Ola Solbakken 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 David Kruse 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. Club Brugge have kept their man, and IFK Goteborg go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
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 Max Fenger signs something — a contract at IFK Goteborg or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
“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.
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.
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.
Squad4 Feb 2030
Words at IFK Goteborg training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ola Solbakken 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 David Kruse is on it.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Tobias Heintz signs something — a contract at IFK Goteborg or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
The registration window is open and the phone has started. Between now and the deadline this club will be linked with forty players and sign three, which is the usual ratio.
Max Fenger was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Squad28 Jan 2030
Ola Solbakken 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.
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 has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Ola Solbakken signs something — a contract at IFK Goteborg or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Imam Jagne trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
In brief
MatchContinental football is in reach for IFK Goteborg
BoardroomThe IFK Goteborg production line keeps running
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.
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.
Squad21 Jan 2030
Words at IFK Goteborg training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. David Kruse 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.
“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.
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.
SquadTobias Heintz is training like a man with a point to make
181Edition
The IFK Goteborg Herald
14 Jan 2030
From our football correspondentSteady
Squad14 Jan 2030
Ola Solbakken 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.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Axel Sjöström Falk and IFK Goteborg agree another 4 years.
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.
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 has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Max Fenger signs something — a contract at IFK Goteborg or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
There are footballers who have a good season and footballers a season is remembered for, and the second kind get their names read out in a hall in the summer. IFK Goteborg will be quietly delighted and privately nervous.
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.
Squad7 Jan 2030
Words at IFK Goteborg training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ola Solbakken 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.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Tobias Heintz signs something — a contract at IFK Goteborg or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
A new partner, a signature and a photograph nobody will remember. It funds a fortnight of wages, which is more than most headlines on this page can say for themselves.
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.
“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.
Ola Solbakken and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad31 Dec 2029
David Kruse 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.
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 has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Ola Solbakken signs something — a contract at IFK Goteborg or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
Position 6, 55 points, and a run-in that decides whether next season has Thursday nights in it. Nobody is calling it a race yet, which is what people say during one.
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.
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.
Squad24 Dec 2029
Ola Solbakken 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.
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 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.
The offer from Miramar Misiones for Gustavo Ferreira 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.
There is a version of every career where the player ends up somewhere he chose rather than somewhere that chose him. Åke Andersson is living that version at IFK Goteborg, and it tends to show in the first month.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Ola Solbakken 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 Ola Solbakken is on it.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Max Fenger signs something — a contract at IFK Goteborg or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
“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.
Ola Solbakken 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.
Squad10 Dec 2029
David Kruse 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.
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 has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Tobias Heintz signs something — a contract at IFK Goteborg or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
A new face in his position, and David Kruse suddenly has to win back what he thought he owned. IFK Goteborg have promised nothing — clubs rarely do at this stage.
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 Gustavo Ferreira has written the date down.
Max Fenger 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.
Squad3 Dec 2029
Ola Solbakken 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.
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 demotion a club never announces and a dressing room always notices. Gustavo Ferreira is further from the side than he was, and the reason will not be given until he asks.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Ola Solbakken signs something — a contract at IFK Goteborg or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
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. Marcel Lindner has moved up it.
Position 6 on 55 points, and the places that carry a European ticket are close enough to count. Seasons like this are decided by two results in April, and the club knows which two.
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 Canadá has written the date down.
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. Adam Lundkvist has agreed terms with Atvidaberg for the summer, and until then he pulls on this shirt as a player who has already chosen his next one.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Ola Solbakken 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.
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.
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.
Ola Solbakken 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 David Kruse 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 Ola Solbakken is on it.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Max Fenger signs something — a contract at IFK Goteborg or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
There are footballers who have a good season and footballers a season is remembered for, and the second kind get their names read out in a hall in the summer. IFK Goteborg will be quietly delighted and privately nervous.
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.
Squad12 Nov 2029
Ola Solbakken 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.
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 David Kruse is on it.
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 has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Tobias Heintz signs something — a contract at IFK Goteborg or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Gustavo Ferreira trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
The best deals are the ones the accountants never notice. Andrei Anton arrives at IFK Goteborg with his wages the only cost and something to prove the only clause.
