Heikin’s top scorer in a big interview after the gold medal: ‘Footballers want to stand behind’
Guthenberg. There is SM gold that you win, and there is SM gold of your choice.
Alexander Geremjev chose to stay when he could go.
It doesn’t always happen as you think or wish, but the feeling is completely unreal when it does. Then you stand here and paint with gold, says Häcken’s Archery King.
Hacked BK Hacken And I went to Malmö FF. He found his way back to BK Häcken and went to East Germany. He came home to BK Häcken and ended up here, in a plaster-covered space inside Gamla Ullevi’s changing rooms. Golden color all over the body, large champagne bottle in hand. 22 Allsvenskan goals under his belt, and a new SM gold on hand.
Did he think he could succeed?
– Before … Well, no, I don’t think I ever thought it was possible. So he’s sick. To stand out in a team that wins SM gold, say that to a twelve-year-old. Is there such?
Alexander Geremjev shakes his golden skull. When he was twelve years old, Häcken was barely present in the realm of the senses.
– You almost had no idea. They were just Pluvettes, Oys and Jays.
Now there is Häcken too, and not only that. they are the best. Jeremejeff himself sat in Gamla Ullevi and watched them win historic SM gold in the most obvious way imaginable. Beating the mighty IFK Göteborg away, 4-0 and the Big Brother massacre directly.
Surely that was the missing thing, to beat Blåvitt here?
– It’s obviously a rivalry encounter, but it doesn’t matter much. It was more when we were nine points ahead of Djurgården, and then we wanted to win. But obviously, can you do that…
“When I left, we were good too”
I think more about the value of the signal. You’ve shown that you can beat Stockholm clubs in Stockholm, and historically IFK has always been a match when Häcken doesn’t win, but collapses and gets crushed.
– There was some feeling now too, in the first few minutes, that it was going to be hard…
…for five minutes? So you absorb that stress?
– It’s been like that in every match, it’s just so crazy.
He exhales, and notes with a sigh that it has been a very long season. When it’s all over, it’s all simple and clear: Häcken won because Häcken was the best and most confident, because Jeremejeff carried goals almost all year. He himself highlights Sirius away (1-0 in stoppage time) and Djurgaarden away (1-0) as key matches that made him feel that perhaps, after all, they could go all the way.
It wasn’t clear that he himself would stand here.
It wasn’t clear when he left Häcken, it wasn’t clear when he struggled with adversity earlier in his career, and it certainly wasn’t clear this summer. After a spring where he scored goals, there was interest from clubs both abroad and Sweden, Hammarby was one of the interested parties.
But Häcken wanted the contract extended, and Alex Jeremejeff eventually wanted to stay.
why?
The answer: the gold that runs on his chest and stomach, and he must wipe from the corner of his mouth.
How close are you to Hammarby this summer?
– None of that was really close. Obviously I thought, I discussed it with my family, but then I decided to do it, to win the shit. It is possible that people have experienced it themselves, and that you make a decision regardless of the consequences, and you support it. Then it doesn’t always happen as you think or hope, it doesn’t happen every time. But the feeling becomes completely unreal when it happens. Then you stand here and paint with gold.
– In the summer of 2019, we were also good when I left. After that, I felt like sometimes you have to be a little cooler. This year the feeling was stronger. You don’t get many opportunities like this. I won before, but then I became part of a team. This was too good to be off, I wanted to see how far it would go. I dare to believe in myself, in the team, in the players.
“A frame with an inferno engine”
If there were four of you, would you have made the decision to stay? If he was okay.
– Exactly exactly. Because I had made my decision. And what happened in the last few weeks, with all the focus on other things… hopefully it will go away after a while and that’s how you remember this.
In fact, Alexander Geremjev was already sure when he returned to Heisingen last season:
– Then he said – I can only get one goal, we have to win SM gold.
How about Hedge made you feel this way then?
– That was how I felt, but then there was a slap in the face last year. It’s sad to say it then, when you win, but that’s how it was.
There were many of us who just went during the fall and waited for it to be as it always was: to fold the Häcken, because they are Häcken.
– It was almost the opposite, we just got better.
Have you experienced a difference in the Häcken you are now in, compared to the two previous sessions at the club? are you tougher
– I wouldn’t say that. It also depends on the type of group. Some of those carrying have never come here before. There is a body this year that has a lot of motivation to get better. It doesn’t matter how old you are, you stay after the training sessions and discuss the details. Despite our good performance, we always talked about what we could improve.
Is it just about personality types, or about group dynamics?
– About one plus one becomes three. It is a personality trait, while it is triggered by the fact that others are the same. It’s hard to know how someone should react, in a situation like today, for example. To see them grow up from him, it’s unbelievable.
Looking back, it seems simple. Hovland is clearly icy cold, or Rigaard is a crazy bastard…but maybe you didn’t know that before?
