One island - One club

Introduction

In the Baltic Sea, just outside the Swedish mainland, lies an island with a population of 60,000 people. And on that island, a football club just announced their ambitious five-year plan. A plan stating that, in the future, the entire squad of FC Gute will consist of players born on the island. No other players will be allowed to play for the club or be contracted to the club. To make sure that the goal is achieved, the board has set up strict squad regulations on a season-by-season basis. If the manager violates the regulations, they will be sacked, no matter the results on the pitch.

Division 2 - Norra Svealand 

The fourth tier of Swedish league system, Division 2, consists of six regional leagues and is currently ranked 140 in Europe, just ahead of the Italian Serie D. FC Gute plays in Division 2 Norra Svealand, together with twelve other clubs. According to media predictions the season ahead will be a tough one for FC Arlanda and IK Franke while Hudiksvalls FF are predicted to win the league. FC Gute are expected to end up in the middle of the table. 

Gutavallen

The club's home ground is Gutavallen, built in 1927 and owned by the municipality, with a maximum capacity of 2050 (550 seated). The condition of the stadium is poor and there are no roofs and no under soil heating. The training facilities are considered to be below average. The youth recruitment as well as the youth facilities are basic and the junior coaching is fairly basic.

Staff 

To strengthen the recruitment team, I decided to bring Pontus Arrby to the club as our only player scout. Hopefully he can find some Gotland-born players as potential transfers.

Players

Before the transfer window closed, I allowed Antonio Tjernby Tagel to begin contract negotiation with a number of interested clubs. He was among the best paid players in the club despite not even being our backup keeper. Also, with the new squad regulations in place, the fact that he wasn’t born on Gotland was a factor as well. He decided to leave for IFK Lidingö.

I also managed to bring one player in to strengthen our squad when the 20 year old midfielder Johannes Layton, born on Gotland, signed a one-year contract with us as a free transfer. 

Pre-Season Matches

The pre-season friendlies had two major purposes; to improve the players' familiarity with our tactics, and to get the players fit for the season ahead of us. After five games played, I could notice an improvement in the way the players behaved on the pitch, even though it didn't translate into good results. I could only hope that the results would improve as the season kicked off. Regarding the players' match fitness, it was pretty ok, but far from perfect.

Jessica Nilsson

Chairperson

Leif Eiranson

Director of Football

Richard Karlsson

Manager

Anders Magnusson

Assistant Manager

Olle Björklund

Goalkeeping Coach

Fredrik Malmerfeldt

Physio

Pontus Arrby

Scout

FC Gute

Given the strict squad regulations decided by the board it was crucial that we improved our own junior team as much as possible. That way we could potentially have a steady supply of Gotland-born players. I had several discussions with the board and in the end they agreed on improving the club's youth recruitment as well as starting up a cooperation with another Visby club, IFK Visby. 

Staff

Another step to improve the chances of young players of good quality to come though our youth team was to hire Fredrik Christensson as Head of Youth Development. 

Our physio Fredrik Marmerfeldt decided to leave us for the danish club Akademisk Boldklub Gladsaxe. As his replacement I hired Marco Espinoza. Unfortunately, Espinoza was not of the same skill as Marmerfeldt, but there was not much to do about that at the moment. 

Players

When 12 out of the 24 games in the season had been played, two of our players were playing at the highest level; the two central defenders Starkenberg and Östlund. Their incredible performances game after game, week after week, had saved us many times. Another player that played incredibly well was the forward Mendy. He had scored 10 goals in the 11 games he had played, which made him the best goalscorer in the division. 

During the summer I also negotiated new contracts with several players, making sure that they were not leaving us after the season on free tranfer. Stenhoff, Stockmarr, Layton, de Flon were among the players who decided to accept my contract offer. I had not been able to come to an agreement with our three best players (mentioned above), something that were a bit worrying. 

The best news during the summer was the reports from our junior team that we had some very promising players joining our youth team in the fall. The reports mentioned that a few central defenders, wingers and strikers was something out of the ordinary. 

Season 

After having played half the season we were positioned right where we were expected to be, in the middle of the table. I was a bit surpised that we did so well, but I knew very well that the challenge would be tougher for every season due to the squad regulation.

