Jussi Tapola was surprised by the dismissals he received: "I was so focused on working"

The Swiss NL’s major club SC Bern fired its Finnish head coach Jussi Tapola on October 1. At that time, the team had won only three of its nine matches and was sitting in 11th place in the league standings.

– The dismissal came as a complete surprise, Tapola commented now in an interview with Watson.

However, Tapola, 51, clarifies that coaches always face the threat of being fired.

– The results were, of course, not what they should have been. But I was so focused on working with the team that I didn’t notice any signs. The collaboration with the players always went excellently, Tapola says.

Tapola’s last match in Bern was a 1-5 loss to Fribourg on September 30. His work with the club ended the very next day.

– That’s when I was informed about it. It was a classy separation. I was given the opportunity to say goodbye to the players personally and thank them, Tapola said.

Tapola was in his third season in Bern. He led the team to fifth and third place in the regular season in his previous seasons. However, in both seasons, the team was eliminated in the seventh game of the quarter-finals.

Tapola states that he has not yet received any new job offers since being fired. However, he is not completely unemployed at the moment, as he serves as an assistant coach for the Lions.

Tapola is part of the coaching team for the Lions in the World Championships, but he will not be seen in the Olympics. His original intention was to focus on the remainder of the season and the playoffs with Bern during the Olympic break.

– We made the plans before the season started, and we are not going to change them now, Tapola stated.