In the future, the league will be managed with strong ties to the worst clubs of recent years. The situation is unsustainable, writes journalist Mikko Pajala.
Ice hockey The league named itself a sports director on Tuesday. Like South Saimaa already had time to tell earlier in the day, a former top goalkeeper was chosen for the job Jussi Markkanen48.
In recent years, Markkanen has worked in the league club SaiPa from Lappeenranta as a significant co-owner, managing director and also sports director.
With what success? Well, let’s just say that using the word success in general is inappropriate in this context.
In the future, the former owner-CEO-sports director of SaiPa and the current chairman of Vaasan Sport will play significant roles in the League’s management ladder. The latter ie Heikki Hiltunen is also the chairman of the League.
In the future, the league will therefore be managed with strong ties to the worst league clubs in recent years. From the opening of the series, we went enormously further in one leap. The conflict of interest is already comically clear.
These clubs hold on to their sportingly unfair league position by all means, so that they can continue to be parasites on the backs of bigger clubs that are really developing and moving the League forward.
As they themselves currently have nothing to give.
In addition to all that, the Liiga’s new managing director has served as the chairman of the board of KooKoo from Kouvola Mikko Pulkkineni.e. the Holy Trinity of small clubs is ready.
However, Pulkkinen is leaving his position at KooKoo, which as a club has managed its affairs well in recent years. The league announced In connection with the appointment of Markkanen, that he also plans to sell his 19.06 percent stake in SaiPa.
Read more: The league’s worst donors of the last few years are on the move again – the owner of SaiPa has sold both himself and his son
Hiltunen commented, among other things, on series system issues on Monday to STT.
“The model, according to which we move up in the spring and play in the League in the fall, is no longer valid under current conditions. The differences in level are too great,” Hiltunen explained, among other things.
The differences in level are of course big when the series has been closed for years.
In the big picture, playing for the Mestis championship alone does not attract more viewers than players. Players who would have played in Mestis in the past are now making significantly better money in Slovakia, France or Poland.
Opening the series would start a process that would enable Mestis and its clubs to improve year by year.
Otherwise, a model without a certain place for the riser would be quite unfair. Mestis teams pile the team to a lower league level and with its money. The chips of the league clubs are relatively different.
Time one after another, Hiltunen leaves the impression in his speeches that there is no understanding of the meaning of the competition – or that people just want to be misled.
“The dream is open, it’s worth working for it,” he began to roar.
Whose dream is a cabinet lift?
The journey is more important than the destination. For example, with Sweden’s current model, where the two worst players in the league determine the relegation and the Mestis finalists determine the promotion, the two most interesting series of matches in the domestic ice hockey season would be created.
The dream of a championship is strong, but rarely as strong as the dream of achieving a league place or the fear of losing it.
In the process the tail end of the league standings would also come to life. Now, many teams play meaningless games throughout the beginning of the year, and trade their most expensive players elsewhere before the deadline. Who can afford to pay for following such a thing?
There is also fear that relegation would destroy the clubs. In order to avoid that, the parachute money paid to the faller should be introduced.
If after that the club still can’t adapt, it can go upside down with such bad management.
Then it’s the turn of others to try.
Updated on 23.5. 6:15 p.m.: Updated information that Liiga confirmed the hiring of Jussi Markkanen, and the sale of Markkanen’s SaiPa shares.
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