Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Juhani Pikkarainen will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around HJK the goodbyes have quietly begun.
1 for Till Cissokho, marked 7.83, and a centre-half's name in the part of the report he normally only reaches by mistake. He will not be allowed to forget it in the dressing room for a month.
It is not a grievance and it is not a demand: he wants to play continental football, and he has stopped hiding it. Whether HJK can give him that is a question about the club, not about him.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Alexander Abrahamsson 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 run ends on an afternoon somebody had marked down as routine. This one went 4 matches, which is long enough that a town had stopped counting, and short enough that it will remember exactly who stopped it.
Haka will keep picking him until June and will get nothing for him after it. Carl Gustafsson has pre-agreed a move to HJK, and the only people who lose in that arrangement are the ones who let the contract run down.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Saikou Touray 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 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.
Every squad has one of these fixtures for somebody every season. This one is Kaan Kairinen’s: the club that knew him first, the supporters who will decide in the first minute whether to applaud, and HJK needing him to play as if none of it matters.
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at HJK. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
He looks like a man who lives here now rather than one who is working here. It took most of a season, and at HJK the difference is visible from the back of the stand.
14 graduates from an academy now rated 11 out of 20. A club this size does not survive any other way, and every name on that list is known in the town.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. José Müller will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Klubi 04 the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Kaius Simojoki 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 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.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Sacha Sorel trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Arop Ring signs something — a contract at Klubi 04 or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
In brief
MatchContinental football is in reach for Klubi 04
The phone has started ringing about David Ezeh again, and this time the name on the line is IFK Värnamo. Klubi 04 are listening politely and promising nothing.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Brooklyn Lyons-Foster was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“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 Klubi 04, and it is not being withdrawn.
“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.
Kaius Simojoki 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 Feb 2028
Words at Klubi 04 training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Brooklyn Lyons-Foster 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 has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Arop Ring signs something — a contract at Klubi 04 or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
The name of Valo Konttas has come up in conversations Klubi 04 were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Klubi 04 they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Brooklyn Lyons-Foster 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 José Müller 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 Klubi 04, and both men came out saying it was fine.
The dugout21 Feb 2028
Leevi Palmula is still being punished for one mistake
Nobody will confirm it and the team sheets confirm it every week. One error has bought him a spell as second choice that is already longer than the error deserved.
A new face in his position, and Brooklyn Lyons-Foster suddenly has to win back what he thought he owned. Klubi 04 have promised nothing — clubs rarely do at this stage.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Klubi 04 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 Brooklyn Lyons-Foster was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“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 Klubi 04, and it is not being withdrawn.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Liam Rippon will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Klubi 04 the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Kaius Simojoki and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad7 Feb 2028
Words at Klubi 04 training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Brooklyn Lyons-Foster 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.
“I did not come here to warm up in front of people.” He is out of contract eventually, he is old enough to count the weeks, and Klubi 04 will have to give him a reason to stay or an exit.
In brief
The dugoutSacha Sorel knocks on the manager’s door
The dugoutThe manager makes an example of Peetu Harden
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Klubi 04 can pretend not to have heard.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Klubi 04 is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Brooklyn Lyons-Foster 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.
Numbers do not stay secret in a dressing room. He is not asking for more than he is worth; he is asking why somebody beside him is worth more, and Klubi 04 have no good answer.
24 points from position 6. The title is somebody else’s business and the drop is somebody else’s problem; what is left is the argument about passports.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Adam Le-Goff Conan signs something — a contract at Klubi 04 or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
In brief
The dugoutPeetu Harden knocks on the manager’s door
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Klubi 04 is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Kaius Simojoki 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 Brooklyn Lyons-Foster was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
In brief
The dugoutThe manager has not finished forgetting Leevi Palmula's mistake
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Klubi 04 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 Brooklyn Lyons-Foster was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Valo Konttas signs something — a contract at Klubi 04 or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Klubi 04 is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
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.
Numbers do not stay secret in a dressing room and never have. He is not asking for more than he is worth; he is asking why somebody beside him is worth more, and at Klubi 04 that is a harder question to answer.
In brief
MatchContinental football is in reach for Klubi 04
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Jussi Tanska will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Klubi 04 the goodbyes have quietly begun.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Klubi 04 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.
