By Mr Tickle
June 29 2005

With the not-so-shock news that Antti Muurinen would be relieved of his post as Finnish national team coach, it might be time for a little known Geordie to step onto the international scene. Keith ‘Keke’ Armstrong, manager of Finnish champions HJK Helsinki, is the clear favourite for the post as pressure to ‘do an England’ and appoint a foreign coach mounts.

Newcastle born Armstrong, 47, is a lifelong Newcastle fan, but his loyalty to his home town was tested when he signed professional terms with Sunderland, making a few appearances at Roker Park.

‘I was there for four years, but there were quite a few of us lads who would come straight from training to watch Newcastle home games’.

From Roker Park, via a brewery job, he arrived at Newcastle United in 1979. As fate would have it, the manager at the time, Bill McGarry, had promised to send a player on loan to almost-Arctic Oulu in Finland. Finland would have been a difficult place for a Geordie to go in the late 70s with its vastly different culture and close ties with the Soviet Union, but he remained as a player there until retirement in 1992. "Up in Lapland I got divorced. My ex-wife got the apartment, and I had tax problems that were a hangover from my spell with Oulun Palloseura. I can also remember the times when I was still playing, and I’d go out and buy cheap sausage, macaroni, and frozen veg, and I’d live on it for four days."

A few weeks in Newcastle followed, before the manager of the actually-Arctic Rovaniemi Football Club offered him the vacant manager post. Subsequent success with FC Haka, whom he lead from obscurity to three Finnish titles, led him to the capital, Helsinki, and the head job at HJK, the only Finnish side to have played Champions League football. Back-to-back titles in 2002 & 2003, an excellent grasp of Finnish language and very un-Finnish footballing opinions have landed him as the obvious choice to take Muurinen’s post. With most of the Finnish squad playing in England, and a reaction against the over analytical way of Muurinen, it would be a surprise if Armstrong is not announced as Finnish boss next month.

"I’m still a Geordie at heart, just one who lives in Finland. In all the time I’ve lived up there I’ve never learnt how to spend Vappu [May Eve & May Day] properly, or even Juhannus [Midsummer]. In my playing days I once spent Midsummer at a team-mate’s summer cottage. Usually I just buy a bottle of red wine and watch TV at home"