Brice Wembangomo 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.
“The easiest signature of my career.” Noah Tolf and IFK Goteborg agree another 4 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Squad16 Aug 2027
Words at IFK Goteborg training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Filip Ottosson 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.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Le Havre AC have kept their man, and IFK Goteborg go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Dejan Olsen after 0‑1, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
The deal with Club Brugge is done in every sense but the one that puts him on the pitch. Nothing goes wrong at this stage, except on the occasions when it does.
IFK Goteborg had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at Wolfsberger AC, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.
Squad9 Aug 2027
Words at IFK Goteborg training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Filip Ottosson 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.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. BK Hacken have kept their man, and IFK Goteborg go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
At 23 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.
The name of Alfons Borén has come up in conversations IFK Goteborg were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
12 without defeat on their own grass. The pitch has not changed; the crowd has — louder earlier, and quicker to sense when the opposition would rather be somewhere else.
Everything agreed with Wolfsberger AC, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
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.
The dugout2 Aug 2027
The manager’s verdict
“I am frustrated, honestly. We did enough to win and we did not win.” Dejan Olsen was not hiding it after 0‑0, and nobody in the IFK Goteborg dressing room was either.
Not a new contract, not a new number: a new place in the manager’s thinking, which is the only promotion in football that actually matters. Imam Jagne has moved up it.
In brief
The dugoutThe manager makes an example of Oliver Hagen
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.
$200.0K was the most the club would pay and GIF Sundsvall 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Filip Ottosson was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Avellino have kept their man, and IFK Goteborg go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
The goal that put Falkenberg ahead was still being replayed on the concourse when IFK Goteborg equalised, 1 minutes later. Leads are only worth what you do with them.
Something was said to August Erlingmark and then it happened. In this industry that passes for remarkable, and the dressing room noticed faster than any supporter could.
Two goals and a mark of 9.49 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
11 home matches unbeaten. Visiting sides arrive already talking about the atmosphere, which is usually the sign that they have half-lost before kickoff.
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.
IFK Goteborg have gone to GIF Sundsvall with a bid, and the supporters have gone to the internet with an opinion about it. Whether either changes anything is up to the selling club.
IFK Goteborg have gone to Kalmar FF with a bid, and the supporters have gone to the internet with an opinion about it. Whether either changes anything is up to the selling club.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Filip Ottosson was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. GIF Sundsvall have kept their man, and IFK Goteborg go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
3 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.
Elis Bishesari 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 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.
Signed today, seen by nobody for years, and one of them may one day be the reason the club exists. That is the whole of the argument for an academy, and it is a good one.
The dugout5 Jul 2027
The view from the dugout
“We controlled it. There were spells I did not like and we will look at them, but the group showed me something.” Dejan Olsen, on a 1‑0 win that he was already picking apart on the walk to the press room.
“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.
Words at IFK Goteborg training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Filip Ottosson 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 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.
The dugout28 Jun 2027
The manager’s verdict
“I am frustrated, honestly. We did enough to win and we did not win.” Dejan Olsen was not hiding it after 0‑0, and nobody in the IFK Goteborg dressing room was either.
The crowd waited for a goal that never came. IFK Norrkoping defended in numbers and left with what they came for, and the two sides could be playing still without troubling a scorer.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Brice Wembangomo signs something — a contract at IFK Goteborg or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
Ninety specific minutes wanted a different sort of player, and the manager picked one. He is not out of form and he is not in the side, and both are true.
17 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.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 7 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
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.
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.
“There are things I liked and things we will be doing on Tuesday until they are right.” 1‑1, and a manager who had already decided what Tuesday looked like.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Jonas Bager trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
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.
24 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.
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.
Tobias Heintz 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 Filip Ottosson was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
8 home matches unbeaten. Visiting sides arrive already talking about the atmosphere, which is usually the sign that they have half-lost before kickoff.
Three points for IFK Goteborg, 1‑0 the final word against Orebro in a contest settled by the finer margins.
