Northern Lights

[kamikazecf]

Okay, here's what I'm thinking. CM01/02 is clearly better suited than CM4 for an epic story, for two reasons - first, the print-to-file function; second, the fact that regenerated players may actually have skill at dribbling and positioning. CM4's failure to include this minor feature irks me because I would have liked my Cheltenham story to go on for years and years (ideally with no actual effort from me), but it's annoying when only 15-year veterans can run with the ball.

But CM4 is generally more fun to play than 01/02, which makes it worth using for shorter, plot-based stories that aren't going to run indefinitely. That would have worked out well for my Ranieri effort, but it dawned on me that I know very little about how he actually manages; I think it would be ridiculously difficult, bearing this handicap in mind, to write a realistic story from his perspective (excuses, excuses...).

I have an idea for a CM4 story of the character-driven type which I'm actually kind of excited about - I think it has potential, and I'm working on it concurrently with this one. I would like to have it all but finished before I start posting it.

This story, then, is my shot at an entirely game-based CM01/02 tale. I have so much respect for writers like Gricehead, nerf, Donners, Dixie Flatline, and Andrew Downing, who keep their stories fresh and interesting over such a huge time span. And dammit, I want to write one. At least, I think I do. And I think the way to go about that is picking a team that'll present me with a challenge, and so I'm going with Kiruna FF, from the Swedish Second Division North. Kiruna used to be the town with the largest land area in the world (it got beat by someplace in Australia), and remains the northernmost municipality in Sweden. Oddly enough, their football team plays on outdoor Astroturf. Sounds like a blast.

So anyway, just picking a lower-league team doesn't necessarily make the game hard, so I'm going to try doing it in the classic LLM style - scouting where I can tour, no "Find" button, very limited use of the player/staff search screen (no scrolling through vast lists of potential Bosman transfers, for example). I can assure you that nowhere in the story will I mention Tó Madeira. I'll try to avoid Kim Källstrom, too. I think this should make just competing within the D2 North a challenge, much less winning promotion to the First Division and beyond. To add to the difficulty, I shall try to stay tense-consistent within this story. All in the past. Very difficult. Let's have some sympathy, here.

That's about all I wanted to say in the opener. Well, this too - I'm grateful to anyone who even started to read this. If you've stuck it out this long, that's even more amazing. If you plan to keep reading, I'm forever in your debt, and if you've read my other abortive attempts at stories and still want to read this one, I'm absolutely floored; you should be receiving the flowers soon.

Annnnnnd, action!

[kamikazecf]

Okay, here's what I'm thinking. CM01/02 is clearly better suited than CM4 for an epic story, for two reasons - first, the print-to-file function; second, the fact that regenerated players may actually have skill at dribbling and positioning. CM4's failure to include this minor feature irks me because I would have liked my Cheltenham story to go on for years and years (ideally with no actual effort from me), but it's annoying when only 15-year veterans can run with the ball.

But CM4 is generally more fun to play than 01/02, which makes it worth using for shorter, plot-based stories that aren't going to run indefinitely. That would have worked out well for my Ranieri effort, but it dawned on me that I know very little about how he actually manages; I think it would be ridiculously difficult, bearing this handicap in mind, to write a realistic story from his perspective (excuses, excuses...).

I have an idea for a CM4 story of the character-driven type which I'm actually kind of excited about - I think it has potential, and I'm working on it concurrently with this one. I would like to have it all but finished before I start posting it.

This story, then, is my shot at an entirely game-based CM01/02 tale. I have so much respect for writers like Gricehead, nerf, Donners, Dixie Flatline, and Andrew Downing, who keep their stories fresh and interesting over such a huge time span. And dammit, I want to write one. At least, I think I do. And I think the way to go about that is picking a team that'll present me with a challenge, and so I'm going with Kiruna FF, from the Swedish Second Division North. Kiruna used to be the town with the largest land area in the world (it got beat by someplace in Australia), and remains the northernmost municipality in Sweden. Oddly enough, their football team plays on outdoor Astroturf. Sounds like a blast.

So anyway, just picking a lower-league team doesn't necessarily make the game hard, so I'm going to try doing it in the classic LLM style - scouting where I can tour, no "Find" button, very limited use of the player/staff search screen (no scrolling through vast lists of potential Bosman transfers, for example). I can assure you that nowhere in the story will I mention Tó Madeira. I'll try to avoid Kim Källstrom, too. I think this should make just competing within the D2 North a challenge, much less winning promotion to the First Division and beyond. To add to the difficulty, I shall try to stay tense-consistent within this story. All in the past. Very difficult. Let's have some sympathy, here.

That's about all I wanted to say in the opener. Well, this too - I'm grateful to anyone who even started to read this. If you've stuck it out this long, that's even more amazing. If you plan to keep reading, I'm forever in your debt, and if you've read my other abortive attempts at stories and still want to read this one, I'm absolutely floored; you should be receiving the flowers soon.

Annnnnnd, action!

[kamikazecf]

Okay, here's what I'm thinking. CM01/02 is clearly better suited than CM4 for an epic story, for two reasons - first, the print-to-file function; second, the fact that regenerated players may actually have skill at dribbling and positioning. CM4's failure to include this minor feature irks me because I would have liked my Cheltenham story to go on for years and years (ideally with no actual effort from me), but it's annoying when only 15-year veterans can run with the ball.

But CM4 is generally more fun to play than 01/02, which makes it worth using for shorter, plot-based stories that aren't going to run indefinitely. That would have worked out well for my Ranieri effort, but it dawned on me that I know very little about how he actually manages; I think it would be ridiculously difficult, bearing this handicap in mind, to write a realistic story from his perspective (excuses, excuses...).

I have an idea for a CM4 story of the character-driven type which I'm actually kind of excited about - I think it has potential, and I'm working on it concurrently with this one. I would like to have it all but finished before I start posting it.

This story, then, is my shot at an entirely game-based CM01/02 tale. I have so much respect for writers like Gricehead, nerf, Donners, Dixie Flatline, and Andrew Downing, who keep their stories fresh and interesting over such a huge time span. And dammit, I want to write one. At least, I think I do. And I think the way to go about that is picking a team that'll present me with a challenge, and so I'm going with Kiruna FF, from the Swedish Second Division North. Kiruna used to be the town with the largest land area in the world (it got beat by someplace in Australia), and remains the northernmost municipality in Sweden. Oddly enough, their football team plays on outdoor Astroturf. Sounds like a blast.

So anyway, just picking a lower-league team doesn't necessarily make the game hard, so I'm going to try doing it in the classic LLM style - scouting where I can tour, no "Find" button, very limited use of the player/staff search screen (no scrolling through vast lists of potential Bosman transfers, for example). I can assure you that nowhere in the story will I mention Tó Madeira. I'll try to avoid Kim Källstrom, too. I think this should make just competing within the D2 North a challenge, much less winning promotion to the First Division and beyond. To add to the difficulty, I shall try to stay tense-consistent within this story. All in the past. Very difficult. Let's have some sympathy, here.

That's about all I wanted to say in the opener. Well, this too - I'm grateful to anyone who even started to read this. If you've stuck it out this long, that's even more amazing. If you plan to keep reading, I'm forever in your debt, and if you've read my other abortive attempts at stories and still want to read this one, I'm absolutely floored; you should be receiving the flowers soon.

Annnnnnd, action!

[kamikazecf]

Okay, here's what I'm thinking. CM01/02 is clearly better suited than CM4 for an epic story, for two reasons - first, the print-to-file function; second, the fact that regenerated players may actually have skill at dribbling and positioning. CM4's failure to include this minor feature irks me because I would have liked my Cheltenham story to go on for years and years (ideally with no actual effort from me), but it's annoying when only 15-year veterans can run with the ball.

But CM4 is generally more fun to play than 01/02, which makes it worth using for shorter, plot-based stories that aren't going to run indefinitely. That would have worked out well for my Ranieri effort, but it dawned on me that I know very little about how he actually manages; I think it would be ridiculously difficult, bearing this handicap in mind, to write a realistic story from his perspective (excuses, excuses...).

I have an idea for a CM4 story of the character-driven type which I'm actually kind of excited about - I think it has potential, and I'm working on it concurrently with this one. I would like to have it all but finished before I start posting it.

This story, then, is my shot at an entirely game-based CM01/02 tale. I have so much respect for writers like Gricehead, nerf, Donners, Dixie Flatline, and Andrew Downing, who keep their stories fresh and interesting over such a huge time span. And dammit, I want to write one. At least, I think I do. And I think the way to go about that is picking a team that'll present me with a challenge, and so I'm going with Kiruna FF, from the Swedish Second Division North. Kiruna used to be the town with the largest land area in the world (it got beat by someplace in Australia), and remains the northernmost municipality in Sweden. Oddly enough, their football team plays on outdoor Astroturf. Sounds like a blast.

So anyway, just picking a lower-league team doesn't necessarily make the game hard, so I'm going to try doing it in the classic LLM style - scouting where I can tour, no "Find" button, very limited use of the player/staff search screen (no scrolling through vast lists of potential Bosman transfers, for example). I can assure you that nowhere in the story will I mention Tó Madeira. I'll try to avoid Kim Källstrom, too. I think this should make just competing within the D2 North a challenge, much less winning promotion to the First Division and beyond. To add to the difficulty, I shall try to stay tense-consistent within this story. All in the past. Very difficult. Let's have some sympathy, here.

That's about all I wanted to say in the opener. Well, this too - I'm grateful to anyone who even started to read this. If you've stuck it out this long, that's even more amazing. If you plan to keep reading, I'm forever in your debt, and if you've read my other abortive attempts at stories and still want to read this one, I'm absolutely floored; you should be receiving the flowers soon.

Annnnnnd, action!

[kamikazecf]

Gearin' up - March 2002

Another year, another season of Second Division football for Kiruna FF. The northernmost team in Sweden had settled into a comfortable routine of lower mid-table finishes in the Div 2 Norra. There was rarely a lot of player movement from season to season for Kiruna, and when there was, it was usually just picking up players from other teams north of the 65th parallel. The continuity from year to year was good for fan relations, of course. Not that there were a lot of fans to relate to - 350 die-hards or so - but most of them had had at least passing conversations with every player in the team, so the core of supporters was indeed hard.

The downside was that without an influx of talent, Kiruna were never very likely to win their own little segment of the Swedish Second Division, much less win promotion to the First Division. But nobody really cared, much. Everyone thought it would be wonderful, of course, but it wasn't necessary for the club to be considered a success. I pretty much felt the same way. It was a decent squad that I had at my disposal, but not good enough to promote, and I wasn't likely to find and sign enough talent to change that. Certainly I wasn't looking to sign anyone over this off season, and so this is what my all-Swedish squad looked like going into the 2002 season:

Goalkeepers: *Mikko Vikeväinen, 22; Lars-Göran Niemälä, 28

Mikko was the starter, though he wasn't considerably better than Niemälä. Neither exhibited anything like safe hands, but Mikko's reflexes tended to be slightly more cat-like than those of his backup. Ideally, I'd have liked to sign a third goalkeeper, be he another backup or a quality starter, but I wasn't holding my breath.

Defenders: Mikael Holmgren, D R, 17; *Marcus Lindmark, D R, 18; *Magnus Oja, D RLC, 39; *Stefan Harju, D LC, 30; Joon Karlsson, D/M C, 21; Jon Kero, D C, 24; Magnus Mäki, D C, 24; Mattias Olofsson, D C, 22; *Niklas Svanelöv, D/DM C, 21

Old Magnus Oja started for me at left-back and was the team captain. Marcus Lindmark, who had actually attracted interest from Dutch Premiership team Fortuna Sittard before telling them he had no desire to leave Sweden, was a talented young right-back, and Stefan Harju paired with Niklas Svanelöv in the middle of defense. They weren't a very spectacular couple; defensive backbone was not a strength of this Kiruna squad. Holmgren was a new youth product with a bit of potential, and the rest were really nothing but cover.

Midfielders: *Johan Bergström, D/M R, 18; Johan Hannu, DM C, 30; Hans Stridsman, DM C, 34; *Marcus Jönsson, M LC, 23; *Nils Johan Labba, M C, 17; Lars Ökvist, M C, 19; Fredrik Johansson, AM R, 32; Magnus Gabrielsson, AM C, 16; *Erik Lantto, AM C, 22

Right-winger Bergström was quick and aggressive, but a bad passer; the central pairing of Labba and Lantto was good, though, and so was Marcus Jönsson on the left, so the midfield was a strength of this team. With Kiruna legend Hans Stridsman available for selection as well as talented youngsters Magnus Gabrielsson and Lars Ökvist, I wasn't planning to be signing any more midfielders anytime soon.

Attackers: Pär Asp, AM/F C, 20; Hans Laaksonen, AM/F C, 26; Johan Stridsman, F C, 21; Peter Asp, S C, 24; Joakim Gunillasson, S C, 24; Tomas Lindgren, S C, 28; *Niklas Malmbring, S C, 21; *Tommy Stridsman, S C, 36

Malmbring and Tommy Stridsman were physically very average, but somehow they managed to combine for a pretty effective attacking partnership. Pacey Joakim Gunillasson was right there to step in if either of the starters dropped off in form. The remaining strikers weren't as good, but they could play if they had to.

The first-choice squad was pretty much just confirmed during our Lombia Cup win (Lombiavallen being the stadium at which we played our home games). It was just a small tournament, with Kiruna and (relatively) local non-league clubs Haparanda and Gällivare participating. It brought us in a few crowns worth of gate receipts and the victory was a confidence boost. Having survived the first three rounds of the Swedish Cup in the autumn of last year, we also had the fourth round game at the end of March, a 2-1 loss to Dingle. What a team to lose to.

At any rate, it was these fellows who strode into April and the start of the league season a week and a day after the Cup loss, with hopes high for another average year from Kiruna:

<pre class="ip-ubbcode-code-pre">************************************************************************************************

Kiruna FF - Sunday 31st March 2002

************************************************************************************************

================================================================================================

Squad

================================================================================================

No Name Position(s) Nat Born Age Caps Gls Wages Expires Value

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

- Asp, Pär AM/F C SWE 2.1.82 20 - - 1,3|TKr 11.11.02 70|TKr

- Asp, Peter S C SWE 18.8.77 24 - - 1,7|TKr 7.11.04 200|TKr

- Bergström, Johan D/M R SWE 19.9.83 18 - - 2,3|TKr 1.11.06 350|TKr

- Gabrielsson, Magnus AM C SWE 6.7.85 16 - - 750|:- 28.11.03 70|TKr

- Gunillasson, Joakim S C SWE 10.11.77 24 - - 1,8|TKr 1.12.03 90|TKr

- Hannu, Johan DM C SWE 10.3.72 30 - - 650|:- 8.11.04 50|TKr

- Harju, Stefan D LC SWE 6.3.72 30 - - 650|:- 9.11.02 20|TKr

- Holmgren, Mikael D R SWE 23.11.84 17 - - 850|:- 28.11.03 50|TKr

- Johansson, Fredrik AM R SWE 24.1.70 32 - - 2|TKr 15.11.03 60|TKr

- Jönsson, Marcus M LC SWE 15.10.78 23 - - 2|TKr 7.11.05 300|TKr

- Karlsson, Joon D/M C SWE 1.9.80 21 - - 2,1|TKr 9.11.05 350|TKr

- Kero, Jon D C SWE 9.3.78 24 - - 650|:- 27.11.05 60|TKr

- Laaksonen, Hans AM/F C SWE 5.7.75 26 - - 900|:- 25.11.04 60|TKr

- Labba, Nils Johan M C SWE 5.11.84 17 - - 2,2|TKr 11.11.05 350|TKr

- Lantto, Erik AM C SWE 10.3.80 22 - - 2,75|TKr 2.11.04 500|TKr

- Lindgren, Tomas S C SWE 6.1.74 28 - - 1|TKr 14.11.07 300|TKr

- Lindmark, Marcus D R SWE 12.5.83 18 - - 2,1|TKr 23.11.05 300|TKr

- Mäki, Magnus D C SWE 19.1.78 24 - - 650|:- 1.11.02 50|TKr

- Malmbring, Niklas S C SWE 6.7.80 21 - - 2,4|TKr 27.11.04 500|TKr

- Niemälä, Lars-Göran GK SWE 18.1.74 28 - - 650|:- 3.11.04 50|TKr

- Oja, Magnus D RLC SWE 27.3.63 39 - - 1|TKr 21.11.06 60|TKr

- Ökvist, Lars M C SWE 11.3.83 19 - - 650|:- 12.11.04 50|TKr

- Olofsson, Mattias D C SWE 26.1.80 22 - - 650|:- 3.11.05 60|TKr

- Stridsman, Hans DM C SWE 28.8.67 34 - - 1,8|TKr 7.11.06 60|TKr

- Stridsman, Johan F C SWE 3.6.80 21 - - 650|:- 7.11.05 60|TKr

- Stridsman, Tommy S C SWE 13.5.65 36 - - 3|TKr 13.11.06 60|TKr

- Svanelöv, Niklas D/DM C SWE 17.9.80 21 - - 1,6|TKr 30.11.02 90|TKr

- Vikeväinen, Mikko GK SWE 6.6.79 22 - - 1,2|TKr 25.11.06 180|TKr

</pre>

N.B. We're looking at about 13 Swedish crowns per British pound sterling.

[Tricky Winger]

Well, if you're going to make an epic out of this, I'd better join from the start.

Go Kiruna!

[BobBev]

Yeah, good luck with this one - I enjoy a good epic!

[WLKRAS]

Good luck, the start is promising enough

[kamikazecf]

Y'all rock

Off and running... - April 2002

And thus started the season.

Sunday 7 April, IFK Holmsund vs. Kiruna

With young Nils Johan Labba out with a torn calf muscle which looked like it'd keep him out all month, club stalwart Hans Stridsman got the start in midfield alongside Erik Lantto. Other than that, it was a first-choice side that took on IFK Holmsund at their place. The game got off to a dream start when the eldest Stridsman, Tommy, scored barely over a minute into the game, assisted by Marcus Jönsson. Holmsund, though, controlled the game for the most part, and their dangerous Norwegian striker Eirik Hesla scored twice before halftime to swing the momentum away from us. A third Holmsund goal, midway through the second half, was the final nail in the coffin. Stridsman did pick up his second goal of the game, assisted by substitute Joakim Gunillasson in the dying seconds to make the scoreline respectable. IFK Holmsund 3-2 Kiruna (T. Stridsman 2)

It wasn't such a bad effort. Holmsund had more scoring chances, but not by much, and Tommy Stridsman sure looked like he had at least another good season left in his legs.

I'd had my only scout, Johan Peterson, out looking around Sweden at possible transfer targets since players began training in March, and though he'd located a few guys with contracts expiring in November that we might want to look at, he hadn't yet found any free agents that looked worth getting. That finally changed on the Wednesday after the Holmsund game when he reported back on a 31-year-old forward Jonas Axeldal. Axeldal's last club was England's Cambridge United, and he left there in 2001; before Cambridge, he'd played for Ipswich, Foggia (in Italy), and native sides Öster, Malmö FF, and Halmstad. Peterson reported that while Axeldal wasn't going to single-handedly lift Kiruna to the top of the table, he was a good solid forward who might score some important goals for us. I took him at his word and offered Axeldal a contract, hoping he'd sign for us before our game at home against Skellefteå.

He rejected it. I figured we could maybe negotiate later.

Sunday 14 April, Kiruna (9th) vs. Skellefteå (6th)

The first game of the year on the home (Astro)turf for us saw two unenforced changes - Joon Karlsson started in the center of defense for Niklas Svanelöv, and Joakim Gunillasson partnered Tommy Stridsman in attack with Niklas Malmbring relegated to the bench. From the opening whistle, we looked much more comfortable with the fast pitch than did the visitors, and for the second game in a row the first goal was Kiruna's. This time it was Hans Stridsman blasting a long shot into the net, assisted by Tommy, and it was a 1-0 lead relatively early on in the game. Shortly after, Erik Lantto set up Joakim Gunillasson for an easy score, and so a good-sized crowd (778) saw their team pick up a 2-0 win. Kiruna 2-0 Skellefteå (H. Stridsman, J. Gunillasson)

There were a couple of interesting transfer-related items in the week that intervened between the Skellefteå win and our next league game. Firstly, Jonas Axeldal agreed to a contract tying him to Kiruna until November 2003:

Transfer in: F C Jonas Axeldal, SWE, 31, free transfer, 2000 SEK p/w. Last club: Cambridge United (ENG)

Secondly, I got an incoming offer for talented fullback Marcus Lindmark from Lillestrøm, a second-rate Norwegian team (which isn't bad when you consider that the list of first-rate squads has only one name on it). I wasn't going to stand in the way of the player if he wanted to move up to the much, much better level of competition, but Marcus indicated that he'd just as soon stay in the Arctic Circle, and I was perfectly pleased with that. Lillestrøm were accordingly denied his services.

[kamikazecf]

Axeldal had apparently been keeping himself in good shape during his time out of the sport, because he wasn't rusty at all during his cameo in the Friday reserve game. This meant that on Sunday, I was confident enough to select him for the bench.

Sunday 21 April, IFK Luleå (10th) vs. Kiruna (6th)

Luleå was about the second-closest thing we had to a local match all year. Kinda funny, given that it's (at a guess) about 300 km south of Kiruna. But it was a decent enough little rivalry. Anyway, Johan Bergström was unavailable for selection due to injury today, so veteran Fredrik Johansson got his first time of the season playing on the right wing. Other than that, it was an unchanged side which traded chances with the hosts throughout the first part of the game. Slowly, slowly, Kiruna asserted control, and eventually the superiority translated into a goal. It was off of a corner, Marcus Jönsson lifting it into the area for a Stefan Harju shot. It got parried by Luleå's excellent goalkeeper, but Joon Karlsson - who had a very, very average game other than this - was there to slam it in to provide the margin of victory. Jonas Axeldal did get a run out in the final 15 minutes or so, coming on for Joakim Gunillasson; if he wasn't match-fit before, he certainly should be now. Our goalkeeper, Mikko Vikeväinen, was voted Man of the Match, and deservedly so. He'd played better than I had expected through the first little bit of the season. IFK Luleå 0-1 Kiruna (J. Karlsson)

Jonas Axeldal's performance in his brief appearance coupled with Gunillasson's ineffectiveness was enough to earn him a starting spot for our next league game. Joon Karlsson was also forced out of the starting lineup by Niklas Svanelöv. Both deposed starters had a place on the bench.

Sunday 28 April, Kiruna (3rd) vs. Boden (5th)

The existence of Boden was the reason that Luleå wasn't the single closest rival we had, Boden being about 50 or so kilometers closer than Luleå, in the same direction. Boden had had a decent start to the season, with a win bookended by a couple of draws. Jonas Axeldal had the first couple of chances of the game, but he couldn't put either away, and Boden drew first blood on the half-hour mark. They had a Russian midfielder, name of Sedunov, and he dribbled past three Kiruna players at various times before putting a placed shot past Vikeväinen. We kept plugging along, though, stringing together some nice passes on the dry turf, and a fine passing combination just before halftime resulted in a Marcus Lindmark goal, assisted by eventual Man of the Match Marcus Jönsson. There were chances for both teams during the rest of the game, Kiruna perhaps shading possession, but a 1-1 draw in the end was a pretty fair result. Kiruna 1-1 Boden (M. Lindmark)

A decent result with some bad news afterwards - Niklas Svanelöv picked up an ankle injury and looked like being out for about a month. Ah well.

