Rikulec Posted June 30 Author Share Posted June 30 Erkki Karpela's Management Career - June 2024 - Rovaniemen Palloseura Ykkösliiga More good results and, amazingly, we've hit the top of the table while averaging 1,67 points per game. I don't know which is crazier, that or the fact that we're just six points above the relegation play-off spot at the same time! Suomen Cup We made it much harder than it needed to be, letting a two-goal lead slip before finishing off the job on penalties. In the quarters we've been drawn at home against MP, who we've just put seven goals past in the league. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jogo Bonito Posted June 30 Share Posted June 30 Nice career, skimmed through it but good to see somebody exploring Finland! I remember the name RoPS from better days, good to see them back. And many congratulations on your new (real) job, well done indeed! 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rikulec Posted June 30 Author Share Posted June 30 8 hours ago, Jogo Bonito said: Nice career, skimmed through it but good to see somebody exploring Finland! I remember the name RoPS from better days, good to see them back. And many congratulations on your new (real) job, well done indeed! Thank you so much, and welcome to the thread! 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rikulec Posted July 1 Author Share Posted July 1 Erkki Karpela's Management Career - July 2024 - Rovaniemen Palloseura Ykkösliiga A bit of a hiccup this month as we started to display tiredness and pick up some injuries. A lighter week of training ahead of the SJK Akatemia game seems to have worked really well for us! Suomen Cup Once again we squeeze through on penalties instead of comfortably beating weaker opposition. The semi final draw has us host a fellow Ykkösliiga side TPS while in the other semi it's HJK against Inter Turku. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rikulec Posted July 2 Author Share Posted July 2 Erkki Karpela's Management Career - August 2024 - Rovaniemen Palloseura Ykkösliiga An unbeaten month keeps us close to the top of the table, even if we ended it with a disappointing draw against MP. Suomen Cup This time fatigue really caught up to us. A deserved loss, no complaints here. Still, a semi final appearance is one heck of a run for us. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rikulec Posted July 2 Author Share Posted July 2 Here's my first interview of the save. KTP are fighting hard against relegation from the Veikkausliiga, currently sitting in 11th. I attended the interview just to see what happens, but probably won't be moving. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rikulec Posted July 2 Author Share Posted July 2 I have to admit I did think twice about it, but ultimately I decided there's still plenty of work to be done here at RoPS. Offer rejected. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rikulec Posted July 3 Author Share Posted July 3 Another interview offer. IFK Mariehamn are a club based in the Åland Islands, a largely autonomous, Swedish-speaking region of Finland. This, coupled with the fact that I once won the league with them back in the FM16 days, would normally make this a very tempting option. However, they're dead last in the league, five points adrift with five games to go. Not a risk I'd be willing to take, especially given our current situation that I'm going to show you in the next update. Interview rejected. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rikulec Posted July 3 Author Share Posted July 3 Erkki Karpela's Management Career - September 2024 - Rovaniemen Palloseura Ykkösliiga Some proper drama this month. We came back from going 0:2 down to draw against EIF before finally scoring - and winning - for the first time in four encounters with PK-35. The most important bit was the SalPa game though, as beating them kept us in contention for the title with just three games left to be played. Déjà vu, anyone? Youth Intake Similarly to last year, plenty of potential with not much current ability. That being said, I quite like the look of some of these guys, especially Fagerström. Matti Päkkilä Emil Fagerström Markus Halonen Julius Könönen Olli Markkanen Kimmo Miettinen Paavo Kuitunen Arttu Pulkkinen Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rikulec Posted July 3 Author Share Posted July 3 Up to excellent. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rikulec Posted July 3 Author Share Posted July 3 Erkki Karpela's Management Career - October 2024 - Rovaniemen Palloseura Ykkösliiga No, this time it's final day heartbreak for us. First we brilliantly pulled ourselves out of a hole to salvage a point with two late goals at SJK Akatemia and then dominated TPS and deservedly beat them, Fagerström with a beautiful free kick to give him his first goal for the club. Other results went our way, which meant we went into the last game of the season top of the league. However, a trip to JäPS was always going to be a difficult one and our defence simply didn't show up. Korhonen also didn't help by letting in a tame header from the edge of the box in the 10th minute and then fumbling a cross in the second half to allow our opponents to go 3:1 up at one point. SalPa beat SJK Akatemia to get their first win in five games, climbing into the top spot seemingly out of nowhere. Well, I guess we go again. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
