Finland; Nordic Failures To Nordic Force

[FM_TNSSO]

Finland; Nordic Failures To Nordic Force

Finland have lived in the shadow of their fellow Nordic countries for years and years! Sweden are undoubtedly the most successful Nordic country, having finished runners up and third placed in the 1958 and 1994 World Cups and more recently made the quarter finals of the competition this year! They're seen as a team to fear in any international competition! Denmark are not far behind them and have qualified for the World Cup on 5 occasions, although they've never been past the quarter finals (1998). Denmark have however won the European Championships once, back in 1992, the only Nordic country to win a major international tournament! Norway have been to the World Cup 3 times and the Euro's once, whilst Iceland have emerged over recent years, qualifying for both the 2016 European Championship and 2018 World Cup!

On the other hand, Finland have never qualified for the World Cup despite 19 attempts through the qualifying stages! Only Luxembourg have had more failed attempts at qualification (20). Finland have also had 13 attempts at qualifying for the Euros with no joy either! In fact, the country have played a total of 233 qualifying matches and only won 59 of them!

In terms of current world rankings, Finland are the lowest of all the Nordic countries in 63rd place...behind the likes of Mali, Honduras and Bolivia! The other Nordic countries are ranked as follows; Norway (51st), Iceland (32nd), Sweden (13th) and Denmark (9th).

Over the years, Finland have produced some decent players in the football world, many of whom have plied their trade for some of England's biggest clubs. Players such as Jari Litmanen, Mikael Forssell, Sami Hyypia and Jonatan Johansson will all be names that most football fans will be familiar with!

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As far as domestic football goes, the Finnish Premier League has been dominated by one club over the past 10 years...Helsingin Jalkapalloklubi or HJK as they are better known, have won the title 7 of the last 10 seasons! They still finished in the top 3 on 2 of the other occasions! In fact, HJK are the record holders for the most times winners of the competition with 28! They've also won the Finnish Cup more times than anyone else with 13 trophies to their name. Despite all that domestic success though, they've never done anything of any significance in the Europa League or Champions League! In fact, no Finnish side has ever won or come close to winning either of Europe's elite club competitions.

So here's where I come in... I wanted to do something completely different to what I've seen on FM-Base and I don't recall a save in Finland. I have several aims I want to achieve through this save...

Become the new powerhouse of Finnish domestic football (using a club that is not HJK)

Take that club as far as I can in the Europa/Champions League competitions to raise the profile of Finnish football as much as possible (Finland national team currently ranked 63rd in the world, whilst the Finnish Premier League is currently ranked 55th in European competitions)

Develop Finnish youth for the national side

Get the Finland national job and lead them to their first ever World Cup

I'm not going to achieve any of the above overnight, but here it goes! I'll be going with...

Vaasan Palloseura (better known as VPS) are a club that have spent 12 straight seasons in Finland's top flight, with their highest finish during that spell being 3rd back in 2014! So they should offer me a challenge in trying to get them to the topple HJK!

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[FM_TNSSO]

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So this is me, Chris Ball, and I start my journey with the recommended coaching badges and footballing experience for the Finnish league I'm managing in! That gives me a Continental Pro License and previous playing experience as a regional professional footballer!

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My regional playing experience must have been in England, as I have absolutely no knowledge of Finland at all and don't speak the lingo either!

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Apparently, I already hate most of the other managers in my league as well!

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And this is my new home. The Hietalahden Jalkapallostadion with a capacity of 5,900 in the city of Vaasa on the western coast of Finland.

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After meeting the staff, I've decided they can all keep their jobs for now. Ahh, ain't I nice! To be fair, a couple of them will definitely be replaced in time, but I don't want to rock the applecart too much on day one do I?! I will be needing to appoint myself an assistant manager ASAP though!

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After taking a look through the staff available, I anxiously go to finances to see what's available for me to spend on new players...the answer...£9,000 ****** quid...what am I gonna do with that?! And I've managed clubs in the 5th tier of English football with higher wage budgets...Remember, this is a team I'm looking to take to the Champions League one day!