This is a bonkers restriction but I love it. Good luck - will be following! 

Division 2 Norra Svealand

My feelings mid-season, that the job as a manager was a rather simple one, quickly changed during the second half of the season. Over the last three months, and the 12 games we played, we managed to take no more than two victories. The results were truly awful. The last game of the season, a defeat by 0-5, was a clear example of the problems we had. We managed to stay clear of relegation, something we probably wouldn't have done, had the season been just a few more games.

Youth Intake 2022

During the fall, we had 16 youth players available to join our U19. After having evaluated them for several weeks I decided to offer 12 of them a part-time contract with the club. They all accepted. It was a great way to add backup players for free, and for a very low wage, but the most important aspect was that we could boost the share of Gotland born players in the squad.

The most promising player to join our U19 was the 16 year old goalkeeper Stefan Joksimović. With great reflexes and an incredible determination to succeed, he was expected to have a promising future.

The Long Winter

The season ended in September and with the 2023 season starting in April, we had half a year of no competitive games to play. That meant there was a lot of time for me to plan, organize and get the team ready for the new season. And a lot of time was definitely needed. 

Tactics

Looking back at the 2022 season I wasn't happy with our performance. After considering different options I chose to introduce a new tactics to the players. During the next season I wanted us to be using a narrow 4-4-2 diamond formation. Hopefully that would suit us better and improve the results.

Staff

When I asked the board for a new contract I was offered one that I gladly accepted. It was only for the next season, but at least it was something. I also began studying for a coaching license. 

Our physio, Marco Espinoza, left for Nordic United FC and the contract with our scout Pontus Arrby expired. I signed Joel Waara as our new scout.

Players Out

I extended the contracts with Touray, Johansson and Cyrus Stålheim but decided to let the 34 year old forward Öhman leave the club and sign for Hvetlanda GIF. I quickly realized that the player losses woudn't stop there. Several players demanded a very large pay raise, something that we couldn't afford. The consequence was that we lost our four best players; the two central defenders Östlund and Starkenberg, as well as Hägglund and Elofsson.

Given the new diamond formation I wanted to use next season, I also released a few wingers when their contract expired; Hillion, Mostafa and Redjdal, to male some room in our squad and in our wage budget. 

Players In

Finding players of good quality that were interested in joining us was not an easy task. I invited several players on trial to be able to evaluate them in training. I managed to sign a 19 year old English central defender named Ben Dallaywaters. His determination and tackling were promising. I also agreed on a future signing of 20 year old central defender Simon Gottfridén. He would join us in July 2023.

Alexander Gerndt

I noticed that the 37 year old Gotland born striker Alexander Gerndt was released from his Swizz club Lugano. Gerndt, probably the most experienced player from Gotland, would be an amazing signing. The fact that he started his career in FC Gute was adding to that. In 2010 Gerndt won the award as top goalscorer in Allsvenskan, the Swedish top division and he played 10 games for the Swedish national team, scoring 2 goals. I tried to invite him for a few weeks trial but he wasn't interested. From his agent I also learned that Gerndt had some wage demands far from what we could afford. 

FC Gute

The year 2022 came to an end, and we entered 2023. During an end-of-season meeting with the board I convinced them to increase the budget once again for the junior coaching. I was also informed that our affiliate club, IFK Visby, had gained promotion to Division 2, and our cooperation had canceled as a consequence of that. I was only happy to hear that Gotland would have two teams in Division 2 next season. Two clubs that could develop Gotland born players. During the meeting the club's new chairperson Mikael Forsberg was introduced, replacing former chairperson Jessica Nilsson.

Finances

The economic summary of 2022 described the financial situation of the club as solid. We made a huge profit last year, 1.800.000 kr, and with that our negative overall balance was sorted out. Hopefully, we could look forward to another year of positive development of the economy.

The budget for the coming year was presented and there we had budgeted for a monthly wage cost of 25.000 kr and a transfer budget of nearly 200.000 kr. The scouting budget was almost 50.000 kr. At the end of the year we had a monthly wage cost of less than 17.000 kr. In other words, potential for new player signings.

