Cowdenbeath Having previously worked as a coach while still playing for
St Johnstone and
St Mirren, Paatelainen was appointed
full-time manager of
Scottish Third Division part-time football team
Cowdenbeath in August 2005. In his first season, he guided
the Blue Brazil to
their first league title in 67 years. He signed his brothers
Markus and
Mikko for the club.
TPS On 21 October 2006, Paatelainen resigned as manager of Cowdenbeath to join Finnish club
TPS. He guided TPS to third place and
UEFA Intertoto Cup qualification in what was to be his
only season in charge.
Hibernian Paatelainen was linked with the managerial vacancy at former club
Hibernian in December 2007, and he was appointed on 10 January 2008. He commented upon taking the job that he wanted to make Hibs play a bit more direct, which he later claimed was misinterpreted as him wanting to play a
long ball game. Paatelainen took the Hibs job at a time when they had only won one of their previous ten games and had slipped into the bottom half of the
Scottish Premier League. Hibs’ results initially improved under Paatelainen and the club secured a place in the
top half of the league. due to poor results and his favouring of a
4–3–3 system. Paatelainen eventually abandoned 4–3–3 in favour of a more orthodox
4–4–2 system. He was criticised by
Abdessalam Benjelloun, who accused Paatelainen of favouring outdated
long ball tactics. but he did manage to lead the team into the
top half of the league again. Paatelainen was also praised by the media for his tactical approach in winning the last
Edinburgh derby of the season, but he left the job by mutual consent at the end of May after a disappointing season. Paatelainen earned plaudits from the Scottish media for his work with Kilmarnock. In November 2010, he was linked with the
head coach position of the
Finland national football team. Paatelainen won the
manager of the month award for December 2010, as Kilmarnock continued their good start with two league wins, against Hibernian and
Inverness CT, and a draw at
Celtic Park. Kilmarnock offered him a long-term contract in March 2011, in an attempt to frustrate interest in Paatelainen from
Scunthorpe United. The approach from Scunthorpe was rejected by Paatelainen, but soon afterwards he accepted an offer from
Finland. Despite having left Kilmarnock in March, Paatelainen won the
SFWA Manager of the Year award for the 2010–11 season.
Finland national team Following a bad start by
Finland in
UEFA Euro 2012 qualifying and their decline in the
FIFA World Rankings from 33 to 86, head coach
Stuart Baxter was sacked. Paatelainen was appointed as the new Finland head coach on 31 March 2011. but Finland then suffered a 5–0 defeat by
Sweden in his second game. Both matches were part of the
UEFA Euro 2012 qualifying process. Paatelainen's deal with the
Finnish Football Association extended to 2016, covering not only the UEFA Euro 2012 qualifiers but also the
FIFA World Cup 2014 and the
UEFA Euro 2016 qualifiers. On 14 June 2015 Paatelainen was sacked following his fourth defeat in a row during the
UEFA Euro 2016 qualifying campaign.
Dundee United Paatelainen was announced as the new head coach of Dundee United in October 2015, having signed a contract until 2018. His first match in charge of the club was a 1–0 defeat to
Hearts at
Tannadice. He was unable to prevent the side from relegation, which was confirmed by a
Dundee derby defeat on 2 May 2016, and he left United two days later. On 4 December, he announced that he won't continue as the head coach of the team after his contract expires at the end of the month.
Hong Kong national team Paatelainen was appointed as the head coach of the
Hong Kong representative team in April 2019 on a two-year contract, succeeding
Gary White. Hong Kong was drawn in
group C of the 2022 Fifa World Cup qualification AFC Second round along with
Iran,
Iraq,
Bahrain and
Cambodia. The team earned a 2-0 win over Cambodia and draws against Cambodia and Bahrain before the qualifiers were halted due to the
COVID-19 pandemic after six matches. Hong Kong was one of the few countries and territories in the World to pursue a
Zero Covid Elimination strategy. Due to this the Hong Kong Representative Team was unable to prepare and train for the remaining World Cup qualifiers played in Bahrain in early June 2021. Paatelainen's initial contract was extended to cover the remaining qualifying matches.
HIFK After manager
Bernardo Tavares resigned, Finnish
Veikkausliiga club
HIFK appointed Paatelainen as their manager. Before his appointment the club had lost in the quarter-final of the
Finnish League Cup and earned just one point from the first two matches of the league season. Only two months later the club released a statement of a possible bankruptcy. This lack of finances affected the team’s campaign significantly resulting in relegation from the Finnish Veikkausliiga. Nevertheless Paatelainen guided HIFK into the semi finals of the
Finnish Cup for the first time in 63 years. Once HIFK's relegation was confirmed after a defeat against
VPS, Paatelainen stated at a press conference that he would not carry on his managerial duties at HIFK beyond the end of the season. He subsequently resigned a few days later.
The Spartans (sporting director) On 30 April 2025, Paatelainen was appointed the sporting director of Scottish club
The Spartans. ==In popular culture==