warlock Posted July 3 Share Posted July 3 1 hour ago, Rikulec said: it's final day heartbreak Ouch - hard to take when a draw would have been enough! Those tame headers from the edge of the area might be my biggest complaint about the ME this year, when a knockdown or backwards ball would be easier and more productive. Hope you can get that promotion next time 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rikulec Posted July 3 Author Share Posted July 3 13 minutes ago, warlock said: Ouch - hard to take when a draw would have been enough! Those tame headers from the edge of the area might be my biggest complaint about the ME this year, when a knockdown or backwards ball would be easier and more productive. Hope you can get that promotion next time I agree with you about the headers, sometimes the decision doesn't even make sense and other times it just doesn't feel like the situation is worthy of a highlight. Given all the circumstances and the (lack of) quality of our squad, I think finishing 3rd and being right up there in the mix is more than we could ask for. It's gonna take a while for this team to be ready for top flight football. 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rikulec Posted July 3 Author Share Posted July 3 Erkki Karpela's Management Career - Season Review - 2024 - Rovaniemen Palloseura Ykkösliiga Results (Apr-Jul) - Results (Aug-Oct) Competition Performance: 3rd A story very similar to the one of last season. Once again, we were expected to battle relegation, but ended up challenging for the title and almost earning another promotion. This time, however, despite having the best attack and the best defence in the league, we couldn't overcome the final hurdle and ended up outside the top two. It's a bitter pill to swallow, but next year we're coming back stronger. Suomen Cup Competition Performance: Semi Final We managed a huge improvement here compared to last season. We came so close to making the final, unfortunately TPS managed their fixture congestion just a bit better, and it showed. Ykkösliigacup Competition Performance: Semi Final One more cup semi final appearance, no luck here either though. Squad (1) - Squad (2) - Squad (3) Apart from the lack of a youth team making the screen look cluttered, you can clearly see who our starting players are. The lack of depth can be a little bit problematic at times, but I guess it's going to stay like this until we become professional and are able to attract players from all around the country up here to the North. We're releasing Jesper Kähkönen at the end of his contract. Transfers - Finances Kantola was the better of the two signings, Kemppainen being a slight disappointment. I would have loved to keep both Tolra and Lakela, but it wasn't to be. The junior coaching upgrade means our youth team costs are through the roof, I might have rushed things a little bit here. Hopefully in the future the academy can start producing proper quality players, allowing us to get some of the money back from sales. Player of the Season 1st - Lukas Ilola - us being promoted doesn't seem to have affected this young lad's productivity in the slightest. For a second year in a row he finishes the campaign with double-digit assists in the league, and by far the most key passes in the whole division. His pace is simply too much for other teams to handle! 2nd - Aapo Savolainen - he had some big boots to fill after Lakela's departure, and fill them he did! 12 goals is a great return from an attacking midfielder, whose aerial reach makes all the difference despite his technical ability being rather limited. We're really making the absolute best of what we have here. 3rd - Topias Dementjeff - in terms of pure footballing ability, he's probably the best player in the whole squad (i. e. the only player good enough for the Ykkösliiga, according to the coaching staff). He's attracting some interest, hopefully we can hold onto him for a while more. Next Season It would be easy to get carried away after a season like this and openly aim for promotion. I'm not going to do that, although of course I won't complain if we do end up winning it! A top half finish would be a reasonable thing to expect, I think. I also hope that some of our young players can develop, giving us that little bit of extra quality. 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jogo Bonito Posted July 3 Share Posted July 3 Very unlucky there but a really compelling chase for success. Come back stronger and go again next year! 