Marked for David Ezeh
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad2 Nov 2026
“The easiest signature of my career.” Till Cissokho and HJK agree another 4 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Squad2 Nov 2026
A row about effort at HJK
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Christos Gravius was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Market2 Nov 2026
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at HJK, another week without a signature from Lassi Lappalainen.
The dugout2 Nov 2026
A promise honoured at HJK
Something was said to Teemu Pukki and then it happened. In this industry that passes for remarkable, and the dressing room noticed faster than any supporter could.
Squad2 Nov 2026
David Ezeh slips down the pecking order
The demotion a club never announces and a dressing room always notices. David Ezeh is further from the side than he was, and the reason will not be given until he asks.
The dugout2 Nov 2026
Teemu Pukki gets picked when it counts
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 Teemu Pukki is on it.
The dugout2 Nov 2026
The manager has not finished forgetting Martin Kirilov's mistake
Publicly it is behind everybody. It is not behind the man who picks the team, and the only place that shows is a team sheet. He will get another chance; he will get it in a match that matters less.
The dugout2 Nov 2026
Mads Borchers knocks on the manager’s door
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Mads Borchers trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Market2 Nov 2026
Every press conference now starts and ends the same way: with Alexander Ring’s future. The manager has run out of new ways to say nothing.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Steady
Boardroom19 Oct 2026
HJK have won it
This is the season the town will measure the next twenty against. The trophy travels home with the squad, and the route through the streets was agreed days ago.
The dugout19 Oct 2026
Jesse Öst keeps the receipts
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” HJK may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Market19 Oct 2026
Only the photograph left for Liam Möller
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Liam Möller will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around HJK the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Squad19 Oct 2026
The step up is real for David Ezeh
At 20 he is doing things this season that he could not do last season, and doing them every week. Form comes and goes; this has stayed long enough to be called something else.
Squad19 Oct 2026
Words exchanged at HJK
Tòfol Montiel 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 terraces19 Oct 2026
At 22 he is being sung about by people twice his age, which is an affection a signing has to earn over years and a local kid gets for turning up. It is also the hardest thing in football to live up to.
The dugout19 Oct 2026
A player who expected to start watched it instead. The manager will call it a decision for the team; Mads Borchers will call it something else in private.
The dugout19 Oct 2026
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 dugout19 Oct 2026
Somebody else is better right now than Santeri Haarala
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.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market28 Sep 2026
Ville Tikkanen has one foot out of the door
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around HJK they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Squad28 Sep 2026
Words exchanged at HJK
Teemu Pukki 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 Sep 2026
Jay De Nascimento is a better footballer than he was
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 17 he is doing things at this level he could not do at the start of the season, and the coaching staff will tell you exactly which of them.
Squad28 Sep 2026
A row about effort at HJK
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Till Cissokho was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout28 Sep 2026
The manager makes an example of David Ezeh
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.
The dugout28 Sep 2026
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.
Squad28 Sep 2026
“I want to play”: David Ezeh speaks
“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.
The dugout28 Sep 2026
Ville Tikkanen knocks on the manager's door
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at HJK, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Market28 Sep 2026
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. HJK know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.