<pre class="ip-ubbcode-code-pre">Swedish Second Division North

Pos Team Pld Won Drn Lst For Ag Won Drn Lst For Ag Pts

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

1st Selånger 4 2 0 0 9 3 1 0 1 2 2 9

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

2nd Östersunds FK 4 2 0 0 6 2 0 2 0 3 3 8

3rd Kiruna 4 1 1 0 3 1 1 0 1 3 3 7

4th Luleå Fotboll 4 1 0 1 3 4 1 1 0 6 4 7

5th IFK Holmsund 4 2 0 0 5 3 0 1 1 0 1 7

6th Boden 4 1 1 0 3 2 0 2 0 2 2 6

7th Söderhamn 4 0 1 1 1 2 1 0 1 5 4 4

8th Skellefteå AIK 4 1 1 0 7 3 0 0 2 1 6 4

9th IFK Luleå 4 0 1 1 1 2 1 0 1 2 4 4

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

10th Friska Viljor 4 0 1 1 0 1 1 0 1 2 5 4

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

11th Robertsfors 4 1 0 1 3 4 0 0 2 2 4 3

12th Umedalen 4 0 1 1 3 4 0 1 1 3 6 2 </pre>

[spurzgrrl]

Kiruna! That's where my favourite hockey player comes from, the amazing Borje Salming!

[kamikazecf]

Leafs!

...off of a cliff - May 2002

Some good news to start off this month. Nils Johan Labba returned to full training, although he wasn't going to be match fit in time for our first game of the month; we also got a kid promoted from the youth side, right winger named Bertil Bergström. Looked all right.

Just before our game on May 5th, First Division side Gefle came in with an offer of 60,000 SEK for Pär Asp. There were three factors that I had to take into consideration when responding to this offer: first, whether Asp wanted to move up in the leagues, since I wouldn't want to deny him that opportunity; second, that I didn't think he was very good; third, that my coaches loved him. I had a game to manage, anyway, so I told Gefle to just wait.

Sunday 5 May, Östersunds FK (2nd) vs. Kiruna (3rd)

Joon Karlsson had to start this one because of the injury to Svanelöv, but it was the same lineup that drew with Boden other than that. The game started off a bit back-and-forth, but Östersunds looked the better team and so it was a little lucky for us that we got the first goal. Marcus Jönsson scored a nice 20-yard free kick about five minutes before the break, and we held out with the lead until halftime. Sadly, it only lasted until a little after the hour break when Östersunds finally turned their possession into goals, as the cliché goes. They got one from each of their strikers before the game was over. I'd like to say that we fought back hard and very nearly got a draw, but really we didn't. They were just better. Östersunds FK 2-1 Kiruna (M. Jönsson)

Ohhhh, well. Anyway, I had a chance after the game to ask Pär Asp if he wanted to leave. Unequivocally, he didn't. So we didn't let him. Too bad for Gefle.

Defender Magnus Mäki, who was going to be out of contract in a few months and who didn't look as though he was going to get much playing time with us, got offered a contract by England non-league side Harrow Borough. Being an adventurous sort, he agreed to move west at the beginning of November.

Sunday 12 May, Kiruna (5th) vs. Robertsfors (9th)

Robertsfors had had a bit of a rough April, winning just one of four games, but they'd come back with a nice victory in their first May game. Nils Johan Labba returned to the starting lineup for Erik Lantto. Roberstfors got off to a fine start with a goal inside of five minutes, a hard shot going underneath a diving Vikeväinen. We weren't about to give up so early, though, and Jonas Axeldal hit back in the 10th minute with his first-ever goal for Kiruna. Joakim Gunillasson set up the goal beautifully. Robertsfors went ahead again before halftime when Vikeväinen failed to hold on to a shot and the rebound was slammed in; they picked up another after an hour of play, and at 3-1 down, we didn't look likely to come back. Erik Lantto came in for the ineffective Labba, and shortly after the substitution Marcus Lindmark pulled us one back with a bit of a fluke goal, but the last part of the game was ruled by the visitors - they even had a goal ruled out for offside. Kiruna 2-3 Robertsfors (J. Axeldal, M. Lindmark)

Well, so far, there was literally no point to May. But at least our scout was doing yeoman's work - he found us a young Swede named Göran Samuelsson, a defender looking for his first professional club. We took him on trial and, overall, he received very positive reviews from the coaching staff, so we signed him up officially on May 15.

Transfer in: D C Göran Samuelsson, SWE, 18, free transfer, 600 SEK p/w. Last club: none

Sunday 19 May, Kiruna (9th) vs. Friska Viljor (10th)

We showed a somewhat different lineup for the Friska Viljor visit hoping to salvage something from the last half of this dratted month. Johan Bergström moved to fullback with off-form Marcus Lindmark relegated out of the squad, while Fredrik Johansson came in at right wing; Jon Kero started instead of Joon Karlsson in defense. The changes looked pretty dumb when the team from Örnsköldsvik took the lead after just two minutes. They had a hardcore dangerous winger who dribbled half the length of the field and crossed low for an easy goal. And, long story short, that was it. We had about four shots all game, and so did they, but only the one went in. Kiruna 0-1 Friska Viljor

The summer and surrounding months in Sweden are of a fairly low intensity for footballers. That was our last game of May, and we were only going to have one in June and a couple in July, one of which was a Swedish Cup game. Know what that meant? That meant that we were going to have to languish in 11th position - a relegation spot! - for at least 20 days or so. And if we didn't win our June game, it'd be another month and a half staring the drop in the face. Icky.

<pre class="ip-ubbcode-code-pre">Swedish Second Division North

Pos Team Pld Won Drn Lst For Ag Won Drn Lst For Ag Pts

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

1st Östersunds FK 7 4 0 0 11 4 0 3 0 5 5 15

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

2nd Söderhamn 7 1 1 1 6 3 3 0 1 9 6 13

3rd Boden 7 2 2 0 8 6 1 2 0 3 2 13

4th Robertsfors 7 3 0 1 8 7 1 0 2 5 6 12

5th IFK Holmsund 7 2 0 1 7 6 1 1 2 3 4 10

6th IFK Luleå 7 1 1 2 4 4 2 0 1 4 5 10

7th Selånger 7 2 0 1 9 4 1 0 3 4 8 9

8th Friska Viljor 7 0 2 1 2 3 2 1 1 4 6 9

9th Luleå Fotboll 7 1 0 2 4 6 1 2 1 12 11 8

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

10th Skellefteå AIK 7 2 2 0 13 7 0 0 3 2 11 8

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

11th **Kiruna** 7 1 1 2 5 5 1 0 2 4 5 7

12th Umedalen 7 0 1 2 4 6 0 1 3 6 12 2 </pre>

[kamikazecf]

And on the undercard before your World Cup matchup this evening... Selångers FK (3-0-4, 3 KO) vs. Kiruna FF (2-1-4, 2 KO)... - June 2002

Our game of the month was on the 9th of June; the World Cup started on the 12th, and Sweden's first game was on the 14th. Yeah, we were pretty much second billing this month. Not like we'd been playing well enough to deserve anything more...

Sunday 9 June, Selånger (7th) vs. Kiruna (11th)

The "Johan Bergström in defense" experiment had failed miserably, so Marcus Lindmark slotted back in and Johan took a seat in the stands. Stefan Harju took over for Magnus Oja at left-back and Oja sat on the bench as the defensive sub. There was a good crowd out, over 700 with maybe 100 or so traveling from Kiruna, and the visiting fans were the more confident at the beginning because Jonas Axeldal and Joakim Gunillasson were both looking good. It was quite a surprise, then, when Selånger broke through first about a half-hour into the game. Enraged, we redoubled our attacking efforts up until halftime and even after; Axeldal sent a powerful header just over the bar, Gunillasson had a fine low shot saved, and Erik Lantto's long-range blast was barely tipped away. Despite our failure to score, we felt like we were likely to end up with at least a point from this one. So it really ****ed us off when Selånger scored again with the same type of goal - same guy scored, same guy got the assist. And we still had more chances after that. Fredrik Johansson's shot was saved. Gunillasson's rocket went over the bar. Axeldal had what looked to be a certain goal spectacularly held by the diving goalkeeper. Even Marcus Lindmark got off a shot before the game was over. Of course, that one didn't go in either. At last count, Selånger's goalie made 8 saves. Vikeväinen let both shots on target in. *sigh* Selånger 2-0 Kiruna

That game was - how you say? Ass.

By the time the World Cup was in full swing, I'd had enough time to seethe over our poor recent performances. I decided to bite the bullet and get some players in on loan. Fortunately, our scout had located a few guys that looked like good targets. I made several offers, but most of the really elite, available players were on Premiership teams who wanted to loan out their fellows to someplace with a higher standard of competition, so I only ended up getting two guys.

Loan in: GK Robert Axelsson, SWE, 27. No wages. Loaned from: Sleipner. Loan ends: End of season

Loan in: DM L Andreas Nilsson, SWE, 24. No wages. Loaned from: Västra Frölunda. Loan ends: July 23

I anticipated that both players would start; Nilsson, if he performed well enough, would have his loan extended to the end of the season. I envisioned him as a fullback, since Marcus Jönsson was playing well enough on the left wing. Axelsson was no great shakes as a goalkeeper, but he was better than Vikeväinen, at least.

In World Cup action, Sweden survived to the end of June. They came second in Group C behind Nigeria and in front of Poland and South Korea, and then got lucky to beat Group D winners Portugal 1-0 in the second round.

But the far more important competition had a table like this:

<pre class="ip-ubbcode-code-pre">Swedish Second Division North

Pos Team Pld Won Drn Lst For Ag Won Drn Lst For Ag Pts

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

1st Östersunds FK 8 4 0 0 11 4 0 4 0 5 5 16

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

2nd Robertsfors 8 3 0 1 8 7 2 0 2 7 7 15

3rd Söderhamn 8 1 2 1 8 5 3 0 1 9 6 14

4th Boden 8 2 2 0 8 6 1 3 0 5 4 14

5th Selånger 8 3 0 1 11 4 1 0 3 4 8 12

6th IFK Holmsund 8 2 1 1 8 7 1 1 2 3 4 11

7th IFK Luleå 8 1 1 2 4 4 2 0 2 6 8 10

8th Luleå Fotboll 8 1 1 2 4 6 1 2 1 12 11 9

9th Skellefteå AIK 8 2 2 0 13 7 0 1 3 3 12 9

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

10th Friska Viljor 8 0 2 2 3 5 2 1 1 4 6 9

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

11th **Kiruna** 8 1 1 2 5 5 1 0 3 4 7 7

12th Umedalen 8 1 1 2 7 8 0 1 3 6 12 5 </pre>

[kamikazecf]

And on the undercard before your Swedish Second Division North matchup this evening... France (5-0-1, 5 KO) vs. England (5-1-0, 5 KO)... - July 2002

Sweden got beat by France 2-1 in the quarterfinal on July 5; Henrik Larsson's early goal couldn't hold up after strikes from Zizou and Thierry Henry. France proceeded to blitz through Brazil 3-0 (Silvestre, Thuram, Zidane) to set up a grudge match with England in the final. England's road to the final was paved with creampuffs; they advanced from Group F ahead of Turkey, Russia, and Costa Rica, then beat Ecuador 2-1 and South Africa 5-1 in the second round and quarterfinal. Italy provided a somewhat tougher test in the semis, but Michael Owen and Sol Campbell scored late to overcome Stefano Fiore's opener. The final was not nearly as well-contested as it was expected to be; the English ran riot over their continental opposition, and though Campbell's goal was the only one in the game, the 1-0 scoreline was very kind to the French, who never looked like they even wanted to play. So yeah, the World Cup went to the British Isles for the first time since '66. Congratulations, In-ger-lund.

And now to the good stuff... another game against one of the many Luleå teams, this one Luleå Fotboll.

Sunday 21 July, Kiruna (11th) vs. Luleå Fotboll (8th)

We were only a couple of points behind the Luleå lads before the game, so a win would see us jump at least one spot in the table. Of course the two new guys started, Axelsson at GK and Nilsson at D L; Svanelöv, Harju, and Lindmark formed the rest of the defense, with Jönsson, Hans Stridsman, Lantto, and Johan Bergström across the middle, and Gunillasson captaining the side and partnering Axeldal up front. Looked a lot like the other team sheets we'd had that year, but with a break we've had of over a month, I felt like it was a fresh start nonetheless. It was a tactically different 4-4-2 that we used this game, too; the fullbacks took on a more attacking role in this version with Hans Stridsman staying somewhat behind Lantto in midfield to try and stop attacks before they got started. Stridsman certainly did his job, picking up the Man of the Match award and doing his part to keep Luleå scoreless. Unfortunately, we couldn't score either; our best chance was a penalty in the first half that Marcus Jönsson sent straight at the goalkeeper. Joakim Gunillasson was guilty of several poor shots, too, but hey - a draw was better than what we'd been getting. Kiruna 0-0 Luleå Fotboll

Stayed in 11th after getting that point, but things are looking up. Yeah, we were definitely gonna keep Nilsson until the end of the year, thank you very much Västra Frölunda...

In the Swedish Cup first round, we were drawn at home to Boden. With Joon Karlsson in for Svanelöv the only change from the last game, we jumped out to an early 2-0 lead with goals from Stridsman and Axeldal. It was good, but despite the fact that we did dominate most of the rest of the game, Boden came back with a couple of late scores that Robert Axelsson really maybe should have saved, and extra time was forced upon us. It was costly in that Stefan Harju twisted his ankle, but we got a deserved win thanks to Lindmark volleying in Marcus Jönsson's cross. Swedish Cup - Kiruna 3-2 Boden (H. Stridsman, J. Axeldal, M. Lindmark)

A win at last! In the cup, okay, but it was against Second Division opposition and surely the players would derive some benefit from remembering what victory was like.

The second-round draw heralded a difficult game - we'd get to play at Lombiavallen, yes, but it was going to be Premier Division team GIF Sundsvall who came to visit us. Attendance should be high, and ergo the gate receipts should be good, but we weren't gonna win that game. It was scheduled to be played in exactly a month, on the 28th of August.

Sure didn't end up being much to July, did there?

<pre class="ip-ubbcode-code-pre">Swedish Second Division North

Pos Team Pld Won Drn Lst For Ag Won Drn Lst For Ag Pts

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

1st Östersunds FK 9 5 0 0 12 4 0 4 0 5 5 19

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

2nd Robertsfors 9 4 0 1 10 8 2 0 2 7 7 18

3rd Boden 9 3 2 0 9 6 1 3 0 5 4 17

4th Söderhamn 9 1 2 1 8 5 3 0 2 9 7 14

5th Selånger 9 3 0 1 11 4 1 0 4 7 12 12

6th IFK Holmsund 9 2 1 1 8 7 1 2 2 4 5 12

7th Friska Viljor 9 1 2 2 7 8 2 1 1 4 6 12

8th IFK Luleå 9 1 2 2 5 5 2 0 2 6 8 11

9th Luleå Fotboll 9 1 1 2 4 6 1 3 1 12 11 10

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

10th Skellefteå AIK 9 2 2 0 13 7 0 1 4 4 14 9

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

11th Kiruna 9 1 2 2 5 5 1 0 3 4 7 8

12th Umedalen 9 1 1 2 7 8 0 1 4 6 13 5 </pre>

[kamikazecf]

This is as hot as it gets in the Artic Circle, folks! - August 2002

August was a pretty packed month for us - 4 league games and the Cup second rounder. We had two games left until the midway point of the league. After that, we'd go back to the beginning and play all the teams again, in the same order, just at the opposite venues from the last time around.

Sunday 4 August, Söderhamn (4th) vs. Kiruna (11th)

Oh, what a game! We brought about 400 in traveling support - practically an army - and with over 2,000 fans at the ground, the atmosphere was electric. So was Jonas Axeldal, who scored the first goal of the game 16 minutes in with a header from a Johan Bergström cross. Söderhamn were not to be taken lightly, though, and they mounted several attacks behind their star striker and captain, George Bcheri. Still, when they got close enough to score, Robert Axelsson was generally able to keep them out, up until just before halftime when Bcheri broke through. It had been a tight game so far, but on the far side of the break, Kiruna dominated. Joon Karlsson scored off of a corner kick in the 49th minute. Three minutes later, Bergström demonstrated to all the kiddies why you're supposed to follow your shot, scoring off of his own rebound to put it at 3-1 with his first goal of the season. And very shortly after that, Joakim Gunillasson got in on the action, driving home a pass from Erik Lantto. 4-1, and the singing of the Kiruna fans - "Vi e från K'runa, från Lombiavallen, vi går på fotboll och sjunger högt..." - was all that anyone could hear. Axeldal put the final touches on with a second headed goal, giving Marcus Jönsson his second assist of the game. Great stuff. Söderhamn 1-5 Kiruna (J. Axeldal 2, J. Karlsson, J. Bergström, J. Gunillasson)

A fantastic win without question, but it only pulled us up to 10th in the league, which is still a relegation playoff position. Fortunately, our next game was at home against Umedalen, who'd been bottom since the beginning of the season. We were riding the wave of momentum from the last game, and I figured we should take all three points from those fellows.

Sunday 11 August, Kiruna (10th) vs. Umedalen (12th)

Johan Bergström had the first good shot of the game. Saved. Then Umedalen came back with a shot of their own. Axelsson saved. Then we beat 'em. Jonas Axeldal scored in the 10th minute - Bergström assisted - and then the winger picked up a goal for himself six minutes later. Erik Lantto found Axeldal for his second goal before the halftime whistle, and we shut up shop with a 3-0 lead and cries of "Vem fan är Nistelrooy, vem fan är Nistelrooy, för vi har Jonas Axeldal, för vi har Jonas Axeldal..." ringing in our ears. Umedalen picked up a goal in injury time in the second half, but who cared? Certainly not us. Kiruna 3-1 Umedalen (J. Axeldal 2, J. Bergström)

That win sent us skyrocketing up the table... relatively speaking... since we jumped up from 10th to 7th after the game. And our next game would give us an opportunity to climb even higher, since we were taking on IFK Holmsund (who had, if you'll recall, beaten us in the opening game). They were 6th and just a point ahead of us.

Sunday 18 August, Kiruna (7th) vs. IFK Holmsund (6th)

After Jonas Axeldal's heroics in recent days, most people were overlooking his partner in attack, Joakim Gunillasson. Not after this game. Joakim was a madman, firing more shots on goal than the entire Holmsund squad combined. It took him 55 minutes and a fine cross from Marcus Jönsson to open the scoring, but open it he did, thanks in part to Robert Axelsson's efforts in keeping the visiting team out of the net. Jönsson went off injured shortly after that effort, and so Erik Lantto became Gunillasson's new provider, sending him free for his second goal in the 82nd minute. That nailed down our third win in a row and bumped us up to 5th in the league. Kiruna 2-0 IFK Holmsund (J. Gunillasson 2)

Jönsson's injury, it turned out, was a problem with his ankle ligaments that promised to keep him out of action for five weeks. This necessitated the return of Magnus Oja to left back and moving loanee Andreas Nilsson to midfield.

[kamikazecf]

For the first time in a long time, our on-field efforts had been proceeding better than our scouting ones. Johan Petersen, apparently determined to change that, told us to give this Norwegian kid, Magnus Rønning, a trial period. We offered it, he took it, he looked good, we signed him. Easy as cake.

Transfer in: D C Magnus Rønning, NOR, 19, free transfer, 1300 SEK p/w. Last club: none

Skellefteå next. We'd beaten them at home - could we do it away? I thought maybe we could.

Sunday 25 August, Skellefteå (10th) vs. Kiruna (5th)

Ain't nothin' happened for about 10 minutes or so. Then, out of nowhere, Jonas Axeldal scored. The play developed amazingly quickly, and I think Bergström might have gotten an assist on the goal, but I'm not sure. Anyway, 1-0 to the good. Twenty minutes later, Axeldal happened again, although at least this time I was able to see how the goal developed. Bergström crossed it into the middle, Jonas powered a header towards the net that the goalkeeper pushed weakly away, and my boy's confident follow made it a 2-0 game. Skellefteå pulled one back with their first shot on goal midway through the second half, but couldn't get anything else and we got three more points in the bag. Skellefteå 1-2 Kiruna (J. Axeldal 2)

And so to the cup game, and the end of August. It drew, as expected, by far the largest crowd of our season, with 2100 fans packed into Lombia. Also as expected, we got reamed. To our credit, we held out for almost a half-hour before Sundsvall scored their first. They didn't get a second until after Andreas Nilsson was stretchered off the field. He was hurtin' bad and it didn't look good for him coming back by the end of the season, much less for the next game. Sundsvall added a second goal just before halftime, scored another in the 76th minute, and then got a fourth from a Göran Samuelsson own-goal which wasn't really his fault. Swedish cup: Kiruna 0-4 GIF Sundsvall

Andreas Nilsson's injury turned out to be a groin tear, which would require three months of recovery. Seeing as that would make him unable to play until after the season ended, we sent him back to Göteborg, where at least he could rehabilitate at home.

But anyway, when you're past the midway point of a season, and you go into a month in 11th place and come out in 4th, that's some damn fine work.

<pre class="ip-ubbcode-code-pre">Swedish Second Division North

Pos Team Pld Won Drn Lst For Ag Won Drn Lst For Ag Pts

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

1st Östersunds FK 13 7 0 0 16 5 1 4 1 8 8 28

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

2nd Robertsfors 13 5 0 1 12 8 4 1 2 14 10 28

3rd Boden 13 4 3 0 11 7 1 3 2 6 9 21

4th **Kiruna** 13 3 2 2 10 6 3 0 3 11 9 20

5th Luleå Fotboll 13 2 1 3 6 10 3 3 1 18 15 19

6th Söderhamn 13 1 2 3 10 12 4 1 2 13 10 18

7th Friska Viljor 13 1 4 2 9 10 3 1 2 7 9 17

8th IFK Holmsund 13 3 1 2 13 11 1 2 4 4 9 15

9th Selånger 13 3 1 3 17 12 1 1 4 7 12 14

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

10th Skellefteå AIK 13 3 2 1 15 9 0 2 5 5 16 13

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

11th IFK Luleå 13 1 2 4 6 8 2 0 4 7 11 11

12th Umedalen 13 2 2 2 9 9 0 2 5 7 16 10 </pre>

[kamikazecf]

Pale September - September 2002

Given the recent form of the involved sides, our game at the beginning of September against IFK Luleå should have been easy. Especially since we were at home. They hadn't won in their last 7 league games, and only one of those had been a draw. We hadn't lost in our last 5, and only one of those had been a draw. Things were lookin' up.

Sunday 1 September, Kiruna (4th) vs. IFK Luleå (11th)

Scoreless draw. It was kind of weird. Neither Stefan Harju (at left-back) or Pär Asp (on the wing) played particularly poorly, but without Andreas Nilsson there was something missing from that side of the pitch. Both teams' finishing was poor; actually, neither goalkeeper was forced into a save. Jonas Axeldal and Erik Lantto were our main culprits, Lantto especially - he clipped the woodwork twice. A boring game in front of a large crowd - over 1500! Kiruna 0-0 IFK Luleå

So that point wasn't enough to keep us in the lofty heights of 4th, unfortunately. But we had a chance to grab it back in our next game against Boden, who were in third but with just three points more than us. And our goal differential was better, so there you go. Anyway.

