So Malmö FF has announced that coach Roland Nilsson will not extend his contract beyond the 2011 season. Both the club and Roland are very clear that he will not coach the club in 2012. That is all very well. But the question is what this announcement means in relation to the speculation that Roland will take over FC Copenhagen (FCK) already this summer?
The background is the following:
FCK's Norwegian coach Solbakken has agreed to take over the coaching of Norway's national team, either in January 2012 or after the Euro 2012, should Norway qualify.
FCK appears to be keen to find his replacement early on. The Danish season, unlike the Swedish one, goes autumn-spring. There is a long winter break but the Danes are now a club with serious Champions League ambitions. So they do not want to be forced to change horses (or jockeys, rather) at half time.
As replacement, Roland Nilsson has been earmarked by FCK. But if he is to take over already this summer, he needs to be bought out of his current contract and he would need to leave Malmö mid-season (there is no summer break this year) and just about when the club will enter into Champions League qualification.
The reason why I write about this here is out of fear. There is speculation that Malmö will go after Sixten Boström to replace Nilsson. For us to lose Boström mid-season is probably even worse than for Malmö to lose Nilsson (when Boström is thinking how Haddad should move in order for the Örebro midfield to win the ball back higher in the pitch, Nilsson is thinking of big boobs). But is my fear justified?
I hope not. I even think not. I believe the reason Malmö made the announcement is to secure a replacement early on. This replacement should ideally be available to start the handover early on, so that he can take over a going concern midseason, should Nilsson be bought out. That means Malmö has someone in mind that is more flexible than Boström. That person must reasonably be another bronze hero of 1994, namely Jonas Thern. I expect him to be contracted by Malmö in some non-head coach role within the next few days.
So, you can exhale now. Sixten will stay with us for the rest of the year. Then he may well leave, and is likely to bring assistant Mosander with him. We have all reasons in the world to start looking for replacements.
I agree with your view. Its time to start looking for Sixten and Lars replacements. I feel confident that the club will do well in recruiting someone who can continue to develop the positive way in which Örebro has developed on the pitch. Its crucial that who ever they find sticks to the system that Sixten has established. A club like Örebro is dependent on continuity. Örebro is in a similar position as Djurgården was about ten years ago. They performed very well as long as they sticked to their formula. Their lost their position as a leading club when they started experimenting. Why they did that is still a mystery to me. Let us hope that Örebro learnes from that lesson.
ReplyDelete/ Johan
Word.
ReplyDeleteHalf of the prophecy is done. Expecting Thern to sign soon
Thern has explicitly said no to the "offer" from Malmö. According to Sportspegeln, Malmö is now scouting foreign coaches.
ReplyDeleteYes. Can only hope that foreign does not equal Finn currently working in Sweden. He hope that is not the case. Abviously Thern was Malmö's first choice. We should be happy they are having these problems as otherwise they impressed in their first game.
ReplyDelete