Euophoria and pride

Eleven years of waiting is finally over. AIK beat IFK Göteborg yesterday evening and I can not really put words on the massive happiness and joy that I feel. I will not try to draw any conclusions about the season that just passed because I can't, there is just too much and too many feelings at the same time. I need some distance to this in order to really understand what happened. I just want to point at a post from one year ago, written by me shortly after the appointment of Mikael Stahre. This is what I had to say then. This is what I want to say now: Micke, förlåt! I was wrong and I admit it! When I attended the first game of the season on April 5th earlier this year I could not imagine that this season would evolve into what it eventually did. November 1st 2009 is a day that I will never forget, and I still cannot believe that it is true.

I found some strong images from the game yesterday (courtesy of Magnus Neck).

 

 

 

 

 

 

Thank You!

On a sunny day in July...

The weeks in the middle of the summer have always brought me some sense of content. Even though things can be bad during these weeks, I always enjoy these weeks as some of the very best every year. I am enjoying the "elbow room". The summer is indeed beautiful.



After some time of inactivity (guess why!) I can update you with the following:

• I miss Nicole, she is far far away (even further than she usually is) for a while, and I miss her extremely much.
  
• Djurgården sucks, and their fans are more entertaining than their footballplayers at the moment.
  
  
  
  
• AIK and the pronounced (by me of course) hillbilly Mikael Stahre have both surprised me in a positive way so far this season. It was fantastic to see AIK beat IFK Göteborg last night.
• I miss Nicole.
• I feel that time is flying and I have to admit that I despite my desire for changes and a paradigm shift, don't like the fact that time is flying away.
  
• I still miss Nicole.

A very strange period of time (which probably isn't over yet) has taken (is taking) place. I am fed up with it but I can't do much about it either. I just try to live through it and to appreciate that I'm not lying in a hospital right now, suffering from pain or terminal illness. I can walk and I can run. I can eat normally and I can sleep.

Life can be so beautiful sometimes, in the middle of the night. In the middle of the day. At dusk, at dawn. By the water when the sun sets, on the the top of the cliff where nobody can reach you. Through good times and through bad times, through misery and gloom. I know the value of one day.

Update

A few updates from the last week:

• My anger about Rikard Norling's departure from AIK is almost gone, left is solely disappointment.
  
  
• Mikael Stahre could maybe do well at AIK, but he still has a lot to prove before I will be praising him. I remember when Zlatan Ibrahimovic joined Inter in the summer of 2006. Check the blog archive for my thoughts at that point, and compare them to what I have to say today. Boy was I wrong...
  

• The exam was shorter than I thought it would be, and hopefully I passed.
  

• I am currently taking a break from a case analysis of Intel Corporation. The last week has been one of the most busy ones. Somehow I am toughened by the challenges and responsibilities I faced during my year in the student association.
  
  
• I attended a seminar on Friday which was scheduled between 10.00 to 18.00. We ended up leaving three hours earlier, but given a writing task about the current financial crisis. 4 ECTS credits of work is to be handed in just like that. I have never experienced a shorter course, being worth so many credits at the same.
  
  
• I must say that I (ironically) admire the Austrians innovation and sense of furnishing. I saw this brilliant idea at the seminar:

• Later on the same day (Friday) I attended a concert with my girlfriend and some of her friends. One of their pals plays in a band and they were performing in a small, cozy, underground place. I am not a fan of punk music, and especially not German/Austrian punk music, but this was good stuff. They were organized, loud and talented! Thank you for the entertainment.

• The lecturers keep bringing their dogs to campus and they are free to run around the place. It's hilarious to see the lecturer speaking in front of the class, waving and gesticulating with one hand and feeding the dog with the other one.
  

• I visited Sara in the middle of the week for some coffee. I decided to bring some bakery and i stopped by at the supermarket (the prices are more fair there). I found something that looked tasty and that had an almost delicious touch on its name - Mohnstrudel. Fuck, never try that shit. I took the first bite at Sara's and she was trying to judge the taste of the damn thing by looking at my face expression. She ended up laughing out loud at my disgusted expression.
  

I have to get back to my books now. Thank you for reading.

Thank you for everything Rikard

I am disgusted and outraged. I feel betrayed. I feel disappointed. I am pissed off. The board of AIK finally decided to fire headcoach Rikard Norling, after three seasons in the Swedish premier league.


I am so disappointed right now that it's hard for me to find words. He was contracted until the end of 2011, he was a part of the plan to create peace and calm at AIK. He was our 7th coach in ten years. That says everything. He is in my eyes one of Sweden's most talented and ambitious managers, and he did not deserve this kind of treatment. I know that he will find a new club soon, and when he does, I really hope that he gets to prove those who fired him that it was a huge mistake.



AIK's new manager is a hillbilly with no experience of the elite whatsoever. I just want him to fail, and I have never felt like this about my own favorite club before. I know that if he fails, things will go sour for the whole company, but I feel that the club is filled with inexperienced people with no feeling about football anyhow.