– exactly. An example is Malmö recently, when I was expelled. Even (Hoffland, centre-back) ends up taking the wrong path and playing the ball inside his team’s penalty area, to Samuel (Gustafson) who can hold on and turn the game around. Such things cannot be revealed.
“Like when we drive away in Stockholm…”
I thought it was important for Häcken this year, to be able to play that football then, with one less player.
– We almost got better… It was the same when we went 1-0 up in the first half against AEK. The attitude in the first half was that we had to score more goals. will be one Mentality Which makes us feel genius.
All this talks about “Häcken football” – people are tired of it, but you showed exactly what you mean. Like Samuel Gustafson, as well as Simon, who seems to spoil everything in a positive way. They dropped the ball, but they refused to stop daring…
– Just like that. Like when we lead 1-0 away in Stockholm… “I have an old man with me, but give me the ball, I want the ball, don’t send it away”. Wipe on everyone else.
That you yourself went the wrong way and played deeper during the fall, was this a conscious thought or did it happen that way?
– At the end of the season, the opponents changed a lot, just how they treat me. They have seen what areas we want to get into. Especially against Djurgarden away, it was a match where I tried to dribble a lot to gain supremacy. Then the Djurgården trio became completely confused as to who they should take. So we won that way.
Mark the whole fall by turns in your game.
– Exactly, they’re starting to run a lot of man-to-man against us. Then we started “Ibra” (Sadiq), and then they couldn’t let go of the edges either, because then he got one-on-ones. Then it opened in the middle again. It is a game of chess.
After defeating AIK in Round 27, there was much talk after talk of Jeremejeff’s war of words with John Guidetti, in which he allegedly called AIK “a pipe”. Then came the inexperienced dismissal against Malmö FF in Round 28, with the next stoppage against IFK Göteborg.
Did you have any negative thoughts after that?
The Malmö game was probably the worst of my career. I thought “Have you ruined this now?”. Also because it was a situation that I didn’t think happened the way they said, I got a red card for a facility that wasn’t there, and then I and I will be punished. If it had gone to hell, it wouldn’t matter what you did to the team before. This is what I felt.
“The football that people want to leave behind”
But she succeeded. With ten men against Malmö FF, away against big brother IFK Göteborg – Häcken continued to play football, and went on to win. So it doesn’t look too embarrassing.
Gold-Alex takes off the golden cross hanging from a chain around his neck, spraying bubbles and screaming in a hoarse voice. Then he talks about a very special small club of champions, about those who have spent more time than him. Like Eric Freiberg (“With his dad and everything, he’s too humble to be realistic”), like Thomas Anderson, Sonny Carlson, and Dennis Anderson.
Now that they’ve won the gold medal, several players (plus coach Høgmo) are said to be a high match for other clubs with bigger muscles.
Did you talk about the future in the team?
– Obviously there will be ripples on the water. Look at the stands now. They sing in the warm-up period, they will become more and more. And with the football we played… it’s football that people want to be late for.
Maybe a lot will disappear now, is the organization equipped for that?
– It’s hard to say. This depends on Which which disappears. Regardless, I hope the identity remains, this family feels Sonny, Dennis, and Thomas Anderson have grown up. It is a family club, where you can develop it in your own way. You can be who you are, it’s a broad framework, but you have to be a good person and take care of your friend. This is how we evolve together. In other clubs, you get pushed into a model, and if it wasn’t you, you wouldn’t fit in, no matter how good you were. I hope Häcken continues to accommodate these players, allow them to be themselves and become their best self.
There are drawbacks to being small, but there are advantages as well. Was the hedge able to get the most out of it in its own way?
– He’s there. It’s what built the club. It’s easy to look at others, but you have to see who you are. It’s part of the key, that we have the feeling of family on the team. Nothing too big, nothing too small. I’ve felt important during the year, but I also feel like one of the crowd. I think everyone does it, and I haven’t tried it in other clubs. There is a hierarchy, but it still does not exist. It’s unique, I think.
‘Football is weird’
You are 29 years old, and you are moving forward now.
– That’s the ambition, I said when I got home – I wanted to bounce. That’s what tickled a little bit this summer. But I have a family and children, there was a sense of security …
– And football is weird. You can step in from behind, and that’s it.
Alexander Geremjev shrugs his golden shoulders. He’s won gold before, but this one’s special. He’s a scorer, he’s carried Häcken all the way here, and in a way that couldn’t have happened until now. He talks about the long road here, and how he had to take it.
– I had no background, no one could teach me or give me experience.. At the beginning of my career I couldn’t handle the outbursts I kept on, but I can now. Last year I felt I shouldn’t feel sorry for myself but I should do the best I can. It’s such a shame it didn’t cross my mind until now, when I’m 28-29 years old.
But she came. This summer he had the opportunity to choose something else, to aim for other horizons, but he stayed.
Eric Freiberg hanging out with a can in hand, Tobias Sana crawling through the party, the locker room replacing lousy music with even worse. Alexander Geremjev remained and was gold-plated. There is no better place to be than here.
– He’s so crazy, who would have thought that?
