Our latest player profile is with former Palace player and Finland international Aki Riihilahti who kindly agreed to answer our questions. You can follow Aki on Twitter here.
In his time at the club Aki made over 150 appearances and gained cult hero status. He is fondly remembered by fans for his combative performances in the middle of the park along with his likable character. Palace was the only club he played for in England but Aki was well travelled by playing in Sweden, Norway and Germany as well as his home country of Finland.
We thank Aki for his time answering our questions and for providing some fantastic answers.
Q. What team did you support as a kid? If it wasn’t an English team did you follow English football and if so what team?
A. I am one of those old fashioned people, supporting my local club. So my club was always HJK in which I started playing for when I was six years old and I’m now a director. We got only one football game a week on television when I was a kid and it was always from England so I always supported the English national team. I even named my pet cat “Lineker”. Later on I liked Juventus and Barcelona but mainly I have supported clubs in which I have friends but Palace has really been my only club team in the UK.
Q. How did you feel when Palace made interest to sign you known? Were any other clubs interested?
A. There were plenty of clubs interested at the time but I wanted to come to the UK and also to see the club first before negotiating. I was actually an hour away from singing for another English club in which I had been training for three days and I was impressed with their player development system. Just then I got a call from my friend Mikael Forssell (on loan at Palace at the time) who convinced me to come to meet the Palace chairman and manager. First impressions were that the club was in turmoil due to being in the relegation zone but I felt there was also a lot of potential. I think Palace is a club in which you have to feel the warm surrounding and bigger picture instead of just first impressions.
Q. Which of your goals for Palace is your favourite?
A. I always felt my job was protecting the defence so I really only aimed for goals myself when we needed to get more from the game. The goal against Portsmouth away felt important in our fight against relegation. Next season the last minute header against Barnsley put us top of the table so I felt better about that than the long shot against Wimbledon (which Dougie said hit a bird on a way!). I think most people would say the goal against Arsenal who had just had a perfect season, not because it was a nice finish but because it became after winning two duels against Patrick Viera in midfield, earned us a point in front of our home supporters.
Q. Who did you room with for away games?
A. I roomed with Tony Popovic most of the time. He is an Australian Croat which means that he can be very laid back most of the time but fierce at others haha!. He is a great guy and will have a good future as a manager. I did room with Joonas Kolkka too when he was at the club.
Q. Which player is the best you have played alongside and against?
A. I was honored to play with many great players during my career in different countries and with the national team. For me, Sami Hyypiä is not just a great player, but also a great team player and leader. I felt privileged to play twelve years in the Finnish national team alongside him. It’s not always the case that the player you feel hardest playing against are the ones you think are best. Sometimes it is just how you match against the opponent. It is easy to say, though, that the two games I played against Zinedine Zidane made me convinced he was the most complete player there was for a long time.
Q. In your time at Palace, who do you feel was the most underrated player?
A. Probably Simon Rodger and Hayden Mullins deserved more attention.
Q. What is the best game you ever played in for Palace, both in performance and atmosphere?
A. Overall performance, a 2-0 win over Fulham at 2004. That was my best performance statistically and professionally but the whole event at the play-off final was just something else. Having said that, I felt much support and atmosphere also at a rainy November Tuesday evening at Selhurst … Fans were always very supportive to me throughout my time at the club.
Q. Who was your footballing hero and who do you most admire from today’s game?
A. Hero for me is someone who might be a good player but is definitely a good man so probably better to talk about players I think have mastered something or have achieved something. In my hall of fame would be players like Marco Van Basten, Sami Hyypiä and Fabio Cannavaro. I really like Xavi and Vincent Kompany now. These guys are there to build a team and a club not just to be great players. Vincent is one of the most important players and captains for his club there is at the moment.
Q. If you were stuck on a dessert island with only one song on a music player, what would it be?
A. Glad all over – so I can slide tackle and stop anything that tries to pass by!
Q. What advice would you give to an up and coming young footballer?
A. First advice is that one should play the way and level one feels good about because when you enjoy and fall in love with the game you have already won. Plus you have a better chance of improving through liking what you do. Very important is to play to your strengths and really become excellent at even the smallest part of the game. Too many times you have average all rounders. I’m pretty sure there’s no place in modern football for such a player so you really have to work hard and show what your expertise is in the game, to excell at what is your thing. For the ones close to professionalism, you need more determination and hard work than talent so be systematic and detailed with how you train. Don’t train and try to be like others, do your own thing and compliment it to what others do. Always respect the game and people, compete only on the pitch. It’s a team game so you cannot succeed unless your team and club succeed.
Q. How did you feel being called up to play for your country for the first time, what was you favourite international appearance and why?
A. It was my dream and my goal so initial feeling was that now I have the chance to show that I am good enough and that I will never let my place go now I have the opportunity. I felt enormous pride whenever I was privileged to play for my country. There were so many great games like a 6-1 against European Champions Greece, a 4-1 away win against Portugal, a 3-1 away win against Turkey who just finished 4th at the World Cup Finals … there are actually too many to mention!
Q. What was the biggest highlight of your club or international career?
A. I see it as a path of football which has better times and challenging times but as all these are related it is impossible to bring one over another. If we consider pure performance indicators inside the game I played my best football in 1998, 2001, 2002, 2004, 2007 and 2011.
Q. Do you get to go to Palace games and what do you think of the current set-up, promotion to the Premiership and what has changed since you were at the club?
A. I take a direct flight from Finland to Selhurst at least three or four games a season. I try to watch most games on television too. I think the investments to the stadium and training ground are very important for the clubs long term plan. Plus I am glad that there is still quite a bit going on at youth level. These are corner stones of getting the right players in and making most of the resources that are available. There is still some way to go but the club infrastructure looks much better than the one that I joined. I like Steve Parish and hopefully the new owners bring stability to the club. Obviously, the good people at SE25 are the backbone and the warm feeling there is around for being an ‘Eagles‘ supporter.
Q. How does it make you feel that after 6-7 years since you played for the club, that you are still held in such high regard by the Palace fans?
A. I feel very humbled and grateful about the connection I have always had with Palace fans. I am Palace fan myself now so it is great to have that ongoing communication about the club.
Q. Who is your current favourite Palace player and why?
A. I thought Jedi did very well last year and I am looking forward for him to make one more step higher during this season. O’Keefe and can have his moments of magic and as a defensive leader McCarthy is important for the
team should he make his way back to full fitness.
Q. What are you up to now Aki?
A. I am currently CEO of the biggest club in Finland, FC HJK. I am also CEO of our home ground, Sonera Stadium. I also help with the youth development as a hobby so I take a real hands-on approach to help make this club as good as possible. We have now won five consecutive Finnish titles but we aiming for much more starting with the Champions League qualifiers. We also have a very good stadium business for the corporate sector and 2,500 youth players at the club. Otherwise, I write for newspapers and enjoy life.
