Mykola Neseniuk: "To build a competitive team, it is not necessary to fill it with bags of money"

Well-known journalist Mykola Neseniuk shared his thoughts on Obolon's 1-0 victory over Polissya Zhytomyr in the 21st round of the Ukrainian championship.

"Today's footballers hardly know the thirty-year-old story in which one rich guy flaunts a crimson jacket bought ten times more expensive than the jacket costs. But the people who reminded me of this anecdote, the owners of the Polissia and Obolon teams, should have remembered this story, as they both came from that time.

But there is a difference - after the aforementioned teams reached the top flight last summer, the owner of Polissia first organised a "national holiday" in Zhytomyr on this occasion, and then showered the team with generous "investments", which attracted not only numerous players but also a bunch of football-related characters to the quiet regional centre. Instead, Obolon's owner was surprisingly modest - no celebrations, no "investments" - the team continued to work as if nothing had happened.

It seemed that the ambitious Zhytomyr team, which had received at least ten times as much money as the brewery owner had spent in six months, would have defeated the opponent with a big score. In fact, on Saturday, Obolon, which has one of the lowest player salaries in the league, beat Polissia to the delight of bookmakers.

The conclusion is simple: to build a competitive football team, it is not necessary to fill it with bags of money. It can be done much cheaper. You just need to find the right people and organise their work.

You may ask why the owner of Polissia would waste money. And why did the hero of the old joke buy a jacket ten times more expensive? You don't know? I don't know either. It's not easy to understand the rich!" Neseniuk wrote on his Facebook page.