Swedish season - the end of the line , and the winner is .....

the end of the Swedish season - as the Arctic winter approaches with a few extended comments for those who keep a weather eye on the Swedish game or, have visited on previous occasions.

He may be 36 now... but Anders Svensson is looking forward to European football next year after Elfsborg took the Allsvenskan League title in final game at the weekend.

As their midfield dynamo, Anders plays a dominant role and even scored 2 goals in last week's games - (including one that is in for the Swedish Goal of the Season). Despite letting an 8 point lead slip away after the summer break to strong, late challenges from Häcken and Malmö, Elfsborg came with a flurry at the end and went into the last game needing only one point to secure the title. They actually drew 1-1, but it was enough.

Häcken's attack netted 67 times in the 30 game season, but despite winning their last game had lost some vital games earlier in the season and ended up in second place. 2 points behind.

Sadly for them, Malmö couldn't get the better of AIK in their last game, losing 2-0 to AIK (who had the best defensive record in the league). Unfortunately, AIK's front line has been short of real firepower and despite losing only 5 games all season, they had drawn 10 of their fixtures and ought to have been good enough to win the title themselves.

The draw sickness also affected the country's two best-known sides; Gothenburg and Djurgården (in Stockholm). They both finished as poor midtable sides and played out 12 and 13 drawn games (respectively).

At the bottom, Gothenburg side GAIS (some fans may recall the friendly summer game there in Strachan's time).. finished a miserable bottom - having won only one game all season.

Örebro will go down after their very disappointing season and the play-off for the remaining place will be between Gif Sundsvall and the third-placed Halmstad outfit from the Superettan to join the two already promoted sides Öster and Brommapojkarna.

End of the season's report and a quick thanks to those who have been in contact during the year - (but now we concentrate on Saints' future.)

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Happy for Anders. really nice guy when met him in Riga! Hope he manages to play some 2-3 seasons more.