“The best thing is to decompress”
Malmö. He’s been laying low for four months, turning down TV offers and returning to MFF and Senior Football.
Today, Ola Toivonen gave his first interview after ending his football career.
– The best thing is to get rid of the press. He eats you.
Last week it was announced that Ola Toivonen would return to Malmö FF as Assistant Sports Director and Offensive Coach.
Then we haven’t heard a peep from the 36-year-old since he put his shoes on the shelf after the end of the Allsvenskan at the start of November.
– Old footballers told me: Take your time, think about what you want to do, listen to people, travel and make time for your family, says Toivonen when he meets the media today for the first time.
That’s exactly what Toivonen did for nearly four months. There was a trip to the Maldives with the family and a trip to Holland to meet old friends and visit former club PSV Eindhoven.
“The days go by quickly.”
But the former striker only thought for a few days after Daniel Anderson called him in February and asked if he wanted to be his assistant.
Subsequently, the attacking coach role in the first team was added to the centre.
– The first priority, of course, is to be available to Henrik (Ridström) when he wants me to take part in training sessions. But the priority is also not to miss anything important when Daniel is doing something. But so far things are going well.
Toivonen, who will sit in the stands at games rather than on the bench, speculates that he will attend one or two training sessions a week as offensive coach and that most of the time will be spent in the position of assistant sports director.
– You have to dig deep into those pieces. The days go by so fast you have so much to do
Isn’t it hard to train with those you played with just a few months ago?
– Yes, it’s a little difficult. You should have a little more distance than you had before.
Not for the agent or the expert
Many of Toivonen’s old friends on the national team have become television experts in recent years, such as Sebastian Larsson, Mikael Lustig and Olof Mellberg.
He himself was an SVT expert during EC 2021 and admits he had offers this winter to become an expert. But he ignored them.
– It was fun when you were on the air. But then there was a lot of dead time everywhere. So that was enough.
The role of an agent was not interesting to Toivonen and he did not want to become a “real” coach.
He would prefer working in other parts of football, as a sporting director or a private coach like now.
– Why not share with others the knowledge and what you have gained through football; To be able to share that with players like (Sebastian) Nanase or Taha (Ali). How we’ve worked over my career with art directors. It doesn’t have to be the hardest shot. The goal is big enough to shoot past the goalkeeper. things like that.
From the outside, does that mean you’re going next door to Daniel now for a year or two and then you take over as athletic director?
– Nobody is ready. Maybe you should ask Daniel about that. It is also important how much Henrik wanted me to be an attacking coach. So far, it has nothing to do with it.
Works indefinitely, not under contract.
Did you say anything about how long you’re going to be an assistant athletic director before he’s evaluated?
– no.
Missing the community
Did you miss being a player?
– No, but I can miss society. I watched the videos when they went out and practiced at the beginning of the season. Then I didn’t really feel like it. I was sitting on the couch (laughs).
Toivonen is sure he will miss the adrenaline rush of matches when the season gets underway “for real”.
– But the best thing is to get rid of stress. himself on match day.
Was it hard, do you think?
– He’s eating you.
Even after the matches?
– Well, because then you know you can have a glass of wine or a hamburger. But the next day you’ll be at it again. That pressure of yourself to take care of yourself 24/7.
Have you had too much wine and hamburgers now?
– Yes haha.
Confirms hiring hunt
MFF had difficulty scoring goals in the Swedish Cup.
You always want to score more goals. I think we got into good situations against Degerforce and played a good game in general. But we’re a little out of sync when it comes to the publishing game. But we only have three competitive games in the new season. There are new relationships and patterns. I have to get to know more about the way Henrik wants to play.
It was rumored that the multinational force was chasing reinforcements into the attack.
Are reinforcements aggressively needed?
– Yes I think so. But maybe you should ask Henrik and Daniel more about that.
After all, you are both an attacking coach and an assistant athlete. I thought you were perfect for answering that?
– They are responsible. I think they’re looking at a few different options, to be honest. So we’ll see what happens in the end. Maybe no one will come.
But are you in the process?
– Absolutely. It’s exciting, says Ola Toivonen.