Marked for Vladislav Postrigan
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Boardroom7 Mar 2033
Antoine Lemaire has until the next board meeting
What was said behind closed doors has now been said in front of a microphone. Everybody at VPS can do the arithmetic, including the man it is aimed at.
Boardroom7 Mar 2033
Emergency meeting at VPS
The whole football department in one room on a weekday morning. Nothing was announced afterwards, which is what a board announces when it has run out of patience.
Transfer targets7 Mar 2033
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. SJK have kept their man, and VPS go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Squad7 Mar 2033
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Anton Lepola commits to VPS for another 1 years.
Squad7 Mar 2033
Tempers go at VPS
Pietro Ferrara 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 targets7 Mar 2033
A loan move for Niccolò Fontana is in the works
VPS have made the call to Haka. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
Transfer targets7 Mar 2033
A loan enquiry to AC Oulu: cover, or a look at somebody the club cannot afford to buy yet. Either way the answer will come back inside the week.
Market7 Mar 2033
Both sides expect a conversation in the coming days. VPS will name a price, and everything after that is arithmetic.
Squad7 Mar 2033
Bjorn Skulason 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.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Market28 Feb 2033
“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 The request is on a desk at VPS, and it is not being withdrawn.
Market28 Feb 2033
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and JäPS waiting with a shirt. Nobody at VPS is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
Squad28 Feb 2033
A falling-out at VPS
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.
Boardroom28 Feb 2033
Belts tighten at VPS
The accounts are being read more closely than the results. Wages before ambition is the order of business now, and the manager has been told so.
Transfer targets28 Feb 2033
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. TPS have kept their man, and VPS go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Transfer targets28 Feb 2033
A loan move for Thomas Pompei is in the works
VPS have made the call to Haka. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
Transfer targets28 Feb 2033
Haka 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 dugout28 Feb 2033
Eddy Kejang has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at VPS 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 dugout28 Feb 2033
The manager has not finished forgetting Vladislav Postrigan'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.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Market31 Jan 2033
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at VPS is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Boardroom31 Jan 2033
VPS counting the cost
The accounts make uncomfortable reading. Wages first and ambition second is the order of business at VPS now.
Squad31 Jan 2033
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Joni Huuhka commits to VPS for another 4 years.
The dugout31 Jan 2033
Eddy Kejang has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at VPS 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 dugout31 Jan 2033
Leevi Palmula 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 VPS, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Squad31 Jan 2033
A row about effort at VPS
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Bjorn Skulason was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout31 Jan 2033
The manager has not finished forgetting Vladislav Postrigan'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 dugout31 Jan 2033
The manager makes an example of Ivica Kovacevic
“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.
Market31 Jan 2033
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Kevin Kouassivi-Benissan signs something — a contract at VPS or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Market10 Jan 2033
Yamine Abair hands in a written request
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what VPS can pretend not to have heard.
Squad10 Jan 2033
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at VPS this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The dugout10 Jan 2033
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 Simon van Duivenbooden is on it.
The dugout10 Jan 2033
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Vladislav Postrigan, and the manager let it.
Squad10 Jan 2033
Bjorn Skulason 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.
Squad10 Jan 2033
The table is being checked before the results are in, which is always the tell. Nobody at VPS says the word and every senior player in the building is thinking it.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Boardroom3 Jan 2033
The board’s statement ran to three sentences and one of them mentioned results. Antoine Lemaire has managed long enough to translate: win soon, or the next statement is shorter.
Market3 Jan 2033
“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 VPS, and it is not being withdrawn.
Market3 Jan 2033
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Simon van Duivenbooden will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around VPS the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Squad3 Jan 2033
A falling-out at VPS
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.
Boardroom3 Jan 2033
VPS counting the cost
The accounts make uncomfortable reading. Wages first and ambition second is the order of business at VPS now.
Squad3 Jan 2033
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Clement Ansah and VPS agree another 3 years.
The dugout3 Jan 2033
Eddy Kejang 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 Eddy Kejang is on it.
Squad3 Jan 2033
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.
