Marked for Omid Rezaeian
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match3 Oct 2027
A chastening European night for SJK
0‑4 against AC Milan. The honest reading is not that the players were poor; it is that the distance between this club and that one is currently measured in things money takes years to buy.
Squad4 Oct 2027
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.
Market4 Oct 2027
“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 The request is on a desk at SJK, and it is not being withdrawn.
Match3 Oct 2027
No end in sight to SJK's wait for a win
4 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at SJK has to find a result from somewhere.
Squad4 Oct 2027
Tempers go at SJK
Till Cissokho 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.
Squad4 Oct 2027
Words at SJK training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Kasper Paananen is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Match3 Oct 2027
3 matches without a goal for SJK
The chances are being made and something is happening between the making and the finishing. 3 matches now, and the anxiety in the ground arrives a little earlier every week.
Squad4 Oct 2027
“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.
Boardroom4 Oct 2027
Inquest at SJK
The manager kept them in and said what needed saying. A response is expected on Saturday, and if it does not come the questions move upstairs.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Steady
Match4 Sep 2027
The run at home goes on for SJK
13 matches unbeaten here. Every visiting manager is asked about it in the week before, which is precisely why it keeps going.
Market6 Sep 2027
“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 The request is on a desk at SJK, and it is not being withdrawn.
Player ratings6 Sep 2027
Defensive actions: 26, and a clean sheet at the end of it. A centre-half's best afternoons look like nothing happening, which is precisely the point.
Squad6 Sep 2027
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at SJK this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Player ratings6 Sep 2027
Successful dribbles: 21. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Match4 Sep 2027
Whatever happens, SJK do not lose
6 games unbeaten now. Some were earned and some were survived, but a habit is forming — and habits are the hardest thing in football to play against.
Squad6 Sep 2027
Words at SJK training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Kasper Paananen is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Boardroom6 Sep 2027
$1.3M on the table at SJK
The board have answered with money instead of encouragement, which is the only answer a manager ever wants. Spending it well is now entirely his problem.
Squad6 Sep 2027
A place in the month's best eleven for Roope Paunio
Four or five weekends of consistency, judged against everybody in the division doing his job. Roope Paunio has come out of that comparison in the side, and SJK have had the benefit of every one of those afternoons.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad30 Aug 2027
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at SJK this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Player ratings30 Aug 2027
Successful dribbles: 21. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad30 Aug 2027
Kasper Paananen falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Squad30 Aug 2027
Roope Paunio gets it from the manager
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
Squad30 Aug 2027
It is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. SJK told Olatoundji Tessilimi something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
Match28 Aug 2027
Honours even between SJK and RoPS
1‑1, and both dressing rooms will call it two points lost. A draw that asked plenty of questions and answered none of them.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market2 Aug 2027
“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 SJK, and it is not being withdrawn.
Match31 Jul 2027
5 matches without a win for SJK
The run now stands at 5, and the questions being asked around SJK are no longer polite ones.
Squad2 Aug 2027
Dapal Monday gets the move he always wanted
Footballers are asked about their boyhood club so often that nobody listens to the answer. Dapal Monday has just signed for SJK, and for once the answer mattered.
Match31 Jul 2027
The run at home goes on for SJK
10 matches unbeaten here. Every visiting manager is asked about it in the week before, which is precisely why it keeps going.
Squad2 Aug 2027
Tempers go at SJK
Kelvin Pires was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Squad2 Aug 2027
Kasper Paananen falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Player ratings2 Aug 2027
Successful dribbles: 19. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad2 Aug 2027
“The easiest signature of my career.” Dapal Monday and SJK agree another 3 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Market2 Aug 2027
SJK and Till Cissokho are talking past each other
“There is a gap, and pretending there is not helps nobody.” Neither side has moved, and the calendar is working for exactly one of them.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Match7 Jul 2027
The small margins put SJK out
Out, 0‑1 to HIFK, and the long argument about which of the small moments decided it. The league is all there is now, and everybody knows it.
Squad12 Jul 2027
Tempers go at SJK
Till Cissokho 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.
Squad12 Jul 2027
Words at SJK training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Kasper Paananen is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Player ratings12 Jul 2027
Successful dribbles: 18. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Player ratings12 Jul 2027
Joonas Kekarainen ran the middle of the pitch — 7.03
He won it back and then made something of it, which is two jobs and the reason the scoreline looks the way it does. 10 combined actions and a mark of 7.03, and not one of them will make a highlights package.
Market12 Jul 2027
“They were honest with me, and I would rather know.” Samuel Chukwudi has been informed he is not in the manager's thinking at SJK.
Squad12 Jul 2027
10 shut-outs and counting. Goalkeepers are only noticed when they fail, and Roope Paunio has given nobody the chance.
Squad12 Jul 2027
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.
Player ratings12 Jul 2027
16 times he got in the way of something. Centre-halves get written about when they make mistakes and ignored when they do not, so an afternoon like this needs saying out loud: he is the reason the scoreline reads as it does.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market21 Jun 2027
“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 SJK, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad21 Jun 2027
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at SJK this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad21 Jun 2027
Kasper Paananen falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Player ratings21 Jun 2027
Some games turn on a moment; this one turned on a man. 7.43 on the card, and the SJK support went home talking about one name.
