Marked for David Gustafsson
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Market19 Jul 2027
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Varbergs BoIS can pretend not to have heard.
Match17 Jul 2027
No end in sight to Varbergs BoIS's wait for a win
4 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Varbergs BoIS has to find a result from somewhere.
Player ratings19 Jul 2027
Successful dribbles: 22. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad19 Jul 2027
Erion Sadiku 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.
Squad19 Jul 2027
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Oliver Alfonsi was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Transfer targets19 Jul 2027
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Djurgarden have kept their man, and Varbergs BoIS go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
The dugout19 Jul 2027
“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 1‑2, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
Transfer targets19 Jul 2027
Varbergs BoIS have made the call to Brann. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Steady
The dugout5 Jul 2027
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Varbergs BoIS may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Squad5 Jul 2027
Erion Sadiku and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad5 Jul 2027
Words at Varbergs BoIS training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Edvin Tellgren 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.
Player ratings5 Jul 2027
Successful dribbles: 18. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
Boardroom5 Jul 2027
Wages swallow 89% of the Varbergs BoIS income
Every club pays most of what it earns to its players. Paying nearly all of it is a different arrangement, and it has ended the same way every time it has been tried.
Player ratings5 Jul 2027
A mark of 7.32, and nobody in the ground would argue with it. He was involved in everything that mattered and most of what did not.
Boardroom5 Jul 2027
5 arrivals, an average age nobody would call a squad, and a set of parents being shown around a building their sons will spend more time in than at home. The scouting has already happened; today is only the paperwork.
Squad5 Jul 2027
A place in the month's best eleven for Shanyder Borgelin
Four or five weekends of consistency, judged against everybody in the division doing his job. Shanyder Borgelin has come out of that comparison in the side, and Varbergs BoIS have had the benefit of every one of those afternoons.
Squad5 Jul 2027
The manager has re-ordered his thinking and Muhamed Diomande has come out of it lower. He will be told it is temporary, and the players who have heard that before will avoid his eye.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad7 Jun 2027
336 appearances across 12 seasons in one shirt. Nobody builds a career like that on purpose any more; it happens to a certain kind of footballer at a certain kind of club.
Squad7 Jun 2027
Shanyder Borgelin 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.
Squad7 Jun 2027
At 20 he is doing things this season that he could not do last season, and doing them every week. Form comes and goes; this has stayed long enough to be called something else.
Squad7 Jun 2027
Oliver Alfonsi 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.
Match5 Jun 2027
A 1‑0 win over Utsikten, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
Player ratings7 Jun 2027
Ninety minutes of Filip Trpčevski at his very best
Marked 8.33. Players have careers without a single afternoon like this in them, and he has just had one in front of everybody at Varbergs BoIS.
Boardroom7 Jun 2027
Wages eat 93% of everything Varbergs BoIS earn
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.
Player ratings7 Jun 2027
Successful dribbles: 15. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
The dugout7 Jun 2027
“That is what I want every week. Not the result, the way they went about it.” The manager, after 1‑0, already talking about the next one.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market1 Feb 2027
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Varbergs BoIS can pretend not to have heard.
Squad1 Feb 2027
Francisco Lino gets the move he always wanted
Footballers are asked about their boyhood club so often that nobody listens to the answer. Francisco Lino has just signed for Varbergs BoIS, and for once the answer mattered.
Squad1 Feb 2027
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Varbergs BoIS this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad1 Feb 2027
Words at Varbergs BoIS training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Joakim Lindner 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.
Market1 Feb 2027
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at Varbergs BoIS has been clear about where Niklas Dahlström stands, which is more than many ever get.
The dugout1 Feb 2027
The manager makes an example of Isak Vidjeskog
“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.