According to Matti Helimo, the former chairman of the club, the game director’s work fell short in practically all responsibilities. Toni Kohonen does not recognize herself from the description.
On Tuesday, the representatives of the baseball club Manse PP were able to speak in the district court of Pirkanmaa Toni Kohosta on the second hearing day of the contract dispute.
Kohonen was hired as Manse PP’s game director in the fall of 2022, but the collaboration quickly withered away. Kohonen was fired from his job the following spring.
Now the justification for the dismissal is being resolved in the district court. Kohonen demands a total of approximately 120,000 euros in compensation from Manse PP for the unjustified termination of the employment contract.
The form of the contract was changed
In 2022, having been the chairman of the board of Manse PP Pirkka Savilahten the expression was frustrated several times when he was asked why Kohonen had been hired without a probationary period or without psychological tests.
It became clear that Savilahti had remained in the minority in matters in the board of the club at that time.
It was visible, for example, in the agreed salary: the first proposal, i.e. 2,500 euros per month, had changed to 4,500 euros in Kohonen’s counter-proposal.
It made Savilahti change the form of the contract from 2+2 years to 1+2 years for financial reasons.
– Back then, we had our backs against the wall in the game director matter. I had to get one, and preferably quickly.
The influencers of the club at the time assured that the reputation of the player legend was not more important than its number.
– Certainly in the way that we at the club did everything we could to make Toni succeed in his new role. He had a difficult situation in civilian life, he needed help managing the game: we tried to find help for everything, said the club’s former chairman Matti Helimo.
Helimo was the person who first approached Koho about the contract.
On your own or on the club’s behalf?
Disagreements arose in a short time on many issues.
Helimo said in court that he was upset, for example, that Kohonen had sold an advertisement worth several thousand euros in his own name to his fan of a car dealership. Helimo said that he had given feedback on this and asked to sell to the club.
Soon, the team also started to receive messages that the game manager was hardly seen in training. Kohonen spent his time at home in Kouvola analyzing games on video. Then it was revealed to the club that Kohose also had an overlapping employment relationship, which he had not told Manse PP about.
– We stated quite clearly that this is close management and requires being on the spot. It doesn’t help if, as a game director, you give instructions remotely, it was already made clear during the contract phase that this is close coaching, Helimo and Savilahti said.
Toni Kohonen says that he does not recognize the person as presented in court.
– If I think back to my days as a player, then people could already trust verbal contracts. It was because you could trust people.
The proceedings of the case will continue in the district court on Thursday.