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rikulec Posted July 3 Author Share Posted July 3 1 hour ago, Jogo Bonito said: Very unlucky there but a really compelling chase for success. Come back stronger and go again next year! Cheers mate! I've managed to secure two decent looking free transfers, so here's hoping! 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rikulec Posted July 3 Author Share Posted July 3 Erkki Karpela's Management Career - Season Preview - 2025 - Rovaniemen Palloseura Board Expectations: Ykkösliiga: Avoid relegation Suomen Cup: Be competitive Ykkösliigacup: Be competitive My Expectations: Ykkösliiga: Top half finish. Suomen Cup: Win a game or two, hopefully. Ykkösliigacup: Not important. Budgets: Transfer: £17,752 Wage: £1,988 (currently spending £945) Balance: £57,168 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rikulec Posted July 3 Author Share Posted July 3 Erkki Karpela's Management Career - Pre-Season - 2025 - Rovaniemen Palloseura Friendlies A perfect set of wins, including a massive one over FC Muurola. Transfers Two new players to significantly boost the quality of our starting XI. Rasmus Degerman - a RoPS academy product who actually managed to get some Veikkausliiga appearances for the club before they got in trouble. He should do the job as our advanced playmaker. Matarr Kah - we snap up a quality right wing back from a local rival. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rikulec Posted July 3 Author Share Posted July 3 Erkki Karpela's Management Career - January 2025 - Rovaniemen Palloseura Ykkösliigacup We come out on top after a six-goal thriller thanks to three goals scored in the final 15 minutes of the game. 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rikulec Posted July 4 Author Share Posted July 4 Erkki Karpela's Management Career - February 2025 - Rovaniemen Palloseura Ykkösliigacup A perfect group stage, hopefully a sign for things to come! Weirdly enough, the semi final draw has us play against HIFK again, this time at home. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rikulec Posted July 4 Author Share Posted July 4 We have our first international call-up! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rikulec Posted July 4 Author Share Posted July 4 Here we are, a chance to win our first cup of this journey. The biggest worry for me here is that SJK could make some of their first team players available for this game, which would obviously be a huge boost for them. I guess the only thing we can do is simply try to be at our best on the day and find out! 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rikulec Posted July 4 Author Share Posted July 4 Just as I feared, they brought in a load of players from their first team. Then they scored early on and turned the game into the ultimate snooze fest with just seven shots between both teams. We didn't turn up on the day, and we paid the price. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rikulec Posted July 4 Author Share Posted July 4 Erkki Karpela's Management Career - March 2025 - Rovaniemen Palloseura Ykkösliigacup Close, but no cigar. Friendlies Just the one game to keep up our match fitness. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rikulec Posted July 4 Author Share Posted July 4 Erkki Karpela's Management Career - April 2025 - Rovaniemen Palloseura Ykkösliiga A good start to the season, we're one of the two unbeaten teams and we travel to SJK Akatemia next. Both teams to score seems to be a safe bet in our games! Suomen Cup I played a rotated team here. We could have scored more, but I'll take that result. Up next, we have a treat for the German-speaking followers as we host the famous FC Kiffen. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rikulec Posted July 4 Author Share Posted July 4 Erkki Karpela's Management Career - May 2025 - Rovaniemen Palloseura Ykkösliiga Never take betting advice from me! I have no idea what happened in the JJK game, so I guess I'll just ignore it and say that we had a really good month and now we find ourselves three points clear at the top. Suomen Cup A comfortable win over FC Kiffen set up a local derby against TP-47, and it turned out to be a real classic for the fans. They scored an equaliser in the 93rd minute and looked all set for a penalty shoot-out (there's no extra time in this cup), but then we pulled off a brilliant passing move finished off by a beautiful combination between Bullat and Varhi. Into the seventh round we go! In the next round we travel to SJK Akatemia. We have a score to settle there. 2 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rikulec Posted July 5 Author Share Posted July 5 Looks like mediocrity all across the board. This may or may not be accurate though, as we all probably know by now. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rikulec Posted July 5 Author Share Posted July 5 Erkki Karpela's Management Career - June 2025 - Rovaniemen Palloseura Ykkösliiga Compared to last season, we seem to have a bit of an issue in front of goal; we're just nowhere near as productive and I can't really figure out why. We're still up there and fighting for the top spot though. Suomen Cup A good performance and a well deserved victory. In the quarter final we host IFK Mariehamn. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