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I've got quite a big squad here and a relatively young one too with plenty of players under 23! According to my coach, there is a mixed bag with a half and half mix of players under and over 3 stars!

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The most valuable player in the squad is Estonian goalkeeper Marko Meerits, who has 11 caps for his country! He's valued at just under £200k.

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But our best player is Jamaican striker, Steven Morrissey, who looks like a decent footballer for this league! He's quick, has good off the ball movement and is a tidy finisher!

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Although his goal return over the past few seasons is shockingly bad! Only 15 goals scored in 89 games for the club!

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With the Finnish league kicking off in April, my game starts at the end of December 2017, and I will play friendlies and the group stage of the Finnish Cup prior to the league campaign kicking off in 4 months time.

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With the players currently available to me, this is the formation I'll be starting with. It's likely to be subject to change over the course of pre season as I tinker and different players will have different roles to suit their ability and strengths as I rotate the squad. Some players are also given individual instructions based on their strengths and weaknesses as well! I'm taking a very hands on approach and trying to individually develop and coach each player to get the best out of each of them!

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[FM_TNSSO]

My search for a new assistant manager had two criteria...speak English, speak Finnish! That way, he can be the primary translator between me and the players whilst I learn the lingo! The man who comes in, who fits the bill, is Jari Pyykola.

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Dutch legend, Edgar Davids, also joins the coaching team! Now if the players were underwhelmed by my appointment as manager, this should definitely make up for it!

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I make my first signing for the club, bringing in winger Nicolay Solberg. The 26 year old Norwegian has some decent all round stats and can provide cover down either wing! We paid £9,000 to bring him here (£3k up front and £6k over the next 2 seasons), but he was well worth every penny as he is immediately valued at nearly £100k. He joins us from Norwegian side, Ull/Kisa, where he has scored 21 goals in 56 games over the past 2 seasons.

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One pre season friendly against a lower league Finnish side, to warm up and familiarise myself with my players before the group stage of the cup kicks off!

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My first competitive game in charge was in the Finnish Cup against First Division side, Kotkan Tyovaen Palloilijat (KTP)! A game that we dominated, creating 16 chances at goal to their 8, scoring 3 goals for a comfortable win!

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Jamaican striker, Steven Morrissey, was highlighted as our best player, let alone our best striker, when I took over, but it's our little Brazilian, Douglas, that has impressed early!

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On a negative front, we have lost our best centre back, Timi Lahti, for the next 5-6 weeks through injury!

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We followed up the win against KTP, with another big one against GrIFK. It was to be expected as they're from the lower leagues and Douglas impressed again with another 2 goals.

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Our third Finnish Cup game offered our biggest challenge so far as we took on TPS from our division. Douglas had the flu and missed the game, but his replacement Ibrahima Gueye came in and scored!

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Although the scoreline didn't do our domination any justice.

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With two games remaining in the Finnish Cup, we have put ourselves in prime position to finish top of our group!

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[Hampus Silverholt]

I'm expecting VPS and Sligo to be European powerhouses in a few months time!

 

[FM_TNSSO]

I'm expecting VPS and Sligo to be European powerhouses in a few months time!

It was your Sligo story that inspired me to do something like this!

 

[FM_TNSSO]

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Another two Finnish cup games rounds off the group stage, and it's another two wins on the board! Sandwiched between, we played a couple more friendlies as well against two of the bigger clubs in Norway (Molde) and Sweden (Ostersunds). We put up good performances in all 4 games and were unlucky to lose the friendly against Molde.

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A 100% record in the Finnish Cup sees us finish comfortably at the top of our group! Not a bad way to introduce myself to the VPS fans. We were the only side in the group stages to win every game.

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During the group stage of the competition, no team recorded a higher average possession than us as we look to dominate and control our matches with our style of play.

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And we had no problem turning our possession into goals, recording more than any other club in the group stages!

