Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Ekenäs IF will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Ekenäs IF have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Ekenäs IF 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 Ekenäs IF 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 Samuel Alabi was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
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.
39 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Ekenäs IF lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Ekenäs IF have lost him in all but the paperwork.
The board have said in public what they had been saying in private. Results between now and the next meeting decide it, and everybody in the building knows the arithmetic.
Nothing has been announced and everybody understands what it means. A board that summons the whole football department on a Tuesday morning is a board that has stopped believing the problem will fix itself.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 75 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
He arrived for a fee and leaves for a fraction of it. $125.5K of what Ekenäs IF paid for Atte Sihvonen is money the club will not see again, and the boardroom will be asked about it for two seasons.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Luka Bubanja will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Ekenäs IF the goodbyes have quietly begun.
The deadline has passed and the squad is the squad. 1 arrived, 11 left, and everything else printed about this club last month was a rumour that stayed one.
Everything was agreed until it was not, and Nils Roström reports back to Ekenäs IF with a summer to forget. Neither club is saying who walked away from the table.
46 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Ekenäs IF lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Ekenäs IF people have started saying his name in the past tense.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 82 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 Ekenäs IF is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Albin Sporrong 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.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Brommapojkarna have kept their man, and Ekenäs IF go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Oliver Djurci was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Ekenäs IF have made the call to Brommapojkarna. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
53 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Ekenäs IF lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 90 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Ekenäs IF have lost him in all but the paperwork.
The offer from FF Jaro for Nils Roström 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.
Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at Hammarby is saying, and nobody at Ekenäs IF is enjoying the guessing.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Ekenäs IF this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The name of Luka Bubanja has come up in conversations Ekenäs IF were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Theodor Johansson was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
In brief
Transfer targetsA loan move for Ludwig Svanberg is in the works
The words a physio says slowly. 40 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.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Ekenäs IF can pretend not to have heard.
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Ekenäs IF have lost him in all but the paperwork.
The phone has started ringing about Oliver Djurci again, and this time the name on the line is JIPPO. Ekenäs IF are listening politely and promising nothing.
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: KuPS keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Ekenäs IF this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Hammarby have kept their man, and Ekenäs IF go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
“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 Ekenäs IF know it.
The mood at Ekenäs IF has turned into something else
Supporters who sing when it goes badly are supporters. Supporters who gather afterwards are a problem, and everybody inside the building knows which of the two this now is.
The words a physio says slowly. 28 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.
Nobody upstairs has said anything, which is the loudest thing they could do. Results buy silence in this game; the account at Ekenäs IF is running low.
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Ekenäs IF have lost him in all but the paperwork.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Ekenäs IF can pretend not to have heard.
Ekenäs IF have gone to KuPS 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.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Kongsvinger have kept their man, and Ekenäs IF go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Squad18 Feb 2030
Words at Ekenäs IF training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Oliver Djurci 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.
At 2 goals adrift this was a formality, and the formality lasted right up until it did not. Ekenäs IF found something the first half had given no notice of, and Ilves could not hold what they had.
9 points, and a fixture list that is running out. The mathematics are not yet cruel, but they are no longer kind.
Player ratings25 Jun 2029
A brace, and Nils Roström takes the afternoon — 9.21
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Nils Roström provided it, and the 9.21 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Albin Sporrong 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.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 21-year-old it feels ownership of. Nils Roström has it now, and everything he does for the rest of his time here will be measured against the goodwill he was handed for free.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Theodor Johansson was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Ekenäs IF will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
“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.
Albin Sporrong 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.
KTP will keep picking him until June and will get nothing for him after it. Ryan Mahuta has pre-agreed a move to Ekenäs IF, and the only people who lose in that arrangement are the ones who let the contract run down.
Ekenäs IF asked and Deportivo Pasto said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Squad19 Feb 2029
Words at Ekenäs IF training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Joshué Ndakala is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
He is 20, and nobody at Ekenäs IF signed him for this season. Deals like this are judged in four years, by people who may not still be in the building.
The words a physio says slowly. 71 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.
The bid was some way short and JäPS did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.
The terraces19 Feb 2029
Supporters turn on the $140.0K sale of Nils Roström
He is going to Ekenäs IF, the club has $140.0K it did not have on Friday, and the phone-ins have already decided how they feel about that. Selling well and selling somebody they loved are not the same skill.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what JäPS can pretend not to have heard.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around JäPS 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 JäPS this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
86 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. JäPS lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
What was said behind closed doors has now been said in front of a microphone. Everybody at JäPS can do the arithmetic, including the man it is aimed at.
“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 JäPS, and it is not being withdrawn.
The offer from SJK for Nils Roström 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.
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. JäPS have done the hard part with IFK Mariehamn, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
Axel Vidjeskog 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. João Victor 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 was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at JäPS has been clear about where Hugo Sandahl Travančić stands, which is more than many ever get.
The words a physio says slowly. 109 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.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what JäPS can pretend not to have heard.
