Malmo. MFF is looking for a new coach.
For the seventh time since 2013.
Here, sporting director Andreas Jorgson talks about why Milos Milojevic was fired and the search for his successor.
Milos Milojevic Last Friday, he was fired from his position as an MFF coach after just over half a year in the position.
Now the man he recruited, new sporting director Andreas Jorgesson, has taken the job.
Temporarily?
The ambition is that we have this organization temporarily, and we are absolutely certain that it will even be able to enhance performance and become better and more stable. When we have an alternative that can move the process forward in the long run, we move on. But there is no deadline for that, says Georgeson at a press conference after his second session as the head coach of the MFF.
Athletic director Daniel Anderson has now stepped down from his “position” and has partially taken over as Georgeson’s director of sport. But Georgeson is still heavily involved in signings, sales and loans, not least the appointment of a new coach.
His first match as coach will be a Europa League qualifier match on Thursday at home against Dideling of Luxembourg.
There will be no “new” MFF stepping into that match.
– There are very slight changes. These days, it’s mostly about updating the details. Milos and the team have done a good preparatory job, so this group is ready for more performance.
Will there be changes that spectators will see with the naked eye?
– You’ll see that on Thursday.
“It helps us to be long-term and wise”
When Georgeson got into the reason for Milojevic’s expulsion, he said:
– We’ve been up and down. We didn’t get the stability that our player material and expectations demanded. Since we know how this world works: then the wheels sometimes turn fast. They still want to get that good position with Europa League qualification and the Olsvenskan title race remaining. In order to bring about a change of direction and a more stable future, this change is being made.
The club’s management has been under pressure in recent weeks.
It’s everyday life with social media and more media pressure, not least the expectations of this bigger club. The results of the past decade leave us with an entirely unique outlook. You also still have a chance to win SM gold and get out in Europe which means the patience of those around them is getting shorter, both from the supporters and the media. It is enough that half is bad and almost everything is wrong. Rotating on social media doesn’t help us be long-term and wise.
But shouldn’t you be against it as club management?
– one hundred percent. This is not the reason to make the change, but it could affect the team and the device during the period of poor performance. We should be pretty good at turning it off, but obviously some things always get there.
Was Milojevic given more time? That he was about to go a few weeks ago when he incurred three straight losses?
– we will. I probably don’t want to comment on that. There is an ongoing debate about where we are going.
“Of course we are disappointed.”
Does the coach or club management decide how the MFF plays?
– The model is very clear: the coach determines the playing style, training methodology and team selection. It’s hard to get it any other way. It should be the sole responsibility of the coach. But there are a lot of people in the process. You have a staff and a club where there are discussions over time about the right direction and how we want to be seen in terms of play and identity. But in the short and short perspective, there’s no doubt: the head coach is the boss there and the athletic director is the long-term boss.
Is there any part where Milojevic didn’t meet your expectations?
– No, I wouldn’t say that.
Was it the uneven results and performance that got him fired?
– yes.
If Zalgiris hadn’t fired you, would Milojevich have stayed?
– It’s a hypothetical question.
Jorgson took over as sporting director last winter and Milojevic became his first major recruit.
How much is this failure for you?
– Just like that with changing lanes, (the appointment of Milojevic) was not my decision. It was a joint decision. Of course, we are disappointed that we had to change coaches after seven months. May tore our momentum and rhythm this season. Since then, we’ve been having a hard time settling down, finding our way, and dealing with frustration because the offers haven’t been consistent. You obviously look at yourself in the mirror and think: Hell, why are we here seven months later? Maybe we could have been better at some things, while we weren’t expecting others.
Why did you take over as coach and not Daniel Anderson, who jumped in in 2018 when Magnus Persson had to leave?
– I can’t answer that. It was not my decision. I am an association man and when the association asks if I can help with that, I do.
“It would be stupid otherwise”
No MFF coach has been in office for more than two years since the departure of Ricard Norling in 2013.
But the high turnover of MFF coaches isn’t something that apparently scares coaches from wanting the job. Of course not, according to Georgeson.
– There are many vacant coaches. There are many who communicate. We have a good team, a whole city behind us and a lively and bustling pause. All of this makes us more attractive to people I didn’t expect to be attracted to the job.
Can you go and get a contract coach?
Not without solving the contract (smile).
Can you say something about the type of trainer you are looking for right now?
We talk a lot about wanting to build an identity where we play football faster and faster, where we can train and play at a higher intensity. This is how we believe we can compete with teams with larger portfolios. We also want to build a unique community and strength in the group where you take care of each other but also demand of each other. In those two things, we want the next coach to push us to the next level.
We also want to develop games and players with a mindset where we believe we can do more than we actually think. This is the profile.
Is European gaming experience important?
– It’s a wish. You participated in matches in Europe and the domestic league at the same time. It’s nice to have that experience, as it is with experience running a club where there is as much interest and high expectations as here. There is more in the requirements profile but we won’t have it all. So we may find a perfect coach who does not have this experience but who has a lot of other good things and then you have to underestimate this part (about experience in European matches).
– Now it is necessary to compile a fairly extensive total list and then reduce it to fewer and fewer. We look very widely abroad and domestic. There are good trainers in many places.
Only one of the six newest MFF coaches (with the exception of interim solution Daniel Anderson for a few matches in 2018) has been a Swede. But according to Jorgson, it could be the Swede who takes over the MFF.
The Swedish coaches are doing a really good job.
You had a list of candidates last winter when you finally settled on Milojević – will you come back to it now?
– It would be stupid otherwise because we did a lot of basic work there. Then some of them got a job, or maybe the timing doesn’t seem right now. But you obviously start there, says Georgeson.