Squad3 Jan 2033
Bjorn Skulason 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.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Boardroom6 Dec 2032
The board have said in public what they had been saying in private. Results between now and the next meeting decide it, and everybody in the building knows the arithmetic.
The dugout6 Dec 2032
Leevi Palmula: 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.” VPS have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Market6 Dec 2032
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Simon van Duivenbooden will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around VPS the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Market6 Dec 2032
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
Boardroom6 Dec 2032
He will play here until the summer and then walk out of the door for free, having already signed elsewhere. Supporters will manage the first part of that sentence; it is the second they will struggle with.
Squad6 Dec 2032
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Kevin Kouassivi-Benissan and VPS agree another 2 years.
Squad6 Dec 2032
A falling-out at VPS
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.
Boardroom6 Dec 2032
The numbers do not look good at VPS
Wages have outrun income and the accountants have started attending meetings they used to send apologies to. Ambition comes second in a season like this.
The dugout6 Dec 2032
Leevi Palmula loses the manager who believed in him
A change in the dugout is not one story, it is twenty-five of them. This is Leevi Palmula's: he was somebody's player, and now he has to be somebody else's, starting from nothing.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad15 Nov 2032
A falling-out at VPS
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.
Market15 Nov 2032
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Nikolai Taylor has been at this club since he was a boy and is now, formally, one of the first-team squad — which for a local readership beats any signing of any size.
Market15 Nov 2032
One of our own: Aleksi Uronen joins the VPS first team
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Aleksi Uronen is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
Market15 Nov 2032
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Joel Jensen has been at this club since he was a boy and is now, formally, one of the first-team squad — which for a local readership beats any signing of any size.
Market15 Nov 2032
Amos Forss steps up from the VPS academy
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Amos Forss has been at this club since he was a boy and is now, formally, one of the first-team squad — which for a local readership beats any signing of any size.
Squad15 Nov 2032
17 days, the medical staff say, and medical staff are optimists by profession. The team sheet will look wrong without him.
Boardroom15 Nov 2032
105% of the income goes out in wages at VPS
Every club in football 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 somebody has tried it.
The dugout15 Nov 2032
When it matters, Eddy Kejang plays
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.
Squad15 Nov 2032
A season on the outside for Eddy Kejang
He trains hard, says the right things and goes home to an empty flat. Nobody at VPS has done anything wrong, which is exactly what makes it so difficult to fix.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Boardroom8 Nov 2032
It is over: VPS are relegated
The arithmetic ran out, and everybody could see it coming from a distance. The hard summer starts now, and next season's fixtures will be full of unfamiliar names.
Boardroom8 Nov 2032
The board have said in public what they had been saying in private. Results between now and the next meeting decide it, and everybody in the building knows the arithmetic.
Market8 Nov 2032
“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 VPS, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad8 Nov 2032
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Anton Lepola commits to VPS for another 1 years.
Squad8 Nov 2032
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at VPS this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The dugout8 Nov 2032
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 Simon van Duivenbooden is on it.
Boardroom8 Nov 2032
VPS counting the cost
The accounts make uncomfortable reading. Wages first and ambition second is the order of business at VPS now.
Squad8 Nov 2032
Words at VPS training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Bjorn Skulason 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 dugout8 Nov 2032
The manager has not finished forgetting Vladislav Postrigan'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.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match11 Oct 2032
VPS sink to position 12
16 points, and a fixture list that is running out. The mathematics are not yet cruel, but they are no longer kind.
Squad11 Oct 2032
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at VPS this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The dugout11 Oct 2032
Nobody at VPS 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.
Boardroom11 Oct 2032
VPS counting the cost
The accounts make uncomfortable reading. Wages first and ambition second is the order of business at VPS now.
Squad11 Oct 2032
Tim Sparv 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 dugout11 Oct 2032
Vladislav Postrigan 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.
The dugout11 Oct 2032
Tim Sparv 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.
Market11 Oct 2032
The name of Kevin Kouassivi-Benissan keeps appearing in other people's back pages. VPS say nothing, which says plenty.
The dugout11 Oct 2032
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at VPS, and both men came out saying it was fine.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Boardroom20 Sep 2032
Wages swallow 145% of the VPS income
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.