Player ratings14 Jun 2027
Tobias Heintz was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.40. 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.
Malmo FF next, which means a week that starts on Monday. Everything else on this page will be forgotten by Saturday; this fixture will not be forgotten for a year.
31 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.
7.76, 1 on the scoresheet, and the specific comedy of a back-four player celebrating like somebody who does this every week. He does not, and that is exactly why the ground reacted the way it did.
Tobias Heintz and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad7 Jun 2027
Words at IFK Goteborg training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Filip Ottosson 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.
Filip Ottosson scored, and precious little else went right: 1‑2 to Djurgarden, and a quiet walk to the dressing room.
The dugout7 Jun 2027
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 1‑2 Dejan Olsen left the room before anybody could ask which.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and August Erlingmark trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Clubs make promises constantly and the page usually only hears about them when they are broken. This one was honoured, and the dressing room noticed that faster than any supporter did.
In brief
The dugoutIssaka Seidu dropped after a run of poor form
38 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.
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.
Djurgarden next, and the two sides the division is watching meet each other. Whoever wins will be told nothing is decided in the same breath as being congratulated.
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.
“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.
The dugout31 May 2027
Somebody else is better right now than Issaka Seidu
The team sheet says it in public every week until it changes. The only version of being dropped a footballer cannot argue with, and the one he takes hardest.
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.
6 games unbeaten now. Some were earned and some were survived, but a habit is forming — and habits are the hardest thing in football to play against.
Squad24 May 2027
Words at IFK Goteborg training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Filip Ottosson 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.” Felix Eriksson and IFK Goteborg agree another 5 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
“The players deserve the credit. My job was easy today.” It was not, and everybody in the room knew it; after 1‑0, Dejan Olsen could afford to be generous.
Somebody else has been better, the manager has said so with a team sheet, and there is no argument to be had. He will get the shirt back the only way it can be got back.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Filip Ottosson was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
A mark of 7.14, and nobody in the ground would argue with it. He was involved in everything that mattered and most of what did not.
The dugout17 May 2027
The manager’s verdict
“I am frustrated, honestly. We did enough to win and we did not win.” Dejan Olsen was not hiding it after 0‑0, and nobody in the IFK Goteborg dressing room was either.
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.
Ninety specific minutes wanted a different sort of player, and the manager picked one. He is not out of form and he is not in the side, and both are true.
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.
There is no crueller way to lose a football match. IFK Goteborg scored in the 119th minute, the restart barely happened, and the away end was still standing when the whistle went.
“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.
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.
Ninety specific minutes wanted a different sort of player, and the manager picked one. He is not out of form and he is not in the side, and both are true.
Two goals and a mark of 8.68 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Filip Ottosson was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Daniele Montevago. 2‑1 against Kalmar FF, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
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.
“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 IFK Goteborg, and 4 appearances in 10 say he has earned the hearing.
“We earned that. I asked them for a reaction and I got one, and now I want the same again on Saturday.” Dejan Olsen on a 2‑1 afternoon that pleased him more than he was prepared to show.
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at IFK Goteborg has been clear about where Alexander Jallow stands, which is more than many ever get.
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.
Squad26 Apr 2027
Words at IFK Goteborg training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Filip Ottosson 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.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Axel Kouamé. 2‑0 against Atvidaberg, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
“The players deserve the credit. My job was easy today.” It was not, and everybody in the room knew it; after 2‑0, Dejan Olsen could afford to be generous.
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.
He used to wear the other shirt. On Saturday he plays against Kalmar FF in this one, and whatever he says this week about it being just another game will be untrue.
0‑4 to BK Hacken, 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.
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 music was off and the showers ran late. What was said in that dressing room stays there, but Saturday will publish the minutes.
The dugout19 Apr 2027
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 0‑4 defeat, delivered by Dejan Olsen to a room that had heard them before.
