It's hard to write this. Not because GAIS is good. They're not. But after 45 minutes at 3Arena, it's almost hard to be particularly angry at them either. Because sometimes you meet a team that's simply better. And sometimes you meet Hammarby on August 23, 2026. The first half is one of the best I've seen an Allsvenskan team perform in a long time. Unfortunately, it's not GAIS I'm talking about. Hammarby plays football at a level that GAIS is simply not close to. After 45 minutes, it's 2–0. You should probably be most glad about that. It's also a rather unusual feeling. The past few years, GAIS has been joking us with being able to match the opposition almost always. But today, there's very little of that. Hammarby is simply better. Much better. And somewhere, there's actually something quite nice in the ordinary. GAIS spent 11 consecutive seasons without playing Allsvenskan football. For most of that time, the problem was hardly that it didn't happen enough. Then came 2022 and suddenly the club decided to catch up on about a decade in a few years. First up from Ettan. Then up from Superettan. Then a success as a newcomer, a third place and European play for the first time in 36 years. Somewhere along the way, it went from being glad that GAIS existed to becoming a bit annoyed over a draw against Brommapojkarna. It goes fast to get used to good things. So, at some point, you must have a completely ordinary season too? A season where GAIS neither gets relegated from a series, gets promoted to a series, shocks Allsvenskan, or qualifies for Europe. Where you win sometimes, lose sometimes, and on some Sunday, you go to Stockholm and discover that Hammarby is very much better at football. That still says something about how far GAIS has come that this can now be considered a mid-season. A few years ago, a stable Allsvenskan existence felt about as far away as a cheap beer at Gamla Ullevi. Moreover, I'm not even sure that this season is particularly mediocre. Result-wise, it's on its way to being GAIS' worst Allsvenskan season since their return. Considering the circumstances, it could also be one of the more impressive. And no, I won't draw the injured player card again. There's been enough written about tendons, cruciate ligaments, sales, and European play to fill this column for the rest of the year. We know what GAIS has had to handle. The interesting thing is rather what hasn't happened. GAIS hasn't collapsed. It's just become a rather ordinary Allsvenskan season. And after 11 years of misery followed by a few years where everything seems to need to be a success, it's actually quite nice to have one like that too.