Ivan Trubochkin, a graduate of Dynamo Kyiv, former captain of Dynamo-2 and former defender of the Ukrainian youth national team, told us what he is doing after his professional playing career and recalled his great football career.
Ivan Trubochkin- Ivan, this month you announced the end of your professional gaming career. Why did you decide to make this decision?
- My contract with Minaj has expired. Negotiations to extend the agreement reached a deadlock. Head coach Volodymyr Sharan and I had a slightly different vision of my role in the team. We shook hands and parted ways.
I continued to look for options, but I couldn't find anything in the UPL. In the first league, all teams, perhaps, except for Karpaty, were interested in my services.
- Well, it seemed that it was not the first time you played in the first league - especially if one of the leaders had called you. Why did you refuse?
- It was at that time that I received a call from the assistant head coach of the Ukrainian national team, Hlib Platov, who offered me a job at his company, PASS Consulting. It is engaged in scouting, helping clubs audit their squads and generally everything related to football.
I met Platovyi during my studies at the PASS educational platform. He is the founder of this project. I have been studying at these courses for the last year.
Now I have also joined the system of youth and junior national teams of Ukraine. In the U-21, U-19, and U-17 teams, I act as a scout and analyst.
- How did you end up at Minaj?
- After the full-scale invasion began, I was in Kyiv and kept fit with Kolos. They started training in early May last year.
In June, my agent called me and told me about the option with Minaj. I had a tryout with the team and signed a contract.
"In grade 11, I hardly went to school because I was recruited to Dynamo's double team"
- What was the start of your career like? You're not a native Dynamo player, but you started your career at Zmina-Obolon school, right?
- I have been studying at the Zmina branch since the first grade. At that time, almost every school in Obolon had a football section from Zmina, where a coach worked.
One day, a recruitment drive was announced. I came to training, liked it, and stayed. That was the beginning of my football career.
I studied at school 240, and our classes were held at the Ednist stadium, which was nearby. I played in this section for a year.
- Then you moved to Dynamo school?
- Yes, I did. There was a boy who was a year or two younger than me in the school section. His father took him to watch Dynamo in the winter. He talked to my parents and asked them to take me to watch as well.
I remember that the classes were held in a hall in Borshchahivka, very far from Obolon. I was left after the screening. The coaches then were Valerii Shabelnikov and Yevhen Rudakov.
- During all these long years of training in the Dynamo system, did you ever have any thoughts of quitting football or changing your career?
- No. I never had such thoughts at all until June this year. Even when I realised that I would have to end my playing career, I didn't think about quitting football. I really love this game.
- It is said that at that time, and even now, Dynamo and Shakhtar had no competition at the youth level, which is bad for the development of young players. Is this really the case?
- The situation is different in different age groups. Back then, we had a practice where Dynamo played in the Ukrainian and Kyiv city championships. Dynamo, born in 1993, played in the Kyiv championship among children born in 1992. That is, we competed with boys who were a year older. At this age, it's a pretty significant difference. Yes, Dynamo has always attracted the best, but it was not easy.
- Did you have time to devote to your education?
- I always tried to devote at least some time to our studies. My parents always reminded me of this. Later I entered not only the National University of the National University of Internal Affairs, like everyone else, but also KNEU to study management, so that I could have another higher education.
At school, I tried to do my homework. In the 11th grade, I was recruited to Dynamo's double team six months before I graduated from the academy. Training started in the morning, so I hardly ever went to school. However, before the EIT, I studied with tutors, which helped me get into the academy on a budget.
- To what extent did Dynamo develop players in those days? It is commonly believed that everything at this club is aimed solely at the result, and children are trained to be team players from a young age.
- Different coaches had different approaches. The first coaches, Shabelnikov and Rudakov, were more concerned with general things from the age of ten to 13. I can't say that they developed individuality much, but they didn't demand results either.
Then I had Pavlo Kikot as a coach. He worked more individually with the players. He developed their technique and tactical skills. It happened that we worked on one element for weeks.