Nobody's fault and entirely his: a goal that goes into the book with his name against it and nothing about it intended. IFK Goteborg deserved better, and so did he.
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 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Filip Ottosson was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The most common injury in the game and the most rushed back from. IFK Goteborg will quote 15 days and will be careful with it, because the second one is always worse than the first.
One weekend, judged against everybody else's. Axel Kouamé has come out on top of it, and for most footballers a weekly award is the only silverware a career ever produces.
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.
4‑1, and Daniele Montevago took the headlines on an afternoon when everything IFK Goteborg tried came off. Days like this are retold all winter.
Player ratings5 Apr 2027
A brace, and Axel Kouamé takes the afternoon — 9.51
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Axel Kouamé provided it, and the 9.51 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Daniele Montevago provided it, and the 9.39 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
The deadline has passed and the squad is the squad. 10 arrived, 4 left, and everything else printed about this club last month was a rumour that stayed one.
Senior shirt numbers handed to boys the coaches have known since they were twelve. Most will not make it and all of them have already done the hard part.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Filip Ottosson was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 23-year-old it feels ownership of. Axel Kouamé 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.
At 21 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.
Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at Clermont Foot is saying, and nobody at IFK Goteborg is enjoying the guessing.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Molde have kept their man, and IFK Goteborg go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
“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 IFK Goteborg, and 0 appearances in 5 say he has earned the hearing.
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 Lars Sætra has written the date down.
$2.6M was the most the club would pay and Halmstad 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Filip Ottosson was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Martin Olsen has come through every age group the club runs and has now been handed a senior number, and the people who coached him at twelve will be the proudest in the building.
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Marcus Guidetti has come through every age group the club runs and has now been handed a senior number, and the people who coached him at twelve will be the proudest in the building.
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Simon Ibrahimovic is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason IFK Goteborg will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
$2.6M 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.
Squad15 Mar 2027
Words at IFK Goteborg training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Filip Ottosson 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 IFK Goteborg this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Elis Bishesari 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.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. IFK Goteborg will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
IFK Goteborg offered $5.1M; Malmo FF 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.
“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 IFK Goteborg, and it is not being withdrawn.
IFK Goteborg asked and Halmstad said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
“The easiest signature of my career.” Brice Wembangomo and IFK Goteborg agree another 3 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Clermont Foot 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.
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.
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.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. IFK Goteborg will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
The offer went to Malmo FF this week and it is theirs to answer. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loud the door closes.
The accountants will call it good business and they will be right, which is not the point anybody outside the boardroom is making. Kolbeinn Þórðarson was one of the reasons people came, and $5.2M does not replace that by itself.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Orebro have kept their man, and IFK Goteborg go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Tobias Heintz 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.
Squad1 Mar 2027
Words at IFK Goteborg training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Filip Ottosson 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 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.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. IFK Goteborg will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Filip Ottosson was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
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 Kolbeinn Þórðarson is on it.
Clubs make promises constantly and the page usually only hears about them when they are broken. This one was honoured, and the dressing room noticed that faster than any supporter did.
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at IFK Goteborg. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. IFK Goteborg will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
IFK Goteborg asked and Dinamo Moscow said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
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.
Orebro paid $31.0K and IFK Goteborg took it, which is the whole story in one sentence. The longer version involves a wage budget and will be told all season.
Every shape has positions in it and this one does not have his. IFK Goteborg will either change the shape, change his job, or change his club, and he is waiting to hear which.
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at IFK Goteborg has been clear about where Jonathan Rasheed stands, which is more than many ever get.
A year in and the city has not opened up, the language has not come, and lunch is eaten alone more often than anybody at IFK Goteborg would admit. It shows on Saturdays.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. IFK Goteborg will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
IFK Goteborg have gone to Halmstad with a bid, and the supporters have gone to the internet with an opinion about it. Whether either changes anything is up to the selling club.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Filip Ottosson and IFK Goteborg agree another 3 years.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Filip Ottosson was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
IFK Goteborg have made the call to Modena. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Filip Ottosson trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason IFK Goteborg will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Filip Ottosson was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
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 Filip Ottosson trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 100 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
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.
