Former Dnipro defender Oleksandr Poklonsky spoke about the life of his former club, meetings with Kolomoisky, work with Grozny, Tishchenko, Fedorenko and Kucherevsky, salaries and bonuses of Dnipro and the European Cup match, which for many years was considered a contract.
Alexander Poklonsky"Kolomoisky is easy to communicate with, in conversation he always has room for a joke"
- Alexander Vladimirovich, do you remember how you found out that Dnipro was interested in you?
- At the end of the 95/96 championship, one of the players from Podillya told me about this, where I played with Ruslan Kostyshyn. I was surprised, I didn't believe it. The season ended, due to debts, almost all the players fled. In Podolia, they offered me a new contract, and I was ready to sign it.
But in the evening Oleg Pecherny called that I was invited to watch in Dnepr. And this is my dream. I immediately packed my things and went to the location of the "Dnepr". There was no certainty that I would stay and like Grozny. Apparently, at the training camp I proved that I fit the team.
- You came to Dnipro almost simultaneously with a new sponsor - Privatbank. Have you ever met with the owner of Dnepr Igor Kolomoisky?
- At first, the team was supervised by Sergey Tigipko, all the financing of the team went through him (at that time he headed the board of Privatbank, was a member of the executive committee of the FFU and chairman of the regional football federation - ed. ed.). Tigipko often came to us, was once at our New Year's banquet.
But at first we didn’t see Kolomoisky, although we knew who he was. After Grozny left, Kolomoisky began to visit us. He began to delve into football, to talk with us.
- Did he personally talk to you, did he know that there is such a football player - Alexander Poklonsky?
— Yes, Igor Valeryevich knew everything about us. He came to the base more than once. He attended our meetings. I remember, already under Kucherevsky, I went to him as a team captain along with a coach. The same Shelaev and Mikhailenko also went to him. Discussed various points. Igor Valeryevich was interested in all sorts of details, asked what the club needed.
- What impressions do you have about him?
— Kolomoisky is an easy-to-communicate person. In a conversation, he always has a place for a joke - and, in my opinion, this is excellent. It is clear that he is tough, but he was always correct with us. I could ask the player what suits him, what does not.
- How much truth is that Kolomoisky personally told the players: “No behind-the-scenes games. If we win something, then only honestly”?
— I can confirm it. It really was like that.
“I was simply shocked by the salary in Dnepr”
- Footballers said that Dnipro always had good financial conditions: salary, cars, apartments. And how are you?
- Compared to Khmelnytsky in Dnepr, my salary has only increased tenfold. I was just in shock. And it was not so much compared to the salaries received by the players who spent more than one season in Dnipro.
For Grozny, I constantly played in the first team, so six months later my salary was increased by 50%, and at the end of the year - by another 50%. As a result, it doubled in a year. Plus there were bonuses.
- And what were the awards in Dnepr for?
- For victories, moreover, they were one and a half times higher than the salary. There was another unique moment. If they won by three goals, the bonus was doubled.
In the games for the Cup, there were more bonuses for victories than those that paid us in the championship. In 1997, we played in the Cup final with Shakhtar. If they had won that final, they would have received the same amount for it as Shakhtar received for all the games of the tournament. And during the break, when we lost 0:1, we doubled the bonus.
- Your former teammate Maxim Kalinichenko said in one of the interviews: "There was no hazing in Dnipro - no one washed socks and boots, there was a fantastic attitude towards the elders." Agree?
— Subordination existed. Hazing, if it was, then in a mild form. I also ran when I was young, if I had to pick up something, bring it, pump up the balls. Well, it is, working moments.
We had a tradition in the team. We all gathered together - both young and old people sat. In the old bathhouse at the base, we had such a nook - a supply room. We used to gather there after the game. You could say relaxed. Not a single coach has ever gone there.
During the time that I was in Dnepr, only Grozny came in once. And there, just 19-year-old Seryoga Perkhun was sitting surrounded by older guys. Grozny glanced briefly and immediately left. True, he later told us: “If you lose the game with Kremenchuk, I will fine everyone!” (didn't lose! 1:1 - approx. ed.)
- And Kalinichenko also said: "If one of the elders asked to round up, for example, for beer, no questions arose."
