The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at AC Oulu is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Miguel Santos was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Squad27 Nov 2028
Matias Ojala falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
A year in and the language has not come, the city has not opened up, and he eats alone more often than anybody at AC Oulu would like to admit. It is showing on Saturdays.
A conversation in the manager’s office, and a commitment that came out of it. Promises like that are cheap to make and expensive to break, and Niklas Jokelainen has written the date down.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at AC Oulu is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Miguel Santos was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Mihailo Bogićević was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at AC Oulu, and both men came out saying it was fine.
One weekend, judged against everybody else's. Jasse Tuominen has come out on top of it, and for most footballers a weekly award is the only silverware a career ever produces.
A year in and the language has not come, the city has not opened up, and he eats alone more often than anybody at AC Oulu would like to admit. It is showing on Saturdays.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around AC Oulu they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Miguel Santos was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Julius Körkkö was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“I respect the manager and I am not going to sit here and pretend I am happy.” It is the most common sentence in football and it has never once been the end of a story.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at AC Oulu, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. AC Oulu know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at AC Oulu, and it is not being withdrawn.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at AC Oulu is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at AC Oulu this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad25 Sep 2028
Words at AC Oulu training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Matias Ojala is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
A conversation in the manager’s office, and a commitment that came out of it. Promises like that are cheap to make and expensive to break, and Antti-Ville Räisänen has written the date down.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at AC Oulu, and both men came out saying it was fine.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what AC Oulu can pretend not to have heard.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at AC Oulu is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Miguel Santos and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and VPS waiting with a shirt. Nobody at AC Oulu is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
Boardroom21 Aug 2028
AC Oulu close the window on a squad of their own making
14 in and 10 out, and no more changes for months. The manager has what he has, the supporters have their opinion of it, and the table will have the last word.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at AC Oulu this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Bayern Munich have kept their man, and AC Oulu go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Behind, and beaten by any honest reading, until minute 95. SJK had the points in their pocket and a corner of the ground still believed, which is generally when it happens.
He is doing things every Saturday that nobody around him can answer. It is flattering for a season and a problem after that, and AC Oulu know which stage they are at.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and VPS waiting with a shirt. Nobody at AC Oulu is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what AC Oulu can pretend not to have heard.
Miguel Santos was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Mihailo Bogićević was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Öster have kept their man, and AC Oulu go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
The phone has started ringing about Alex Ramula again, and this time the name on the line is SJK. AC Oulu are listening politely and promising nothing.
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. AC Oulu have lost him in all but the paperwork.
Miguel Santos and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
The phone has started ringing about Jasse Tuominen again, and this time the name on the line is Raufoss. AC Oulu are listening politely and promising nothing.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Mihailo Bogićević was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Go Ahead Eagles have kept their man, and AC Oulu go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
A player who expected to start watched it instead. The manager will call it a decision for the team; Niklas Jokelainen will call it something else in private.
Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at HJK is saying, and nobody at AC Oulu is enjoying the guessing.
Successful dribbles: 24. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
$280.0K on the table at FF Jaro. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.
Simon van Duivenbooden and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
The phone has started ringing about Alex Ramula again, and this time the name on the line is IFK Mariehamn. AC Oulu are listening politely and promising nothing.
0‑1 to FF Jaro, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Squad24 Jul 2028
Words at AC Oulu training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Mihailo Bogićević is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
The words a physio says slowly. 20 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Alex Ramula will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around AC Oulu the goodbyes have quietly begun.
The offer went to KTP this week and it is theirs to answer. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loud the door closes.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Mihailo Bogićević was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at AC Oulu is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at AC Oulu this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Julius Körkkö was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
1‑1, and both dressing rooms will call it two points lost. A draw that asked plenty of questions and answered none of them.
The dugout19 Jun 2028
The view from the dugout
“We did not lose. Some weeks that is all you get, and I would rather have the point than not.” Paulus Uronen chose the glass-half-full version of 1‑1; the supporters left with the other one.
The chances are being made and something is happening between the making and the finishing. 7 matches now, and the anxiety in the ground arrives a little earlier every week.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Alex Ramula will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around AC Oulu the goodbyes have quietly begun.
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Julius Paananen, and the manager let it.
Squad22 May 2028
Words at AC Oulu training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Mihailo Bogićević is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
27 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. AC Oulu lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at AC Oulu is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Miguel Santos was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Squad24 Apr 2028
Words at AC Oulu training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Mihailo Bogićević is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
3 matches, no goals, and a training ground that has tried everything. It will end — droughts always do — but nobody at AC Oulu can tell you which week it ends in.
Successful dribbles: 18. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
“A point is a point and I will take it, but we should have had all three.” Paulus Uronen after the 0‑0 draw, and the sentence every manager in the country said at some stage this weekend.
The words a physio says slowly. 44 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around AC Oulu people have started saying his name in the past tense.
Some transfers need a press campaign. This one needed a shirt with the old number on it. Otto Rautiainen is a AC Oulu player again, and the town has its story of the summer.
Simon van Duivenbooden was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Ali-Abubakar Torfiq commits to AC Oulu for another 3 years.
Squad10 Apr 2028
Words at AC Oulu training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Mihailo Bogićević is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Kalifa Jatta is on it.
He used to wear the other shirt. On Saturday he plays against TPS in this one, and whatever he says this week about it being just another game will be untrue.
The offer from FF Jaro for Alex Ramula was heard out and sent back the same day. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loudly the door closes.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at AC Oulu this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at AC Oulu, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Nothing is announced when this happens and everybody knows. He is a bigger part of the plan at AC Oulu than he was a month ago, and the training ground worked that out before the team sheet said so.
