Hello. My name is Woy Hodgson. I’m a PE teacher in South London who has had a career in non-league. This is my story into football management after a suspicious call from someone from Sweden. I hope you enjoy the story!
It’s the 2025 season in Sweden. We’ve just won the league with Kalmar FF again after the most exciting final game of the season every! But hang on? What’s going on here?
Yes. I’m no longer manager of Kalmar FF. I’m at Hammarby IF who, last season, finished almost midtable in the end after dropping out of the title race early on.
But I think I need to go back a bit and explain. Because this may have appeared to come out of nowhere!
My contract was running out with Kalmar FF. They were building up their reputation but the sponsorship would take longer. At the end of the season there was an opportunity to join Malmo and Hammarby as both sacked their managers. I wanted to manage Malmo given they were the biggest team in Sweden and I could build something big there.
Another reason I left Kalmar was the need to sign players under 23 that the board insisted on sticking to. It was impossible to build a decent squad with this rule in place so I wanted more freedom. Malmo and Hammarby would offer that.
I had interviews with both club but Malmo decided against employing me. Hammarby, on the other hand, did want me. So I took over the second biggest club in terms of sponsorship money, stadium size and ability to attract players to Sweden. My new goal is to make Hammarby bigger than Malmo! Only one thing stands in my way: Kalmar FF
The teams that I managed to build looks good. There are already players there that will do a job for us so I brought in a few of my own players.
Jonathan Lindseth joins for free from my old club Kalmar as a backup midfielder. He’s a useful impact sub.
Kazper Karlsson was arranged before I arrived as a par exchange but he is young with bags of potential and fills one of the home grown positions in the starting eleven.
Finally, there is Alexander Jallow. He cost almost half a million and will be used as some competition for the DR position.
This would be a good chance to see how the squad plays in competitive matches but with easier opposition. I was pleased to see them dominate winning all three games.
A more serious and difficult challenge came in the quarter final as we faces Malmo FF. The team that had turned me down! I wanted revenge and to show them they made a mistake. I was a Hammar now!
I took great pleasure in beating them 4-2. It showed we were able to score goals but were still a bit leaky at the back conceding two goals. How would my old Kalmar team have done?
The Semi-Final would be against BK Hacken. A close match but we did come away as winners with a score of 2-1. A final in the first season. Could we go one step further and win the cup, which we failed to do with Kalmar?
The final would be played in a few months time against Djurgardens IF after we’d played most of the league matches.
The biggest problem here is the number of goals we are conceding. So I do the usual thing when I notice this happening. I look to the training and practice defending more. I also let the players know I’m not happy. I held meetings with the defenders to let them know they need to improve. Finally, I look to the transfer market. And to my surprise, I manage to sign a few players who will arrive mid season.
The players who are joining us are all joining on free transfers. Their contracts are running out and because our league runs from February to November, we pick them up mid-season for free when most of European leagues finish.
The first one through the door is Swedish born Hjalmar Ekdal from Tottenham. He’s 26 so wouldn’t be allowed at Kalmar but an epic player who will also count towards the home grown quota. Very pleased with this one because it took a bit of persuading!
Next was Davide Bettella. Italian born but another player who could fill some of the gaps in the defensive line. He and Ekdal go straight into the starting 11.
Finally, and this one is one of those opportunities that you can’t pass up on, is Juan Carlos Hernandez. An 18 year old striker. He looks decent now and he’ll only improve! Our biggest problem here is keeping him!
And with these additions we instantly start seeing improvements. July 2025 was 3 wins from 4 conceding only once against Malmo! August was also decent winning every game. And this turn of fortune (down to me, I must add!) means we find ourselves back at the top of the table. 7 games remain and it’s between us and Kalmar!
The title race goes down to the final five games. We are leading Kalmar by 3 points with similar run ins. I hope it isn’t like last year!
Game One
Game one of five sees both teams win with a two goal advantage. We beat recently promoted Falkenbergs 2-0 away while Kalmar beat, also recently promoted, Varbergs BoIS 3-1 away.
Game Two
A surprise to everyone sees us lose 1-0 to Mjallby AIF AND Kalmar lose to Svenska Cupen winners Djurgardens (I didn’t mention that before but we lost to them in the final)
Game Three
A crazy game three sees Kalmar beat BK Hacken 2-1 while we find a last minute winner against Varbergs BoIS. They did actually score in added time only to have the goal disallowed! A bit of luck there and we go to the next game meaning a win would make us champions! Quite a story after such a torrid start to the season and finding ourselves midtable after 6 games!
Game Four
We do win 1-0 against Djurgardens IF making up for the cup final loss. Kalmar also attempt to close the gap to us but given the goal difference, we are as good as champions. There is a 20 goal difference between us and Kalmar so unless we lose 0-20, we’ll finish first.
Game Five
Both teams win their final game but we are crowned champions. I’ve won three of these now in a row with Kalmar and now Hammarby.
What does next season bring? Another league title? A Cupen? More from the Champions League!
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