Sport intends to act smartly when it comes to player sales.
Doug Shedden tried to turn Sport’s course. It didn’t work and the Canadian coach returned to the Florida heat. Sampa Toivonen / AOP
Vaasan Sport and Canadian coach Doug Shedden terminated the head coach contract. The termination of the contract was initiated by Shedden, and the club announced it on Wednesday morning.
Releasing the head coach at such an early stage also raises the question of whether Sport is already ready to trade away its players for financial reasons.
The team is last in the SM league. At the end of this season, no team will be relegated from Liiga to Mesti, so any team can theoretically play with even a modest lineup for the rest of the season.
Has the clearance sale already started, Tuomas Saikkonen?
– We have not started selling players. But we have to remember that we don’t have endless resources. We are a medium-sized club in the League. Nor should we beat our heads against a brick wall endlessly. We’re smart, but we don’t have a decision in the club to make the players fat, says the chairman of Vaasan Kotkasydän oy, which operates behind Sport, and the club’s major owner Tuomas Saikkonen.
“We took a risk”
Tuomas Saikkonen, the chairman of Vaasan Kotkasydän oy, which operates behind Sport, and the club’s major owner, does not deny that Sport made a mistake in hiring Doug Shedden. Money is tight in Vaasa. Johannes Tervo
The 64-year-old Canadian Shedden’s period at the helm of Sport lasted for 11 matches. Sport won two of the games.
– From the things of the day, it can be interpreted that when we made a coaching change, it came to many like a bolt from a clear sky. We took a chance and saw if it worked out. The game did not go in the right direction. We also act in the other direction quickly, Saikkonen admits.
Sport will not pay the Canadian for the rest of the season.
– We save on salary resources. We don’t pay Doug, says Saikkonen.
Next school?
Vaasan Sport is last in the SM league. Sampa Toivonen / AOP
Saikkonen does not directly answer the question about whether Vaasa will get a new head coach from outside the organization this season.
The economy dictates the matter.
– We are now giving a new face the opportunity to grow and gain experience. I don’t think it makes sense to make big investments in this season anymore. Next season will be rough: around 20 percent of the teams will drop to the B series.
Next season, even small clubs will invest hundreds of thousands of euros more in the player budget in order to stay in the top 14 and avoid relegation to the B series. The SM league will go to a series model of 14+10 teams for the 2027–2028 season.
Saikkonen has hinted in public that Sport plans to increase its player budget by up to half a million euros. That’s a huge amount.
– Now we will see how it goes under the leadership of the young guy. And then we’ll see what to do in terms of the rest of the season and next season, Saikkonen thinks.