Squad20 Sep 2032
Words exchanged at VPS
Jesper Gustavsson 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.
Squad20 Sep 2032
Bjorn Skulason 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 dugout20 Sep 2032
Eddy Kejang has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at VPS 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 2032
5 months left, and both sides know what that means: every week without a signature, the fee VPS could ask drops and the wages Simon van Duivenbooden can ask rise.
Market20 Sep 2032
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. VPS know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
The dugout20 Sep 2032
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Vladislav Postrigan trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Market20 Sep 2032
VPS have made Yamine Abair available for transfer. A career at this club is over in all but paperwork.
Boardroom20 Sep 2032
VPS keep producing them
60 graduates from an academy now rated 9 out of 20. A club this size does not survive any other way, and every name on that list is known in the town.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match13 Sep 2032
VPS are in real trouble now
Position 12, 16 points, and a fixture list with fewer games left in it than excuses. The arithmetic is not cruel yet, but it has stopped being kind.
Match13 Sep 2032
The season ends: position 12 for VPS
The last league game has been played and the table has stopped moving: 16 points. The summer begins on Monday, and so does the argument about what it all meant.
Squad13 Sep 2032
A falling-out at VPS
Leevi Palmula and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Player ratings13 Sep 2032
Successful dribbles: 20. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Match11 Sep 2032
VPS come up short against TPS
TPS left with the points after a 1‑2 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
The dugout13 Sep 2032
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Nasko Tsekov, and the manager let it.
The dugout13 Sep 2032
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Antoine Lemaire after 1‑2, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
The dugout13 Sep 2032
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 Simon van Duivenbooden is on it.
Boardroom13 Sep 2032
VPS counting the cost
The accounts make uncomfortable reading. Wages first and ambition second is the order of business at VPS now.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Boardroom6 Sep 2032
The board’s statement ran to three sentences and one of them mentioned results. Antoine Lemaire has managed long enough to translate: win soon, or the next statement is shorter.
Market6 Sep 2032
“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 VPS, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad6 Sep 2032
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Jabir Abdihakim Ali and VPS agree another 2 years.
Squad6 Sep 2032
A falling-out at VPS
James Marshall and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad6 Sep 2032
Bjorn Skulason 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.
Squad6 Sep 2032
Bjorn Skulason named in the team of the month
A month is long enough that nobody gets in by accident. Bjorn Skulason is in the division's best eleven for it, which is a quieter compliment than an award and a more reliable one.
The dugout6 Sep 2032
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 Jayden Turfkruier is on it.
The dugout6 Sep 2032
The manager's exit leaves Nasko Tsekov exposed
Every squad has men who were signed by a particular manager and men who were merely inherited. Nasko Tsekov is in the first group, and the man who wanted him here is no longer in the building.
The dugout6 Sep 2032
“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.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
The terraces30 Aug 2032
Anger at VPS spills outside the ground
It has stopped being a mood in the stands and started being something organised. Boards can ignore a bad atmosphere for a long time; they cannot ignore this stage of it for very long at all.
Boardroom30 Aug 2032
Pressure builds in the VPS boardroom
The directors have stopped offering the manager public warmth. In football that is usually the stage before the short statement.
The dugout30 Aug 2032
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” VPS have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Market30 Aug 2032
Only the photograph left for Matti Arajuuri
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Matti Arajuuri will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around VPS the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Squad30 Aug 2032
Words exchanged at VPS
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.
Transfer targets30 Aug 2032
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. HJK have kept their man, and VPS go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Match28 Aug 2032
A bad afternoon for VPS against Ilves
0‑2 to Ilves, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
The dugout30 Aug 2032
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Bjorn Skulason, and the manager let it.
The dugout30 Aug 2032
The manager’s verdict
“That is on me. I pick the team and I picked wrong.” Managers say that when they mean it and when they need to be seen to, and after 0‑2 Antoine Lemaire left the room before anybody could ask which.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match16 Aug 2032
Every point is an argument now for VPS
Position 12 and 13 points, and the table gets read bottom-up in this part of town. The calendar has stopped being a schedule and started being a countdown.
