Marked for Nana Appiah
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad30 Jun 2031
72 days out for Jaakko Pukki after a fracture
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. VPS will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Squad30 Jun 2031
A falling-out at VPS
Martti Haukioja and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Match28 Jun 2031
VPS come up short against HJK
HJK left with the points after a 0‑1 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Squad30 Jun 2031
Words at VPS training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Joonas Vahtera 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 dugout30 Jun 2031
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 0‑1 Tim Huuhka left the room before anybody could ask which.
The dugout30 Jun 2031
Emmanuel Okereke 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.
Player ratings30 Jun 2031
Successful dribbles: 14. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
The dugout30 Jun 2031
Nana Appiah 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.
The dugout30 Jun 2031
Somebody else is better right now than Jabir Abdihakim Ali
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.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
The dugout5 May 2031
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” VPS may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Match3 May 2031
Ilves end the VPS run at 8
Every run ends on an afternoon somebody had marked down as routine. This one went 8 matches, which is long enough that a town had stopped counting, and short enough that it will remember exactly who stopped it.
Player ratings5 May 2031
Successful dribbles: 22. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
Squad5 May 2031
A falling-out at VPS
Martti Haukioja and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad5 May 2031
“The easiest signature of my career.” Joonas Vahtera and VPS agree another 2 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Match3 May 2031
VPS come up short against Ilves
Ilves left with the points after a 0‑2 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Squad5 May 2031
Words at VPS training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Joonas Vahtera 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 dugout5 May 2031
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Tim Huuhka after 0‑2, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
Squad5 May 2031
Martti Haukioja named in the team of the month
A month is long enough that nobody gets in by accident. Martti Haukioja is in the division's best eleven for it, which is a quieter compliment than an award and a more reliable one.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Player ratings9 Sep 2030
Successful dribbles: 37. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
Match9 Sep 2030
Full time on the season at VPS
Position 8 on 25 points. Every season is a story and this is the last line of it, and now the club has three months to decide what the next one is about.
Squad9 Sep 2030
Kaan Hakola breaks a bone — 55 days out
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 55 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Player ratings9 Sep 2030
Two goals and a mark of 8.24 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Squad9 Sep 2030
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.
Match7 Sep 2030
VPS find a way past RoPS
RoPS made VPS work for it, but the scoreboard read 2‑0 at the end and the table does not ask how.
Squad9 Sep 2030
A row about effort at VPS
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Joonas Vahtera was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Squad9 Sep 2030
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Juuso Polvi commits to VPS for another 3 years.
The dugout9 Sep 2030
Tim Huuhka: “That is the standard”
“That is what I want every week. Not the result, the way they went about it.” The manager, after 2‑0, already talking about the next one.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Player ratings26 Aug 2030
Successful dribbles: 46. 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.
Match24 Aug 2030
8 matches without a win for VPS
The run now stands at 8, and the questions being asked around VPS are no longer polite ones.
Squad26 Aug 2030
69 days out for Kaan Hakola after a fracture
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. VPS will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Market26 Aug 2030
“I listened, I thought about it, and I am staying. That is the whole story.” The clubs had agreed a fee. Tijjani Mohammed had not agreed to go, which turned out to be the part that mattered.
Market26 Aug 2030
Only the photograph left for Onni Hänninen
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Onni Hänninen will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around VPS the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Squad26 Aug 2030
Words exchanged at VPS
Martti Haukioja 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.
Squad26 Aug 2030
Joonas Vahtera falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Match24 Aug 2030
Level with 93 minutes on the clock, after an afternoon VPS had all but put away. KTP will call it a point earned; the home dressing room will call it two given away, and both of them are right.
Player ratings26 Aug 2030
Marked 7.59 on an afternoon he ran from the first whistle to the last. Whatever else went wrong, VPS had the best player on the pitch.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market12 Aug 2030
“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.
Squad12 Aug 2030
A fracture rules Jorginho out for 20 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason VPS will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Market12 Aug 2030
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.
Market12 Aug 2030
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. VPS have lost him in all but the paperwork.
