I have been reading books for as long as I can remember, and would probably classify myself as a bibliophile. But that has not been the end of my hang-up on books, and the thought of writing a book someday followed me throughout my adolescence. As my football interest grew, so did my wish to publish something about my favourite team—IFK Göteborg. I found my soul mate in John Pettersson, who had the same idée fixe. We knew that we wanted to write about IFK Göteborg’s history in European football, and had even set a title of our presumptive book (or atleast I had), “Kan ni höra våran sång?” (“Can you hear our song?”), from one of the supporter chants. But we also both knew that without a driving force we would never finish a book project.

That’s when we by chance discussed this idea with an acquaintance, Mathias Henriksson, and his friend, Andreas Kjäll, in Malmö before an away game in 2011. Mathias had the idea of writing a 40th anniversary book for the supporters’ club (founded in 1973), and Andreas was a professional writer, already having published a book. Mathias was the driving force we needed, and we went to work—researching existing material, looking through microfilm archives, interviewing people, finding photographs, and writing. We wrote 20 percent of the book in the first three years, and 80 percent of the book in the last months before release. I worked over 40 hours some weekends to get all texts finished before deadline, writing until my eyes could barely keep open.

But we did it. Mathias and Andreas did the real grunt work, but there would have been no book without all four of us. We were published, the book was printed in almost 2,000 copies (most of which have now been sold), and over 500 of them were pre-ordered even before the book was finished. Vi som är från Göteborg åker aldrig hem med sorg was published in March 2014. It received favorable reviews by Göteborgs-Tidningen and the Nordic Sport Science Forum, it was mentioned by “Gomorron Sverige” on SVT, and we were interviewed by P4 Göteborg on Sveriges Radio.

Soon eafter, I was asked to write a chapter for the coming 110th anniversary book of IFK Göteborg, a supplement to the 100th anniversary book published ten years earlier. A request that I could not refuse, and a big honour. This book, IFK Göteborg 2004–2014: nu fortsätter vi att berätta historien, was published in December 2014. I have not had any texts published in anything with an ISBN since, understandably as I have not made any try to get published again. The book project was heaven but also a little bit of hell. I do have plans to write another book sometime in the future, though. I just need and idea, time, and a driving force.

Publications

• Elisson, Johan; Kjäll, Andreas; Pettersson, John; Henriksson, Mathias (editor) (2014). Vi som är från Göteborg åker aldrig hem med sorg. Göteborg: Supporterklubben Änglarna. ISBN 978-91-637-5138-7.
• Elisson, Johan (2014) “Blåvitt i sociala medier“. IFK Göteborg 2004–2014: nu fortsätter vi att berätta historien. By Josephson, Åke; Jönsson, Ingemar. Göteborg: IFK Göteborg. ISBN 978-91-637-6596-4.