Offener Brief Kim Wikström

Hello everybody. Most of you know who I am. First of all I want to say that it's not my job to start writing comments and opinions on Facebook as I'm a player. Instead of that I want to write an open letter how I feel about how things have developed in Adendorf, in my team.

I have experience from hockey since the beginning of 1990's. I have played in various leagues and various countries, and coached as well on the side. I have also studied hockey coaching and hockey management in Finland. All the experience I have gathered during the years by playing hockey and seeing different leagues and cultures have given me, in my opinion, a good point of view how things are managed and what are the challenges of running a minor league team.
The finances are always limited and all the teams have to be run with a tight budget. All the people don't understand what kind of a difficult job team management does behind the scene. And in minor leagues, there is usually only a few persons who take care of all the things, usually by sacrificing their own personal time and time with family. Other problem of being a manager is that there are always people who complain, speak shit behind the back and claim that they would themselves do the things better. My advice for people who complain about the job of Finn Sonntag. Try to do it yourself, and see if you will have a team after few months. Instead of complaining I challenge the local people to show up to the rink and offer your help to management, because the more people work together, the better hockey they will see. Maybe it's time now to stop the backstabbing and roll up sleeves start working in all same direction.
As a player of the AEC I'm very unhappy to see all this shit talking in the media about management not doing their job, problems with coach etc. This all just takes energy off from the players. Players should be only thinking about playing. And supporters should stand behind the team in any situation.
As a Finnish person honesty is the most important thing to me. And I can say that I have been treated well here in Adendorf, and I have good relationship with everyone, and I want to keep it that way. There are always small problems in Minor league hockey, and that is normal. I have asked honesty, and my questions have been answered with honesty. Finn Sonntag has helped me as much as possible.
I don't take part in the speculation what happened with the coach, because that is not my job. I'm only a player who tries to do his job as good as possible. Only thing that I can say is that during the last few games, when I have been looking at my teammates, all the guys have been playing with a clear mind and a smile on their face...the way hockey is supposed to be: a pleasure and most of all, a passion.
At the end I want to say to everybody: Let's quit the shit talking and let's all go to same direction. Team needs all the people more than before. That's why I'm challenging all the Adendorfer's to come and support the team. The guys deserve it!!
For the love of the game,
#91