This is the time to Believe

Då det råder en viss nyhetstorka just nu publicerar vi en gästkrönika. Skribenten Johannes Björklund bor i England och känner att svenskan fått stryka på foten under några år utomlands och har därför valt att skriva på engelska. Men vi ser detta som att vi bidrar till lite folkbildning. Fram med ordboken och håll till godo!

This is the Time to Believe
“Even in our sleep, pain which cannot forget
Falls drop by drop upon the heart
Until, in our own despair, against our will,
Comes wisdom through the awful grace of God.”
(Aeschylus)

When we celebrated promotion last year the atmosphere and belief around the club was that the future was bright. We had come through the worst of times and we were on our way back to where we belong. We knew it wasn’t going to be easy nor did we expect our progress to be quick. But slowly and steadily we would develop and return to Allsvenskan stronger and better than we had been for a long time. That’s the feeling I had one year ago and it is a feeling that is ever stronger today, despite this latest setback.

You may think I am crazy but for the first time in a long while I see in OIS an ideology, a road-map to success and that gives me hope for the future. The focus on developing young talents with a philosophy of attacking football, befitting “Lirarnas Lag”, is an ideology I firmly believe in and something I think OIS is trying to implement. If you don’t know the recent history of Southampton F.C. then I suggest you do some reading because their story has certain similarities with ours. In 2009 they went into administration and were relegated to the third tier of English football for the first time in 50 years. The club was sold and the new owners implemented a distinct new philosophy. Their success was to be built on home-grown talents and a philosophy of attacking football. It took the club 3 years to go from League One to the Premiership and while I don’t suggest OIS will be able to match this instant success, I do believe their example provides us with a guide to how we can once again be successful. (I recommend this article by Erik Niva for further reading about Southampton:http://www.aftonbladet.se/sportbladet/kronikorer/erikniva/dokument/article17686562.ab?teaser=true).

The response of the club to this latest setback will be crucial to determine any future success. If we get scared and diverge from the new path we have started on, if we focus on cutting costs rather than increasing revenue then the club will once again endure tough times in the near future. This is not the time to be cautious because we ran into a wall. This is not the time to be scared because our failure hurt us.

This is the time to run faster and be braver than ever before.
This is the time to construct a plan around our ideology and then convince old and new sponsors to invest more than ever before.
This is a time to see every day as a new opportunity to raise money and revenue for the club.
This is a time to re-launch Örgryte IS as a club who believes in their young players and who, no matter what the opposition or conditions, play attacking, attractive football.
This is a time to tell the world that IFK, GAIS and Hacken may play in higher divisions but OIS will play the best football and will do so with young, local talents.
This is the time to convince players like Jonas Bjurstrom and Hannes Stiller to join us and be part of something great.
This is the time to encourage all our key players that this latest setback is only a minor blip on our journey back to the top.
And, this is the time for every board member, coach, player and supporter to be brave, proactive and believe in our club.

There is a way to be ambitious and smart at the same time. We do not have to risk our economy by investing in players nor do we have to spend big to facilitate our success. What we need to do is ensure that everyone associated with the club works harder and with more purpose than ever before. The club should encourage every supporter to buy next years kit by designing it to resemble the traditional OIS kit (The correct red colour would be a good start). Every season-ticket holder should be allowed to bring a friend for 40kr. These ideas might be terrible but the point is that every supporter needs to dig in and contribute as much as possible. Let the ideas flow! Friends, comrades, fellow idiots who fell in love with this team, this is not the time to be negative; THIS IS THE TIME TO BELIEVE.

//Johannes