Squad21 Jun 2027
8 clean sheets and counting. Strikers leave this ground muttering his name, which is exactly how a goalkeeper measures a good season.
Squad21 Jun 2027
“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.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad14 Jun 2027
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” SJK may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Squad14 Jun 2027
Kelvin Pires in a row with a teammate
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at SJK this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad14 Jun 2027
Words at SJK training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Kasper Paananen is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Player ratings14 Jun 2027
Successful dribbles: 20. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Player ratings14 Jun 2027
A defender's afternoon for Till Cissokho
Defensive actions: 18. He was first to everything and second to nothing, and the goalkeeper had an easy day because of it.
Squad14 Jun 2027
“Some mornings you wake up and you are still a long way from everything you know.” It is not the football and it never was; SJK are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market24 May 2027
Omid Rezaeian 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 SJK can pretend not to have heard.
Player ratings24 May 2027
Successful dribbles: 25. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad24 May 2027
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at SJK this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad24 May 2027
Kasper Paananen falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Player ratings24 May 2027
Defensive actions: 19, and a clean sheet at the end of it. A centre-half's best afternoons look like nothing happening, which is precisely the point.
Squad24 May 2027
“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.
Player ratings24 May 2027
17 defensive actions and a clean sheet at the end of them. A defender's afternoon can only be told by what did not happen, which is why nobody makes a highlights package out of one and every manager in the division would take it.
Squad24 May 2027
A last season at home is what Omid Rezaeian is after
It is sentimental, it is completely genuine, and it is the beginning of a departure nobody has announced. The club can be gracious about it or it can pretend not to have heard.
Match22 May 2027
Nil-nil, and few chances worth the name. Inter Turku came to defend and left with exactly what they came for.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Match12 May 2027
Cup ties wait for somebody to seize them, and Ussumane Djaló obliged against KTP. 2‑0 on the night, and the name in the next round’s hat is SJK.
Player ratings17 May 2027
Two goals and a mark of 8.10 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Squad17 May 2027
Tempers go at SJK
Till Cissokho 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.
Squad17 May 2027
Words at SJK training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Kasper Paananen is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Match15 May 2027
FF Jaro take the points off SJK
Beaten 1‑2, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
The terraces17 May 2027
SJK supporters have found a favourite in Ussumane Djaló
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 22-year-old it feels ownership of. Ussumane Djaló has it now, and everything he does for the rest of his time here will be measured against the goodwill he was handed for free.
Squad17 May 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Roope Paunio, and the manager let it.
Player ratings17 May 2027
Till Cissokho was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.07. There are performances a supporter describes to somebody who was not there and cannot quite convey; this was one, and the number does not help either.
Squad17 May 2027
“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 SJK know it.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match8 May 2027
Whatever happens, SJK do not lose
7 games unbeaten now. Some were earned and some were survived, but a habit is forming — and habits are the hardest thing in football to play against.
Squad10 May 2027
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at SJK this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Player ratings10 May 2027
Successful dribbles: 21. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad10 May 2027
Kasper Paananen falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Market10 May 2027
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at SJK has been clear about where Elias Mastokangas stands, which is more than many ever get.
Player ratings10 May 2027
13 defensive actions and a clean sheet at the end of them. A defender's afternoon can only be told by what did not happen, which is why nobody makes a highlights package out of one and every manager in the division would take it.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad5 Apr 2027
Facundo Romero damages knee ligaments — 33 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 33 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.
Squad5 Apr 2027
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at SJK this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad5 Apr 2027
Albin Björkskog 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
Uneasy
Squad22 Mar 2027
A knee injury of the worst kind for Facundo Romero
48 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. SJK lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Squad22 Mar 2027
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at SJK this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad22 Mar 2027
Kasper Paananen falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad15 Mar 2027
A knee injury of the worst kind for Sardar Shojaei
21 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Saba lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Squad15 Mar 2027
“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.
Squad15 Mar 2027
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Saba this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad1 Feb 2027
Sardar Shojaei damages knee ligaments — 68 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 68 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.
Boardroom1 Feb 2027
The scrutiny sharpens at Saba
Nobody upstairs has said anything, which is the loudest thing they could do. Results buy silence in this game; the account at Saba is running low.
Market1 Feb 2027
Omid Rezaeian 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 Saba can pretend not to have heard.
Squad1 Feb 2027
Amin Saedi 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 Saba this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad1 Feb 2027
The team sheet said everything about Ehsan Taremi
Warm-up bib, ninety minutes of watching, and a handshake at the end that fooled nobody. Big matches tell you who a manager trusts; this one told Ehsan Taremi.
Squad1 Feb 2027
The manager makes an example of Sardar Shojaei
“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.
Player ratings1 Feb 2027
14 defensive actions and a clean sheet at the end of them. A defender's afternoon can only be told by what did not happen, which is why nobody makes a highlights package out of one and every manager in the division would take it.
Match30 Jan 2027
Ninety minutes, two goalkeepers with clean gloves, and not one finish worth keeping. Esteghlal will be the happier side with the point.
Player ratings1 Feb 2027
Successful dribbles: 9. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.