Baseball | In court, the former boss of Manse PP accused Toni Koho of lying and a smear campaign

A baseball legend Toni Kohonen and Manse PP Edustus ry regarding the termination of the referee's contract has been discussed for two days now in Tampere Pirkanmaa district court.

15 people will be consulted during the three processing days. On Tuesday, it was the turn of several core members of Manse PP: the previous chairmen Pirkka Savilahti and Matti Helimo and board members Yrjö Ojala and Harri Lamminen.

Helimo served as chairman of the club in 2019–21. After this, he left the position because he had been elected deputy mayor of Tampere's cultural services service area.

On Tuesday, Helimo told the district court that he has tried to give advice to Manse PP mainly on player and coach matters. Helimo had been asked to help in the search for a new game manager, because Savilahti was leaving the chairman's position and was busy with his work duties. A new chairman had not yet been elected.

According to Helimo, he received instructions on what kind of agreement he could negotiate. He contacted Toni Kohose after the then captain of the team Henri Puputti had hinted that the Kouvola resident might be interested in the position of game director.

At first, Helimo said that he had called Kohonen. Helimo also sent Kohonen a contract offer by e-mail. No other parties appear in the e-mail conversations in the written evidence. Helimo said that he had forwarded Kohonen's counteroffer to the club.

The Tampere resident said that when the matter started to become concrete, Savilahti joined the negotiations, who had the right to sign as chairman.

“I emphasized from the beginning that I do not have decision-making power, but act as a mediator. It was completely clear to both parties all along,” Helimo said on Tuesday.

Helimon the role has emerged in several of the plaintiff's written evidences.

When Kohonen realized that he had signed a 1+2-year contract on October 21, he communicated it to the Kode & soppari Whatsapp group, where Helimo is also.

Helimo had replied to the message: “What was signed on the paper that finally became? Let's start with five years now!”

The difference of opinion on the length of the contract came to Helimo's attention through Kohonen's message. He explained that his comment was a joke and a throw.

Vice-judge representing the province Olli Rauste asked what kind of contract Helimo originally proposed to the Kouvo resident. Helimo recalled that at first it was a 2+2-year deal, but at that time it was ab
out half the financial value of the contract than the approved contract.

According to Helimo, it must have been completely clear to Kohonen that he has signed a 1+2-year contract. Helimo had been with Savilahti in Turkey when, according to Helimo, the chairman had gone through the contract point by point with Kohonen in a Teams call.

I love you work on the Manse ended on February 23. At that time, there was a management discussion at the Varala sports college, where, in addition to Kohonen, Ojala and Helimo were present.

Helimo said that he refused to go at first because, according to him, Kohonen “lies with his mouth and eyes full”.

“I saw this coming when the man is arguing about everything,” he said, apparently referring to the fact that Kohonen did not participate in the locker camp because he was at the same time in Kitee handling the division of the estate with his ex-wife. According to Mansen's view, the camp was part of Kohonen's duties.

In the end, Helimo agreed to go to Varala when he brought Ojala with him. In addition, he received instructions for the event by email from the lawyer Mansen had washed Mika Miesmäki. Helimo said that he asked for instructions for his own legal protection.

Caution was the cancellation of the December event. Helimo was of the opinion that the meeting called by Kohonen at that time would be a meeting. There were members of the club's board, Kohonen and the team's captaincy.

Helimo said that Kohonen had stood in front of the class and barked at representatives of the club and other actors.

“It showed what kind of theater performance he puts on.”

The plaintiff said on Monday that Helimo would have read a text from a laptop during the hearing, and then said that there was no other option but to fire Kohone.

Both Ojala and Helimo emphasized that there has been no talk of terminating the employment relationship.

“We said that there is no need to go to Pirkkahalli today. I emphasized three times that nothing will be decided today,” Ojala said, referring to the team's training sessions, which were held in the hall.

According to Matti Helimo (center), Kohonen (left) always found some reason why he didn't do his agreed tasks. Picture: Jukka Ritola / Aamulehti

Helimo said he tried to be kind to Koho because he knew the situation was miserable. The Tampere resident said several times in different words that Kohonen was lying and that they were trying to blackmail him in the matter.

“In an agitated state, he told me how he would do me harm,” Helimo revealed on Tuesday, referring to himself and Kohose.

Among Mansen's representatives, Savilahti, for example, considers that the hearing held for Kohonen in December about the neglect of employment obligations was a warning.

In the hearings of the club's core members, it was repeated on Tuesday that Kohonen has been given opportunities to correct his actions, but he has continued to neglect his duties. According to what we heard, there were constant, weekly or more, disgruntled messages from players.

“All the people in the club were rooting for Kohonen to have the opportunity to succeed at this club,” said Helimo.

The litigation will continue on Thursday. Kohonen demands about 120,000 euros from the club.