Scott Jamieson confident of IFK Gothenburg improvement

The ex-Western Sydney Wanderers full-back was pleased with his first season in Sweden but expects to improve next year

Scott Jamieson reckons IFK Gothenburg never truly recovered from their Europa League qualification failure in August but the Australian left-back is convinced both he and his club can improve in 2017.

The 28-year-old is back in Australia following the completion of the 2016 Allsvenskan season and told Goal Australia that he is "really happy" with how he started his Swedish sojourn.

Jamieson joined IFK in August and was thrown in the deep end by coach Jorgen Lennartsson, making his debut within a week of arriving in Sweden in the Europa League play-off first leg against Qarabag.

IFK won 1-0 at home but lost 3-0 in Azerbaijan a week later to miss out on the Europa League group stage.

It was a big blow to the proud club, who are two-time UEFA Cup champions but haven't qualified for the Champions League or Europa League proper since 1999-00.

"When I got there all the effort and the energy was going into try and make Europe and when we got beat it was a kind of a comedown for the few weeks after that in relation to the league results," Jamieson explained.

"You know, we struggled for a bit and looking back that disappointment of getting knocked out of the qualification for the Europa League it just put a dampener on things."

IFK failed to win away from home in Sweden's top flight for two months after the Qarabag defeat and eventually finished fourth in the Allsvenskan - 10 points adrift of third-placed Norrkoping.

Jamieson reckons that result was "probably justified" but he is bullish about IFK's hopes for next season.

"I think with the expectations that come with playing for the club, and the expectations from the supporters, I know they weren't happy with fourth. So I guess that's an exciting thing because we'll be looking to improve, definitely," he said.

Jamieson played 14 games in all competitions after arriving in Gothenburg.

"I think with the conditioning and stuff that I went into it - I mean, I was preparing for an A-League season, which wasn't starting for another nine weeks - so considering all of that, I was really happy," he said.

"I feel with a proper pre-season and a proper integration… I can go off that good base that I've [built up] the last three months and kick on."

The former Western Sydney Wanderers defender will head to Sweden on December 10 for a mini boot camp before returning to Australia for the holiday period.

IFK's pre-season proper begins early in the New Year with Jamieson set to report for duty on January 2 before the squad fly to Dubai for a training camp.