Nobody will confirm this and nothing else explains the last month of selections. A costly error buys a player a period of being second choice that is always longer than the error was.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Klubi 04 know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
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.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Klubi 04 they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Valo Konttas 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 Brooklyn Lyons-Foster was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“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; Klubi 04 are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Klubi 04 know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
In brief
The dugoutPeetu Harden knocks on the manager's door
“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 Klubi 04, and it is not being withdrawn.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Eemil Toivonen will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Klubi 04 the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Brooklyn Lyons-Foster was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“I have done everything asked of me in training and it has not changed a thing on a Saturday.” The most familiar complaint in football, and one Klubi 04 will have to answer with minutes or with a transfer.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Klubi 04 is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Kaius Simojoki 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.
Squad15 Nov 2027
Words at Klubi 04 training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Brooklyn Lyons-Foster 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.
“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.
He trains hard, says the right things and goes home to an empty flat. Nobody at Klubi 04 has done anything wrong, which is exactly what makes it so difficult to fix.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Klubi 04 know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
In brief
The dugoutIlmo Toivonen knocks on the manager’s door
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason JäPS will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Taavi Arminen will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around JäPS the goodbyes have quietly begun.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at JäPS this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad18 Oct 2027
Omar Jama 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.
Every club pays most of what it earns to its players. Paying nearly all of it is a different arrangement, and it has ended the same way every time it has been tried.
Rachide Gnanou 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 Saikou Touray was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Something was said to Ville Tikkanen and then it happened. In this industry that passes for remarkable, and the dressing room noticed faster than any supporter could.
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.
It will be explained as a change for the team and it may even be one. Nobody who has worn one believes that, and neither does the man who has just had it taken away.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Saikou Touray trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
The board’s statement ran to three sentences and one of them mentioned results. Rasmus Arajuuri has managed long enough to translate: win soon, or the next statement is shorter.
“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 JäPS, and it is not being withdrawn.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason JäPS will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Axel Vidjeskog was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Every squad is half players the manager chose and half players he inherited. Axel Vidjeskog was chosen, the man who chose him has gone, and he starts again from nothing under the next one.
Nobody at JäPS 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.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason JäPS will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Kaius Simojoki was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“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 dugout27 Sep 2027
Elmin Memić is still being punished for one mistake
Nobody will confirm it and the team sheets confirm it every week. One error has bought him a spell as second choice that is already longer than the error deserved.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Herkko Kuosa trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason JäPS will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at JäPS 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 Axel Vidjeskog was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Nobody at JäPS 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.
His past walked in ahead of him. Players who have been where he has been get a hearing in a dressing room before they have earned one, and he has it for as long as his form does.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason JäPS will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at JäPS 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.
“I watch every JäPS 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.
He used to be one of the options. He is now one of the men the options are picked around, and the change happened quietly enough that only the dressing room noticed on the day.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason JäPS will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
The deal that would have taken Emil Pallas to KuPS has collapsed at the last stage, and he reports back to JäPS with a summer to forget and a season still to play. Nobody is saying which side walked away.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Omar Jama 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 deal that was a phone call from completion at lunchtime was dead by midnight. JäPS will try again when the window opens; FC Lahti may not be selling by then.
“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.
The dugout30 Aug 2027
Elmin Memić is still being punished for one mistake
Nobody will confirm it and the team sheets confirm it every week. One error has bought him a spell as second choice that is already longer than the error deserved.
He is doing things on a Saturday afternoon that nobody around him can answer, which is flattering for about one season and a problem after that. JäPS will not keep him by pretending otherwise.
HJK and Antequera have settled on $4.0M. 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 clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around HJK people have started saying his name in the past tense.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what HJK can pretend not to have heard.
$980.0K 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.
It is not a grievance and it is not a demand: he wants to play continental football, and he has stopped hiding it. Whether HJK can give him that is a question about the club, not about him.
HJK offered $1.1M; FC Lahti said it was not close. The manager will be told the money is still there for the right player, which is what managers are told.
Rachide Gnanou 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.
HJK asked and Cagliari said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
114 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. JIPPO lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 45 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what JIPPO can pretend not to have heard.
JIPPO asked and Arsenal said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Lassi Forss 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 had been thinking. Pasi Forsman 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.
Aito Pitkänen 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 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.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and JIPPO waiting with a shirt. Nobody at HJK is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
Player ratings2 Aug 2027
A brace, and Ángel Rodado takes the afternoon — 8.72
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Ángel Rodado provided it, and the 8.72 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
The clubs have shaken hands with SJK; the player has not yet. Personal terms are next, and personal terms are where more deals die than anybody prints.