— One hundred percent, I confirm his words. All this we perceived easily with understanding. I remember when I was already older, and Sergei Nazarenko had just appeared with us at Dnipro. I gave him the keys to my car and asked him to go and do some shopping. After all, at that time we were “closed” at the base before the matches. For bachelors, the arrival was three days in advance, family guys arrived in two.
"Grozny's language in the Dnipro was ruined"
- They say that Grozny was different in Dnepr ...
- When he headed the Dnepr, everything went smoothly for us. Then he was a young promising coach (Grozny was 40 years old at the time of his transfer to Dnipro - approx. ed.)
Grozny was always inventing something in tactics. He tried to convey this to us, but on the field then it seemed like some kind of nonsense. Vyacheslav Viktorovich could have achieved much more, but, I will tell you straight, in Dnepr he was ruined by his own language.
- In the first season at Dnipro, Grozny bet on the Cup. Why did you lose to Shakhtar in the final with such bonuses that you mentioned above?
- In terms of the game, we were stronger than Shakhtar then. They had the advantage. There were moments. But one mistake, which led to the goal, apparently broke us. We were never able to put the squeeze on Shakhtar. I remember, Grozny, he changed something in our tactics just before the game. Probably, he made a mistake in something.
- Grozny even invited Vladimir Lyuty to that final!
- I still don't understand why Lyuty was invited - and only for one more game. He is a good football player, but he didn’t suit us then in terms of style. I thought so.
- Why did conflicts start in your team already in the summer of 1997?
— I don't know how it all started there. I remember there was a two-month salary arrears, the debts were growing. It seems that the team played well, but Grozny began to shuffle the squad. New people began to come to Dnipro in batches.
- Is it true that the players, after listening to Grozny, signed a paper according to which they voluntarily agree not to receive money for three months, provided that Privatbank does not sell a single player of the base?
— We signed something similar then. But not all the players then signed this paper.
— Tell us about the players' strike before the match against Metallurg Donetsk.
— There were large wage arrears. We in the team decided not to go to the game if they don’t start paying them off. They went to the stadium not by the club bus, but by their own cars.
I remember going into the locker room, and there already half the team had changed. The guys are getting ready for the game. I thought: well, that's it, the strike is over. I changed clothes and went out to the field. He probably did the wrong thing, like the others who played. After all, we had an agreement.
It turns out that we violated it (Bliznyuk, Getsko, Mizin, Moroz, Palyanitsa, Parfyonov, Sharan did not play against Metallurg, Dnipro won 2-0, — ed. note).
- They say that Grozny promised mountains of gold to Parfyonov, Mizin, Getsko and Palyanitsa, who were then invited to Dnepr, but did not fulfill the promise. Then these football players tried to break open the door to his room on the base.
- There was something like that. Maybe doors, maybe something else. We then played with Vorskla, this four, invited by Grozny, did not enter the game. But I don't blame the footballers for that. Since they were promised and not fulfilled, then the fault lies with the one who promised.
"There was something wrong in the match against Alania"
— Dnipro lost to Alania in the UEFA Cup.
- I usually don't watch games with my participation. I watched this match two years ago. I watched without emotion. Yes, they always had the advantage. Could have scored more. The away score 1:2 was encouraging for us. It seemed that on the Meteor we would be able to beat them. But we conceded some incomprehensible goals.
- They say that Dnepr was received disgustingly in Russia then?
“They didn’t throw stones at us. The stadium there, of course, was packed. Everyone cheered against us and, of course, everyone shouted at us. But all that remained in my memory was that we lived then in some kind of wretched hotel. The real Soviet Union.
- There was information that for overcoming the Dnipropetrovsk barrier, each player in Alanya received $25,000. And how were things with Dnipro bonuses?
- The bonuses were maybe five times less. But we received quite normal money for those times.
- Can you confirm or refute the information that Dnipro lost the return match against Alania?
— I tried to figure it out myself. I watched all the goals conceded in that game. Analyzed the composition, who played where. I don't know what to say about this now. After all, no one was caught by the hand. But something was wrong in that match. That's for sure.
- Do you see the fixed match right away?
