Let It Go, let it go she doesn't love you anyway! 
1
Kippis
Kalle Koskinen Met His Players For The First Time
23/12/2018
I walked into the dining room to be met by a roaring applause. The entire squad of Peimari United was present in the home of chairman Antti Eklund for the first annual Christmas party. It was an opportunity for me to introduce myself to the players and to lay down a marker for the upcoming year of football.
The party itself was an idea of mine which I brought to Eklund during my first day as Peimari United manager. Eklund suggested we use his countryside lodge to host the event, in an effort to bring a true sense of unity and direction to the football club ahead of my maiden season as manager.
The players were warm and welcoming as I entered the room. They were all at their feet and showed their appreciation. It was a friendly welcome for a man who had no previous management experience. But they looked up to me, for my time as a football player. They were proud to be playing for a former Finnish international.
I walked around the long-spanning dining table and shook the hand of each player, taking the time to introduce myself properly to each and to learn each of their names. The full loop around the table took a number of minutes before I made my way to the head of the table, the opposite end of where the chairman Antti Eklund was positioned. It was time for me to speak.
"Guys, thank you all for coming here today and I am incredibly appreciative of the welcome you gave me. I feel inspired to be manager of this football club and to be a part of the family which we now all belong to. It is an incredible honour to be before you all here today and I hope that we can come together to eat, to talk, to laugh and to praise every single year.
Football is more than just a job or a hobby. It is a way of life. It affects how we go about our day-to-day lives. It changes how we eat, how we sleep, how we keep fit, how we socialise and how we be human. Together we can work to develop our own philosophies of how we do things together and how we live our lives, but that will take time for us to set out how we do things. We need to learn more about each other and create a way of doing things which gets the best out of all of us in football and in the rest of our lives.
The only thing I can ask of you right now is to work hard for me. If you work hard for me, I will work hard for you. That is a promise that I will hold most dearly during my time here at the club, and even after that. If we all work hard to make each other's lives easier, our own lives become easier too. So I ask you now to raise a glass as we make a toast. From now on, we will start our adventure together on the right foot and try to be the very best we can be as footballers, as brothers, as fathers, as husbands, as partners, as friends, and as people. Kippis (Cheers)!"
The drinks began to flow and food was served in abundance by a catering crew hired for the occasion. The players, the chairman and myself mingled well together as we discussed our own lives and interests, and our dreams for the future. It was a bonding session which marked the start of an era which I had hoped would be a special one.
The vast majority of the playing squad were Finnish, particularly from the local south-west region of Finland. However, there were a few Portuguese players who had found their way to the club and had become an integral part of the squad. National allegiances did not divide as everybody enjoyed the company as friends and, in some cases, as family.
I had informed the players that a backroom staff team had been pieced together and would begin their work with the club once contracts had been signed. Taulant Kolaj was brought in to become my assistant manager. The Finnish-Albanian thirty year old never enjoyed a professional playing career but was an experienced football analyst with a UEFA A license. Manu Kangaspunta and Ville Lehtinen were to join to become a fitness coach and goalkeeping coach respectively, while Eetu Mäenpää was to become our new head of youth development. The most important addition was that of Timo Hakala, the club's new head physio. It was Hakala's job to keep the players fit and as injury-free as possible.
The party went long into the night before the squad began to depart for their own homes, one-by-one. Friendships had been built in a largely successful night. The future looked bright for the football club. I was excited about the prospect of leading such talented players into battle in the coming season. It was the beginning of a special era for the football club.
The party itself was an idea of mine which I brought to Eklund during my first day as Peimari United manager. Eklund suggested we use his countryside lodge to host the event, in an effort to bring a true sense of unity and direction to the football club ahead of my maiden season as manager.
The players were warm and welcoming as I entered the room. They were all at their feet and showed their appreciation. It was a friendly welcome for a man who had no previous management experience. But they looked up to me, for my time as a football player. They were proud to be playing for a former Finnish international.
I walked around the long-spanning dining table and shook the hand of each player, taking the time to introduce myself properly to each and to learn each of their names. The full loop around the table took a number of minutes before I made my way to the head of the table, the opposite end of where the chairman Antti Eklund was positioned. It was time for me to speak.
"Guys, thank you all for coming here today and I am incredibly appreciative of the welcome you gave me. I feel inspired to be manager of this football club and to be a part of the family which we now all belong to. It is an incredible honour to be before you all here today and I hope that we can come together to eat, to talk, to laugh and to praise every single year.
Football is more than just a job or a hobby. It is a way of life. It affects how we go about our day-to-day lives. It changes how we eat, how we sleep, how we keep fit, how we socialise and how we be human. Together we can work to develop our own philosophies of how we do things together and how we live our lives, but that will take time for us to set out how we do things. We need to learn more about each other and create a way of doing things which gets the best out of all of us in football and in the rest of our lives.
The only thing I can ask of you right now is to work hard for me. If you work hard for me, I will work hard for you. That is a promise that I will hold most dearly during my time here at the club, and even after that. If we all work hard to make each other's lives easier, our own lives become easier too. So I ask you now to raise a glass as we make a toast. From now on, we will start our adventure together on the right foot and try to be the very best we can be as footballers, as brothers, as fathers, as husbands, as partners, as friends, and as people. Kippis (Cheers)!"
The drinks began to flow and food was served in abundance by a catering crew hired for the occasion. The players, the chairman and myself mingled well together as we discussed our own lives and interests, and our dreams for the future. It was a bonding session which marked the start of an era which I had hoped would be a special one.
The vast majority of the playing squad were Finnish, particularly from the local south-west region of Finland. However, there were a few Portuguese players who had found their way to the club and had become an integral part of the squad. National allegiances did not divide as everybody enjoyed the company as friends and, in some cases, as family.
I had informed the players that a backroom staff team had been pieced together and would begin their work with the club once contracts had been signed. Taulant Kolaj was brought in to become my assistant manager. The Finnish-Albanian thirty year old never enjoyed a professional playing career but was an experienced football analyst with a UEFA A license. Manu Kangaspunta and Ville Lehtinen were to join to become a fitness coach and goalkeeping coach respectively, while Eetu Mäenpää was to become our new head of youth development. The most important addition was that of Timo Hakala, the club's new head physio. It was Hakala's job to keep the players fit and as injury-free as possible.
The party went long into the night before the squad began to depart for their own homes, one-by-one. Friendships had been built in a largely successful night. The future looked bright for the football club. I was excited about the prospect of leading such talented players into battle in the coming season. It was the beginning of a special era for the football club.
Comment Section
Scoot, the shadowy figure will become an important part of this story in timeTheLFCFan, ..... sure
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