Marked for Atomu Tanaka
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad7 Sep 2026
A falling-out at KTP
Kaius Simojoki and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Match5 Sep 2026
The drought breaks for KTP
6 without a win is the sort of run that changes how a town talks about its club, and HIFK were the afternoon it stopped. Nothing is fixed by one result and everything feels different by one.
Player ratings7 Sep 2026
Successful dribbles: 20. 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.
Match5 Sep 2026
It finished 2‑0, and it was Foday Manneh’s afternoon: on the scoresheet when it mattered, and the reason the points belong to KTP.
Player ratings7 Sep 2026
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.34, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
Player ratings7 Sep 2026
Ninety minutes of Ahmed Adebayo at his very best
Marked 8.09. Players have careers without a single afternoon like this in them, and he has just had one in front of everybody at KTP.
Squad7 Sep 2026
Somebody has moved past him. It is not a dropping and it is worse than one, because a dropping is about a Saturday and this is about where he stands.
Squad7 Sep 2026
A row about effort at KTP
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Gift Sunday was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Squad7 Sep 2026
“I did not sign to watch. Nobody does.” The oldest complaint in the game, and KTP will have to answer it with minutes or with a move.
In brief
-
The dugout
The view from the dugout
-
The dugout
The manager makes an example of Mustapha Coker
-
The dugout
Torric Jebrin knocks on the manager's door
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match22 Aug 2026
A hiding for KTP
Beaten 1‑5 by VPS, and beaten everywhere it matters. The inquest starts on the training pitch on Monday morning.
Market24 Aug 2026
The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.
Match22 Aug 2026
No end in sight to KTP's wait for a win
5 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at KTP has to find a result from somewhere.
Squad24 Aug 2026
A falling-out at KTP
Atomu Tanaka and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Match22 Aug 2026
6 goals. Both benches spent the second half looking at each other rather than at the pitch. Purists will complain about KTP and VPS in equal measure; everybody else had a wonderful time.
The dugout24 Aug 2026
“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.
Squad24 Aug 2026
A row about effort at KTP
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Gift Sunday was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Boardroom24 Aug 2026
Doors closed at KTP
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 dugout24 Aug 2026
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Paulus Hoskonen after 1‑5, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match15 Aug 2026
KTP out of the cup
SJK ended it 0‑0. The season narrows to the league now, and everyone in the ground knew it before the final whistle.
Market17 Aug 2026
Samuli Hölttä has one foot out of the door
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around KTP they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Boardroom17 Aug 2026
KTP close the window on a squad of their own making
19 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.
Transfer targets17 Aug 2026
The deal with SJK 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.
Match15 Aug 2026
4 matches without a win for KTP
The run now stands at 4, and the questions being asked around KTP are no longer polite ones.
Boardroom17 Aug 2026
There is no worse way to lose a footballer. Samuli Hölttä has pre-agreed a move away, which means every appearance between now and June is made by a man the club can no longer sell, and somebody upstairs will be asked why the contract was allowed to get here.
Squad17 Aug 2026
Words exchanged at KTP
Atomu Tanaka 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 targets17 Aug 2026
KTP asked and Ilves said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Squad17 Aug 2026
Words at KTP training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Gift Sunday 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.
In brief
-
Squad
Alexander Berntsson is a square peg at KTP
-
Squad
KTP are still strangers to each other
-
The dugout
The manager’s verdict
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad3 Aug 2026
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Atomu Tanaka and KTP agree another 2 years.
Squad3 Aug 2026
Tempers go at KTP
Atomu Tanaka 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.
Match1 Aug 2026
A bad afternoon for KTP against RoPS
2‑3 to RoPS, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Market3 Aug 2026
The phone has started ringing about Arttu Tulehmo again, and this time the name on the line is SJK. KTP are listening politely and promising nothing.
Transfer targets3 Aug 2026
KTP asked and KuPS said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Squad3 Aug 2026
Gift Sunday 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.
Squad3 Aug 2026
The system has changed and his position has not. A footballer can improve his form; he cannot improve the manager’s formation, and that is the whole of the problem.
Market3 Aug 2026
49 months left and silence from upstairs — no offer, no talks, nothing for his people to answer. Clubs that let a calendar do their negotiating usually end up negotiating with the calendar.
The dugout3 Aug 2026
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 2‑3 Paulus Hoskonen left the room before anybody could ask which.