Zenit St Petersburg represent the city that has often defined relations between Finland and Russia, and therefore the security and safety of the Finnish people. The area around St Petersburg was at one time inhabited by people speaking Finnic languages, and on the southern coast of the Gulf of Finland there still exists small pockets of Ingrians.

Since Peter the Great drained the swamps around his new capital city, the relationship between Russia and those to its west has been a defining feature of Russian policy. For those who lived to Russia’s west this was an uncomfortable situation, as first the Tsars and then the Soviets felt the need to protect their western territory. As Finland was first annexed and then declared independent, the implications became clearer to those in charge of both Finland and Russia, and the importance of St Petersburg (or Leningrad as it was then known) declined. The capital reverted to Moscow, and the Soviets concentrated on building ’socialism in one country’.

Then came the Second World War. A horrifically bloody affair in this part of the world, it involved huge invasions and re-invasions, and a massive miscalculation on the part of the Finnish command when deciding the relative importance of areas of forest in Northern Karelia and the security of the second city of the Soviet Union. Despite the snafus, Finland defended most of its territory, but it was clear from the subsequent negotiations that the Soviet Union was not prepared to countenance even the impression of a threat to Leningrad, as it was then known.

Zenit won their first honours during the war, the Wartime Soviet Cup of 1944. At this time Finland was engaged in heavy fighting with the Soviet Union just to the north of St Petersburg, and those Zenit players who were not conscripted to go to the front were working in the metal works that was at that time the owner of Zenit. After the war they were taken over by the makers of LOMO cameras.

During the Cold War, Finns had more person-to-person contacts with Russians than many other nationalities. Trade, which was mandatory under the terms of Finland’s Friendship and Co-operation Agreement with the Soviet Union, ensured that decision makers in both countries had an interest in not questioning the values of the other side too closely.

Zenit’s fortunes were up and down after 1945, as it was always difficult for teams outside of Moscow and Kiev to make an impact in the Soviet league. They did excape relegation in 1967 when they finished in the relegation places though, as it was felt that Leningrad needed a top flight team in the year in which the 50th anniversary of the October Revolution was celebrated. In the 80s things picked up, and they won a league title in 1984.

Since then, the pendulum of political and economic power in Russia has swung back towards St Petersburg. Both the current and previous Presidents (I’ll pretend it matters that there’s a new one) are from St Petersburg and Medvedev at least is an avid Zenit fan. They are now owned by Gazprom, which is expected to become the biggest company in the world in the next few years, and has its headquarters in the city. As Gazprom searches for legitimacy in Europe, financing pipelines here and ice hockey tournaments there, Zenit are expected to become a power in the world game by virtue of sheer financial clout.

They are supported by Russia’s president, by the most important Russian company, and by a small section of ultra nationalist and racist fans. This combination of monopoly capitalism, massive wealth and populist xenophobia is a microcosm of much of Russian politics and society, which is crucially important to Finland and for locating Finland in the context of Europe. Is Zenit’s success a sign of Russia’s westernising impulse? Is the bigotry in the stands an indication of the popularity of a virulent nationalism that Finland should take note of? Is Gazprom’s rise a benign case of a company searching for recognition through sponsorship of sport, or is it a more sinister indication of control in Russia passing from private to semi-state hands?

None of those questions will be answered or even discussed on Finnish free-to-air television tonight, because as someone so appropriately put it, ‘it’s HOCKEY TIME!’ right now. YLE don’t have the rights to the Zenit v Rangers UEFA Cup final, so they’re not showing the game. Anywhere. At all.

With each passing day I feel less and less like paying these people for the privilege of owning a television set, and this may have been the straw that broke the camel’s back.

Continuing the musical theme, I’ve been checking out the Cardiff City cup final song. I was ready to pounce, if Big Peter Enckelman didn’t get a name check, but luckily we now know he has the full confidence of his team mates and the Cardiff fans.

These are the sounds of Tehtaan Kenttä:

They usually play an incredibly annoying song from last summer. I will spare you that, not least because I don’t know what it’s called. Feel free to guess in the comments section.

Last night’s crowd was pathetic - just 2,200 for a derby at a club in dire financial trouble - but I’m not sure how critical you can be there. Even if 500 of those were TamU fans, that’s still 10% of the population of Valkeakoski. Yet more evidence of the fairly stark decline of FC Haka, that will surely accelerate in the coming years.