Sunday 8 September, Boden (3rd) vs. Kiruna (5th)

Boden just looked better. We got off a couple of shots in the first half, both from Gunillasson, but he couldn't score. The home team got more than a couple shots which Axelsson managed to keep out, but it only took them a minute to score in the second half. They kept the pressure up and scored again fifteen minutes later. That was the cue for a bit of regrouping by Kiruna, and substitute Johan Stridsman gave us a bit of a spark with a nice run and shot that was well saved; Magnus Oja then actually scored his first goal of the season to halve the deficit. 'Twas all we could get though. Tough loss, but they were certainly better and deserved the three points. Boden 2-1 Kiruna (M. Oja)

Missing a left-side presence after your prize loan signing tears a groin muscle? Find a new one! That's what we did. Johan Petersen's scouting paid off again as he found a fellow on a D2 West Gotaland team who was available on loan. Jens Ljungcrantz, fullback or winger, traveled just about the entire north-south length of Sweden to join us from a club located in Borås.

Loan in: D/M L Jens Ljungcrantz, SWE, 20. No wages. Loaned from: Norrby. Loan ends: End of season

Ljungcrantz had slightly above-average pace and was a very good dribbler of the ball. He'd play on the wing for us and make his debut at home against a very good Östersunds FK side.

Sunday 15 September, Kiruna (6th) vs. Östersunds FK (2nd)

Östersunds had a scary scoring chance very shortly after kickoff, but fortunately for us their striker overhit his shot at the open net and it flew over the bar. Ljungcrantz picked up on Axelsson's goal kick and engaged in a mazy run, completely fooling Östersunds' midfield hardman in the process, and finished it off with a right-footed shot that flew past their goalkeeper into the top corner. Well that's a way to debut, folks. The visitors had more than a few other chances in the half, only one of which forced a save from Robert Axelsson. Ljungcrantz continued to dominate the left side of the field in the first half and created many shots for Kiruna, none of which went in. After the break, though, Ljungcrantz's crossing skills yielded results, as he curled a corner kick right onto Johan Bergström's forehead. The winger would have had to make a conscious effort in order to not score, and he didn't screw it up. For most of the remaining time, Kiruna held on to the ball, mounting only the occasional attack and keeping our opponents at bay. Good game. Kiruna 2-0 Östersunds FK (J. Ljungcrantz, J. Bergström)

Six games remaining, then, so 18 points available, and we were 11 off the pace. Next game up was a visit to league leaders Robertsfors, so we could climb up to within 8 with a victory. I admit that the odds of winning the league then were very slim, but if we won out, anything could happen!

Right. We were just trying to play well.

Sunday 22 September, Robertsfors (1st) vs. Kiruna (5th)

That ambition looked as though it might take a bit of a beating against the best team in the D2 North, as they got off two fine shots within the first couple of minutes. One went over, and one was saved by Robert Axelsson. And then the momentum swung the opposite direction when Jens Ljungcrantz's corner kick was headed in by Joon Karlsson. The goal sent the traveling support into raptures ("Vi e Kiruna, Kiruna FF, vi e tokiga som fan och fulla nu igen..."). I was feeling pretty rapturous myself, but of course it wouldn't be very professional for me to start singing. Robertsfors strove to silence the away end, and very nearly succeeded, but Axelsson made his second (and, as it turned out, final) save of the game. The home team, it seems, shot their wad early on, so to speak. All they could muster for the remainder of the half and even after the break was shots that went high or wide. As for us, Ljungcrantz and Bergström hooked up for another corner-kick goal at the end of the game, and we had ourselves a fine away victory over the first-placed team. Robertsfors 0-2 Kiruna (J. Karlsson, J. Bergström)

Marcus Lindmark broke his toe during the game. And the stupid kid didn't even come out, he just gritted his teeth and played the whole damn time, worsening the injury in the process. Count him out for three weeks.

Looking at the table, I felt like winning the division was far too much to ask, but we could maybe sneak into the bridesmaid's spot with a good run of form over our final five games.

<pre class="ip-ubbcode-code-pre">Swedish Second Division North

Pos Team Pld Won Drn Lst For Ag Won Drn Lst For Ag Pts

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

1st Robertsfors 17 6 0 2 15 11 5 2 2 18 13 35

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

2nd Luleå Fotboll 17 4 1 3 13 12 5 3 1 25 15 31

3rd Östersunds FK 17 7 0 2 18 11 1 4 3 9 13 28

4th Boden 17 5 3 1 14 10 2 4 2 11 12 28

5th **Kiruna** 17 4 3 2 12 6 4 0 4 14 11 27

6th Friska Viljor 17 2 5 2 13 13 5 1 2 12 10 27

7th Söderhamn 17 2 2 4 14 14 5 1 3 16 12 24

8th Selånger 17 4 2 3 21 15 2 1 5 12 17 21

9th Skellefteå AIK 17 5 2 1 21 13 0 2 7 8 22 19

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

10th IFK Holmsund 17 3 2 3 15 16 1 2 6 6 15 16

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

11th IFK Luleå 17 1 2 6 6 14 2 2 4 8 12 13

12th Umedalen 17 2 3 3 11 13 0 3 6 9 21 12 </pre>

[kamikazecf]

This Halloween, let's dress up as an average football team! - October 2002

First game of October was on the sixth of the month, against Frisky Village or whatever they're called. Our fullbacks were a bit different this game, Ljungcrantz dropping back to the left side and young Mikael Holmgren coming in on the right.

Sunday 6 October, Friska Viljor (6th) vs. Kiruna (5th)

Holmgren... looked good. He picked up a couple of assists, both off of corners (scored by Marcus Jönsson and Hans Stridsman), and played well defensively, too. Even though our goals were sandwiched around one for Viljor, we felt pretty confident of the victory. Until, that is, Jens Ljungcrantz's knee gave out about an hour into the game. What is it with lefty loanies getting injured? Ljungcrantz had been just as good in defense as he was in midfield, and when Niklas Svanelöv came in for him our defense just looked a whole lot worse. Viljor proceeded to knock on the proverbial door several times before finally kicking the damn thing in during injury time with a free kick goal. Axelsson should maybe have saved it, but he'd saved other shots during the game that should've gone in, so we couldn't really blame him. And we did get a point, so we stayed above Viljor in the standings on goal differential. Friska Viljor 2-2 Kiruna (M. Jönsson, H. Stridsman)

Ljungcrantz's injury turned out to be strained ligaments, and he would, we hoped, be back in action in three weeks. That would make him available for our final two games in November. A little bit of Jens is better than no Jens at all, is what I've always said.

We had a couple of weeks off before the clash with Selånger. This gave Marcus Lindmark valuable time to recover, and he was back in the lineup on game day. Young forward Johan Stridsman also got a start in place of Joakim Gunillasson.

Sunday 20 October, Kiruna (4th) vs. Selånger (8th)

♪tweeeeeeeeeeeeeee♪ Gert Jönsson's whistle signalled kickoff. Pass, pass, pass, dribble dribble dribble dribble dribble dribble cross shot GOOOOOOOOOOAAAAAAALLLL It was the same guy who scored both of Selånger's goals in their previous game against us. Benny Mattsson. I didn't like that guy much. Mattsson had another chance shortly afterward that went just wide, and then finally we started attacking. Nils Johan Labba forced a nice double save from the visiting goalie, and we got a corner that came to nothing. Twenty-five minutes into the match, Selånger's goalie did us a favor by taking Marcus Jönsson's feet out from under him in the area. Jönsson sprang to his feet and drilled the penalty, knotting the game at one apiece. It wasn't long after that - maybe around the half-hour mark - that Jönsson got a cross in to Super Jonas Axeldal's head. Goal! 2-1. Axeldal was heavily involved in the next major event of the match, too. Labba sent a high ball in that Axeldal headed towards goal, but it was saved and deflected to the right side of the penalty area. Marcus Lindmark was right there and alertly poked it in, extending the lead to two. We kept getting chances all through the second half, but the only other goal of the game was scored by - yep - Mattsson, bringing his tally to four goals against us in two games. Ugh. Eight goals he had, and half of 'em against us. Kiruna 3-2 Selånger (M. Jönsson pen, J. Axeldal, M. Lindmark)

Last game of October was another of the Luleå "nearby rival" games, this one against the Fotboll team rather than the IFK. It was another Stridsman-Axeldal pairing in attack, and the rest of the lineup didn't contain any surprises, either. Kind of an important game for our hopes of a top-three finish, given that Luleå were second with 34 points and we were fourth with 31.

Sunday 27 October, Luleå Fotboll (2nd) vs. Kiruna (4th)

A poor start from us saw the home team hold the vast majority of possession early on, with Kiruna's only shot being a long-range Johan Bergström blast that went well over. Luleå got their first goal after a corner. They didn't score off of the initial kick, but kept the pressure up and eventually got a ball chipped into the box and headed in. Down 0-1, I urged the lads on to greater efforts, but the only other opportunity we could scrounge up in the first half was another poorly-placed long shot, this time from Marcus Jönsson. After the break, Hans Stridsman singlehandedly stopped two dangerous Luleå attacks and then gave Jönsson the opportunity to set up Axeldal for a header that went just over. Kiruna were slowly imposing themselves on the game, but nothing seemed to be coming out of it. Joakim Gunillasson came on for Johan Stridsman midway through the second half, and it was he who finally got Kiruna on the scoreboard, scoring a beautiful shot after a Johan Bergström cross 84 minutes into the match. Good stuff! Hans Stridsman again loomed large in fending off Luleå advances late on, and it looked as though both teams would have to settle for a point. Which would really do neither side any good, since Luleå needed to charge hard to catch up to Robertsfors, and we needed to win to catch up to Luleå. Anyway, it turned out not to be an issue when Nils Johan Labba foolishly held back a Luleå player in the area. Labba was sent off, a penalty was awarded, the home team scored, and we lost. Luleå Fotboll 2-1 Kiruna (J. Gunillasson)

And thus ended the only October 2002 that the world would ever see. Sad, in a way.

<pre class="ip-ubbcode-code-pre">Swedish Second Division North

Pos Team Pld Won Drn Lst For Ag Won Drn Lst For Ag Pts

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

1st Robertsfors 20 6 1 2 17 13 6 2 3 20 14 39

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

2nd Luleå Fotboll 20 6 1 3 18 14 5 3 2 25 17 37

3rd Boden 20 6 3 1 17 12 3 4 3 15 16 34

4th Östersunds FK 20 8 0 2 20 11 1 6 3 15 19 33

5th **Kiruna** 20 5 3 2 15 8 4 1 5 17 15 31

6th Friska Viljor 20 2 6 2 15 15 5 2 3 14 13 29

7th Söderhamn 20 2 3 5 17 18 5 1 4 18 15 25

8th Selånger 20 5 3 3 25 18 2 1 6 14 20 25

9th Skellefteå AIK 20 7 2 1 25 13 0 2 8 9 24 25

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

10th IFK Luleå 20 2 2 6 7 14 3 2 5 11 15 19

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

11th IFK Holmsund 20 4 2 4 18 20 1 2 7 6 18 19

12th Pl Umedalen 20 3 3 4 14 17 0 3 7 9 22 15 </pre>

[kamikazecf]

Tying up the loose ends – November 2002

Just two games this month, and as the table shows, we had little hope of getting even as high as third. All we could do was play the games and see what happened, though, and so that’s what we planned to do. I welcomed back Jens Ljungcrantz to the lineup at fullback for our last home game of the season. He was a difference-maker, that boy. Maybe if Norrby had kept him around, they wouldn’t have been staring relegation in the face. Sucks for them.

Sunday 2 November, Kiruna (5th) vs. Söderhamn (7th)

Söderhamn tried to fool everyone into thinking that they were better than us by getting the first shot of the game. It got saved, and then we proceeded to prove that we were, in fact, the superior team. Mostly it was Jens Ljungcrantz doing the proving. Little Jens was just generally making a pest of himself all the way up and down the left side of the field. Just inspiring to watch. But he wasn’t actually involved in Kiruna’s first goal, oddly enough – that was Johan Bergström setting up young Johan Stridsman for his first-ever senior goal. The second one, though, was another Ljungcrantz corner kick. Dude must have been the best corner-taker in Swedish history. Anyway, Johan Stridsman was the beneficiary of the fine kick this time around and put us ahead by two. That goal turned out to be key since Söderhamn pulled one back shortly after, but couldn’t pick up the vital second. Man of the Match? Jens Ljungcrantz. Kiruna 2-1 Söderhamn (J. Stridsman 2)

We passed up Boden on goal differential with the win to move up to fourth. Luleå Fotboll and Östersunds FK could both be caught if we won and they both lost, so second was the best we could hope for. On the flip side, if Boden and Friska Viljor won and we lost, we could drop as low as sixth.

Sunday 9 November, Umedalen (12th) vs. Kiruna (4th)

Boden and Friska Viljor’s results became irrelevant very quickly. Johan Stridsman opened the scoring on seven minutes, and Hans Stridsman tacked on another before halftime, assisted by Super Jonas Axeldal. Umedalen got one back after the break, but that was a proverbial twig against the tide. Johan Stridsman picked up his second on Axeldal’s second assist, and Super Jonas punctuated a good season for Kiruna FF with his 10th goal of the season, assisted by Johan Bergström. Umedalen 1-4 Kiruna (J. Stridsman 2, H. Stridsman, J. Axeldal)

<pre class="ip-ubbcode-code-pre">Swedish Second Division North

Pos Team Pld Won Drn Lst For Ag Won Drn Lst For Ag Pts

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

1st Pl Robertsfors 22 8 1 2 23 14 6 2 3 20 14 45

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

2nd Luleå Fotboll 22 7 1 3 22 14 5 3 3 26 20 40

3rd Östersunds FK 22 9 0 2 22 12 2 6 3 18 19 39

4th **Kiruna** 22 6 3 2 17 9 5 1 5 21 16 37

5th Boden 22 6 3 2 17 13 4 4 3 17 17 37

6th Friska Viljor 22 3 6 2 18 16 6 2 3 16 13 35

7th Skellefteå AIK 22 7 2 2 26 15 1 2 8 11 25 28

8th Söderhamn 22 2 3 6 17 20 5 1 5 19 17 25

9th Selånger 22 5 3 3 25 18 2 1 8 15 27 25

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

10th Pl IFK Holmsund 22 4 2 5 18 23 2 2 7 7 18 22

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

11th R IFK Luleå 22 2 2 7 8 16 3 2 6 11 18 19

12th R Umedalen 22 3 3 5 15 21 0 3 8 10 24 15 </pre>

That’s how it looked at season’s end. Robertsfors would go into the playoffs against the West Svealand group winner, and IFK Holmsund would take on non-league Luleå SK in an effort to stay up in the Second Division. Turns out both Robertsfors and IFK Holmsund lost. So despite IFK Luleå’s relegation, that particular town would remain well-represented in the Swedish Second Division North.

By the end of the season, this was Kiruna FF’s squad list, stats, and fixtures. Please note Jens Ljungcrantz’s final statistics: 5 games, 1 goal, 4 assists, 3 Man of the Match awards, 8.60 average rating. What an excellent scouting and management team Kiruna must have had!

<pre class="ip-ubbcode-code-pre"> ================================================================================================

Squad

================================================================================================

No Name Position(s) Nat Born Age Caps Gls Wages Expires Value

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

- Asp, Pär AM/F C SWE 2.1.82 20 - - 1,3|TKr 11.11.02 0|:-

- Asp, Peter S C SWE 18.8.77 25 - - 1,7|TKr 7.11.04 140|TKr

- Axeldal, Jonas F C SWE 2.9.70 32 - - 2|TKr 14.11.03 400|TKr

- Axelsson, Robert GK SWE 16.3.75 27 - - 0|:- 17.11.02 180|TKr

- Bergström, Bertil AM/F R SWE 20.4.85 17 - - 1,3|TKr 1.11.03 60|TKr

- Bergström, Johan D/M R SWE 19.9.83 19 - - 2,3|TKr 1.11.06 350|TKr

- Gabrielsson, Magnus AM C SWE 6.7.85 17 - - 750|:- 28.11.03 60|TKr

- Gunillasson, Joakim S C SWE 10.11.77 25 - - 2,5|TKr 15.11.04 200|TKr

- Hannu, Johan DM C SWE 10.3.72 30 - - 650|:- 8.11.04 40|TKr

- Harju, Stefan D LC SWE 6.3.72 30 - - 700|:- 5.11.03 50|TKr

- Holmgren, Mikael D R SWE 23.11.84 17 - - 850|:- 28.11.03 30|TKr

- Johansson, Fredrik AM R SWE 24.1.70 32 - - 2|TKr 15.11.03 50|TKr

- Jönsson, Marcus M LC SWE 15.10.78 24 - - 2|TKr 18.11.05 300|TKr

- Karlsson, Joon D/M C SWE 1.9.80 22 - - 2|TKr 5.11.05 350|TKr

- Kero, Jon D C SWE 9.3.78 24 - - 650|:- 27.11.05 60|TKr

- Laaksonen, Hans AM/F C SWE 5.7.75 27 - - 900|:- 25.11.04 40|TKr

- Labba, Nils Johan M C SWE 5.11.84 18 - - 2,2|TKr 11.11.05 350|TKr

- Lantto, Erik AM C SWE 10.3.80 22 - - 2,75|TKr 2.11.04 650|TKr

- Lindgren, Tomas S C SWE 6.1.74 28 - - 1|TKr 14.11.07 300|TKr

- Lindmark, Marcus D R SWE 12.5.83 19 - - 2,1|TKr 2.11.05 280|TKr

- Ljungcrantz, Jens D/M L SWE 23.7.82 20 - - 0|:- 10.11.02 300|TKr

- Malmbring, Niklas S C SWE 6.7.80 22 - - 2,5|TKr 13.11.04 500|TKr

- Niemälä, Lars-Göran GK SWE 18.1.74 28 - - 650|:- 3.11.04 40|TKr

- Oja, Magnus D RLC SWE 27.3.63 39 - - 1|TKr 5.11.06 60|TKr

- Ökvist, Lars M C SWE 11.3.83 19 - - 650|:- 12.11.04 40|TKr

- Olofsson, Mattias D C SWE 26.1.80 22 - - 750|:- 13.11.05 60|TKr

- Rønning, Magnus SW/D C NOR 19.11.82 19 - - 1,3|TKr 19.11.03 120|TKr

- Samuelsson, Göran D C SWE 7.11.83 19 - - 600|:- 10.11.03 80|TKr

- Skånberg, Mattias M C SWE 2.2.78 24 - - 2,75|TKr 15.11.02 0|:-

- Stridsman, Hans DM C SWE 28.8.67 35 - - 1,8|TKr 7.11.06 60|TKr

- Stridsman, Johan F C SWE 3.6.80 22 - - 650|:- 7.11.05 60|TKr

- Stridsman, Tommy S C SWE 13.5.65 37 - - 3|TKr 13.11.06 60|TKr

- Svanelöv, Niklas D/DM C SWE 17.9.80 22 - - 1,7|TKr 2.11.04 160|TKr

- Vikeväinen, Mikko GK SWE 6.6.79 23 - - 1,2|TKr 25.11.06 200|TKr

================================================================================================

2002 Senior Club Stats

================================================================================================

No Name Apps Gls Con Pens Asts Yel Red MoM Av R

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

- Asp, Pär 3 (3) 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 6.50

- Asp, Peter - - - - - - - - ----

- Axeldal, Jonas 20 (1) 10 0 0 2 1 0 5 7.57

- Axelsson, Robert 16 0 19 0 0 0 0 0 7.25

- Bergström, Bertil 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 6.00

- Bergström, Johan 22 4 0 0 5 0 0 0 6.68

- Gabrielsson, Magnus - - - - - - - - ----

- Gunillasson, Joakim 14 (4) 5 0 0 2 0 0 1 6.83

- Hannu, Johan - - - - - - - - ----

- Harju, Stefan 19 0 0 0 0 1 0 1 6.79

- Holmgren, Mikael 2 0 0 0 2 0 0 0 6.00

- Johansson, Fredrik 3 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 6.00

- Jönsson, Marcus 18 3 0 2 (1) 7 1 0 1 7.00

- Karlsson, Joon 13 (2) 3 0 0 1 3 0 0 6.60

- Kero, Jon 2 (1) 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 6.00

- Laaksonen, Hans - - - - - - - - ----

- Labba, Nils Johan 8 (5) 0 0 0 1 2 1 0 6.62

- Lantto, Erik 16 (2) 1 0 0 3 2 0 1 6.72

- Lindgren, Tomas 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 5.00

- Lindmark, Marcus 22 4 0 0 0 0 0 0 6.36

- Ljungcrantz, Jens 5 1 0 0 4 0 0 3 8.60

- Malmbring, Niklas 3 (1) 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 6.75

- Niemälä, Lars-Göran - - - - - - - - ----

- Oja, Magnus 22 (2) 1 0 0 1 0 0 0 6.83

- Ökvist, Lars 0 (3) 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 6.67

- Olofsson, Mattias 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 5.00

- Rønning, Magnus 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 6.00

- Samuelsson, Göran 1 (2) 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 5.67

- Skånberg, Mattias 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 7.00

- Stridsman, Hans 24 4 0 0 0 0 0 3 7.25

- Stridsman, Johan 6 (2) 4 0 0 0 0 0 0 7.13

- Stridsman, Tommy 6 (3) 2 0 0 1 0 0 1 6.78

- Svanelöv, Niklas 8 (3) 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 6.64

- Vikeväinen, Mikko 9 0 14 0 0 0 0 1 7.22

================================================================================================

2002 Transfers

================================================================================================

Date Player In From Fee

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

20.4.02 Jonas Axeldal Free Transfer Free

15.5.02 Göran Samuelsson Free Transfer Free

19.6.02 Robert Axelsson Sleipner Loan

24.6.02 Andreas Nilsson Västra Frölunda Loan

23.7.02 Andreas Nilsson Västra Frölunda Loan

23.8.02 Magnus Rønning Free Transfer Free

12.9.02 Jens Ljungcrantz Norrby Loan

Date Player Out To Fee

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

1.11.02 Magnus Mäki Harrow Borough Bos

================================================================================================

2002 Fixtures

================================================================================================

Date Opposition Ven Competition Res Attend Scorers

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

24.3.02 Haparanda H Lombia Cup 1:0 388 Malmbring

25.3.02 Gällivare H Lombia Cup 2:1 390 T.Stridsman 2

31.3.02 Dingle N Swedish Cup 4th Rnd 1:2 2844 Lantto

7.4.02 IFK Holmsund A Second Division N 2:3 1124 T.Stridsman 2

14.4.02 Skellefteå AIK H Second Division N 2:0 778 H.Stridsman, Gunillasson

21.4.02 IFK Luleå A Second Division N 1:0 731 Karlsson

28.4.02 Boden H Second Division N 1:1 756 Lindmark

5.5.02 Östersunds FK A Second Division N 1:2 780 M.Jönsson

12.5.02 Robertsfors H Second Division N 2:3 1505 Axeldal, Lindmark

19.5.02 Friska Viljor H Second Division N 0:1 1228

9.6.02 Selånger A Second Division N 0:2 771

21.7.02 Luleå Fotboll H Second Division N 0:0 757

28.7.02 Boden H Swedish Cup Grp 8 1st Rnd 3:2 933 H.Stridsman, Axeldal, Lindmark

4.8.02 Söderhamn A Second Division N 5:1 2493 Axeldal 2, Karlsson, J.Bergström, Gunillasson

11.8.02 Umedalen H Second Division N 3:1 1252 Axeldal 2, J.Bergström

18.8.02 IFK Holmsund H Second Division N 2:0 1378 Gunillasson 2

25.8.02 Skellefteå AIK A Second Division N 2:1 879 Axeldal 2

28.8.02 GIF Sundsvall H Swedish Cup Grp 8 2nd Rnd 0:4 2176

1.9.02 IFK Luleå H Second Division N 0:0 1538

8.9.02 Boden A Second Division N 1:2 756 Oja

15.9.02 Östersunds FK H Second Division N 2:0 1107 Ljungcrantz, J.Bergström

22.9.02 Robertsfors A Second Division N 2:0 2562 J.Karlsson, J.Bergström

6.10.02 Friska Viljor A Second Division N 2:2 1308 M.Jönsson, H.Stridsman

20.10.02 Selånger H Second Division N 3:2 1298 Jönsson pen, Axeldal, Lindmark

27.10.02 Luleå Fotboll A Second Division N 1:2 781 Gunillasson

2.11.02 Söderhamn H Second Division N 2:1 844 J.Stridsman 2

10.11.02 Umedalen A Second Division N 4:1 1271 J.Stridsman 2, H.Stridsman, Axeldal</pre>

[kamikazecf]

Hot-stove league in a cold-ass region! – December 2002/January, February 2003

First things first: Jonas Axeldal was unsurprisingly voted Fans’ Player of the Year. Because of heavy pressure from my coaching staff, I did sign Pär Asp to a one-year contract extension. And financially, Kiruna operated at a loss of 1,836,310 SEK during fiscal year 2002, by which I mean January through December of 2002. Which dropped the club to over 4 million in the red overall. Not overly worrisome, but it was approaching a level at which we would need to be concerned. I suppose that financially, it was a good thing there were several contracts expiring after the 2003 season, but cutting players was always difficult for me. I wasn’t really looking forward to it.

