The recruitment of Henrik Rydström happened quickly. Just a few weeks ago, he was fired from MLS club Columbus Crew, and talks with Hammarby were ongoing for just over a week before he was presented on Friday.
If you fall in love, you fall in love, there's not much you can do about it (laughs). I've thought a lot this spring about what environment I want to work in. With Hammarby, there were a lot of things that were checked off my list, so I felt that if I didn't take this now, I'd regret it, says the new Hammarby coach.
What attracted you to Hammarby?
There is an opportunity to be the coach I want to be. There are many similarities between how I want to play football and how Hammarby wants to play. I don't need a job to support myself right now; that says a lot about how attractive this was to me.
After his time in the USA, he is now looking forward to helping shape Hammarby.
I'm too old to waste time being an obedient idiot on a team where someone tells me to play a star even though he's training poorly.
Hammarby entered the World Cup break fourth in the table, having lost their last three matches. But Henrik Rydström does not want to set a target for a specific table position when the Allsvenskan season is concluded.
You have to talk about what you can control. Last season it turned negative very quickly in Malmö, when it was actually Mjällby who had a damn good season, and this year it is Sirius who has started incredibly well. Then you have to be careful and look at what we are doing to make sure that we continue to be good at it or develop something else.
