Having finished in 10th place in 2019, Helsingborg were not widely tipped as obvious relegation candidates. However, they never recovered from a poor start of 1 win in 13 (W1 D7 L5), finished in 15th place and suffered automatic relegation.
They lost 4 of their opening 5 fixtures, but then went on an undefeated run of 7 matches (W1 D6). Failing to win consecutive matches all season, they could never escape the bottom 3 places in the Allsvenskan.
In mid-October they decided to keep the club afloat by selling their prodigy Gigovic to Rostov for £2.25m rather than keep him for the relegation fight. They immediately slumped again taking only 2 points from the next 6 fixtures. Amazingly they won 4-3 on the final day at Norrkoping.
Helsingborg were plagued by injuries all season with the goalkeeping slot spread between Lindegaard, Nilsson and 18-year-old Petterson. Their talismanic defender Granqvist only played the opening fixture and was out for the duration of the season.
The midfield was reasonably settled with Svensson claiming 6 goals from 29 appearances. Abubakari, Diskerud, Hendrickson and Ceesay also made solid contributions but with little reward.
Van den Hurk was a regular starter and top-scorer with 11 goals with Andersson and Jonsson often deployed as support. When they won, they won well, but simply not often enough.
Coach Mellberg resigned immediately as relegation was confirmed with a game to play. The squad is now set to break up as Helsingborg face life again in the Superettan. At least the Gigovic money should cover existing losses.