— When you play, yes. There was a case back in Podolia. We came to the game in Kirovograd or somewhere else. Kostyshin and I are the youngest in the team. We play with desire, give our best, but something is not right with our partners. They don't play the way they know how. It is immediately felt. After the match, it turned out that they were playing on a deal.
- After Grozny, Dnepr was headed by Tishchenko. Was he a soft trainer?
- Tishchenko was a gentle person, and a tough coach. He had to have all the fighters in his team. It doesn't matter if it's a young player or one of the famous football players. In training, he himself played with us and never removed his legs at the joints. Thus, he showed us a personal example. I liked the way he built the training process. I learned a lot from him. And in general, for me, he is the No. 1 coach.
— What has changed in Dnepr under Tishchenko?
- Tishchenko headed Dnipro in difficult times for the team. The club had financial and personnel problems. He tried to sculpt something out of those young guys that he had. Kalinichenko and Rykun played under him. The training process has changed.
I remember we flew to Kyiv a few hours before the game against Dynamo. The players ready to play were back to back, 12-13 people. After the final whistle, we could not believe that we had beaten Dynamo on its field (8th championship of Ukraine, 3:2, — ed.). We were quickly put on the bus, and Alexander Sorokalet (was an assistant to Tishchenko - ed.) said, "So let's get out of here quickly so they don't come up with something."
“I was the initiator of the demarche in Dnipro”
- In 1999, Nikolai Fedorenko took over the team. Do you agree with the opinion that Dnipro played a boring game under him?
— Yes, we played defensive, cautious football. If they won, then by one goal. Could have been relegated from the big leagues. They remained miraculously. But after a season, they managed to gain momentum, even won the bronze medals of the championship. This is his and our merit.
- Tell us about the demarche of the four leading players, among which your name also appeared.
— I was the initiator of that conflict. At that time, there was a four-month salary arrears. And we were constantly fed with promises. They said that they would pay the money either tomorrow or the day after tomorrow. I was tired of all this, and before the game with Metalist I said: "If there is no money, I will not enter the field."
I was supported by Kalinichenko, Medin and Kozar. They also said that they would not enter the field if there were no payments. Fedorenko supported us. He told us to send a letter to the PFL. There was a week left before the match, we were waiting for the decision of the club.
And two days before the game, we have a meeting. Fedorenko says: "Raise your hands, those who refuse to play in the absence of money." The four of us raised our hands. To this, Fedorenko told us: “Goodbye then. Leave the base."
That's all. What were we to do?
- Fedorenko later said that you did not have enough endurance. Was the money brought the next day?
- Of course, they brought it. He knew when the money would come. Why didn't you tell us about it? There was still time before the match. Why hold this meeting?
As a result, we were suspended from training with the first team (Over time, three strikers - Poklonsky, Medin, Kozar - returned to the "base" of Dnipro, but Kalinichenko moved to Moscow Spartak - ed.).
- What emotions did you experience in the UEFA Cup matches against Fiorentina, which at that time was coached by 36-year-old Roberto Mancini?
- I remember that our match was then postponed due to the events of September 11 (due to terrorist attacks in the United States in 2001, UEFA postponed the round of European competitions for a week - approx. ed.). We were in shock.
Dnipro was without European cups for a long time, so the whole city was on its ears. It is clear that in Fiorentina the stars are Di Livio, Chiesa, Mijatovic, Nuno Gomes. They were both stronger and more powerful. But on the "Meteor" we looked decent and did not lose. I remember this evening, a full stadium.
After the game, he exchanged shirts with either Chiesa or Di Livio. I immediately gave it to the fans. I have never collected T-shirts. I didn't even have any of my T-shirts left. Ripped them all apart.
- You led the team to that game in the status of captain. Have you been appointed or chosen?
- Under Fedorenko, before the start of the championship, the players chose the captain at the meeting. We wrote notes, then the votes were counted. Among the candidates, besides me, were Zadorozhny, Poltavets and Shelaev.
- Fedorenko left Dnipro with a scandal: "violation of financial discipline." Can you decipher what was behind it?
— There was such a story. We were supposed to play with Dynamo Kyiv on Meteor. Shakhtar promised us a bonus. They then paid for each point taken from Dynamo. Played 0:0. We got money.