Market16 Aug 2032
Yamine Abair hands in a written request
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what VPS can pretend not to have heard.
Squad16 Aug 2032
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 7 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Transfer targets16 Aug 2032
The deal with TPS is done in every sense but the one that puts him on the pitch. Nothing goes wrong at this stage, except on the occasions when it does.
Match14 Aug 2032
4 matches without a win for VPS
The run now stands at 4, and the questions being asked around VPS are no longer polite ones.
Squad16 Aug 2032
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at VPS this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Transfer targets16 Aug 2032
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. TPS have kept their man, and VPS go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Squad16 Aug 2032
Jabir Abdihakim Ali 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 dugout16 Aug 2032
Nobody at VPS 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
Crisis
The terraces5 Jul 2032
Supporters organise against the VPS board
A bad atmosphere can be waited out. A group of people meeting afterwards to decide what to do about it cannot, and everybody in the building knows which stage this is.
Match3 Jul 2032
6 matches without a win for VPS
The run now stands at 6, and the questions being asked around VPS are no longer polite ones.
Squad5 Jul 2032
6 saves, and a scoreline the ten men in front of him had no right to. Goalkeepers only get noticed on the bad days; this was one of the other ones.
Squad5 Jul 2032
Words exchanged at VPS
Yamine Abair 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.
Match3 Jul 2032
SJK take the points off VPS
Beaten 0‑1, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Squad5 Jul 2032
Jabir Abdihakim Ali 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 dugout5 Jul 2032
“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.
The dugout5 Jul 2032
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Antoine Lemaire after 0‑1, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
The dugout5 Jul 2032
Simon Lindholm is still paying for one afternoon at VPS
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.
In brief
-
The dugout
A promise honoured at VPS
-
Boardroom
6 new boys at the VPS academy
-
Squad
Atte Ojala named in the team of the month
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match26 Jun 2032
Chastening afternoon for VPS
A 1‑5 beating by HJK was the sort of result that empties a stadium long before the final whistle.
Match26 Jun 2032
5 matches without a win for VPS
The run now stands at 5, and the questions being asked around VPS are no longer polite ones.
The dugout28 Jun 2032
“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.
Squad28 Jun 2032
A falling-out at VPS
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.
Match26 Jun 2032
6 goals. Both benches spent the second half looking at each other rather than at the pitch. Purists will complain about VPS and HJK in equal measure; everybody else had a wonderful time.
Boardroom28 Jun 2032
152% of the income goes out in wages at VPS
Every club in football 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 somebody has tried it.
Boardroom28 Jun 2032
Nobody left the VPS dressing room in a hurry
The door stayed shut a long time after the final whistle. What was said in there is between them; whether it worked is between them and Saturday.
Squad28 Jun 2032
An error at the back is a moment; an error in goal is a goal. Niklas Schulz knows it, the crowd knew it instantly, and there was nobody behind him to make it anything else.
The dugout28 Jun 2032
“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 1‑5, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match21 Jun 2032
VPS sink to position 12
5 points, and a fixture list that is running out. The mathematics are not yet cruel, but they are no longer kind.
Squad21 Jun 2032
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 6 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
Match19 Jun 2032
No end in sight to VPS's wait for a win
4 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at VPS has to find a result from somewhere.
Squad21 Jun 2032
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at VPS this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Match19 Jun 2032
TPS take the points off VPS
Beaten 1‑2, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Squad21 Jun 2032
Jabir Abdihakim Ali 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.
Match21 Jun 2032
Halfway: VPS sit in position 12
5 points at the turn. The first half of a season is a promise; the second is a bill, and the town is about to find out which of the two this one was.
The dugout21 Jun 2032
“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.
Squad21 Jun 2032
7 new faces, and VPS 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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market14 Jun 2032
Yamine Abair hands in a written request
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what VPS can pretend not to have heard.
The dugout14 Jun 2032
“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.
Player ratings14 Jun 2032
Successful dribbles: 24. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad14 Jun 2032
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at VPS this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad14 Jun 2032
Words at VPS training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Jabir Abdihakim Ali 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.
Squad14 Jun 2032
“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 VPS know it.