39 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.
Max Fenger 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.
Squad5 Nov 2029
Ola Solbakken 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.
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 has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Ola Solbakken signs something — a contract at IFK Goteborg or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
Commercial news is the news nobody sings about and everything else is paid for with. The board will call it a partnership; the accountants will call it the difference between this squad and a smaller one.
He used to be one of the options. He is now one of the men the options are picked around, and the change happened quietly enough that only the dressing room noticed on the day.
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.
In brief
The dugoutEmil Engqvist knocks on the manager’s door
MatchContinental football is in reach for IFK Goteborg
BoardroomThe IFK Goteborg production line keeps running
47 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.
The last league game has been played and the table has stopped moving: 55 points. The summer begins on Monday, and so does the argument about what it all meant.
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.
Defending was optional and nobody took up the option. 6 goals between IFK Goteborg and Hammarby, and not one of the people who paid to be there will ask for the money back.
Three points for IFK Goteborg, 4‑2 the final word against Hammarby in a contest settled by the finer margins.
Squad29 Oct 2029
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.
55 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.
Max Fenger and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad22 Oct 2029
Ola Solbakken 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.
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 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.
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.
The words a physio says slowly. 64 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 IFK Goteborg this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad15 Oct 2029
Words at IFK Goteborg training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ola Solbakken 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.
9 combined actions and 6.83. The job he did is the one that shows up as other people looking good, and the only reliable way to notice it is to watch what happens on the afternoons he is missing.
“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.
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.
1‑0 against Malmo FF, and the songs went on long after the whistle. League positions come and go; days like this get retold at family dinners for years.
The words a physio says slowly. 73 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.
There are goals, and then there are goals against that particular opponent. The IFK Goteborg support have their bragging rights for a year and they know exactly whose name is on them.
A midfielder is measured on whether the team functions when he is on the pitch, which is nearly impossible to see and completely obvious in retrospect. 12 actions, 7.04, and a manager who will not be substituting him again in a hurry.
84 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.
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.
Squad1 Oct 2029
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.
Marked 8.06 — 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.
Nothing about the week ahead is ordinary. Malmo FF on Saturday, a town that has already started talking about it, and a dressing room that does not need telling what it means.
Level with 89 minutes on the clock, after an afternoon IFK Goteborg had all but put away. Orebro will call it a point earned; the home dressing room will call it two given away, and both of them are right.
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 words a physio says slowly. 92 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Ola Solbakken was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Sam Guidetti after 0‑1, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
“Some mornings you wake up and you are still a long way from everything you know.” It is not the football and it never was; IFK Goteborg are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
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 Ola Solbakken is on it.
Something was said to Jonas Bager and then it happened. In this industry that passes for remarkable, and the dressing room noticed faster than any supporter could.
100 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.
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 7.85 at 33, and nobody on the pitch was better.
Ola Solbakken 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.
6 without a win is the sort of run that changes how a town talks about its club, and GIF Sundsvall were the afternoon it stopped. Nothing is fixed by one result and everything feels different by 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.
107 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.
“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.
Max Fenger 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.
Squad10 Sep 2029
Words at IFK Goteborg training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ola Solbakken 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.
Conceding is one thing; the response is what tells you about a dressing room. Tobias Heintz had IFK Goteborg level again within 4 minutes, and Halmstad never got to play with a lead at all.
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.
The words a physio says slowly. 117 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.
Successful dribbles: 33. 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.
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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Ola Solbakken was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
3 matches, no goals, and a training ground that has tried everything. It will end — droughts always do — but nobody at IFK Goteborg can tell you which week it ends in.
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Sam Guidetti after 0‑1, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
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.
The offer from Ternana for Gustavo Ferreira 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.
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.
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.
Boardroom20 Aug 2029
IFK Goteborg close the window on a squad of their own making
14 in and 11 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Ola Solbakken was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
IFK Goteborg asked and Arouca said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
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 last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. IFK Goteborg have lost him in all but the paperwork.
Ola Solbakken had done his part in building a 2-goal cushion. What happened after that was collective, and Atvidaberg were allowed back into a match that had been finished with.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Ola Solbakken was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
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.
