The Kévin Gauthier Story

Cruising at the top, hopefully you can turn it around in the Champions League as well.

Courageous Klubi go out of Champions league

05/08/2020


HJK’s dreams of making the Champions League group stage were heartbreakingly dashed in Wednsday’s match away at Legia, because although Kévin Gauthier’s men lost 2-1 on the night, the tie ended 3-1 on aggregate and the club is now looking forward to competing in the Europa League.

In the cauldron of noise and colour created by the 22,660 supporters at the Polish Army Stadium, Klubi were looking to reverse the fortunes of the first leg. It started out very promising as Leo Vaisanen scored the first goal of the match giving HJK the 1-0 lead and making it on aggregate. Sadly this was the only goal for Klubi as the Legia defense were not allowing Klubi to do anything. It was a very frustrating day for the club as the referee would be carding our boys too much. Legia would score two more goals to secure their place in the next round in the 37th and 70th-minutes.

Now for Klubi it is time to focus on the league and Suomen Cup for the next few weeks. In a day a bunch of new transfers will be arriving and hopefully help us in the Europa League. The draw for the Europa League Playoff is set for this upcoming Friday.

Unlucky, but you had a good run while it lasted!

I think you did well all things considering, just need to try and keep building your squad so you can have an improved result next time.

Unlucky to have been knocked out mate but there is still a Europa League campaign to come which could be fun!

We are here at the Grimaldi Forum for the Europa League Playoff Draw. it is looking to be a great round with several great clubs such as Galatasary, Aston Villa and Wolfsburg participating. As always there will be seven groups of seeded and unseeded clubs for this round. Could one or even two of these teams make it to the final in Paris?? Stay tuned to find out as matches will be played on 20 and 27 August.








Here is the draw:




My thoughts:
Ah not who I wanted, Stade Rennais are a good club and I feel it will be just as challenging as Leiga previously. This will be a massive test as Ligue 1 clubs are really amazing in European play. I just hope we can somehow pull off the upset and continue to the group stage. Other than that this will be a huge match for me returning to manage in France. The last time was a few years back but against some small club, this time it is a Ligue 1 side so I need to make a statement.

Really difficult draw there, sure Griffo wil want to see you cruise through though

Tough draw, but I trust that you can pull through it

Summers new arrivals and departures

15/08/2020

The summer transfer has been open for the past ten days now and HJK has been active in bringing in and letting go players. Here are the players who have joined us since then and those who left the club.


Giorgi Murdashvili- FREE AGENT

Giorgi was one of the most sought after prospects of Euro 2020. The 19 year old Georgian comes to us after starting his career in Georgia where he made a name for himself. When our scouts noticed he was released from Dinamo Tbilisi it was the perfect time to go after him.

Jonathan Ikone- FREE AGENT

Ikone joins Klubi after being released from Paris Saint-Germain. The young winger has what it takes to become one of the best and has proven his worth since joining back in July.

Ewen Berger- Olympique de Martinique, FREE

At only 20 years old Ewen has been one of the brightest prospects to come from the Caribbean in the past few seasons. Ewen was signed on a free transfer back in March but Klubi was not able to complete the transfer until this window. The young striker has already made 14 appearances for Martinique scoring 5 goals.

Aron Elís Þrándarson- Brann, €400K

Þrándarson joins us after a two and a half spell with Norwegian club Brann. The 25 year old Iceland international joined after the departure of Lucas Lingman.

Clément Chantôme- C.D. Lugo, €99K

At 32 years old Chantôme joined us for his experience in the game of football. He will be here mostly to tutor the younger players and have a role in the midfield where he will be a great deep lying playmaker.



Ville Laiho- Cardiff City, 150K

Laiho was one of the clubs most prized prospects but Klubi just couldn't keep him from leaving as many top teams were going for him.

Ken'Ichro Oikawa- Ardija, €67K

Despite being one of Gauthier's first signings Ken'Ichro Oikawa just wasn't able to crack the starting line up much at all. The best thing is the club made a profit after signing him on a free transfer.

Lucas Lingman- AA Gent, €115K

Lucas got his wish of moving abroad to further his football career. He will be really missed and hopefully one day he returns.

Sebastian Dahlström- Jaro, €7K

Sebastian moves on after not being able to play much this season.

Is it just me or does Jonathan Ikone look like Claude Makelele?

Klubi lose in an embarrassing fashion

21/08/2020


Following a run of three straight wins in all competitions, it was a sad day for Klubi as Kévin Gauthier’s men fell to an embarrassing defeat the 2020/21 campaign in Thursday’s Europa League trip to Rennes, With Klubi looking lethargic and unmotivated Stade Rennais would look to capitalize on our misfortune. A two goal collapse would condemn the club to an uncertain future in Europa League play.

The 18,090 crowd at the Roazhon Park in Rennes saw the Finnish champions look lost all match long with several missed opportunities and an efficient attack by Rennes. The home side would strike first when Paul Papp score in the 11th-minute of the match. Klubi would get lucky in the 41st-minute as Juho Hiltunen scored the tying goal. All match long he was playing worse than what we have seen. Sadly after that things really went down hill. The collapse began as Giorgi Murdashvili went down with an injury two minutes later, he will be out for the next few weeks and that is a big blow to the club. Stade Rennais would capitalize once again right before half when Paco Alcacer scored the leading goal. Despite all of that HJK would still work hard to score again but sadly they just couldn't. A minute before the match ended it seemed Klubi just gave up allowing Cenk Tosun to walk in for the easiest goal ever.

