2021 did not turn out to be what Örebro SK had hoped for. Far from. The team finished second to last in the Allsvenskan, on 18 recorded points, and will play in the Superettan next year.
Recently, the club has evaluated the season and what went wrong, and according to information to Fotbollskanalen, a previously unknown detail is one of the things that is believed to have contributed to the flop year. ÖSK had a new head coach ready for the past season, a coach who then left at the last minute.
It’s well-qualified Stuart Baxter that’s about it. He signed a multi-year agreement with Örebro last winter, the Football Channel learns. Then, however, he was contracted by Indian Odisha, and the idea was that the then ÖSK manager Axel Kjäll would lead the team during the pre-season before Baxter could join before the Allsvenskan premiere and Kjäll take the step over to his sports manager role.
Axel Kjäll himself was eager to leave the head coach job before 2021 to invest wholeheartedly in the role of sports director, and therefore the club thus began a recruitment process that was thought to have ended when Baxter put his signature on the contract.
But there was no return to ÖSK, which the Englishman played for and which was his first club as a coach (1985). Shortly before Baxter was to come to Örebro, he withdrew and broke the contract agreed by the parties, for personal reasons.
It was the start of a coaching circus that has rarely been seen in ÖSK and the Allsvenskan. Axel Kjäll was allowed to continue as manager, but the spring was not a success and before the European Championship break, the team was last in the Allsvenskan. Then Vitor Gazimba was brought in as the new head coach, on a contract over 2023.
But it did not solve anything in terms of results. With eight rounds left to play, ÖSK acted again. Gazimba was fired and Marcus Lantz came in instead on a short-term contract.
When ÖSK now has to take a step back in the Superettan, it will be with a new coach again. Hottest name right now? Former Hammarby coach Stefan Billborn.
But it could have been Stuart Baxter who would now enter his second season with ÖSK after the comeback.
The football channel has contacted Örebro’s CEO Simon Åström, who declined to comment on the information.
– No comments, says Åström about Baxter.
But were your plans for 2021 shattered by the fact that a coach you had finished dropped out?
– We have of course evaluated our season and there are several factors behind why it has turned out the way it has. But for various reasons, I can not go into all of those factors.
During his career, 68-year-old Stuart Baxter has been the national team captain for Finland and South Africa, and he has coached clubs such as AIK, Helsingborg and Kaizer Chiefs.
The football channel has contacted Stuart Baxter for a comment.
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