Marked for Danila Bulgakov
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Boardroom25 Oct 2027
SJK lift the trophy
The season a town measures the next twenty against. The trophy comes home with the squad, and the route through the streets was agreed days ago.
Match25 Oct 2027
Nobody above SJK
First, on 45 points. The table is a fact and a fact is allowed to be enjoyed, which is as far as anybody at the club is prepared to go in public.
The dugout25 Oct 2027
“I was told what my role would be, and I signed on that basis. It has not happened.” A grievance with a date attached is the hardest kind to settle.
Squad25 Oct 2027
A falling-out at SJK
Jeremiah Streng and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad25 Oct 2027
Soumaïla Diabaté 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.
Loan watch25 Oct 2027
“I did not go to Ilves to sit and watch. I want to come back to SJK and fight for my place.” 10 appearances in 34 matches say the rest.
The dugout25 Oct 2027
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 Kasper Paananen is on it.
The dugout25 Oct 2027
Eemil Toivonen asks for a word with the manager
“I would rather say it to his face than read about it.” The meeting was requested by the player, which tells you most of what you need to know.
Market25 Oct 2027
The name of Markus Arsalo keeps appearing in other people's back pages. SJK say nothing, which says plenty.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Match27 Sep 2027
SJK are top
45 points and nobody above them. The word is not being said around the ground yet, and it is being thought in every seat.
Squad27 Sep 2027
A falling-out at SJK
Jeremiah Streng and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad27 Sep 2027
Soumaïla Diabaté 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.
Loan watch27 Sep 2027
“I am grateful for the games, but I did not become a footballer to be somebody else's spare part.” He wants to be at SJK, and 10 appearances in 30 say he has earned the hearing.
The dugout27 Sep 2027
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
Market27 Sep 2027
The name of Markus Arsalo keeps appearing in other people's back pages. SJK say nothing, which says plenty.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad20 Sep 2027
Kelvin Pires in a row with a teammate
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at SJK this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad20 Sep 2027
“The easiest signature of my career.” Emil Ingman and SJK agree another 4 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Squad20 Sep 2027
A row about effort at SJK
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Kasper Paananen was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout20 Sep 2027
Albin Björkskog has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at SJK 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.
Market20 Sep 2027
The name of Kelvin Pires keeps appearing in other people's back pages. SJK say nothing, which says plenty.
Squad20 Sep 2027
The shrug has gone, the language is coming, and he now argues in training like somebody who expects to be here next year. Half a signing's value is this and none of it appears on a fee.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Market28 Jun 2027
“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.
Player ratings28 Jun 2027
Successful dribbles: 30. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad28 Jun 2027
Words exchanged at SJK
Bob Nii Armah 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.
Squad28 Jun 2027
A row about effort at SJK
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Kasper Paananen was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Match26 Jun 2027
A bad afternoon for SJK against FC Lahti
0‑2 to FC Lahti, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
The dugout28 Jun 2027
Roope Paunio gets it from the manager
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
Loan watch28 Jun 2027
“I watch every SJK game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Ilves runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
The dugout28 Jun 2027
The view from the dugout
“We will look at it, we will learn from it, and we go again.” The three sentences every manager keeps for a 0‑2 defeat, delivered by Lassi Hakola to a room that had heard them before.
The dugout28 Jun 2027
Eetu Mömmö dropped after a run of poor form
The one version of being left out a player cannot argue with, and the one he takes worst. Somebody else has been better and the team sheet says so, in public, every week until it changes.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Match29 May 2027
SJK run riot against KTP
3‑0, and the margin flattered nobody — it could have carried another goal or two without complaint. Afternoons like this are why people keep coming.
Player ratings31 May 2027
Martin Kirilov, 19, plays like he has been here for years — 8.13
A mark of 8.13 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 19-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
Squad31 May 2027
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at SJK this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad31 May 2027
Kasper Paananen 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.
The terraces31 May 2027
He is 22 and the ground already sings his name, which is a thing that happens to local boys and almost never to signings. Everything from here is measured against an affection he did nothing to earn except be from here.
Player ratings31 May 2027
A performance of 8.39 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
Player ratings31 May 2027
Marked 8.25 — the sort of number a correspondent writes down twice to be sure. Everything he tried came off, and what he did not try was not worth trying.
Loan watch31 May 2027
“I am grateful for the games, but I did not become a footballer to be somebody else's spare part.” He wants to be at SJK, and 4 appearances in 13 say he has earned the hearing.
The dugout31 May 2027
“The players deserve the credit. My job was easy today.” It was not, and everybody in the room knew it; after 3‑0, Lassi Hakola could afford to be generous.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Player ratings3 May 2027
A brace, and Jeremiah Streng takes the afternoon — 8.99
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Jeremiah Streng provided it, and the 8.99 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
The dugout3 May 2027
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” SJK may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Squad3 May 2027
Tempers go at SJK
Kasper Paananen 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.
Match1 May 2027
It finished 2‑1, and it was Jeremiah Streng’s afternoon: on the scoresheet when it mattered, and the reason the points belong to SJK.
The terraces3 May 2027
He is 22 and the ground already sings his name, which is a thing that happens to local boys and almost never to signings. Everything from here is measured against an affection he did nothing to earn except be from here.
