Kalle Koskinen: The Iceman

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Peimari United's supporters' club Paimion Leijonat today issued a public statement urging the football club to make steps to expand the club's stadium, HakkisPaana. The stadium, based in Suavo (a 15 minute drive from Peimari United's home town of Paimio), is currently restricted to a capacity of 400 (all-seater). Peimari United's debut in the Veikkausliiga saw them host reigning champions HJK yesterday, with the home side thrilling the supporters present at the game with a 3-0 victory. However, many were left without the possibility of attending the sold-out game due to the low capacity.

Peimari United's sell-out crowd of 400, however, became the lowest attendance at a Veikkausliiga game in recorded history. Despite the club not being able to fit any more supporters in to the ground, any attendance at the current HakkisPaana structure will either match, or be lower than, the current figure set. The club are expected to sell out each home game, and thereby striking the lowest attendance in Veikkausliiga history for a record sixteen times this season.

There has been no shortage in interest in the games, however, with the club having sold 360 season tickets prior to the kick off of the Veikkausliiga campaign. This has left an allocation of 20 tickets for corporate sales, and 20 tickets for away fans. Despite not being able to attend the game properly, many fans were able to view the game from elevated grounds or buildings that surrounded the stadium.

The president of Paimion Leijonat, Jaako Pirinen, was full of praise for his club's performances throughout the past few years but was quick to iterate the desire of himself, and the supporters of the club, to see their side play in a stadium with a much greater capacity. Jaako produced a petition of over 800 signatures for the club's chairman, Antti Eklund, to make the necessary steps to redevelop the existing HakkisPaana structure to accommodate more fans, or to play in a new or different stadium.

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Temperatures had dipped as the summer began to reach its climax. While the Swiss town of St. Gallen still basked in a warm sun and temperatures were well into the low-twenties, people had begun to prepare for the upcoming winter. More clothes were worn by all and wives were haggling at market stalls for knitting supplies and blankets. There were less children visible on the streets as a new school term was approaching. Tradesmen were beginning to sell the last of their wares before the impending freeze of the winter months, spending their hard-earned coins in the many taverns scattered across the north-eastern Swiss town.

The town itself housed just under eighty-thousand citizens, predominantly German speakers. The figure was a notable increase from the times of the two World Wars, and St. Gallen's booming textile industry provided jobs to many. Religious divide was never a major issue in the town, with there being almost an equal number of Protestants and Catholics. St. Gallen played host to a well-renowned university called Hochschule für Wirtschafts- und Sozialwissenschaften. It specialised in business research, economics, law, trading and other business and social studies. There were over one thousand pupils undertaking studies there at any time during the sixties.

Mia was somewhat overwhelmed by how busy St. Gallen was in comparison to her hometown of Weissbad. As the son made the cobblestone roads glisten in an eerie delight, Mia picked her way through the busy town roads towards the university. She had turned sixteen two months previously and was dressed in her most formal of dresses. She had her hair tied up into an elegant bun and she wore makeup for one of the first times in her life. She was unaccustomed to how she looked in the mirror when applying the makeup but she had a big day ahead of her.

An international dance troupe by the name of Scoot were looking to recruit new performers for their tours throughout Europe and had stopped off in St. Gallen to comb through the talent in the accompanying areas of the major town. Mia had been handpicked for her talents during a public exhibition and was set to join the prestigious troupe in the following January. However, as part of the process of joining Scoot, Mia was required to pass a medical at the university, which included an evaluation of her physical capabilities. The chief doctor of the troupe was to provide the examination, and Mia was hoping that she would pass.

It had been Mia's dream to be part of such a troupe. Her parents, Hans and Sofia, both toured the world to dance in front of thousands while they were young. Mia held an ambition to replicate her parents' feats and the opportunity presented by Scoot was not something she could turn down. While she was confident in her own ability to perform in front of people, and to do so well, she was nervous about the medical. She prayed that there were no underlying issues to undo her dream.

As Mia entered the university, she followed directions offered by regularly-placed signposts which directed her to where the medicals were taking place. Outside the room, four other girls sat on chairs. They were all of a similar age to Mia and appeared to be just as nervous. They were all dressed elegantly but stood stiffly with either their arms crossed or their hands clenched together in anticipation. It was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for the girls and they did not want to fail at the final hurdle.

One-by-one the girls had their medicals, leaving Mia to be last. Each girl left the room with a satisfied, but wary look on their face. They spoke of the doctor with high regard, describing him to be handsome, charming and endearing. The third girl, Gabriella, spent an unusually long time in her examination, and exited the room with her hair more messy than it was and some sweat pouring down her skin. When asked what she had been up to during her medical, she giggled and winked before departing.

It was past six o'clock by the time the fourth girl had completed her medical. As she left, she wished Mia well and gave her an encouraging hug. Mia straightened her dress and allowed herself two deep breaths before knocking on the door and entering the room. The room itself belonged to one of the classrooms of the university. Students' desks were piled up against the walls and the accompanying seats were stacked upon one another. The room belonged to economics seminars and hand-written posters depicting key points of lessons dotted the walls.

A large desk was situated towards the back of the room. Sitting on the other side was a man somewhere between ten and fifteen years older than Mia with dark black hair combed back carefully and a brown pair of glasses covering his face. He was known as 'Der Professor' due to his academic interests. He finished writing a sentence on a piece of paper in front of him before placing his pen down on the desk and clasping his hands. He looked up from the paper at Mia and studied her appearance.