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We'll take on the kings of Finland, HJK, in the quarter final of the Finnish Cup at the end of the month! They're also the current holders of the trophy and have won it a record 13 times. On the other hand, we've never lifted the cup!

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Steven Morrissey is handed his first cap for Jamaica at the ripe old age of 31! Must be down to the expert guidance of his new manager as to why he got his first call up right?!

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[FM_TNSSO]

HJK who??? Get in there...we knock the favourites out of the cup in the quarter final! After going 1-0 down early in the 2nd half, we fought back superbly and 2 goals in 4 minutes was enough to get us the win! Left back Jesper Engstrom's goal was beautifully placed effort in the bottom right corner from about 15 yards out!

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We'll play SJK in the semi final in a couple of weeks! Again we will have home advantage which we will try to maximise on against the fellow Premier League side, who finished 6th in the top flight last season!

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Only been here 3 months and I'm setting records...They don't call me Chris 'record breaker' Ball for nothing...In fact, they don't call me Chris 'record breaker' Ball at all, but maybe they should start!

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The bookies release their pre season odds and we're predicted an 8th placed finish and are 100-1 to win the title in my first season in charge...don't they know we're currently on a run of 6 straight wins in the cup...seems like a good bet to me right now! As expected, HJK are the favourites to win the league, whilst our cup semi final opponents are predicted to be their biggest challengers.

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Another friendly before the semi final of the cup to keep the players fresh!

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Although I'd have a bet on us to win the title, I wouldn't take the 9-1 offered on Morrissey, the striker who can't score goals, to be the league's top goalscorer this season. I think 90-1 would be more appropriate!

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Losing our first choice left winger just before the cup game isn't ideal. And this injury will also see him out for the first few weeks of the league campaign too!

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Cup semi final was a doddle...we had 22 shots to SJK's 6 and simply battered their goal from start to finish! Even Steven Morrissey got on the scoresheet...although he couldn't really miss as it was an open goal (rebound). It's hard to believe that I'll be managing in a cup final in only my 8th competitive game in charge! A chance to write my name in the VPS history books early in my career and guide the club to their first ever Finnish Cup title!

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So apparently you play all the cup games before the league even starts, in the space of about 2 and a half months, and then if you make the final, you have to wait nearly 6 months!!! Talk about build the anticipation! Anyway, it's Premier League side Kuopion Palloseura in September...a team affectionately known as KuPS!

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Throughout the cup run, our star player has definitely been left back Jesper Engstrom...just look at those match ratings! Easily, my favourite player at the club already!

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[dporter8999]

Very impressive start to the season, that cup run has been incredible! Hopefully your form will continue during your league campaign.

 

[FM_TNSSO]

dporter8999 - "It has been a great start to my career in Finland and has surprised even me, so god knows what the fans are thinking!"

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My new favourite player is going to miss the first game of the league season through injury! I'm gutted!

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Our tiny little £9,000 makes us the biggest spenders of the transfer window!! **** me, things are tight in Finland!!

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None of my players make the media dream eleven!

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The board come to me with their expectations and I'm a little surprised for them to tell me they expect us to get to the second round of the cup, considering we are already in the final! Second round....completed it mate!

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Oh right, I get it, we're a cup team! Our first league game of the season results in my first defeat as manager! ****** Steven Morrissey missed two 1-on-1's to draw us level and I don't want to get on the Jamaican striker's back, but I really don't like him!

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We bounced back perfectly from the defeat to IFK Mariehamn, with a win over second favourites for the title, SJK. It was a closely contested game, but we edged it with a single goal from our little Brazilian, Douglas.

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400 season tickets sold for the season. Again, I've managed teams previously in the 5th tier of English football that sell more!

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We followed that up with another win at FC Lahti...a big win too as we had an incredible 28 shots on goal!

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Sebastian Strandvall is one of our only players who has caps for the national side. He scored 2 goals against FC Lahti, both of them direct free kicks from about 25-30 yards out...crackers!