Second things second: first offseason signing occurred on Christmas Eve.

Transfer in: D C Björn Andersson, SWE, 22, free transfer, 600 SEK p/w. Last club: IFÖ/Bromölla IF

Björn was a decent player who was on a non-league team last year and didn’t get to play much, so he was thrilled to death to sign a contract as a backup player at Kiruna. He’s a hard worker and I was sure that if he had to play, he’d do fine.

January was the really active month. Players that our scout had located before were coming out of contract, but most of the really juicy targets were staying with their clubs on rolling contracts, which of course necessitated compensation being paid to those clubs. Kiruna couldn’t afford that. And so… I waited. And waited. And whilst I waited, I signed up a couple of youth scout finds that were without teams.

Transfer in: S C Juha Tuominen, FIN, 19, free transfer, 1600 SEK p/w. Last club: none

Transfer in: D L Lars Larsen, DEN, 19, free transfer, 950 SEK p/w. Last club: none

Couple of pretty good prospects, those. Juha was a rapid, aggressive player who moved well away from the ball. I fully expected him to force his way into the first-team plans over the course of the ensuing season. Lars Larsen was a bit of a risk to sign, because when he came in on trial my coaches weren’t too impressed with him at all. I was taken with his incredible pace and fantastic skill on the ball. They were disgusted by his lack of any discernible defensive ability, despite the fact that he claimed to be a fullback. We compromised – I signed him for a year, cheap, to see if he’d make an impression. All of my coaches were certain it was a mistake.

Speaking of my coaches, Karl-johan Mäki had been my assistant all along, but I had three new ones – Hans and Tommy Stridsman and Magnus Oja, all of whom had retired from the playing staff during the offseason. Oja, in particular, had great potential as a teacher, and the Stridsmans were useful as well. It was a good, very loyal staff.

[kamikazecf]

Finally – finally – one of my real, majorly-coveted targets left his rolling contract and struck out on his own looking for a club. We were it.

Transfer in: D LC Robert Kjellin, SWE, 29, free transfer, 2750 SEK p/w. Last club: Malmö FF

Huge coup. Huge. Kjellin was the best player on Kiruna as soon as he signed the contract. I figured that he would play in the center of defense for two reasons: first, that was where we were weak, and second, he was right-footed despite officially being a left back. Oh, my goodness… I was so stoked about this signing. So many things had to go our way in order for us to get him. I mean, he accepted five or six contract offers from other teams while his contract with Malmö was rolling, but none of them could afford to pay the compensation and we swooped in faster than anyone else once his contract was out, locking him up until November 2005. I thanked Johan Petersen several times for locating him in the midst of his scouting. So stoked. Ahhhh!

There were four other players that were on rolling contracts that we hoped to get. By the beginning of March, only one had left his club, and I snapped him up forthwith.

Transfer in: D L Stefan Sjöbom, SWE, 29, free transfer, 1900 SEK p/w. Last club: Vallentuna BK

Stefan’s another reason why Kjellin wasn’t going to start at fullback. He’s not loads better than Harju, but he’s quicker and better going forward, and so I was anticipating that Sjöbom would be the starter for at least the beginning of the 2003 season. He was signed through November of 2004.

My other three rollin’ targets were a goalkeeper, Håkan Jensgård of Vasalund, defender Mathias Svensson of Hässleholm, and pacey attacker Johan Hellstein of Mörbylånga, who like Kjellin had accepted several contract offers which ended up being no-gos because of a lack of funds on the part of the offering club.

With new players coming in and the wage bill consequently rising, I had to make the difficult decision to transfer list some players. After consultation with Mäki, Oja, and the Stridsmans, five players were made available for purchase: Peter Asp, Johan Hannu, Jon Kero, Tomas Lindgren, and Lars Ökvist. That latter decision was particularly disappointing since Lars had looked so promising before the 2002 season, but poor work habits had seen him do nothing but regress in ability.

[kamikazecf]

No worries... the tide always drops before a tsunami hits... – March 2003

Early March was still preparatory for us as far as finalizing some transfers and nailing down a first-choice lineup before the Lombia Cup at the end of the month. The first newsworthy event of March was the signing of another youth player who’d impressed in a trial period with the club:

Transfer in: M C Kenneth Haglund, SWE, 17, free transfer, 700 SEK p/w. Last club: None

Haglund’s passing skills weren’t quite as refined as you’d want yet, but his fitness was impeccable, he was quite fast and he was generally considered to be a pretty good prospect.

One of our weaknesses that we still hadn’t overcome was the lack of depth (and quality, too) at goalkeeper. With Håkan Jensgård not looking like leaving Vasalund for free anytime soon, I needed to look elsewhere for help between the pipes. Fortunately, a slick bit of scouting in Norway located a fellow who could fill the role just fine, perhaps better than Jensgård:

Transfer in: GK Frode Henriksen, NOR, 18, free transfer, 1100 SEK p/w. Last club: None

Frode looked as though he was better than ostensible starter Mikko Vikeväinen. But that was just in training, and Mikko was more proven in game situations than Frode was. Tentatively, Vikeväinen was still going to go into the season as the starter, but Henriksen was right the hell behind him in case of any slip-ups.

There were a few players promoted from the youth setup over the course of the month. Sixteen-year-old D/DM C Kalle Oscarsson came up first, looked okay, and got a small two-year contract. D/AM LC David Danielsson, aged 17, came up next, looked okay, and got a small two-year contract. Patrick Strömberg, a D/DM C like Oscarsson, was promoted last and made me wish I hadn’t given Oscarsson a contract. Strömberg was better, and got a small two-year contract.

Precisely a week before the first game of the Lombia Cup, we took another trialist on board, Norwegian left winger Dagfinn Solbakken. He hung around just long enough to play in the first game of the tournament and, in fact, he scored in it. Wary of signing yet another player, I tried offering him a small contract, which he would have none of. He was very sure of himself for a 16-year-old kid. We let him go back to Norway.

Speaking of the Lombia Cup, there were a couple of vital pieces of information we garnered from the three games we played. In the first, a 4-3 victory over Luleå Fotboll, I discovered that Mikko Vikeväinen apparently didn’t particularly want to keep hold of his starting spot; he played very poorly. I also noticed with some satisfaction that Johan Bergström looked much improved from last year.

In our second game, a 2-0 triumph over newly-promoted Luleå SK, new defensive signing Björn Andersson, who had played well in the first game, proved once and for all that he deserved to start next to Robert Kjellin (who was captaining the side) in defense. Midfield signing Kenneth Haglund showed great skill and put me very much at ease about having signed him. And I was able to give my coaching staff a bit of an “I told you so†when Lars Larsen started at left-back and was one of the best players on the field. Pace and dribbling skill... devastating combination. And Frode Henriksen made a couple of fine saves in his push for a starting spot.

In the final game, a penalty-kick loss after a 2-2 draw with Boden, Haglund confirmed that his performance during the Luleå SK game was no fluke, and Magnus Rønning pushed for an important role in defense with a fine game. Frode Henriksen was less spectacular this day, but did make six saves during the game in addition to saving a penalty kick.

I scheduled one final friendly for the end of the month, against rivals Gällivare, mostly for the purpose of giving Mikko Vikeväinen one more shot to save his spot in the first eleven. He did not help his case; we lost 4-1. Mikko made four saves but certainly should not have let in four goals; we actually outshot Gällivare but our only goal was turned in by Juha Tuominen in the closing seconds of the game. Such was the nature of our rivalry with Gällivare that the board of directors made it a point to let me know that they weren’t happy with the result, despite the fact that it was a friendly. But it told me all I needed to know, and allowed me to set in stone my first-choice team for the beginning of the upcoming season:

GK Frode Henriksen

DL Stefan Sjöbom

DR Marcus Lindmark

DC Robert Kjellin ©

DC Björn Andersson

ML Marcus Jönsson

MR Johan Bergström

MC Nils Johan Labba

MC Erik Lantto

FC Joakim Gunillasson

FC Jonas Axeldal

I even had an idea of what I wanted my bench to look like:

GK Mikko Vikeväinen

SW/D C Magnus Rønning

D LC Stefan Harju

AM/F C Pär Asp

S C Juha Tuominen

A good mix of experience and youth, I thought. Perhaps Kiruna were not good enough to win the division, but were certainly a team not to be taken lightly.

<pre class="ip-ubbcode-code-pre"> ================================================================================================

Squad

================================================================================================

No Name Position(s) Nat Born Age Caps Gls Wages Expires Value

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

- Andersson, Björn D C SWE 11.3.80 23 - - 600|:- 19.11.03 30|TKr

- Asp, Pär AM/F C SWE 2.1.82 21 - - 1,7|TKr 4.11.03 90|TKr

- Asp, Peter S C SWE 18.8.77 25 - - 1,7|TKr 7.11.04 120|TKr

- Axeldal, Jonas F C SWE 2.9.70 32 - - 2|TKr 14.11.03 350|TKr

- Bergström, Bertil AM/F R SWE 20.4.85 17 - - 1,3|TKr 1.11.03 30|TKr

- Bergström, Johan D/M R SWE 19.9.83 19 - - 2,3|TKr 5.11.06 400|TKr

- Danielsson, David D/AM LC SWE 28.4.85 17 - - 750|:- 20.11.04 40|TKr

- Gabrielsson, Magnus AM C SWE 6.7.85 17 - - 750|:- 28.11.03 40|TKr

- Gunillasson, Joakim S C SWE 10.11.77 25 - - 2,5|TKr 15.11.04 200|TKr

- Haglund, Kenneth M C SWE 24.7.85 17 - - 700|:- 25.11.03 70|TKr

- Hannu, Johan DM C SWE 10.3.72 31 - - 650|:- 8.11.04 40|TKr

- Harju, Stefan D LC SWE 6.3.72 31 - - 700|:- 5.11.03 40|TKr

- Henriksen, Frode GK NOR 7.2.85 18 - - 1,1|TKr 5.11.03 20|TKr

- Holmgren, Mikael D R SWE 23.11.84 18 - - 850|:- 28.11.03 20|TKr

- Johansson, Fredrik AM R SWE 24.1.70 33 - - 2|TKr 15.11.03 20|TKr

- Jönsson, Marcus M LC SWE 15.10.78 24 - - 2|TKr 18.11.05 350|TKr

- Karlsson, Joon D/M C SWE 1.9.80 22 - - 2|TKr 5.11.05 350|TKr

- Kero, Jon D C SWE 9.3.78 25 - - 650|:- 27.11.05 50|TKr

- Kjellin, Robert D LC SWE 11.3.73 30 - - 2,75|TKr 18.11.05 600|TKr

- Laaksonen, Hans AM/F C SWE 5.7.75 27 - - 900|:- 25.11.04 40|TKr

- Labba, Nils Johan M C SWE 5.11.84 18 - - 2,2|TKr 8.11.05 400|TKr

- Lantto, Erik AM C SWE 10.3.80 23 - - 2,75|TKr 24.11.05 550|TKr

- Larsen, Lars D L DEN 20.1.83 20 - - 950|:- 4.11.03 20|TKr

- Lindgren, Tomas S C SWE 6.1.74 29 - - 1|TKr 14.11.07 300|TKr

- Lindmark, Marcus D R SWE 12.5.83 19 - - 2,1|TKr 2.11.05 280|TKr

- Malmbring, Niklas S C SWE 6.7.80 22 - - 2,5|TKr 13.11.04 400|TKr

- Niemälä, Lars-Göran GK SWE 18.1.74 29 - - 650|:- 3.11.04 40|TKr

- Ökvist, Lars M C SWE 11.3.83 20 - - 650|:- 12.11.04 40|TKr

- Olofsson, Mattias D C SWE 26.1.80 23 - - 750|:- 13.11.05 50|TKr

- Oscarsson, Kalle D/DM C SWE 27.6.86 16 - - 750|:- 5.11.04 80|TKr

- Rønning, Magnus SW/D C NOR 19.11.82 20 - - 1,3|TKr 19.11.03 80|TKr

- Samuelsson, Göran D C SWE 7.11.83 19 - - 600|:- 10.11.03 50|TKr

- Sjöbom, Stefan D L SWE 31.10.73 29 - - 1,9|TKr 6.11.04 200|TKr

- Stridsman, Johan F C SWE 3.6.80 22 - - 650|:- 7.11.05 60|TKr

- Strömberg, Patrik D/DM C SWE 28.4.86 16 - - 750|:- 24.11.04 50|TKr

- Svanelöv, Niklas D/DM C SWE 17.9.80 22 - - 1,7|TKr 2.11.04 160|TKr

- Tuominen, Juha S C FIN 16.10.83 19 - - 1,6|TKr 2.11.03 260|TKr

- Vikeväinen, Mikko GK SWE 6.6.79 23 - - 1,3|TKr 2.11.06 180|TKr

================================================================================================

2003 Transfers

================================================================================================

Date Player In From Fee

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

1.1.03 Martin Engström (scout) Free Transfer Free

7.1.03 Juha Tuominen Free Transfer Free

8.1.03 Lars Larsen Free Transfer Free

24.1.03 Robert Kjellin Free Transfer Free

7.2.03 Rickard Granberg (scout) Free Transfer Free

11.2.03 Stefan Sjöbom Free Transfer Free

2.3.03 Kenneth Haglund Free Transfer Free

9.3.03 Frode Henriksen Free Transfer Free

Date Player Out To Fee

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

None

================================================================================================

2003 Fixtures

================================================================================================

Date Opposition Ven Competition Res Attend Scorers

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

21.3.03 Luleå Fotboll H Lombia Cup 4:3 323 Axeldal, J.Bergström, Lindmark, Solbakken

22.3.03 Luleå SK H Lombia Cup 2:0 351 Lantto, Kjellin

23.3.03 Boden H Lombia Cup 2:2 320 Gunillasson, J.Bergström

30.3.03 Gällivare H Friendly 1:4 182 Tuominen</pre>

[kamikazecf]

Up, Up, Down, Down (Left, Right, Left, Right, B, A, Start?) – April 2003

The Swedish Second Division North looked considerably different from last season. After winning the group last year, Robertsfors did not win in the playoffs and were moved to the South Gotaland region (???). So were Friska Viljor. Aspeboda and Anundsjö promoted from the fourth level, as did Heden, a club near us.

The alphabetical table pre-season was like so:

<pre class="ip-ubbcode-code-pre">Swedish Second Division North

Pos Team Pld Won Drn Lst For Ag Won Drn Lst For Ag Pts

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

1st Anundsjö 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

2nd Aspeboda 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0

3rd Boden 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0

4th Gefle 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0

5th Heden 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0

6th Kiruna 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0

7th Luleå Fotboll 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0

8th Luleå SK 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0

9th Östersunds FK 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

10th Selånger 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

11th Söderhamn 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0

12th Skellefteå AIK 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 </pre>

We were given a tough row to hoe at the beginning of the season; our first game was at home against just-relegated Gefle, who should not, judging by the talent that they still possessed, have succumbed to the drop. The scouting report we got on them singled out Johan Berg as a dangerous striker but somewhat pessimistically noted that they had very few weaknesses as a team. We’d have no excuses if we lost, either, since my entire first-choice squad was available with the exception of substitute Magnus Rønning, who’d injured himself in training. Niklas Svanelöv took his spot on the bench.

Sunday 6 April, Kiruna vs. Gefle

It wasn’t my intent to do so, but Kiruna started out this game very tentatively, whereas Gefle looked smooth and confident right from the opening kickoff. Frode Henriksen was called upon to make two saves early on, and the pressure on the Kiruna defense was constant. It gave out right on the half-hour mark, when the Gefle right winger put in a low cross for one of their strikers, Ytterbom, who didn’t miss. Our first chance came in the second half, when Björn Andersson headed over the bar from a corner. Johan Bergström and Joakim Gunillasson were both denied as Kiruna began to assert themselves, and late in the game Jonas Axeldal’s diving header went wide. In a last throw of the dice I sent on Juha Tuominen for Axeldal and Pär Asp for Nils Johan Labba. Asp effectively ended any chance we had of equalizing when he was sent off for landing an unprovoked left hook on a Gefle midfielder. Kiruna 0-1 Gefle

In addition to the automatic one-match ban for receiving a red card, Asp was banned by the Swedish FA for eight matches for his violent conduct as well as fined a week’s wages by me. As far as I was concerned, he’d just blown his chance for a new contract come November. I was sure my coaches would lobby on his behalf, but there was just no excuse for punching an opponent in my book.

Remember Dagfinn Solbakken? That Norwegian winger who scored in his only game here? Once I realized that I effectively had no backup for Marcus Jönsson, Solbakken was the first person I wanted to pick up. He was slightly miffed about having traveled across to Sweden and then back to Norway, only to be summoned back east again, but the contract I offered him pacified him somewhat.

Transfer in: AM L Dagfinn Solbakken, NOR, 16, free transfer, 1500 SEK p/w. Last club: None

Dagfinn went straight to the substitutes’ bench for our second league game away to Söderhamn.

Sunday 13 April, Söderhamn (5th) vs. Kiruna (11th)

The book on Söderhamn was that they were only a decent team that featured one major threat – George Bcheri. He wasn’t involved in Söderhamn’s first attack, though, one which culminated in a blast toward Frode Henriksen’s top corner that the young Norwegian did well to turn away. Kiruna mounted a quick counter-attack and it came good when Marcus Lindmark’s low cross was hammered in by Marcus Jönsson to give us an early lead. Shortly afterward, Bcheri showed why he was considered one of the most dangerous strikers in the Second Division, intercepting a wayward pass in our defensive third and thumping one into the back of the Kiruna net. With the scores level once again, the game settled down somewhat. For about fifteen minutes. After which Johan Bergström went off on a run down the right flank and squared the ball for Erik Lantto, who scored easily. On Kiruna’s next attack, Lantto took his turn as the creator, lofting a ball for Jonas Axeldal to head in. Benny Dahlin grabbed one back for Söderhamn after halftime, but Robert Kjellin scored his first goal for Kiruna and Gunillasson rounded out the scoring late in the game to finish off the rout. Söderhamn 2-5 Kiruna (M. Jönsson, E. Lantto, J. Axeldal, R. Kjellin, J. Gunillasson)

[kamikazecf]

We got through the week before our next league match injury-free, which meant the same team that ripped through Söderhamn could take on Boden-based club Heden when they came to visit us at Lombiavallen.

Sunday 20 April, Kiruna (5th) vs. Heden (6th)

A paid attendance of 868 saw Kiruna jump out to an attacking start, Heden’s goalie being forced into a double save from Jönsson’s shot and Lindmark’s follow. Kiruna kept up the pressure for most of the half, with captain Robert Kjellin looming large whenever Heden did mount an attack. Just before the halftime whistle, Björn Andersson took a free kick for us about 30 yards from goal; his chip into the area was headed in by Jonas Axeldal to give us a narrow lead going into the break. Frode Henriksen was forced into his only two saves of the game on the far side of halftime, and late in the game a Kjellin strike off of a free kick rebound sealed the victory for Kiruna. An otherwise good game was marred by our second red card in three games, this one picked up by Dagfinn Solbakken within mere seconds of making his debut for the club. Kiruna 2-0 Heden (J. Axeldal, R. Kjellin)

Solbakken’s foul hadn’t been of a violent nature and he was banned for only one match; from me he received an official warning for the sending-off, which he accepted with great maturity.

The match that followed had the potential to be a very tricky one. From the evidence of the last couple of games, we were hitting our form nicely, but a visit to league leaders Skellefteå had the potential to trip us up early in our quest for success. Aside from boasting one of the best goalkeepers in the Division, Skellefteå featured a strong attack. Our advance scout advised us to take advantage of the space that Skellefteå would leave behind at the back – easier said than done, perhaps? Our defense required a bit of a shake-up due to the injury that Björn Andersson sustained during the week’s training; Magnus Rønning took his spot in the lineup. With Dagfinn Solbakken suspended, Johan Stridsman took a place on the bench and Joon Karlsson replaced Niklas Svanelöv as a defensive substitute.

