Yuriy Bereza: "Coachman is not a coach, but a football misfortune"

Honorary President of Dnipro-1 Yuriy Bereza commented on the dismissal of the team's now former head coach Oleksandr Kucher.

- Yurii Mykolaiovych, Dnipro-1 is unrecognisable compared to last season. The team has been eliminated from three European competitions, and the league is not doing well either. What happened to the team?

- Unfortunately, Andriy Rusol made a mistake in choosing the coaching staff. We will find out why it happened. I absolutely trust Rusol, but the choice of Kucher and Krasnikov was only due to the fact that they brought Metalist players with them, and Dnipro-1 was very short of players at the time.

Kucher and Krasnikov were not invited, they came on their own, promising to bring players with them. It was a complete despair before a partial despair. It seems that they saved Dnipro-1, but we had to play by their rules.

- But you also saved Metalist by paying a certain amount for Kucher and the players.

- Yes, that's right. It was a kind of tricky deal, but I didn't believe in Kucher and Krasnikov from the very beginning. At that time, my son Maxim and I went to the frontline and we actually removed ourselves from decision-making at Dnipro-1.

How many owners, co-owners, presidents of Ukrainian football clubs or their close relatives do you know who have been involved in the war for a year and a half?

The president of SC Dnipro-1, Maksym Bereza, is at zero. The founder of SC Dnipro-1, Yuriy Bereza, that is, I, have been at zero for a year and a half. I even have a daughter who is a senior lieutenant in the army. Maksym and I could not decide between the war and the football club.

Rusol had absolute carte blanche from me and Maksym. By and large, we had no time for football, we had to take care of the Dnipro-1 battalions. Maksym spent almost all of our financial savings on equipping the battalions, which had been at zero for a year and a half.

- But in his first season at Dnipro-1, Kucher led the team to the UPL silver medals.

- Kucher won silver with Dnipro-1 only because of Jovicevic's baggage, which he laid down, although I have an ambivalent attitude towards Igor after he left for Shakhtar. Kucher simply pulled the players up and put them in the right places. It was thanks to Jovicevic's achievements that Kucher jumped to second place with Dnipro-1. It's true.

- What can you say specifically about Kucher?

- After the loss to AEK Larnaca last season, I tried to talk to Kucher, but it seemed to me that this young man was somehow inadequate. I had absolute understanding and contact with all the coaches, but not with him. I asked him football questions, and in response he spoke some nonsense.

After that, I never called him and only spoke to the players. Rusol told me later: "If you trust me, then you must trust the coach." I replied that I understood and would no longer interfere in matters. You could say I stepped aside and watched from the sidelines.

There was a moment when I could not stand it and said to Rusol: "Do something already [with Kucher]," but he replied that there was a contract and it had to be respected. I asked a question: "Who will compensate for the loss of the European Cups?". We will now have a lot of financial questions to ask Rusol about the relegation from the European competitions.

As it turned out, Kucher is not a coach, but a football misfortune. The Kucher-Krasnikov pair are the main culprits behind Dnipro-1's relegation from the European competitions. I don't believe in their tandem. They are people of a completely different direction.

- What do you mean by that?

- Is it taxing footballers or only those players whose agents are in Krasnikov's orbit play. This is the 'metal' misfortune named after Yaroslavsky.

- But Krasnikov is considered a top manager. He built a strong team at Metalist in 2012.

- He can only succeed in a team with billions. In all other clubs, he will just be a fool. Krasnikov is a big money player, but sooner or later it will end.

- Tell us, how did Kucher's resignation come about?

- I've been waiting for his resignation for a long time and breathed a sigh of relief when it happened. If Kucher had left at least two or three games earlier, we would have beaten Spartak Trnava at least. Now I'm back at Dnipro-1, the team is dismantled in many aspects, but we have prospects because we've finally got rid of this misfortune.

- Did Dnipro-1 settle the financial issues with Kucher and Krasnikov?

- Yes, we have.

- Is it true that Yevhen Selezniov will take over from Krasnikov as sporting director?

- We talked to him, we had some misunderstandings, but I can say for sure: Selezniov will be in the team, but we are still in the process of finding his position. We are now laying the foundations for how Dnipro-1 will function for the next ten years, and Yevhen is part of this project.

The doors of our team are open to the whole galaxy of talented footballers who want to realise themselves as managers, coaches, administrators, etc.

- Who will be the sporting director then?

- Rusol. He was already in charge of this position.

- Who will be the head coach of Dnipro-1? I heard that the Spanish specialists refused.

- Now the team is coached by Valery Gorodov, whom I absolutely trust. We need a coach who will feel the team's potential and vision of our football. No one gave up the dream of Dnipro-1 playing in the Champions League at the Dnipro Arena. We have everything ahead of us. That's all I can say about your question about the coach. I will be able to provide more specifics when there is some clarity.

Andrii Piskun