In our final year, we were coached by Yurii Yeskin. He emphasised teamwork and interaction. The result was already at the heart of it.
"Salaries in the Dynamo double were $500-700, with a $100 bonus"
- When you were training at the academy, who stood out the most among those you trained with?
- It's hard to say. Back then, somehow we were all equal. There were no dominant players who stood out from the crowd. Maybe only Vladyslav Kalytyntsev stood out a little bit.
- What were the salaries and bonuses in Dynamo's double in those days?
- In the double, the bonus for a victory was $100. Salaries were different. When we first moved to the double from the academy, we were paid a scholarship at first. A year later, they started paying us $500-700.
- How wild was the nightlife of the young Dynamo players back then?
- Of course, they could go out after the game. But there was no excess of it, I think. All the young guys wanted to go out, but everyone came to training. We never had any incidents.
- After three years of playing for the double, you moved to Dynamo-2, where you managed to play under Oleksandr Khatskevych, who later took over the first team. How did your relationship develop?
- He coached me back in the double. Thanks to him, I stayed at Dynamo. In the double, Khatskevych was replaced by Volodymyr Muntyan, who did not want to extend my contract.
Khatskevich took me to the training camp with Dynamo-2 and offered to stay. For us, he was a top coach whom we trusted.
- Why do you think he didn't succeed in the first team?
- I don't know the inner workings of the locker room. I did not delve into this topic. When Khatskevich was coaching Dynamo, I didn't really communicate with the guys.
"Under Hazzayev, Dynamo's double players were not even allowed to enter the first team's gym"
- You were twice included in the application for first-team matches in the 2011/12 season. It was a cup match against Kremen (3:2) and a league game against Volyn (1:0). Did you have a chance to play?
- Perhaps. Although both matches were difficult for us. The game with Volyn was very important at the end of the championship. In that game, Oleksandr Shovkovskyi was seriously injured and missed Euro 2012. I don't think there was any chance for me to come on.
With Kremen, our advantage was also shaky. I remember playing on synthetic pitch in Kremenchuk. I think I was brought in more as a safety net in case of force majeure.
- You were often involved in training with the first team. Who made the biggest impression on you?
- Back then, Andriy Shevchenko himself played for the first team. I think it was difficult to surpass him.
- How did the team treat the young Ukrainians?
- They were fine. They always helped, tried to give us advice. That's as far as Ukrainians are concerned. We had no contact with the legionnaires at all. They looked down on us. Sometimes in games they reacted very sharply to certain moments, but the coaches calmed them down.
- Did you get a lot of punishment for any mistakes during training?
- Shevchenko could shout. Artem Milevskyi and Oleksandr Aliyev also kept up with the pairs. However, it is worth noting that they were both the ones who helped the young players with adaptation the most.
Artem, for example, was always talking to the strikers: how to position themselves, how to move... When you train with such great footballers, you make significant progress.
- Who drove what cars in that Dynamo team?
- Milevskyi loved cool cars. Back then, he seemed to have a Maserati. It was a top of the range. Aliyev and Oleg Gusev also always had premium cars. In fact, they all had high-quality cars(Laughs).
However, Danilo Silva came to training in an "outfit car", as we called it back then. Dynamo's sponsor was Mitsubishi. He could drive this simple car. He didn't really care about anything.
- Did you have any communication with the then head coach Yurii Semin?
- No, I didn't. The assistants talked to each other. They asked: "How are you?" and that was it.
We didn't have very close contact with the first team. We came and changed at another base and went to training. We had our own changing room, pitch and everything else. Even before Valeriy Gazzaev, we weren't even allowed to come to the first team's base to the gym. Only later was it allowed.
- Who played in your position on the right in the first team defence back then? Did you have a chance to compete with them?
- In different years, Danilo Silva and Betao played on the right of defence, and sometimes Domagoj Vida was put there. That is, we can say that there were not many chances to gain a foothold in the first team .