Sunday 27 April, Skellefteå (1st) vs. Kiruna (4th)

Marcus Jönsson and Robert Kjellin had early chances for us, but predictably it was Skellefteå who horizontally squished their goose-egg first, through dangerously-named striker Marcus Christoffersson in the 11th minute. Nils Johan Labba was next to sting the palms of the home goalie, and eventually the pressure that we were applying paid off when Joakim Gunillasson scored midway through the first half. There was barely time to draw breath after kickoff before Anders Grenholm put Skellefteå back in front. Frode Henriksen was having his first truly bad game in a Kiruna uniform. My boys fought back again, though, and Axeldal had us back on level terms before halftime. In the second half, a long run culminated in a fine goal from Skellefteå’s right-sided fullback, and for the rest of the half the home goalkeeper asserted himself, keeping out everything we could throw at him. Skellefteå 3-2 Kiruna (J. Gunillasson, J. Axeldal)

A decent month’s work saw us enter May in 6th place:

<pre class="ip-ubbcode-code-pre">Swedish Second Division North

Pos Team Pld Won Drn Lst For Ag Won Drn Lst For Ag Pts

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

1st Selånger 4 2 0 0 5 3 2 0 0 6 1 12

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

2nd Skellefteå AIK 4 2 0 0 5 3 2 0 0 4 1 12

3rd Östersunds FK 4 2 0 0 9 1 1 0 1 5 4 9

4th Gefle 4 2 0 0 7 2 1 0 1 2 2 9

5th Boden 4 1 1 0 4 1 1 0 1 3 3 7

6th **Kiruna** 4 1 0 1 2 1 1 0 1 7 5 6

7th Luleå Fotboll 4 1 0 1 1 1 1 0 1 3 5 6

8th Heden 4 1 0 1 3 2 0 0 2 1 4 3

9th Anundsjö 4 1 0 1 1 2 0 0 2 1 8 3

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

10th Söderhamn 4 0 0 2 2 9 1 0 1 1 3 3

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

11th Luleå SK 4 0 0 2 2 5 0 1 1 1 2 1

12th Aspeboda 4 0 0 2 1 4 0 0 2 0 4 0 </pre>

[kamikazecf]

May sucked last year. O trend, wilt thou continue? – May 2003

May began with a good chance to recover our form, hosting last-placed Aspeboda to kick off the month. The scouting report described them as “patient and defensiveâ€; I wanted us to shred that defense. It’d be a bit more difficult than usual with Nils Johan Labba out injured, so I welcomed Kenneth Haglund into the first-team squad for his Kiruna debut. He’d been playing as well for the reserves as he had during the friendlies; the start was earned.

Sunday 4 May, Kiruna (6th) vs. Aspeboda (12th)

Kiruna went quickly on the attack, although the first one was foiled. The second was not; Joakim Gunillasson scored after Aspeboda’s goalie failed to hold a shot from Super Jonas. Continued pressure on the visitors’ goal resulted in another score just before halftime, also from the boot of Gunillasson. Marcus Jönsson was credited with an assist. Punctuating the performance was Erik Lantto’s goal late in the second half. Aspeboda didn’t get a shot off all game. Kenneth Haglund played quite well. What a guy. Kiruna 3-0 Aspeboda (J. Gunillasson 2, E. Lantto)

Before our next league game, I got some fantastic news. One of our scout finds in Norway had been a wonderful defender playing for an amateur team by the name of Jevnaker IF. Frank Langseth was 23 years old and, if the reports were to be believed, nearly as good as Robert Kjellin. At any rate, his contract with the amateur team was to end in early November, and since his club was in Norway we didn’t have to pay them any compensation if he agreed to sign for us. On May 10, he did, and would come to Kiruna for free once his contract was out. The fact that he was going to join meant that difficult decisions would have to be made with regards to Stefan Harju and Magnus Rønning when their contracts ended, but those were matters for another day.

Björn Andersson was back in the fold for our game away to Luleå Fotboll, a dangerous game which could see us drop in the standings considerably with a loss. Luleå were described as a “strong†team featuring Magnus Barsk as their main dangerman.

Sunday 11 May, Luleå Fotboll (7th) vs. Kiruna (6th)

Of course, sometimes games are a lot easier than they should be. Ninth minute: Joakim Gunillasson from Marcus Jönsson. Twenty-fifth minute: Jonas Axeldal from Marcus Jönsson. Twenty-ninth: Axeldal from Lantto. First-half injury time: Lantto from Kjellin. Seventy-seventh: Kenneth Haglund, his first ever senior goal, off of a rebound. Frode Henriksen was forced into exactly zero saves. A completely one-sided, laugher of a match. Good for morale! Luleå Fotboll 0-5 Kiruna (J. Gunillasson, J. Axeldal 2, E. Lantto, K. Haglund

Okay, so I was pretty sure that I was addicted to signing players. Did we really need another left-back prospect? No, not really, but I signed one anyway, another recommendation from Norway:

Transfer in: D L Geir Teigen, NOR, 17, free transfer, 2100 SEK p/w. Last club: None

In my defense, Geir was a pretty good player. He wasn’t as fast or as skilled of a dribbler as Lars Larsen, but Geir was better defensively and was a good distributor of the ball. I justified the signing by assuring myself that now Larsen had some competition with regards to taking over for Stefan Sjöbom once the veteran left.

The last match of May forced us to travel the relatively short distance to Boden to face a team that always played us tough. Nils Johan Labba came back to the starting lineup for Kenneth Haglund…

Sunday 18 May, Boden (3rd) vs. Kiruna (5th)

…which proved not to be as good a thing as I’d hoped. Nils went 70 very average minutes and was replaced by Haglund, who shone for the last 20. At any rate, Boden jumped out to an 2-0 lead by the end of the first half. Marcus Lindmark pulled us one back soon after the break, but when that blasted Russian Peter Sedunov scored with an hour gone, I was pretty sure we were beaten. Erik Lantto earned us a penalty late in the game that Marcus Jönsson put away, and Kiruna had a few more chances before the game was over, but in the end Boden picked up a well-deserved win. No Kiruna player was at fault; we were just beaten by a better team. Boden 3-2 Kiruna (M. Lindmark, M. Jönsson pen)

May’s toils found us six points out of the top spot by the end of the month:

<pre class="ip-ubbcode-code-pre">Swedish Second Division North

Pos Team Pld Won Drn Lst For Ag Won Drn Lst For Ag Pts

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

1st Gefle 7 4 0 0 11 4 2 0 1 6 3 18

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

2nd Boden 7 3 1 0 10 3 2 0 1 6 3 16

3rd Selånger 7 3 1 0 10 5 2 0 1 6 3 16

4th Skellefteå AIK 7 3 0 0 7 3 2 0 2 4 5 15

5th **Kiruna** 7 2 0 1 5 1 2 0 2 14 8 12

6th Östersunds FK 7 2 1 1 12 7 1 0 2 6 9 10

7th Söderhamn 7 1 0 2 7 10 2 1 1 5 3 10

8th Luleå Fotboll 7 1 0 2 1 6 2 0 2 5 7 9

9th Anundsjö 7 2 0 2 2 6 0 1 2 2 9 7

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

10th Heden 7 1 1 1 4 3 0 2 2 5 8 6

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

11th Luleå SK 7 0 1 3 2 6 0 1 2 2 4 2

12th Aspeboda 7 0 0 3 1 7 0 0 4 0 10 0 </pre>

[kamikazecf]

You only get one shot, do not miss your chance to blow… – June 2003

June climaxed early for us, our lone game taking place on the 8th. After a fine start to the season, Selånger had hit a spotty patch of form and with the game being held at Lombiavallen we were looking to squeeze the full three points out of the month.

Sunday 8 June, Kiruna (5th) vs. Selånger (3rd)

Kenny Haglund returned to the starting lineup for Nils Johan Labba and Juha Tuominen partnered Joakim Gunillasson to give us a great deal of pace in attack. I was made to look brilliant. Erik Lantto and Gunillasson wasted early chances before Marcus Jönsson slammed in a rebound to give us the lead with fifteen minutes gone. After twenty minutes more, it was Juha in the right place at the right time to hammer in a rebound from Lantto’s long shot. The young Finn scored his second of the game on the hour mark, meeting a cross from Stefan Sjöbom with his right foot. After precautionary substitutions late in the game for Marcus Lindmark and Haglund, Tuominen dribbled past a couple of Selånger defenders and finished off his hat-trick, with the assist credited to Labba. Over the course of the entire game, Selånger forced Frode Henriksen into only one save. Kiruna 4-0 Selånger (M. Jönsson, J. Tuominen 3)

The warm, fuzzy mood created by that victory lasted straight through until June 16. At that point, I was forcibly reminded that many of my players had contracts expiring in November. And that June is less than six months before November. And that, therefore, other teams could talk to my players. The team in question was FC Café Opera/Djursholms IF; the player was Jonas Axeldal. When he told me that they’d offered him a contract, I was quick to ask him what he wanted to stay on. It was… more than we were able to offer him, shall I say. We offered what we could, but it was no big surprise when he announced that he had accepted Café Opera’s offer and would be leaving on November 14. Disloyal bästard! I MADE YOU!

On the plus side, we’d be rid of his wages, which (while far from exorbitant) were among the highest in the team. In addition, the Division 1 club would owe us 240,000 SEK in compensation. Resigned to the loss of one of our best strikers, I admitted to myself that we maybe sort of needed the money. Kiruna FF was far from operating in the black at that point.

June ended on another bleak note when Robert Kjellin twisted his ankle in training, ruling him out of action for at least one league game plus our Swedish Cup first-round tie.

<pre class="ip-ubbcode-code-pre">Swedish Second Division North

Pos Team Pld Won Drn Lst For Ag Won Drn Lst For Ag Pts

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

1st Gefle 8 4 0 0 11 4 2 1 1 7 4 19

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

2nd Boden 8 3 1 0 10 3 2 0 2 8 6 16

3rd Selånger 8 3 1 0 10 5 2 0 2 6 7 16

4th **Kiruna** 8 3 0 1 9 1 2 0 2 14 8 15

5th Skellefteå AIK 8 3 0 1 7 4 2 0 2 4 5 15

6th Östersunds FK 8 2 1 1 12 7 2 0 2 7 9 13

7th Luleå Fotboll 8 2 0 2 4 8 2 0 2 5 7 12

8th Söderhamn 8 1 1 2 8 11 2 1 1 5 3 11

9th Anundsjö 8 2 0 2 2 6 0 2 2 3 10 8

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

10th Heden 8 1 2 1 5 4 0 2 2 5 8 7

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

11th Luleå SK 8 0 1 3 2 6 0 2 2 3 5 3

12th Aspeboda 8 0 1 3 2 8 0 0 4 0 10 1 </pre>

[Tricky Winger]

Enjoying this

Nice to read a story from a country I know quite well.

[Guest Kitchimo]

Top job!

Don't you just hate those disloyal *******s who you 'made'...sometimes I wish I could see my players hidden 'loyalty' rating.

[kamikazecf]

Thanks fellas! Yeah, I think we're going to miss Jonas when he's gone... he's still a ******* though

Twice the games for about 1.16 times the fun – July 2003

Unlike in June, July’s games – one in the league, one in the cup – took place at the end of the month, which left a lot of time during the beginning of it for training and catching up on little paperworky things. So there was plenty of time for panic once I realized that we were over 5 million SEK in the red and hemorrhaging money fast. Kiruna’s chairman, Christer Junglind, was a devout fan of the club and did everything he could for it, but he was not an extraordinarily wealthy man and the team’s financial problems had to be far more worrisome for him than he let on.

The monetary difficulties could in no way be blamed on my signings over the past year. They were all free transfers, and none of the wages we gave players were outrageous. Besides, with tiny the amount of money that was coming into the club from merchandising and gate receipts, Kiruna would be in the hole even if I hadn’t added a single player to the team… just not quite so deep.

At any rate, something had to be done right then to stem the flow of money away from the club. There was no way to stop us losing even more money, but I could maybe increase the second derivative of our “Finances vs. Time†graph; i.e. cut the wage bill. Several players were transfer listed – just about everyone who hadn’t gotten a game for us this year. With many of our players’ contracts expiring in November, I expected to release several of them and hopefully offload others onto different teams. I was willing to let most of the listed players go for free; the few thousand SEK we would get for them would not cut significantly into our debt, and it wasn’t worth the risk of negotiating our way out of a deal. It would take time for teams to assess our players and decide if they wanted them. The sooner they did, though, the sooner we could cut our losses.

Our first game after the mass transfer listings was a well-timed fixture away to Anundsjö, a poor team to say the least. Their home form was unspectacular, and there were few squads in the league that we’d have a better chance of beating to get back on track after the off-field turmoil.

Sunday 20 July, Anundsjö (9th) vs. Kiruna (4th)

An ugly start to the game saw us concede within five minutes of the opening whistle. Kenny Haglund made a good tackle to prevent an Anundsjö midfielder from getting a shot off, but unfortunately the ball rolled kindly for one of the home team’s strikers, and they were a goal up early on. It got worse before it got better. Erik Lantto was shown a red card for a shove before ten minutes had passed. With ten men and a goal down in front of a surprisingly raucous crowd of over 1000, few people, least of all me, held out hope for a result this day. Apparently I underestimated the character of the Kiruna side. With Lantto sent off, the 10 men remaining on the field in a lopsided 4-3-2 formation seized control of the game and throttled the life out of it. Joakim Gunillasson got us back on level terms on 26 minutes, heading in a cross from Haglund. Juha Tuominen notched a goal before halftime, volleying in a magnificent Marcus Jönsson cross. Gunillasson finished the scoring in the second half thanks to Haglund’s second assist of the day, a beautiful flick-on header. Anundsjö 1-3 Kiruna (J. Gunillasson 2, J. Tuominen)

All we had left of July was a cup game against Luleå SK, whom we had not yet played in the league. I am not a big fan of the Swedish Cup and was not looking forward to this match. But given that forfeiting wasn’t really an option, I traveled to Luleå bearing a somewhat slapped-together lineup and hoping we’d perform better than I was expecting us to. We didn’t. Mikko Vikeväinen was given the start in goal, mostly to give him a chance to ease my fears about Frode Henriksen ever getting injured, but he let in five goals and made only four saves, all of which I could have made myself. On the plus side, Dagfinn Solbakken scored his first senior goal on an 18th-minute penalty and Kenneth Haglund continued to rock my world, scoring the last goal of the game in injury time from a Solbakken cross. Swedish cup – Luleå SK 5-2 Kiruna (D. Solbakken, K. Haglund)

Nasty way to close out the month, but we had won our league game which bumped us up to third:

<pre class="ip-ubbcode-code-pre">Swedish Second Division North

Pos Team Pld Won Drn Lst For Ag Won Drn Lst For Ag Pts

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

1st Gefle 9 4 1 0 13 6 2 1 1 7 4 20

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

2nd Boden 9 3 1 0 10 3 3 0 2 10 6 19

3rd **Kiruna** 9 3 0 1 9 1 3 0 2 17 9 18

4th Östersunds FK 9 3 1 1 15 7 2 0 2 7 9 16

5th Selånger 9 3 1 1 10 7 2 0 2 6 7 16

6th Skellefteå AIK 9 3 0 1 7 4 2 1 2 4 5 16

7th Luleå Fotboll 9 2 0 2 4 8 3 0 2 7 7 15

8th Söderhamn 9 1 1 3 8 13 2 1 1 5 3 11

9th Heden 9 1 2 1 5 4 0 3 2 7 10 8

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

10th Anundsjö 9 2 0 3 3 9 0 2 2 3 10 8

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

11th Luleå SK 9 0 2 3 2 6 0 2 2 3 5 4

12th Aspeboda 9 0 1 3 2 8 0 0 5 0 13 1 </pre>

[kamikazecf]

Even though we ain’t got money, I’m so in love with you honey… – August 2003

August is always a nice time of year for us, a time to get back into the swing of regular football games. Generally, once August is past, the contenders and the pretenders have been separated in the league table. In 2003, our August kicked off with a difficult game at home against Östersunds, who could pass us with a victory. With Erik Lantto out due to suspension, I could only hope that a Labba-Haglund combination in midfield could provide effective supply to the strikers.

Sunday 3 August, Kiruna (3rd) vs. Östersunds (4th)

The question of whether Nils Johan Labba and Kenneth Haglund could partner effectively in midfield became moot less than 15 minutes into the game when Haglund twisted his knee and had to be helped off the field. Dagfinn Solbakken came in to play wide left with Marcus Jönsson moved to the center. Both Jönsson and Labba created some fine opportunities for the forwards as well as themselves, but neither was involved in our first goal, which was a header from Juha created by Joakim. Östersunds, not a team without fight, leveled the scores before the break. As the game wore on, we were clearly the better team, but the visiting goalie was playing out of his skin and we feared that a draw would be the best result we could achieve. Fortunately, Providence intervened in the form of a silly, silly foul by that goalkeeper, which gave us a penalty and got him sent off. Jönsson dispatched the spot kick with ease and all of the points stayed in Kiruna. Kiruna 2-1 Östersunds (J. Tuominen, M. Jönsson)

With November just a few months away, it was high time that I locked up those players who I absolutely wanted to keep. To that end, I offered reasonable two-year contracts to Frode Henriksen and Juha Tuominen, both of whom I had faith in to keep up their fine performances of this season. Dagfinn Solbakken had shown great flashes of potential and was offered a one-year contract, as was the extremely easy-to-please Björn Andersson, whose wages were among the lowest on the team despite being a first-choice player. All four signed on relatively quickly, and none of them got much of a raise over what they’d been paid before. This pleased me immensely. I was especially happy to have Juha and Frode for another two years; I was confident that they were just scratching the surface of their potential.

For the second time in three games we traveled to Örnäsets IP in Luleå to take on Luleå SK. I felt much more certain about our ability to come away with a good result, which in this case could only be a win given that SK were languishing at 11th in the league. With Erik Lantto back, I had the cream of the crop available for this game.

Sunday 10 August, Luleå SK (11th) vs. Kiruna (3rd)

Oy. There’s just something about these guys, something indefinable that keeps us from beating them… oh wait, it’s definable. It’s called Sören Alm. An entirely average goalie on most days, he saves his best for games against Kiruna and was solely responsible for keeping us from running out with a lopsided victory, or any victory at all, for that matter. We did get the first goal, scored by Erik Lantto, and the pressure on Alm’s goal was pretty constant all game. It took until the second half for SK to tie it up, but they did. Several more opportunities for Kiruna, and a couple more for SK, but nobody scored again. Luleå SK 1-1 Kiruna (E. Lantto)

Maybe the single point was okay after all. It bumped us up into second place, four behind leaders Gefle who hosted us in the next match. After achieving a 1-0 reverse in the season opener, they had to be confident about another victory here, and I wasn’t sure that our team had enough quality to deny them full points. A win would be massive for us, though, pulling us within a point of them and making the title a very realistic goal.

[kamikazecf]

Sunday 17 August, Gefle (1st) vs. Kiruna (2nd)

Gefle made their intentions clear from the opening whistle, forcing Frode Henriksen into a couple of early saves. It was Kiruna who struck first, though, thanks to a lovely solo effort in the 12th minute by Nils Johan Labba against the run of play. The 1-0 lead was tenuous at best and Gefle soon had the match back on level terms, which was no more than they deserved. They did not let up on the pressure and we only had one more opportunity to score in the first half, which was a shot by Axeldal that went well over the bar. Henriksen had done well to allow only one shot past him in the first half, but after the break Gefle snatched another through the deadly Daniel Ytterbom. There was little hope left for Kiruna, but we kept fighting and after a desperate triple substitution on 74 minutes we finally grabbed a vital goal to tie it at 2 apiece. Joakim Gunillasson scored it with less than ten minutes left to play, having come on for Juha Tuominen. Gefle had a couple more scary chances before the game was over, but it ended level and I was perfectly happy with that. Gefle 2-2 Kiruna (N. Labba, J. Gunillasson)

Last game, we got a point against a bad team and moved up a spot in the league. This one, we got a point against a very good one and moved back down one. Them’s the breaks, I suppose.

Seventh-placed Söderhamn came to Lombiavallen for the next game, and I’ve got to say that we were extremely confident of coming away with a win, having beaten them 5-2 in our previous meeting. Stefan Sjöbom had been injured in the game previous, though, and so it was time for über-prospect Geir Teigen to make his debut at left-back.

Sunday 24 August, Kiruna (3rd) vs. Söderhamn (7th)

Frode Henriksen was forced into only one save in the first half, while Söderhamn’s goalie was kept busy quite a lot and actually allowed Marcus Lindmark to put the ball in the net a half-hour into the game, but it was ruled out by a very, very questionable offside call. The non-goal was actually assisted by Teigen, too, so a double shame that it was called off. Anyway, shortly into the second half Lindmark had another shot on target that was pushed away right to Juha Tuominen. The Finn scored it easily. 1-0. We kept up the pressure and Joakim Gunillasson’s goal was the victim of the second ruling-out of the game. Alas! There were still more Kiruna opportunities, but Söderhamn got the next goal off of a penalty, which was also questionable. Very poorly-officiated game so far, and at 1-1 we would be getting far less than we deserved. It was therefore a huge blow when Söderhamn broke a counterattack in injury time and took a 2-1 lead. “Unacceptable,†said Erik Lantto, and took the ball all the way down to Söderhamn’s goal after the kickoff and scored just before that blasted ref could blow his whistle. Kiruna 2-2 Söderhamn (J. Tuominen, E. Lantto)

Well, we’d almost escaped August, but before we could we had to take on Heden on the 31st. In the intervening days, though, we signed on Kenny Haglund and Lars Larsen for an extra year and Geir Teigen for an additional two. That was close, I believed, to the last deals I would be giving to players with expiring contracts, but never say never.

Sunday August 31, Heden (9th) vs. Kiruna (4th)

With Haglund starting for the injured Erik Lantto, we set forth with high hopes for getting back to winning ways. Didn’t happen. Heden started it off with a goal less than ten minutes in, and though the incomparable Haglund notched a goal to tie it up, Heden always looked like getting a winner, and they did. We ended the month in fifth.

Heden 2-1 Kiruna (K. Haglund)

<pre class="ip-ubbcode-code-pre">Swedish Second Division North

Pos Team Pld Won Drn Lst For Ag Won Drn Lst For Ag Pts

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

1st Gefle 14 6 2 0 23 10 3 1 2 10 7 30

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

2nd Boden 14 5 1 0 16 5 4 1 3 15 11 29

3rd Luleå Fotboll 14 6 0 2 14 12 3 0 3 9 10 27

4th Östersunds FK 14 5 1 1 21 10 3 0 4 12 14 25

5th Kiruna 14 4 1 1 13 4 3 2 3 21 14 24

6th Skellefteå AIK 14 5 0 2 11 7 2 2 3 5 7 23

7th Selånger 14 4 1 1 14 7 3 0 5 12 15 22

8th Söderhamn 14 2 2 4 10 16 3 2 1 8 5 19

9th Heden 14 2 3 2 7 6 1 3 3 9 13 15

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

10th Luleå SK 14 0 5 3 5 9 1 2 3 4 9 10

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

11th Anundsjö 14 2 0 5 4 13 0 3 4 4 16 9

12th Aspeboda 14 0 1 5 2 10 0 1 7 0 19 2 </pre>

[kamikazecf]

â€â€™Your intensity is for shít! WIN! WIN! WIN!’†– September 2003

September kicked off with some slight relief for our mini-financial crisis when Bergsbyn offered 10,000 SEK for reserve player Patrik Strömberg. Far from being in a position to refuse such a thing, I accepted it and Patrik made the move posthaste. Shockingly, the transaction did not clear us of debt – our bank balance showed us being over 6 million in the hole.

Money took a backseat to action as we began September’s run of games with a key home match against Skellefteå. They could pass us with a victory, and if we lost we could drop as low as 7th, so at least a draw was important here.

Sunday 7 September, Kiruna (5th) vs. Skellefteå (6th)

Sure didn’t start out auspiciously. Skellefteå scored a nice goal twenty minutes in, and it wasn’t as if they didn’t deserve it. Not that we were being totally dominated, but they did look better. We didn’t appear to have much of a chance. It wasn’t until the second half that we began to assert ourselves. Thanks to Frode Henriksen, we were still down by only a goal at that point and Marcus Jönsson finally got us back even with a nice volley from a Johan Bergström cross on 71 minutes. It only got better as three minutes later Jonas Axeldal headed in a lob from Robert Kjellin to give us a one-goal lead, and just to make sure Axeldal scored another ten minutes later to make it 3-1. The improbable comeback was marred by Björn Andersson’s second yellow card just before time expired, but that was a small price to pay for the fine result. Kiruna 3-1 Skellefteå (M. Jönsson, J. Axeldal 2)

Our next game provided an opportunity to continue to build some momentum, as we would face pathetic Aspeboda away. Andersson was serving his one-game suspension due to the red card, so Magnus Rønning stepped into the void in defense.

