Today is the day I’ve been waiting for since we started our campaign in the bottom division Kutonen two years ago. Back then playing in Nelonen seemed just like a distant dream. Even if it looked like getting two promotions in a row might be possible, I frankly only had a very vague idea what it would take and what the steps between then and now would be. Indeed, I do not think there were many in the club who quite understood the journey we were embarking on. Yet here we are two years later mere hours away from starting our first match in Nelonen.

In the past couple seasons we played in divisions where only two to three teams were serious candidates for promotion, but this season will be very different. Almost all teams are either openly looking for promotion this year or at least represent clubs that do not fancy Nelonen as the highest division where they ever want to play. Most of these clubs also have several youth teams, and are (for now) bigger clubs than we are in terms of the number of licensed adult and youth players. This all makes things more real than they used to be. No more playing against clubs that consist of just one team. No more opponents who are essentially groups of friends who just want to play football and have some fun.

Well, except for one of course, and FC Melody happens to be our first opponent as well. There was in fact a lot of speculation last year whether they wanted get promoted into Nelonen or not. Based on how they played the matches that mattered, you would assume the answer is yes. On the other hand, witnessing their promotion match last year was one of the weirdest experiences I’ve had. There was almost no reaction from the players after the final whistle, and if you did not know, you’d never have guessed they just got promoted. This match took place just days after I had experienced the post-match mayhem in Viiala when TamU-K got promoted, so the contrast was particularly striking.

But then we are two very different clubs. I’m sure that many will disagree with me here, but I have a bit of soft spot for FC Melody. They show that you can obtain good results without being too serious. They frequently talk about how they were hung-over and therefore did not play well. Recently I attended their Regions’ Cup match against FC Vapsi, and that certainly seemed to be the case there. Quite a few players even smoked at half time, which I don’t think would be tolerated in many other teams on this level. Obviously Nelonen is as high as you can go with this approach, but I think it is merely a good thing that they offer a different alternative from anybody else. When they are at their best, they do play some very attractive football, which is quite remarkable given that they do not do any team training between matches.

The only thing that has bothered me a little bit is that some of the comments coming from FC Melody have made it seem as if they thought they were our peers. In some ways they are of course, but there seems to have been a lack of understanding that these are two clubs with very different goals and ambitions. I suppose that the fact that we have added closer to ten new youth and adult teams into TamU-K during the winter has made that clear to everybody.

There are twelve teams in Nelonen this year. The top team will be promoted, and the three bottom ones will be relegated. For me the minimum expectation for the upcoming season is that the possibility of relegation never enters into discussion. That may seem like a modest expectation, but I expect the gap between the top and the bottom of the table to remain small through the summer, so reaching this goal would also mean staying in the promotion race deep into the season. And if all goes well, we do have a chance to finish at the top and playing in Kolmonen next year. However, we are far from being the kind of favourites that we were last year.

Tonights match starts at 8 pm in Kaukajärvi. This is an away match by designation, but Kaukajärvi probably feels more like a home to us than it does to FC Melody. Add a few dozen singing supporters, and the night will surely be ours off the field. What will happen on the field is still an open question, and you should be there to check it out.