They say that the club's management did not know about these payments. And when all this was revealed, there was a scandal. Probably, this was the reason for such a wording with the subsequent dismissal of Fedorenko. What are our claims? It's not our fault. We went out and played.
— Have you often had to participate in matches when a third party rewarded you for the desired result?
— There were a couple of such matches. The most dramatic of them was in 2001. The 10th championship was coming to an end, according to the results of which we already took the third place. There remained the last game in Kyiv, which is very important for Dynamo.
If we had played at least a draw, Shakhtar would become champions. The Pitmen then promised us a lot of money for the result they needed.
We won - 1:0. There were five minutes left until the end of the match. Here the incredible happened. Within one minute, Dynamo scored two goals. At first, Nesmachny, almost from zero angle, and then Melashchenko with his head. The second goal crossed out all our hopes for huge bonuses.
“Kucherevsky didn’t have to train, he had a coach”
- Tell us about the "Dnepr" of the times of Yevgeny Kucherevsky. How did he differ from Grozny or the same Fedorenko?
— Methodyich was more fair. Good psychologist and motivator. Could shake the team, start. He talked a lot with us, the players, even consulted. For example, he called the captain or deputy to himself, he could ask who to bet on this or that game.
It was rumored that Mefodyich did not know how to train, so I can confirm this. But he had ideas in his head that he could convey to the players. It does not matter through whom - Tishchenko or someone else. Kucherevsky changed a lot in the team. That defensive football that was under Fedorenko was no more. We switched to another tactical scheme.
If under Fedorenko we invariably played 4-4-2, then under Kucherevsky we played three defenders. The emphasis was on the attack. After Fedorenko's departure, we couldn't get rid of his football for a couple of months.
When two-sided games were played at the base, do you know what score they usually ended with? 0:0!
All this Kucherevsky eventually removed. We became more relaxed on the field, played more offensively.
- It is true that at first you had difficulty perceiving Kucherevsky's demeanor. Some even took offense at the jokes he always had in abundance?
— There was nothing offensive there. Yes, he teased everyone, but in a kind way. Could tell some fables.
- Kucherevsky was a man with a great sense of humor. What is the funniest joke in his repertoire?
— There were so many of them that it is simply unrealistic to choose the best one. Probably, many have heard how before the game with Hamburg, he told us: "Go and drive the Germans behind the Brandenburg Gate." Well, that was already before entering the field.
And before that, he gave us the instructions for the game in the morning. He spoke then for about forty minutes, maybe more. All some stories, all off topic. We laughed to our heart's content then. But by doing so, he managed to liberate us.
After all, we watched the matches of Hamburg when we were preparing for this game. To be honest, it was scary. Everyone thought how to play with them, how to beat such a team? And Methodich removed all this fear from us, psychologically we were ready for the game. We went out, started the match well, then we felt confident and everything went well for us (“Dnepr won that game 3:0 - approx. ed.)
- It was sometimes said about Kucherevsky that he squeezes all the juice out of the players ...
- Yes, what kind of juices. He didn't have to train. He had his own coach. The whole training process with us rested on Vadim Tishchenko.
When Tishchenko was leaving somewhere, and Methodievich took a whistle in his hands, we began to laugh. Because after Kucherevsky's training, we left the field without even sweating.
Now I understand that it does not matter who works with the team on the field. The important thing is that Kucherevsky could gather the people he needed - the players and the coaching staff, and then launch this whole mechanism, which gave the result.
- Indeed, Kucherevsky managed to put together an excellent team then. She was loved throughout the country and called "folk".
— We had a great atmosphere. There were no legionnaires at all. All guys from Ukraine (at that time there were football players representing 14 regions of Ukraine in the location of the Dnieper - ed.). Gathered with families, without leadership. We sat and talked. Communication improved, then it was reflected in training sessions and in matches.
None of the training sessions went without jokes and laughter. Here Roma Maksimyuk was a hard worker, plowed in training. In a word, "locksmith". Once he went to training in white boots. Methodius saw this, went up to him and said: “Take them off so that I don’t see. Only Beckham can play like that."
- Why didn't Dnipro win the Ukrainian Cup with Kucherevsky?
