Mixu Paatelainen

Mixu Paatelainen

Personal information
Full name	Mika-Matti Paatelainen
Height	1.82 m (5 ft 11+1⁄2 in)
Position(s)	Striker
Team information
Current team	Hibernian (manager)

Mika-Matti "Mixu" Paatelainen (born 3 February 1967 in Helsinki) is a retired Finnish football player and is the current manager of Hibernian. Mixu is the oldest of three brothers, all of whom have played professional football. He scored 18 goals in 70 appearances for the Finnish national team, which makes him Finland's all time eighth most capped player and third top goalscorer.

Playing career

In October 1987, Scottish Premier Division club Dundee United signed him from FC Haka for £100,000. He became their top scorer twice. He was then transferred to Aberdeen for £400,000 in February 1992, and further to English club Bolton Wanderers in 1994. As Bolton gained promotion to the Premiership he became the first Finn to play in the new league. Paatelainen also played in the League Cup final of 1995, in which Wanderers were beaten 2–1 by Liverpool.

Other teams he played for included English club Wolverhampton Wanderers and Scottish clubs Hibernian, St. Johnstone and St. Mirren. He also played for a season at French club RC Strasbourg. He is fondly remembered by Hibernian supporters for his hat-trick in a 6–2 victory over rivals Heart of Midlothian on 22 October 2000 . During his playing career he scored 143 league goals.

Coaching career

Cowdenbeath

Having previously worked as a coach while still playing for St. Johnstone and St. Mirren, Paatelainen was appointed full-time manager of Scottish Third Division part-time football team Cowdenbeath in August 2005. In his first season, he guided the Blue Brazil to their first league title in 67 years. He signed his brothers Markus and Mikko for the club.

TPS

On 21 October 2006, Paatelainen resigned as manager of Cowdenbeath to join Finnish club TPS. He guided TPS to third place and UEFA Intertoto Cup qualification in what was to be his only season in charge.

Hibernian

In December 2007, Paatelainen was linked with the managerial vacancy at former club Hibernian, and he was appointed on 10 January 2008.. Paatelainen took the Hibs job at a time when they had only won one of their previous ten games and had slipped into the bottom half of the Scottish Premier League. Under Paatelainen, Hibs' results improved and the club secured a place in the top half of the league.

However, during the 2008–09 season, Paatelainen has come under increasing pressure from Hibs fans due to poor results and his favouring of a 4-3-3 system. Paatelainen eventually abandoned 4-3-3 in favour of a more orthodox 4-4-2 system. He was criticised by Abdessalam Benjelloun, who accused Paatelainen of favouring outdated long ball tactics. Paatelainen responded by saying that Benjelloun was "frustrated" at not being a regular pick for club or country.

In popular culture

Paatelainen's time at Bolton Wanderers led to him being mentioned in the comedy show Phoenix Nights. This happened when the doormen Max & Paddy drunkenly made a prank call to their boss Brian Potter, claiming that Paatelainen worked at the Coroner's office in Bolton and that the club was on fire.

In 2008, Mixu was reported as having been a good boy this year, and was rewarded by being put on the nice list on SantaVision, Sky 885, so hopefully he will get some good presents this year.

File:Mixu Santa Nice.jpg

External links

• Mixu Paatelainen at Soccerbase