And it it rotten down to it's core.
Sweden falls further and further from the top of the game as it is played in the world.
Swedish clubs strive and fight for a chance to shine in europe and play with the other teams out there. But swedish football closes in around itself and it's own little world tighter and tighter.
The same managers play the same system and the only thing that changes is which clubs they get paid by. And the clubs pay them. Willingly. How many teams must Jingblad, for example, abuse before clubs wake up and realizes that a new name is needed?
But no, once he is done with IFK Norrköping, his current victim, he will undoubtly find new employment with a premier division side or possibly a top first division team.
Well I wrote victim, but they are the ones that choose him off course. You can't blame rubbish managers for the fact that clubs are willing to pay them money. If some club suddenly told me I'd get paid to play premier division football you can bet your ass that I'd do it. And they can't blame anyone but themselves when I suck.
And that touches on another subject that I hate about football in sweden.
It's the fact that although I am absolutely rubbish, I have one thing going for me in my hunt for a spot in the first eleven. I am just the right age for a swedish manager to want to select me.
In the land where a player aged 24 is considered a promising prospect for the future my 29 years on this here earth puts me among thoose considered just ripe to be among the selected few.
When Arsenal, one of the greatest teams of the world, played today they fielded a starting midfield with the average age of 20 only to substitue two of them later in the game to give playing time to a 17 year old and a 16 year old!
Swedish coaches are reluctant to let a 21 year old time as a sub because "he is still young and has lots to learn. We must'nt rush his development"... How exactly will he learn if he never gets to play? Are swedish youths so much worse than the rest of the worlds? Off course not.
BP sells one of their youths to Juventus. This is a player that, had he been bought by a swedish club in the premier division, would have had many years of loan deals to smaller clubs and b-side action to look forward to before his first chance as a sub for his premier side team. What happens in Juventus? Another of the greats of the world, full of superstars? They immidiatly play him in the first eleven, giving him pleny of taste of first team action.
That is how players learn. That is how they grow. That is how stars are born. Now I'm not saying that he is destined to become a star because they play him a few games, but he has the chance to become one because of it. Noone ever became a star on loan to Jönköping Södra.
And this is where I mean that swedish football is rotten to the core. The swedish FA are the ones that ultimately push for a development like the one we have now. They are behind it all.
This is most obvious in the choice of national coach selection. A man so boring and predictable that even Albania has no problem organizing a draw agains us. A man that chooses to play Daniel Andersson, MFF, before Kim Källström, Lyon. A man that, having a choice between a Rosenberg that has started delivering goals for Bundesliga club Werder Bremen and up and coming starlet Berg in holland, manages to find yet a third and oh so swedish option. Let's give Larsson, Helsingborg IF, a call and see if the old fart has one more championship in him... Now don't get me wrong. That man has done wonders for swedish football and I'll always love him for it. But his time has come and gone. The young must take over.
Furthermore people complain that Ibrahimovic etc don't perform in the national team when they are so good at their clubs. They talk of a lack of heart and will to sacrifice... But how can Ibra possibly be as good in Sweden, the way Lagerbäck has us playing, as he is in Inter with the quality and freedom he has there? Mould the tactics around the players and not vice versa!
And ultimately the swedish referees. They do love their wissles and they prevent any game form building any momentum. This could be laid at the FA's feet as well possibly. If it's them giving out the orders that the ref's are following. But I fear that that is at best only part of the problem. Swedish ref's are just not good enough. That they have idiotic guides about how to interpet the rules don't help off course.
I watched Man Utd-Liverpool earlier today. Had a standard swedish ref been in charge of that game he would probably have called the whole game off after showing his 5th red card in the 20th minute. In england there had been what? One yellow card?
I'm fed up. so here is my quick fix for swedish football:
- New referees, preferably from england/scotland
- Sack everyone in the FA. Everyone
- Bring in new managers, with new ideas. Noone that, at this point, has coached a premier side team over 5 years should be allowed to coach ever again.
- Give the young players time on the pitch. You can't decide if he has what it take until ha has played at least 5-10 games.
Follow this list and Sweden will be gunning for the WC in no time! ;)
/TSO
