This morning we wrote about the importance of Christian Gustafsson getting more people to care about IK. About the voices that can keep hockey alive beyond conversations among those who are already convinced.
Now there is another initiative to get behind: IK's documentary series Lilla Neapel, which premieres on the club's YouTube channel on 23 October.
This deserves attention. And it adds nuance to our own criticism. We cannot call for a more enterprising club and then look away when IK actually opens a door.
It is the initiative we welcome here. We are not reviewing the quality of the first episode.
More reasons to care than a scoreline
Those who already love IK rarely need an explanation of why hockey matters. For others, the team may still be a few names in a league table and a ticket they occasionally consider buying.
A behind-the-scenes series has the potential to narrow that gap. To show the people, the work and the daily life that a match highlights package cannot contain.
There is a difference between knowing who scored and feeling that you want that particular person to succeed. That is where a project like this can help. Not by promising more victories, but by giving more people a reason to follow the team when things are difficult too.
Of course, it does not replace better defending, wiser decisions or a stronger squad. But a club needs to work on more than what happens during a game's sixty minutes.
Oskarshamn can be more than a backdrop
In Barometern OT's report, Stefan H Lindén, the Oskarshamn native behind Eagles among other productions, talks about the ambition to show another side of the club and the town. According to the report, discussions about the project have been under way since the spring.
So this is not a hurried response to today's debate. It is work that other people have invested time and effort in long before we wrote our morning column.
And it is precisely that local connection that makes the project interesting. We do not need to borrow someone else's story to be worth following. There are people, places and a history here that deserve room to be seen.
At the same time, a series made in collaboration with the club will have a different perspective from independent journalism. Both are needed. The documentary can open doors, the newspaper can ask questions, and we supporters can keep offering opinions, supporting the team and demanding more.
We hope the series is also willing to show the uncomfortable parts. Happy players and polished messages alone do not make anyone wiser. People become interesting when we see something of their daily lives, doubts and efforts, not only when everything goes right.
The students make this bigger than hockey
One detail in OT's report deserves particular attention: students from Oscarsgymnasiet's media programme are helping to make the series.
That makes the project interesting on another level. The club becomes more than something young people are supposed to follow or buy a ticket to. It also becomes a place where they can gain experience and meet people working in an industry they are curious about.
In the report, Lindén describes a desire to give something back and help others get closer to their first job. That is easy to support.
A local club helping to create such opportunities has value in itself. Not everything needs to be measured in goals, league positions or the number of people who watch the first episode.
Make it easy to come back
We also believe a series like this can give sponsors something more tangible to connect with than advertising space. People, places and local roots are easier to engage with when you can actually see them.
But the premiere is a beginning, not a finished result. What matters is continuing, making the episodes easy to find and giving anyone who discovers the team through the series a straightforward route to a game, membership or greater involvement.
We will not pretend to know how many new supporters it could bring. We do know what we want to encourage: a club trying to reach beyond its usual circle and involving people who can contribute something other than hockey.
This does not give IK a free pass from criticism. We still want a better team on the ice and a club willing to take the initiative in other areas too.
But when something moves in the right direction, we should say so.
Lilla Neapel is one such initiative. Give the series a chance. Tell someone who does not already know the entire line-up by heart.
That is where the really interesting opportunity lies.