David Preece: Mothballs, snowballs and big decisions hanging in the balance - the inside track on what happens when the football season ends

The sound you make walking through freshly-fallen snow is, I’ve found, satisfying to some.
The Jamtkraft Arena.The Jamtkraft Arena.
The Jamtkraft Arena.

I’m not too fussed about it, myself. I must have grown too accustomed to the mix of crunch and squeak to find it that novel.

The snow signals the end to the season in Sweden with a big white, fluffy full stop.

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Not that snow deters anyone from doing anything here, but the blanket of it covering the pitch is a good metaphor for the close season. There’ll be no more football at the Jamtkraft Arena for another four months.

Time to get the mothballs out.

It’s not quite time to come home though. We still have plenty of work to do to tie up the loose ends of this year and prepare for the next.

Difficult, when the club still has a decision hanging over it as to whether the football federation decides if any of the club’s current woes have breached the terms of our licence to operate in Allsvenskan.

Take your pick amongst the varied reasons, which include our treacherous financial situation and waiting on our appeal to CAS against a two-window transfer ban handed to us over a contract dispute that involves the aborted transfer of Saman Ghoddos to SD Huesca in La Liga.

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All before I joined here – he went on to sign for Amiens in Ligue 1 and over a year later and the Spanish side’s ire still rankles on in what should have been an open and shut case.

As for the season itself, the positivity around the team’s much-improved performance over the final few months was dulled by a last-day trouncing in Gothenburg, but we can put that one down to the massive release of the pressure felt by everyone as we were dragged into a relegation battle that was all but staved off by a 2-0 win at home to Sirius, amid wild celebrations three games from the end of the season.

Not all successes travel on an open-top bus and whilst in many ways it’s been as disappointing as it’s been tough, the club’s commitment to the manager Ian Burchnall has been repaid with survival.

Four of the 16 Allsvenskan clubs changed manager during the course of the season, with two of them being relegated and another surviving by a play-off with the side finishing third in Superrettan, the league below.

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And of the bottom four sides, it was Falkenberg who survived on the final day of the season; they were the one side with a clear philosophy. Albeit a more rudimentary one, but remember what I’ve said about having a clear style of play and sticking to it? Where there’s stability and foresight, there’s always a chance.

So in a year that saw 14 changes of playing personnel and two new members of the coaching staff which included myself and a new assistant coach, the ship has been steadied.

On our side of things at least. Young footballers who are playing at this level for the first time have found their feet and broken free of the constraints that pressure puts on performance.

Despite a very young squad already, we face losing three players with the average age of 29 so I might need to take a course in childminding!

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But the potential in the squad is tremendous and if the club can steady their own raft, even if the cupboards are bare, we can fill them with our optimism.

Right now though, the gameless weeks fill you with a sense of aimlessness. It’s a strange feeling you’re left with until you recalibrate yourself to the different type of work that lies ahead over the next few months.

Hopefully, I might even get along to see a couple of games at the Stadium of Light whilst I’m here too.

Well, it’s either that or sit and watch It’s A Wonderful Life for the hundredth time and drink snowballs. I’ve got a bit of thinking time though.