For this story I shall be taking over Swedish side Gällivare Malmbergets FF. I started off by trying to do an unemployed career save, when I got offered the chance to take charge of this team. I had other offers, but because this team was bottom of their league midway through their season, I thought that I'd take on the challenge. Needless to say, I should have looked at their team in greater detail. Prior to my first game in charge; this is how the team looked; 1 Goalkeeper, 1 Central Defender, 10 Central Midfielders, 1 winger, and 4 Strikers. On top of that; they've only managed to accumulate 5 points out of 15 games. They find themselves rooted to the bottom of the table, 8 points from safety. The man chosen to guide this team to safety, is Gällivare local; Björn Johansson. Before we get into the character, I want to do a brief overview of the club.
Gällivare Malmbergets FF was founded in 2005 through a merger of two other clubs; Gällivare Sportklubb and Malmbergets Allmänna Idrottsförening. Two household names of amateur Swedish football. They were initially placed in the 6th tier of Swedish football, the Division 3 Norra Norrland league. After 9 seasons competing within this league, they finally achieved promotion in 2014 and have remained in the Swedish Second Division Norrland ever since. However; there place within that league is now under serious threat.
The background staff currently at the club are;
Chairman - Gerd Siverhall
Director of Football - Krister Taivalsaari
Goalkeeping Coach - Stefan Ryngmark
Now for the manager; Björn Johansson. Björn was a former member of Gällivare Sportklubb before they had merged with Malmbergets Allmänna Idrottsförening. A striker in his playing days, he spent just the 2 years representing Gällivare Sportklubb before work took over, limiting the time he had to play football. However, more recently he has found his love for the game again. His 8 year old son is a member of Gällivare Malmbergets FF academy where he helps coach where time allows. Björn is a coworker of chairman Gerd Siverhall at local house building company "The Society's House in Gällivare". When they are not working, they are talking about football, and the dreams that they have of taking a Swedish minnow to the top of Swedish football. A far cry away from where the club currently finds themselves. Just the one win and two draws lodged between runs of six straight losses. There was only one outcome for current manager Peter Askebrand following this dismal first half of the season..