The fat lady has sung in Belarus, Finland, Latvia, Norway and Russia. These league titles have now been clinched by BATE Borisov (for the fifth time), Inter Turku (for the first time), Ventspils (for the third year in a row), Stabaek and Rubin Kazan (who both won their respective leagues for the first time ever)
ItâÂÂs at this point, traditionally, that triumphant fans sing âÂÂItâÂÂs been no bed of roses, no pleasure cruiseâ¦â and so on.
But for Stabaek, the Queen anthem certainly doesnâÂÂt apply. Their season had been a bed of roses, climaxing with a deeply pleasureable title-clinching 6-2 trouncing of Valerenga. IâÂÂve bored people rigid about Stabaek here so itâÂÂs time to move on, as Tony Blair used to say.
Rubin Kazan won the Russian title courtesy of a last minute winner from the evergreen Serbian striker Savo Milosevic who, at 35, must be the most durable largely one-footed striker of the last 15 years.
The players have already been given gold-embroidered skull caps, a Tartar tradition, by their grateful board. The clubâÂÂs only previous silverware was the La Manga Cup but they will make their UEFA Champions League debut in 2009-10, hopefully still under their coach Kurban Berdyev, memorably described here by Jonathan Wilson as a Turkmeni Harry Redknapp.
Rubin's Redknapp is flung skywards
RubinâÂÂs triumph, as Wilson notes, is only marred by persistent rumours of match-fixing in the Russian game. There is no evidence that the new champions have benefited â just predictions in betting circles last May that the boys from Kazan were bound to win the title.
BATEâÂÂs triumph was more predictable than RubinâÂÂs, but coach Viktor GoncharenkoâÂÂs reaction was untypical. Confessing it would be âÂÂvirtually impossibleâ to keep this squad together or to motivate a team that has won everything in Belarus, he admitted: âÂÂWe have already started looking for replacements. Mentally, IâÂÂm prepared to start building a new team.âÂÂ
Ventspils have now won three Latvian titles in a row, 11 short of SkontoâÂÂs run of record-breaking championships, yet, according to UEFA.comâÂÂs Mikhail Korolev, their Ukrainian coach Roman Grigorchuk is already pondering how his side can emulate the likes of BATE and Anorthosis and prosper in the Champions League.
That might sound a tad ambitious, but they only lost to Norwegian champions Brann on away goals in the second qualifying round this season.
Grigorchuk: Pondering, even as we speak
That same hope has inspired Inter Turku who won their first Finnish title under Job Dragtsma, yet another expat Dutch coach. Dragtsma was less bullish than Grigorchuk, possibly because the club will probably mark its triumph by selling talismanic skipper Jos Hooiveld to AIK Solna, the Swedish club supported by former UEFA president Lennart Johansson.
Inter TurkuâÂÂs success was built on a miserly defence which conceded just 12 goals in 26 games. According to the anorakâÂÂs paradise rsssf.com this is, if you judge it on goals per game, the seventh best performance by a defence in a European league season.
Inter TurkuâÂÂs 0.46 goals per game conceded is slightly better than TorinoâÂÂs in 1976-77. But it is still some way short of CagliariâÂÂs 11 goals in 30 games â 0.37 goals a game â when they won Serie A in 1969-70.
And the most famous player in that side? The legendary Luigi Riva... a striker. No time for losers, indeed.
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