They are expected to get their licence this week, but the delay is a little bit difficult to explain. If, by some freaky piece of amazing good fortune, Haka were to progress in the UEFA Cup beyond the end of the Veikkausliiga season, they would have every company in Finland throwing money at them. This licence problem has taken up energy that could have been used to build for the future, but speaking to people at the ground yesterday it seems like long-term planning has not been a Haka speciality and this may serve as a wake-up call.

FF Jaro - IFK Mariehamn 1-2
RoPS - MyPa 1-1
TPS - FC Honka 2-1
FC Haka - TamU 1-1
FC Lahti - FC Inter 0-1
FC KooTeePee - VPS 0-0
HJK - KuPS 0-0

Click for highlights.

Inter are still running high. This time Mika Ojala converted a penalty to secure the three points and break Lahti’s 100% record. Inter are topping the table, being the only team with four straight wins. In my book, their recent run has seen them turn from a mid-table team into one who could be serious challengers for European spots.

Nicholas Otaru put Honka in front in the match between TPS and Honka. Five minutes later Tomi Maanoja fumbled a cross from the left and Mikko Paatelainen was there to score an equalizer. TPS weren’t convincing at all in the first half, but a surprisingly different team took care of the proceedings in the second half after Aristides Pertot and Kasper Hämäläinen came on. Aristides Pertot ended up scoring the winner with a wonderful strike following a cross from Urmas Rooba.

The second half performance was very encouraging and a win over European candidates sure must have felt good, but TPS will face a problem once again since Kiko was sent off following a late tackle on Ville Jalasto. Upon first seeing it I thought the challenge was only worthy of a yellow card, but judging by the highlight clip the more Christmas-like card was perhaps the right option.

Referees just don’t seem to understand how a big man like Armand One could possibly be fouled. He wasn’t the best player on the pitch, but who would be when having one to three guys climbing all over and with the whistle never giving the advantage?

The attendance added up to a disappointing 4,314. All you can say is that you have to earn the big crowds and the derby performance did nothing to do that. Tonight’s match might just have more people showing up on Sunday as the team in blacks and whites takes on FF Jaro.

KooTeePee recorded their first point at the expense of VPS, but their fans are not likely to start writing songs about their miraculous survival battle in Veikkausliiga. They have conceded 11 goals in four games and will definitely have a tough time this year. That seems to be the case with KuPS as well, but the draw they got at title candidates HJK might do something about their confidence.

TamU have a tough time trying to win. In fact, they could be happy not to lose as they got a lucky equalizer just about eight minutes prior to the final whistle. RoPS have lost just once and could be up for a surprise come the end of the season. On the other hand, it seems Jaro could not turn their inspiring performance at TamU to points in matches following the league opener. We may be seeing surprises from the young Pietarsaari side with loads of potential, though.

Stuart Baxter was on Arto Nyberg’s chat show tonight. Nyberg has a standard format of three guests per show, and when they are not Finnish speakers they usually come on last, and Nyberg interprets after each answer. At least that’s what they did when beer expert Michael Jackson was on last year, but this time Baxter was on second and had to sit through Finnish Central banker Erkki Liikanen’s interview.

There were a couple of interesting points. Baxter says he’s had ‘good conversations’ with Litmanen, Hyypiä and Jääskeläinen, and that he expects commitments from the latter two although they haven’t made definite decisions yet. On Litmanen he gave the impression that the decision is more finely balanced, saying that there would always be a role in the set-up for such a great player, but he wasn’t sure what that role would be. It could be leading the team, or it could be helping to bring on the youngsters, and Baxter wasn’t sure if he was going to build the team around Jari ‘one more time’.

As ever, you’re not sure who is making these decisions. If Litmanen declares himself available, he will play. The question is what role he is asked to perform. It would be dangerous to base an attacking strategy around Litmanen, given his declining fitness and record in the last year or two. You get the feeling Baxter wants to at least guard against this, and provide himself with another option, but the fact is that Litmanen, if fit, is the best striker Finland have. The question is how to plan for those times when he isn’t fit, and there may be a lot of those.

When pressed to name young players he wanted to bring on, the two he mentioned were Roman Eremenko and Veli Lampi. No surprises there.

Unfortunately Nuberg’s show is not available on the YLE website, but Baxter will be on Bettina on FST5 at 21:10 tomorrow. I’ll be in Valkeakoski, so you’ll have to try and watch that yourself, although I expect it will be in Swedish.

