“Aftonbladet is the best workplace in the world”
Forget Jorginho to Arsenal or Enzo Fernandes to Chelsea.
The biggest bombshell on deadline day was Petra Turin for the national team.
After 29 years at Aftonbladet / Sportbladet, the loyal work ant and bearer of the pink culture is today performing her last day with us before moving on to the ‘sprint’ and becoming press director for the men’s national team and the Swedish Football Association.
So let’s start with the classic question: How do you feel?
– amazing, a little sad, but at the same time inspiring. And I’m so grateful for all the lovely words I’ve received from my former teammates, future teammates, and people in football.
Aside from me of course (hihi), who or what will you miss the most on Sportbladet?
It’s always difficult to choose among the people you’ve worked with for many years. But there are three people who are particularly close to me: Michael Wagner, whom I have known for 28 years, who also works in Gothenburg and is a fantastically talented news journalist. I will miss all of our press discussions that we had throughout the year. Anna Riden, who was my “partner in crime” in skiing and women’s soccer. We have done an incredible number of trips these past years together and I will miss her company. So Simon Bank will always have a special place in my heart. We have a long history together as colleagues and friends, ever since we were at Borås Tidning. And Simon Bank is simply Simon Bank.
Your best memories from your time at Sportbladet?
– I don’t have a specific memory, but I’d like to recall all that camaraderie, spirit and rosy spirit that characterizes the Sportbladet. This ability to collaborate in order to achieve the best results for Sportbladet and our readers. I have fond memories of late evenings and nights when we were covering the national team when the print newspaper was important, and we called, put together puzzles and books to find a new angle for the next day. I’m about to cry now talking about it. I’m so thankful I got to try it and hope everyone in the workplace can try it out. I think Aftonbladet is the best workplace in the world, at least I think so. But I may have to re-evaluate that now when I start a new one (laughs).
I do not think so. Your worst memory from your time at Sportbladet?
– On two occasions during my time at the newspaper I was pushed into new assignments or pushed in a direction in relation to my role that I did not want. There were periods when I was very confused. But in retrospect, I’m grateful for that, too, because I learned an incredible amount about myself and it gave me important experiences that I took with me.
You’ve covered an incredible number of tournaments in various sports for Sportbladet – what’s the funniest thing?
– The 2010 Vancouver Olympics, when we were in the mountains in Whistler, a real ski resort, with the expected and unexpected successes of Swedish skiers and close to them. We, reporters and photographers, lived together in apartments that were right where they had their medal ceremonies and there were a lot of fans there.
“I practiced at home what you say.”
Why are you taking this step?
– I had a really good time at Sportbladet. But it’s incredibly inspiring to try a new path after 34 years as a journalist that’s still very familiar to me. I have been constantly pushed to evolve, not stagnate, as a journalist or as a person. Now I have a new and very cool challenge that I have to accept.
What are you looking forward to in the new job?
Working with the national team – with Sweden’s top players, leaders and experts in different fields – will be very exciting and I hope to be able to contribute my experience. Media is an important field. But I also want to point out that 50 per cent of the job is as press director at the federation and being sincerely involved in the grassroots movement representing football and affecting so many people – women, men, children and the elderly – will be very important. Interesting, not least because I have already been involved as a youth coach for many years.
What did you answer when you asked the union if it would be problematic to work “against” your friends and colleagues?
– It is, of course, an issue that has been discussed. It would be strange otherwise. But they didn’t seem to see a flaw in the union. As president of the Sports Journalists’ Association several years ago, I was somewhat in the middle anyway and managed to handle it even though I was working at Sportbladet at the same time. If I didn’t have that role or platform, it would probably be more difficult to make the move.
1 out of 4Photo: Lars Rosengren
What do you think it would feel like to sit there on the podium and ask questions of old friends, colleagues and rivals?
– It will definitely feel very difficult in the first set. I was trying to practice what I say at home, haha. There will probably be some awkward laughter at first, but then I think everyone gets used to it quickly.
Many of us, watching the national team, believe that the national team is closing in more and more on itself and talking about openness and accessibility are mostly empty words. Today, it is not even reasonable to meet all the players during a meeting, while, for example, in the qualifiers for the European Championship 2016, we got to meet all the players (except Zlatan) once before each match, that is, twice. per meeting. What makes you want players to get easier when they get used to something else? What will you do concretely?
– We were now finally in the post-pandemic phase, which may have affected availability. But the basic position of the federation is that you have to be an open and accessible national team and that there is sensitivity to requests and I look forward to working on the path you have taken. Then we haven’t discussed such details yet, in connection with the fact that I worked at Sportbladet until today and hadn’t even started as a press director yet. So it is difficult to answer it now.
After all these years ‘on the other side’ – what would you like to change/improve in the relationship or ‘collaboration’ between the national team and the media?
Increase greater understanding among players and leaders about why certain questions arise. Perhaps this understanding is already great, but I still think that it can become clear to them that it is on behalf of readers, viewers and listeners that journalists ask their questions. Maybe it’s hard for them sometimes to imagine, when they’re sitting in the windowless catacombs of Friends Arena, that it’s actually the 14-year-old or the 65-year-old on the TV couch they’re talking to.
Kulusevsky is the best.
There are probably many of us football journalists who have covered the national team (or just me) who would have liked to see how Zlatan behaves/behind the scenes at the national team – do you hope he comes back again during your time as press manager to get that insight?
– I remember how I sat in a hotel basement in Borås with Zlatan himself for half an hour when he was with the U21 national team and he had just finished playing for Ajax. That time has passed but it is a time that never came back. It would be great if Zlatan came back in a way that made him relevant to the national team. But more for the national team than for me personally to have that insight.
Is there a specific player you would like to know more about? Who do you think differs from what appears in the media and on the field?
– There are some young and new people in the national team whom I hardly met even as a reporter because I haven’t covered the national team extensively lately, such as Dejan Kulusevski, Aleksandr Isak and Anthony Elanga.
Do you have a role model as a press manager? I’ve come across quite a few over the years, both in football and in other sports, foreign as well as Swedish?
– You can take the opportunity to point out a trend here where clubs and associations choose to recruit those they watch directly, such as Lars Markusson at SOK, Malin Vahlen at BK Häcken and Mattias Larsson at Malmö FF. So it seems that clubs and federations want to value that competence more and more, And those you mentioned worked fine.
Finally: Who is the best soccer player in Sweden?
– Diane Kulusevski. I voted for him on the Ballon d’Or jury last fall and I haven’t changed my mind since.
Finally: see you on the “other side”, Petra.
– We’ll do it! You’ll all put me through the hard work…but I’m looking forward to it.