2 goals, and the second was the one that settled it. Marked 8.59, and he could have had a third with better luck at the near post.
Boardroom23 Aug 2027
HJK close the window on a squad of their own making
11 in and 3 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.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at HJK is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Add another name to the list: IFK Mariehamn have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about David Ezeh. The answer from HJK has not changed — yet.
“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; HJK are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Nikolai Alho 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.
A mark of 7.31, and nobody in the ground would argue with it. He was involved in everything that mattered and most of what did not.
The dugout16 Aug 2027
The view from the dugout
“We did not lose. Some weeks that is all you get, and I would rather have the point than not.” Leo Karjalainen chose the glass-half-full version of 0‑0; the supporters left with the other one.
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around HJK people have started saying his name in the past tense.
Player ratings9 Aug 2027
Troy Nyhammer, 20, plays like he has been here for years — 8.26
A mark of 8.26 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 20-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what HJK can pretend not to have heard.
A season average of 6.57 at an age when most of his year group are still in the youth team. HJK know what they have, and so, by now, does everybody else.
The offer from Atvidaberg for David Ezeh was heard out and sent back the same day. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loudly the door closes.
Ítalo 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Brandon López was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
HJK asked and Casarano said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
The chase for Yiandro Raap ended with $320.0K changing hands and Ilves out of reasons to say no. The supporters will judge the fee the only way that matters: on Saturdays.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at HJK this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“I want to be playing for trophies while my legs still let me.” Nothing in that sentence is a transfer request, and nobody at HJK heard it as anything else.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Brandon López 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.
Every run ends on an afternoon somebody had marked down as routine. This one went 4 matches, which is long enough that a town had stopped counting, and short enough that it will remember exactly who stopped it.
The manager has re-ordered his thinking and Teemu Pukki has come out of it lower. He will be told it is temporary, and the players who have heard that before will avoid his eye.
4 wins in a row changes how opponents warm up: quieter, more glances across. Runs end, everybody knows that — but nobody in this dressing room is planning for it.
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: KuPS keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
The offer went to Ilves 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.
Lassi Lappalainen 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.
HJK offered $300.0K; FF Jaro said it was not close. The manager will be told the money is still there for the right player, which is what managers are told.
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. HJK have done the hard part with Ilves, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
3 wins in a row changes how opponents warm up: quieter, more glances across. Runs end, everybody knows that — but nobody in this dressing room is planning for it.
HJK have gone to KuPS with a bid, and the supporters have gone to the internet with an opinion about it. Whether either changes anything is up to the selling club.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at HJK this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Brandon López was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 22-year-old it feels ownership of. Liam Möller 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.
Rarely has this fixture seen a display like it: 4‑0 against HIFK, and it could have been more.
Player ratings12 Jul 2027
A brace, and Brandon López takes the afternoon — 8.54
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Brandon López provided it, and the 8.54 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
At 37 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 7.87 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
5 straight away victories. Sides that win away are usually sides that can defend and can counter, and the table has begun to reflect what those journeys have earned.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Brandon López 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.
He is 23 and the ground already sings his name, which is a thing that happens to local boys and almost never to signings. Everything from here is measured against an affection he did nothing to earn except be from here.
Kaius Simojoki 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 supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 1‑2, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
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.
Signed today, seen by nobody for years, and one of them may one day be the reason the club exists. That is the whole of the argument for an academy, and it is a good one.
28 points, and the rest of the division looking up. Every side that finishes first spends the season pretending it is not thinking about it, and this one has started pretending.
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 7.92 at 37, and nobody on the pitch was better.
Lassi Lappalainen 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.
50 for the club now, each one filed in somebody’s memory with a date and a scoreline. Numbers like this are what supporters argue about in twenty years.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Leonel Montano was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” HJK have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around HJK they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at HJK this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Every run ends on an afternoon somebody had marked down as routine. This one went 6 matches, which is long enough that a town had stopped counting, and short enough that it will remember exactly who stopped it.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Nikolai Alho 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.
6 wins on the spin now, and the question has changed from whether the run ends to who ends it. Confidence like this cannot be bought; it has to be earned exactly this way.
“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; HJK are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
10 matches unbeaten here. Every visiting manager is asked about it in the week before, which is precisely why it keeps going.
The terraces14 Jun 2027
HJK supporters have found a favourite in Roni Hudd
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 22-year-old it feels ownership of. Roni Hudd 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.
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.37, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
Squad14 Jun 2027
Nikolai Alho 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.
Lassi Lappalainen 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.
