Sunday 5th March I walked in to my quarters in the office block by the stadium to meet up with Bengt Madsen and some of the other staff. It was an absolutely freezing day, about 1 celsius, I had bought a huge coat with me from England but it would probably be wise of me to buy a better one! He welcomed me with open arms and introduced me to the director of football, his name was Hasse Borg and he shook my hand. Next was Anders Johansson he was one of the two assistant managers at Malmo, he impressed me with his tactical knowledge and his determination to the Malmo cause, he jokingly asked me if it was cold enough in Sweden, everyone laughed as I must have looked freezing when I arrived. We all sat around a big oak table and discussed the amount of funds available for players and for wages for the coming year that I’d be in charge. I was pleasantly surprised to know I’d have some money to play with, even if it wasn’t a great deal. I’d need to send my scouts out far and wide if I was going to find talent on the cheap.
Twenty minutes in to the meeting came a rather large fellow called Alf Westerberg, he was dropping papers everywhere and didn’t even apologise to anybody for turning up late. I was surprised to know he was the second assistant manager at Malmo, I greeted him kindly even though his ignorance would not be forgotten. I asked both of my assistants about the talent I had at the current squad and decided it to be wise to take a backseat for the friendlies. I’d watch from the sidelines and hope my presence would urge the team on to victory, I had no problems with Anders taking control of the team as he seemed to be a very balanced character and would get the best out of the players.
After the meeting, I had a private chat with Bengt Madsen about Mr. Westerbergs future at the club, he was a 63 year old man who hadn’t impressed me from the off. I was sure one assistant manager would be enough and decided to terminate Alfs contract with the permission of Mr.Madsen. He let me know that Westerbergs career at the club had been winding down ever-since they bought in Anders Johansson. Madsen advised me to look in to the possibilities of employing more coaches of a high pedigree so the current team and the potential stars of Malmo could grow in to a strong squad which could compete to a much higher level.
So that was my first job, to scan the footballing world for coaches with a greater ability to some of the deadwood I have at the moment.
