HIFK will fight for seven league matches to stay in the Veikkausliiga. According to head coach Paatelainen, the season has been the most difficult of his football career.
Veikkausliiga team HIFK has a grace period of seven matches in the Veikkausliiga. The first match of fate is on Monday against HJK.
HIFK desperately needs wins so that it can move from the relegation zone to even the qualifier.
The head coach Mixu Paatelainen know the conditions for survival.
“It requires wins, and draws don’t go far,” Paatelainen said at Friday’s press conference.
“We believe in winning. We always focus on the next game. HJK is a difficult opponent. On a day when our passing game is slick and we have a clear idea of how we are going to play, I think we can score.”
Paatelainen said that the past season has been “definitely the most difficult season” of his football career.
According to Paatelainen, he was “promised this and that” when he took over as head coach in the middle of the first season.
“After five weeks, those promises turned out to be bullshit.”
“It wasn’t about the CEO Jarno from Salmivuori or [hallituksen nykyisestä puheenjohtajasta] From Jan Walden. It was about the previous boss who was telling these promises.”
According to Paatelainen, there have been many messes during the season, which have been read about in the media.
“I’ve come to this situation, I’ve tried to figure out the knots and some have been figured out, but you can’t figure everything out at once. Let’s go forward and fight.”
Captain Sakari Mattila agreed with the head coach about the difficulty of the season.
“A lot of things have happened behind the scenes that have affected the everyday life of our players. Now the fall troll is climbing on the back.”
HIFK captain Sakari Mattila says he experienced a lot of absurd moments during the season.
Mattila now tells about one turning point a week before the start of the season.
“The captaincy was called [HIFK:n toimistolle] for an emergency meeting with an hour’s notice. It was an incomprehensible situation.”
The captains were in the office BetoMattila, Jani Bäckman and Jukka Halme and sports director Mika Lönnström and the head coach at the time Bernardo Tavares.
“The head coach asked us if you want me to leave. Then the firefighting began, after which the sports director asked us if we knew how to open the game. We said we don’t know.”
Mattila says that the players never went to tell the club management their opinions.
“Tavares was leaving. He said vote me out. It was absurd.”
The players refused to vote on the matter.
“Afterwards, I put the pieces together. It may be that he had the opportunity to go to Indonesia then.”
As a result of the meeting, it was decided to start the season together.
Tavares resigned from his position three days after the series opener due to family reasons. Six days later, it was announced that Tavares had signed a coaching contract with the Indonesian club.
Mattila says that she has experienced countless moments during the season where she has wondered about the course of things and events.
“We have young players who live hand to mouth. If they think day after day about whether we will survive as a club, it’s a difficult situation for them to develop and practice.”
In mid-June, the club management announced the threat of bankruptcy and the threat that the season could be interrupted. HIFK appealed to the shareholders and the HIFK community to save the league team.
According to Mattila, the club’s announcement was an aggressive cry for help. It raised questions. However, the players received their salaries on time.
Uncertain however, the situation was reflected in the games. On July 4, Portuguese star goalkeeper Beto received a straight red card and a three-match ban. A couple of weeks after that, HIFK announced that it had canceled Beto’s contract.
“It must have started to show mild effects of the situation we were in. In the same way, I got a red card this season for overreacting. Betolla boiled over. It felt like he wanted to leave for a longer time, and then everything came down to that situation.”
HIFK’s Portuguese star goalkeeper Beto’s season was cut short in Finland when his contract was terminated.
Walden, the new chairman of the board, told about the new ownership arrangements in the club on Thursday. The news sounded positive for Mattila.
“It is positive that new winds are blowing in the club. There is perhaps a slightly more stable, positive future ahead, no matter what the league level is.”
Stadin Derby HJK-HIFK will be played on Monday at Bolt-arena at 18:00. Ruutu.fi will show the match.
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