I went to see HIFK against FC Kontu last week. It was HIFK’s first game of the season, their first game back in Kakkonen and was expected to draw a big crowd. I can’t find a number, but it was definitely big for Kakkonen. Unfortunately, Helsinki parks department has decreed that football cannot be played on grass pitches in Helsinki until the 1st of June, and so instead of being played at Bollis, the game took place at Finnair Stadium. Stadin Kingit did their best, but unfortunately the atmosphere wasn’t as good as it would have been at the smaller arena.

HIFK had a tough time of it, as Kontu gave as good as they got and went 1-0 up before Alimany Jamoah got the equaliser. HIFK pressed, but couldn’t find the winner, and it does look like they will find it difficult to lead from the front this year. They also drew last night, 1-1 with HyPS, and are rooted in mid-table four points adrift of the leaders.

This is Otto Puranen, who despite his slight paunch posed plenty of problems for the HIFK defenders. He made up for his lack of pace with a few wily tricks, and more than held his own. In the HIFK line-up, defender Ojembe Olatuga showed his class on a few occasions, but took a couple of risks he maybe shouldn’t have done. He’s pacy, skillful and strong though, and too good for Kakkonen. 20 years old, he signed for HIFK from Atlantis, and clearly has the potential to play at a much higher level. Likewise Alimany Jalloah can go on to greater things, but I guess the reason both players are where they are is a lack of concentration and consistency.

Yesterday I was at Tammela for PP70-FJK. PP seem to be going for promotion, and outclassed a young Forssa side. FJK are still to score a goal this season, and it already looks like a long hard struggle for them to stay in Kakkonen. Thankfully Joni Lehtonen (and his beard) are still playing for PP70, although I failed to get any good photos of him. PP won 2-0 and look to be battling with Pallo-Iirot for promotion.

Most of the PP players seemed to be taller than their Forssa counterparts, who were very young for a senior team. This is Jani Nyblom for PP (in red) and Kalle Kuivalainen. Kuivalainen was a very niggly player, slapping PP right back Markku Hokkanen in the face at one point, but he provided the main threat for Forssa in the first half.

The Forssa keeper Toni Virtanen was very loud, though. Kept going throughout the game, chivvying and encouraging his team mates. I hope he can keep that up through what might well be a long, hard season for him.

In other Kakkonen news, Norvalla FF beat TUS 10-0, with the last goal being scored by goalkeeper Mattias Kullbäck from a penalty. Norvalla are coached by Liverpool’s Finnish scout Tor Sparv, so we can assume they have a very good youth system. Tomas Nygård got four goals, and Oleksandr Androschuk got a hat trick. It’s hard to tell what went on there, as TUS might have turned up without a goalkeeper or something ridiculous like that, but I’ll try and keep an eye on NFF for the rest of the season.

Incidentally, Tor’s lad Tim Sparv is currently on loan from Halmstad to VPS, as he recuperates from a debilitating illness and recovers some match fitness.

It seems my introduction for the FC Haka piece relied rather too heavily on Aamulehti, the local Tampere newspaper. They started the week with an astonishing story by Esa Maaranen, stating that the chairman had resigned, the club was close to bankruptcy, and the players salaries were being cut. All of these things were denied by the club, and it remains to be seen what basis there was for that article.

With regard to the Jan Walden quote and the licensing system, there is nothing suspicious or untoward going on there. Here’s the opening couple of paragraphs I posted on Thursday:

The previous post was a bit premature, it must be said. Haka still have an appeal, and most people expect them to get their licence, but the whole affair does raise some questions. For instance, why has their budget been passed for Veikkausliiga competition but is apparently not fit for UEFA? Veikkausliiga chairman Jan Walden was asked by Aamulehti whether they’d been playing with a special licence under conditions, and what would happen to that licence now, and his reply was less than confidence-boosting.

“No they haven’t….no comment…I have to go now, bye bye,” said Walden.

Given that the league did indulge in a fair amount of cockswinging towards TamU, Honka and RoPS in the last round of licensing, it would be a bit rum for them to have simply passed Haka ‘with conditions’ without the public naming and shaming given to the others. I would even go so far as to say that it would defeat the entire object of licensing systems (to promote financial responsibility among clubs). But that is speculation, and we’ll see what happens next week.