There comes a point where a club either backs its own ambition or admits it does not have any. HJK have paid $1.9M for Saikou Touray, which is the loudest way there is of saying which one it chose.
HJK have gone to TPS 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.
The number the board signed off was not enough. It has been asked again and raised its own offer to $111.2K — a club that wants Nikos Dosis enough to be asked twice.
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.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason JIPPO will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
2 goals to the good, and then a slow surrender of everything that had been earned. Aleksi Tarvonen will not be the one blamed for it, but nobody at JIPPO escapes the conversation that follows a collapse like this.
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around JIPPO people have started saying his name in the past tense.
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.
Juho Lehtiranta 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.
Every club pays most of what it earns to its players. Paying nearly all of it is a different arrangement, and it has ended the same way every time it has been tried.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Martin Kirilov will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around HJK the goodbyes have quietly begun.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at HJK this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“We earned that. I asked them for a reaction and I got one, and now I want the same again on Saturday.” Nikolai Hakola on a 1‑0 afternoon that pleased him more than he was prepared to show.
Nobody at HJK 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.
The dugout17 May 2027
Somebody else is better right now than Mads Borchers
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.
He used to wear the other shirt. On Saturday he plays against VPS in this one, and whatever he says this week about it being just another game will be untrue.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Lucas Lingman signs something — a contract at HJK or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
$2.0M settles it between the clubs for Calvin Kabuye
KuPS have accepted the money. What HJK do not yet have is the man, and between here and the photograph is a conversation about wages that both sides are dreading.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and SalPa waiting with a shirt. Nobody at HJK is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
$2.3M on the table at Chesterfield. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.
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.
Boardroom5 Apr 2027
HJK close the window on a squad of their own making
9 in and 5 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.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at HJK is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 18 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.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and JIPPO waiting with a shirt. Nobody at HJK is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
The offer from SJK for Kaius Simojoki 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.
KuPS did not want to sell and the number is why they did. $620.0K for Gustav Engvall, and the expectation that arrives with him is the kind no amount of settling-in period softens.
Ángel Rodado 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 offer went to FC Lahti 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.
At 18 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Leonel Montano was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
$320.0K settles it between the clubs for José Müller
FC Lahti have accepted the money. What HJK do not yet have is the man, and between here and the photograph is a conversation about wages that both sides are dreading.
The number the board signed off was not enough. It has been asked again and raised its own offer to $33.4K — a club that wants Jesse Kilo enough to be asked twice.
The offer went to Ilves 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 phone has started ringing about Mihailo Bogićević again, and this time the name on the line is JIPPO. HJK are listening politely and promising nothing.
Kaius Simojoki 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.
Nobody at HJK 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.
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 19 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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at HJK this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“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; HJK are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
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 Pyry Mentu is on 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Till Cissokho 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 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.
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 Lucas Lingman has written the date down.
Kaius Simojoki 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.
At 17 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.
Squad21 Dec 2026
Till Cissokho 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.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Ville Tikkanen trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at HJK. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
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.
Kaius Simojoki 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.
Nobody at HJK 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 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.
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.
Santeri Haarala has done the arithmetic and does not like the answer. Nothing corrodes a squad faster, and no club has ever solved it by explaining the wage structure to a footballer.
81 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. JIPPO lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. JIPPO will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at JIPPO is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Mihailo Bogićević will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around HJK the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 21 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.
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.
Squad19 Oct 2026
Till Cissokho 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.
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 Mihailo Bogićević is on it.
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at HJK. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Santeri Haarala signs something — a contract at HJK or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
The words a physio says slowly. 105 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.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. JIPPO will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Jere Kallinen 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.
112 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. JIPPO lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around JIPPO they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at JIPPO can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Mihailo Bogićević will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around HJK the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Teemu Pukki 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.
At 19 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.
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 Mihailo Bogićević is on it.
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 Lucas Lingman has written the date down.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Santeri Haarala signs something — a contract at HJK or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
The words a physio says slowly. 126 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.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” JIPPO have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Jere Kallinen 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 Kaius Simojoki was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
11 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.
Nobody will confirm this and nothing else explains the last month of selections. A costly error buys a player a period of being second choice that is always longer than the error was.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what JIPPO can pretend not to have heard.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Eeli Kinnunen will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around JIPPO the goodbyes have quietly begun.
The rules permit it and it stings anyway. Eeli Kinnunen has agreed terms with KäPa for the summer, and until then he pulls on this shirt as a player who has already chosen his next one.
Juho Lehtiranta 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 Kevin Persson was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.