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: AIK keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
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.
Squad6 Aug 2029
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.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 52 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
There is no crueller way to lose a football match. IFK Goteborg scored in the 92th minute, the restart barely happened, and the away end was still standing when the whistle went.
Player ratings30 Jul 2029
A brace, and Max Fenger takes the afternoon — 9.36
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Max Fenger provided it, and the 9.36 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and HIFK waiting with a shirt. Nobody at IFK Goteborg is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at Arouca is saying, and nobody at IFK Goteborg is enjoying the guessing.
There is a version of every career where the player ends up somewhere he chose rather than somewhere that chose him. Dylano van Niftrik is living that version at IFK Goteborg, and it tends to show in the first month.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 62 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
IFK Goteborg and IF Elfsborg have settled on $28.0K. The rest belongs to the player and his agent, and a supporter who has watched one of these before knows not to buy the shirt yet.
11 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.
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 paperwork is done long before the player is. Mathias Rosenørn 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.
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.
Ola Solbakken and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad16 Jul 2029
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.
Position 2, 35 points, and every result so far reduced to one line. The second half of the season starts with the same squad and a different set of expectations.
The dugout16 Jul 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 Sam Guidetti left the room before anybody could ask which.
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.
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.
10 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.
Squad9 Jul 2029
Words at IFK Goteborg training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ola Solbakken 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.
Level with 99 minutes on the clock, after an afternoon IFK Goteborg had all but put away. Djurgarden will call it a point earned; the home dressing room will call it two given away, and both of them are right.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 88 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 Ola Solbakken was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Successful dribbles: 18. 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.
“I know what people will say. I know what I want, and it is here.” Legia had the fee agreed and the shirt ready; they did not have the player, and now they will not.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 8 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Ola Solbakken 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 August Erlingmark was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
12 goals and a season average of 7.22 will do that. The space he used to find has gone; he keeps scoring anyway, which is the mark of the real thing.
Player ratings25 Jun 2029
Max Fenger was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.01. 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.
The board was up, the win was priced in, and then Malmo FF scored. There is no worse minute to concede in and the ground emptied in the silence that follows one.
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.
Max Fenger 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.
Squad18 Jun 2029
Words at IFK Goteborg training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ola Solbakken 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.
A performance of 8.61 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
Player ratings18 Jun 2029
Max Fenger was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.22. 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.
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.
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.
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 dugout18 Jun 2029
The manager’s verdict
“I am not going to get carried away and I will not let them either. It was a good day. There will be harder ones.” Sam Guidetti kept it short after the 2‑0 win, which is what managers do when they are happy.
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.
Squad11 Jun 2029
Words at IFK Goteborg training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ola Solbakken 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.
8 goals and a season average of 7.26. Form like that gets noticed well beyond this town.
The dugout11 Jun 2029
David Kruse is still being punished for one mistake
Nobody will confirm it and the team sheets confirm it every week. One error has bought him a spell as second choice that is already longer than the error deserved.
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Sam Guidetti after 1‑2, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
27 points, and the rest of the division looking up. Every side that finishes first spends the season pretending it is not thinking about it, and this one has started pretending.
5 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.
Ola Solbakken 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.
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.
9 straight away victories. Sides that win away are usually sides that can defend and can counter, and the table has begun to reflect what those journeys have earned.
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.
Max Fenger 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 Ola Solbakken was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Rarely has this fixture seen a display like it: 3‑0 against Helsingborg, and it could have been more.
Player ratings21 May 2029
A brace, and Ola Solbakken takes the afternoon — 9.23
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Ola Solbakken provided it, and the 9.23 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
“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.
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.
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: 22. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
Squad21 May 2029
Words at IFK Goteborg training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ola Solbakken 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.
19 defensive actions and a clean sheet at the end of them. A defender's afternoon can only be told by what did not happen, which is why nobody makes a highlights package out of one and every manager in the division would take it.
AIK will want this one forgotten quickly: 3‑0, every duel lost, and a long ride home. IFK Goteborg were ruthless in the way good sides are ruthless.