Sunday 14 September, Aspeboda (12th) vs. Kiruna (5th)

Easy it was not, but that was due mostly to Aspeboda’s superhuman goalkeeper. It took Juha Tuominen 51 minutes to get us on the scoresheet, and once we’d picked up that goal we never looked like relinquishing the lead; Aspeboda did not manage a single shot on target. Not a spectacular game, but one that, had it ended any other way, would have been a severe blow to our confidence. Aspeboda 0-1 Kiruna

One more match, to try and make it a perfect month. This was an interesting one, against Luleå Fotboll. We’d beaten them 5-0 in our first meeting, and that was away, so it looked good for a win at Lombiavallen. They were three points ahead of us, though. Perhaps their poor performance against us the first time around was a fluke.

Sunday 21 September, Kiruna (4th) vs. Luleå Fotboll (3rd)

Or maybe we just had their number. Sure looked like it when Jonas Axeldal scored twice within the first ten minutes. As the game went on, though, those goals were looking increasingly like the flukes and Frode Henriksen had all he could do to keep the visitors from scoring. In fact, every shot for the rest of the game belonged to Fotboll, but Henriksen and a Herculean effort by Björn Andersson in defense somehow kept them off the scoreboard. Kiruna 2-0 Luleå Fotboll (J. Axeldal 2)

Nine points from three in September and five games to make up four points on the leaders. Doable… doable indeed…

<pre class="ip-ubbcode-code-pre">Swedish Second Division North

Pos Team Pld Won Drn Lst For Ag Won Drn Lst For Ag Pts

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

1st Gefle 17 6 3 0 24 11 5 1 2 17 9 37

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

2nd Boden 17 7 1 0 21 5 4 2 3 16 12 36

3rd Kiruna 17 6 1 1 18 5 4 2 3 22 14 33

4th Luleå Fotboll 17 7 0 2 16 12 4 0 4 10 12 33

5th Östersunds FK 17 7 1 1 26 11 3 1 4 13 15 32

6th Selånger 17 5 2 1 16 7 4 0 5 13 15 29

7th Skellefteå AIK 17 5 1 2 12 8 2 3 4 6 10 25

8th Söderhamn 17 2 3 4 12 18 3 2 3 9 10 20

9th Heden 17 2 3 3 7 7 2 3 4 10 16 18

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

10th Luleå SK 17 0 5 4 6 14 1 2 5 4 13 10

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

11th Anundsjö 17 2 0 7 5 16 0 4 4 6 18 10

12th Pl Aspeboda 17 0 1 7 2 12 0 1 8 0 21 2 </pre>

[kamikazecf]

It ain’t over ‘til we sez it’s over, and we’re, well, still deciding – October 2003

We kicked off October with a second consecutive game against a team one place and three points above us in the league. Victory over Boden would do us wonders, but they’d beaten us handily in our first meeting and this one didn’t look easy either.

Sunday 5 October, Kiruna (3rd) vs. Boden (2nd)

It looked good for us at the outset. There were a couple of cracking shots early on that maybe could have gone in for us, but vexingly refused to do so. As the half went on, the game took on more of a back-and-forth nature, and climaxed with a brilliant diving save from Frode Henriksen just before the halftime whistle blew. Unfortunately, the stalemate didn’t last much beyond there, when Boden began decisively to control the flow of the game and scored before an hour had ticked over. We composed ourselves a bit after that and applied some pressure to the Boden goal’s abdominal region. Eventually, it (the pressure, that is) told, and Erik Lantto notched an equalizer. Each team had a couple of chances after that; theirs forced saves, and ours didn’t, but there were no more goals regardless. Kiruna 1-1 Boden (E. Lantto)

The draw dropped us into fourth place due to Östersunds’ victory. Gefle had been held to a draw, though, and so four points back we remained with four games to go. The first of those would take us away to Selånger. Having achieved easy victory over them in our first meeting and with a full, healthy squad to pick from, I looked forward to a solid effort. Overlooking them would be dangerous, though, because they were only two points behind us in the league and so could pass us with a win.

Sunday 19 October, Selånger (6th) vs. Kiruna (4th)

We took a deceptive 2-0 lead early on. Marcus Jönsson assisted on both of them, one a cross during open play to Jonas Axeldal and the second a corner kick that skipper Robert Kjellin headed in. I say deceptive because our two goals came in the midst of a flurry of Selånger shots that hit woodwork, shin guards, Frode Henriksen’s hands, and, in one memorable case, an errant streaker. But no balls felt the silky touch of the net, not during that period of pressure and not afterward. It was a fluky victory, but a victory nonetheless, and one that bumped us up to third place. Selånger 0-2 Kiruna (J. Axeldal, R. Kjellin)

There was one final game in October to try and make up points on Gefle, who irritatingly hadn’t lost and remained four points ahead of us. Fortunately, our coming match was a very easy one, at least on paper. Anundsjö would pay a visit to Lombiavallen. Scouting report: “Skip training, have a beer. They suck.â€

Sunday 26 October, Kiruna (3rd) vs. Anundsjö (11th)

And suck they did. Didn’t manage to trouble Frode Henriksen all game, and though it did take us until the second half to break through, we always knew we were going to. Interestingly, our two goals were scored by the same scorers in the same order as the last game, although only one was assisted (Axeldal’s, by Johan Bergström). This was a fully-expected victory that went exactly to plan. Kiruna 2-0 Anundsjö (J. Axeldal, R. Kjellin)

Gefle again refused to take the fall. Damn them! So now we’ve gotta make up four points in two games.

<pre class="ip-ubbcode-code-pre">Swedish Second Division North

Pos Team Pld Won Drn Lst For Ag Won Drn Lst For Ag Pts

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

1st Gefle 20 7 3 0 25 11 6 2 2 27 13 44

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

2nd Boden 20 9 1 0 27 8 4 3 3 17 13 43

3rd Kiruna 20 7 2 1 21 6 5 2 3 24 14 40

4th Östersunds FK 20 7 1 2 27 15 5 1 4 17 16 38

5th Luleå Fotboll 20 8 1 2 22 16 4 0 5 11 14 37

6th Skellefteå AIK 20 7 1 2 15 8 3 3 4 10 11 34

7th Selånger 20 5 2 2 16 9 5 0 6 17 19 32

8th Söderhamn 20 3 3 4 14 19 3 2 5 9 13 23

9th Heden 20 2 3 5 8 15 2 3 5 10 18 18

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

10th Luleå SK 20 1 5 4 8 14 1 2 7 5 17 13

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

11th Pl Anundsjö 20 2 0 8 5 17 0 4 6 6 21 10

12th R Aspeboda 20 0 1 9 2 16 1 1 8 1 21 5 </pre>

[kamikazecf]

One more time for the very last time… – November 2003

November certainly didn’t introduce itself with the intent for me to like it. It didn’t demurely offer a home match against Aspeboda, submitted for my approval. Oh no, we had to start out right the hell now, on the 1st, away against Östersunds FK, who were never easy to play and who could pass us with a win. Plus, we didn’t have the services of Björn Andersson, who was suspended for a game ‘cause he’d seen too much yellow of late.

Saturday 1 November, Östersunds FK (4th) vs. Kiruna (3rd)

Frode Henriksen made three saves before Östersunds scored their first goal… which was five minutes into the game. If that sounds like a bit of a downer to start off a match, well, it was. Although Henriksen was in fine form and did a lot to keep them from adding to the lead throughout the half, our feeble attacking efforts did little to intimidate the home team. Shortly after the break, they added to the lead (and they’d earned it). It just wasn’t coming together for us that day. Joakim Gunillasson cut the lead in half with a 79th-minute goal, and we had some brief hope, but Östersunds cruelly shattered that with an icer in injury time. Östersunds FK 3-1 Kiruna (J. Gunillasson)

We had just one game left and no chance of catching Gefle for the top spot. Many players’ contracts were expiring in the days between our final two games, and frankly we couldn’t afford to keep guys around on rolling contracts, so I had to cut some guys loose. In the end, the criteria I used was If this player was available on a free, would I sign him? In the end, I cut all three players whose contracts were expiring during that interval: Bertil Bergström, Pär Asp, and Stefan Harju. If it weren’t for the finances I don’t think I’d have got rid of any of them, and the loss of Harju was particularly difficult to take as he’d been a fine club servant since 1997, but as it was they simply had to go.

I did sign defender Göran Samuelsson to a new one-year contract as well as welcome in a new player on a Bosman free transfer:

Transfer in: D RC Frank Langseth, NOR, 23, Bosman, 2750 SEK p/w. Last club: Jevnaker IF

Langseth went straight into the team alongside Rob Kjellin for our meaningless final game against Luleå SK. Playin’ for pride, here.

Sunday 9 November, Kiruna (4th) vs. Luleå SK (10th)

I’m not sure if we got pride out of this one or not. We dominated the game, but they won. Frode Henriksen allowed one goal with no saves; Sören Alm, the 20-year-old netminder for SK, allowed no goals, 10 saves. Good effort for that boy. *sigh* Frank Langseth played very well on his Kiruna debut, and nobody really sucked, but down to 5th we went, regardless. The win did SK no good as they were consigned to the relegation playoffs. Kiruna 0-1 Luleå SK

<pre class="ip-ubbcode-code-pre">Swedish Second Division North

Pos Team Pld Won Drn Lst For Ag Won Drn Lst For Ag Pts

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

1st Pl Gefle 22 8 3 0 28 13 7 2 2 29 13 50

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

2nd Boden 22 9 1 1 29 11 5 3 3 20 13 46

3rd Östersunds FK 22 8 1 2 30 16 6 1 4 20 18 44

4th Luleå Fotboll 22 8 1 2 22 16 6 0 5 15 15 43

5th Kiruna 22 7 2 2 21 7 5 2 4 25 17 40

6th Skellefteå AIK 22 8 1 2 16 8 3 3 5 12 14 37

7th Selånger 22 6 2 3 19 12 5 0 6 17 19 35

8th Söderhamn 22 3 3 5 15 22 3 2 6 9 14 23

9th Heden 22 2 3 6 8 16 3 3 5 13 19 21

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

10th Pl Luleå SK 22 2 5 4 9 14 2 2 7 6 17 19

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

11th R Anundsjö 22 2 0 9 5 20 0 4 7 6 23 10

12th R Aspeboda 22 0 1 10 2 18 1 1 9 1 22 5 </pre>

So we did three points better than last year’s performance, and one position worse. This was largely attributable to the miserably bad teams that were promoted from the fourth level, Anundsjö and Aspeboda. Depending on how the Second Division North would be realigned next year, the fact that the patsies went back down could have been neutral – two equally bad teams coming up? – or bad – decent teams coming up and perhaps another relegated D1 team to contend with? I suppose I’d find out next year.

I was, at any rate, fervently hoping for Luleå SK to lose in the relegation playoff, and for Gefle to win their promotion playoff and get the hell out of my division. Gefle obliged with a penalty win over Trollhättans FK after a 4-4 draw on aggregate over two legs; Luleå SK stubbornly refused to go down and would have their opportunities to beat us next year.

 ================================================================================================

Squad

================================================================================================

No Name Position(s) Nat Born Age Caps Gls Wages Expires Value

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

- Andersson, Björn D C SWE 11.3.80 23 - - 750|:- 21.11.04 100|TKr

- Asp, Peter S C SWE 18.8.77 26 - - 1,7|TKr 7.11.04 120|TKr

- Axeldal, Jonas F C SWE 2.9.70 33 - - 2|TKr 14.11.03 160|TKr

- Bergström, Johan D/M R SWE 19.9.83 20 - - 2,3|TKr 5.11.06 400|TKr

- Danielsson, David D/AM LC SWE 28.4.85 18 - - 750|:- 20.11.04 40|TKr

-

[This message was edited by kamikazecf on 28 October 2003 at 2:00.]

[Pierroth]

I like playing in Scandinavia... Quick seasons, lots of little teams, the challenge... It's bliss. Might have to go back there very soon.

Keep up the good work.

[kamikazecf]

Oh boy, did I ever f' up the last part of that post... it sucks trying to edit posts with a sketchy connection. Thanks, Pierroth, very much

<pre class="ip-ubbcode-code-pre"> ================================================================================================

Squad

================================================================================================

No Name Position(s) Nat Born Age Caps Gls Wages Expires Value

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

- Andersson, Björn D C SWE 11.3.80 23 - - 750|:- 21.11.04 100|TKr

- Asp, Peter S C SWE 18.8.77 26 - - 1,7|TKr 7.11.04 120|TKr

- Axeldal, Jonas F C SWE 2.9.70 33 - - 2|TKr 14.11.03 160|TKr

- Bergström, Johan D/M R SWE 19.9.83 20 - - 2,3|TKr 5.11.06 400|TKr

- Danielsson, David D/AM LC SWE 28.4.85 18 - - 750|:- 20.11.04 40|TKr

- Gabrielsson, Magnus AM C SWE 6.7.85 18 - - 750|:- 28.11.03 0|:-

- Gunillasson, Joakim S C SWE 10.11.77 26 - - 2,5|TKr 15.11.04 180|TKr

- Haglund, Kenneth M C SWE 24.7.85 18 - - 750|:- 27.11.04 120|TKr

- Hannu, Johan DM C SWE 10.3.72 31 - - 650|:- 8.11.04 40|TKr

- Henriksen, Frode GK NOR 7.2.85 18 - - 1,2|TKr 7.11.05 100|TKr

- Holmgren, Mikael D R SWE 23.11.84 18 - - 850|:- 28.11.03 0|:-

- Johansson, Fredrik AM R SWE 24.1.70 33 - - 2|TKr 15.11.03 0|:-

- Jönsson, Marcus M LC SWE 15.10.78 25 - - 2|TKr 18.11.05 400|TKr

- Karlsson, Joon D/M C SWE 1.9.80 23 - - 2|TKr 5.11.05 260|TKr

- Kero, Jon D C SWE 9.3.78 25 - - 650|:- 27.11.05 50|TKr

- Kjellin, Robert D LC SWE 11.3.73 30 - - 2,75|TKr 18.11.05 750|TKr

- Laaksonen, Hans AM/F C SWE 5.7.75 28 - - 900|:- 25.11.04 40|TKr

- Labba, Nils Johan M C SWE 5.11.84 19 - - 2,2|TKr 8.11.05 400|TKr

- Langseth, Frank D RC NOR 17.2.80 23 - - 2,75|TKr 5.11.05 120|TKr

- Lantto, Erik AM C SWE 10.3.80 23 - - 2,75|TKr 24.11.05 800|TKr

- Larsen, Lars D L DEN 20.1.83 20 - - 950|:- 28.11.04 40|TKr

- Lindgren, Tomas S C SWE 6.1.74 29 - - 1|TKr 14.11.07 300|TKr

- Lindmark, Marcus D R SWE 12.5.83 20 - - 2,1|TKr 2.11.05 280|TKr

- Malmbring, Niklas S C SWE 6.7.80 23 - - 2,5|TKr 13.11.04 350|TKr

- Niemälä, Lars-Göran GK SWE 18.1.74 29 - - 650|:- 3.11.04 40|TKr

- Ökvist, Lars M C SWE 11.3.83 20 - - 650|:- 12.11.04 40|TKr

- Olofsson, Mattias D C SWE 26.1.80 23 - - 750|:- 13.11.05 50|TKr

- Oscarsson, Kalle D/DM C SWE 27.6.86 17 - - 750|:- 5.11.04 60|TKr

- Rønning, Magnus SW/D C NOR 19.11.82 20 - - 1,3|TKr 19.11.03 0|:-

- Samuelsson, Göran D C SWE 7.11.83 20 - - 650|:- 3.11.04 80|TKr

- Sjöbom, Stefan D L SWE 31.10.73 30 - - 1,9|TKr 6.11.04 260|TKr

- Solbakken, Dagfinn AM L NOR 6.1.87 16 - - 1,5|TKr 4.11.04 140|TKr

- Stridsman, Johan F C SWE 3.6.80 23 - - 650|:- 7.11.05 50|TKr

- Svanelöv, Niklas D/DM C SWE 17.9.80 23 - - 1,7|TKr 2.11.04 100|TKr

- Teigen, Geir D L NOR 11.7.85 18 - - 2,5|TKr 4.11.05 260|TKr

- Tuominen, Juha S C FIN 16.10.83 20 - - 2|TKr 3.11.05 500|TKr

- Vikeväinen, Mikko GK SWE 6.6.79 24 - - 1,3|TKr 2.11.06 180|TKr

================================================================================================

2003 Senior Club Stats

================================================================================================

No Name Apps Gls Con Pens Asts Yel Red MoM Av R

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

- Andersson, Björn 17 0 0 0 1 5 1 0 7.24

- Asp, Peter - - - - - - - - ----

- Axeldal, Jonas 16 (4) 11 0 0 0 0 0 4 7.50

- Bergström, Johan 23 0 0 0 5 0 0 0 6.91

- Danielsson, David - - - - - - - - ----

- Gabrielsson, Magnus - - - - - - - - ----

- Gunillasson, Joakim 19 (2) 9 0 0 1 0 0 2 7.14

- Haglund, Kenneth 7 (2) 3 0 0 2 0 0 0 7.00

- Hannu, Johan - - - - - - - - ----

- Henriksen, Frode 22 0 24 0 0 1 0 0 7.18

- Holmgren, Mikael 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 ----

- Johansson, Fredrik 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 ----

- Jönsson, Marcus 22 5 0 2 (2) 11 0 0 2 7.50

- Karlsson, Joon 0 (2) 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 6.00

- Kero, Jon 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 ----

- Kjellin, Robert 21 4 0 0 2 1 0 2 7.10

- Laaksonen, Hans - - - - - - - - ----

- Labba, Nils Johan 19 (1) 1 0 0 3 1 0 0 6.95

- Langseth, Frank 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 7.00

- Lantto, Erik 20 6 0 0 5 1 1 2 7.30

- Larsen, Lars - - - - - - - - ----

- Lindgren, Tomas 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 ----

- Lindmark, Marcus 23 1 0 0 4 1 0 0 6.57

- Malmbring, Niklas 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 ----

- Niemälä, Lars-Göran - - - - - - - - ----

- Ökvist, Lars 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 ----

- Olofsson, Mattias 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 ----

- Oscarsson, Kalle - - - - - - - - ----

- Rønning, Magnus 7 (2) 0 0 0 0 2 0 0 6.22

- Samuelsson, Göran 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 ----

- Sjöbom, Stefan 21 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 6.71

- Solbakken, Dagfinn 1 (7) 1 0 1 (1) 1 1 1 0 6.63

- Stridsman, Johan 0 (1) 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 6.00

- Svanelöv, Niklas 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 ----

- Teigen, Geir 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 7.00

- Tuominen, Juha 11 (6) 7 0 0 0 0 0 1 7.06

- Vikeväinen, Mikko 1 0 5 0 0 0 0 0 4.00

================================================================================================

2003 Transfers

================================================================================================

Date Player In From Fee

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

7.1.03 Juha Tuominen Free Transfer Free

8.1.03 Lars Larsen Free Transfer Free

24.1.03 Robert Kjellin Free Transfer Free

7.2.03 Rickard Granberg Free Transfer Free

10.2.03 Hans Stridsman Free Transfer Free

11.2.03 Stefan Sjöbom Free Transfer Free

2.3.03 Kenneth Haglund Free Transfer Free

9.3.03 Frode Henriksen Free Transfer Free

8.4.03 Dagfinn Solbakken Free Transfer Free

13.5.03 Geir Teigen Free Transfer Free

3.11.03 Frank Langseth Jevnaker Bos

Date Player Out To Fee

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

2.9.03 Patrik Strömberg Bergsbyn 10|TKr

2.11.03 Bertil Bergström Released Free

5.11.03 Pär Asp Released Free

6.11.03 Stefan Harju Released Free

================================================================================================

2003 Fixtures

================================================================================================

Date Opposition Ven Competition Res Attend Scorers

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

21.3.03 Luleå Fotboll H Lombia Cup 4:3 323 Axeldal, Bergström, Lindmark, Solbakken

22.3.03 Luleå SK H Lombia Cup 2:0 351 Lantto, Kjellin

23.3.03 Boden H Lombia Cup 2:2 320 Gunillasson, Bergström

30.3.03 Gällivare H Friendly 1:4 182 Tuominen

6.4.03 Gefle H Second Division N 0:1 1140

13.4.03 Söderhamn A Second Division N 5:2 1512 M.Jönsson, Lantto, Axeldal, Kjellin, Gunillasson

20.4.03 Heden H Second Division N 2:0 868 Axeldal, Kjellin

27.4.03 Skellefteå AIK A Second Division N 2:3 1396 Gunillasson, Axeldal

4.5.03 Aspeboda H Second Division N 3:0 740 Gunillasson 2, Lantto

11.5.03 Luleå Fotboll A Second Division N 5:0 774 Gunillasson, Axeldal 2, E.Lantto, Haglund

18.5.03 Boden A Second Division N 2:3 789 Lindmark, M.Jönsson pen

8.6.03 Selånger H Second Division N 4:0 978 Jönsson, Tuominen 3

20.7.03 Anundsjö A Second Division N 3:1 1373 Gunillasson 2, Tuominen

27.7.03 Luleå SK A Swedish Cup Grp 8 1st Rnd 2:5 793 Solbakken pen, Haglund

3.8.03 Östersunds FK H Second Division N 2:1 1552 Tuominen, M.Jönsson pen

10.8.03 Luleå SK A Second Division N 1:1 814 Lantto

17.8.03 Gefle A Second Division N 2:2 797 Labba, Gunillasson

24.8.03 Söderhamn H Second Division N 2:2 1238 Tuominen, Lantto

31.8.03 Heden A Second Division N 1:2 1669 Haglund

7.9.03 Skellefteå AIK H Second Division N 3:1 875 M.Jönsson, Axeldal 2

14.9.03 Aspeboda A Second Division N 1:0 722 Tuominen

21.9.03 Luleå Fotboll H Second Division N 2:0 1486 Axeldal 2

5.10.03 Boden H Second Division N 1:1 1713 Lantto

19.10.03 Selånger A Second Division N 2:0 774 Axeldal, Kjellin

26.10.03 Anundsjö H Second Division N 2:0 1264 Axeldal, Kjellin

1.11.03 Östersunds FK A Second Division N 1:3 771 Gunillasson

9.11.03 Luleå SK H Second Division N 0:1 913

</pre>

Story-wise, that was the last season of month-to-month updates. I think I’m engaged enough in the game now to write individual match updates once the season comes back around. Fun fun

[kamikazecf]

Close season 2003/’04

Skillful winger Marcus Jönsson picked up his first Kiruna Fans’ Player of the Year award. It was one which the 25-year-old richly deserved and there just may be more in his future if he keeps up performances like he gave this year.