Player ratings12 Aug 2030
Successful dribbles: 28. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
Match10 Aug 2030
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.
The dugout12 Aug 2030
Nana Appiah: 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.
Match10 Aug 2030
The goals have deserted VPS
5 matches, no goals, and a training ground that has tried everything. It will end — droughts always do — but nobody at VPS can tell you which week it ends in.
Transfer targets12 Aug 2030
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. VPS have done the hard part with SJK, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad8 Apr 2030
37 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. VPS lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Market8 Apr 2030
RoPS come back empty-handed
The bid was some way short and VPS did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.
Boardroom8 Apr 2030
VPS close the window on a squad of their own making
0 in and 1 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.
Market8 Apr 2030
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.
Squad8 Apr 2030
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.
Squad8 Apr 2030
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Nana Appiah and VPS agree another 4 years.
Squad8 Apr 2030
Words at VPS training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Otto Ollikainen 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 Apr 2030
No hiding place for Jorginho
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Jorginho, and the manager let it.
The dugout8 Apr 2030
Henri Salomaa 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
Steady
Squad1 Apr 2030
The words a physio says slowly. 44 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.
Market1 Apr 2030
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. VPS have lost him in all but the paperwork.
The dugout1 Apr 2030
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” VPS may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Market1 Apr 2030
Only the photograph left for Abdul Amoah
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Abdul Amoah will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around VPS the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Squad1 Apr 2030
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.
Market1 Apr 2030
Add another name to the list: IFK Mariehamn have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Onni Hänninen. The answer from VPS has not changed — yet.
Squad1 Apr 2030
Joonas Vahtera 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 dugout1 Apr 2030
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.
Market1 Apr 2030
“The manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Adis Jasharovski has his answer from VPS; what he does with it is the next window’s story.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad12 Nov 2029
62 days out for Henri Salomaa after a fracture
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. VPS will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
The dugout12 Nov 2029
Jorginho says VPS went back on their word
“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.
Squad12 Nov 2029
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.
Squad12 Nov 2029
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Thomas Dearden commits to VPS for another 3 years.
Squad12 Nov 2029
A muscle injury and 14 days out for Nikola Mitev
The most common injury in the game and the most rushed back from. VPS will quote 14 days and will be careful with it, because the second one is always worse than the first.
The dugout12 Nov 2029
The manager makes an example of Abdul Amoah
“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 dugout12 Nov 2029
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.
Market12 Nov 2029
The name of Simon van Duivenbooden keeps appearing in other people's back pages. VPS say nothing, which says plenty.
Match12 Nov 2029
Continental football is in reach for VPS
23 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.
In brief
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Market
Still no signature from Abdul Amoah
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The dugout
Nana Appiah knocks on the manager's door
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Boardroom
VPS keep producing them
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad5 Nov 2029
70 days out for Henri Salomaa after a fracture
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. VPS will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Squad5 Nov 2029
Tempers go at VPS
Simon van Duivenbooden 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.
Squad5 Nov 2029
Joonas Vahtera 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.
Squad5 Nov 2029
“The easiest signature of my career.” Nana Appiah and VPS agree another 4 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
The dugout5 Nov 2029
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 dugout5 Nov 2029
The manager makes an example of Josep Nuorela
“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
Steady
Squad15 Oct 2029
A falling-out at VPS
Henri Salomaa and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad15 Oct 2029
Joonas Vahtera 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 dugout15 Oct 2029
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 dugout15 Oct 2029
The manager makes an example of Onni Hänninen
“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.
Market15 Oct 2029
The name of Simon van Duivenbooden keeps appearing in other people's back pages. VPS say nothing, which says plenty.
The dugout15 Oct 2029
Abdul Amoah has been promised minutes
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 Abdul Amoah has written the date down.
Match15 Oct 2029
VPS in the hunt for Europe
Position 6, 23 points, and a run-in that decides whether next season has Thursday nights in it. Nobody is calling it a race yet, which is what people say during one.
Squad15 Oct 2029
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.
The dugout15 Oct 2029
Otto Ollikainen 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.