Player ratings14 May 2029
A brace, and Ola Solbakken takes the afternoon — 9.47
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Ola Solbakken provided it, and the 9.47 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
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.
Ola Solbakken 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 August Erlingmark was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Marked 8.18 — 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.
5 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.
Successful dribbles: 27. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad7 May 2029
Words at IFK Goteborg training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ola Solbakken 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.” Arbnor Mucolli and IFK Goteborg agree another 4 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 22-year-old it feels ownership of. Melvin Koliqi 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.
Successful dribbles: 28. 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.
Max Fenger 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.
Squad30 Apr 2029
Words at IFK Goteborg training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ola Solbakken 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.
Marked 8.18 — 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 8.01. Players have careers without a single afternoon like this in them, and he has just had one in front of everybody at IFK Goteborg.
Player ratings30 Apr 2029
Tobias Heintz was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.02. 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.
The dugout30 Apr 2029
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.” Sam Guidetti, on a 2‑0 win that he was already picking apart on the walk to the press room.
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 7.79 for the rest of it.
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.
Ola Solbakken 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.
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.
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 Ola Solbakken is on it.
“The players deserve the credit. My job was easy today.” It was not, and everybody in the room knew it; after 1‑0, Sam Guidetti could afford to be generous.
Max Fenger and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad16 Apr 2029
Ola Solbakken 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.
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.
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.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 17 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
6 straight away victories. Sides that win away are usually sides that can defend and can counter, and the table has begun to reflect what those journeys have earned.
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.
Squad9 Apr 2029
Words at IFK Goteborg training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ola Solbakken 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.
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Imam Jagne, and the manager let it.
The dugout9 Apr 2029
The manager’s verdict
“I am not going to get carried away and I will not let them either. It was a good day. There will be harder ones.” Sam Guidetti kept it short after the 2‑0 win, which is what managers do when they are happy.
In brief
The dugoutMax Fenger has become a man the manager trusts
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.
“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.
Boardroom2 Apr 2029
Deadline passes with 10 signed and 6 gone
That is the business done at IFK Goteborg 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.
IFK Goteborg moved before anybody else could: a new deal for Sam Guidetti, agreed quietly and announced loudly. Boards extend managers for many reasons; the good one is the one this looks like.
Max Fenger 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.
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.
Squad2 Apr 2029
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 academy exists for exactly this morning. Filip Granqvist 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. Emil Kulusevski 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.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 32 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
“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.
Squad26 Mar 2029
Words at IFK Goteborg training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ola Solbakken 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.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 41 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
$350.0K was the most the club would pay and Djurgarden 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 Ola Solbakken was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
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.
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 has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Max Fenger 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.
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.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Melvin Koliqi 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.
IFK Goteborg have gone to Djurgarden 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.
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.
There is a version of every career where the player ends up somewhere he chose rather than somewhere that chose him. Marcel Lindner is living that version at IFK Goteborg, and it tends to show in the first month.
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 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 is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. IFK Goteborg told Marcel Lindner something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
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.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Ola Solbakken and IFK Goteborg agree another 3 years.
IFK Goteborg had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at Bayern Munich, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.
Max Fenger 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 Ola Solbakken 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 Max Fenger is on 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.
“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.
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 Ola Solbakken was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Karl Svensson 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.
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Filip Lustig has been at this club since he was a boy and is now, formally, one of the first-team squad — which for a local readership beats any signing of any size.
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Martin Krafth 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.
Bayern Munich 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.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 71 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Ola Solbakken 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 August Erlingmark 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 Tobias Heintz is on it.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Max Fenger signs something — a contract at IFK Goteborg or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
“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 Vilmer Tyrén has written the date down.
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.
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.
Squad12 Feb 2029
Words at IFK Goteborg training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ola Solbakken 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 David Kruse is on it.
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.
“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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Ola Solbakken was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
IFK Goteborg asked and Bayern Munich 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.
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 Max Fenger is on it.
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. Noah Tolf has moved up it.
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.
Ola Solbakken 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 August Erlingmark 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 Ola Solbakken is on it.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Tobias Heintz signs something — a contract at IFK Goteborg or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
In brief
The dugoutMelvin Koliqi knocks on the manager’s door
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.
