presenter Arthur Albiston told the caller that Niemi was in fact Finnish, the caller replied 'He's not finished, he's only 28!' Upon his retirement, Niemi recalled his time at Hearts, quoting: "it was all good. Looking back, everything went so well – it was a lovely club, the team was doing well, I was playing well and we had a good manager in Jim Jefferies". Southampton After three seasons in Edinburgh, Niemi moved to Southampton in 2002. He played for Southampton in the 2003 FA Cup final against Arsenal, which the Saints lost 1–0; Niemi became the first goalkeeper to be substituted in an FA Cup final when he was replaced by Paul Jones during the game due to a calf injury. In a game against Fulham in the 2002–03 season, he came up for a corner in injury time with Southampton trailing 2–1. The ball fell at his feet and he crashed a shot against the crossbar, and Michael Svensson was able to turn in the rebound, salvaging a draw. In March 2004 he saved a Michael Owen penalty to help his team to a 2–0 win over Liverpool. There was much speculation regarding Niemi's future at Southampton with a host of leading Premier League clubs rumoured to be interested in his services, such as Manchester United and Arsenal. After Southampton were relegated in 2005 and failed to challenge for promotion in the following season, Niemi decided to return to the Premiership with Fulham, for whom he signed in January 2006. Niemi would describe being relegated as a "first bad experience in British football". Fulham Niemi was badly hurt in a freak accident during a match against Watford on 1 January 2007 when rushing out to head the ball; he toppled over his own defender, Carlos Bocanegra, and landed on his head. He was taken from the field of play on a stretcher after ten minutes of treatment, but was later cleared of any spinal injury. He was released from hospital later that night with only ligament and muscle damage to the neck. He remained Fulham's first choice keeper until 1 March 2008, when, following injury, he was replaced by Kasey Keller. On 3 September 2008, it was announced that he had retired from professional football due to a wrist injury. Portsmouth Despite announcing his retirement from the game the previous year it was confirmed on 28 July 2009