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Samu Alanko also scored his first competitive goal for the club against Lahti and that strike makes him the Premier League's youngest goalscorer! However, 19 years and 341 days seems a bit old to hold this record and maybe highlights the issue with Finnish football and why the national team has struggled so much over the years...the top flight teams are obviously not putting enough emphasis on youth.

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Another win against RoPS makes it 3 in a row and Strandvall again was in scintillating form, scoring two and setting up two!

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Four games in and we sit 2nd in the table! A great recovery from losing our opening game of the season! HJK have made a disappointing start, only winning 1 of their opening 4 games!

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[FM_TNSSO]

Our next game in the league saw us take on FC Honka (possibly the funniest name of any team in our league and one of the only ones I can actually pronounce). We were without star winger, Sebastian Strandvall, as he was desperate for a rest...but it didn't really matter as his stand in, Hindrek Ojamaa bagged a goal of his own as we romped to another comfortable win.

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It was an especially good performance from Ojamaa (9.0 match rating) as he is naturally a full back, not a winger.

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New boy, Nicolay Solberg, wins the player of the month award for April!

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In Finland, they do a team of the month, and four of our players make the lineup for April! It's the first time I've come across this on FM and I quite like it!

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A draw and a win kicked off the month of May and extended our unbeaten run further!

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The game against HJK was the highlight of the season so far as we beat the title favourites, even playing with only 10 men for the final 17 minutes!

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As we go into the game against KuPS, it's going to be 1st vs 2nd in an early top of the table clash! KuPS are yet to lose a game yet this season and remain the only unbeaten side in the league!

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KuPS were the better side on the day and created more than double the amount of chances we did...

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...but both sides struggled to take their chances and the game fizzled out into a 0-0 draw!

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Three straight wins followed the KuPS game and extends our unbeaten run to 10 games! The goals are flying in at the moment as well, scoring 4 in each of our last two matches!

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The highlight of these three games was the 4-1 win over PS Kemi, which saw our 20 year old striker, Samu Alanko score his first senior hat trick for the club! Could this young Fin have a big future ahead of him? He now has a total of 7 goals in 11 league games this season and is the club's top goalscorer in the competition.

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In fact, he's leading the scoring charts for the whole division at the moment!

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We're now a 3rd of the way through the season and after losing our first game of the campaign, we've won 8 of the next 10, which sees us top the table at this stage! There's still a long way to go and we won't get too excited just yet, but this is a dream start for me at the club! HJK continue to struggle and are a surprising 7th at this point and have only half the amount of points we do!

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[Hampus Silverholt]

Is it 1st place in the league gets Champions League and then 2nd-4th get Europa League in Finland as well? Do you think you'll make the European places after the start you've had?

 

[FM_TNSSO]

Is it 1st place in the league gets Champions League and then 2nd-4th get Europa League in Finland as well? Do you think you'll make the European places after the start you've had?

Yea mate exactly that...dependant on the winner of the Finnish Cup. Still early days but we have to fancy our chances at a top 4 finish

 

[FM_TNSSO]

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Our next game was against IFK Mariehamn, the only team to beat us this season! And going into it, we had three of our first choice midfielders suspended for the game! Not good!

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Right, so I think we've found our bogey team...

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And if the result wasn't bad enough, we lose left winger Juha Hakola for another 6 weeks after he suffered an injury during the game!

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And then only a few days later, we lose centre back Timi Lahti for 5 weeks as well!

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It's a first Manager of the Month award for me, after winning 5 of our 8 games in May!

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My performance as manager so far has earned me a new contract from the board, with a little pay rise as well.

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Since the loss to IFK Mariehamn again, our form has been a little ropey with 2 wins, a draw and another loss. Goals have been a little harder to come by recently, although Strandvall has continued to find the back of the net for us, whilst the little Brazilian also popped up with a couple.

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Sebastian Strandvall is now leading the scoring charts for the division and he's also recorded more shots on goal than any other player in the top 10...not bad for a winger!

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Not only that, but our star man also leads the way for assists and has the highest average rating in the league too!