Unprofessional businesspeople who decide what is right and what is wrong on the pitch. Disgusting (once again). It is truly disgusting.
What will happen to the rest of the coaching staff? What will happen to the players that Rikard brought to AIK? I am seriously considering to boycott the games once I'm home from my exchange year down here. I know that a lot of fans are doing the same thing, not renewing their season tickets. And then the board members claim that they made this decision because they wanted to boost the turnover (which in turn is dependant on the sport related results). I have lost my faith in the current board and I feel run over. The board can forget about my individual support the coming seasons. It hurts and it breaks my heart, AIK is my team, my club. It feels good to know that I am not the only one feeling like this. Rikard was our man, our coach. He was a true gentleman who always spent time with fans, answering questions, taking photos, signing autographs. He loves the club, and he was forced away. If Mikael Stahre (the new hillbilly coach) makes AIK a balanced team that wins titles I will be very surprised. I will in fact shut up and never complain about him again, I will admit that I was wrong. But come on now, we all know that isn't going to happen. He will:

a) make us a mid table team filled with mediocre players from Sweden's lower divisions
b) get us relegated
c) not have the time to make an impact, after three losses in the first three games next season he will be fired anyhow.

The flipside with option c) is that if that happens, we will experience another crisis similar to the one in the beginning of the 2000's. Rikard was AIK's 7th coach in ten years! He was hired to create stability. The only problem is that those who hired him eventually backstabbed him.

The board is in my opinion filled with ignorant and snobby businesspeople from different corners of the Swedish industries. The fans made it quite clear a few weeks ago that they would not approve on a decision like this, and I thought the board was smart enough to realize that the fans (which form the club to what it is) are important and that it is vital to respect their interests. The boardmembers have no idea what they are doing. If they think that Mikael Stahre will ever manage to make this club no 1, they are mistaking. So, that brings me to my (and everyone else's) questions, WHY DID YOU FIRE RIKARD NORLING?


AVGÅ STYRELSEN!!!!!!!

Fathers' day

• It's fathers' day today, the second Sunday of November. Isn't it amazing? A year ago I wrote the TOEFL test in order to prove the people at the International Office of Linköping University that I am fully capable of going to the United States of America to pursue my academic studies. My result on the TOEFL test were high and I was far above the lowest acceptance levels. I still didn't make it due to fierce competition. It's OK though, life took another path and I can't say that I am unhappy about it right now.

• We spent the evening at Barolo, congratulating my dad. The dinner was great and it was a pleasant evening. It feels like six months ago, not 12. I had to return to Linköping that same evening so shortly after we had finished our meals, dad drove me to Södertälje Syd train station for the late train back to "Camp Bad Accent". The following weeks were calm compared to the rest of 2007, I saw a light at the end of a very long tunnel.

• The meeting with the former exchange student on Friday night was cool, nothing special though. He was very nice and he liked to drink a lot of beer. He emptied three Stiegl bottles while I was struggling with one. Sara told me that he had four beers altogether that night, we only had one each. Anyhow, the bar (or whatever the fuck it was) was situated on the top floor of a student dorm. The building was a typical soviet-like, spartan and ugly concrete block. Ten tenants were supposed to share toilet and showers, and the walls (including the very scary elevators) reminded me of a prison. We'll see if we meet again.

• AIK finished 5th in the league this season after a 2-0 victory over GAIS (stupid name).

• I am currently taking a break from a very long and exhausting chapter about "Customer Centric Organizations". I am supposed to present Nokia from a customer centric viewpoint in a couple of days but I am not very motivated about it. It is a lot of reading...

• Something that actually does motivate me to continue, despite the enormous amount of text that I need to read, is the fact that things are going well. My grades have been hight this far, and if I can manage to nail the exam on Wednesday, it means that I have passed my second course down here.

• The coming weeks are stuffed with lectures, seminars and deadlines/exams. After that things will hopefully cool down a few notches.

• Quantum of Solace was impressive, but I saw it in German so I don't have much of a clue what the story is about. I feel obliged to watch the English version, but the question is if it is worthwhile, I have already seen all the scenes and nothing will surprise me. I am mentally cleft. Nevertheless, it was a very pleasant evening, and I would like to this again. Thank you Nicole!

I am heading back towards the books. Thank you for reading!

Thank you Mats Rubarth

A hero left the big scene last night. Mats Rubarth will not play in AIK's black jersey on the pitch of Råsunda stadium. He arrived in 2001 and after eight seasons and numerous magical goals he will forever be remembered as a true hero. He never complained through the rough times, and he always tried to give the fans something special. Nobody who saw him throughout the years will forget his raids, his dribbles, his technical numbers that made him the special player he was. I grew up loving this player, I grew up defending him in school when kids picked on me for being a fan of Sweden's biggest club. I saw the game against Helsingborg last night (victory, 3-1) and I enjoyed seing one of my childhood heroes bidding farewell from our home. Thank you for everything Mats!

I have uploaded some favorites from YouTube and some images. Enjoy.
(Photos by Magnus Neck!)

Resumé

Several days have passed since my last post, and I have had a blast the past days.

