The numerous coach firings in the Veikkausliiga are discussed in ‘s new 11 friends football podcast. Kicks have been handed out both in tail-end clubs and in the championship fight.
Jussi Vainikka,
Samuli Niemi-Hukkala
The Veikkausliiga of football has seen a record-breaking game of chairs this season. Before the start of the playoffs, no less than seven teams have changed head coaches.
The issue was also brought up in ‘s new 11 friends football podcast. Matti Härkönen and Urheilu’s experts Antti Pohja and Miika Nuutinen pondered the causes of the phenomenon.
– Yes, this tells about the consistency of the series. There is not a single team that has fallen off the board early on, and on the other hand, the championship fight has been alive the whole time, says Nuutinen.
At the same time, the TV money distributed to clubs has increased in recent years. The value of the series place is thus higher than before.
In the studio, the domestic coaching carousel was also combined with a wider, international perspective. For example, the two highest league levels in England saw a record number of coach changes last season.
– Last season on the pitches of England, those who made the change in good time got a change of direction. On the other hand, panic solutions towards the end of the season didn’t produce much results, Nuutinen points out.
KuPS: Pasi Tuutti (fired 21.4.) -> Jani Honkavaara
HJK: Toni Koskela (13.7.) -> Toni Korkeakunnas
Lynx: Toni Kallio (9.8.) -> Joni Lehtonen
KTP: Jussi Leppälahti (23.8.) -> Juha Malinen
IFK Mariehamn: Daniel Norrmen (24.8.) -> Jimmy Wargh
AC Oulu: Ricardo Duarte (25.8.) -> Rauno Ojanen & Jussi-Pekka Savolainen
FC Lahti: Mikko Mannila (31.8.) -> Toni Lindberg
In Finland, it is noteworthy that HJK and KuPS, who are fighting for the championship, changed coaches early in the season. KuPS replaced Pasi Tuut Jani in Honkavaara after only three matches. Toni Koskela was allowed to leave HJK in mid-July. He took his place Toni Korkeakunnas.
Both teams have turned the tide, but elsewhere in the standings the results have been mixed. For example, AC Oulu fell to the bottom of the final series after a change of coach.
– If I think about my own playing career, 20 years ago, with a change of coach, you might have been able to bring a cheer boost and freedom to the head, but in today’s football, that cheer is not enough in the same way that it might have been enough then. The game is much more complicated and there are more things that the coach needs to be able to influence, Pohja reflects.
Vaasa was patient, even though the season started weakly. From the first 12 matches, the result was only six points. Now Jussi Nuorelan the team he coached has won ten games in a row.
So there would have been a chance for more coaching sacks this season. For example, the studio trio raises Haka, who went 11 matches without a win from mid-May to August, as one. Now Haka is Teemu Tainion in the lead, however, in an unbeaten streak of six matches.
– Practically every Veikkausliiga head coach could have been fired this season if the trigger finger had been a little more sensitive, Härkönen says.