Former Dnipro player and coach Mykola Fedorenko shared his memories of the legendary Ukrainian coach Valeriy Lobanovskiy.
Mykola Fedorenko- During the 1979 championship, Lobanovsky invited me to the Ukrainian national team, which was to participate in the VII Summer Spartakiade of the Peoples of the USSR. The tournament was very representative: teams from all Union republics took part in it. Our team took the 3rd place. By the way, then I experienced Lobanovsky's training.
- What are your feelings about the system of Lobanovsky's training process?
- At Valeriy Vasilyevich everything was fine-tuned - clear and understandable. Lobanovsky's characteristic feature is amazing punctuality. For example, at the installation before the game Lobanovsky always came a few seconds before the appointed time. As for the training sessions themselves, frankly speaking, I was not ready for such loads, especially during the break of the championship. In Moscow, functionaries often criticised him for his peculiar methodology of the training process, but Lobanovsky bent his line and proved its validity with high results.
If we talk about all the coaches I worked with, then, of course, Lobanovsky, for me personally, always stood out. In his work he was specific and demanding. But in everyday life, he was an ordinary man, he could talk to you, throw a joke. When I became the coach of Dnipro and we were at the training camp in Yalta, he had already returned to Dynamo.
I remember, I really wanted to visit him, to talk about coaching. He lived on the 6th floor, I lived on the 14th. You know, I was not allowed to go to him for two days! But I still found a way and got through. Valery Vasilyevich was seriously ill at the time, his legs were swollen and he could hardly walk. But when he heard that I wanted to meet, he gave the command to let me in.
We had a window in training from 10 to 12 hours, and I came to see him for 4 days. Asked our maestro questions and he answered them. Learned a lot in the 8 hours we talked to him. Of course, I was interested in coaching, but we touched on everything. Including the life of players. Lobanovsky revealed to me the whole topic more deeply.
- For example? What did Valeriy Vasilyevich mean?
- If, for example, the footballer's family is not doing well, he can not play and train well. The thing is that many coaches simply do not pay attention to this. You train, play. What do I care about your family? I don't care about it.
Alexander Petrov