Squad22 Jan 2029
Words at IFK Goteborg training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ola Solbakken 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.” Axel Sjöström Falk and IFK Goteborg agree another 4 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about 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 IFK Goteborg this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
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 has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Max Fenger signs something — a contract at IFK Goteborg or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
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.
20 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.
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.
Squad15 Jan 2029
Ola Solbakken 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.
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 year in and the language has not come, the city has not opened up, and he eats alone more often than anybody at IFK Goteborg would like to admit. It is showing on Saturdays.
In brief
The dugoutAdam Lundkvist asks for a word with the manager
28 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.
Ola Solbakken and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad8 Jan 2029
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.
35 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.
Ola Solbakken 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 Jan 2029
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.
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 has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Tobias Heintz signs something — a contract at IFK Goteborg or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
A year in and the language has not come, the city has not opened up, and he eats alone more often than anybody at IFK Goteborg would like to admit. It is showing on Saturdays.
“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.
42 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.
“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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Ola Solbakken 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 Tobias Heintz is on it.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Max Fenger signs something — a contract at IFK Goteborg or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
50 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.
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.
Squad18 Dec 2028
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.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Anton Svensson and IFK Goteborg agree another 4 years.
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.
59 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Ola Solbakken was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Robin Jansson 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.
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.
66 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.
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” IFK Goteborg may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Squad4 Dec 2028
Ola Solbakken 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.
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.
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 has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Tobias Heintz signs something — a contract at IFK Goteborg or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
74 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.
Ola Solbakken 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 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 has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Max Fenger signs something — a contract at IFK Goteborg or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
In brief
BoardroomThe IFK Goteborg production line keeps running
83 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.
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.
Squad20 Nov 2028
Words at IFK Goteborg training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ola Solbakken 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 David Kruse is on it.
92 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.
Max Fenger 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 Ola Solbakken 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 Max Fenger is on it.
101 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.
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.
Four or five weekends of consistency, judged against everybody in the division doing his job. Noah Tolf has come out of that comparison in the side, and IFK Goteborg have had the benefit of every one of those afternoons.
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.
110 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Ola Solbakken 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.
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 has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Max Fenger signs something — a contract at IFK Goteborg or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
“The manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Natanael Lundén has his answer from IFK Goteborg; what he does with it is the next window’s story.
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.
18 graduates, from a department now rated 11 out of 20. Nothing about the academy appears in a result, and nothing about the club’s future exists without it.
118 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.
51 points, and the season has a number on it. Whatever it felt like from the inside, this is what it will look like in a book.
Squad23 Oct 2028
Ola Solbakken 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.
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Sam Guidetti after 0‑1, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
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.
In brief
The dugoutDavid Kruse has become a man the manager trusts
129 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.
Two goals and a mark of 8.83 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Match14 Oct 2028
Another one collected away from home
5 on the bounce on the road for IFK Goteborg. The coaches leave early, arrive at unlovely grounds in the dark, and keep coming home with three points.
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: 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.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 21-year-old it feels ownership of. Melvin Koliqi 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.
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.
In brief
The dugoutThe view from the dugout
The dugoutMax Fenger has become a man the manager trusts
137 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.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Felix Eriksson and IFK Goteborg agree another 4 years.
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.
4 straight away victories. Sides that win away are usually sides that can defend and can counter, and the table has begun to reflect what those journeys have earned.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Ola Solbakken. 1‑0 against IFK Norrkoping, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Marked 8.44 — 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.
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 Ola Solbakken is on 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Ola Solbakken was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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 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.
Marked 8.45 — 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 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.
In brief
The dugoutThe manager makes an example of Marcus Rohdén
The dugoutThe manager has not finished forgetting August Erlingmark's mistake
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 36 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
“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.
Max Fenger 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 Ola Solbakken was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
The dugout18 Sep 2028
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 1‑2 defeat, delivered by Sam Guidetti to a room that had heard them before.
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Ramon Pascal Lundqvist provided it, and the 9.00 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
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.
Successful dribbles: 21. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
Squad11 Sep 2028
Ola Solbakken 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.
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.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 54 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Ola Solbakken 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 August Erlingmark was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Successful dribbles: 19. 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.
