Part MMCXXVII of the Björklöven saga

Some fuckers just don't know when to give up. And for that, Björklöven should be eternally grateful. The club has officially  managed to avoid being wound up and will continue to exist in its current shape. The question is now Where?

As the club seized trading at the end of the season, Sundsvall was given their spot and was told they'd be playing in Allsvenskan the coming year. Sunsvall has of course been setting themselves a different budget and has been working to a completely different framework than had they not been promoted. It would not be fair or right in this late stage to backtrack and tell them to play in Division 1. This has of course had ramifications throughout the hockey league and it is hard to see where Björklöven will fit in.

There are a few obvious alternatives, all with their pros and cons;

• Björklöven is told they can stay in Allsvenskan. The division is extended by one team and more rounds will be played. This will create a scheduling nightmare (the first round has already been drawn) as well as an imbalanced division with an odd number of teams. This will then need to be rectified for next season and there will be another relegation spot.
• The club is relegated to division one. The above problems will be shifted downwards one division.
• The club is told to start from the bottom of the system. This will in effect kill the club off. The arena, owned by Umea municipality, will be too big to host regional division 4 games and the club will have to find another home. Getting back to a position where they would fill their old arena would take many years.

No doubt the Swedish Icehockey Association will find the most complicated and impractical solution to the problem. I am waiting in anticipation.

But how did this happen. The club was run down completely by the board and incredible amounts were paid out to staff and players in salaries even when it was known within the club that there was no more money to take from. Apparently, the wage bill was 1.4M SEK/month. Even though this is limited to 7.5 months of the year, it adds up to an awful lot of money for this level of hockey. I can see why KHL were flirting with them earlier in the season - at least they are up to speed in how to do it in the board room.

Completely pucked!

So you knobbers think I'm dead, huh? If only! I must admit of a certain greyish-whiteish paleness, but years of London life generally has that effect on your skin tone. In all fairness, I am currently somewhat of a zombie during the waken hours and could easily be mistaken for dead or at least soon-to-be-dead, but that it all down to work and other things I have a feeling I might get back to in the coming months. Can't be bothered now though.

Anyway, I'll sporadically be posting during the summer but the frequency of the posts will be cut for obvious reasons. I'm not going to indulge too much in silly-season speculation unless there is actually a good reason for it. I suspect there will be a bunch of posts coming either today or during the next few days as I have kept away for a while.

The undeath of a hockey team

First it was AIK who undeaded themselves by getting promoted to Elitserien, now it seems an outside chance that Björklöven might join the same exclusive club. No, they're not getting promoted. They're trying to undead themselves as well - and by all means, they don't seem too far off achieving it. Puckin' Hell had along with everyone else assumed that Björklöven was not only dead, but buried and slightly decomposed by now. Well, we were all wrong it seems. To paraphrase Mark Twain, it seems the reports of Björklöven's death has been somewhat exaggerated.

 

Apparently, the club has until May 12th to get their finances in order and businessmen, benefactors, companies and the public has managed to get a large proportion of the money needed for survival. In a last ditch attempt, the club is now issuing share options to get the last money. I will join the rest of all hockey lovers to wish them every success in this campaign.