Malmö is last in the SHL table – but coach Thomas Kollar’s confidence …
Steady:
– As long as you are the director of the club and the most responsible for the sport, it is safe, says Patrick Selfegaard.
When Malmö fired Joakim Fagervall in January, his assistant Thomas Kolar took over. He made sure that Malmö avoided the playoffs by a good margin. Only six teams got more points than Malmö under Kollar’s management and the scoring average rose to 1.48 with Kollar compared to 1.16 with Fagerfall.
This spring, Malmö chose to sign a new two-year contract with Thomas Kolar.
After a flying start, Skåne fell down the table and was last after defeats against Rögle and Oskarshamn.
There are two main problems.
1) scoring at home, as Malmö only made one three-pointer in 13 attempts and 2) losing the lead at the end of the games.
The matches against Oskarshamn and Rugel are just two examples where Malmö took a two-goal lead and then lost both.
Coach fired from twelve years
Now there is speculation in some quarters, including Radiosport expert Per Svartvadet, whether Tomas Kolar will be the first SHL coach to be fired. That will not be the case, according to club director Patrick Selfgaard, who is also responsible for sportsmanship:
– We have complete confidence in Kollar, this is not where he sits. I removed him as a player once and appointed him junior coach and then athletic director on the junior team. I have followed his entire journey and have great confidence. “We’re safe there,” says Silvigaard.
Isn’t that something they always say?
– I fired one coach (Fagervall) during my entire time at Malmö (twelve years) and now that’s enough. If we look historically, things get worse, says Silvegaard, and it doesn’t matter if it’s hockey or football:
– That’s not where he’s sitting. It’s one thing if we didn’t play well, but we did. We’re playing Oskarshamn and obviously better than Rögle. We’ve been together for a few years now and there’s clearly anxiety, but we’re welded together by this.
So will Kolar stay if I stay?
– Yes, as long as I am the manager of the club and the one in charge in terms of sport, it’s safe.