Squad3 May 2027
Words at SJK training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Salim Yussif 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.
Squad3 May 2027
“The easiest signature of my career.” Joel Pohjanpalo and SJK agree another 3 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Loan watch3 May 2027
“I watch every SJK game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Ilves runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
Squad3 May 2027
Emil Ingman named in the team of the month
A month is long enough that nobody gets in by accident. Emil Ingman is in the division's best eleven for it, which is a quieter compliment than an award and a more reliable one.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match24 Apr 2027
The wait goes on for Ilves
9 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
The dugout26 Apr 2027
“I was told what my role would be, and I signed on that basis. It has not happened.” A grievance with a date attached is the hardest kind to settle.
Squad26 Apr 2027
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Ilves this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Player ratings26 Apr 2027
Successful dribbles: 22. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
Match24 Apr 2027
Ilves refuse to lose to SJK
A point taken on 93 minutes is worth exactly one point and considerably more than that to a dressing room. This side does not stop, which is a reputation worth more than the result.
Squad26 Apr 2027
Martin Huldahl 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.
Match24 Apr 2027
It needed Danila Bulgakov to find the net to bring anything home at all: 1‑1 against SJK, and half the dressing room will call it a point won.
The dugout26 Apr 2027
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
The dugout26 Apr 2027
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.” Urho Hradecky chose the glass-half-full version of 1‑1; the supporters left with the other one.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market5 Apr 2027
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. SJK have lost him in all but the paperwork.
Boardroom5 Apr 2027
Deadline passes with 6 signed and 2 gone
That is the business done at SJK until the window opens again. Whether it was enough will be answered on Saturdays rather than in a column, and the first Saturday is close.
Squad5 Apr 2027
A falling-out at SJK
Kelvin Pires and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Transfer targets5 Apr 2027
SJK baulk at the price for Jorginho
KuPS wanted more than $180.0K and the board would not go there. Walked away, for now, which in a transfer window means until somebody blinks.
Squad5 Apr 2027
Words at SJK training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Kasper Paananen 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.
Transfer targets5 Apr 2027
SJK asked and Inter Turku said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Market5 Apr 2027
The name of Amidou Traoré has come up in conversations SJK were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
Squad5 Apr 2027
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Aatu Kujanpää commits to SJK for another 3 years.
Loan watch5 Apr 2027
“I watch every SJK game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Ilves runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad1 Mar 2027
The medical room confirms 44 days on the sidelines for Anderson Asiedu, and a plan built around him now has to be rebuilt.
Market1 Mar 2027
The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.
Squad1 Mar 2027
“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; Ilves are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
Squad1 Mar 2027
A falling-out at Ilves
Villads Nielsen and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Transfer targets1 Mar 2027
The approach was made and the answer came back in a sentence. There is no number on the table because there was no number that would have been enough.
Transfer targets1 Mar 2027
A loan enquiry to Hobro: cover, or a look at somebody the club cannot afford to buy yet. Either way the answer will come back inside the week.
Transfer targets1 Mar 2027
A loan enquiry to IF Elfsborg: cover, or a look at somebody the club cannot afford to buy yet. Either way the answer will come back inside the week.
The dugout1 Mar 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Oskari Paavola, and the manager let it.
The dugout1 Mar 2027
Jardell Kanga has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at Ilves 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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market22 Feb 2027
Ilves say no — this time
The offer from FC Lahti for Oskari Paavola 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.
The dugout22 Feb 2027
Faris Krkalić: that is not what I was promised
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Ilves have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Transfer targets22 Feb 2027
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Ilves have done the hard part with SJK, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
Squad22 Feb 2027
Tempers go at Ilves
Sauli Väisänen 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.
Transfer targets22 Feb 2027
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. FC Nordsjaelland have kept their man, and Ilves go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Transfer targets22 Feb 2027
Sarpsborg 08 have been asked whether they would lend him. Loans are agreed quickly or not at all, and this one will be one or the other by the weekend.
The dugout22 Feb 2027
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 Lauri Ala-Myllymäki is on it.
Market22 Feb 2027
Every press conference now starts and ends the same way: with Jardell Kanga’s future. The manager has run out of new ways to say nothing.
The dugout22 Feb 2027
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 Söderberg has written the date down.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market22 Feb 2027
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Ilves waiting with a shirt. Nobody at SJK is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
Market22 Feb 2027
SJK say no — this time
The offer from KTP for Amidou Traoré 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.
Transfer targets22 Feb 2027
The offer went to KuPS 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.
Transfer targets22 Feb 2027
KuPS wanted more than $340.0K and the board would not go there. Walked away, for now, which in a transfer window means until somebody blinks.
Squad22 Feb 2027
Tempers go at SJK
Kelvin Pires 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.
Transfer targets22 Feb 2027
$23.0K on the table at Inter Turku. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.
Market22 Feb 2027
Johannes Viitala has left for KTP in a $110.0K deal. The accountants are pleased; the supporters are less certain.
Squad22 Feb 2027
Words at SJK training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Kasper Paananen 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.
Transfer targets22 Feb 2027
The approach was made and the answer came back in a sentence. There is no number on the table because there was no number that would have been enough.