It’s 9.20 pm and I’m in Helsinki airport.
It’s pretty much empty of people. I’ve collected my bag and been through passport control in the space of a few minutes – the walk past all the gates took longer. It’s been refreshingly efficient. The place is also spotlessly clean. The toilets are positively palatial compared to a UK public convenience and the sound of chirping birds pipes through speakers while you’re in there. I like it here already.
This is the first time I’ve been to Finland despite working for SJK for nearly three years now. We’ll revisit this fact in a minute, but for now there are more pressing matters to attend to…
While I’ve been in the air, the first team have been in Lapland, playing their first Suomen Cup game against RoPo. I message Rich Dorman, the club’s Technical Director:
What was the score?
We won 8-0. But Lauri’s done his hamstring again. Shit.
Lauri Laine is an 18 year old winger we signed from top level team, Honka, when they went bust at the end of last season despite finishing in the top half of Finland’s first tier. This is how it goes here. Laine played in our first few pre-season games and was excellent, but a series of injury niggles has kept him from getting properly fit for the start of the league season.
I picture the scene of a snowy field in Rovaniemi, a few yards short of the Arctic Circle, 7-8 hours north of our club’s home in the city of Seinajoki. RoPo are a 5th tier club in Finland. It’s the same level that SJK entered its previous u17 team into last year (changing the name officially to SJK Academy 2, so it gets to play men’s football to develop instead of playing against other kids every week). The kids won the league at a canter scoring 115 goals in 22 games.
Why is Lauri even playing up there?
They wanted him to get 90 minutes. Someone has to play.
I can’t argue with this logic, especially as they next message comes in:
We’ve got no players for the weekend. I think we actually have to sign (some players) this week.
I start to moan to Rich about pre-organised stuff that I have to do this week but he cuts me short:
We might need players before Saturday. You don’t have anything to do other than that.
The club is in the midst of a mini-injury crisis, made worse by two red cards received by academy players at the weekend. Both teams still managed to win with ten men. Well, to put it more accurately both teams still managed to win with ten boys.
All of our teams including the firsts are the youngest in their division. In one way, it’s good for their development having to tough it out a player short against more seasoned, mostly bigger opponents. In another way, fielding a team with only a couple of substitutes, one of them a goalkeeper and then that goalkeeper having to come on and play outfield due to another injury isn’t good for development. Rich puts it succinctly:
It’s fucking embarrassing.
The squads have been shaped in order for all of the players to get as many minutes as possible to help them kick on. They’ll learn as least as much, if not more, playing games rather than training, so we’ve kept the number of players as tight as possible. Right now, it’s backfiring.
I say about the French boy we have previously discussed bringing in for a trial. He has been recommended as a late bloomer by a contact whose judgement I trust. We could sign him without the trial. It’s not normally something I’d consider but needs must and the boy’s wages would be cheap on a short term deal with an option to extend.
Is he a free agent? Do we have a full playing background so we can sign him quick?
Rich is worried about the potential cost of training compensation that might be owed. If a player below age 23 transfers abroad his previous clubs may be due money unless waivers have been agreed (Google it if you’re interested to know more).
Let’s meet at 9am he says before asking what time I’m actually arriving in Seinajoki. I tell him the train arrives at 4am but 9am is fine to meet. Rich relaxes a bit for the first time in the conversation:
We can do later. No point to do it that early if you arrive so late. Also set the alarm for the train time arriving in Seinajoki. Otherwise you and Stevie will wake up in Rovaniemi.
Ah, yes. Stevie…
SJK coach, Stevie Grieve, was due to touch down in Helsinki an hour or so after myself. He was been given permission to fly home to Scotland with his wife and children over the weekend and come back tonight. Toni Lehtinen was on his own to take the first team up to Lapland today (well, not alone as the rest of the staff are there too, but you know what I mean). Stevie later tells me he’s seen his wife and kids for a total of just 50 days since coming to Finland this time last year.
I’ve known Stevie from Twitter for well over ten years. We’ve been talking regularly for at least four of them. Since he got employed by SJK we’ve more or less interacted daily. The thing is, I’ve never actually met the bloke face to face in all that time. I’m staying in his apartment this week.
Just to recap, I’ve never been to Finland before now, I’ve never physically met the coaches and yes, coming up to my third year working with the club, I’m now Head of Recruitment.
It’s probably fair to say that COVID changed the landscape of the scouting role somewhat across the globe. More and more people are working for clubs all over the world, sat thousands of miles away, looking at a computer, meeting via Zoom and messaging via WhatsApp. The simple fact is, it’s way, way, way more efficient and cost effective (like, way) for smaller clubs without multi-million euro budgets to do it like this. I told a friend of mine when out for Christmas drinks in December, that we very rarely scout live. He couldn’t believe it.
‘Smaller’ clubs in nearly every league in nearly every nation are far too reliant on their player recruitment being almost completely agent-led. There simply isn’t the man or money power for football club staff to scout players thoroughly enough in a manner that the fans of said clubs would expect or like. All too often decision-makers watch a few clips of a player before deciding whether to commit cash to the next signing. It’s now my job to make sure the club has done as much homework as it possibly can before committing to player contracts. That means more video, more data and multiple people being on board with it before any deal gets done.
Anyway, Stevie’s here now, we’ve shaken hands for the first time ever and he’s now sat across me eating a Katsu curry quickly before we have to get the late train to Seinajoki. We get some chocolate for the train and make our way down to the platform. We get the I-train a few stops to Tikkurila and as with the airport, everything is straight forward.
The night train from Tikkurila to Seinajoki proves to be a much more reassuring British-style experience. Firstly, the train arrives about 20 minutes late. Secondly, we ignore where our tickets tell us to sit and just jump on the nearest carriage. Thirdly, the first person on the carriage we see is a large gentleman laying spreadeagled across two seats. His head is a curious shade of puce/purple that makes Alan Brazil’s noggin look pale. He is sporadically gulping neat whiskey from a bottle not very well hidden in his pocket. Three times during the journey the train guard will tell him to put it away. The train guard is complied with until he goes away, and then ignored until next time.
A few minutes later another guy gets on. This guy is older and grizzled looking, like he could have been in the running for the lead man in the film Sisu. He has hands like shovels and a vacant expression on his face. He reaches one shovel into his rucksack and scoops out a can of strong lager. He spots whiskey man across the way and they immediately become pals and share their spoils. Sisu man tells us he works on the pipelines in Norway and is going home to Oulu. He attempts conversation for a while before falling asleep. Stevie and I chat for four hours all the way to Seinajoki. We trundle into his apartment. It’s around 4.45am.
I’m still wired from the trip and don’t get to sleep quickly. It takes me a good hour of mindfulness exercises before I doze off. Rich messages at 6.59am:
Are you awake?
I am now.
Welcome to Finland, Paul.
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