The dugout14 Jun 2032
“There are things I liked and things we will be doing on Tuesday until they are right.” 0‑0, and a manager who had already decided what Tuesday looked like.
The dugout14 Jun 2032
Somebody else has been better, the manager has said so with a team sheet, and there is no argument to be had. He will get the shirt back the only way it can be got back.
The dugout14 Jun 2032
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.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match5 Jun 2032
VPS taken apart
1‑5 to AC Oulu, and it was every bit as bad as the number suggests. There are defeats you argue about and defeats you apologise for; this was the second kind.
Squad7 Jun 2032
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Leevi Palmula and VPS agree another 4 years.
Squad7 Jun 2032
Tempers go at VPS
Leevi Palmula 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.
Match5 Jun 2032
6 goals as VPS and AC Oulu go for it
Defending was optional and nobody took up the option. 6 goals between VPS and AC Oulu, and not one of the people who paid to be there will ask for the money back.
Squad7 Jun 2032
26 days, the scan says, and scans are kinder than reality. The fixtures in that window have just become somebody else’s job.
Boardroom7 Jun 2032
Doors closed at VPS
The music was off and the showers ran late. What was said in that dressing room stays there, but Saturday will publish the minutes.
The dugout7 Jun 2032
“I could talk about decisions and I could talk about luck. I will not. We lost.” The manager, 1‑5, and a press conference that lasted four minutes.
Squad7 Jun 2032
Beaten 5 times, 2 saves, and an afternoon that will go on his record whether it was his fault or the defence’s. It is the quiet unfairness of the position.
The dugout7 Jun 2032
Simon Lindholm has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at VPS 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
Crisis
Squad31 May 2032
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 8 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
Match29 May 2032
Beaten 2‑3, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Squad31 May 2032
Jabir Abdihakim Ali 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.
Player ratings31 May 2032
Marked 8.07 — 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.
Boardroom31 May 2032
121% of the income goes out in wages at VPS
Every club in football 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 somebody has tried it.
The dugout31 May 2032
Clubs make promises constantly and the page usually only hears about them when they are broken. This one was honoured, and the dressing room noticed that faster than any supporter did.
The dugout31 May 2032
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 2‑3 defeat, delivered by Antoine Lemaire to a room that had heard them before.
The dugout31 May 2032
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.
The dugout31 May 2032
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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad17 May 2032
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 19 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Match15 May 2032
Nowhere to hide for VPS
2‑5 against KuPS, and no complaints that would survive the replay. The manager spoke about character afterwards; the terraces used shorter words.
Match15 May 2032
No end in sight to VPS's wait for a win
9 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at VPS has to find a result from somewhere.
Match12 May 2032
VPS out of the cup
JäPS ended it 1‑1. The season narrows to the league now, and everyone in the ground knew it before the final whistle.
Player ratings17 May 2032
Two goals and a mark of 8.64 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Market17 May 2032
Yamine Abair hands in a written request
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what VPS can pretend not to have heard.
Squad17 May 2032
1 kept out from twelve yards, and a stadium that will describe each of them for twenty years. A goalkeeper needs one night like this in a career, and this was it.
Player ratings17 May 2032
Successful dribbles: 28. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
The dugout17 May 2032
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” VPS may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad10 May 2032
10 saves, and a scoreline the ten men in front of him had no right to. Goalkeepers only get noticed on the bad days; this was one of the other ones.
Match8 May 2032
7 matches without a win for VPS
The run now stands at 7, and the questions being asked around VPS are no longer polite ones.
Player ratings10 May 2032
Successful dribbles: 22. 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.
Squad10 May 2032
Words exchanged at VPS
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.
Match8 May 2032
IFK Mariehamn left with the points after a 0‑1 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Squad10 May 2032
Words at VPS training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Jabir Abdihakim Ali 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 dugout10 May 2032
“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.
Market10 May 2032
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at VPS, another week without a signature from Vladislav Postrigan.
The dugout10 May 2032
“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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Player ratings3 May 2032
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Simon van Duivenbooden provided it, and the 8.72 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
The dugout3 May 2032
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” VPS may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Match1 May 2032
The wait goes on for VPS
6 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.
