Impossible. Back in 2010, it was a word Kindberg heard a lot when he discussed his plans to turn a side from a subarctic city that had just been relegated to the Swedish fourth tier with average gates of 500 into one of Europe’s elite. He doesn’t hear it so much these days.
Back then, the idea of taking on Arsenal in the last 32 of the Europa League was an impossible dream. On Thursday, it will be a reality.
To fully understand Ostersund FK’s remarkable rise we must go back to the beginning, to eight years ago, when the club hit rock bottom…
Daniel Kindberg: As you know in 2010 we struggled badly and we were relegated, which wasn’t good. I said I couldn’t be involved in this and I left. To make a long story short, the players said: “If you don’t come back, we quit.” So I did something I don’t do, I took a decision on emotion and I came back.
We sat down and talked – six, seven people – put out the emotions and asked ourselves why. Why do we do this? Why are we in the club? We work for free, why do we put in all this effort? What do we want to see? What do we want with our ambitions in football? What is everything about?
Through that process, we created our values and ambition of where we should be – to be in the elite part of football and play European competitive football in our stadium. People thought we were lunatics. Maybe they were right.
I called a friend of mine [Graeme Jones, assistant to Roberto Martinez at Swansea, Wigan, Everton and now Belgium] and I was upset. I said to him: “Why can I never find a good manager? They are all lousy. What should I do?”
He said to me: “Daniel, the problem is you, you keep picking the wrong ones.” So I asked him to give me some proposals.
He called me back in a couple of weeks and said: “I’ve spoken to people, I know exactly who you should talk to – he is the one, the perfect match.” I went over to meet him and, even if I don’t want to admit it, Graeme and Roberto were right.
