market26 Mar 2035
The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.
Market26 Mar 2035
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Degerfors people have started saying his name in the past tense.
Transfer targets26 Mar 2035
The deal with Valerenga 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.
Transfer targets26 Mar 2035
Degerfors 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.
Squad26 Mar 2035
A row about effort at Degerfors
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Rory Whittaker was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Squad26 Mar 2035
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Degerfors this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad26 Mar 2035
35 days, the medical staff say, and medical staff are optimists by profession. The team sheet will look wrong without him.
Transfer targets26 Mar 2035
Hammarby have been asked whether they would lend him. Loans are agreed quickly or not at all, and this one will be one or the other by the weekend.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market12 Mar 2035
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Degerfors have lost him in all but the paperwork.
Market12 Mar 2035
“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.
Market12 Mar 2035
Degerfors say no — this time
The offer from Vikingur for Jón Sölvi Símonarson 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.
Squad12 Mar 2035
Words exchanged at Degerfors
Elliott Andersson 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.
Squad12 Mar 2035
Words at Degerfors training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Marcus Rafferty 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.
Transfer targets12 Mar 2035
Degerfors asked and Halmstad 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 dugout12 Mar 2035
Arman Taranis has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at Degerfors 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 dugout12 Mar 2035
“I would rather say it to his face than read about it.” The meeting was requested by the player, which tells you most of what you need to know.
The dugout12 Mar 2035
“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
Boardroom29 Jan 2035
The silence upstairs is getting loud at Degerfors
Nobody on the board has said anything against the manager, which is the point — they have stopped saying anything for him either.
Market29 Jan 2035
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Elliott Andersson will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Degerfors the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Market29 Jan 2035
“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.
Squad29 Jan 2035
Arman Taranis 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.
Squad29 Jan 2035
Marcus Rafferty 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 dugout29 Jan 2035
“I would rather say it to his face than read about it.” The meeting was requested by the player, which tells you most of what you need to know.
Market29 Jan 2035
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at Degerfors has been clear about where Eirik Paulshus Vold stands, which is more than many ever get.
The dugout29 Jan 2035
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Sotirios Tsadjaris, and the manager let it.
The dugout29 Jan 2035
Hugo Almeida gets picked when it counts
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 Hugo Almeida is on it.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market22 Jan 2035
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Kristian Banozic will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Degerfors the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Market22 Jan 2035
Remo Stars come back empty-handed
The bid was some way short and Degerfors did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.
Squad22 Jan 2035
Elliott Andersson 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.
Squad22 Jan 2035
Words at Degerfors training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Rory Whittaker 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 dugout22 Jan 2035
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Kristian Banozic, and the manager let it.
The dugout22 Jan 2035
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Degerfors, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Market22 Jan 2035
Jussi Tanska is free to find somewhere else
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at Degerfors has been clear about where Jussi Tanska stands, which is more than many ever get.
The dugout22 Jan 2035
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.
Market22 Jan 2035
The name of Arman Taranis keeps appearing in other people's back pages. Degerfors say nothing, which says plenty.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Boardroom8 Jan 2035
The board’s statement ran to three sentences and one of them mentioned results. Interim Coach has managed long enough to translate: win soon, or the next statement is shorter.
Market8 Jan 2035
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Degerfors they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Squad8 Jan 2035
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Marcus Rafferty commits to Degerfors for another 4 years.
Squad8 Jan 2035
Arman Taranis and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad8 Jan 2035
Marcus Rafferty 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 dugout8 Jan 2035
Marcus Rafferty has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at Degerfors 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.
Squad8 Jan 2035
A season on the outside for Arman Taranis
He trains hard, says the right things and goes home to an empty flat. Nobody at Degerfors has done anything wrong, which is exactly what makes it so difficult to fix.
Market8 Jan 2035
Every press conference now starts and ends the same way: with Elias Flo’s future. The manager has run out of new ways to say nothing.
The dugout8 Jan 2035
Oliver Schaaf asks for a word with the manager
“I would rather say it to his face than read about it.” The meeting was requested by the player, which tells you most of what you need to know.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market18 Dec 2034
Ruben Meling has one foot out of the door
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Degerfors they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Squad18 Dec 2034
A row about effort at Degerfors
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Marcus Rafferty was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Squad18 Dec 2034
Edis Međedović and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad18 Dec 2034
63 days, the scan says, and scans are kinder than reality. The fixtures in that window have just become somebody else’s job.
The dugout18 Dec 2034
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.
Market18 Dec 2034
The list is a quiet document with a loud meaning. Jakob Jäger Röding may talk to anybody who asks, and everybody at the club understands what that means.
The dugout18 Dec 2034
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Kristoffer Lustig, and the manager let it.
Market18 Dec 2034
Every press conference now starts and ends the same way: with Arman Taranis’s future. The manager has run out of new ways to say nothing.
The dugout18 Dec 2034
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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market27 Nov 2034
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Degerfors they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Squad27 Nov 2034
Arman Taranis 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.
Squad27 Nov 2034
Words at Degerfors training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Marcus Rafferty 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.
Loan watch27 Nov 2034
Jakob Jäger Röding’s loan is measured in nothing happening
9 clean sheets from 29 appearances at Brommapojkarna. That is the whole of a goalkeeper’s job done properly, and it is being done a long way from the club that owns him.
The dugout27 Nov 2034
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 Mustapha Jibrin is on it.
The dugout27 Nov 2034
“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 dugout27 Nov 2034
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Degerfors, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Market27 Nov 2034
Every press conference now starts and ends the same way: with Philip Fjellman’s future. The manager has run out of new ways to say nothing.
Market27 Nov 2034
“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
Squad16 Oct 2034
A row about effort at Degerfors
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Marcus Rafferty was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Squad16 Oct 2034
Words exchanged at Degerfors
Elliott Andersson 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 dugout16 Oct 2034
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Sotirios Tsadjaris, and the manager let it.
Looking ahead16 Oct 2034
A test against the best for Degerfors
The team at the top of the table next, and the honest measure of where this side actually is. Anybody can beat the club below them; the question is what happens against Hammarby.
The dugout16 Oct 2034
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.
Looking ahead16 Oct 2034
Every squad has one of these fixtures for somebody every season. This one is Marcus Rafferty’s: the club that knew him first, the supporters who will decide in the first minute whether to applaud, and Degerfors needing him to play as if none of it matters.
Market16 Oct 2034
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Arman Taranis signs something — a contract at Degerfors or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
The dugout16 Oct 2034
“I would rather say it to his face than read about it.” The meeting was requested by the player, which tells you most of what you need to know.
Squad16 Oct 2034
Mateo Vukas: “I am not a substitute”
“I have done everything asked of me in training and it has not changed a thing on a Saturday.” The most familiar complaint in football, and one Degerfors will have to answer with minutes or with a transfer.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market2 Oct 2034
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Elliott Andersson will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Degerfors the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Market2 Oct 2034
“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 Degerfors, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad2 Oct 2034
A row about effort at Degerfors
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Marcus Rafferty was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Match30 Sep 2034
A 2‑0 win over IFK Norrkoping, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
Match30 Sep 2034
5 matches without a win, and then this, against IFK Norrkoping. Relief is a strange noise in a football ground and it was the only noise at the end.
Player ratings2 Oct 2034
A performance of 8.06 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
The dugout2 Oct 2034
“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.
Squad2 Oct 2034
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Benjamin Twum commits to Degerfors for another 3 years.
Market2 Oct 2034
“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.