Walden was asked two questions, and his response was denying that haka had a conditional or game-by-game licence, the second part was refusing to comment on the UEFA licence process (’what is Haka’s situation now’), which is the responsibility of Pekka Hämäläinen. Walden is not allowed to comment on this, there was no evasion there and I’m sorry if I gave the impression there was.

Lastly, the UEFA licence covers a notional period that is 7 months longer than the Veikkausliiga season, because theoretically Haka could be playing in the UEFA Cup final next May. So that licence is considered 4 months later and looks at a longer period, so by necessity the conditions (if not the criteria) are different. Again, there’s nothing untoward there. Of course, if by some miracle Haka were to even make it into the First Round of the UEFA Cup, that would go a long way to solving their problems, and ejection from Europe would make them a lot worse, but it’s a tricky situation for football administrators. They absolutely cannot be seen to condone any gambling on success, as it would encourage irresponsible behaviour among football club directors, and we all know they need no encouragement in that regard.

Tampere United 1 TPS 1

Honka 0 RoPS 0

Inter 1 Haka 0

KuPS 2 Lahti 3

VPS 0 HJK 0

MIFK 4 KTP 2

MyPa 3 Jaro 0

Click on the result to get highlights. Be sure to check out RoPS’s ridiculous green shirt.

Well, TamU messed things up a bit at the end there. They had looked a lot more stable with newly signed Iiro Aalto back from Cyprus, a left footed player playing on the left making the team much more balanced than they have been. Daniel Nwoke played very well, linking up play well and having a tussle with Kheireddine Zarabi that was very enjoyable to watch. They both played well, but I’d give the edge to the defender. Nwoke’s worth showed once he was brought off, however.

Up until that point, TamU had been able to break a few times through Rafinha, and Daniel had given the TPS defence something to think about. When he went off, the defence relaxed a little, while Saarinen failed to track the midfield runner for the goal. Poor substitutions from Hjelm, i can’t understand why he didn’t bring on James in the anchor man role and Jonne Hjelm as a fresh striker, rather than Niemi who was clearly quite tired by then.

The atmosphere at Ratina is much better now, at least in the main stand. Home and away fans are at either end of the stand and so far everyone’s been pretty loud. Even jaro brought a good following, including a capo who spent most of the match bellowing at his mates. I suspect this is at the expense of those on the ’sunny side’, but with 12,000 empty seats it’s difficult to make everyone happy. Attendances haven’t been great, with a disappointing 3,956 at the TPS game. I think they may well suffer because of the sheer number of games to be played before the break for the European Championships. People just don’t have the time.

Elsewhere, HJK got a draw at VPS and will lick their lips with anticipation at the thought of taking on KuPS while Inter and FC Lahti destroy each others 100% records next Monday.

It is exactly one year since the first English language weekly newspaper in Finland began publication. To celebrate there are a lot of extra features, including this article on Turku’s football boom. If you haven’t seen the paper yet, I recommend buying a copy this week. Here’s the article:

9th May 2008

DURING the first half, one of the TPS fans behind the press box made a comment that his team’s midfielder Chris Cleaver was like toilet paper. A strange analogy, but one that has some foundation. Not the most exciting thing in the world, but vital, willing to do the dirty work and if you invite a load of people round and don’t have it, you’re going to be embarrassed.

Unfortunately for TPS, Cleaver – the battling midfielder that usually gives his team-mates time and space to play – was injured after ten minutes in the derby against Inter on May 4. He overstretched himself trying to tackle Inter’s Nigerian midfielder Dominic Chatto, and despite attempts to run off his injury he was replaced by 19 year old starlet Riku Riski. Riski is a highly regarded prospect, but this was too big a game and too difficult a role for his style of play.

And what a game it was. There were some tickets left on the morning of the match, but these had gone with hours to spare and a capacity crowd of 8,937 filled Veritas Stadium, widely regarded as the best ground in Veikkausliiga. The ground has a capacity suited to the teams that play there, stands close to the pitch, and facilities for lucrative corporate hospitality. It’s no surprise that Turku is experiencing what the local media has dubbed a ‘football boom’, with two sides in Veikkausliiga and an excellent ground to watch them in.

The two clubs have contrasting backgrounds. TPS have the backing of Seppo Sairanen, an investment banker. Their budget is big by Finnish standards, and they are investing for the future rather than blowing everything on players’ salaries. They heavily subsidise ticket prices, for example, and are reaping the rewards with two active, growing fan groups: Young Boys Turku and Sissi Ryhmä. Their plan is to break even by 2011, after running fairly heavy losses, but the Chief Executive Petri Jakonen has a few issues to sort out first.