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Despite our slight dip in form of late, we have managed to maintain our position at the head of the table! Us, KuPS and IFK MarieHamn have started to pull away a little at the halfway stage. At the other end, PS Kemi are now the only side still stuck on single figure points...you just know that's a game waiting to throw a spanner in the works when we play them next!

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[Brane_Orsou]

Has the HJK manager not been sacked yet? 12 points off the top is surely not acceptable for them. Killing it so far though mate, KIU

 

[FM_TNSSO]

Has the HJK manager not been sacked yet? 12 points off the top is surely not acceptable for them. Killing it so far though mate, KIU

Not yet mate but it's got to be only a matter of time I think! They haven't lost many but look at the amount of draws!!

 

[FM_TNSSO]

It's the big boys up next as we face HJK for the 3rd time since I took over. Having already beaten them twice this season (league and cup), you'd think I'd have nothing to worry about, but after a slow start, they are now coming good and are on a 9 game unbeaten run coming into the game. The last team to beat them....us!

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Dunno what I was worried about...

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FC Honka have sacked their manager and the favourite for the job is Finnish legend, Sami Hyypia!

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We followed up the HJK match with a big win over struggling, FC Inter!

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You've gotta love a centre back who scores a hat trick in any game!

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Our most versatile player, Jerry Voutilainen, will most of the rest of this season though injury! He's been our go to player for cover this season, having played right back, right midfield and centre midfield and is now likely to be sorely missed!

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Sami Hyypia bags himself a manager role in the league...but not with FC Honka who he'd previously been linked with!

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The upcoming game with KuPS could be huge in the title race! A defeat would see them leapfrog us and top the table, whilst a win for us would see us open up a 4 point gap! Not to mention the psychological edge it might give the winners for the cup final in September!

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But again the two sides could not be separated as we played out another tight game!

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Hat trick centre back, Akseli Kalermo wins player of the month for June!

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There's another Englishman managing in the Finnish Premier League, as Keith Armstrong takes over at SJK! Never heard of him personally, but a look back through his history says he played for Sunderland, Newport County, Scunthorpe and Newcastle between 1977 and 1982.

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My favourite player is out for 6 weeks and this could be a real blow for us as we look to cement ourselves in the title race during the final third of the season!

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Another three unbeaten matches followed the one against KuPS. Wins over relegation threatened PS Kemi and Ilves, whilst TPS were extremely lucky to scrape a draw against us as our strikers had an off day in front of goal.

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With 11 games of the season remaining, we remain top of the table and have now opened up a 5 point gap! HJK are gradually sneaking into contention but they are surely well out of the title race at this point! I wouldn't say that the title is ours to lose at this point...but **** me, we're in with a ****** big shout!

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And our next game...2nd placed IFK Mariehamn away from home, who have beaten us twice this season already! If we can somehow stop the rot against them, then we could go 8 points clear with 10 to go!

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[Brane_Orsou]

Getting towards the "business end" now mate. Looking forward to seeing how this run in pans out

 

[FM_TNSSO]

neavie pops23 - "Yep, only a handful of games left after this update! Thanks for following!"

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We still can't beat the bastards, but at least we didn't lose to IFK Mariehamn this time round!

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More importantly though, the draw allows us to maintain our 5 point lead over them!

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A good win over Keith Armstrong's SJK followed, with top goalscorer Sebastian Strandvall bagging two more goals including an absolute bullet from 25 yards!

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Surely as the two Englishman managing in this league, we should be bigging each other up and become 'football friends'! However, Keith Armstrong launches an attack on me after the game and I think a management rivalry might be born! Little ******!

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A war of words followed in media interviews over the next couple of days!

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Well that gives me something to aim at...Keith '********' Armstrong is apparently a bit of a legend in terms of Finnish football as he sits 2nd in the nation's hall of fame!

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It was only a matter of time before this happened...

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Nicolay Solberg bags a player of the month award, whilst 3 of my players are named in the team of the month!

