My Sporting Hero: Mixu Paatelainen on Matti Paatelainen

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This time on My Sporting Hero, our guest is Mixu Paatelainen.

Hailing from an auspicious Finnish sporting family, Mixu became a beloved, no-nonsense striker in his home from home Scotland, most notably at Dundee United, Aberdeen and Hibernian. He won Scottish Cup runners-up medals with all three clubs and helped Hibs win the First Division in 1999. His spell at Bolton Wanderers led to his cult hero status being sealed with a mention in Peter Kay’s classic comedy Phoenix Nights.

Mixu’s managerial career has taken him far and wide, and his charges have included Cowdenbeath, Hibs, Kilmarnock, Dundee United and the Finnish national team.

He is currently sporting director at ambitious Edinburgh club The Spartans.

Mixu’s sporting hero is his father and fellow former Finland hero Matti.

My dad was a really talented multi-sport sportsman. His main sport was Nordic combined.

You first do the ski jump, the big hill, which is not for the fainthearted. I’ve been up there and the gradient is nearly straight down, and then you have to jump! And then when you land, the slope is steep there, too. It’s unbelievable. I’ve never been shy to try things, but the ski jump? No chance! Then, the next day you ski and he was good at that. But then he fell while doing the ski jump and dislocated his shoulder really badly, and if he fell again, he’d have been totally knackered. So he had to stop.

But he was still able to play basketball and football. Basketball was ahead of football for him at that point, and he won the silver medal in the Finnish Premier Basketball League. He liked playing football as well and he played for a Premier League side in Finland and for the national team. It was going really well, so then all the emphasis went to football. He was a striker, he was four times the top scorer in Finland, he played 50 times for Finland and captained Finland. He was a striker in the Premier league but often a sweeper for the national team. So totally different roles, he was really versatile.

Matti, like his son Mixu, starred for the Finnish national side