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Revision as of 23:50, 20 March 2007
Keith Armstrong (b. 11 October 1957, Newcastle, England) is a British/Finnish dual-nationality football manager and former player. He currently manages the Veikkausliiga club HJK Helsinki, and is an avid supporter of his former hometown club Newcastle United. Armstrong is one of the most successful football managers in the Finnish league today, having won five Veikkausliiga championships and two Finnish Cups.
He first started playing as a youngster for Sunderland A.F.C., the arch-rival of his home-town team Newcastle United F.C., but managed to get a contract with NUFC by the time he was 20. in July 1979, he was loaned out to the Finnish club Oulun Palloseura (OPS). He played with OPS for two years, before moving to Koparit in Kuopio. Subsequently, he played in nine different clubs around Finland, getting to his name 179 league matches, scoring 60 goals, and winning three championships (with OPS in 1979 and 1980 and with Kuusysi in 1984).
In 1993, at the age of 35, he retired from playing professional football and started out as the manager of his then club Rovaniemen Palloseura (RoPS). For the 1995 season, he moved to Seinäjoki and took the local club, TP-Seinäjoki into the Veikkausliiga. In 1997, he was offered a post at FC Haka, which he accepted, getting the club promoted from the Ykkönen and winning three league championships in a row with the Valkeakoski team. He received the Manager of the Year award in 2000, after Haka's second subsequent title.
In late 2001, he was signed by HJK Helsinki, propelling the team to a league championship in 2002 and a league and cup double in 2003. In 2004, however, the club finished in the mid-table. In 2006 Armstrong received his second Manager of the Year award and lead HJK to second on league.
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