- I did not play in the final against Shakhtar. He was treated all the time - either in Germany or somewhere else. Therefore, he was mainly on replacements.
I can tell you about the semi-finals against Dynamo. Just a week before the game, I returned to the team. I was preparing with everyone for the upcoming match, but I didn’t have any special hopes that I would play. I was surprised when they put me in the base.
I had to play 120 minutes. Then there were post-match penalties, which ended on me (the penalty shoot-out ended with a score of 2:1, the people of Kiev missed four times, the Dnipro three - ed.). My turn came up, and I don't know how I would hit. I remember that under Kobzarev I didn’t score a 11-meter shot, and he was dismissed. The guys then laughed, said: "It was you who removed him from the team." True, then, under Fedorenko, I scored a penalty. It’s good that the guys did it before me and Shovkovsky didn’t have to beat.
“Race was arranged with Kostyshyn in Dnipro”
- For fast driving, Kostyshyn was called "Schumacher" in Dnipro. They say that only you could compete with him?
— Yes, we competed with him. I, like him, was then crazy. I'm scared to even remember what I did. Kostyshin and I chose some place in the city. Then we started from the base, who will arrive at the appointed point faster. They were almost equal. We also competed at longer distances. We had the same cars - Mercedes C-class.
Somehow I started from Dnipro early in the morning, and after 2 hours 45 minutes I was already in Kyiv. He heated it so that it was over 200 all the time. At a gas station in Kyiv, a cramp cramped my hands so much that I could not unclench them. And Kostyshyn about a month later, with his wife and small child (Denis - ex-player of Dnipro, Kolos, currently Oleksandria - approx. ed.), arrived in 2.35. But he was driving in the opposite direction, from Kyiv to the Dnieper.
Then, when I played in Tavria, I traveled from Simferopol to Dnipro like that. I remember that the morning training was over, I was driving and I was going to spend the night in Dnipro. The next day, I went from Dnipro to an evening training session in Simferopol. With age, it somehow went away. Now I go 80-100. If the track is good, I can squeeze more. I will drive from Dnipro to Kyiv now, maybe in five hours. It turns out, twice as slow.
- Did you have any options to go to a foreign club?
- At one time there were offers from clubs in the near abroad. They were invited to Moscow Dynamo and Torpedo. The talk was about CSKA. But the negotiations broke off every time, without really starting. In some cases, I understood that I was not ready to leave Dnipro.
Once Leonid Koltun asked: “Do you want to go to Saint-Etienne?” I laughed then, I thought he was joking. Which France, which "Saint-Etienne"? Then I look, Maxim Levitsky went there, someone else from Russia. Maybe Koltun wasn't joking...
For the last two years in Dnepr, I suffered, my leg hurt a lot, the joint was already completely worn out. When I went to Germany for a consultation, they told me so: "Khan's joint." Even Kucherevsky once told me: “Come on, finish with football, go to the double - you will help there.”
But I really wanted to play (After Dnipro, Poklonsky played for another five years: for Tavria, Kryvbas, Zorya, CSKA Kyiv, Neftyanik-Ukrnafta, traveled to Azerbaijan and Kazakhstan - ed.). I didn’t know what to do without football, what to do.
Now I would act differently. Probably, he listened to Kucherevsky: he would hang his boots on a nail and take up coaching earlier.
“I am a tough coach. I can scream "
— Would you like to lead any club in the Premier League?
- Of course. I dream about it. I always wanted to lead Dnipro, because Dnipro is my hometown and my favorite team.
— Did you have other options?
- There were options, but at the level of conversations. I could have ended up in Minai as far as Sharan, but it never got to the specifics.
“You are a rather gentle person. And how is the coach tough?
— Yes, I can be tough. I can scream. I have this. But I'm definitely not evil. I leave very quickly. The main thing is that I try to be fair and honest to the players. If he kicked someone out, then, you can believe, there was a reason.
- Manage a team without shouting - is this possible?
- Maybe someone can, but not me. When the game is on, everything is on emotions, without shouting.
- When was the last time you lost your temper?
- There were games last season both in Dnipro and Nikopol - he boiled over the guys. He told them everything that was possible and impossible. But they know well how I am in the game, so they took everything without offense.
