Kharkiv Metalist 1925 defender Yevhen Tkachuk recalled his time at Vorskla Poltava when the team was led by the famous Ukrainian coach Mykola Pavlov.
- Many people call Pavlov an authoritarian coach. How true is this?
- Nikolai Petrovich is a man who really lives for football. He is not just a football coach. He was not involved in the training process in too much detail. He was present at all the lessons, but they were conducted by assistants. He probably borrowed this behaviour from Valerii Lobanovskyi, with whom he worked.
Pavlov dealt with many organisational issues, transfer policy, etc. He knew all the first-team and second-team players from memory, the length of their contracts, their salaries and bonuses. If he saw that you were making progress, he could call you in and say: "I'm raising your salary by 50%". You thanked him, shook his hand, and the next day you brought him Jack Daniel's whiskey.
- Did you run the Cooper test at Pavlov?
- The Cooper test is just a warm-up. The harder tests for me were 5×300 and 7×50. I'm not that fast of a player. Artem Gromov and Armend Dallcu had an easier time with these tests. They ran them in about 56 seconds. I'm 58 and a half. Endurance tests are easier for me. The same Cooper's test or the "Tsar's trail".
- Who had the hardest time with physical activity?
- It was hard for everyone. We ran along a track and got hit, and Pavlov said to Roma Bezus: "You're lying on this track now, but Kakha Kaladze used to throw up here." Everyone laughed, crossed themselves that they hadn't died, and went to the hotel to rest. After such exhausting tests, he needed to recover and recover again.
- As far as we know, Pavlov financially motivated the players before the tests.
- Yes, it is true. When, for example, there was a winter training camp, he would put up tables with last year's test results. If a person improved their own performance, they received a bonus of $200 or $300. Those who deteriorated were fined.
However, the financial penalty was not so frightening. Everyone was afraid of making Nikolai Petrovich angry. If he sees that you are not serious about the work, it will be difficult. There would be team meetings where a lot of attention would be focused on certain names in, to put it mildly, not very pleasant tones. So it was better not to get caught in the middle of it and run as fast as possible.
Dmytro Venkov