M IXU PAATELAINEN arrived in Dundee as a fresh-faced 19-year-old, bombarded and bamboozled by the stream of incomprehensible expletives being hurled in his direction by Jim McLean.
He leaves it some 24 years later to an altogether more pleasant soundtrack: the praise of commentators and peers ringing in his ears. At the Old Fruitmarket in Glasgow last night, the Finn’s unlikely emergence as part of Europe’s managerial elite was confirmed when he beat all-comers to be named Clydesdale Bank Premier League manager of the season.
“If, when I first arrived in the Dundee United dressing room, somebody had told me I would be still be here now getting manager of the year in the SPL I wouldn’t have believed them,” saif the former Cowdenbeath, Hibernian and Kilmarnock manager. “Wee Jim was no problem for me because I didn’t understand a word.
“He asked me something after one game, f***ing and blinding, and I said ‘yes, boss’. As a foreigner, you don’t understand anything, you just nod. But this made him even more mental. He was absolutely fuming. In the showers somebody whispered to me ‘Mixu, what is going on? Did you understand a word the manager said?’ and I said ‘no’. It turned out he had been asking ‘have you been in the f***ing boozer’ and here I was saying ‘yes, boss’.”
Except Paatelainen isn’t really leaving after all. The 44-year-old may recently have accepted an offer to become Finland’s new international manager, but his base camp will remain Scotland. Not only does he see no need to uproot his wife Kati, son Joel and daughters Lotte and Mia from the family home on the east coast, but most of his players play outside Finland.
“My home will still be here in Scotland,” he said. “We will stay here because the kids are in school and we like it here. My work will be in Finland a lot but it will be elsewhere, as well. There are only one or two who play in Finland. I have just had a weekend in Germany and Italy so it is good for the air miles. I have moved away from Scotland a few times as a player and a manager but I have always returned. I would not be surprised if I came back here to work again in the future.”
Even when he did turn his back on Scotland, Scotland didn’t turn its back on him. So determined was the Finn to try his luck in the English game after an abrupt end to an underwhelming period at Hibernian that he hadn’t even applied for either of the vacancies at Kilmarnock and St Mirren. He was holding out for an opening in the lower leagues south of the border, but a phone call from Michael Johnston, the Rugby Park chairman, changed everything.
All those months out of the game -- spent touring Europe, developing his contacts, compiling a database of players and redefining his system of play -- were put into action changing Kilmarnock from relegation contenders to top-six material. Finding a blank canvas with only 14 signed players, compared to the 35 he inherited at Hibs, was, if anything, a virtue.
“I didn’t exactly fear for my next job, although there is always a question mark where the next job comes from,” he said. “I had a couple of opportunities but I felt they were not for me location-wise or standard-wise so I turned them down. Then Kilmarnock came along. I wanted to go down to England and hopefully climb the ladder there and there was a little opportunity on the cards so I was waiting for that. But after sitting down and talking to the chairman and a couple of members of the management committee, I felt really comfortable. I phoned the club in England and said ‘look this opportunity came out of the blue and I am taking it’.”
Paatelainen may still join Owen Coyle, his one-time Bolton Wanderers contemporary, in the Barclay’s Premier League one day, but his route will be charted via Finland. “Who knows?” he said. “I’m ambitious. I think the most important ability anyone must have is an ability to learn and I think I have that. If that means one day I am in the Premiership, great, if I end up in the Bundesliga, no problem.”
There are some parallels with Finland and Kilmarnock. He inherits a squad in the process of losing its more experienced players with no pressure to qualify until 2016 and a mandate to blood under-21 players. “It is a difficult period,” he said. “Only yesterday Sami Hyypia announced he was retiring but thankfully I managed to take him on to my coaching staff. There is Jari Litmanen, Jussi Jaaskelainen, Jonatan Johansson and loads of other players. So there is a real transition period over there.”
As for his choices for the league’s best manager, Paatelainen reels off Neil Lennon, Walter Smith and Jim Jefferies. But 24 years after alighting in Scotland, the Finn has finally arrived.
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