- Did you take anything from your competitors?
- Of course, I always watched them at training and in games. I noticed what they did with and without the ball. I don't know how much I was able to transfer this to my game.
Silva gave a lot of work, was a more attacking player. Vida is a fighter who gobbles up all the balls.
"Rebrov wanted to take me to the training camp with Dynamo's first team, but Surkis called Betao"
- After Semin left Dynamo, you stayed at the club during both Blokhin's and Rebrov's tenures. Why didn't you get your chance in the first team under either of them?
- Under Blokhin, young players had no chance at all. Back then, the club spent 50-70 million euros during the transfer window. They bought players from the top championships.
I had a moment when I had to go to the winter training camp with the first team. It was in Serhii Rebrov's first season at Dynamo. Everything seemed to have been decided, but at that moment Betao called Ihor Surkis and asked to return to the team. It so happened that I did not go. I think I was the closest to the first team in my career then.
I don't know if Rebrov really saw me in the first team. Maybe he just wanted the young player to go through the training camp with the first team.
- Don't you think you've overstayed your welcome at Dynamo?
- I thought about it, but now I have no regrets. Everything worked out the way it was supposed to. Perhaps when Khatskevich left Dynamo-2 to coach the Belarusian national team, I should have left Dynamo as well, or at least looked for a loan.
The problem was with the offers. I only had the option of going on loan to Hoverla. Many young Dynamo players were called there. However, they no longer paid any money at all. I didn't want to go there and then not know what to live on.
Perhaps if I had been more active in looking for options myself, I would have found something more interesting. I didn't set myself such a goal. Only Hoverla came to me on its own.
- How did you leave Dynamo?
- Six months before the end of my contract, it became known that Dynamo-2 was being disbanded. Everything somehow coincided. In addition, I was already turning 23, and I could leave without compensation.
I had no prospects in the first team, so it made no sense for the club to extend my contract. The season ended, the guys and I shook hands and left.
"After Dynamo-2, I ended up in the third league in Sweden. I was sitting there thinking: "What am I doing here?"
- Your first club after Dynamo was Umeå in the Swedish third league. It was quite unexpected to see you there. How did you end up at this level?
- I'll start by saying that I didn't play the last match of the season for Dynamo-2 because of an injury. During the training session before the game, I landed badly on my heel and got a severe bruise. I couldn't stand on my foot for many weeks.
Then I had the opportunity to go to watch Arka in Poland, which had won the top flight. I arrived, but I was still out of shape. The injury was making itself felt, so I wasn't training at 100 per cent. I didn't look good, so I didn't pass the screening.
Then I returned home, recovered and started training normally. I had an option to go to a team in the second Swedish division. I don't remember what kind of team it was. I came to watch them. I played well, scored a goal and made an assist in a friendly game. However, for some reason, the coach did not want to take the legionnaire to the team.
I was sitting there, not knowing what to do. Then I was offered an option with Umeå. There were two days left in the transfer window, and they were ready to sign me right away.
I remember sitting alone after signing the contract and thinking: "What am I doing here? I was just the captain of Dynamo-2 yesterday". This is a life experience and a lesson for me that life can be like that.
- After only half a season in Umeå, you moved to the Belarusian Vysheisha League club Krumkachi. Didn't you like it in Sweden?
- I signed a one-year contract with Umeå, but we had an agreement that I could leave at any time. I had a recurrence of my heel injury there. I missed the last two games before the break in Sweden. I didn't see any point in staying and returned home to recover.
While I was in Kyiv, I had an option to go to Belarus. I decided to go and try it. Besides, the head coach there was a Ukrainian specialist, Volodymyr Pyatenko.
I also played half a season there. I did not receive any salary, rented an apartment and travelled home at my own expense.
- Did no one warn you about this situation at the club?
- Before that, everything was fine there. "Krumkachi was the only private club in Belarus. Its owner had some financial problems - a common story.