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This year's youth intake isn't the best with most of the youngster's potential failing to reach even 2 stars.

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16 year old centre back, Ville Rantanen, looks to be the most promising and the only player likely to ever feature in our first team (depending on his development of course).

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Aubrey David has been a pretty regular starter for me this year at right back. Currently on £475 per week, his contract was up for renewal at the end of the season, but he was demanding a wage hike to at least £1.5k per week, which is a huge chunk of our wage budget!

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So I opted not to go ahead with it, and he will leave the club at the end of the season to join Swedish outfit, Kalmar FF. He'll be sorely missed but I just couldn't justify the wages he was looking for!

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Three more league games have been played and it's 1 win, 1 draw and 1 defeat on the board as we look to see out this season and win this title!

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Not quite sure how we lost the game to RoPS though...just look at these stats!

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With 6 games remaining in the league, it's down to whether or not we can hold our nerve or whether we are going to bottle it?! You're guess is as good as mine, but I'm excited to find out what my team is made of!

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[FM_TNSSO]

Alexei Eremenko, the man that was sacked from SJK only a couple of months ago, is the new boss at HJK.

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Our form looked to be dipping at just the wrong time as we recorded back to back draws with FC Inter and KuPS, before we seemed to get back on track with our 4th win of the season over HJK! It was a case of new manager, same old story for them!

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The game against HJK had consequences for both sides. Firstly, HJK could no longer mathematically win the title, although in all fairness it hasn't been realistic that they would from very early on this season!

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Whilst for us, it guaranteed us Europa League football for next season! A massive achievement already considering we were predicted to finish in the bottom half of the table this season! And it might....it just might get better than that!

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We followed that up with another home win against Ilves...

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...who have possibly one of the best badges in football!

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With 2 games remaining, it's now down to two teams fighting it out for the title, us and our nemesis, IFK Mariehamn! With a far superior goal difference, a win and a draw would secure it for us even if IFK win both their remaining games!

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Our final matches will be against already relegated PS Kemi, and 6th placed TPS.

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Whilst IFK Mariehamn will play 11th placed FC Lahti who are fighting for safety, and FC Honka who sit 8th, although not entirely clear of the bottom 2 just yet!

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But before all that, we have the little matter of a Finnish Cup Final to play! A game that has been 6 months in waiting!!

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[FM_TNSSO]

We head into the final of the Finnish Cup against KuPS. A team we have played 3 times this season in the league, every game resulting in a draw!

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It's fair to say we had the tougher run to the final, since the group stages, having to take on both the sides that were predicted for a 1st and 2nd finish in the league at the start of the season!

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We're the slight favourites going into the game and have home advantage too...not sure how that works and why the game isn't played on neutral ground?! Both sides come into the game having won 2 of their last 5 games!

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Not quite sure how a referee who has reffed 0 games this season gets the cup final but OK.

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The game gets underway and the first bit of significant action was not good...

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Yep, Douglas sees red only 12 minutes into the match!!


Despite being down to ten men, we kept the score at 0-0 to half time and the stats at the break reflected a pretty even game.

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Things remained tight throughout the whole second half with both sides missing a golden chance to take the lead! Then....on 83 minutes, centre back Timi Lahti found the ball at his feet in the box after going forward for a free kick and he struck a ferocious shot at goal...

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...and the KuPS goalkeeper could only look on as the ball flew past him...

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...into the back of the net!! 1-0 with only 7 minutes remaining!!

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KuPS threw everyone forward, which naturally left gaps at the back. Almost immediately, we exploit that and Samu Alanko scores a 2nd with only a few minutes remaining!!

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We saw the game out from there and I'm absolutely thrilled with the lads for securing the win after having to play majority of the game with 10 men. A wonderful effort!!

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A trophy in my first season is completely unexpected and I couldn't have imagined it at the start of the season...to say I'm over the moon would be an understatement!

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The cup win brings in only £45k of prize money though! On the plus side, it'll pay this month's wage bill!

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Now...back to league action to see if we can complete the double!!!
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