Jonas Peterson stepped in as national team manager after Rikard Grip left the ski association after nine years.

But Peterson didn't last long - it was already known in August that he was allowed to leave, after only 143 days on the post. He tells Borås newspaper that the farewell came suddenly and completely unexpectedly. Peterson believes that the federal director Ola Strömberg felt that he listened too much to the riders and did not anchor his decisions well enough.

- I had to make some tough decisions, but that was my mission. It's not always convenient, it's never when you're in charge of an organization, he tells the magazine.

According to Peterson, length manager Johan Sares wanted him to push through changes. Something he understood would be a challenge in an organization he describes as very, very special.

The riders had criticized the whaling team and Peterson says his focus was to create an environment so that the riders could perform as well as possible.

- Does not deliver the riders, so the rest of the organization is not needed. I drove that hard and that's one of two main points I've been told afterwards - "you listened too much to the riders". But who are we to listen to if we don't listen to them?

"Is about the will to change"

When the election manager Urban Nilsson quit, and Peterson chose not to extend two of the embankment agreements, he describes that the mood was getting worse. However, he wanted new energy and skills, but understands that the decision shook their organization. He just highlights the events surrounding the whaling team as a reason why he was then allowed to leave the job, although he points out to the newspaper that the picture is bigger and more complicated.

- In my opinion, it is more about the desire to change as an organization. Should we dare even if everyone disagrees? As I see it, it is very much a management question - how open are we, what decisions do we dare make, who is it that governs really?

He describes an organization with cross-links, "sometimes more like a family than a traditional company". In retrospect, he thinks he was wondering if he should have played the game. But Peterson points out that there is a basic culture within the union that is a challenge.

The criticism of leadership within the union comes from several directions, and has been raised several times. Peterson has presented to both Ola Strömberg and the ski association president Karin Mattsson.

For Jonas Peterson, it was a great sadness, but he says that he received support from the riders - something that mitigated the grief.

Federal Director Ola Strömberg has said the following:

- We had too many differences and then we decided to go different ways.