Former Nokia executive Anssi Vanjoki had some rather unkind words for current Nokia CEO Stephen Elop. Vanjoki was apparently being groomed for the CEO post himself, but eventually Microsoft’s Elop was installed as the first non-Finnish CEO of Nokia. He eventually left the company.

Asked to comment on the MS-Nokia deal and Elop’s performance, Vanjoki told The Verge that it was shameful but unavoidable.

“This is a complete failure of chosen strategy and its implementation,” he said. As a true patriot, he added that he hopes Microsoft can make “it work” for the sake of Finland.

Needless to say, there may be some bruised egos involved, but Vanjoki really isn’t saying anything that countless Nokia fans and industry watchers weren’t saying all along. Elop’s and to some extent Ballmer’s Windows Phone strategy did not work very well. But to be fair, Nokia was in a world of trouble a long time before Elop took the helm, as it was focused on Symbian for way too long, without much of an alternative strategy.