WHEN Cowdenbeath chairman Gordon McDougall announced that Mixu Paatelainen was to be the new manager of the Third Division club back in August 2005, the Fife faithful were both surprised and apprehensive.
Mixu Paatelainen arrived at Cowdenbeath in 2005 and promptly led them to promotion to the Second Division Picture: SNS Group
The Finn’s name had never been in the public frame for the job, and despondent supporters could not help but worry that the new man had no managerial experience.
Cowdenbeath Football Club was supposed to be celebrating its 125th birthday as well as the centenary of the club’s membership of the Scottish Football League, but the place was in turmoil. Popular manager Dave Baikie had resigned after pleading guilty to a serious assault charge.
The new manager would have to lift the players’ morale, and assess his squad. Since he wouldn’t be able to bring in new players until the January transfer window, most supporters reckoned that the promotion dream would be on hold for another season at least.
Yet on 29 April 2006, after the last game of the season, the same fans were cheering the helicopter as it circled Central Park, Cowdenbeath bearing the Third Division championship trophy – the first league title in 67 years. The name being chanted by the fans was Mixu Paatelainen. How on earth did he do it?
The early results weren’t promising, as the new man tried different formations. He signed his brother, Markus – provoking chants of “There’s only two Paatelainens!” – and settled for a 4-3-3 formation.
He persuaded part-time or unemployed players to come in for extra coaching sessions during the day, and he developed individual training programmes for each player. Confidence grew throughout the team, and the attractive attacking football pleased the fans. Cowdenbeath started to climb the league, but were far behind leaders Berwick Rangers and Stenhousemuir.
After the winter, the club had a big backlog of fixtures, and looked well off the pace. Mixu’s other brother, Mikko, on loan from a club in Finland, started to find the net, but when playmaker Markus Paatelainen sustained a career-threatening injury it looked as if a mid-table finish was on the cards.
Mixu then produced a very strange rabbit from the hat. Whoever would have believed that salvation would come to Cowdenbeath in the form of an overweight, unfit, 6ft 5in black Frenchman living in Coatbridge? Armand One’s goals pushed Cowdenbeath up the league, triggering terracing chants of: “There’s only three Paatelainens and one One!”
Mixu somehow persuaded his young part-timers, playing two games each week, that they could win the championship.
As they drew level with Berwick and Stenhousemuir, it all came down to the last game of the season. A victory was needed to clinch the title; as the match went deep into injury time, the helicopter pilot didn’t know whether he’d be going to Berwick or Cowdenbeath. Mixu Paatelainen delivered the dream.
Mixu has magic about him. He is a charismatic leader, a great motivator and a very fine coach. He has authority, a sense of purpose, clear goals, and an ability to communicate his ideas to those he works with. He has self-confidence without being arrogant.
When I was working on my book Helicopter Dreams, I had a long conversation with Mixu, in which he spelt out his thoughts on how football should be played. “My philosophy is to start with the defence,” he told me. “When I’ve got that sorted, I want to be very positive. I like to concentrate on how we go forward, how we pass the ball. ‘Positiveness’ is a big word in my mind. You have to go for it. You don’t win anything unless you go for it. If you’re not ultra-positive, you don’t win leagues.”
Mixu, who is very enthusiastic about the development of young players, will thrive at the new Hibs training centre. He revelled in the fact that Cowdenbeath has one of the country’s best youth systems, which was established by Cowdenbeath’s shrewd chairman, Hibs-supporting Gordon McDougall.
The chairman believes in spotting young potential managers with a hunger about them. He had brought in Craig Levein – also without managerial experience – as manager of Cowdenbeath in 1997 – and Levein, likewise, successfully made the move to Edinburgh and the SPL after three years at Central Park.
“I’d been tracking Mixu for some time,” McDougall told me. “It wasn’t a spur of the moment decision. It has taken me 15 years to make me realise that appointing a manager is the most important decision you have to make.”
Life will not be dull at Easter Road under Mixu Paatelainen. Though he will be operating with a much smaller budget than the Old Firm, Mixu has the ability and the brio – once he has got things sorted out – to make life interesting at the top end of the table. Watch this space.
• Ron Ferguson’s book Helicopter Dreams: the Quest for the Holy Grail, £9.99, is available from the Cowdenbeath website,
www.cowdenbeathfc.com. All profits go to Cowdenbeath Football Club.
DISAPPOINTED SIMPSON WISHES CLUB WELLPAUL Simpson, last weekend’s favourite to be named the new Hibs manager, has spoken of his disappointment at not landing the job.
The former Preston North End and Carlisle manager held talks with Hibs last week and, after watching them lose 2-1 to St Mirren, returned south believing he had a good chance of succeeding John Collins at Easter Road.
Simpson heard nothing until Wednesday, however, when a call from Hibs chairman Rod Petrie confirmed that the post would be filled by another candidate.
Former Manchester City winger Simpson said: “I’m disappointed as I thought it would be a good opportunity.
“I had two good interviews. I was told that I was definitely in the frame, that it would go down to a very small number of people and that I was one of them.
“They’ve decided they’ll go down different avenues now and you have to respect that and move on. I felt it was a club I could go into and make a difference. But it’s not to be and all I can do now is wish them the best.”
The full article contains 1051 words and appears in The Scotsman newspaper.
