“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” IFK Goteborg have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
At 22 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.
Squad11 Jan 2027
Words at IFK Goteborg training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. August Erlingmark 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.
Nobody at IFK Goteborg 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.
In brief
The dugoutDavid Kruse asks for a word with the manager
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Elis Bishesari is 21, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Squad28 Dec 2026
Words at IFK Goteborg training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. August Erlingmark 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 Elis Bishesari is on it.
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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and August Erlingmark was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Nobody at IFK Goteborg 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.
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.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Mikkel Rygaard trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
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 Albin Ekdal has written the date down.
“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 IFK Goteborg will have to answer with minutes or with a transfer.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and August Erlingmark was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Nobody at IFK Goteborg 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.
Nothing is announced when this happens and everybody knows. He is a bigger part of the plan at IFK Goteborg than he was a month ago, and the training ground worked that out before the team sheet said so.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. IFK Goteborg know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
In brief
The dugoutJohan Hammar knocks on the manager's door
1‑3 against Ajax. Continental football is unforgiving about the things a domestic league lets a side get away with, and this was a night spent finding out which of those the club still has.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” IFK Goteborg have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
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.
He found out with everybody else, an hour before kick-off, from a sheet of paper on a wall. Nobody at IFK Goteborg pretended it was anything other than a decision about him.
The dugout30 Nov 2026
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 1‑3 defeat, delivered by Daniel Lustig to a room that had heard them before.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Arbnor Mucolli will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around IFK Goteborg the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and August Erlingmark was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Nobody at IFK Goteborg 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.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at IFK Goteborg, and both men came out saying it was fine.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until David Kruse signs something — a contract at IFK Goteborg or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
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.
Jonas Bager has done the arithmetic and does not like the answer. Nothing corrodes a squad faster, and no club has ever solved it by explaining the wage structure to a footballer.
0‑2 against Astra, and an evening that measured the gap rather than the ninety minutes. Nothing about it was a disgrace and nothing about it was close.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” IFK Goteborg have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Successful dribbles: 22. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
Squad9 Nov 2026
Words at IFK Goteborg training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. August Erlingmark 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 easiest signature of my career.” Alexander Jallow and IFK Goteborg agree another 3 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
He found out with everybody else, an hour before kick-off, from a sheet of paper on a wall. Nobody at IFK Goteborg pretended it was anything other than a decision about him.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Jonathan Rasheed will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around IFK Goteborg the goodbyes have quietly begun.
3 wins in a row changes how opponents warm up: quieter, more glances across. Runs end, everybody knows that — but nobody in this dressing room is planning for it.
Player ratings26 Oct 2026
Max Fenger was on a different afternoon to everybody else
9.55. There are performances a supporter describes to somebody who was not there and cannot quite convey; this was one, and the number does not help either.
Squad26 Oct 2026
Words at IFK Goteborg training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. August Erlingmark 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.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 23-year-old it feels ownership of. Sebastian Clemmensen 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.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Max Fenger. 1‑0 against Hammarby, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” IFK Goteborg have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at IFK Goteborg is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Squad19 Oct 2026
Words at IFK Goteborg training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. August Erlingmark 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.
8.06. There are performances a supporter describes to somebody who was not there and cannot quite convey; this was one, and the number does not help either.
It is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. IFK Goteborg told David Kruse something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
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.
1‑1 against Vikingur, and a performance that will be described to people who were not there for the rest of the season. Sebastian Clemmensen was at the centre of the description.
18 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. IFK Goteborg lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
A defender on the scoresheet, which happens rarely enough that everybody in the ground remembers who took the corner. 1 for him, and a mark of 7.73 for the rest of it.
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 21 he is doing things at this level he could not do at the start of the season, and the coaching staff will tell you exactly which of them.
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.
8.10. There are performances a supporter describes to somebody who was not there and cannot quite convey; this was one, and the number does not help either.
At 21 he was better than everybody his age in the division for four weeks running, which is harder than one good afternoon. IFK Goteborg will try not to make too much of it.
26 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. IFK Goteborg lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at IFK Goteborg is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
The rules permit it and it stings anyway. Melvin Koliqi has agreed terms with GIF Sundsvall for the summer, and until then he pulls on this shirt as a player who has already chosen his next one.
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.
He is 23 and the ground already sings his name, which is a thing that happens to local boys and almost never to signings. Everything from here is measured against an affection he did nothing to earn except be from here.
40 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. IFK Goteborg lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Successful dribbles: 30. 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 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.
3 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.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what IFK Goteborg can pretend not to have heard.
Successful dribbles: 22. 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.
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at IFK Goteborg, another week without a signature from Max Fenger.
The dugout7 Sep 2026
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 0‑1 defeat, delivered by Daniel Lustig to a room that had heard them before.
The manager has re-ordered his thinking and Sam Larsson 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.
The clubs have shaken hands with FC Cincinnati; the player has not yet. Personal terms are next, and personal terms are where more deals die than anybody prints.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at IFK Goteborg is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
The fee was agreed and the flight was looked at — and then the phone stopped ringing. Hammarby moved on, Arbnor Mucolli reports back to IFK Goteborg, and everybody pretends Monday is just Monday.
The rules permit it and it stings anyway. Jonathan Rasheed has agreed terms with AIK for the summer, and until then he pulls on this shirt as a player who has already chosen his next one.
IFK Goteborg offered $78.0K; AIK said it was not close. The manager will be told the money is still there for the right player, which is what managers are told.