warlock Posted July 6 Share Posted July 6 1 hour ago, Rikulec said: we're just nowhere near as productive Could you sign local legend Santa Claus? If he can get down chimneys, he can probably get in behind tight defences 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rikulec Posted July 6 Author Share Posted July 6 9 hours ago, warlock said: Could you sign local legend Santa Claus? If he can get down chimneys, he can probably get in behind tight defences We did sign a wing back from FC Santa Claus if you remember. 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rikulec Posted July 6 Author Share Posted July 6 Another interview offer from a relegation-battling Veikkausliiga side. Declined. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rikulec Posted July 6 Author Share Posted July 6 Erkki Karpela's Management Career - July 2025 - Rovaniemen Palloseura Ykkösliiga Painfully inconsistent. The HIFK result could have been so much worse if it hadn't been for Korhonen saving two penalties (he also let one in; yes, that's three penalties against us in one game). Suomen Cup We fall just short of repeating last season's run. Transfers Marcel Wargh - for the first time in this save we pay money for a player. Wargh joins for £3K from an Oulu-based team OTP to boost our quality at the back. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rikulec Posted July 6 Author Share Posted July 6 Two interview offers from the Norwegian top tier, both rejected. One, I don't feel that would be particularly realistic, and two, there's still work to be done in Rovaniemi. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rikulec Posted July 6 Author Share Posted July 6 Erkki Karpela's Management Career - August 2025 - Rovaniemen Palloseura Ykkösliiga Boom! Turns out that a couple of transfers was exactly what we needed to get firing again. A perfect month puts us five points clear at the top of the league with six games left to be played. Transfers Jere Kallinen - an absolutely stellar pick-up for us. Having spent the last two seasons in the Veikkausliiga, he was released in the winter by AC Oulu. Now he already has one goal and three assists in five games for us. Easily the best player at the club at the moment, a proper game changer! 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rikulec Posted July 6 Author Share Posted July 6 It took a few attempts, but I've finally persuaded the board to let me take the final coaching course. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rikulec Posted July 7 Author Share Posted July 7 Hopefully the first of many milestones! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rikulec Posted July 7 Author Share Posted July 7 Erkki Karpela's Management Career - September 2025 - Rovaniemen Palloseura Ykkösliiga A set of clean sheets and almost a perfect month bar a slip-up at IFK Mariehamn. Our next two games are JJK away and TPS at home. A draw in each of them will send us straight to the Veikkausliiga. Let's do this! Youth Intake There seems to be slow but steady progress regarding the quality of the players coming in. Eero Larsson Jyrki Tervo Topias Boshnjaku Markku Häkkinen Joonas Ihalainen Petri Karttunen Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jogo Bonito Posted July 7 Share Posted July 7 Leading the way and doing very well here - as we would expect from a professional 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rikulec Posted July 7 Author Share Posted July 7 54 minutes ago, Jogo Bonito said: Leading the way and doing very well here - as we would expect from a professional And then... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rikulec Posted July 7 Author Share Posted July 7 Erkki Karpela's Management Career - October 2025 - Rovaniemen Palloseura Ykkösliiga I just can't believe what the **** just happened. We stupidly gave away a late penalty against JJK. Then we rescued ourselves with an injury time goal against TPS. Then we conceded another **** goal from a corner in the 5th minute against EIF and fought like madmen to equalise. We missed a number of great chances, but when Savolainen finally found the net, I thought we were in the clear. No, we ****ing weren't. A deflection off Isometsä ended up in the back of our net. I don't know what to say. ****'s sake. This outrageous bottlejob sets up a two-legged play-off against none other than AC Oulu. 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jogo Bonito Posted July 7 Share Posted July 7 Oops, sorry I jinxed you 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rikulec Posted July 7 Author Share Posted July 7 9 hours ago, Jogo Bonito said: Oops, sorry I jinxed you Yeah, I guess this kind of stuff just happens from time to time. Now just to bring myself to get through this damn play-off! 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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