Match5 Jun 2027
Another one collected away from home
3 on the bounce on the road for HJK. The coaches leave early, arrive at unlovely grounds in the dark, and keep coming home with three points.
Marked 8.24 — 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Brandon López was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
8.04. 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.
18 points, and the rest of the division looking up. Every side that finishes first spends the season pretending it is not thinking about it, and this one has started pretending.
4 wins in a row changes how opponents warm up: quieter, more glances across. Runs end, everybody knows that — but nobody in this dressing room is planning for it.
Successful dribbles: 24. 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.
Lassi Lappalainen 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.
9 home matches unbeaten. Visiting sides arrive already talking about the atmosphere, which is usually the sign that they have half-lost before kickoff.
Squad31 May 2027
Brandon López 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.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 23-year-old it feels ownership of. Brandon López 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.
A 1‑0 win over IFK Mariehamn, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
8.12. 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.
Position 2, 15 points, and the result everyone checks first is now theirs. The word is still not being said around the ground, which is how you know everyone is thinking it.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at HJK is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
The rules permit it and it stings anyway. Pyry Mentu has agreed terms with KuPS for the summer, and until then he pulls on this shirt as a player who has already chosen his next one.
Alexander Ring 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.
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.
He is 20 and the ground already sings his name, which is a thing that happens to local boys and almost never to signings. Everything from here is measured against an affection he did nothing to earn except be from here.
Two goals and a mark of 9.02 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Lassi Lappalainen 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.
At 23 he is being sung about by people twice his age, which is an affection a signing has to earn over years and a local kid gets for turning up. It is also the hardest thing in football to live up to.
Successful dribbles: 23. 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.
Lassi Lappalainen 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.
Every footballer has an answer to the question about his boyhood club, and most of them never get to act on it. Leonardo Rusciano has, at HJK, and the first month will show what that does to a man.
Squad10 May 2027
Brandon López 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Lassi Lappalainen 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.
A month is long enough that nobody gets in by accident. Uroš Kabić is in the division's best eleven for it, which is a quieter compliment than an award and a more reliable one.
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 dugout3 May 2027
The manager’s verdict
“I am frustrated, honestly. We did enough to win and we did not win.” Leo Karjalainen was not hiding it after 0‑0, and nobody in the HJK dressing room was either.
“The manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Emmanuel Boateng has his answer from HJK; what he does with it is the next window’s story.
In brief
SquadTroy Nyhammer is the weekend's best young player
The hardest thing about being 20 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Troy Nyhammer did not need any: 7.62, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
Alexander Ring 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Lassi Lappalainen 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.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 23-year-old it feels ownership of. Brandon López 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.
“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; HJK are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at HJK this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Brandon López was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
100 games in the shirt. Nobody sets out to build a record like that; it happens to a certain kind of player at a certain kind of club, and this town knows what it has.
4 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.
2 boys move up, and somewhere in the building the people who coached them at twelve are quietly having the best morning of their working year. Nothing about this shows up in a result and it is why the academy exists.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Lassi Lappalainen 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.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 23-year-old it feels ownership of. Uroš Kabić 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.
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Markku Pukki 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.
The approach was made and the answer came back in a sentence. There is no number on the table because there was no number that would have been enough.
Boardroom5 Apr 2027
Deadline passes with 4 signed and 2 gone
That is the business done at HJK until the window opens again. Whether it was enough will be answered on Saturdays rather than in a column, and the first Saturday is close.
Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at Volga is saying, and nobody at HJK is enjoying the guessing.
Lassi Lappalainen 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Brandon López 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.
He is doing things on a Saturday afternoon that nobody around him can answer, which is flattering for about one season and a problem after that. HJK will not keep him by pretending otherwise.
The manager has re-ordered his thinking and Alfie Cicale has come out of it lower. He will be told it is temporary, and the players who have heard that before will avoid his eye.
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 Santeri Haarala is on it.
Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at APOEL is saying, and nobody at HJK is enjoying the guessing.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at HJK this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
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.
Squad29 Mar 2027
Brandon López 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.
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at HJK. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Alfie Cicale signs something — a contract at HJK or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: Sochi keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
HJK have gone to APOEL with a bid, and the supporters have gone to the internet with an opinion about it. Whether either changes anything is up to the selling club.
HJK asked and Akhmat Grozny said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at HJK this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
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 Alexander Ring is on it.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. HJK know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
The offer went to Sochi 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Brandon López was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
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 Mads Borchers is on it.
He is doing things on a Saturday afternoon that nobody around him can answer, which is flattering for about one season and a problem after that. HJK will not keep him by pretending otherwise.
