PS Kemi
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VIFK
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TP-47
FC YPA
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Kerho 07
PK-37
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Tervarit
KPV
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ORP
GBK
The second of the half-swedish teams playing in Northern group this year. To be honest I couldn't have named any of the GBK's goalkeepers without looking up, but despite their anonymity the trio weren't bad as GBK actually had the best defense in the league. The only noticeable departure stat- and goalwise was Jokihaara, who is with IFK Mariehamn now, but even hardcore GBK fans were a bit surprised to see him go. Rest of the guys that left were more or less scrubs (Svenlin, Remesaho, Ågren and whatnot). GBK's signing of David Carlsson was probably the biggest transfer news during the winter, and along with Melarti, GBK will likely now have the best striker partnership in the league. GBK has a lot of experience with Corcoran, Halonen, Smith and Roiko, with the last three having played in Veikkausliiga in some points of their careers. The younger guys, such as Aho, Hohenthal, Rasmus, Huuhka and Ågren are virtually unknown elsewhere, but considering GBK's success during the last two years they must be more than adequate rotation players. The other of the two Wentins, Tobias, has been touted as a big prospect but his season was cut short last year when he fell victim to PK-37's rough play. Jylhä has been ridiculed for his slowness, but GBK has signed a second American centerback (Robertson) so overall the signs are there that GBK will be better than in 2012. Lomski continues as a coach and their sights are firmly set in Ykkönen.
PS Kemi
PS Kemi are one of the teams that are clearly aiming for the promotion. Last year's head coach is gone and now they're led by a proper Lad called Tommy Taylor. Whether he's a new Polack or Armstrong remains to be seen, but what should be certain is that he's an improvement over Himanka. Even as of writing, Kemi is still testing new players, which is understandable as there were some notable departures after last season. Foremost of them were Stevens (11 goals) and Ogbuefi (8 goals). In defense, Juvonen (slow) and Moilanen (young) played a lot of minutes but they should not be missed that much. Another regular starter, Hyvärinen, was snatched up by AC Oulu but he wasn't exactly too good for Kakkonen. To replace them, they've signed Pasher, Torvic and Ikäläinen. Ikäläinen is familiar player for them and he also has some Veikkausliiga experience with VPS. The first are of course unknown quantities, but from the little information available they should be at least equal to the players that left. Vilmunen is naturally a big name signing for the goalkeeper position, but they had it more than covered last year with Mäkipörhölä and the lesser Luukkonen. Last year Kemi was one of the best teams offensively, but with Stevens (likely Ogbuefi, even if the was considered a defensive player) gone a lot rests on Eissele, Siekkinen and Spivack. Yrjänheikki, Vesala, Räihä and other newcomers have never provided any significant scoring output, so Kemi will probably hope that the trial guy Edwards can contribute in the summer. But any negatives aside, Kemi has a handful of players that every other team would take in a heartbeat, and the supporting cast has a lot of Kakkonen experience under their belt so the expectations and the talent is there for a repeat of last year and maybe higher.
VIFK
After one year in exile, VIFK returns to the most prestigious group in Kakkonen. Many familiar faces, or names to be precise, are still there, but as is always the case in lower league life, some changes have happened. Long-time starter from defense Kullström, has left for Jaro. Other important players leaving are striker Sundqvist and defender Thompson (IFK Mariehamn). Inbound are Utriainen, K. Björkstrand and Sunabacka, all of whom have had their taste of what it's like to play in the higher divisions or different countries. Any success on those endeavours might be hard to measure, but the profile of those players should fit perfectly for a team like VIFK (they can speak swedish). However, the most important signing was done just a few weeks ago when Christian Sund joined VIFK. Sund will probably help a lot, but that still likely won't solve their offensive deficiencies. Compared to what GBK and PS Kemi possess, VIFK's attacking players are miles behind those two. Much credit must be given to them for being so solid defensively, but the usual mantra that defense wins championships probably doesn't apply to promotions, because there always seems to be one or two slightly superior teams with more explosive strikers. In spite of those concerns, it's very hard to see VIFK slipping outside top-4/5 either as they've consistently hovered around those positions during the past few years. The core of the players has remained together (Strandvall, Lombo, Lemanowicz, Nylund, Pitkäkangas, Johansson, Nordman, Södergård etc.) and the coach is still the same, so chemistry, off-the-field distractions and those kind of things are likely not a concern. Similar to PS Kemi and GBK, has more or less announced that their aim is to get promoted. But like said, unless some players raise their production significantly (or Sund is absolutely magical) I don't see them being ahead GBK or PS Kemi.