Players Out

At the end of the year, our striker Mendy’s contract expired and he decided to leave the club. Mendy was very successful during the first half of last season, but couldn't perform well at all when the whole team struggled during the second half of the season. 

Players In

I signed a deal with the 21 year old central defender Ronny Karlsson on a future transfer. He would join us in July.

FC Gute

The first month of 2023 was a hectic month. There were many pre-season tasks that needed my attention. Club administration and organization, putting together a staff team and a competitive squad for the season ahead were only some of them.

I managed, once again, to convince the board of several changes. To be honest, I was a bit surprised that they agreed to my suggestions given the short time I had been at FC Gute, and how short time I had been a manager. This time they agreed on improving the youth recruitment and to get a larger affiliate club. They even accepted my wish for the affiliate club to be BK Häcken. The cooperation meant an annual income for FC Gute of almost 300.000 kr and that a friendly game should be played every year on Gutavallen.

Staff

The board also agreed to have one more coach for the team. The person joining us was the very disciplined Erik Björndahl. I also hired Ludwig Nilsson as our new physio.

Players Out

Two people left our club in January; Isak Hammarlund and David Rasmusson. Both had expired contracts and I did not expect them to play much, or at all, during the coming season.

Players In

The squad was in desperate need of new players. To be able to stay clear of relegation, we definitely had to improve the quality of our starting eleven. I learned that Alexander Gerndt had retired from football, so unfortunately we wouldn’t be able to see him back on Gutavallen. But there were several other interesting players, many that we had joining us for a few weeks trial. When January turned into February, we had made three interesting additions to our squad. 

Benjamin Björkman was a 20 year old central defender with good positioning, tackling and speed. He was also able to play as right defender if needed. 

Anton Börjesson was a versatile player that I intended to use as a ballwining midfielder, just in front of the defenders. He worked hard for the team with great courage and determination and his aggressive playstyle was perfect for the role I had in mind.

Armin Fathi was an offensive central midfielder that I convinced to sign a deal with us despite being a transfer interest for 20 clubs. Fathi had great technique, flair and vision and should be a great player to have in the area between midfielders and forwards. I expected quite a few assists from him during the season to come.

Staff

During the second month of the year, I completed the National C License course and were no longer completely uneducated in coaching. Even though I was eager to start the next step immediately, the board explained that they couldn't see the benefit in paying for more courses at the time. Hopefully they will allow it later in the season.

Players In

As the pre-season weeks were passing by, I was getting increasingly worried that we didn’t have a high quality striker that we could rely on to consistently score our goals. Unfortunately, all the forwards we had been keeping an eye on over the winter as potential signings chose to join other clubs.

While I was looking around for a striker, the possibility of signing the central midfielder Albin Andersson appeared. He had been at our club for a two-week trial and impressed me enough to be offered a two-year deal. Both his defensive and offensive skills were pretty good, and I looked forward to seeing him on the pitch.

There was one very interesting striker on trial with us for two weeks named Tim Ströbeck. When I decided to offer him a contract several other clubs decided to do the same. I felt that he was exactly what I was looking for, so I sent him an improved contract offer. I also talked to the media about how I wanted to sign him to FC Gute and in our first friendly game against IFK Visby I let him play 45 minutes, and he scored a goal. I was hoping that he enjoyed to play for us and that he would choose our club. After a week, Ströbeck decided to join us, and with that our squad was set for the upcoming season. 

Finances

The signing of Ströbeck had the unfortuntate consequence of us paying more in wages than what we had budgeted for. I tried to ask the board for an increase of the wage budget, but they didn’t accept.

Pre-Season Friendlies

We played four friendlies during pre-season. Even though we didn't manage to win any of the matches, I wasn't all too disappointed. The first game after the long winter vacation is not a good predictor of what the performances will look like during the season. And the other three games were all against teams from higher divisions. 

Mikael Forsberg

Chairperson

Leif Eiranson

Director of Football

Richard Karlsson

Manager

Anders Magnusson

Assistant Manager

Olle Björklund

Goalkeeping Coach

Ludwig Nilsson

Physio

Joel Waara

Scout