Joni Lehtonen was promoted to head coach of Ilves.
Ilves has released the head coach of the men’s representative team playing in the Veikkausliiga Toni Kallion of his mission, the club informs.
Coached with Kallio from Ilves since 2021 Joni Lehtonen takes the position as head coach until the end of the 2023 season.
Kallio managed to stay at Ilves continuously for more than ten years, when he returned to the club as a player in 2012. Kallio ended his long playing career the following year, after which the former national team player worked at the club in various coaching positions from 2014.
Kallio became the head coach in August 2021, when Jarkko Wiss was released from the position of head coach.
Kallio has played a total of 73 matches as head coach, and the last one was a losing Pirkanmaa local battle against Haka.
Ilves has won only three of its 18 matches this season. There are eight draws, seven losses. Ilves has collected 17 points, while IFK Mariehamn, the jumbo of the series, has collected 14.
Ilves’ previous victory in the Veikkausliiga was against VPS at the end of May.
Relegation is a particularly embarrassing and difficult thing for Ilves, because next season the team is supposed to move to the new, nearly 40 million euro stadium in Tammela.
In this summer’s matches, Ilves’ game has been badly lost, which has also caused great dissatisfaction among the supporters. In the last matches, the supporters have demanded Kallio be fired with the ugliest words.
Also, because of the midfield star Petteri Pennanen going to India has underlined the lack of leadership and problems with the ball.
Read more: Comment: What’s wrong with Ilves? A club caught in a downward spiral and the main pilot in a wild place – encouragement changed to v-style insults
– I am disappointed that the Ilves career, at least for this season, ends like this. At the same time, I am also proud of the work that has been done with this team. It has been a challenging two years, but we have done a lot of good. Of course, I understand that in the end results are what is measured at this level and in this position. A lot of small things could have turned out differently in the matches and the situation could have been much, much better, Kallio states in the press release.
CEO of Ilves Edustus Oy Risto Niklas-Salminen thanks Kallio for taking on the role of head coach in a challenging situation in 2021. However, the reasons for releasing Kallio from his position were precisely the current practices on the field.
– The fact is that we have a pretty good team. Despite a good start to the season, the team’s game went into a back lock and they tried to open it in many different ways. Now that we haven’t lost anything yet, we still have something to win, I made the decision that now is the moment to release “Köpi”, Niklas-Salminen tells Urheilu by phone.
The coaching group of the Ilves Veikkausliiga team will remain the same in terms of personnel. Joni Lehtonen, who has worked at Ilves for a long time, has coached Ilves to, among other things, the A-junior Finnish championship and piloted the Ilves/2 team in the men’s Kakkone.
The coaching responsibility is shared with Lehtonen by the recently returned to the club Pasi Tuuttiphysical trainer Heli Rekimiesgoalkeeper coach Marko Piriläa video coach Niko Hasa and talent coach Joonas Laurikainen.