Axel Kouamé 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.
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 Kolbeinn Þórðarson is on it.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 108 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
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.
“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.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason IFK Goteborg will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Tobias Heintz and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
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.
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 Nino Žugelj is on it.
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.
Tobias Heintz 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.
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 18 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.
Oliver Hagen is 20, and IFK Goteborg have signed him for the player he will be rather than the one he is. The first team can wait; the point of a deal like this is the years it buys.
The system has changed and his position has not. A footballer can improve his form; he cannot improve the manager’s formation, and that is the whole of the problem.
“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.
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.
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.
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.
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 Jonathan Rasheed has written the date down.
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.
“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.
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at IFK Goteborg. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
Public backing, and the sort that costs a manager something if it turns out to be wrong. Brice Wembangomo has been told in front of everybody that the shirt is his.
The standards have slipped, and in a building where everybody watches everybody it has not gone unremarked. This is how a player loses a place before he loses one.
The injury that keeps coming back, keeps being rushed back from, and quietly costs more careers than the dramatic ones. 14 days is the estimate; the honest figure depends on whether anybody is patient.
Gabriel Ersoy 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.
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 Nino Žugelj is on it.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Oliver Petersen trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
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.
Brice Wembangomo 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.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Tobias Heintz and IFK Goteborg agree another 4 years.
Axel Kouamé 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.
Numbers do not stay secret in a dressing room and never have. He is not asking for more than he is worth; he is asking why somebody beside him is worth more, and at IFK Goteborg that is a harder question to answer.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Alexander Jallow trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
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.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason IFK Goteborg will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
“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.
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.
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.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. IFK Goteborg will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about 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.
“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.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason IFK Goteborg will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
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.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. IFK Goteborg will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Tobias Heintz 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.
“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.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 53 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
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.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. IFK Goteborg will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Gabriel Ersoy 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.
Squad26 Oct 2026
10 new faces, and IFK Goteborg are still learning each other
A squad rebuilt inside one window pays for it in a currency nobody budgets for. The football is not worse than the sum of the players; it is worse than the sum of the players who have played together before.
“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.
The dugout26 Oct 2026
Somebody else is better right now than Issaka Seidu
The team sheet says it in public every week until it changes. The only version of being dropped a footballer cannot argue with, and the one he takes hardest.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. IFK Goteborg will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
It is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. IFK Goteborg told Ramon Pascal Lundqvist something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
The dugout19 Oct 2026
The view from the dugout
“We did not lose. Some weeks that is all you get, and I would rather have the point than not.” Dejan Olsen chose the glass-half-full version of 0‑0; the supporters left with the other one.
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.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. IFK Goteborg will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
5 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
Tobias Heintz 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.
A point taken on 91 minutes is worth exactly one point and considerably more than that to a dressing room. This side does not stop, which is a reputation worth more than the result.
“There are things I liked and things we will be doing on Tuesday until they are right.” 3‑3, and a manager who had already decided what Tuesday looked like.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 85 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
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.
4 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
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 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.
The team sheet says it in public every week until it changes. The only version of being dropped a footballer cannot argue with, and the one he takes hardest.
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.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. IFK Goteborg will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about 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.
He is 21 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.
The fixture the calendar is arranged around. Form goes out of the window, the table is not consulted, and for ninety minutes IFK Goteborg will be judged on one thing only.
10 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.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Kolbeinn Þórðarson trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
“A point is a point and I will take it, but we should have had all three.” Dejan Olsen after the 0‑0 draw, and the sentence every manager in the country said at some stage this weekend.
The dugout28 Sep 2026
Somebody else is better right now than Issaka Seidu
The team sheet says it in public every week until it changes. The only version of being dropped a footballer cannot argue with, and the one he takes hardest.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 101 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
0‑4 against Djurgarden, and no complaints that would survive the replay. The manager spoke about character afterwards; the terraces used shorter words.
