The VPS Chronicle
Squad3 Aug 2026
Martti Haukioja stays put
“The easiest signature of my career.” Martti Haukioja and VPS agree another 4 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Squad3 Aug 2026
Martti Haukioja 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.
Player ratings3 Aug 2026
Nobody could get near Jayden Turfkruier
Successful dribbles: 21. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Market3 Aug 2026
FC Lahti watching Luka Smyth
The interest is real enough to have reached print. VPS have said nothing, which in a transfer window is its own kind of answer.
Squad3 Aug 2026
Simon van Duivenbooden 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 terraces3 Aug 2026
VPS supporters have found a favourite in Aleksi Piispa
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 20-year-old it feels ownership of. Aleksi Piispa 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.
Squad3 Aug 2026
The manager makes an example of Yassin Daoussi
“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.
Market3 Aug 2026
49 months and counting on Simon van Duivenbooden
Still no offer on the table, and Simon van Duivenbooden’s deal keeps shrinking. In boardroom language, silence this long stops being an oversight and starts being an answer.
Match1 Aug 2026
Point won or two lost for VPS?
Ninety minutes, no goals, and the argument started before the car park emptied: a point gained, or two thrown away against KuPS? Both sides of it will still be going on Thursday.
In brief
- Market VPS and Joonas Vahtera are talking past each other
- Market The shop window has Akon Kuek in it
- Player ratings Paulo Lima spends the afternoon fouling