Axel Vidjeskog 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.
Squad15 Jan 2029
João Victor 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.
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at JäPS, another week without a signature from Kofi Duffour.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at JäPS, and both men came out saying it was fine.
“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 JäPS will have to give him a reason to stay or an exit.
Nobody at JäPS 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.
“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 JäPS, and it is not being withdrawn.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Noah Östberg 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.
He trains hard, says the right things and goes home to an empty flat. Nobody at JäPS has done anything wrong, which is exactly what makes it so difficult to fix.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Roger signs something — a contract at JäPS or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. JäPS will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what JäPS can pretend not to have heard.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and João Victor was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Nobody at JäPS 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 bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. JäPS will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at JäPS is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at JäPS this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad27 Nov 2028
Noah Östberg 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 has barred the club from spending; it simply has nothing to spend that it has not first raised. Every incoming name comes with an outgoing one attached.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. JäPS will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
“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 JäPS, and it is not being withdrawn.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at JäPS is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
The injury that keeps coming back, keeps being rushed back from, and quietly costs more careers than the dramatic ones. 14 days is the estimate; the honest figure depends on whether anybody is patient.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at JäPS this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad30 Oct 2028
João Victor 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.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 92 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
“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 JäPS, and it is not being withdrawn.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Taavi Arminen will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around JäPS the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Squad2 Oct 2028
João Victor 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.
Antonio Almén 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.
“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; JäPS are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
The club is not barred from spending; it simply has nothing to spend that it has not first raised. Every name linked with JäPS this window arrives with a name leaving in the same sentence.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at JäPS this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. João Victor 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 Veeti Manner is on it.
“I respect the manager and I am not going to sit here and pretend I am happy.” It is the most common sentence in football and it has never once been the end of a story.
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 Lukas Eliosius has written the date down.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what JäPS can pretend not to have heard.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at JäPS is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Noah Östberg was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
A month is long enough that nobody gets in by accident. Rasmus Harjanne is in the division's best eleven for it, which is a quieter compliment than an award and a more reliable one.
Nobody has barred the club from spending; it simply has nothing to spend that it has not first raised. Every incoming name comes with an outgoing one attached.
Everything was agreed until it was not, and Tomi Väkiparta reports back to Ekenäs IF with a summer to forget. Neither club is saying who walked away from the table.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 6 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Boardroom21 Aug 2028
Deadline passes with 23 signed and 10 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.
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Ekenäs IF can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
$58.0K on the table at Inter Turku. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.
Ekenäs IF asked and SJK 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 was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Ekenäs IF this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The deal that would have taken Nils Roström to Ekenäs IF has collapsed at the last stage, and he reports back to JäPS with a summer to forget and a season still to play. Nobody is saying which side walked away.
Boardroom21 Aug 2028
JäPS close the window on a squad of their own making
13 in and 10 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.
Axel Vidjeskog 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.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. IFK Mariehamn have kept their man, and JäPS go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and João Victor was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
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.
“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 JäPS, and it is not being withdrawn.
5 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.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around JäPS they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. HJK have kept their man, and JäPS go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Squad7 Aug 2028
João Victor 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 JäPS can pretend not to have heard.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 6 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Axel Vidjeskog 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.
JäPS asked and IFK Mariehamn 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 Rasmus Harjanne was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
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.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 19-year-old it feels ownership of. Jonas Dahlberg Strand has it now, and everything he does for the rest of his time here will be measured against the goodwill he was handed for free.
Behind, and beaten by any honest reading, until minute 87. Klubi 04 had the points in their pocket and a corner of the ground still believed, which is generally when it happens.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what JäPS can pretend not to have heard.
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 TPS; the supporters will say both, in that order, all week.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at JäPS this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Wages have outrun income and the accountants have started attending meetings they used to send apologies to. Ambition comes second in a season like this.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and João Victor 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 JäPS is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. João Victor 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 fixture the rest of the division is looking forward to more than either of the sides in it. Both know a win changes the season and a defeat does not end it, which is what makes it hard to play.
“There are things I liked and things we will be doing on Tuesday until they are right.” 0‑0, and a manager who had already decided what Tuesday looked like.
The crowd waited for a goal that never came. SalPa defended in numbers and left with what they came for, and the two sides could be playing still without troubling a scorer.
In brief
The dugoutThe manager has not finished forgetting Topi Valtonen's mistake
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at JäPS is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Axel Vidjeskog 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 Rasmus Harjanne was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
At 21 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.
Rasmus Harjanne, 21, plays like he has been here for years — 8.07
A mark of 8.07 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 21-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
Match24 Jun 2028
Another one collected away from home
4 on the bounce on the road for JäPS. The coaches leave early, arrive at unlovely grounds in the dark, and keep coming home with three points.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and João Victor was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
At 21 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.
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.
Two sides from the top of the table, one afternoon, and a month of talk decided in ninety minutes. JäPS will not use the word title this week and will not stop thinking it.