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at AC Oulu, and it is not being withdrawn.
Everything was agreed until it was not, and Julius Körkkö reports back to AC Oulu with a summer to forget. Neither club is saying who walked away from the table.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Son was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The name of Alex Ramula has come up in conversations AC Oulu were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Elias Kallio trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
“I listened, I thought about it, and I am staying. That is the whole story.” The clubs had agreed a fee. David Ezeh had not agreed to go, which turned out to be the part that mattered.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at AC Oulu this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad21 Feb 2028
Words at AC Oulu training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Mihailo Bogićević is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at AC Oulu, and both men came out saying it was fine.
“Judge me on him.” Managers do not say that kind of thing by accident — it moves the pressure from Julius Körkkö’s shoulders onto his own, and both of them know it.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around AC Oulu they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Simon van Duivenbooden and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad15 Nov 2027
Words at AC Oulu training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Son is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
A year in and the language has not come, the city has not opened up, and he eats alone more often than anybody at AC Oulu would like to admit. It is showing on Saturdays.
“Some mornings you wake up and you are still a long way from everything you know.” It is not the football and it never was; AC Oulu are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at AC Oulu this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Mihailo Bogićević was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Nobody at AC Oulu will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Tuomas Kaukua signs something — a contract at AC Oulu or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
In brief
The dugoutMikko Pitkänen asks for a word with the manager
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at AC Oulu is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Simon van Duivenbooden and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad20 Sep 2027
Words at AC Oulu training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Son is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
8 signings in three months. Every one of them may be an upgrade and the team can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild that never appears in the transfer-window verdicts.
It is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. AC Oulu told Julius Paananen something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
He asked about his future and was given an answer with minutes in it. The manager has now made a promise in a building where promises are remembered, and the clock on it has started.
5 games without scoring. Strikers stop looking up, midfielders take the extra touch, and every shot that clears the bar is followed by a groan that has been building since the last goal.
Miguel Santos and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Squad10 May 2027
Words at AC Oulu training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Son is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Beaten 0‑1, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Squad10 May 2027
7 new faces, and AC Oulu are still learning each other
A squad rebuilt inside one window pays for it in a currency nobody budgets for. The football is not worse than the sum of the players; it is worse than the sum of the players who have played together before.
“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 0‑1, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
Successful dribbles: 15. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
The dugout10 May 2027
Somebody else is better right now than Matias Ojala
The team sheet says it in public every week until it changes. The only version of being dropped a footballer cannot argue with, and the one he takes hardest.
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: MSK Zilina keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
“It was not right for me. I am not going to explain why to anybody except the people I owe an explanation to.” A deal agreed between two clubs, and a player who declined to be part of it.
AC Oulu have gone to Haka with a bid, and the supporters have gone to the internet with an opinion about it. Whether either changes anything is up to the selling club.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Julius Körkkö will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around AC Oulu the goodbyes have quietly begun.
The deadline has passed and the squad is the squad. 8 arrived, 5 left, and everything else printed about this club last month was a rumour that stayed one.
Miguel Santos and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Son was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Add another name to the list: Åsane have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Neemias. The answer from AC Oulu has not changed — yet.
23 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. AC Oulu lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
The offer from Haka for Julius Körkkö was heard out and sent back the same day. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loudly the door closes.
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. AC Oulu have done the hard part with FC Lahti, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at AC Oulu, and it is not being withdrawn.
The number the board signed off was not enough. It has been asked again and raised its own offer to $400.0K — a club that wants Arttu Tulehmo enough to be asked twice.
The offer went to KTP this week and it is theirs to answer. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loud the door closes.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
The words a physio says slowly. 38 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
AC Oulu and Ludogorets have settled on $2.0M. The rest belongs to the player and his agent, and a supporter who has watched one of these before knows not to buy the shirt yet.
The fee is $220.0K, the contract is signed, and the argument about whether he is worth it can begin. PK-35 drove a hard bargain; time will say who won it.
Miguel Santos was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Alex Ramula was the name on every phone-in, and the club has gone and signed him for $220.0K. For one week the board can do no wrong, which is a week most boards never get.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
“The manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Niklas Schulz has his answer from AC Oulu; what he does with it is the next window’s story.
The accountants will call it good business and they will be right, which is not the point anybody outside the boardroom is making. Alex Ramula was one of the reasons people came, and $220.0K does not replace that by itself.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at PK-35 this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
45 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. AC Oulu lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
AC Oulu and PK-35 have settled on $220.0K. The rest belongs to the player and his agent, and a supporter who has watched one of these before knows not to buy the shirt yet.
Add another name to the list: SJK have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Adramane Cassamá. The answer from AC Oulu has not changed — yet.
David Ezeh was the name on every phone-in, and the club has gone and signed him for $870.0K. For one week the board can do no wrong, which is a week most boards never get.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
A year in and the city has not opened up, the language has not come, and lunch is eaten alone more often than anybody at AC Oulu would admit. It shows on Saturdays.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Rasmus Karjalainen signs something — a contract at AC Oulu or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Gabriel Oksanen is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at PK-35, and it is not being withdrawn.
Every footballer has an answer to the question about his boyhood club, and most of them never get to act on it. Renilson has, at PK-35, and the first month will show what that does to a man.
Eino-Iivari Pitkälä and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
“I have given this everything, but my family is not here and neither am I, not really.” A footballer can be coached out of bad form. Nobody has ever been coached out of this, and PK-35 know it.
He asked about his future and was given an answer with minutes in it. The manager has now made a promise in a building where promises are remembered, and the clock on it has started.