Marcus Ericsson after Vita Husten declared bankruptcy
Marcus Ericsson, 37, has played nearly 20 seasons at Whitehorse.
After the news of the club being declared bankrupt, he felt most of what he could feel.
– You are sad, cursed and disappointed. He says you can mention any number of feelings.
When Marcus Ericsson checked the bank account on Monday, he realized it was bad.
White Hästen’s loyal servant, who was aware of the Allsvenskan hockey club’s financial problems, never received a salary.
– When the salary was not in the account, I understood that it was bad. You must have hoped to the end that it would be possible to save, but the more time passed, the more you understood. It was probably something I was a little familiar with, Erickson says.
The 37-year-old and the rest of the squad were called into a meeting in the Ice Hall on Friday. There they were informed that White Hästen had filed for bankruptcy.
– It’s a very sad day. You are sad, cursed and disappointed. You can name as many feelings as you like. But above all, you are very sad for the association and a disappointment and a curse for not managing it the right way, he says.
“You shouldn’t call…”
Eriksson feels that communication regarding the club’s financial problems has been good during the season. After the season, however, the players fumbled somewhat blindly.
– I shouldn’t call and ask why I haven’t been paid. It must come from the “damn we have a problem” association, because they know it. You are disappointed in that. He says it is horribly poorly managed and it shouldn’t happen this way.
You must add to the equation.
Eriksson says the Norrkoping-based club should have the conditions to run the hockey business in Allsvenskan.
– We have never had such a large salary budget, we are not exorbitant in any way. We’re well located in the country with flights, we don’t have a lot of overnight stays and we have an average of 2,000 people in the stands. Somehow you have to add to the equation. He says it should be possible to play Allsvenskan hockey in Norrköping on this basis.
continued:
– But you don’t know why. They should investigate that and hopefully get some answers as to what the hell went wrong. It would take a lot to go to hell like this, but somewhere something went terribly wrong. You have not received any information about that and you may never receive it. It’s not well managed, you can just see that, he says.
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Eriksson is somewhat synonymous with the club for which he played 19 seasons in the A team. But now everything points to him doing the latter. Because no matter the outcome of the White Horse, he says he is “100% certain” that he has played his last game for the club.
But the career continues.
– I want to have something ready decently soon so you don’t have to sit around and wait. I have family and children here and I thought I would base myself in Norrköping. I don’t pull everything out, but then I’m the one who takes off on adventures or if you can find something within walking distance. He says the idea is to keep going.
A club that could be a substitute is Södertälje, something Länstidningen Södertälje reported.
For the Sportbladet, Ericsson says it’s a hot option.
– Close to Norrköping, a well-established and up-to-date association. I had a chat with Emil[Georgson, sporting director]so we examined the situation a bit. We’ll see what that can lead to. He says it would definitely have been a good choice.