"I really really don't know what to say other than these guys failed the club and country tonight. It was down right embarrassing and I blame them for it all, I mean look they seemed not to give a crap about playing tonight and it showed. The return home is going to be hard and if we play the same way there will be some guys released for the squad," said the very angry and stressed out Kévin Gauthier.

Thanks to this collapse Klubi are now at a huge disadvantage going into the return leg. If they are to win it will take a miracle and will need to score two goals to win via away goals. It does not help at all the HJK have a match against rival HIFK four days before the return leg. The match is set for a 7:45pm kickoff on 28 August.

Not the definite end of the world but its not looking great, but at least you have an away goal to count on!

Klubi bow out with heads held high

28/08/2020


Despite a stirring 4-3 victory over favourites Stade Rennais in Thursday’s Europa League playoff second leg, Klubi’s quest for a place in this season’s Europa League group stage is over following a 6-5 aggregate defeat to the highly favored French side. Kévin Gauthier’s men put up a valiant fight against the Ligue 1 side but the burden of last week’s 3-1 away match and Rennes' all around better squad proved too much over the last week.

The almost full house at the Sonera Stadium saw a fast and furious opening including the early goal the home team craved, scored after just six minutes by Juho Hiltunen. The growing euphoria in the stadium was extinguished just ten minutes later when Paco Alcacer tapped in the equaliser, and the HJK bench looked stunned as their comeback was looking to slip away.

Klubi refused to give up and were able to keep things level until a huge goal by Ilmari Ylönen in the 59th minute. The celebration did not last long because Cenk Tosum was able to score giving his side the lead on aggregate in the 63rd minute. Despite that goal the never surrender attitude was still in full force as Hiltunen scored two more goals in the 68th and 73rd minutes giving him a hat trick. Rennes' Amr Warda finally put the nail in the coffin for HJK as he scored in the 77th minute ending Klubi's dreams of the group stage.

While this match was extremely entertaining it was also marred in controversy. Referee Antonio Damato was singled out as the person who made this match harder than he should have with a huge bias towards the away side. In many instances he would card Klubi for the smallest infractions while letting the Stade Rennais players off with just warnings. Also there were a few goals that were called offside but should have counted. Chairman Olli-Pekka Lyytikäinen announced that he will be putting in a formal complaint on the actions of the referee to UEFA.

"This was a massive turn around and I am proud of this club and their will to fight to get this victory. Despite not being able to advance we showed that this club is going to be a big threat in the future. I am very proud of Juho and his play today. Without it we probably wouldn't be able to have made this match so exciting. Well it is now time to finish the season up," said Gauthier after the match as he spoke to HJKTV. On the referee controversy he said, " I really do not want to say much other than something was way off today and I am hoping that UEFA can have some sort of review. I really don't want to further comment on it"

With the European season over it is now time for Klubi to finish up the 2020 season on a strong note. Veikkausliiga play resumes on 10 September as Klubi will be hosting Kuopion Palloseura and continues for six more matchdays afterwards. The season finishes on 25 October as Vaasan Palloseura comes to town. The Suomen Cup concludes on 26 October as we face KuPS. Gauthier is looking to get the club their first Suomen Cup win since the 2014 season

Always going to be a big ask to turn that deficit around but, as you've said, you can be proud of your performance in the second leg & I'm sure the lads will learn a great deal from that!

August Review

01/09/2020


With European, league and cup play Klubi were busy once again. In the month of August the club would have eight matches and they did really good overall. The two losses came in European play but in the league they kept winning. In the Suomen Cup HJK are now back to the final looking for a cup victory in 2020.

The month started off with a big 5-0 victory over IFK Mariehhamn in which Johnathan Ikone had a massive match with two goals. Seven days later Veikkausliiga play continued with a victory over FC Inter and a few days later another victory over FC Lahti. Finally on 24 August Klubi would defeat rival HIFK in the final Stadin Derby of the year, by a score of 3-1.

In European play the club would end of getting eliminated by Legia of Poland and then move down to Europa League. For the playoff Klubi were drawn against Stade Rennais who would prove to be a difficult opponent. Despite the victory in the second leg it was not enough as the club would get eliminated.

Also in August was the incoming youth day for Klubi. Most of these kids have been apart of the HJK Junior system or from other local clubs. The player with the most potential at this point from this youth class is 16 year old goalkeeper,Pasi Haapala.





Player of the Month:


Once again Juho Hiltunen made the biggest impact for the squad. In a month where we had eight matches we were looking for that one player to give us the best chance at a great run. While with eight goals Juho got us through the month with no problem. Currently the 21 year old's average match rating is at a 7.87 for this whole season. The match of the month for him came against Rennes in the second leg of the Europa League playoff where he nailed a hat trick.

Managers Thoughts:
It was a great month as we continued to dominated the league and advance to the Suomen Cup final. Europe has been a lot of fun and I believe our run should help with getting this country a better ranking and we just need to keep it up. Well yes I and everyone else are devastated by out come of the Rennes match we fought hard and I have a feeling that in a few years if we keep the same players HJK will become a club that can make it to the group stage and farther.

What to look forward to in September:
September will be another busy month for Klubi as they will have to make up matches due to European play. It should be a great month as it is predicted that midway through it the club will officially lock in the 2020 championship. On 26 September we will be facing KuPS in the Suomen Cup final and are looking to win for the first time since 2014.