Marked for Daniel Ekdal
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Boardroom14 Mar 2033
The scrutiny sharpens at Trelleborg
Nobody upstairs has said anything, which is the loudest thing they could do. Results buy silence in this game; the account at Trelleborg is running low.
Transfer targets14 Mar 2033
Everything agreed with Hammarby, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
Transfer targets14 Mar 2033
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Malmo FF have kept their man, and Trelleborg go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Squad14 Mar 2033
Amur Khatsukov 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 Mar 2033
Brayan Blandón 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 targets14 Mar 2033
Djurgarden 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.
Market14 Mar 2033
“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.
The dugout14 Mar 2033
Måns Andersson 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.
Market14 Mar 2033
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Måns Andersson signs something — a contract at Trelleborg or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Boardroom14 Feb 2033
The silence upstairs is getting loud at Trelleborg
Nobody on the board has said anything against the manager, which is the point — they have stopped saying anything for him either.
Market14 Feb 2033
“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 The request is on a desk at Trelleborg, and it is not being withdrawn.
Transfer targets14 Feb 2033
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.
Squad14 Feb 2033
Amur Khatsukov 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 Feb 2033
A row about effort at Trelleborg
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Vincent Kjellme was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout14 Feb 2033
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Trelleborg, and both men came out saying it was fine.
The dugout14 Feb 2033
“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.
Market14 Feb 2033
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Måns Andersson signs something — a contract at Trelleborg or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
The dugout14 Feb 2033
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.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
The dugout10 Jan 2033
“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.
Squad10 Jan 2033
Words at Trelleborg training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Brayan Blandón 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.
Boardroom10 Jan 2033
Trelleborg are $20.6M in the red
The borrowing is past what the bank agreed, which is the line where a debt stops being how football is financed and starts being a problem. Every phone-in in this town will quote the figure for the next five years.
Squad10 Jan 2033
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Daniel Ekdal commits to Trelleborg for another 3 years.
Squad10 Jan 2033
Musa Hietakangas 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.
Market10 Jan 2033
Every press conference now starts and ends the same way: with Måns Andersson’s future. The manager has run out of new ways to say nothing.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad13 Dec 2032
27 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Trelleborg lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Squad13 Dec 2032
Hugo Fagerberg gets the move he always wanted
Footballers are asked about their boyhood club so often that nobody listens to the answer. Hugo Fagerberg has just signed for Trelleborg, and for once the answer mattered.
The dugout13 Dec 2032
Maciej Kaminski: 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.” Trelleborg have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Squad13 Dec 2032
Words at Trelleborg training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Jan Jankto 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.
Boardroom13 Dec 2032
Trelleborg are $20.8M in the red
The borrowing is past what the bank agreed, which is the line where a debt stops being how football is financed and starts being a problem. Every phone-in in this town will quote the figure for the next five years.
Squad13 Dec 2032
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” John Krafth commits to Trelleborg for another 3 years.
The dugout13 Dec 2032
Harun Nezirovski 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.
The dugout13 Dec 2032
Linus Lustig gets it from the manager
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
Market13 Dec 2032
Every press conference now starts and ends the same way: with Måns Andersson’s future. The manager has run out of new ways to say nothing.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad15 Nov 2032
A row about effort at Trelleborg
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Emil Falk was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Squad15 Nov 2032
The medical room confirms 32 days on the sidelines for Simon Isak, and a plan built around him now has to be rebuilt.
Boardroom15 Nov 2032
Trelleborg are $21.1M in the red
The borrowing is past what the bank agreed, which is the line where a debt stops being how football is financed and starts being a problem. Every phone-in in this town will quote the figure for the next five years.
Squad15 Nov 2032
Daniel Ekdal and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Market15 Nov 2032
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Trelleborg, another week without a signature from Emil Falk.
Squad15 Nov 2032
The formation has left Cevin Carlsson behind
Every shape has positions in it and this one does not have his. Trelleborg will either change the shape, change his job, or change his club, and he is waiting to hear which.
Market15 Nov 2032
He is 18, and nobody at Trelleborg signed him for this season. Deals like this are judged in four years, by people who may not still be in the building.
The dugout15 Nov 2032
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Anton Andersson, and the manager let it.
Market15 Nov 2032
The clock does Emil Falk’s negotiating for him
1 months left, and both sides know what that means: every week without a signature, the fee Trelleborg could ask drops and the wages Emil Falk can ask rise.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market11 Oct 2032
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Trelleborg can pretend not to have heard.
Squad11 Oct 2032
“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 Trelleborg know it.
Squad11 Oct 2032
A row about effort at Trelleborg
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Emil Falk was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Boardroom11 Oct 2032
The embargo bars a fee being paid for a player, whatever the manager thinks the squad needs. Every rumour printed about this club between now and its lifting is a rumour about a deal that cannot happen.
