Nordic Football News

NFN caught up with Wayne Brown a week ago, but lazily failed to write up the interview till now. He’d just scored one and set up Christuan Andreasson for the other in Tepsi’s 2-0 win over Tampere United, and was in a buoyant mood. He was noticeably more confident with journalists than most Finns his age, unsurprisingly enough for a player from an EPL club, just as he has seemed very comfortable in all the games he’s played so far.

HBL told its readers to ‘remember the name’ when he played for TPS against HJK, not something anyone says about players expected to remain in Finland for long,  and it will be surprising if he stays at Tepsi after this season.

How did it feel to get your first win of the season?

It’s a great feeling, we’ve been waiting for it. Over the last four or five games we’ve definitely deserved some wins and it’s come today. The boys are happy and everything’s good.

You must be happy with one goal and one assist?

Yeah, it’s great. That’s what my game’s all about, creating goals and scoring them, and even though we were under a lot of pressure in the second half I managed to get the goal 6 minutes from time and kill the game off. (Babatunde) Wusu did excellent work in the corner to set me up, and I just had to get my first touch right and put it in the corner.

The manager looks quite happy right now. What’s he been like the last few weeks, when you haven’t been getting the rub of the green?

He’s been great with us. We know the results haven’t been great, but he’s been telling us that we’ve been playing well and creating chances, and he said to us that we just have to keep doing what we’re doing and the winss will come. So that’s what we’ve been doing, we’ve been training hard since the start of the season and now we’ve got that first win.

He’s got a reputation as an eccentric coach here in Finland, how does he compare to Roy Hodgson?

They’re totally different managers. Roy Hodgson’s a very settled manager, he’s got a lot of experience, whereas Pasi is good with the lads and really gets us going. He can give us an honest opinion, and he gets us up for training as he’s really enthusiastic. They’re both great managers and I’ve enjoyed playing under both of them.

Would you like to stay on after your current loan deal ends on the 17th of August?

I’ve been asked that a few times, and it depends on so many things, whether Fulham want me to stay, whether TPS want me to stay, and we’ll just have to talk about it nearer the time.

What do you think about the level of the Finnish league?

I think it’s a good standard, about League One level, bottom half of the Championship. You get a bit more time on the ball than in England, where it’s a little bit fast and furious.

How does the style of play compare between Fulham and TPS?

They’re quite similar, to be fair. We try to play the ball out of defence, pass the ball as much as possible, and that’s what Fulham do. They’ve got a lot of technical players, and they pass the ball well, playing it out of defence wherever possible.

What did you think of the fans today?

They’re always great, not just today. At home, away, they always follow us and they’re always singing. They help us out so much when we’re on the pitch, if we’re under pressure they can lift us, get singing, and give us a bit more enthusiasm and a bit more bite to go on and do well.

A lot of people would say that Turku’s the football capital of Finland. How does this football culture compare to England? Do many people recognise you in the street?

No, not really. I’ve not been out much in the town, as we’ve mainly been training without many days off. I’ve had a little walk around town but nobody’s come up to me and said anything. It’s different to London, where Fulham have a lot of fans, you get people asking for autographs when you get off the bus and so on. It’s a bit different out here, but it’s nice, I like it.

You played against manchester United in February, can you tell us a bit about that?

that was some experience. It was unbelievable really, a dream come true for me. I’ve watched games there on TV before, but then suddenly they told me I was coming on for the last eight minutes. I’m looking at Ronaldo, Wayne Rooney, and it was unbelievable. It’s a memory I’ll always have.