One year on from Europa League stardom, Ostersund now attracting ‘hundreds’ of English castaways

Ian Burchnall had just made it through airport security. Lying ahead was a 15-hour voyage, including two flights and a hotel stop-over, before his squad completed the return from their Larnica training camp to subzero Scandinavia. This lengthy journey is standard when destined for a wintry bolthole like Ostersund. Up until a year ago, it was a trip many may have disregarded, and a place most still won’t have heard of. However, thanks to Graham Potter and an eye-catching run in Europe, more footballers now have the city on their radar than ever before.

“I get a lot of players contact me,” Burchnall told The Independent as he waited to board their first plane back. “And certainly from England… I would say hundreds. The phone doesn’t stop to be fair! That’s how it is. We have a good scouting network now and we’re quite clear about the players that we want.”

Ostersunds FK, who’ve existed just 22 years, have embraced the same plan and hungry ethos since 2010 and the arrival of “extremely ambitious” chairman Daniel Kindberg. They spend nothing on transfers, and bind their young squad together with unconventional methods – like performing in musicals. After marching to three promotions in five seasons, and reaching the final 32 of the Europa League last year, all under Potter, the Swedish club are reaping some deserved attention for their startling success.

It’s their popularity back in England particularly though which has had such a notable influence, and turned the side into a small refuge for English players whose careers have veered off the beaten track. Seven of Ostersund’s current squad are English, along with the last three managers and their accompanying coaching staff. That number will likely rise as more talented youngsters come to take notice of their come one, come all attitude as they rebuild for the new season. They’ve even recently lured the services of former Manchester United starlet Ravel Morrison, who was once dubbed “the best in the world” for his age by Sir Alex Ferguson.

“I think more and more, English players, and certainly those who are a bit younger and coming out of the academy; instead of falling down the leagues, they’re seeing possibilities to go abroad and challenge themselves,” said Burchnall, who took over in June. “A player that maybe hasn’t succeeded at one club can have success somewhere else. It’s all about the right environment and the right place you can nurture the talent.”

One example is Curtis Edwards. The 26-year-old had started off at Middlesbrough’s youth team, but after failing to establish himself eventually committed to work on a building site and playing part-time at Thornaby, a team in the 10th tier managed by his dad. Four years later, he’s now able to live out a version of his football fantasy in the Swedish countryside, with a raft of other English castaways. Last season he lined up against Arsenal in the Europa League.

“Obviously it wasn’t everyone’s dream to come and play in Ostersund,” admitted the midfielder, his Teeside accent still discernable. “Although we love to be here, everyone still has dreams to go and play where they’ve dreamed of playing when they were a kid. So everyone’s not happy to be here, although we enjoy it and we’re doing well. I think everyone has targets where they want to personally go on, and play at top clubs.”

For Edwards, that would be a return to Middlesbrough. Though Ostersund have proved they can be a force in Europe, there’s a burning ambition to return, and push even further. The hope for Edwards is that if they stay in the limelight long enough, it might seize the attention of his hometown club again. “We’ve proved that it can be done. If we fall short [of qualifying for the Europa League] we have to be disappointed in ourselves, because as a club we’re aiming to do that every year, and take a step further and win the league, and go into the Champions League. I think we’re always looking to improve and hit them heights.”

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While the number of calls to the manager’s office from prospective English recruits continues, the spotlight hasn’t necessarily been good for progress. When Burchnall came in last summer a pragmatic approach was needed to deal with the attention, as it lead their previous boss Potter to Swansea and five players out the door midway through the Allesvenskan season. The 36-year-old walked into a “pretty empty office”, and although he still jokes with Potter – a long-term friend, who he was recommended by and is often compared to – about leaving him a mountain to climb, he knows it’s no mean feat following in those footsteps. After steering the ship back on track, Ostersund finished their campaign in November just one place and a point below the season prior.

“Graham has set the bar really high, and I want to be able to continue that, but it’s going to be a new team next year and it’ll take us a little bit of time to build us right up,” said Burchnall. “Now the club is very stable and it’s now got new expectations. But at the same time we still have to rebuild because the players we lost we can’t bring players of exactly the same level, and at exactly the same moment in their careers. So we have to, if you like, do the same again and follow the same process, just be patient, so we have to put the same kind of players in and develop them up.”

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With so many Englishmen in one tiny European city, it’s a surprise one worry that hasn’t strayed across many minds is Brexit. Ostersund’s opening game is 31 March, just two days after Britain is expected to leave the EU. If disaster strikes, could pre-match preparation consist of an impromptu trip to the nearest embassy 350 miles away in Stockholm? “I certainly hope it’s not a problem, because we’ll have no coaching staff and half a team for the first game of the season,” laughs Burchnall. “So I’m sure it won’t affect us, and if it does that’s a new problem I’ll have to face. Maybe it’s some extra paperwork to do, but it’s not something I’m losing any sleep over, put it that way.”

“I haven’t really thought about it,” says Edwards. “It’s not like you’re watching the news in Sweden and they’re going on about it so much, so you’re kind of out the way. Now that you’ve mentioned it, I might be staying awake all night thinking I’ll be shut out the country in a few months! I’ll have to send you a text at four in the morning, saying I’ve woken up f***ing having nightmares. I’ll have to go back to Thornaby.”