There was no talk of this issue.
The return of SSL will only be celebrated in a nice nightclub with a bar.
The cool thing?
Alex Kilbris, 30, booked the party without the management staff and most of his colleagues’ acquaintances before getting the promotion.
Now the AIK star is charging for another season starting with a Sweden Cup match against Djurgården.
Three trophies are laid out on a table in the dressing room. One of them is large enough to cover parts of the club crest hanging behind it.
They stand there and remind the players every day of the club they play for. if AIK Globe Successes in the Swedish Superliga, SSL, and in Europe.
But that was a long time ago now.
In the past four seasons, AIK has played in Allsvenskan. Alex Kjellbris shared all of them. He came to the club in 2012, won SM Bronze, left SSL and has now led AIK back into the Premier League again.
“I immediately thought after the promotion whether I should continue or if my job was now completed,” says Kjellbris, a veteran of the club.
Did you see that as a task?
– This was the prevailing feeling in all the Svenscan years. There were many of us who stayed when we left SSL. It will only be a year and then we will be back. But then another year went by, another year and before last season we brought in some good players. We felt that if there was ever a year we could succeed, it was then.
“Wouldn’t have been happy”
There is no mirror in the gym for the players. The exercise bikes were oriented at an angle toward the indoor athletics facility, where the laughter of the youngsters resounded.
On Court A in Solnahallen, where AIK will train, futsal is played. The gate until the stands creak. The player spends the goalkeeper and everyone starts cheering.
Kjellbris smiles as he looks at the pitch and talks about the promotional party that he and two of his teammates secretly booked even before the SSL comeback was complete.
“Before what became our last qualifying match, we felt we had to do it, and then we didn’t want to be left without a reservation at a nice nightclub with a bar counter,” he says.
It turns out that the trio’s sentiment was correct. With a strange goal, they defeated Leylan and won the final match 3-0 in the matches.
The party started in the dressing room. The players sang and sprinkled champagne. Teammates and management staff were still aware of the evening’s plans. Continue the party at Kjellbris’ house before it’s time for the cocktail table at the nightclub.
– It was a late and chaotic evening in the city. We celebrated properly.
What do you think coach Magnus Jäderlund would have thought if he found out before the match that you had already booked a promotion party?
– He would not be happy, so Kilbris replied and continued:
– But we had to book in time. And now we won, so it’s okay, he says with a smile.
But that night he was happy with what I arranged secretly?
– Yes Yes. Follow him along. There were some management staff who were in the nightclub and had a good night.
AIK Style: Being a Gentleman
Early in Kjellbri’s career at AIK, he learned that as a player in “Gnaget” you have to be a certain way. Sports journalist Lasse Granqvist, who had several roles within AIK Indoor Bandy and was inducted into the club’s Hall of Fame, often visits the dressing room and tells us what it was like.
– You must be a gentleman. You must greet all the staff working around the hall. When we are away on trips, you should greet the bus driver and all the other staff who help us with, say, the hotel. No hats or hats are allowed indoors. It’s a bit old school.
Kjellbris loves it. Together with some of his older colleagues, they try to preserve what Granqvist once gave them.
We tell little boys that you shouldn’t be on the phone when people are talking and that a hat or hat shouldn’t be worn when we are eating.
Life in general in AIK Indoor Bandy is nothing extra. With the salary from the club, players don’t drive around in any expensive cars or buy any fancy villas.
He works during the day and trains in the evenings. The scheme differs from other SSL teams that are now more established.
– I know Storvreta has morning training sessions on weekdays. This is when people actually have to work. Circumstances are slightly different.
“Immediately arouses feelings”
After a long pre-season, competition season is here for AIK. They started with the derby in the second round of the Swedish Cup against Djurgården. For Kjellbris, who has been an AIK player since he was a kid, this double meeting is more than just two games.
There are some of us on the team who are super rodents. If you see the club crest of Djurgården or Hammarby, it immediately evokes emotion. And the Djurgården we’re up against now with the team they have, anything other than us is a failure.
You can watch the second leg match between AIK and Djurgården with Aftonbladet Plus via Sportbladet TV.