A new face in his position, and Lassi Lappalainen suddenly has to win back what he thought he owned. HJK have promised nothing — clubs rarely do at this stage.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. HJK know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
A season-long look at somebody else’s player: Brandon López arrives from All Boys with something to prove and a return ticket in the drawer. Good loans make everybody richer; this one starts Saturday.
Numbers do not stay secret in a dressing room. He is not asking for more than he is worth; he is asking why somebody beside him is worth more, and HJK have no good answer.
14 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. HJK lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
$8.7M was the most the club would pay and Club Brugge were asking for more. Deals like this are revived in the last week of a window roughly half the time, and everybody involved knows it.
HJK asked and Portsmouth said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
The deal with All Boys 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.
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: San Miguel keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
Lassi Lappalainen 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.
22 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. HJK lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
$8.7M on the table at Club Brugge. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what HJK can pretend not to have heard.
Everything agreed with San Miguel, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: Estudiantes keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
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.
He used to be one of the options. He is now one of the men the options are picked around, and the change happened quietly enough that only the dressing room noticed on the day.
29 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. HJK lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
SuperSport United wanted more than $11.9M and the board would not go there. Walked away, for now, which in a transfer window means until somebody blinks.
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. HJK have done the hard part with Estudiantes, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at Vikingur is saying, and nobody at HJK is enjoying the guessing.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at HJK this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
It is the rarest sequence in football: supporters ask for something, and the club goes and does it. $3.2M for Ítalo, and for one week nobody is complaining about anything.
The words a physio says slowly. 38 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.
$11.9M on the table at SuperSport United. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. HJK have lost him in all but the paperwork.
HJK asked and Baltika said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
The shirt still fits. Oliver Pettersson is back at HJK, and half the ground remembers him in these colours already. Some signings need selling to the town; this one sold itself.
Lassi Lappalainen 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.
47 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. HJK lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
HJK asked and Zaragoza said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
The offer went to Ural 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.
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.
“I have done everything asked of me in training and it has not changed a thing on a Saturday.” The most familiar complaint in football, and one HJK will have to answer with minutes or with a transfer.
54 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. HJK lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at HJK this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
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.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at HJK, and both men came out saying it was fine.
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 HJK would admit. It shows on Saturdays.
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 Tuure Siira has written the date down.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Alfie Cicale signs something — a contract at HJK or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
“Ambitious players need ambitious projects. Draw your own conclusions.” Pyry Mentu’s representative said it with a smile, and made sure everyone wrote it down.
“Judge me on him.” Managers do not say that kind of thing by accident — it moves the pressure from Santeri Haarala’s shoulders onto his own, and both of them know it.
61 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. HJK lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at HJK this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
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 Alexander Ring is on it.
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.
69 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. HJK lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Lassi Lappalainen 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.
Nobody at HJK 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 words a physio says slowly. 76 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.
Lassi Lappalainen 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.
Nobody at HJK 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.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at HJK, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at HJK. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
84 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. HJK lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
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 demotion a club never announces and a dressing room always notices. Miska Ylitolva is further from the side than he was, and the reason will not be given until he asks.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and David Ezeh trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at HJK, another week without a signature from Emmanuel Boateng.
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.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Alfie Cicale signs something — a contract at HJK or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
The words a physio says slowly. 91 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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at HJK this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Nobody at HJK 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.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at HJK, and both men came out saying it was fine.
99 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. HJK lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Kaius Simojoki 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.
Nobody at HJK 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.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at HJK, and both men came out saying it was fine.
The words a physio says slowly. 108 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.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” HJK have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
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.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Lucas Lingman trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
117 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. HJK lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Nobody at HJK 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.
“I have done everything asked of me in training and it has not changed a thing on a Saturday.” The most familiar complaint in football, and one HJK will have to answer with minutes or with a transfer.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Luciano Riveros trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
124 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. HJK lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at HJK this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Nobody at HJK 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.
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at HJK. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
The words a physio says slowly. 132 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.
Lassi Lappalainen 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Alfie Cicale was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Nobody makes a documentary about a hamstring and everybody in the game fears one. HJK will be careful with the return date, because the second one is always worse than the first.
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.
140 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. HJK lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Lassi Lappalainen 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.
Squad16 Nov 2026
Alfie Cicale 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.
Nobody at HJK 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.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Lassi Lappalainen trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Mihailo Bogićević will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around HJK the goodbyes have quietly begun.
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 Lassi Lappalainen is on it.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Lassi Lappalainen trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
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 David Ezeh has written the date down.
