IFK Goteborg moved before anybody else could: a new deal for Jakob Olsson, agreed quietly and announced loudly. Boards extend managers for many reasons; the good one is the one this looks like.
Tobias Heintz 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 shirt still fits. Anton Berg is back at IFK Goteborg, and half the ground remembers him in these colours already. Some signings need selling to the town; this one sold itself.
Some transfers need a press campaign. This one needed a shirt with the old number on it. John Claesson is a IFK Goteborg player again, and the town has its story of the summer.
He left as a boy and has come back still knowing where the away end is. Most signings have to be explained to a town; this one needed a photograph and nothing else.
Marked 8.31 — the sort of number a correspondent writes down twice to be sure. Everything he tried came off, and what he did not try was not worth trying.
The offer from SJK for Olle Samuelsson 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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at BK Hacken this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The table has started to be checked before the results are in, and that is always the tell. Nobody at BK Hacken says the word out loud, and everybody in the building is thinking it.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at IFK Goteborg this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Everyone has stopped pretending: Gefle will make the call about Linus Dahlgren this week. IFK Goteborg have a number in mind, and the number is not shy.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at BK Hacken this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Etrit Berisha 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.
Etrit Berisha 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 phone has started ringing about Sanders Ngabo again, and this time the name on the line is Helsingborg. BK Hacken are listening politely and promising nothing.
He is the name in every column and on every phone-in, which is a heavy thing to carry at any age. Some footballers thrive on it; others are quietly finished by it.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 9 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at BK Hacken this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Kevin Kelsy. 1‑0 against AIK, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
“I watch every BK Hacken game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Viborg runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
In brief
SquadPontus Dahbo asks for a word with the manager
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at BK Hacken this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Etrit Berisha 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.
Sondre Auklend 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 best deals are the ones the accountants never notice. Mauro Fleita arrives at BK Hacken with his wages the only cost and something to prove the only clause.
In brief
MarketThe clock does Johan Hammar’s negotiating for him
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Johan Hammar will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around BK Hacken the goodbyes have quietly begun.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at BK Hacken this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Marked 8.83 — the sort of number a correspondent writes down twice to be sure. Everything he tried came off, and what he did not try was not worth trying.
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 Danilo Al-Saed.
He is the name in every column and on every phone-in, which is a heavy thing to carry at any age. Some footballers thrive on it; others are quietly finished by it.
Sondre Auklend 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 clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at BK Hacken is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Fabricio Pedrozo 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.
1‑5 to Malmo FF, and it was every bit as bad as the number suggests. There are defeats you argue about and defeats you apologise for; this was the second kind.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Johan Hammar will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around BK Hacken the goodbyes have quietly begun.
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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at BK Hacken this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at BK Hacken, another week without a signature from Johan Hammar.
Halmstad go through and BK Hacken go home, 2‑1 the scoreline that did it. The dressing room will call the league the priority now, because that is what dressing rooms say.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at BK Hacken 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 BK Hacken this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Marked 8.81 — the sort of number a correspondent writes down twice to be sure. Everything he tried came off, and what he did not try was not worth trying.
Marked 8.42 — the sort of number a correspondent writes down twice to be sure. Everything he tried came off, and what he did not try was not worth trying.
The name of Sabri Kondo has come up in conversations BK Hacken were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.