Squad3 May 2032
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Kevin Kouassivi-Benissan commits to VPS for another 2 years.
Squad3 May 2032
A falling-out at VPS
Kevin Kouassivi-Benissan and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Match1 May 2032
No clean sheets in sight for VPS
4 games now with at least two against. The back line has been rearranged, the goalkeeper has been backed publicly, and the goals keep going in anyway.
The dugout3 May 2032
“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.
Squad3 May 2032
A row about effort at VPS
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Jabir Abdihakim Ali was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Squad3 May 2032
Jasse Pukki is the month’s best young player
At 18 he was better than everybody his age in the division for four weeks running, which is harder than one good afternoon. VPS will try not to make too much of it.
In brief
-
Match
VPS refuse to lose to Ekenäs IF
-
Boardroom
107% of the income goes out in wages at VPS
-
Match
Honours even between VPS and Ekenäs IF
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad26 Apr 2032
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 9 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Match24 Apr 2032
5 matches without a win for VPS
The run now stands at 5, and the questions being asked around VPS are no longer polite ones.
Match24 Apr 2032
Beaten 0‑2, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Squad26 Apr 2032
“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 VPS know it.
The dugout26 Apr 2032
“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 0‑2, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
Squad26 Apr 2032
VPS are still strangers to each other
5 new signings in one window. Every one may be an upgrade and the side can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild the verdicts never mention.
Squad26 Apr 2032
Tempers go at VPS
Jesper Gustavsson 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.
The dugout26 Apr 2032
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.
Looking ahead26 Apr 2032
Every squad has one of these fixtures for somebody every season. This one is Simon Lindholm’s: the club that knew him first, the supporters who will decide in the first minute whether to applaud, and VPS needing him to play as if none of it matters.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Market1 Mar 2032
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
Transfer targets1 Mar 2032
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.
Transfer targets1 Mar 2032
VPS asked and JIPPO said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Squad1 Mar 2032
Leevi Palmula 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.
Squad1 Mar 2032
Tim Lod 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 VPS this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The dugout1 Mar 2032
The manager has not finished forgetting Leonardo Vinti'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 dugout1 Mar 2032
Jayden Turfkruier has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at VPS 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 dugout1 Mar 2032
The manager's exit leaves Leevi Palmula exposed
Every squad has men who were signed by a particular manager and men who were merely inherited. Leevi Palmula is in the first group, and the man who wanted him here is no longer in the building.
The dugout1 Mar 2032
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Vladislav Postrigan, and the manager let it.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Boardroom29 Dec 2031
The silence upstairs is getting loud at VPS
Nobody on the board has said anything against the manager, which is the point — they have stopped saying anything for him either.
Squad29 Dec 2031
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at VPS this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad29 Dec 2031
Words at VPS training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Leevi Palmula 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 dugout29 Dec 2031
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 Simon Lindholm is on it.
Market29 Dec 2031
The name of Simon van Duivenbooden keeps appearing in other people's back pages. VPS say nothing, which says plenty.
The dugout29 Dec 2031
Mezack Afriyie 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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad22 Dec 2031
A falling-out at VPS
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.
Squad22 Dec 2031
Words at VPS training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Clement Ansah 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 dugout22 Dec 2031
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 Simon van Duivenbooden is on it.
The dugout22 Dec 2031
The manager makes an example of Onni Rintamäki
“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.
Market22 Dec 2031
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at VPS, another week without a signature from Vladislav Postrigan.
The dugout22 Dec 2031
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at VPS. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
The dugout22 Dec 2031
Riccardo Lo Re 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.
Market22 Dec 2031
The Tim Lod question follows VPS around
Every press conference now starts and ends the same way: with Tim Lod’s future. The manager has run out of new ways to say nothing.
Market22 Dec 2031
The clock does Tim Lod’s negotiating for him
4 months left, and both sides know what that means: every week without a signature, the fee VPS could ask drops and the wages Tim Lod can ask rise.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad8 Dec 2031
Words at VPS training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Leevi Palmula 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.
Squad8 Dec 2031
“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; VPS are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
The dugout8 Dec 2031
Leonardo Vinti 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.