The medical room confirms 14 days on the sidelines for Natanael Lundén, and a plan built around him now has to be rebuilt.
Boardroom21 Sep 2026
Nobody left the IFK Goteborg 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.
The dugout21 Sep 2026
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 0‑4 Dejan Olsen left the room before anybody could ask which.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Kolbeinn Þórðarson trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Beaten 4 times, 2 saves, and an afternoon that will go on his record whether it was his fault or the defence’s. It is the quiet unfairness of the position.
In brief
The dugoutNino Žugelj has become a man the manager trusts
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 109 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
“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 IFK Goteborg, and 0 appearances in 5 say he has earned the hearing.
“A point is a point and I will take it, but we should have had all three.” Dejan Olsen after the 1‑1 draw, and the sentence every manager in the country said at some stage this weekend.
Successful dribbles: 12. 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.
He used to wear the other shirt. On Saturday he plays against Djurgarden in this one, and whatever he says this week about it being just another game will be untrue.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason IFK Goteborg will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: David Kruse. 1‑0 against Halmstad, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
“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 Tobias Heintz.
The manager has re-ordered his thinking and Adam Bergmark Wiberg 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 paperwork is done long before the player is. Oliver Hagen has agreed terms to come here when his current deal runs out, which means IFK Goteborg have spent a summer's transfer budget on a phone call.
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.
Successful dribbles: 16. 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.
10 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.
“A point is a point and I will take it, but we should have had all three.” Dejan Olsen after the 1‑1 draw, and the sentence every manager in the country said at some stage this weekend.
In brief
The dugoutJonas Bager dropped after a run of poor form
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Hammarby have kept their man, and IFK Goteborg go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
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.
The system has changed and his position has not. A footballer can improve his form; he cannot improve the manager’s formation, and that is the whole of the problem.
“It is not the end of the world and it is not good enough. Both of those are true.” The manager, after a 1‑1 draw, said the honest thing and then went to say it again inside.
In brief
The dugoutIssaka Seidu dropped after a run of poor form
The board had gone up, the arguing had started, and then the ball was in the net in the 93th minute. Orebro will replay every second of the added time for a week.
“I know what people will say. I know what I want, and it is here.” SJK had the fee agreed and the shirt ready; they did not have the player, and now they will not.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Philadelphia Union have kept their man, and IFK Goteborg go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
This is not cover and nobody is pretending it is. $1.8M has been paid because Axel Kouamé is straightforwardly better than what was already here, and the club has decided to stop waiting.
Boardroom17 Aug 2026
IFK Goteborg close the window on a squad of their own making
4 in and 4 out, and no more changes for months. The manager has what he has, the supporters have their opinion of it, and the table will have the last word.
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. IFK Goteborg have done the hard part with Torino, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
There comes a point where a club either backs its own ambition or admits it does not have any. IFK Goteborg have paid $2.9M for Brice Wembangomo, which is the loudest way there is of saying which one it chose.
The accountants will call it good business and they will be right, which is not the point anybody outside the boardroom is making. Max Fenger was one of the reasons people came, and $1.8M does not replace that by itself.
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.
The phone has started ringing about Canadá again, and this time the name on the line is SJK. IFK Goteborg are listening politely and promising nothing.
Brice Wembangomo was the name on every phone-in, and the club has gone and signed him for $2.9M. For one week the board can do no wrong, which is a week most boards never get.
The offer went to Stoke City this week and it is theirs to answer. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loud the door closes.
$2.9M on the table at BK Hacken. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.
Max Fenger 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.
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.
61 months left and silence from upstairs — no offer, no talks, nothing for his people to answer. Clubs that let a calendar do their negotiating usually end up negotiating with the calendar.
In brief
Squad5 new faces, and IFK Goteborg are still learning each other
The dugoutMax Fenger asks for a word with the manager