According to AIK President Robert Falk, Bartosz Grzelak lost the team’s confidence before he was fired.
Now the former AIK coach is speaking publicly for the first time since he had to leave the club.
“I was a little sad when I read it,” Grzelak told Expressen.
Bartosz Gerzelak was kicked out of AIK In August, after the team lost 3-0 in the European League qualifiers against the Slovakia. Last week, President Robert Flack came out on Olof Lunde’s podcast and said one reason for the decision was that Gerzelak had lost the team’s trust.
– I personally received such signals, and other members of the Board of Directors received such signals, that the participating team did not have complete confidence in it. He said: It is a serious matter. He continues:
– but exactly that the signals came from both the team leader and his assistant to several board members and officials – which is not good.
“Not the signals I got”
Grzelak hasn’t previously spoken about the breakup, but in an interview with Expressen, the coach now said Falk’s statement surprised him.
– I was very surprised when I read it. Those weren’t the signals I got from the players before the expulsion or after Robert Falk’s statement. I also did not receive any comments from management in this process over the summer that there would be any dissatisfaction with the team or other problems associated with the sport. It is sad that this was the case and it is unfortunate that I did not have the opportunity to correct it in any way. But then it’s like that. There may be players who are unhappy or feel offended that in my leadership I place high demands on discipline, ambition and a high level of standards.
Grzelak continues:
– If so, then it must be so. I can’t walk away from my ideals about how to coach a football team in terms of leadership. If so, so be it. But I didn’t get any signs of any resentment among the players. Then it is always the case that when results are not going your way, there can be many reasons why results are not going your way, and so you start looking for reasons for that. I also do this as a coach in various things, it is human nature to find the cause, preferably the cause, but things are more complicated than that. I’m surprised, to sum it up.
“I did my best”
The former AIK coach says he got the message after returning from the Czech Republic and the only reason he gave himself for making the decision was “a bad trend in terms of results”.
Thus, Falk’s statement disappointed Grzelak.
– Yes, of course. I don’t know and he has to answer that if he misinterpreted or received incorrect information. I do not know that. But he may have received information indicating that, but I didn’t think it was polite to go out and discuss things like that in detail. I don’t think you should do that either. I struggled and did my best for AIK every minute of that time during my two great years at the club, as well as as a former assistant coach. I was a little sad when I read it.
Grzelak also says in the interview that he “fell on his feet quickly” after he had to leave and that he does not currently have a new job.
Falk has reportedly apologized to Grzelak for his statement.
– I wouldn’t have talked in such detail about AIK’s internal operations or how we came to that. It should have stayed indoors. I spoke to Bartosz and apologized to him for this, he told Expressen.