Hammarby’s new coach Jakob Michelsen enjoyed an impressive start to his reign and, after losing just twice in the opening twelve rounds, Green and Whites established themselves in the top half of the table. The only reason why Hammarby never really troubled the leading four sides in these early months was that they drew exactly half of these opening twelve games.
Unfortunately for Michelsen, his players lost their focus during the summer break and they restarted the campaign in July with four defeats in their first six outings. This quickly dampened the ambitions and, as early as August, Hammarby knew that they are safe from relegation, but too far behind the leading teams to challenge for anything. This realisation saw the motivation dropping and Hammarby failed to finish in the top six only because they won just 2 of their last 10 games.
The gaffer can be partially blamed for the bad second half of the season as he was active in the summer months and the 8 new players he signed, while allowing 6 to leave, needed time to settle. Still by the end of the year veteran goalkeeper Wiland was shining brightly, the new main holding midfielder in the 4-1-4-1 formation Jeppe Andersen also impressed, while the 20-year-old striker Svendsen scored 6 goals in just 10 games and he is the main hope for the future.
All that said, the outright player of the year was centre-back Paulsen, he was the first player Michelsen signed upon arrival in January, and the tall Dane not only orchestrated the back four very well but he also scored 8 goals to become the most productive defender in the entire league.
