AIK — Half season update

Hey everyone, welcome back to the capital of Sweden for my debut half season in the Swedish Second tier with AIK!

After our rampant pre-season it was sure to say I was fairly confident with my vision for the direction of the club in the short term. To say I would be disappointed if we didn’t end up securing promotion this season wouldn’t be far off the mark and although another season in the second tier wouldn’t be a disaster.. It wouldn’t exactly be convenient.

Still, if support was anything to go by we wouldn’t be here for long as a massive 12532 people managed to book themselves a season ticket to the Swedbank arena! Blimey.. They are nearly better supported than the BOIS ;)

Spring was upon us and we hit our first competitive game, a Swedish Cup first round draw against local side Grondal. As we hit pre-season so well I was expecting more of the same and I wasn’t disappointed in the slightest as we came out comfortable 3-1 winners after a brilliant brace from Francisco Sampaio killed off the visitors. That followed a flurry of wins as we won our first game of the new season in a nervy 3-2 game against relegation struggler’s Hammarby and hit the same scoreline past Grondal as Francisco Sampaio scored four goals over the two games to cap a brilliant start for the Portuguese striker. Fourth tier Oddevold were then dispatched 4-1 in the second round of the Swedish Cup before a couple of 1-0 wins against Vasby and Sleipner rounded off a perfect month for us!

Now you think I would be happy, but actually I am far from it. Thing is, our performances over this month have been somewhat lucky. I mean really lucky. Just have a look at the following snippets of news and you will find out why:

Don’t get me wrong, they have been amazing games to watch.. But we just haven’t been controlling the game and I really wonder how long we can ride our luck for..

Things kicked off off well for me as I started the month with the rather generous ‘Manager of the month’ award. Hopefully, it will be the first of many but I doubt it judging on recent performances..

Maybe I was just being a little pessimistic judging on the perfect month I had just had but something didn’t feel right. Obviously my fears were soon realised within the first hour against bottom of the table Brommapojkarana as we managed to slump to a 4-1 home defeat which followed a 1-0 away defeat at the hands of Orebro. Bugger, I could see it coming but there was nothing I could have done about it and maybe the lads needed that wake up call to set them straight for the rest of the month..

In the short term it might well have done as we went to IK Sirius and recorded a 5-3 win to boost our standing in the table and stormed into the Fourth Round of the Swedish Cup defeating third round opponents Enkopings SK 3-1 thanks to a brace from striker Martin Nielsen. However things were a little inconsistent as we veered towards the end of the month ending up with a further two defeats either side of a 2-1 away win at Norrkoping. Not brilliant, but hopefully we can improve next month and challenge for promotion as we were right in the thick of things sitting 4th in the table.

Well that month brought us back to reality, only recording two wins in the league. Something needed to change fast if we are going to be able to fight for promotion till the end of the season. With the transfer market not open until 1st July, I wavered round sorting contracts out and finding replacement players that might help me guide the club into the Premier League. In the midst of all this though was the first game of the month which would be at home against Degerfors. Not one for tooting our own horn, but my god did the boys respond! 4-0 the final score as Francisco Sampaio managed to grab him self a well deserved hat-trick!

After the game, I received some more brilliant news! I had asked my somewhat reluctant board to get a player in for me as I wasn’t able to offer him the contract that he wanted due to the contract restrictions I had in place. To my surprise then I recieved this message in my inbox:

Very happy with this one, maybe my board weren’t that bad after all! Anyway Lundquist, a ‘Home Grown Player’ (Finally a decent one..) will join AIK in a months time for a free from Forest.

Three games finished off our month and I am glad to report that they were all wins! We managed to dispatch Ljungskile in the first game 3-2 after midfielders Alonso and Gustavsson got in on the scoring after a late winner sealed the three points. Husqvarna were beaten on their own turf in a thrilling 3-1 win after two goals early on helped us kill the game off and the final game saw us win 3-0 after a brilliant display from Francisco Sampaio saw him bag a brace in-front of the home support against a hapless Angleholm who remain rooted to the bottom of the league.

All in all, a brilliant month for us as we raced to second spot in the league with yours truly winning the ‘Manager of the Month’ accolade.

We have opened up a slight gap in the automatic promotion places meaning we can suffer a couple of looses without too much concern although having caught up with leaders Syrianska, I am hoping that my lads can push them all the way for that Second Division title barring a complete disaster (which honestly wouldn’t surprise me with my luck..).

You might see some new faces too as the Transfer Window opened as we finished the month of June. Obviously with my new keeper on the way there would be one, but I really need to replace some of this dead wood that the club has gathered over the years so there might be a few more going out than in. I also had a chance to change my season expectations but annoyingly whichever option I chose, it did little or nothing to my budgets so I have decided to stick to my ‘Top half finish’ while obviously hoping and praying that I get an automatic promotion place come the end of November.

Anyway, that’s it for this episode. Thanks for reading!

Till next time, Hej Då :D