Well, this is not how it should go. We are not used to seeing this kind of confusion from HJK.
There have been enough strange and confusing coach noises and special communication in the Veikkausliiga, last season as well. But we are used to seeing that from other clubs.
The Helsinki Football Club has by no means survived completely without uproar, if you think about it, for example Toni Koskelan coaching time and alleged internal conflicts.
However, HJK has outwardly appeared to be a model club in many ways. A club that looks out for everyone.
After all, that’s how it has to be when the resources are superior in Finnish terms. Although there are enough resources for communication, marketing and player scouting, the kind of which the majority of Veikkausliiga clubs cannot dream of.
At the same time, HJK can be evaluated accordingly, with different criteria than others.
Now at HJK, many things seem to have gone wrong. And all this is personified at the moment in one man, the sports director Vesa Mäke.
The head coach had to be demoted
At HJK in various roles for 15 years, and since 2019 worked as a sports manager Miika Takkula left HJK last summer. He moved to Ilves, which is opening up great opportunities thanks to Tammela’s new stadium.
In his place, HJK hired Vesa Mäki, a 53-year-old experienced football manager. Mäki has worked, among other things, at TPS, the Turku Football Association, ECA (European Club Association) player development group and Inter as a technical director.
Mäki got the wash of his life. As a sports manager, at least at the club level, there is no better and at the same time tougher place in Finnish football than HJK. The minimum requirements are the Finnish championship and a group place in the European games, but as said, there are enough resources.
in HJK’s bulletin it was said that the main focus of Mäe’s work is managing the Veikkausliiga team, the second team Klubi 04 and the scouting team, as well as organizing the teams’ high-quality everyday life.
So how has it been going? Sadly, it seems.
First of all, it is amazing that, for example, a man who worked hard even as a competition manager of the Football Association is not aware of the licensing regulations of the Football Association.
Initially, a 35-year-old Spaniard was named as HJK’s new head coach Ferran Sibila. However, this does not have the Uefa Pro license required for the head coach of the Veikkausliiga.
HJK believed that Sibila will get to the Uefa Pro course that starts in Sweden now in the winter. A coach on the course is equated to one who has completed the course.
According to Mäki, the backup plan was that HJK has two head coaches, Sibila and Ossi Virtawho has a Pro degree.
However, the license regulations of the Swedish Football Association are clear: The system of two head coaches is not accepted. The reasons were revealed to Urheilui before Christmas by the Club Licensing Manager of Pallloliitto Mikko Aitkoski.
Read more: HJK’s strange coaching mess was resolved: Ossi Virta became the unexpected head coach
Then HJK published a short sentence emergency bulletin.
– Sibila’s situation was known to HJK – it is written in her coaching contract that Sibila will start the Uefa Pro course as soon as possible. Sibila had preliminary information from the Swedish Federation that she would be able to attend the course starting now in Sweden, but the Swedish Federation’s decision not to accept her will of course change the situation.
This mess ended for the time being on Friday, when HJK announced that Virta will be the head coach next season. Sibila is an assistant coach who is responsible for “developing HJK’s game process”.
Read more: HJK’s strange coaching mess was resolved: Ossi Virta became the unexpected head coach
Not hugely important to players
However, there is no need to worry more about HJK’s playing. If HJK’s team’s everyday life and playing had worked with the pair Sibila-Virta, they also functioned with the pair Virta-Sibila.
In training, the coaches still share their responsibilities as they wish. They decide together on composition matters and match plans. Nowadays, coaching is solid teamwork and many people are responsible for the players’ daily life – especially with HJK’s resources.
However, according to the license regulations, Virta is now primarily responsible for the following matters:
“About the team’s game selections, tactics and training, guiding the players and other background personnel in the dressing room and technical area before, during and after the match, as well as obligations towards the media.”
In training, the Football Association does not supervise the activities, as it should not be said, but during match events it does. In the next season, the media will be able to enjoy plenty of Virra’s monologue performances to the nuances of the game, which were already loved last season.
And of course Virta is also tested differently now. It is clear that a certain kind of aura, authority and self-discipline is required from the head coach – no matter how the division of responsibilities was explained.
Other sins?
On the other hand, sports director Mäki’s presentations and HJK’s communication raise concerns. Even in January, HJK’s press release stated that “there was preliminary information” that Sibila would be able to go to Sweden for the Uefa Pro course.
Roger Sandberg Dispute about the Swedish Football Association For Helsingin Sanomat adamantly that the union had ever given anyone any preliminary information.
According to Helsingin Sanomat, the coach’s soup is not the only soup cooked by Mäki. In the fall, HJK was in a difficult goalkeeper situation. Mäki had already acquired it for the German For Lennart Moser plane tickets to Helsinki, but it turned out that this would not be representative in the past season.
Mäki also approached an SJK player against the competition regulations without asking the club’s permission, even though the player had a contract with SJK. Mäki had to apologize to the SJK boss Raimo from Sarajärvi.
Mäki’s sin list listed by HS also stated that he had not been to introduce himself to all the players and that HJK had lost to other Veikkausliiga teams in the competition for player transfers.
When you look at Mäki’s extensive CV and networks, it is quite possible that HJK will continue to develop excellently under his leadership, for example in terms of scouting players, developing player production and self-supporting the national team.
But if someone questions Mäki’s competence as the sports director of Finland’s biggest club at this point, it’s not surprising.
Vesa Mäki’s most significant task at the beginning of the season, the acquisition of a head coach, led to his own choice becoming an assistant coach. Interim head coach Toni Korkeakunnsen Virta, who was originally brought in to help, is suddenly the head coach.
At least the competition regulations and other rules defining the operation of the Veikkausliiga should now be repeated at the HJK office. They can be found openly on the internet.