- What did Pyatenko say about it?
- He didn't say anything. He worked at the club for two or three months, and then left before the end of the first round of the championship.
"Lytovchenko was told half an hour before the press conference that Ravanelli would be Arsenal's head coach"
- Kyiv Arsenal became your next club. How did this option come about?
- I came home again after Belarus. The championship had already started, but I didn't have any special offers. At first, I was just offered to train with Arsenal in Shchaslyve. I went, and they wanted me to stay.
- That season was successful for you. The team reached the UPL from the first league, you were an important player. Why didn't you stay?
- Then the investor in Arsenal changed. The management seemed to want some changes for the better, but nothing came of it.
We won the first league and entered the UPL. In the summer, there was talk that head coach Serhiy Lytovchenko would be fired and Fabrizio Ravanelli would be appointed instead. Accordingly, there were rumours of a complete rebuilding of the team.
Then it was allegedly decided that Lytovchenko would remain the head coach, and Ravanelli would be a kind of curator and help him. As a result, on the eve of the season, the club organised a press conference where Ravanelli was introduced as the new head coach. Lytovchenko was informed about it half an hour before the event. After that, nine or 10 players out of the starting 11 were told: "Thank you, goodbye".
- You personally still stayed in the UPL, because you spent the next season at Chornomorets.
- Yes, but I went to Chornomorets to play in the First League. Odesa were relegated in the last campaign, but due to Poltava's refusal to participate in the UPL, Chornomorets stayed. Then Poltava were not allowed to host home games at their home stadium, and the president refused to play in the UPL. This team finished second behind Arsenal in the first league.
- What was the reason for Chornomorets' second consecutive relegation from the UPL?
- We lost nine matches in a row in the first round. This was a key factor, because in the end, we lacked three points to avoid the transition matches. We lost to Kolos there (0-0, 0-2).
We were in a hole and didn't know how to get out of it. No matter what we did, nothing worked. We could win 1-0 at home and end up losing 1-2 or 1-3.
"Vicente is a top coach, although I hardly played for him at Olimpik"
- Why did you decide to change from Chornomorets to Olimpik?
- I wanted to stay in the UPL, although the management wanted to keep the whole squad. I felt that I could still play at this level.
- Somehow it didn't work out for you with foreign coaches. You played a total of only three matches for Julio Cesar and Vicente Gomez in six months. Did you have any injuries?
- No, my health was fine. Cesar put me in the first team for the first match of the season against Dnipro-1, although he didn't seem to have to, another player was playing. We lost 0-2, and I had a bad match. After that, I didn't get any chances at all. I think there were stronger players in the team at that time.
- What can you say about Gomez as a coach? The man is still currently working for Serhii Rebrov's staff in the national team of Ukraine.
- He is a very interesting specialist, thanks to whom I looked at football from a different perspective. For me, he is a top coach. He knows how to communicate with players and promote his own ideas. The players trust him.
- The quality of Olimpik's play under him was really good, but there was still no result.
- I think he lacked time and resources. I mean transfers that could have helped the team develop.
"Azarov stood out at Dynamo Tbilisi. A talented footballer with a high level of game intelligence"
- After Olimpik, you had a real breakthrough in your career, and you joined the champion Dynamo Tbilisi. What was that experience like?
- It turned out that after the first part of the UPL season, which I spent at Olimpik, I received a call from the club and was informed that another player was being recruited for my position. That is, there was no place for me, although I had a two-year contract.
In the winter, an option arose with Dynamo. I came to the team's training camp in Turkey and stayed. The coach was Kahaber Chhetiani.
I also worked there under the leadership of Hisco Munoz. After Tbilisi, he took charge of Watford in the Championship, which he led to the Premier League. A great Spanish specialist. Similar to Gomez in terms of human and professional qualities. I think it's in their blood.
- You played in only seven matches this year. Did you feel like a part of that championship team?