Boardroom11 Oct 2032
Trelleborg are $21.8M in the red
The borrowing is past what the bank agreed, which is the line where a debt stops being how football is financed and starts being a problem. Every phone-in in this town will quote the figure for the next five years.
The dugout11 Oct 2032
Daniel Ekdal gets it from the manager
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
Squad11 Oct 2032
Player of the week: Emil Falk
Somebody watched every match in the division at the weekend and decided he was the best thing in any of them. A small honour, and most careers end without one.
Market11 Oct 2032
The clock does Emil Falk’s negotiating for him
2 months left, and both sides know what that means: every week without a signature, the fee Trelleborg could ask drops and the wages Emil Falk can ask rise.
Market11 Oct 2032
Every press conference now starts and ends the same way: with Måns Andersson’s future. The manager has run out of new ways to say nothing.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad16 Aug 2032
Kehinde Lawal damages knee ligaments — 62 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 62 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 dugout16 Aug 2032
“I was told what my role would be, and I signed on that basis. It has not happened.” A grievance with a date attached is the hardest kind to settle.
Transfer targets16 Aug 2032
Everything agreed with IFK Norrkoping, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
Transfer targets16 Aug 2032
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. AIK have kept their man, and Trelleborg go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Boardroom16 Aug 2032
The embargo bars a fee being paid for a player, whatever the manager thinks the squad needs. Every rumour printed about this club between now and its lifting is a rumour about a deal that cannot happen.
The dugout16 Aug 2032
The manager makes an example of Emil Falk
“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.
Squad16 Aug 2032
Words at Trelleborg training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Amur Khatsukov 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 Aug 2032
Sergi Samper in a row with a teammate
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Trelleborg this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Boardroom16 Aug 2032
Trelleborg are $21.9M in the red
The borrowing is past what the bank agreed, which is the line where a debt stops being how football is financed and starts being a problem. Every phone-in in this town will quote the figure for the next five years.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad28 Jun 2032
The knee: Kehinde Lawal out for 111 days
111 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Trelleborg lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Match26 Jun 2032
No end in sight to Trelleborg's wait for a win
4 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Trelleborg has to find a result from somewhere.
Squad28 Jun 2032
Emil Falk 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 dugout28 Jun 2032
Emil Falk gets it from the manager
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
Boardroom28 Jun 2032
112% of the income goes out in wages at Trelleborg
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.
Squad28 Jun 2032
Joshua Akpan 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.
Squad28 Jun 2032
Trelleborg are still strangers to each other
8 new signings in one window. Every one may be an upgrade and the side can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild the verdicts never mention.
The dugout28 Jun 2032
“It is not the end of the world and it is not good enough. Both of those are true.” The manager, after a 0‑0 draw, said the honest thing and then went to say it again inside.
Market28 Jun 2032
“The manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Bence Trencsényi has his answer from Trelleborg; what he does with it is the next window’s story.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match15 May 2032
Chastening afternoon for Trelleborg
A 0‑6 beating by BK Hacken was the sort of result that empties a stadium long before the final whistle.
Match15 May 2032
Defending was optional and nobody took up the option. 6 goals between Trelleborg and BK Hacken, and not one of the people who paid to be there will ask for the money back.
Squad17 May 2032
A row about effort at Trelleborg
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Emil Falk was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout17 May 2032
The manager makes an example of Måns Andersson
“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.
Boardroom17 May 2032
Nobody left the Trelleborg dressing room in a hurry
The door stayed shut a long time after the final whistle. What was said in there is between them; whether it worked is between them and Saturday.
Squad17 May 2032
An error at the back is a moment; an error in goal is a goal. Fabian Ehmann knows it, the crowd knew it instantly, and there was nobody behind him to make it anything else.
The dugout17 May 2032
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Interim Coach after 0‑6, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
The dugout17 May 2032
Fabian Ehmann is still being punished for one mistake
Nobody will confirm it and the team sheets confirm it every week. One error has bought him a spell as second choice that is already longer than the error deserved.
Player ratings17 May 2032
Max Rundbäck beats them one at a time
Successful dribbles: 13. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Match5 May 2032
The small margins put Trelleborg out
Out, 1‑3 to Brommapojkarna, and the long argument about which of the small moments decided it. The league is all there is now, and everybody knows it.
Squad10 May 2032
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.
Player ratings10 May 2032
Emil Falk, 20, steals the show — 7.61
Marked 7.61 at 20, in a side that makes no allowances for age. He did not need any, and he looked the least nervous man on the pitch.
Squad10 May 2032
Emil Falk 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.
Squad10 May 2032
Amur Khatsukov 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.
Market10 May 2032
“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.
Squad10 May 2032
Too much change too quickly at Trelleborg
8 signings in three months. Every one of them may be an upgrade and the team can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild that never appears in the transfer-window verdicts.
The dugout10 May 2032
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Richie Laryea, and the manager let it.
Match8 May 2032
1‑1, and both dressing rooms will call it two points lost. A draw that asked plenty of questions and answered none of them.