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 David Kruse is on 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.
Successful dribbles: 21. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad28 Aug 2028
Words at IFK Goteborg training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ola Solbakken 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.
Robin Jansson 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.
Marked 8.20. Players have careers without a single afternoon like this in them, and he has just had one in front of everybody at IFK Goteborg.
The dugout28 Aug 2028
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.” Sam Guidetti, on a 1‑0 win that he was already picking apart on the walk to the press room.
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.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 11 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 70 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Boardroom21 Aug 2028
Deadline passes with 10 signed and 10 gone
That is the business done at IFK Goteborg 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.
IFK Goteborg had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at Al-Ittihad, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.
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.
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.
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.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 79 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Two goals and a mark of 9.55 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Ola Solbakken 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.
Involvement in 2 goals, from a player who spent the ninety minutes doing the thing a manager actually wants: being where the ball was going to end up. 7.97 beside his name.
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.
11 combined actions and 7.31. The job he did is the one that shows up as other people looking good, and the only reliable way to notice it is to watch what happens on the afternoons he is missing.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 86 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
The offer from Legia for Ola Solbakken 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.
“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.
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.
Marked 9.71 — 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.
Squad7 Aug 2028
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.
In brief
The dugoutThe manager makes an example of Marcus Rohdén
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.
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.
Max Fenger 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 Ola Solbakken was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Sam Guidetti after 0‑1, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
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.
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: Al-Hilal keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
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.
7 without a win is the sort of run that changes how a town talks about its club, and Falkenberg were the afternoon it stopped. Nothing is fixed by one result and everything feels different by one.
Marked 9.76 — 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.
AIK paid $450.0K 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.
Squad24 Jul 2028
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.
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.
10 matches unbeaten here. Every visiting manager is asked about it in the week before, which is precisely why it keeps going.
Squad17 Jul 2028
Words at IFK Goteborg training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ola Solbakken 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.
Level with 89 minutes on the clock, after an afternoon IFK Goteborg had all but put away. Gefle will call it a point earned; the home dressing room will call it two given away, and both of them are right.
In brief
Player ratingsNobody on the pitch touched Max Fenger
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.
6 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.
Squad10 Jul 2028
Words at IFK Goteborg training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ola Solbakken 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.
Position 8, 23 points, and every result so far reduced to one line. The second half of the season starts with the same squad and a different set of expectations.
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 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.
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 Max Fenger is on it.
In brief
The dugoutThe manager has not finished forgetting Felix Eriksson's mistake
Player ratingsDavid Kruse beats them one at a time
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.
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.
He has had enough of the noise. Whether IFK Goteborg can be a quieter place for him, or whether the only cure is a move somewhere the phone-ins are gentler, is a question for the next few months.
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.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 134 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
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.
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.
Squad26 Jun 2028
Ola Solbakken 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.
8 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.
A performance of 8.47 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
Player ratings26 Jun 2028
Max Fenger was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.24. 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.
A point taken on 87 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.
A defender's mistake gets tidied up by somebody else; a goalkeeper's ends up in the net. He knew before the ball crossed the line, and so did everybody in the ground.
In brief
The dugoutThe manager has not finished forgetting Elis Bishesari's mistake
Every run ends on an afternoon somebody had marked down as routine. This one went 12 matches, which is long enough that a town had stopped counting, and short enough that it will remember exactly who stopped it.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Ola Solbakken was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.
The dugout19 Jun 2028
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 1‑3 Sam Guidetti 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 Ola Solbakken is on it.
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.
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 August Erlingmark was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
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.
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 Max Fenger is on it.
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.
The dugout12 Jun 2028
Somebody else is better right now than Robin Jansson
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.
Hard to beat is not the same as winning, but 11 matches without defeat is a foundation IFK Goteborg did not have in the autumn.
Squad5 Jun 2028
Words at IFK Goteborg training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ola Solbakken 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.
Robin Jansson 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.
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.
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.
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.
GIF Sundsvall will want this one forgotten quickly: 3‑0, every duel lost, and a long ride home. IFK Goteborg were ruthless in the way good sides are ruthless.