TP-47
To say that TP-47 had a bad start last year would be a understatement. It took until their 10th game of the season that they finally got a proper win without any cabinet play. The rest of the season was equally impressive in the sense that their only losses outside one unlucky Santa Claus defeat were against the top three teams in the league. The main architects of their run in mid-2000s, Eprintsev and Vaalto are now reunited, and while it would be too much to expect them to appear in Veikkausliiga any time soon, the backroom staff should be more than average for this level. Last year saw the usual revolving door type of action when a team is in trouble, so numerous players got a lot of playing time. Of the players that left, Kivilä, Ahonpää, Heiskanen and Konde were probably the most important in terms of experience. Most of them were of the defensive type, so TP-47 is still looking for one more defender as they didn't sign anyone in the offseason for those positions. For what I've gathered, locals are not enthusiastic about their current group of goalkeepers so that could prove to be problematic unless RoPS loans them Forsman or they sign someone new. TP-47's defense has quite a big amount of experience in Bulgakov and Väänänen, but otherwise their makeup looks extremely young. However, it should be noted that the TP-47 youngsters are probably more talented than usual as their junior team is in a good run at the moment. In the midfield and attack, huge expectations are placed on the Guyanese national team players Bobb and Wilson. During the training games Bobb especially has been impressive, but even if they didn't pan out TP-47 still has Huusko and Herala, who both have been associated with TP-47 for a small eternity. Other than those four, there are A. Gullsten and other youngsters, plus one of the numerous OPS rejects in A. Badji, for who the Kakkonen seems to be the right fit. Like said before, TP-47's young players are obviously not that bad, and more importantly many of them have already gotten some Kakkonen experience during 2012. Not many players remain from 2010 and 2011 when TP-47 was just behind (ok, SJK was in its own heights in 2011) the top teams, but if the older guys can stay healthy (Herala, Väänänen, Bulgakov and Huusko are quite seasoned players for this level), Bobb and Wilson are good as advertised, the goalkeeping situation doesn't cause problems and the younger players can contribute something I'd expect TP-47 to comfortably finish in the top-5.
FC YPA
YPA's finishing positions during the last few years may not look that bad, but compared to the expectations each season was no doubt a disappointment. After 2009 and 2010 it looked like YPA's vision for Ykkönen could actually happen, but then SJK and some other things came in the way. It didn't help that the high-profile Finnish players flopped badly in 2011, prompting a famous outburst by the long-time head coach Myllykangas. He was finally relieved of his duties after that season, but his replacement, Denis Kostynchuk fared even worse, even if some blame could be laid on the numerous injuries that the team suffered in the first half of the season. Myllykangas was called back to salvage the situation, but their place in Kakkonen was only confirmed after they won their last three games against each of the main rivals. This offseason saw some controversy, mostly on the futsal side of things, which resulted in their captain Heikkilä getting kicked off the team. There were some other players leaving too (Rönkkö, Vuletic, Honkala etc. ), but rather than dwell on the past it's better to look forward. Firstly it's important to note that YPA is currently operating with an extremely small squad, meaning that they can barely get a 11 + substitutes together so expect some contract news to pop-up soon. Starting from the defense, VPS backup J. Kevari will step in Rönkkö's boots; Vuletic will be replaced by another Serbian, Colovic. AC Oulu triallist Luis Morrison-Derbyshire is rumoured to sign, so their central defense could look pretty good. Higher up it looks similar to OPS and AC Kajaani. However, Pejic, Akmetkhanov, Erceg, Savic and Maluka all do have previous experience playing in Finland so they're no lottery players, which makes predicting YPA a bit easier. Pejic and Pakola were scoring goals and racking up points for fun a few years ago, but their performances have declined considerably (though if I remember correctly Pakola has played other positions lately). Savic was impressive in the last few games as he scored 5 goals, Erceg was the other Serbian that came in late and since he's still in YPA he must have contributed something. Akmetkhanov has been more effective in the futsal field (in 2010-11 he even had the most points + assists in the whole league), but as a defensive player he ain't no mug either. Maluka is a highly touted signing and will likely be the best player in the team. Local products Junno and Tirkkonen and oldtimer Yrjölä have dropped in a few goals from time to time, but with the foreign invasion going on it looks likely that their playing time will diminish. New head coach Sarajärvi has minimal experience, so that could be a recipe for disaster, but if YPA doesn't suffer the same fate with injuries as last season, they should have no trouble avoiding relegation. Challenging the top three teams is probably asking too much, but the nice finish to the last season and the signing of Maluka means that YPA is one of the candidates for the 4-6. positions.
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