Numbers do not stay secret in a dressing room and never have. He is not asking for more than he is worth; he is asking why somebody beside him is worth more, and at HJK that is a harder question to answer.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Emmanuel Boateng will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around HJK the goodbyes have quietly begun.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at HJK this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at HJK, another week without a signature from Lassi Lappalainen.
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.
Nobody at HJK 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.
“I respect the manager and I am not going to sit here and pretend I am happy.” It is the most common sentence in football and it has never once been the end of a story.
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.
SJK go through and HJK go home, 1‑1 the scoreline that did it. The dressing room will call the league the priority now, because that is what dressing rooms say.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at HJK is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
The board was up, the win was priced in, and then SJK scored. There is no worse minute to concede in and the ground emptied in the silence that follows one.
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.
Kaius Simojoki 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.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” HJK have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around HJK they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Lassi Lappalainen 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.
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 23 he is doing things at this level he could not do at the start of the season, and the coaching staff will tell you exactly which of them.
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 Santeri Haarala is on it.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Tuure Siira trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Santeri Haarala signs something — a contract at HJK or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
1 months left, and both sides know what that means: every week without a signature, the fee HJK could ask drops and the wages Lucas Lingman can ask rise.
He looks like a man who lives here now rather than one who is working here. It took most of a season, and at HJK the difference is visible from the back of the stand.
17 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. HJK lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at HJK is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
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.
12 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.
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.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at HJK, and both men came out saying it was fine.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Lassi Lappalainen signs something — a contract at HJK or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
The words a physio says slowly. 25 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.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around HJK they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at HJK this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“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 HJK know it.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Mihailo Bogićević 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
The dugoutAlexander Ring has become a man the manager trusts
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.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around HJK they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Lassi Lappalainen 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.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Lassi Lappalainen trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
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 Mads Borchers is on it.
2 months left, and both sides know what that means: every week without a signature, the fee HJK could ask drops and the wages Till Cissokho can ask rise.
41 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. HJK lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at HJK is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Lassi Lappalainen 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Mihailo Bogićević was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Nobody at HJK 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.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Lassi Lappalainen trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Mihailo Bogićević will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around HJK the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Mihailo Bogićević was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
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 Lassi Lappalainen is on it.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Marcus Olsson trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Lassi Lappalainen signs something — a contract at HJK or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at HJK is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at HJK this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The manager has re-ordered his thinking and Nikolai Alho has come out of it lower. He will be told it is temporary, and the players who have heard that before will avoid his eye.
12 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.
Squad7 Sep 2026
A place in the month's best eleven for Teemu Pukki
Four or five weekends of consistency, judged against everybody in the division doing his job. Teemu Pukki has come out of that comparison in the side, and HJK have had the benefit of every one of those afternoons.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Ville Tikkanen will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around HJK the goodbyes have quietly begun.
The deal that would have taken Pyry Mentu to FF Jaro has collapsed at the last stage, and he reports back to HJK with a summer to forget and a season still to play. Nobody is saying which side walked away.
There is no worse way to lose a footballer. Eemil Toivonen 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.
Lassi Lappalainen 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.
Nothing happens for months and then he simply arrives, at no cost, having signed a pre-contract while still turning out for somebody else. It is the least dramatic way to sign a footballer and frequently the shrewdest.
Every run ends on an afternoon somebody had marked down as routine. This one went 5 matches, which is long enough that a town had stopped counting, and short enough that it will remember exactly who stopped it.
In brief
Player ratingsMads Borchers was on a different afternoon to everybody else
Two goals and a mark of 8.47 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 9.33 at 36, and nobody on the pitch was better.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around HJK they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Player ratings24 Aug 2026
Roni Hudd, 21, plays like he has been here for years — 7.92
A mark of 7.92 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 21-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
The offer from KTP for Mihailo Bogićević was heard out and sent back the same day. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loudly the door closes.
The deadline has passed and the squad is the squad. 13 arrived, 1 left, and everything else printed about this club last month was a rumour that stayed one.
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: Paris Saint-Germain keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
There is no worse way to lose a footballer. Emmanuel Boateng 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.
Nothing happens for months and then he simply arrives, at no cost, having signed a pre-contract while still turning out for somebody else. It is the least dramatic way to sign a footballer and frequently the shrewdest.
A brace, and Mads Borchers takes the afternoon — 8.34
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Mads Borchers provided it, and the 8.34 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
The offer from VPS for Ville Tikkanen was heard out and sent back the same day. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loudly the door closes.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at HJK is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
There is no worse way to lose a footballer. Ville Tikkanen 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Lassi Lappalainen was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at HJK this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Mads Borchers was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
36 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.