First and foremost, he is clear that success on the field is the most important pre-condition to all the plans he has put in place. Without a team fighting it out at the top of the league, the plans for expansion and growth will come to nothing, and as such he was very worried by the performance against Inter.

“It was our worst day ever,” said an exasperated Jakonen. “It’s absolutely clear that we have to be top three in this league before we can think about anything else, and that’s why Sunday was so bad for us.”

He can say that again. Without Cleaver, TPS allowed Chatto the freedom to pick his pass, and the first unchallenged long ball he hit picked out Mika Mäkitalo. He turned, looked up, crossed the ball for Ats Purje, and a simple header was all it took to put Inter 1-0 ahead. It looked easy and, for Inter, it was. Their coach Job Dragtsma had prepared his team to take advantage of the somewhat brittle nature of the TPS defence, and with quick passing and movement Inter opened them up again and again.

In the stands things were not going well for the “home” team. “On what day did God create this team and couldn’t he have rested on that day too?” asked a crestfallen TPS fan. The two TPS fan groups turned their backs on the action and their banners upside down, and began chanting at the back of the Olympic Stand while steadfastly ignoring their team’s efforts for most of the second half.

“ I’m surprised by just how bad TPS have been,” said Inter’s goalkeeping coach, Jani Meriläinen. “Cleaver is very important for them, the kind of player you don’t notice too much but really miss when he’s not playing.”

Inter wrapped up the win with an excellent curling strike from Mäkitalo and two close range finishes by former Musan Salama player Timo Furuholm, while Riski and Armand One missed excellent chances for TPS. The big Frenchman found it tough, and often had to come back towards midfield to collect the ball. That’s not his natural game, and it was difficult to see the tactics TPS were trying to apply. In the post-match press conference, the first question for the former Finland manager was “your system didn’t seem to work. Was there one?”.

In the circumstances, it was understandable that the TPS people did not want to dwell on the game. Jakonen was keen to talk about the success of his organisation in selling out the stadium and creating the ‘football boom’ in Turku.

“In Finland football clubs don’t tend to have homes,” says the former Reipas, TPS, HJK and MyPa goalkeeper. “I mean what is a football club’s identity? For me it is the colours, the badge, the team – and the ground. In ice hockey every club has a home, so why not in football?”

“There is only one place in the world where two clubs successfully share the same stadium, and that is in Milan. And those clubs have a lot of history together. Of course we are pleased to have such a good stadium, and we are happy to be here, but if we are to progress we need to do something about the match day revenues.”

Jakonen divides football revenues into three parts: match day revenue, sponsorship money, and TV rights fees. TV coverage of Veikkausliiga is in its infancy right now, and TPS have – according to Jakonen – a level of sponsorship that is comparable to other Nordic clubs and even some sides in the UK; but they lag far, far behind in match day revenues, which at present consist only of ticket sales. Refreshment, revenue and merchandising are all run by Veritas, and TPS want a larger slice of that pie.

Veritas is owned by Kiinteistöyhtiö Kupittaan Stadion, whose board contains FC Inter’s chairman Stefan Håkans but no representative from TPS. They did not have the money to join the company when the new main stand was built in 2003. As a result there is considerable overlap between the Inter and Veritas organisations, and since Sairanen’s largesse began to raise TPS attendances much higher than Inter’s, disquiet has been voiced about the arrangements for merchandise and refreshment stands.

TPS want to keep at least some of the money their fans spend on beer and hotdogs, but according to Jakonen that has never been on the table. According to Håkans, TPS never asked. They could of course both be right – it is clear that TPS are irritated by what they perceive as Håkans’s high handed manner, and think he should be working hard to keep them as tenants, whereas he probably wants them to ask a lot more nicely. Whatever the truth of the matter, the fact is that Turku has two teams attracting good crowds, a great stadium, and an enthusiastic local media. Surely that can’t be turned into a problem?

EDIT-see my FC Haka Correction regarding the first few paragraphs.

The previous post was a bit premature, it must be said. Haka still have an appeal, and most people expect them to get their licence, but the whole affair does raise some questions. For instance, why has their budget been passed for Veikkausliiga competition but is apparently not fit for UEFA? Veikkausliiga chairman Jan Walden was asked by Aamulehti whether they’d been playing with a special licence under conditions, and what would happen to that licence now, and his reply was less than confidence-boosting.