Wednesday: Stockholm derby between Djurgården and AIK. The game ended with a 1-1 draw after an equalizing goal by AIK in the last seconds of the game.



Friday: Oktober Fest in the city of München. A blast. A lot of beer. A day among new friends. A day to remember!




Saturday: Anxiety and eventually resurrection, wine with my American friends and later a visit to the Irish Pub of Linz.
Sunday: Hiking, indoor football at the Raab Heim and finally, Derby della Madonnina - The Milan - Inter derby game (which Inter eventually lost after a goal by Ronaldinho).





Monday: Kolpinghaus refuses to repay me my deposit (surprise?). I don't think they know what bad publicity means for a hotel. I will make them aware of that before I leave this country.

Thank you for reading!

Campioni di Super Coppa Italiana

We won. I admit that I thought that it was over and finished when Balotelli finally scored the 2-1 goal in the 83rd minute of the game, but Vucinic's corner kick extended the game with 45 more minutes. Despite the somehow unnecessary drama, it was an entertaining game, and most importantly, it was very interesting to see Mourinho's impact on the team and the game. Zlatan, great to see you on the pitch again!

The Italian Super Cup is actually not a prestigious trophy, but it does nevertheless feel good to see the team win cups and tournaments, irregardless of their status and reputation. That's one more cup for the trophy room.

Winning over AS Roma is prestigious though, and it means much after the thrilling title race between Roma and Inter last season.

It's pretty late and I have to go to bed. I have to get up early in the morning tomorrow, as it is Monday and a few hours of work. I have one thing to look forward to and it is (as I have mentioned in my earlier posts) the derby game between AIK and Hammarby. I have longed for the atmosphere at Råsunda stadium for some time now.

The weekend has been great, probably one of the better ones of this summer. I've spent time with friends and family and I have done lots of things (oh well...) and slept too little. In the beginning of the summer, when my exams were over and when I had left the student union board, this was what I was longing for. It feels good. I am satisfied.

Thank you for reading. Good night.

The Dark Knight

And so I finally got to see one of the most hyped movies of the year. The latest Batman movie was better than any of the other ones I have seen before, but I am still not convinced and fully impressed. This was a good movie, no doubts, but I have seen better (the last 6 James Bond movies for instance). Heath Ledger was absolutely brilliant in his role, Christian Bale made a more heroic impression this time with morale sermons and pure (mortal) love. Katie Holmes absence ruined that character.

Speaking of James Bond, I saw the trailer for the first time today and I am very curious to see what they have come up with this time. Casino Royale was one of the best productions this far and I think it will be hard to overshine it with something new. I hope I'm wrong.

It's three weeks left till my departure for Austria. The coming weeks are stuffed with farewells, reunions and "fuckoff's". I am looking forward to a derby game between AIK and Hammarby, which I actually know that AIK will be losing. No big deal. I'm there for the atmosphere (for the last time in a while) and to socialize with friends.

More sunny (and inspiring) Tuesdays please

This has been a long but inspiring day. I had the great luck to see the sun today as well.

It began with studies, a lecture, followed by another lecture and more studying. The day was rounded off with a long meeting. It's been fair.

The second lecture today was actually more of a talkshow kind of thing where one of Sweden's most successful businessmen was present and where two students openly asked him questions about himself and his work. It was very inspiring to hear about his life and his business, an how he had made himself a fortune.

The same guy is also the chairman of the Swedish football club Hammarby IF from Stockholm. We were allowed to ask questions during the lecture, and I had to ask about the current situation with the goalies in Hammarby. They bought one of Sweden's best goalkeepers (Rami Shaaban) before this season, but after three games of something they benched him and threw their reserve goalie (Kristoffer Björklund) out on the pitch. The reserve goalie proved to be better than we all had expected, and excelled his rival. For example, he managed to deny Henrik Larsson several goals in the game between Hammarby and Helsingborg last week, and on top of that he saved a penalty kick from Larsson in the same game.

Anyway, the chairman said himself that they had bought one of northern Europe's best goalkeepers and that they regarded him as their number one, no matter what. But they had to be consequent and fair now that the reserve goalie was performing this well.

As I said earlier, this was a very interesting and inspiring person, and I told him that I practically am the neighbor of one their players. And of course, I also told him that I am a die hard supporter of one of their greatest (if not the greatest of all time) antagonists. Despite all the trouble AIK is having right now.

Images from last night

Mattias Thylander (to the left) was once again back at Råsunda stadium, now playing in Trellebrog. I remember meeting him six years ago, when he was one of the most hated players in the AIK squad.
Bojan Djordjic
Bojan Djordjic
Bojan Djordjic
Celebrations after Iván's goal.
The goalscorer.


A hero returns to Stockholm, but unfortunately only for a short visit.
Derek Boateng of Beitar Jerusalem heading for the north stand.

When Derek said "This is my home", the fans went wild.
Derek is greeted by the fans.

Lee Baxter and Niclas Bergh

The starting lineup
Rikard Norling smiling again
A hero warms up.