IFK Göteborg’s board has been led since 2021 by chairman Richard Berkling.
Photo: Carl Sandin/Bildbyrån
With a few minutes left in the 2023 Allsvenskan season, Adam Carlén’s late winning goal against Varberg IFK saved Göteborg from qualifying for the super league in November.
At the same time, the fact that one of Sweden’s biggest clubs was involved in the battle for the bottom was not an isolated incident.
After being a steady top team for many years, Blåvitt has lost ground since 2016 and as the best finished on 48 points. The average position in the Allsvenskan during the seven-year period thereafter is 10th – and last year’s listing with 34 points is the second worst.
Blåvitt’s weak seven-year period
Season Points
2014 56
2015 63
2016 50
2017 37
2018 31
2019 48
2020 34
2021 41
2022 45
2023 34
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The cancer course has created more and more questioning among the association’s members – not least this winter.
Among other things, the board received criticism from former board member Anders Almgren. Another person who reacted is member Johan Nerman, 42.
During the winter, he attracted attention in blue and white circles when he published a documentation of how IFK Göteborg lost to its competitors in a number of areas, both sporting and financial, over time.
Now Nerman is one of six members which proposes a new election committee in time for the annual meeting on 11 March.
– We want as bright a future for IFK Gothenburg as possible. All members want that. We believe this proposal can get us there, he says.
This is what the challenger proposal looks like
Olof Myhrman, is proposed as chairman of the new election committee
Former board member of IFK Gothenburg. Lawyer and former sponsor of Blåvitt.
Adam Arvidsson
Former head recruiter at Spotify who now runs his own recruitment company.
John Pettersson
Former chairman of Supporterklubben Änglarna and secretary of SFSU (Swedish Football Supporters’ Union).
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The election committee defends the board
The background to the proposal is the current election committee’s defense of IFK Göteborg’s current board.
The nomination committee now consists of the chairman Fredrik Abrahamsson (since 2019), Marcus Toremar (since 2013) and Jörgen Wistrand (since 2019).
Toremar has announced that he will not stand for re-election before the annual meeting.
IFK Gothenburg’s board has been led since 2021 by the chairman Richard Berkling, who has also been on the board since 2018.
When the proposal for re-election of the board was published on Blåvitt’s website, it was motivated by the fact that the selection committee had carried out a “thorough evaluation”, and that both Berkling and the rest of the board “actively contribute” to “developing and professionalising” the club.
Johan Nerman is skeptical of that analysis.
– In the election committee’s communiqué, the content is approximately that they have spoken to the board and everything is fine. Not a word about the recently expired business plan. Anders Almgren’s criticism, which it must be said was remarkable, was considered “lacking significant relevance”. They ignored a legitimate concern about where IFK Göteborg is going. If the trust didn’t end before, it ended there, he says.
At the same time, he wants to point out that he has respect for the people in the election committee and trusts that they have good intentions.
– These are people who put a lot of time into a completely non-profit mission and did it with IFK Göteborg’s best interests in mind. I think you should remember that regardless of where you stand on the issue, he says.
“Why not do something?”
When asked what the members who come forward with an alternative hope to achieve with a new election committee, he says this:
– The question is why shouldn’t you do something now? If you only look at the hard facts, everything really speaks for a change in IFK Gothenburg. One can look for excuses for the fact that the development has not been positive. That other clubs have better stadiums or whatever. But in black and white, the results have not been in line with the conditions. Neither on the pitch nor off, he says.
– Those who, on the contrary, argue for continuity are the ones who should have to justify why we should not change, says Nerman.
A total of eight members are behind the proposal. Johan Nerman says that the group has been working on it for some time and has spoken to a large number of members who they hope will support the change of election committee next week.
IFK Gothenburg’s annual meeting takes place at the Elite Park Avenue Hotel at Kungsportsavenyn on March 11, starting at 6 p.m.
2024-03-04 09:02:32
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