Updated on 22.19 | Published on 22.13
HV71 Thomas Montaigne kicks twelve rounds in the SHL.
For critical sporting director Kent Norberg, this was a difficult message to deliver.
– I suppose my role was also discussed, he says.
There was a change at HV71 after the 8-0 loss at home to Malmö last Saturday.
Coach Thomas Montaigne, who has a contract until April 30, 2025, could leave after just twelve games.
called Montaigne
Athletic director Kent Norberg, who hired him last spring, made the announcement Sunday.
– It was a good conversation. Thomas is a damn good person. We were hoping this would be an arduous journey, but unfortunately it ended today. He says the board makes the final decision, but obviously I was consulted.
-As Thomas’s immediate superior, I also have to make sure that the people working are in good condition. After yesterday, it was very difficult for everyone to continue to be able to do a good job.
How did he receive the news?
-Thomas took it well. We talked for a while. Considering how things turned out in the end… I wouldn’t say it was liberating for Thomas, it certainly wasn’t. He won’t give up. But at the same time he fully understood the decision that had been made.
“Not the safest seat”
Kent Norberg took over as sporting director at HV71 in the spring of 2022 after 18 seasons at Timrå and three more in the Frölunda organization.
However, the sporting director has not had the impact he wanted on team building and is being questioned by his supporters.
Are you worried about your own job?
– I suppose my role was also discussed. It’s a matter of course when it looks the same. The council is the one that decides whether I will be dismissed or not. As long as I don’t hear anything from there, I’ll keep driving and keep fighting. I never gave up and I wouldn’t now, no matter how dark it got at times. “I can turn it around and say I’m not the safest sporting director in Swedish hockey anyway,” he says.
Club director Johan Lindbom is stepping down from his position as head coach. Were you involved in that process in terms of who would jump into the booth?
– Johan and I sat and talked a little yesterday, actually after the match, about some things. Obviously I was there. He was there last year and we work well together. I like that Johan is coming down. The name when we looked around was the best choice.
“More energy”
How many options were there?
– There really wasn’t anything. But from then on it went very quickly too. We were hoping to win yesterday. But that’s the way elite sport is, and yesterday’s match means it will be very difficult to continue as it is.
Are you starting from a new bullet now?
-You have to remember that elite sport is sometimes very difficult, even if we know what we have gotten ourselves into. Sometimes you have to be made of steel to keep up with them and Johan is obviously going to come down now and I think Johan has more energy than Thomas would have if he came down tomorrow. This is where we have to start and then we have to make the players believe in it again.