Two goals and a mark of 9.12 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Position 3, 19 points, and the result everyone checks first is now theirs. The word is still not being said around the ground, which is how you know everyone is thinking it.
The unbeaten run reaches 10. Some of them were wins and some were escapes, but a side that refuses to lose is a side other dressing rooms talk about.
Squad29 May 2028
Words at IFK Goteborg training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ola Solbakken 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.
Marked 8.23 — 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.
Gabriel Ersoy and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
The dugout29 May 2028
The manager’s verdict
“I am not going to get carried away and I will not let them either. It was a good day. There will be harder ones.” Sam Guidetti kept it short after the 3‑0 win, which is what managers do when they are happy.
Successful dribbles: 27. 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.
Ola Solbakken 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 August Erlingmark was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
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 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.
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.
Squad15 May 2028
Ola Solbakken 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.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Wilmer Henriksson and IFK Goteborg agree another 4 years.
“The manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Adam Lundkvist has his answer from IFK Goteborg; what he does with it is the next window’s story.
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 dugoutSomebody else is better right now than Robin Jansson
Successful dribbles: 37. 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.
Max Fenger had done his part in building a 2-goal cushion. What happened after that was collective, and AIK were allowed back into a match that had been finished with.
Two goals and a mark of 8.69 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
1 kept out in the shoot-out, and a stadium that will still be describing them in twenty years. A goalkeeper only needs one of these to be remembered forever.
Max Fenger 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 unbeaten run reaches 7. Some of them were wins and some were escapes, but a side that refuses to lose is a side other dressing rooms talk about.
Squad8 May 2028
Ola Solbakken 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.
There is no crueller way to lose a football match. IFK Goteborg scored in the 93th minute, the restart barely happened, and the away end was still standing when the whistle went.
7.98, 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.
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 August Erlingmark was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Marked 8.01 — 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 demotion a club never announces and a dressing room always notices. Imam Jagne is further from the side than he was, and the reason will not be given until he asks.
Successful dribbles: 39. 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.
Rarely has this fixture seen a display like it: 4‑1 against Atvidaberg, and it could have been more.
Player ratings24 Apr 2028
A brace, and Max Fenger takes the afternoon — 8.92
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Max Fenger provided it, and the 8.92 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Ola Solbakken was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Ola Solbakken was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
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.
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.
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.
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 Ola Solbakken is on it.
1‑1, and both dressing rooms will call it two points lost. A draw that asked plenty of questions and answered none of them.
The dugout17 Apr 2028
Somebody else is better right now than Robin Jansson
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.
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.
Footballers are asked about their boyhood club so often that nobody listens to the answer. Adam Lundkvist has just signed for IFK Goteborg, and for once the answer mattered.
Ola Solbakken and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad10 Apr 2028
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 22-year-old it feels ownership of. Elis Bishesari 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.
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.
The dugout10 Apr 2028
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.” Sam Guidetti, on a 4‑0 win that he was already picking apart on the walk to the press room.
“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.
Boardroom3 Apr 2028
Deadline passes with 9 signed and 1 gone
That is the business done at IFK Goteborg 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.
The board have signed the man in the dugout to a longer contract, which says more than any statement of support. Stability is easy to promise and costly to keep.
Squad3 Apr 2028
Words at IFK Goteborg training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ola Solbakken 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.
5 boys move up, and somewhere in the building the people who coached them at twelve are quietly having the best morning of their working year. Nothing about this shows up in a result and it is why the academy exists.
Robin Jansson 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.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Max Fenger. 2‑0 against Gefle, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Viktor Granqvist 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 deal with IF Elfsborg 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.
Max Fenger and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad27 Mar 2028
Ola Solbakken 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.
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 Max Fenger signs something — a contract at IFK Goteborg or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
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 Ramon Pascal Lundqvist has written the date down.
“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.
He trains hard, says the right things and goes home to an empty flat. Nobody at IFK Goteborg has done anything wrong, which is exactly what makes it so difficult to fix.
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.
Squad20 Mar 2028
Ola Solbakken 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.
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 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.
60 points from position 4. The title is somebody else’s business and the drop is somebody else’s problem; what is left is the argument about passports.