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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Gabriel Busanello was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Marked 8.11 — 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.
“We earned that. I asked them for a reaction and I got one, and now I want the same again on Saturday.” Adam Quaison on a 1‑0 afternoon that pleased him more than he was prepared to show.
There is no complaint available here and everybody involved knows it, which does not make the walk to the bench any shorter. Form is the only currency in football that cannot be borrowed against.
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.
Successful dribbles: 25. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad10 Sep 2029
Words at BK Hacken training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Gabriel Busanello 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.
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 music was off and the showers ran late. What was said in that dressing room stays there, but Saturday will publish the minutes.
The dugout10 Sep 2029
The manager’s verdict
“That is on me. I pick the team and I picked wrong.” Managers say that when they mean it and when they need to be seen to, and after 0‑1 Adam Quaison left the room before anybody could ask which.
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 Adrian Svanbäck is on it.
“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 Gustav Granath.
In brief
The dugoutEtrit Berisha dropped after a run of poor form
“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.
Boardroom20 Aug 2029
Deadline passes with 19 signed and 16 gone
That is the business done at BK Hacken 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.
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.
Successful dribbles: 21. 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.
Gefle will keep picking him until June and will get nothing for him after it. Måns Berggren has pre-agreed a move to BK Hacken, and the only people who lose in that arrangement are the ones who let the contract run down.
A deal that was a phone call from completion at lunchtime was dead by midnight. BK Hacken will try again when the window opens; IFK Goteborg may not be selling by then.
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. BK Hacken have lost him in all but the paperwork.
$810.0K on the table at Halmstad. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.
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.
$140.0K was the most the club would pay and Kalmar FF were asking for more. Deals like this are revived in the last week of a window roughly half the time, and everybody involved knows it.
Squad23 Jul 2029
Words at BK Hacken training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Gabriel Busanello 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.
Nothing happens for months and then he simply arrives, at no cost, having signed a pre-contract while still turning out for somebody else. It is the least dramatic way to sign a footballer and frequently the shrewdest.
The injury that keeps coming back, keeps being rushed back from, and quietly costs more careers than the dramatic ones. 15 days is the estimate; the honest figure depends on whether anybody is patient.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Omar Faraj. 1‑0 against Atvidaberg, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
In brief
Player ratingsNinety minutes of Omar Faraj at his very best
Conrad Wallem 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 Gabriel Busanello was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 1‑3, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
The words a physio says slowly. 32 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.
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 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 at BK Hacken 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.
Some games turn on a moment; this one turned on a man. 7.05 on the card, and the BK Hacken support went home talking about one name.
The dugout25 Jun 2029
The manager’s verdict
“I am frustrated, honestly. We did enough to win and we did not win.” Adam Quaison was not hiding it after 0‑0, and nobody in the BK Hacken dressing room was either.
The one version of being left out a player cannot argue with, and the one he takes worst. Somebody else has been better and the team sheet says so, in public, every week until it changes.
Successful dribbles: 13. 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.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” BK Hacken have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Joachim Imbrechts will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around BK Hacken the goodbyes have quietly begun.
The most common injury in the game and the most rushed back from. BK Hacken will quote 15 days and will be careful with it, because the second one is always worse than the first.
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.
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.
Successful dribbles: 36. 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 kept out from twelve yards, and a stadium that will describe each of them for twenty years. A goalkeeper needs one night like this in a career, and this was it.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around BK Hacken 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 BK Hacken this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad7 May 2029
Conrad Wallem 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.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Joachim Imbrechts will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around BK Hacken the goodbyes have quietly begun.
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.
Squad23 Apr 2029
Words at BK Hacken training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Conrad Wallem 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 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 supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 0‑1, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around BK Hacken 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 BK Hacken 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 Conrad Wallem was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Successful dribbles: 20. 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 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.
Pontus Dahbo 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 Conrad Wallem was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
At 22 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Conrad Wallem was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Add another name to the list: AIK have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Joachim Imbrechts. The answer from BK Hacken has not changed — yet.
Marked 8.10 — 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 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 9.77. Players have careers without a single afternoon like this in them, and he has just had one in front of everybody at BK Hacken.
Squad3 Jul 2028
Words at BK Hacken training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Conrad Wallem 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.
Successful dribbles: 21. 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.
Squad26 Jun 2028
Conrad Wallem 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.
Dennis Collander 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.
2 goals inside twenty minutes with Omar Faraj in the middle of it, and Gefle unable to get near the ball long enough to change anything. Some matches are won before the first drink.
“The players deserve the credit. My job was easy today.” It was not, and everybody in the room knew it; after 2‑0, Adam Quaison could afford to be generous.
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.
Successful dribbles: 15. 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.
Nobody at BK Hacken 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 point is a point and I will take it, but we should have had all three.” Adam Quaison after the 0‑0 draw, and the sentence every manager in the country said at some stage this weekend.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Ben Engdahl will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around BK Hacken the goodbyes have quietly begun.
The rules permit it and it stings anyway. Adam Lundkvist has agreed terms with IFK Goteborg for the summer, and until then he pulls on this shirt as a player who has already chosen his next one.
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.
Squad12 Jun 2028
Words at BK Hacken training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Conrad Wallem 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 run ends on an afternoon somebody had marked down as routine. This one went 5 matches, which is long enough that a town had stopped counting, and short enough that it will remember exactly who stopped it.
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.
5 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.
91 minutes played. Adrian Svanbäck found the finish in time that only existed because of earlier delays, and GIF Sundsvall went from a point to nothing inside one movement.
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.
Dennis Collander 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.
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.
Successful dribbles: 24. 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.
Pontus Dahbo 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.
Squad24 Apr 2028
Words at BK Hacken training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Conrad Wallem 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.
3 matches, no goals, and a training ground that has tried everything. It will end — droughts always do — but nobody at BK Hacken can tell you which week it ends in.
“I am grateful for the games, but I did not become a footballer to be somebody else's spare part.” He wants to be at BK Hacken, and 0 appearances in 9 say he has earned the hearing.
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.
In brief
The dugoutHalf-satisfied: Adam Quaison on the draw
The dugoutSomebody else is better right now than Bjørn Paulsen
Successful dribbles: 25. 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.
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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Conrad Wallem was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Nobody at BK Hacken 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.
“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.
There is no complaint available here and everybody involved knows it, which does not make the walk to the bench any shorter. Form is the only currency in football that cannot be borrowed against.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and IFK Norrkoping waiting with a shirt. Nobody at BK Hacken is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
The fee is $2.5M, the contract is signed, and the argument about whether he is worth it can begin. Orebro drove a hard bargain; time will say who won it.
Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at Malmo FF is saying, and nobody at BK Hacken is enjoying the guessing.
Conrad Wallem 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.
Jakub Ojrzyński was the name on every phone-in, and the club has gone and signed him for $2.5M. For one week the board can do no wrong, which is a week most boards never get.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Gabriel Busanello was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Dennis Collander and BK Hacken agree another 4 years.
BK Hacken asked and Puskas Akademia said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Mikkel Rygaard will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around BK Hacken the goodbyes have quietly begun.
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.
200 games in this shirt, through managers and relegations and everything else. Service like it is disappearing from the game and the crowd knows what it is watching.
“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 BK Hacken know it.
Nobody at BK Hacken 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.