— You have worked in the structure of FC Dnipro for six seasons. During this time, more than a hundred young football players have passed through the team. Have something to say about them?
— In principle, I am satisfied with all of them I had to work with. These are Cheberko, Kogut, Balanyuk, Vakulko, Lednev, Kostyshin, Ilyin, Nazarenko, Nazarina, Dovbik, Supryaga... I can name more and more.
I immediately began to put Lunin at the base, although there were older guys. Then Vyacheslav Kernozenko worked in our coaching staff, he immediately saw in Andrey the future master.
— You had to work with the sons of your former Dnipro partners. Is it normal when relatives of former club colleagues play?
— (Laughs). It is clear that you begin to compare them with dad (played under the direction of Poklonsky: Denis Kostyshin, Ivan Mikhailenko, Anton Rykun, Yuri Nagornyak, Daniil Shelaev, Taras Gorily - approx. ed.). But if they pull, then why not.
— What can you tell about them?
— Ivan Mikhailenko left for America and studies there. Maybe it's playing somewhere, I don't know for sure. Anton Rykun saw the field, just like his father. He worked well with the ball, but was inferior to his father in physical strength. Yes, and in remote speed, too. Daniil Shelaev is a good player, but he had health problems, so the doctors forbade him to play.
I didn’t count on Denis Kostyshin much, I was tough on him, but he is such a stubborn and purposeful guy. All the time he asked: "Put me on the game." He has technique, passing and hitting. In general, he did a great job, he managed to prove himself in Kolos. True, after playing under the guidance of dad, he once told me: "Vladimirovich, you are just an angel compared to my father."
Yura Nagornyak is a physically powerful player, but, as a defender, he lacked speed. I had certain hopes for Taras Gorily. He is a fast player, the same fighter as his father, but a little lazy. Now he is 21, maybe he will open up again.
- And who is the most talented footballer in Ukraine now?
- It is clear that Mudrik. But I am very impressed with Alexander Nazarenko. He has a little more work to do and he will make a great football player.
"Denis Kostyshin told me that I am an angel compared to his father"
- Did someone influence your decision to become a coach, were there key points in making the decision?
— Yes, I wasn’t going to train at all! He worked in the selection service of "Dnepr" with the same Rusol, Vadim Tishchenko and Vladimir Gerashchenko. Interesting, I liked it. I thought: well, that's it, it's mine! But one day Rusol called and asked: "Do you want to work as a coach in U-19?"
Then Viktor Kuznetsov worked with this team, but something did not work out for him. The position of the coach was vacant, and this position was to be taken by Shelaev. But it turned out that Oleg extended the contract for a year with Metalist, so the question of the coach was again on the agenda.
I had never trained anyone before, I had no idea how to build this work. I doubted whether I should take it on. I asked for a couple of days to think things over. But literally right away, Vadim Tishchenko, whom I respected a lot, called: "Don't even think, we will help you." Tishchenko's support became decisive in making the decision. I did not know many details then, so I asked Vladimir Gerashchenko, who had experience in the Dnepr academy, as an assistant. That's how I became the coach of Dnipro U-19.
- Then you became the coach of Dnipro, who lived out his last days and was disbanded in your presence. What did you experience?
- I knew that the club would not exist soon. That's what they told us: "If you want to play, play, but in a year, maybe two, this team will not exist." We decided to play. We collected players who did not suit other clubs. The team turned out good.
We played very well in the second league. It was hard, especially at first. But Dovbik, Ilyin, Nazarina, Vakulko, Nazarenko, Kostyshyn helped us a lot. After the first lap, we were in the top three.
- Do you regret that there is no Dnepr?
“Of course, I’m sorry, I still have feelings. This is my native team. I always rooted for her. Even when there were options to leave, I chose Dnipro. Didn't want to change anything. He agreed to a lower salary and continued to play.
- Andriy Stetsenko said in an interview that that "Dnepr" is still alive. But the club has debts that continue to grow. Today is more than 50 million dollars?
“These debts probably have a certain “expiration period”. I do not know. Let's see. Such things happen in our life. Still can change. Therefore, I do not rule out the possibility that FC Dnipro will still be able to revive.
Alexander Petrov