As the man's eyes worked their way up from Mia's feet to her face, a chill ran through her body. He was a handsome man but his eyes were deep and cold. There was a sense of mystery about him and he emanated a formidable presence. He was, by all accounts, very attractive. However, Mia could not help but feel uncomfortable by his stare, particularly when his eyes lingered upon her bosom. After some time, the man spoke. He had a thick German accent and spoke with authority and conviction.

"Guten Abend Fräulein. Ich heiße Doktor Christian Schäfer. Wie heißen Sie?"

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We made one final signing for the season as seventeen year old left back Joonas Karlsson joined for a compensation fee of €110 from Kakkonen side JäPS. Karlsson made his senior debut for JäPS last season and went on to make a total of 8 Kakkonen appearances. He was a very athletic player with a high amount of speed, an invaluable asset in modern day footballers. He was reasonably intelligent for a defender of his age and possessed good tackling ability. He joined the senior team to be a backup to Jukka Virtanen, pushing Felipe Aspegren to play more games on the right-hand side.

Two players left on loan. Teenage midfielder Santtu Johansson joined Helsinki side Futura on loan for the season for some invaluable senior experience. He was a very bright prospect and Futura was selected as the ideal place for him to hone his skills. Full-back Arttu Eerola joined Atlantis FC on loan. Eerola was due to be second-choice right back for our senior team this season, but the signing of Karlsson pushed Eerola further down the pecking order with Felipe Aspegren now becoming second-choice right back.

Our first game could not have gone much better. We demolished the reigning champions, HJK, 3-0 in front of a capacity crowd. This was followed up by an impressive win away to KuPS, with Iiro Järvinen scoring a late winner. We then scored five goals in an away win against RoPS before seeing out a goalless draw at home to TPS. The month of league action ended up with Kevin Larsson inspiring us to victory against AC Oulu with a tidy goal.

We just had the one Suomen Cup fixture in April. A trip to KTP was in order for the last sixteen and they proved fairly tough. Goals from Oliver Antman and Antti Pokela did the job for us as we secured our place in the quarter finals. We saw the Suomen Cup as a very winnable piece of silverware and we were determined to make up for losing the final in each of the last two seasons.

Kevin Larsson was our hero in April. The teenage superstar got the ball rolling with an incredible half-volley goal against HJK, and went from strength-to-strength throughout the month. Larsson scored a total of five goals, and assisted two more, as he lead his side to some incredible early-season form.

It was a dream start for Peimari United. Teams were blown away by the intensity of Peimari United's style of play. Some good early season form, most notably from Kevin Larsson, lead to Peimari United topping the table. However, there was still plenty to play for and not everything was set in stone just yet.

Up first was an away game against RoPS in the Suomen Cup quarter finals. We were anticipating a tough fixture against a team more than competent. This was to be followed by a wave of Veikkausliiga fixtures. Three away games in a row, against SJK, HIFK and VPS, made for grim reading. We were to get some respite with home fixtures against IFK Mariehamn and FC Inter Turku, however.

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Peimari United have once again reached the final of the Suomen Cup. Tomorrow's final against SJK will be their third final in as many seasons with Kalle Koskinen as manager. However, Peimari lost the previous two, with SJK and HJK coming out on top in each. The Paimion Leijonat will be looking to get their hands on the trophy for the first time in the club's history, and tomorrow's final presents their best opportunity to date.

Perfect. Just perfect. SJK provided stern opposition in our season-opening qualifier at HakkisPaana. However, Ollila proved to be the difference as he assisted and scored to earn us a much-needed opening day victory. We followed this up with a tense win away to TPS. After twice falling behind, we climbed back and went on to win thanks to a late goal. The manner of the victory was pleasing, with the players showing their stomach to keep fighting.

A pair of 1-0 victories followed, with tight wins coming against VPS and FC Inter Turku. This was then followed up by a routine 2-0 win over RoPS to round off the qualification process with us earning a 100% win record throughout. It was a brilliant opportunity for the players to prove they can perform as full-time footballers, for the first time, and to build up match fitness and on-pitch tactical awareness.

It was a very tough game for Peimari United. With Veikkausliiga football taking its toll on the squad, there was plenty of rotation for this fixture. However, Peimari still found a way to produce the goods. Teenage wonderkid Oliver Antman scored a long-range effort to open the scoring just after the half-hour mark. Antti Pokela, who had dropped significantly down the pecking order this season, scored a close-range effort to double Peimari's lead and to kill off KTP before half-time.

It was tough and it was testing. RoPS' home advantage didn't help them at the beginning, with Danish teenager Rasmus Nielsen popping up with an early goal. However, Jeam equalised for the hosts midway through the first half. The game fizzled out into extra time. It was then that Peimari United's superior physicality showed, with their players seemingly not tiring. Substitutes Jesper Santanen and Jarno Seppälä each scored excellent goals to book a place in the semi finals for Peimari United.

A straight-forward task on paper. JäPS plied their trade in the third tier of Finnish football (Kakkonen), and were deemed no match for Peimari United. Peimari showed their superiority with two first-half goals, with Oliver Antman and Akseli Ollila scoring for the hosts. However, the hosts proved problematic to break down in the second half, and showed strands of threatening attacking play, coming close to scoring several times late on. However, Peimari played the game out to earn a place in the final for the third consecutive season.

A familiar foe for Peimari United. SJK won the Suomen Cup final against Peimari United two years previously, courtesy of a winner in the sixth minute of stoppage time. The two played each other in the qualifying rounds this season, with Peimari coming up as 2-0 winners. It will be an incredible clash tomorrow at HakkisPaana, Peimari United's home stadium, with 400 spectators set to view the game. Who will come out on top? Will Kalle Koskinen's Peimari United finally end their Suomen Cup final hoodoo?