Transfer activity, which was anticipated to be largely of the “out†variety, started off with a shocker. Jonas Axeldal’s pre-arranged transfer to Café Opera was canceled because they couldn’t afford the 240,000 SEK transfer fee. This meant we were stuck with Jonas on a rolling contract that he was willing to extend only at great cost to us, which we simply couldn’t afford. Fortunately, there were a few more teams interesting in obtaining Jonas’ services and offered to sign him away from us, which would result in compensation of 140,000 to us. He had his pick of teams and took his time deciding.

Meanwhile, we released veteran winger Fredrik Johansson, young defender Magnus Rønning, and reserve team players Mikael Holmgren and Magnus Gabrielsson. Rønning’s loss was particularly wrenching because of his unquestionable talent, but it wasn’t worth paying him top dollar (top kronor?) for only occasional first-team appearances.

Back on the Axeldal front, he accepted an offer from Skinnskatteberg SK, who were too stupid to realize that they didn’t have the funds to sign him, and the transfer was canceled and we continued to pay him a rolling contract. After the process repeated itself with some different team, the decision was made to cut our losses and release Jonas on a free transfer with our thanks for his two years’ service and our best wishes for his future (although given that he was 33 he probably didn’t have much of a future in the game anyway). In his time with the club, Jonas scored 20 league goals and was the club’s top goalscorer in both of his seasons.

With Kiruna’s debts at over 7,000,000 and rising, several fringe players were transfer listed and surprisingly enough, teams were interested in acquiring many of them. Whether they were willing to pay fees for them was another matter entirely. In the end, 10 players left; Mikko Vikeväinen fetched the largest price (40,000 SEK) and of the others, only Lars Ökvist commanded a fee, his being 30,000. Also departing the club were Niklas Svanelöv, Mattias Olofsson, Joon Karlsson, Jon Kero, Niklas Malmbring, Lars-Göran Niemälä, Hans Laaksonen, and Tomas Lindgren.

Our squad, extremely thin following the departures, did require some small measure of addition and so young forward Jörgen Engström came in on a free transfer with the lowest wages out of anyone on the team; additionally, since Frode Henriksen was left as our only goalkeeper, I brought one in on loan, Amel Hrnic from Premier Division club Mjällby.

All told, we were left with 24 players (including Hrnic) and a wage bill of 36,000 per week. Those 24 went undefeated in the Lombia Cup at the end of March, conceding only one goal during the three-game tournament. Marcus Jönsson and Juha Tuominen scored to give Kiruna a 2-0 victory over Heden in the opener; Geir Teigen floated an injury-time free kick for Kenny Haglund to head in for a 1-0 win over Luleå SK; in the final, during which the backups saw much time, Peter Asp scored twice, new boy Jörgen Engström notched one and Marcus Jönsson finished off the scoring in a 4-1 bashing of Boden. The gate receipts we picked up and the morale boost from the victory were offset by the injuries sustained during the tournament. Marcus Lindmark, Dagfinn Solbakken, and Johan Stridsman would all be unavailable for at least the first couple games of the season. Our lack of depth threatened to finish off this season before it even began.

[kamikazecf]

Squad analysis for the 2004 season:

Goalkeepers

Frode Henriksen, 19, Norwegian. The only goalkeeper contracted to the club, Frode had allowed 24 goals from 22 games last year and would look to turn in an even better performance this term. A very level-headed player, especially for one so young, he had a lot of talent and it looked like he’d be around for awhile.

Amel Hrnjic,, 21, Swedish. Brought in on loan after one of our scouts saw him playing for Mjällby reserves, he was the only backup options we have for Henriksen. Amel may actually have been a better goalkeeper, but it was more important that the player who was ours got the playing time.

Defenders

Marcus Lindmark, 20, Swedish. The talented right back remained inconsistent in 2003, but by and large it was an improvement on his 2002 campaign and I looked for continued improvement from him this season. First-choice fullback.

Frank Langseth, 24, Norwegian. In his first full season for the club, Frank was going to start every game if I could help it. He was able to play in the center and on the right; ideally he’d play mostly in the middle next to Kjellin, but if Lindmark was out then Langseth was about the only other option we had there.

Robert Kjellin, 31, Swedish. Club captain was a valuable player in his first year at Kiruna, not only playing very solid defense but contributing four goals to the cause. Kjellin was a right-footed player who could, oddly enough, play left back or in the middle, and he’d be next to Langseth most games.

Geir Teigen, 18, Norwegian. The left back may have been even more gifted than we thought when we signed him. He was good when he joined the club and had improved a lot since then. Solid performances in the Lombia Cup earned him the starting fullback spot going into the season.

Stefan Sjöbom, 30, Swedish. Veteran left back who was going to be Teigen’s backup. He had a decent 2003 season but provided only one assist; we’d hoped for more. Still, he was a useful player to have around.

Björn Andersson, 24, Swedish. He was a starter in 2003 and his performances certainly didn’t lose him the spot, so I wasn’t going to hesitate to put him in if Kjellin or Langseth underperformed. Björn was an extremely valuable player on a very reasonable contract and I considered him vital to the side.

Also: D L Lars Larsen; D C Göran Samuelsson; D/AM LC David Danielsson (transfer listed); D/DM C Kalle Oscarsson (transfer listed)

Midfielders

Johan Bergström, 20, Swedish. Like Lindmark who played in support of him, Bergström showed vast improvement in 2003 and there was no reason he couldn’t be better in ’04. Not only was he going to start at right wing, he was going to play just about every minute of every game because we didn’t exactly have a backup for him.

Marcus Jönsson, 25, Swedish. Last season’s Fans Player of the Year, he led the team in assists and played well game in and game out. Couldn’t ask for much more than that. A definite starter at left wing.

Nils Johan Labba, 19, Swedish. Bearing in mind that he just turned 19 in November of 2003, his performances as a 17- and 18-year-old have been nothing less than brilliant, and he’s only gotten better. Nils got rave reviews from all of Kiruna’s coaches and looked to have a very bright future ahead of him. He’d get ample opportunity to show that with a starting role in 2004.

Erik Lantto, 24, Swedish. His 2003 season was no more than we expected of him. Fortunately, expectations had been very high, so his final tally of 6 goals and 5 assists while playing consistently well was just fine for us. More of the same for 2004 would be fine.

Kenneth Haglund, 18, Swedish. Since signing for us before the 2003 season, Kenneth had gotten into 9 games (7 as a starter) and scored 3 goals from midfield to go with 2 assists and some steady performances when we really needed them due to injury or suspension. He would look to be the Björn Andersson of our midfield in 2004, filling in for Labba or Lantto whenever necessary.

Dagfinn Solbakken, 17, Norwegian. The well-named Solbakken was the youngest player in the side, but was expected to fill an important role; he was the only capable backup that Marcus Jönsson had. Extremely capable, at that. Dagfinn was only beginning to realize the extent of his potential, but I hoped that regular first-team action would help him along.

Also: DM C Johan Hannu (transfer listed)

Attackers

Joakim Gunillasson, 26, Swedish. Pacey Gunillasson was a good solid striker; not worth much in the air, but he worked hard, moved well away from the ball and got his share of goals. He’d start in 2004.

Juha Tuominen, 20, Finnish. Juha bore the weight of expectations in his first year with Kiruna admirably, scoring 7 goals from 11 starts and 6 substitute appearances. Juha’s biggest disadvantage wasn’t really his fault, but his skill set was very similar to Gunillasson’s and so our midfielders had to remember to keep it strictly on the ground when passing to the strikers.

Jörgen Engström, 18, Swedish. Engström was the only offseason signing of 2004. A cheap player, his primary benefit to us was his skill in the air which we could use for a change of pace from Tuominen and Gunillasson. In a pinch, Engström could fill in at right wing.

Johan Stridsman, 23, Swedish. Johan was an enigma, a player who was pretty average physically and not too great of a dribbler but who showed rare flashes of potential. At any rate, with the size of our squad, it was likely that we’d need him before the year was out.

Peter Asp, 26, Swedish. Peter really, honestly had no skill to speak of. He was a very determined, brave striker who was usually shorter, slower, and weaker than every player on the opposing team. And he was transfer listed. But again, due to our squad’s lack of depth, it wasn’t unthinkable that he would play a role before the season was over, and – who knew? – maybe he’d surprise me.

<pre class="ip-ubbcode-code-pre"> ================================================================================================

Squad

================================================================================================

No Name Position(s) Nat Born Age Caps Gls Wages Expires Value

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

- Andersson, Björn D C SWE 11.3.80 24 - - 750|:- 21.11.04 80|TKr

- Asp, Peter S C SWE 18.8.77 26 - - 1,7|TKr 7.11.04 Free

- Bergström, Johan D/M R SWE 19.9.83 20 - - 2,3|TKr 5.11.06 400|TKr

- Danielsson, David D/AM LC SWE 28.4.85 18 - - 750|:- 20.11.04 10|TKr

- Engström, Jörgen F RC SWE 22.2.86 18 - - 600|:- 1.11.04 60|TKr

- Gunillasson, Joakim S C SWE 10.11.77 26 - - 2,5|TKr 15.11.04 160|TKr

- Haglund, Kenneth M C SWE 24.7.85 18 - - 750|:- 27.11.04 80|TKr

- Hannu, Johan DM C SWE 10.3.72 32 - - 650|:- 8.11.04 Free

- Henriksen, Frode GK NOR 7.2.85 19 - - 1,2|TKr 7.11.05 100|TKr

- Hrnjic, Amel GK SWE 6.4.82 21 - - 0|:- 14.11.04 1,9|MKr

- Jönsson, Marcus M LC SWE 15.10.78 25 - - 2|TKr 18.11.05 400|TKr

- Kjellin, Robert D LC SWE 11.3.73 31 - - 2,75|TKr 18.11.05 900|TKr

- Labba, Nils Johan M C SWE 5.11.84 19 - - 2,2|TKr 8.11.05 400|TKr

- Langseth, Frank D RC NOR 17.2.80 24 - - 2,75|TKr 5.11.05 120|TKr

- Lantto, Erik AM C SWE 10.3.80 24 - - 2,75|TKr 24.11.05 850|TKr

- Larsen, Lars D L DEN 20.1.83 21 - - 950|:- 28.11.04 20|TKr

- Lindmark, Marcus D R SWE 12.5.83 20 - - 2,1|TKr 2.11.05 280|TKr

- Oscarsson, Kalle D/DM C SWE 27.6.86 17 - - 750|:- 5.11.04 20|TKr

- Samuelsson, Göran D C SWE 7.11.83 20 - - 650|:- 3.11.04 50|TKr

- Sjöbom, Stefan D L SWE 31.10.73 30 - - 1,9|TKr 6.11.04 220|TKr

- Solbakken, Dagfinn AM L NOR 6.1.87 17 - - 1,5|TKr 4.11.04 80|TKr

- Stridsman, Johan F C SWE 3.6.80 23 - - 650|:- 7.11.05 40|TKr

- Teigen, Geir D L NOR 11.7.85 18 - - 2,5|TKr 4.11.05 240|TKr

- Tuominen, Juha S C FIN 16.10.83 20 - - 2|TKr 3.11.05 500|TKr

================================================================================================

2004 Transfers

================================================================================================

Date Player In From Fee

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

5.2.04 Jörgen Engström Free Transfer Free

15.3.04 Amel Hrnjic Mjällby Loan

Date Player Out To Fee

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

15.11.03 Fredrik Johansson Released Free

19.11.03 Magnus Rønning Released Free

22.11.03 Magnus Gabrielsson Released Free

22.11.03 Mikael Holmgren Released Free

17.12.03 Jonas Axeldal Released Free

19.12.03 Lars Ökvist Malmö Anadolu 30|Tkr

26.12.03 Mikko Vikeväinen Väsby 40|Tkr

5.1.04 Mattias Olofsson Arlanda Free

5.1.04 Niklas Svanelöv Askim Free

11.1.04 Joon Karlsson Degerfors Free

17.1.04 Jon Kero Bredaryd Free

19.1.04 Niklas Malmbring Falkenberg Free

21.1.04 Lars-Göran Niemälä FC Jazzmen Free

24.1.04 Hans Laaksonen Björnlunda Free

28.2.04 Tomas Lindgren Trollhättans FK Free

================================================================================================

2004 Fixtures

================================================================================================

Date Opposition Ven Competition Res Attend Scorers

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

26.3.04 Heden H Lombia Cup 2:0 340 Jönsson, Tuominen

27.3.04 Luleå SK H Lombia Cup 1:0 520 Haglund

28.3.04 Boden H Lombia Cup 4:1 355 Asp 2, Engström, M.Jönsson</pre>

[kamikazecf]

The steady flow of out-going players looked to have slowed to a trickle by the beginning of April, but it threatened to pick up again as David Danielsson and Kalle Oscarsson were both bid on by several teams before our first match of the season. Being the astute negotiator that I was, I let one team talk contract with each of them for free, and asked the others for small fees for the privilege. More on that after our first game of the season.

4.4.2004 at Norvalla, Skellefteå

Second Division North Game 1: Skellefteå (last year: 6th) vs. Kiruna (last year: 5th)

Last meeting: Kiruna 3-1 Skellefteå; overall vs. Skellefteå: 3W-0D-1L

F. Henriksen; F. Langseth, B. Andersson, R. Kjellin ©, G. Teigen; J. Bergström, E. Lantto, N. Labba, M. Jönsson; J. Tuominen, J. Gunillasson. Subs: A. Hrnjic, S. Sjöbom, K. Haglund, J. Engström, P. Asp

Skellefteå came out with what looked like an extremely ambitious 4-2-4 formation, but were forced to defend right from the opening kickoff. It appeared that they weren’t prepared to do that effectively. After a period of Kiruna-controlled possession, our first real attack resulted in a goal. Geir Teigen, given free rein to use his powerful left foot from distance at any time he deemed appropriate, rocketed one into the area from about 30 yards out that took a deflection off of a defender and fell to Nils Johan Labba. The young midfielder simply tapped the ball to his left for Joakim Gunillasson to slam in for a 1-0 lead.

It was Kiruna and Gunillasson putting together the second nice attack of the game. Joakim started this one with a low, hard cross to his right for Juha Tuominen; the Finn’s shot was saved but not held by the stone-handed Skellefteå goalie and Gunillasson was right there to poke it over the line.

Skellefteå spent the rest of the half and indeed the game trying to get back into it. Though they did make some slight inroads towards that goal, they would have needed far more than ninety minutes to force Frode Henriksen into a save, much less to put one past him. As for us, most of our attacking for the rest of the game went through Juha, who peppered Skellefteå’s net with shots but couldn’t quite break the plane, it seemed.

Skellefteå 0-2 Kiruna

J. Gunillasson 6’ (N. Labba), 16’

Subs: K. Haglund for E. Lantto, 75’; J. Engström for J. Bergström, 75’

Misc.: F. Langseth, yellow card, 45’

Att.: 1417

***

Four other teams in D2 North won that day, and our goal differential was better than two of them, so we were in third after the first game of the season.

In the days following the game, Danielsson agreed to terms with First Division club Sandvikens IF, earning us a meager but much-appreciated 10,000 SEK. Oscarsson, for his part, stayed in D2, moving to East Gotaland and Sylvia on a free transfer. After their departures, our squad was 22 men strong, and the average age rose to 22.59. The 21 players that earned wages were picking up 35,000 SEK per week between them.

[kamikazecf]

Juha Tuominen picked up a slight knock in training before our next game and so for safety’s sake he was moved to the bench with Peter Asp coming in to start.

11.4.2004 at Lombiavallen, Kiruna

Second Division North Game 2: Kiruna (3rd) vs. Luleå Fotboll (12th)

Last meeting: Kiruna 2-0 Luleå Fotboll; overall vs. Luleå Fotboll: 3W-1D-1L

F. Henriksen; F. Langseth, B. Andersson, R. Kjellin ©, G. Teigen; J. Bergström, E. Lantto, N. Labba, M. Jönsson; P. Asp, J. Gunillasson. Subs: A. Hrnjic, S. Sjöbom, K. Haglund, J. Engström, J. Tuominen

We were eager to get a good result in our first home match of the season, against a team which had been unlucky to lose their first game. This one started off with some excitement. Erik Lantto, normally not the most flamboyant of players, got free in the penalty area for a bicycle kick that went into the stand behind the goal to a chorus of laughs and sarcastic cheers. Lantto was all smiles once he picked himself up off of the ground and got back to business.

Kiruna were providing the impetus for most of the action throughout the opening stages and so it came as little surprise when we got the first goal. Nineteen minutes in, a deflected shot by Joakim Gunillasson earned us a corner. Marcus Jönsson was pretty good at taking those and showed it once again this time, with Robert Kjellin’s head being the lucky thing that the ball bonked off of.

Now that we had the lead and were continuing to dominate possession, the game was looking pretty safe, but I guess they play more than 20 minutes for a reason. Just before halftime, Björn Andersson was guilty of holding back Fotboll’s most dangerous striker, Magnus Barsk, inside of the penalty area. Barsk took the spot kick and scored it easily.

The tie game worried me more and more as the second half went on and we were unable to score; we deserved more than a single point, I felt. And once Kenny Haglund came on for Nils Johan Labba, he made sure we got all three, scoring off of another Jönsson corner. Fotboll’s best chance afterwards was a free kick that was well saved by Frode Henriksen; Joakim Gunillasson removed any doubt of the outcome with a goal from Man of the Match Jönsson’s third assist of the game, this one a cross from open play.

Kiruna 3-1 Luleå Fotboll

R. Kjellin 19’ (M. Jönsson); M. Barsk pen 45’; K. Haglund 71’ (M. Jönsson); J. Gunillasson 78’ (M. Jönsson)

Subs: K. Haglund for N. Labba, 67’

Misc.: F. Langseth, yellow card, 72’; B. Andersson, yellow card, 90’

Att.: 779

***

[kamikazecf]

Juha’s little thigh injury cleared up nicely before our next game and so he came back into the starting lineup for the next match after some good deputizing by Peter Asp, who returned to the bench. We were in first place going into this game!

18.4.2004 at Björknäsvallen, Boden

Second Division North Game 3: Boden (4th) vs. Kiruna (1st)

Last meeting: Kiruna 4-1 Boden; overall vs. Boden: 2W-2D-3L

F. Henriksen; F. Langseth, B. Andersson, R. Kjellin ©, G. Teigen; J. Bergström, E. Lantto, N. Labba, M. Jönsson; J. Tuominen, J. Gunillasson. Subs: A. Hrnjic, S. Sjöbom, K. Haglund, D. Solbakken, P. Asp

This was, frankly, another relatively easy win. It started off a bit shaky, though, Boden mounting the first attack of the game which resulted in a shot wide. That was the jump start for us. Three shots by Juha failed for varying reasons before his fourth finally went in – the result of, yes, a Marcus Jönsson corner.

Boden sandwiched a couple of misses around a Gunillasson shot that was saved, and then it was Joakim’s turn to score unassisted for his fourth goal of the league campaign. The lead remained comfortable up until halftime.

After the break, Boden mounted a few half-hearted attacks, but Frode Henriksen was never even forced into a save and Boden gave up the ghost without much protest.

Boden 0-2 Kiruna

J. Tuominen 21’ (M. Jönsson); J. Gunillasson 38’

Subs: D. Solbakken for M. Jönsson, 91’; P. Asp for J. Tuominen, 91’

Misc.: -

Att.: 777

***

The fine victory kept us in first place with three wins from three and a better goal differential than fellow nine-pointers Söderhamn and Gimonäs. There was bad news in midweek, when Frank Langseth succumbed to a groin injury in training and looked to be out of action for about a month. With Marcus Lindmark still out and very questionable as far as availability for next Sunday’s game, the right back spot was going to be very touch and go for us.

[kamikazecf]

As it turned out, there was no way Lindmark was fit to play more than a couple of minutes, so Stefan Sjöbom made his first start of the season on the unfamiliar right side, and Lars Larsen was drafted in from the reserves to the bench.

25.4.2004 at Lombiavallen, Kiruna

Second Division North Game 4: Kiruna (1st) vs. Selånger (4th)

Last meeting: Selånger 0-2 Kiruna; overall vs. Selånger: 3W-0D-1L

F. Henriksen; S. Sjöbom, B. Andersson, R. Kjellin ©, G. Teigen; J. Bergström, E. Lantto, N. Labba, M. Jönsson; J. Tuominen, J. Gunillasson. Subs: A. Hrnjic, L. Larsen, K. Haglund, D. Solbakken, P. Asp

A poor beginning to this match saw the visitors take the lead after just six minutes. Selånger were, without question, a talented side which had underachieved during the past few seasons, and midfielder Patrik Johansson was one of the players that contributed a fair chunk of that talent. He exhibited it here, scoring on Selånger’s second shot of the game.

Finding ourselves in the unfamiliar position of being down early, we were somewhat tentative during the rest of the first half. Only a couple of shots ended up threatening the Selånger goal during the first 45 minutes. I was pretty clueless about how to adjust at halftime, and so we didn’t make any changes during the break.

As it turned out, changes weren’t necessary. After a lot of ineffective passing to start the half, we struck twice within five minutes to take the lead. First it was Juha controlling a pass from Nils Johan Labba before rifling it past Selånger’s helpless goalie, and then Lantto poked in a rebound from a saved Gunillasson shot.

Now with a lead and looking pretty much in control, I felt safe enough to substitute Jönsson and Tuominen with about ten minutes to play. Bad move. Björn Andersson gave away a penalty which ex-Bristol Rovers man Marcus Andreassen put away with ease. Without the attacking power of Jönsson and Tuominen in the lineup, we just didn’t have it in us to grab another goal.

Kiruna 2-2 Selånger

P. Johansson 6’; J. Tuominen 59’ (N. Labba); E. Lantto 63’; M. Andreassen pen 85’

Subs: D. Solbakken for M. Jönsson, 82’; P. Asp for J. Tuominen, 82’

Misc.: -

Att.: 762

***

Goodbye, perfect record. Söderhamn could only draw, too, but Gimonäs won again and so took the top spot.

[kamikazecf]

Marcus Lindmark recovered sufficiently before the first game of May to relieve our problems at right back. His hamstring was still a little tender, but we needed him, so into the lineup he went against Östersunds FK.

2.5.2004 at Lombiavallen, Kiruna

Second Division North Game 5: Kiruna (2nd) vs. Östersunds FK (5th)

Last meeting: Östersunds FK 3-1 Kiruna; overall vs. Östersunds FK: 2W-0D-2L

F. Henriksen; M. Lindmark, B. Andersson, R. Kjellin ©, G. Teigen; J. Bergström, E. Lantto, N. Labba, M. Jönsson; J. Tuominen, J. Gunillasson. Subs: A. Hrnjic, S. Sjöbom, K. Haglund, J. Engström, P. Asp

Having failed to take three points from our previous game, we were not eager to drop points in our second consecutive home match. An easy victory looked decidedly improbable after the first twenty minutes or so, though. Östersunds’ young striker Andreas Arvidsson terrorized our defense and got off three shots, thankfully without hitting the target once.

It was, predictably, Marcus Jönsson who reversed our fortunes somewhat after we weathered the initial onslaught. His first effort at creation ended in a Lantto volley that hit the side netting, but Marcus’ second try resulted in a goal, albeit indirectly. He held up the ball allowing Geir Teigen to overlap him, chipped it forward, and the young Norwegian controlled and put in a cross to the near post that Joakim Gunillasson blasted in. It was Teigen’s first senior assist – hopefully one of many!