The dugout8 Dec 2031
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 Jayden Turfkruier is on it.
The dugout8 Dec 2031
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at VPS, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Squad8 Dec 2031
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 VPS would admit. It shows on Saturdays.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad24 Nov 2031
A row about effort at VPS
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Jabir Abdihakim Ali was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout24 Nov 2031
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 dugout24 Nov 2031
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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market17 Nov 2031
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around VPS they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Market17 Nov 2031
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what VPS can pretend not to have heard.
Squad17 Nov 2031
Leevi Palmula 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.
Market17 Nov 2031
“They were honest with me, and I would rather know.” Mezack Afriyie has been informed he is not in the manager's thinking at VPS.
Squad17 Nov 2031
A falling-out at VPS
Tim Lod and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Boardroom17 Nov 2031
Wages eat 88% of everything VPS earn
There is a figure at which a wage bill stops being ambitious and becomes the reason nothing else is possible, and this club has reached it. Nothing is left over for a transfer, a stand or a rainy afternoon.
The dugout17 Nov 2031
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 Jabir Abdihakim Ali is on it.
The dugout17 Nov 2031
Mezack Afriyie 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.
Market17 Nov 2031
The name of Jabir Abdihakim Ali keeps appearing in other people's back pages. VPS say nothing, which says plenty.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market20 Oct 2031
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around VPS they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Squad20 Oct 2031
Tempers go at VPS
Nils Veinbergs 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.
Squad20 Oct 2031
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at VPS can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
Boardroom20 Oct 2031
Wages swallow 98% of the VPS income
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.
Squad20 Oct 2031
A row about effort at VPS
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Clement Ansah was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout20 Oct 2031
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 Jabir Abdihakim Ali is on it.
The dugout20 Oct 2031
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at VPS, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Market20 Oct 2031
The name of Jabir Abdihakim Ali keeps appearing in other people's back pages. VPS say nothing, which says plenty.
The dugout20 Oct 2031
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at VPS. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
The dugout6 Oct 2031
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” VPS may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Squad6 Oct 2031
“The easiest signature of my career.” Simon Lindholm and VPS agree another 4 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Squad6 Oct 2031
Words at VPS training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Leevi Palmula 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.
Squad6 Oct 2031
“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 VPS know it.
The dugout6 Oct 2031
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 Simon Lindholm is on it.
The dugout6 Oct 2031
“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.
Market6 Oct 2031
The name of Simon van Duivenbooden keeps appearing in other people's back pages. VPS say nothing, which says plenty.
The dugout6 Oct 2031
Clement Ansah 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 VPS, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Market6 Oct 2031
4 months remain and no agreement is close. Every week without a signature costs VPS money.
In brief
-
Boardroom
VPS keep producing them
-
Squad
Eddy Kejang starts on the language
From our football correspondent
Steady
Player ratings25 Aug 2031
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Simon van Duivenbooden provided it, and the 9.08 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Market25 Aug 2031
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Tijjani Mohammed will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around VPS the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Squad25 Aug 2031
Footballers are asked about their boyhood club so often that nobody listens to the answer. Vladislav Postrigan has just signed for VPS, and for once the answer mattered.
Transfer targets25 Aug 2031
The window shuts on the Amidou Traoré deal
VPS ran out of time with KuPS. The paperwork was open when the deadline passed, and a transfer that was almost done is now a transfer that never happened.
Squad25 Aug 2031
A row about effort at VPS
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Leevi Palmula was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Match23 Aug 2031
VPS get the job done against AC Oulu
A 2‑1 win over AC Oulu, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
Match23 Aug 2031
VPS settle it inside twenty minutes
2 goals before the ground had finished arriving. AC Oulu spent the rest of the afternoon playing a match that had already been decided, and everybody in the stadium knew it.
Boardroom25 Aug 2031
Wages eat 107% of everything VPS earn
There is a figure at which a wage bill stops being ambitious and becomes the reason nothing else is possible, and this club has reached it. Nothing is left over for a transfer, a stand or a rainy afternoon.
Squad25 Aug 2031
A falling-out at VPS
Tim Lod and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.