Mixu Paatelainen has revealed he felt betrayed after being sacked by Dundee United, a club he loved, and admits he should never have taken the job.
Paatelainen took over from Jackie McNamara in mid-October 2015 with the club bottom of the table with five points from their opening 10 games. The Tannadice side finished eight points adrift, and relegation was confirmed with a last-minute defeat to city rivals Dundee on May 2. He was sacked two days later.
'I felt betrayed'
Chairman Stephen Thompson had backed Paatelainen as the "absolutely the right man for the job" midway through the campaign, and a month before the sacking, he had told the press that Paatelainen and Gordon Young had not created the mess and were correcting it. Paatelainen said: "It was a very disappointing day. I was determined because the chairman had said in the press, about a month before he sacked me, that 'Mixu and Gordon Young have not created this mess. They've been correcting it. We are better going the right direction. No matter what happens they stay'."
He added: "When we went down I was determined that we would build everything solid for the Championship and go straight back up stronger. Then he released the bullet. I was so disappointed. I felt betrayed. But I do understand that when the club gets relegated and the fans start shouting the chairman's name instead of the manager's name then the chairman reacts. I've spoken to him once or twice after but not too much about that. It was disappointing."
Wrong timing
Paatelainen, who had been in charge of the Finland national team before accepting the job, now admits he should never have taken it. He said: "It was the wrong timing. I listened more to my heart than my head. Dundee United, my first club abroad from Finland. Wonderful times as a player there. Five years. Loved the club. I got that opportunity. I knew it was difficult. I saw a couple of their matches before that. The team wasn't playing well."
He added: "Jackie McNamara had done a fantastic job with them previously and had good players which he developed. But the club had sold 13, 14 excellent players then replaced them with players who had potential but not ready. It was a club in transition. I learned a lot. Not to say yes to every job that is offered and also look at the situation more carefully."
Cowdenbeath days
A decade earlier, Paatelainen had taken his first manager's job at Cowdenbeath, steering the Blue Brazil to the Third Division title in his first season. He said: "Cowdenbeath was absolutely fantastic. And a great opportunity for me. When the kit man went on holiday, which was a lot, I was the kit man. I was pumping the balls up, doing the laundry after matches, soak the kit in the bath overnight. In the morning, I went in, put them in the washing machine, tumble dryer, then fold them in the cupboard."
He added: "The chairman got me motorway maintenance lights to use as floodlights for training in winter. I built goals. It took me about two and a half hours to set up the training system. I said to myself, 'one day when I'm coaching I'll be at a club with a training ground and I'll just blow a whistle and training starts!'
"We had fantastic team spirit in Cowdenbeath. Losers of the small games had to pull those lights, heavy as anything, back to the containers. Nobody wanted to do that. That was some motivation. We won the title. It was unbelievable. A brilliant time."
That success led to a job with TPS in Finland and, after guiding the Turku-based side to third in the table, he was offered the Hibs job. He said: "No danger I was turning that down! But I wasn't ready. I made so many changes. Trying to find my own way of playing, a philosophy, how I construct the week coaching. There were too many changes, position-wise. Maybe it worked in one game, next game didn't work and all that. You need to have a continuity with the players. Yes, you tweak it and you improve it, absolutely, but not wholesale changes."
He added: "That opportunity came early. I'm lucky and happy it came. It's a wonderful club. We did win my last two derbies though. And we were in top six both my seasons. When I joined, the club was 10th. So it wasn't all bad."