- Yes, of course I did. I have to say that it was a shortened ice-skating season. Ten teams used to play in the Georgian top league in four rounds. However, due to the pandemic, the championship was played in only two rounds. So I played a little less than half of the matches.
Hisco created a great atmosphere in the team, where everyone felt involved in the success. He paid attention to all the players, even those who did not play. I played two matches under his leadership. Of course, I wanted to play more. I can say for sure that I gave my all at training, did my best. So I'm not ashamed of that period.
Hisco then came to me and said that he would put more proven performers in the squad, because the management demanded results from him. I took it with understanding.
- At Dynamo Tbilisi, you played alongside Shakhtar's Georgian newcomer, defender Irakli Azarov. What can you tell us about him?
- He already stood out against his Georgian peers and even against the whole team. He is a talented and interesting footballer. Back then, Azarov didn't get much game practice. Now I can see that he was able to add to his qualities. He is very technical, unconventional, and has a high level of football intelligence.
- Didn't you want to stay in Europe longer?
- "Dynamo didn't want to keep me at the time. I signed a 1+1 contract with an option to extend from the club. After the covid year, they began to significantly reduce the budget and say goodbye to many legionnaires. I had no other offers in Europe that would interest me.
I returned home and just stayed at home for two months. There were no options at all. It would seem that I became the champion of Georgia a month ago, and here is this situation.
"Yakovenko didn't take the TV cable away when I was in the national team of Ukraine"
- Then, in transit through Dinaz, you got back to Olimpik. Did you return to Lytovchenko?
- Yes, I returned to him. He was a springboard coach for me to move to the UPL.
I went to Dinaz more in order not to stay at home and get game practice. However, during training I suffered a serious ankle injury. I was treated for three months. Lytovchenko called me, and I said at first that I wanted to look for other options.
It all dragged on, the championship started. I called him myself and asked if his offer was still relevant. We agreed on everything, and I returned to Olimpik. However, it was a completely different team.
- What was Olimpik like in the last six months of its existence?
- The only thing we had in common with Olimpik from the UPL was a bus. In fact, it was a Rubicon with a few more players. Nothing portended trouble. The salaries were small, but they were paid on time. They even gave bonuses.
After the first part of the championship, such talks began. However, I had a contract for only six months.
- Finally, I'd like to talk about your performances for the youth and youth national teams of Ukraine. Who was the biggest star of your generation?
- Ruslan Babenko, Oleksandr Karavayev and Pylyp Budkivskyi, who were born in 1992, are now playing well at the UPL level. They were fine even then. At that time, it was a success to train with the UPL first team. And they got game practice in the first team and even played an important role. We had a good team.
- Did you already load Budkivskyi like a tower from your flank?
- I don't think there was such a primitive tactic (laughs). But, of course, Pylyp used his physical strength.
- Were you and Karavaev competing for a place in the side?
- No, he was playing in the midfield at the time. It was he who started playing on the right in defence on a regular basis at Dynamo. Karavaev has always been an attacking player, and he remains so now. He just opened up in another role. I don't even know who was more fortunate that we were not competitors then.
- You played for Pavlo Yakovenko in the youth team. His harsh character is legendary. How did you get on with him?
- I've always heard about it. It didn't get to the point of absurdity in my time. They said that he used to take the TV cable out of the room so that the players wouldn't watch it the night before the match. Of course, the discipline was at a high level.
- Which match do you remember the most?
- I remember the friendly with Portugal. It was our last game under Yakovenko and we won 1-0. We also had a good match against France, losing 1-2. There were stars like Raphael Varane, Paul Pogba, Luca Dinh... People worth millions of euros.
- Did you throw the ball between the legs of any of the stars?
- No. (Laughs). I think if it had, I would have remembered.
- Finally, let's talk about your plans.
- I'm going through a transition period now. I will help with the youth and youth national teams. I will scout players. This is my area of responsibility. I see myself here for now. Life will show what happens next. Today I am happy with everything, I want to develop in this direction.
Dmitry Venkov