“No they haven’t….no comment…I have to go now, bye bye,” said Walden.

Given that the league did indulge in a fair amount of cockswinging towards TamU, Honka and RoPS in the last round of licensing, it would be a bit rum for them to have simply passed Haka ‘with conditions’ without the public naming and shaming given to the others. I would even go so far as to say that it would defeat the entire object of licensing systems (to promote financial responsibility among clubs). But that is speculation, and we’ll see what happens next week.

To be fair, not many people want to say anything worthwhile on the subject. I asked Haka CEO Seppo Laitinen what he thought about it, and he said he “cannot speak about that in English. Maybe next week,” giving the impression that he expects some movement in the appeal, or possibly that his employer will go bankrupt by then. Other Haka sources have pointed fingers at Göran Enckelman (Peter’s Dad) and Markus Juhola, two guys with TPS connections and varying degrees of beef with Haka who served on the UEFA licensing committee. I wouldn’t put too much store by that, but it does show how personal everything is in Finnish football.

The reaction on messageboards and in the media has surprised me a little. There have been stories that the club is on the verge of bankruptcy (denied by Laitinen, in Finnish), but the expectation is that UPM will bail out the club. Haka’s take on this is that the licensing committee has misunderstood the relationship between the newly created holding company, FC Haka Oy, and FC Haka. According to Helsingin Sanomat, Laitinen claims that “the UEFA team licence decision that we have received is clearly based on claims and statements that FC Haka can easily rectify”, so you’d expect this all to be a storm in a teacup.

This is Finland, however, and clubs with multiple title wins go bankrupt very easily indeed. FC Jazz, FinnPa, HIFK and Allianssi are all clubs that have done well in the top flight and subsequently gone bust. So journalists have been reminiscing about the previous bankruptcies, like the time when FC Jazz players were given macaroni casserole instead of a post match meal.

In that article, Sundqvist also expects that UPM will plug the gap, but at some point the forestry sector will surely stop propping up their football teams in Finland. The Finnish paper industry is declining as a proportion of UPM’s business, and my questions to football-interested UPM employees were redirected to ‘the local department’ - Finland is seen as an accounting hub as much as a pulp producer these days, and the big factories, and plans for expansion, are abroad. It will be interesting to see if UPM have the budget or inclination to help out what must surely have been one of their best marketing tools, down the years.

That’s what Haka are, really: a marketing tool. A step up from a factory works side, but they have represented UPM in a European Cup Quarter final against Juventus, when by all accounts (you can take it as read that I haven’t spoken to Michel Platini or his team-mates on this one, and that ex-Haka players exaggerate after a beer or two) they were unlucky to go out. The paper mill is in the corner of the ground, the stadium is called ‘factory pitch’, the sponsors are all aimed at the management of the company and most of the fans work directly or indirectly for the paper mill.

The VIP bus I saw on Monday night was run by Rauman Stevedoring, a west coast shipping company that wants to impress and get the contracts to distribute paper products all over the world, and around the ground hoardings include those from Tilbury docks, Finnlines, VR Cargo and other freight companies. So we can say that in the Finnish mindset they are inextricably linked with the paper industry, just like MyPa.

This has some odd effects. Finnish economic policy has, on occasion, been run to suit the paper industry. Devaluations were implemented in part to ensure that paper products remained competitive on the world market, despite the pain this caused people who had to buy things from abroad. The imperative to keep production running meant that forest industry unions were among the strongest in Finland, always opting out of the economy-wide wage settlements and getting themselves a much better deal. This caused a slightly British ‘tut tut’ attitude towards those unions and that industry, and there is some shadenfreude mixed in now that a small town club run by the paper barons is getting it’s comeuppance.

I don’t share this at all. I think Haka are a great club, that they have a brilliant ground, and that there is a place for that kind of community club in Veikkausliiga. They need to concentrate on producing youngsters, ‘owning’ their town and making a profit on player trading, something like what Jaro aim to do, but they should be able to hold things together. Veikkausliiga is not a big money league, and there are lots of towns of a similar size to Valkeakoski that have competed in much more prestigious leagues than this. The question is whether Haka (and probably MyPa too, not that there are indications of problems there) can handle the transition from being aristocrats of the Finnish game competing in ‘Finland’s classico’ (Haka vs HJK) to being a tightly run club counting the pennies and hoping for success. I hope they haven’t overstretched themselves.