Orebro have gone to Helsingborg 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.
Antonio Yakoub 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.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Orebro know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
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 Buster Runheim 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 Orebro, and both men came out saying it was fine.
The standards have slipped, and in a building where everybody watches everybody it has not gone unremarked. This is how a player loses a place before he loses one.
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Buster Runheim is 20, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Orebro asked and IF Elfsborg said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Ahmed Saeed is 18, and Orebro have signed him for the player he will be rather than the one he is. The first team can wait; the point of a deal like this is the years it buys.
Squad15 Mar 2027
Words at Orebro training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Telmo Coimbra 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 loan enquiry to Spartak Trnava: cover, or a look at somebody the club cannot afford to buy yet. Either way the answer will come back inside the week.
Every shape has positions in it and this one does not have his. Orebro will either change the shape, change his job, or change his club, and he is waiting to hear which.
Orebro and Djurgarden have settled on $370.0K. 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.
The chase for Timothé Rupil ended with $590.0K changing hands and Helsingborg out of reasons to say no. The supporters will judge the fee the only way that matters: on Saturdays.
$460.0K on the table at Gefle. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Orebro this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
He is not being dropped. There is simply nowhere in the formation Orebro are playing to put a man who does what he does, which is a harder thing to be told than any team sheet.
In brief
The dugoutSamuel Wikman knocks on the manager's door
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Orebro will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
The offer from IFK Norrkoping for Antonio Yakoub 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.
Mikael Marqués 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.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Orebro, 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 August Strömberg has written the date down.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Orebro 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 Orebro can pretend not to have heard.
Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at Zbrojovka Brno is saying, and nobody at Orebro is enjoying the guessing.
Mikael Marqués 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.
$110.0K was the most the club would pay and Malmo FF were asking for more. Deals like this are revived in the last week of a window roughly half the time, and everybody involved knows it.
He is 20, and the scouting reports agree on the only line that matters: the ceiling. Signings like this are lottery tickets written by professionals.
Squad22 Feb 2027
Words at Orebro training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Telmo Coimbra 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 bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Orebro will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
The offer went to IF Elfsborg this week and it is theirs to answer. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loud the door closes.
$460.0K was the most the club would pay and BK Hacken 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.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Malmo FF have kept their man, and Orebro go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Squad15 Feb 2027
Telmo Coimbra 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.
Orebro have made the call to Zbrojovka Brno. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Antonio Yakoub signs something — a contract at Orebro 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 bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Orebro will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Orebro asked and Hammarby said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
$460.0K on the table at BK Hacken. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.
Orebro have gone to Malmo FF with a bid, and the supporters have gone to the internet with an opinion about it. Whether either changes anything is up to the selling club.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Orebro this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Jacob Ortmark signs something — a contract at Orebro or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Orebro will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Antonio Yakoub 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.
Squad1 Feb 2027
Telmo Coimbra 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.
“The manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” John Stenberg has his answer from Orebro; what he does with it is the next window’s story.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Orebro, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Orebro will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Antonio Yakoub 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 Adem Sarajlić was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Orebro know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
“I respect the manager and I am not going to sit here and pretend I am happy.” It is the most common sentence in football and it has never once been the end of a story.
In brief
The dugoutThe manager makes Joël Kabongo a promise
The dugoutJohn Stenberg asks for a word with the manager
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 63 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
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.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Orebro will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Jakub Ojrzyński is 23, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Orebro this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad11 Jan 2027
Words at Orebro training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Adem Sarajlić 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 has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Jacob Ortmark signs something — a contract at Orebro 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 Orebro. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
The best deals are the ones the accountants never notice. Telmo Coimbra arrives at Orebro with his wages the only cost and something to prove the only clause.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Orebro will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Mikael Marqués 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.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Orebro, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at Orebro. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Orebro know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
Antonio Yakoub 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 20 he is doing things this season that he could not do last season, and doing them every week. Form comes and goes; this has stayed long enough to be called something else.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Antonio Yakoub signs something — a contract at Orebro 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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Orebro this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Jacob Ortmark signs something — a contract at Orebro or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
Antonio Yakoub 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.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Joël Kabongo trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Antonio Yakoub 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 most common injury in the game and the most rushed back from. Orebro will quote 16 days and will be careful with it, because the second one is always worse than the first.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Orebro know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
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 John Stenberg has written the date down.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Antonio Yakoub signs something — a contract at Orebro 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 Samuel Wikman has written the date down.
“I did not come here to warm up in front of people.” He is out of contract eventually, he is old enough to count the weeks, and Orebro will have to give him a reason to stay or an exit.
“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 Orebro, 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 Orebro this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
It is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. Orebro told Christopher Redenstrand something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
Antonio Yakoub 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.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Hampus Söderström trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
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.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Orebro know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
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.
“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 Orebro will have to answer with minutes or with a transfer.
9 signings in three months. Every one of them may be an upgrade and the team can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild that never appears in the transfer-window verdicts.
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” John Quaison after 0‑2, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer 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.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Antonio Yakoub signs something — a contract at Orebro or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
Ninety specific minutes wanted a different sort of player, and the manager picked one. He is not out of form and he is not in the side, and both are true.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Orebro can pretend not to have heard.