The goal ignited our efforts, it seemed, because aside from one scary counterattack that fizzled out due to taking way too damn long, Östersunds didn’t manage another shot on goal in the half. We, on the other hand, did fire in another couple of shots, one of which found net. Marcus Lindmark, showing no ill effects from his injury, hammered in a cross from Jönsson just before the break.

The visitors regrouped nicely in the second half and even grabbed a goal back after an hour of play, but Frode Henriksen made a couple of nice saves late on and Björn Andersson sealed the win with a late headed goal.

Kiruna 3-1 Östersunds FK

J. Gunillasson 26’ (G. Teigen); M. Lindmark 42’ (M. Jönsson); S. Alm 64’; B. Andersson 81’

Subs: K. Haglund for N. Labba, 79’

Misc.: R. Kjellin, yellow card, 89’

Att.: 755

***

Gimonäs won again, and so they remained in first place while we hung tenaciously on to second:

<pre class="ip-ubbcode-code-pre">Swedish Second Division North

Pos Team Pld Won Drn Lst For Ag Won Drn Lst For Ag Pts

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

1st Gimonäs 5 3 0 0 6 2 2 0 0 4 2 15

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

2nd **Kiruna** 5 2 1 0 8 4 2 0 0 4 0 13

3rd Söderhamn 5 2 0 0 5 2 2 1 0 5 2 13

4th Skellefteå AIK 5 2 0 1 5 2 1 0 1 3 2 9

5th Selånger 5 2 0 1 6 5 0 2 0 4 4 8

6th Luleå Fotboll 5 1 1 1 5 6 1 0 1 4 3 7

7th Östersunds FK 5 2 0 0 6 3 0 1 2 2 5 7

8th Boden 5 0 2 1 2 4 1 0 1 5 4 5

9th IFK Luleå 5 1 0 1 3 2 0 0 3 3 9 3

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

10th Heden 5 0 2 0 2 2 0 0 3 2 7 2

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

11th Luleå SK 5 0 0 2 1 4 0 1 2 4 7 1

12th Assi 5 0 0 2 1 5 0 1 2 1 5 1 </pre>

[kamikazecf]

I felt that the next match provided an excellent opportunity to get another win, as we prepared to take on Assi on the road. Gimonäs were faced with a tough visit to Söderhamn and so it wasn’t too far-fetched to think that we could be back in first place after Sunday’s games.

9.5.2004 at Nya Assi-vallen, Risögrund

Second Division North Game 6: Assi (12th) vs. Kiruna (2nd)

Last meeting: - ; overall vs. Assi: -

F. Henriksen; M. Lindmark, B. Andersson, R. Kjellin ©, G. Teigen; J. Bergström, E. Lantto, N. Labba, M. Jönsson; J. Tuominen, J. Gunillasson. Subs: A. Hrnjic, S. Sjöbom, K. Haglund, J. Engström, P. Asp

It’s often difficult to draw conclusions about teams that are in low league positions. You never know if teams that have just a couple of wins are really just talented sides that are underperforming or if they’re just bad teams that are in over their heads. Teams like Assi, though – ones that have spectacularly poor results in the league – are almost invariably the hardest-working sides in a division. They’ll do their damndest, but things just never fall their way, and back they fall to whence they came.

They actually didn’t look too overmatched at the start of our game, for about five minutes or so. After that, our greater quality told, and first-half goals from Nils Johan Labba and Juha Tuominen combined with second-half strikes from Tuominen and Lantto to give us a 4-0 win. Assi never stopped trying all game, though, didn’t give in until the final whistle blew and 1200 supporters stood and applauded their team’s efforts.

I didn’t want them to relegate. They really tried, and I admired them for it. Sucks that they re-injured Marcus Lindmark, though. Son of a gun strained his groin and went back out of action for another three weeks.

Assi 0-4 Kiruna

N. Labba 11’ (J. Tuominen); J. Tuominen 30’, 66’ (E. Lantto); E. Lantto 84’ (M. Jönsson)

Subs: S. Sjöbom for M. Lindmark, 78’

Misc.: J. Bergström, yellow card, 22’; G. Teigen, yellow card, 26’

Att.: 1219

***

As I’d hoped, Söderhamn took care of business against Gimonäs and so back into first place we vaulted. A good week got better (sort of?) when Björnlunda, an East Gotaland team, offered to take Peter Asp off of my hands for free. I was oddly reluctant to give him up, but of course I had to, and so off he went. Squad down to 21 players, wage bill down to 33,000 SEK per week, and still taking losses of about 300,000 per month.

[kamikazecf]

Lindmark’s re-injury was timed somewhat well given that Frank Langseth had just about recovered from his own groin strain before our next match. By “just about recovered†I mean that he was taking light training and that the physio didn’t want him back in game action for another ten days. But hey… sack up, boy, your team needs you!

16.5.2004 at Lombiavallen, Kiruna

Second Division North Game 7: Kiruna (1st) vs. Luleå SK (10th)

Last meeting: Kiruna 1-0 Luleå SK; overall vs. Luleå SK: 2W-1D-2L

F. Henriksen; F. Langseth, B. Andersson, R. Kjellin ©, G. Teigen; J. Bergström, E. Lantto, N. Labba, M. Jönsson; J. Tuominen, J. Gunillasson. Subs: A. Hrnjic, S. Sjöbom, K. Haglund, D. Solbakken, J. Engström

Significantly, we’d never beaten SK in the league, our two wins against them coming in the Lombia Cup with a draw and a loss in the league and one loss in the Swedish Cup. SK were, I was beginning to believe, our nemesis, and this game did nothing to change that notion. Three minutes in, they were awarded a free kick just outside the box which Frode Henriksen parried… but the referee ordered a retake, and naturally they scored off of it. Ten minutes after that, Henriksen clipped the feet of an SK striker in the area, Amel Hrnjic came on for the first time all season and let the penalty by him. Fourteen minutes gone and down 2-0, sporting a 4-4-1 formation with a rusty goalkeeper in net, it was all downhill from there… or was it?

With Juha Tuominen the lone striker, we set to work. SK were confident of victory already and were leaving great gaps in the back, and after a failed attack by SK we pulled one back. It started with Kjellin sending a nice long ball for Nils Johan Labba, and after a last-ditch toe got the ball away from Labba, Erik Lantto picked it up and sent a laser beam in from twenty yards out. 2-1, but SK didn’t appear much bothered. “A fluke,†they thought, “won’t happen again."

They certainly appeared correct. Sixty-three minutes and five Amel Hrnjic (Man of the Match) saves later, we hadn’t managed to put together but two attacks, both resulting in long Lantto shots over the bar. But in injury time, we put together a last-gasp effort which culminated in Lantto lobbing one in for Jörgen Engström to head at goal… and it was… saved, tipped to goalkeeper’s left. But Frank Langseth was right there! He struck, hard and fast, and in it went for his first-ever Kiruna goal and a magnificent equalizer. Woooo!

Langseth stole the ball quickly from the ensuing kickoff, ran a long way up the sideline and crossed into the middle for Kenny Haglund to try a volley… skimmed the outside of the left post. Still, a highly unlikely point!

Kiruna 2-2 Luleå SK

S. Forsberg 3’; M. Gustafsson 14’ pen; E. Lantto 27’; F. Langseth 90’

Subs: K. Haglund for N. Labba, 82’; J. Engström for J. Tuominen, 82’

Misc.: F. Henriksen, red card, 14’; E. Lantto, yellow card, 45’; G. Teigen, yellow card, 51’; R. Kjellin, yellow card, 52’

Att.: 1199

***

As it turned out, the point was quite important. Söderhamn and Gimonäs were both also held to draws, so we remained in first.

[kamikazecf]

The six-months-until-November period was upon me again, and the first order of business was to sign Joakim Gunillasson, Kenneth Haglund, and Björn Andersson to new contracts, Björn for one year and the others for two. Johan Stridsman and Lars Larsen were transfer listed; I’d seen enough of them this year to know they were surplus to requirements… if only barely. Göran Samuelsson’s future at Kiruna would depend upon how well he took to playing as a striker rather than a defender. I felt he had a far better future up front than at the back; time would tell.

Everybody was healthy for our next league game against lowly IFK Luleå, except Henriksen was suspended, so it was all first-choice players except for Amel Hrnjic in goal.

6.6.2004 at Skogsvallen, Luleå

Second Division North Game 8: IFK Luleå (11th) vs. Kiruna (1st)

Last meeting: Kiruna 0-0 IFK Luleå; overall vs. IFK Luleå: 1W-1D-0L

A. Hrnjic; M. Lindmark, F. Langseth, R. Kjellin ©, G. Teigen; J. Bergström, E. Lantto, N. Labba, M. Jönsson; J. Tuominen, J. Gunillasson. Subs: B. Andersson, S. Sjöbom, K. Haglund, D. Solbakken, J. Engström

There was a fantastic start to this game when Nils Johan Labba set up Erik Lantto for a rare headed goal just four minutes in. The lead was short-lived, though, as IFK scored the next two.

The first came off of a direct kick 20 yards out by Jukka Ollikkala. Frank Langseth gave away the kick and got a yellow card for his efforts. The second came off of a direct kick 20 yards out by Jukka Ollikkala. Robert Kjellin gave away the kick and got a yellow card for his efforts.

Carbon-copy goals, practically, that Amel Hrnjic couldn’t or wouldn’t do anything about. Fortunately, Erik Lantto was still in a scoring frame of mind, and he picked up the equalizer after a shot from Joakim Gunillasson was parried. At halftime it was all square, but we’d had more chances – in fact, the free kicks were all that IFK could muster on goal.

The second half began with various shots by both teams that failed to go in. It wasn’t until the 79th minute that the go-ahead goal was scored. That was by Johan Bergström, his first goal of the season, which was set up beautifully by Marcus Jönsson’s seventh assist. Just one minute later, Juha Tuominen went on a solo run straight through the middle of the IFK defense and finished brilliantly to provide the final scoreline.

IFK Luleå 2-4 Kiruna

E. Lantto 4’ (N. Labba), 37’; J. Ollikalla 15’, 33’; J. Bergström 79’ (M. Jönsson); J. Tuominen 80’

Subs: K. Haglund for N. Labba, 79’; B. Andersson for F. Langseth, 90’

Misc.: F. Langseth, yellow card, 15’; R. Kjellin, yellow card, 32’; J. Gunillasson, yellow card, 90’

Att.: 746

***

So we remained in first place going into that more-than-a-month-long break during June and July, having garnered 20 points from 8 games and still unbeaten in the league. Gimonäs were only one point off the pace and Söderhamn had 17 points, and after our next game against Heden it would be showdown time – away at Söderhamn and at home to Gimonäs before the league schedule reset itself. Not only did those games seem as though they would have huge implications for the championship, their timing meant that Söderhamn and Gimonäs would be our last two opponents of the season – if the race remained this tight, it could be a very, very interesting sprint to the finish.

[kamikazecf]

I gave Johan Stridsman to Friska Viljor for free in the days following that victory. Down to 20 players! I was actually kind of looking forward to when there would be just 16, and the match-day squad would pick itself. We were down three players for our next match, anyway, though, so I should’ve been careful what I wished for, I guess. Kjellin and Langseth were both out a game suspended due to yellow cards, and Frode Henriksen had a couple matches yet to go on his suspension.

18.7.2004 at Lombiavallen, Kiruna

Second Division North Game 9: Kiruna (1st) vs. Heden (9th)

Last meeting: Kiruna 2-0 Heden; overall vs. Heden: 2W-0D-1L

A. Hrnjic; M. Lindmark, B. Andersson, S. Sjöbom, G. Teigen; J. Bergström ©, E. Lantto, N. Labba, M. Jönsson; J. Tuominen, J. Gunillasson. Subs: K. Haglund, D. Solbakken, J. Engström, L. Larsen, G. Samuelsson

With two of its key players out, our defense was a bit makeshift and Stefan Sjöbom was drafted into the middle for the first time in his career next to Björn Andersson. They were not tested for the first few minutes as we started the game out brightly with a couple of near misses, but once Heden got it going our defense looked uncoordinated indeed. The visitors had a blatant chance with one of their strikers in acres of space and he didn’t miss.

The teams traded chances for the rest of the half; quantity and quality both slowly swung Kiruna’s way, but no goals came. The second half was largely played in midfield up until the 71st minute. Lantto hit a long ball forward and to his right for Johan Bergström; the winger got his head to it and Joakim Gunillasson picked the ball up 20 yards from goal. Eschewing the opportunity to get in closer to the net, Joakim blasted a shot in after one touch and had us back even.

With the scores level we pushed forward yet more, and eventually Geir Teigen sprang the attackers for the go-ahead goal. Teigen carried the ball over the halfway line, considered his options, and sent it forward along the wing to Marcus Jönsson. Marcus tapped it ahead to Joakim. Marcus Lindmark was sprinting up to the striker’s right, and so they played a one-two, Gunillasson to Lindmark to Gunillasson and then – this is where it gets brilliant – Erik Lantto flashed up between them, took the second pass from Gunillasson (which all of the Heden defenders were expecting to go all the way to Lindmark), took two touches and slammed it in. 2-1!

Heden had the look of a beaten team after that goal, and so Gunillasson’s second was simply an exclamation point on a fine comeback win.

Kiruna 3-1 Heden

P. Ederborn 9’; J. Gunillasson 71’ (J. Bergström), 89’ (N. Labba); E. Lantto 80’ (J. Gunillasson)

Subs: D. Solbakken for M. Jönsson, 88’

Misc.: -

Att.: 1280

***

Woohoo, another victory! Gimonäs lost their game and so they dropped into third, four points back, and Söderhamn took second, three points off the pace.

Swedish Cup action was up next, and we were drawn at non-league Brännberg, who hadn’t won a single game in the Cup for the past three years. Frode Henriksen was allowed to play this game since it wasn’t in the league. Lars Larsen and Dagfinn Solbakken got starts on the left side of the pitch, Kenneth Haglund got a game in place of Erik Lantto, and Jörgen Engström partnered defender-who-will-someday-be-a-striker Göran Samuelsson in attack. Engström got a goal and Nils Johan Labba scored twice in an easy and relatively uneventful 3-1 victory. Swedish Cup: Brännberg 1-3 Kiruna - J. Engström (J. Bergström); N. Labba 2 (M. Lindmark, J. Bergström)

Göran Samuelsson hadn’t played too well in the cup game, but in the next reserve match against Söderhamn he scored both goals and was Man of the Match in a 2-0 win. Hope for him yet, I suppose.

[kamikazecf]

So, August 1, and a game that was maybe not as important as it had looked a couple of months ago. Even if Söderhamn beat us, our goal differential meant we’d stay in first barring a huge, huge defeat, and Gimonäs could only get within a point of us. Still, it’d be very nice to win. With Henriksen suspended, we’d again go without a goalkeeper on the bench.

1.8.2004 at Hällåsens IP, Söderhamn

Second Division North Game 10: Söderhamn (2nd) vs. Kiruna (1st)

Last meeting: Kiruna 2-2 Söderhamn; overall vs. Söderhamn: 3W-1D-0L

A. Hrnjic; M. Lindmark, F. Langseth, R. Kjellin ©, G. Teigen; J. Bergström, E. Lantto, N. Labba, M. Jönsson; J. Tuominen, J. Gunillasson. Subs: S. Sjöbom, B. Andersson, K. Haglund, D. Solbakken, J. Engström

Our largest away following of the season came to this one, and oh... my... goodness. What a game. Okay, so it started out all right with Johan Bergström setting up Marcus Jönsson for a shot that went over, and Juha Tuominen had a decent chance after that which didn’t go in. And then everything began to fall apart.

Seventeen minutes in, Söderhamn’s left winger went on a long run up the sideline and set up Magnus Närthén for a headed goal. But it’s just one, right? By no means were we beaten, right? Söderhamn enjoyed a long period of possession after their goal, only foraying forward for one attack that ended in a shot wide. And then, when they went forward again, George Bcheri got through the defense, got around Hrnjic… and the idiot brought him down from behind. Red card.

Goalie sent off, penalty coming up, nobody who can play the position on the bench. I frankly had no clue which of the available players would be best at goalie, so I left it up to them, and 19-year-old Nils Johan Labba stepped forward to take the gloves. Kenneth Haglund came into the game for Tuominen and we realigned into a 4-4-1. Labba conceded the penalty, diving the wrong way.

Down two goals with only ten men available, a “goalkeeper†in name only, and facing the strongest defense in the Division was not a good situation to be in. But opponents underestimated Kiruna at their own peril. Knowing that allowing shots could be suicide, we worked hard to close down Söderhamn before they could get any attacks going and tried to grab a goal for ourselves. It took until after halftime for one to come, and it was all Kenny Haglund who did it – dribbling the ball over 50 yards before driving it in to halve the deficit.

Still, we needed at least another goal to get a point and likely more than one if Söderhamn could put together any sort of attack. They very nearly did shortly after Haglund’s goal, but a clean last-ditch tackle from Frank Langseth kept Labba from being forced into action. Robert Kjellin ended up with the ball and calmly wove together the beginnings of an attack. He found Erik Lantto, who worked with Haglund to get the ball forward into the penalty area, and when Joakim Gunillasson’s shot got saved, Lantto was there to poke in the rebound. 2-2! But still a half an hour to play.

I was faced with a difficult decision – go defensive, or keep attacking? Defending, I realized, would invite shots by Söderhamn and I wasn’t prepared to take that risk. In the 75th minute, Bcheri got free again, but put his shot wide. Ten minutes after that, Söderhamn put together an attack from a free kick… passed it around… shot from distance… saved by Nils Johan Labba! Kjellin picked it up and cleared. Söderhamn would not be denied and came right back. Benny Dahlin, the midfielder who had scored their penalty, found space in the area, blasted a shot from ten yards out… and Labba made the save again! Söderhamn were in disbelief as Marcus Jönsson cleared the ball into touch.

All that remained of the game were a couple of Kiruna attacks, Kenny Haglund putting a shot high and wide and a free kick just before time coming to nothing. But an amazing point.

Söderhamn 2-2 Kiruna

M. Närthén 17’; B. Dahlin 33’ pen; K. Haglund 54’; E. Lantto 60’

Subs: K. Haglund for J. Tuominen, 33’

Misc.: A. Hrnjic, red card, 33’

Att.: 2544

***

Hoo boy.

<pre class="ip-ubbcode-code-pre">Swedish Second Division North

Pos Team Pld Won Drn Lst For Ag Won Drn Lst For Ag Pts

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

1st **Kiruna** 10 3 2 0 13 7 4 1 0 14 4 24

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

2nd Gimonäs 10 5 0 0 11 4 2 1 2 9 11 22

3rd Söderhamn 10 3 1 1 11 7 3 2 0 8 3 21

4th Östersunds FK 10 4 1 0 11 5 1 1 3 7 9 17

5th Luleå Fotboll 10 2 2 1 10 10 2 1 2 10 9 15

6th Selånger 10 3 1 1 13 9 0 3 2 8 10 13

7th Skellefteå AIK 10 3 1 1 8 3 1 0 4 7 11 13

8th Luleå SK 10 2 0 3 8 9 1 2 2 8 9 11

9th Heden 10 2 3 0 10 8 0 1 4 5 12 10

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

10th Boden 10 1 2 2 5 6 1 1 3 9 13 9

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

11th IFK Luleå 10 2 1 2 11 11 0 0 5 3 14 7

12th Assi 10 0 1 4 3 13 0 2 3 4 9 3 </pre>

How about that away form, eh? Eh?

[kamikazecf]

So Hrnjic got banned for three matches. Good timing, I suppose, with Frode Henriksen’s suspension ending. Only getting the point from Söderhamn meant that Gimonäs could pass us if they beat us… but with confidence at Lombiavallen so high, how could they possibly?

8.8.2004 at Lombiavallen, Kiruna

Second Division North Game 11: Kiruna (1st) vs. Gimonäs (2nd)

Last meeting: - ; overall vs. Gimonäs: -

F. Henriksen; M. Lindmark, F. Langseth, R. Kjellin ©, G. Teigen; J. Bergström, E. Lantto, N. Labba, M. Jönsson; J. Tuominen, J. Gunillasson. Subs: S. Sjöbom, B. Andersson, K. Haglund, D. Solbakken, J. Engström

I harbored a special hatred for Gimonäs. After promoting from the fourth level, they proceeded to splash out in excess of 5,000,000 SEK on players without selling a single soul. In the colloquial sense, I mean. I am convinced that as a team, they did, in fact, sell their souls. At any rate, their team was chock-full of players who were far too good for the Second Division. Meanwhile, we’re trundling along with 19 players under contract and approaching the magical mark of 10,000,000 SEK in the red. Sigh.

That’s why I really wanted us to kick their arses, in addition to the obvious benefits of beating them in the league. And kick their arses we did. Erik Lantto started off the scoring with something that he has become expert at; that is, scoring off of rebounds. Marcus Jönsson had taken the initial shot. Juha Tuominen scored our second, diving to head in a Robert Kjellin free kick.

Gimonäs were too good to just go down that easily, though, and they got one back just after halftime through Sargon Demirdag, who is just as dangerous as his name sounds. A 2-1 lead was somewhat tenuous and so Juha took it upon himself to give us a bit more breathing room, going on a long run which culminated in a fine strike and put us up by two.

Demirdag completed his brace on 70 minutes, but Gimonäs had nothing left in the tank and we got ourselves a fine win. 11 without a loss, now!

Kiruna 3-2 Gimonäs

E. Lantto 7’; J. Tuominen 30’ (R. Kjellin), 51’; S. Demirdag 48’, 70’

Subs: D. Solbakken for M. Jönsson, 70’

Misc.: -

Att.: 1636

***

[kamikazecf]

With an almost-comfortable cushion of five points down to second place, we began the second half of the season hosting Skellefteå. With an excellent all-time record against them, I looked for us to continue our fine run.

15.8.2004 at Lombiavallen, Kiruna

Second Division North Game 12: Kiruna (1st) vs. Skellefteå (8th)

Last meeting: Skellefteå 0-2 Kiruna; overall vs. Skellefteå: 4W-0D-1L

F. Henriksen; M. Lindmark, F. Langseth, R. Kjellin ©, G. Teigen; J. Bergström, E. Lantto, N. Labba, M. Jönsson; J. Tuominen, J. Gunillasson. Subs: S. Sjöbom, B. Andersson, K. Haglund, D. Solbakken, J. Engström

Sixteen minutes into the game, we thought we had a lead when our favorite young Finn headed in a cross from Johan Bergström. But it was ruled out for offside. Now, there are two ways you can react when a goal is disallowed – get ****ed at the linesman, or come back and score one that he can’t wave off. The way we’d been playing of late, there was no question which we were going to do. Three minutes after the disallowed goal, Joakim Gunillasson lead off the scoring, assisted by Marcus Jönsson, the left winger’s eighth assist of the season.

Joakim had a goal of his own ruled out for offside about a half-hour into the game, but got his just desserts after halftime when he scored a fine goal with a direct free kick. He finished his hat-trick after an hour had gone by.

Skellefteå didn’t score, thanks to five saves from Frode Henriksen. Victory… as usual

Kiruna 3-0 Skellefteå

J. Gunillasson 19’ (M. Jönsson), 49’, 64’ (G. Teigen)

Subs: -

Misc.: N. Labba, yellow card, 5’; F. Langseth, yellow card, 34’

Att.: 1144

***

The win widened our gap on second place to six points, over Söderhamn at this particular juncture.