At 23 he is doing things this season that he could not do last season, and doing them every week. Form comes and goes; this has stayed long enough to be called something else.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Orebro this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Orebro can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
A point taken on 96 minutes is worth exactly one point and considerably more than that to a dressing room. This side does not stop, which is a reputation worth more than the result.
“There are things I liked and things we will be doing on Tuesday until they are right.” 1‑1, and a manager who had already decided what Tuesday looked like.
Two goals and a mark of 9.16 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
At 33 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 8.94 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
Antonio Yakoub 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.
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 19 he is doing things at this level he could not do at the start of the season, and the coaching staff will tell you exactly which of them.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Antonio Yakoub. 3‑1 against Halmstad, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Joel Isak 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.
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Simon Claesson is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
Mikael Marqués 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 supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 0‑3, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
The team sheet says it in public every week until it changes. The only version of being dropped a footballer cannot argue with, and the one he takes hardest.
Nothing is announced when this happens and everybody knows. He is a bigger part of the plan at Orebro than he was a month ago, and the training ground worked that out before the team sheet said so.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Orebro know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 6 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
Beaten 0‑1, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Squad28 Sep 2026
9 new faces, and Orebro are still learning each other
A squad rebuilt inside one window pays for it in a currency nobody budgets for. The football is not worse than the sum of the players; it is worse than the sum of the players who have played together before.
The dugout28 Sep 2026
The view from the dugout
“We will look at it, we will learn from it, and we go again.” The three sentences every manager keeps for a 0‑1 defeat, delivered by John Quaison to a room that had heard them before.
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.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Hampus Söderström trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 6 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Orebro 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.” 1‑2, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Orebro, and both men came out saying it was fine.
There is no complaint available here and everybody involved knows it, which does not make the walk to the bench any shorter. Form is the only currency in football that cannot be borrowed against.
One weekend, judged against everybody else's. Antonio Yakoub has come out on top of it, and for most footballers a weekly award is the only silverware a career ever produces.
Two goals and a mark of 9.82 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Two goals and a mark of 9.66 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Player ratings14 Sep 2026
A brace, and Jacob Ortmark takes the afternoon — 8.02
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Jacob Ortmark provided it, and the 8.02 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 8.51 at 35, and nobody on the pitch was better.
8 goals. Both benches spent the second half looking at each other rather than at the pitch. Purists will complain about Orebro and Atvidaberg in equal measure; everybody else had a wonderful time.
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Simon 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. Robin Augustinsson 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 dugout14 Sep 2026
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.” John Quaison kept it short after the 7‑1 win, which is what managers do when they are happy.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 23-year-old it feels ownership of. Jakub Ojrzyński 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.
“It is not the end of the world and it is not good enough. Both of those are true.” The manager, after a 0‑0 draw, said the honest thing and then went to say it again inside.
The 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.
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.
Marked 8.03 — 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.
9 signings in three months. Every one of them may be an upgrade and the team can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild that never appears in the transfer-window verdicts.
A 1‑1 draw with Falkenberg leaves the dressing room somewhere between relief and regret.
The dugout31 Aug 2026
The manager’s verdict
“I am frustrated, honestly. We did enough to win and we did not win.” John Quaison was not hiding it after 1‑1, and nobody in the Orebro dressing room was either.
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.
Every squad has one of these fixtures for somebody every season. This one is Ahmed Yasin’s: the club that knew him first, the supporters who will decide in the first minute whether to applaud, and Orebro needing him to play as if none of it matters.
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Antonio Yakoub provided it, and the 9.29 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
At 33 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 8.68 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: Pogon 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 Orebro this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Orebro asked and Radnicki Nis said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
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.
Every shape has positions in it and this one does not have his. Orebro will either change the shape, change his job, or change his club, and he is waiting to hear which.
There were 8 saves in it, and at least three that had no business being saves at all. The ten outfield players owe him a drink and they know it.
Boardroom17 Aug 2026
Deadline passes with 18 signed and 1 gone
That is the business done at Orebro 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 clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: Sigma Olomouc keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
Antonio Yakoub 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.
Atvidaberg will keep picking him until June and will get nothing for him after it. David Ström has pre-agreed a move to Orebro, and the only people who lose in that arrangement are the ones who let the contract run down.
There comes a point where a club either backs its own ambition or admits it does not have any. Orebro have paid $1.1M for Mikael Marqués, which is the loudest way there is of saying which one it chose.
Mikael Marqués was the name on every phone-in, and the club has gone and signed him for $1.1M. For one week the board can do no wrong, which is a week most boards never get.
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Gustav Ibrahimovic is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Emil Jansson 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. Jakob Larsson 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 an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 8.30 at 33, and nobody on the pitch was better.
$1.1M on the table at Djurgarden. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. IF Elfsborg have kept their man, and Orebro go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Antonio Yakoub 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.
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Jacob Ortmark, and the manager let it.
Squad3 Aug 2026
Ahmed Yasin 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.
A point taken on 94 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.