Oleg Shandruk: "If I had a career like Blokhin, it would be easier for me"

Veres head coach Oleh Shandruk gave an interview to Football 24, in which he told a lot of interesting things about his career.

Oleg Shandruk

- As of now, you are the youngest coach in the UPL. How do you feel about this status?

- Wow, I didn't know this information (smiles). It's nice. I used to be the youngest player in the team. Now, it seems, I am not so young - 41 years old...

- Ivashchenko, Lyubenovych, Vyshniak, Rotan are a bit older than you. By the way, which of your coaching colleagues do you have the best relationship with?

- I made my debut in the UPL not so long ago. In principle, I have a good relationship with the Oleksandriya coaching staff. Serhii Kravchenko is my mate, we used to play together. We still maintain excellent communication. I also know Ruslan Petrovych (Rotan - ed .) well.

- Do you feel underestimated by your senior colleagues?

- No, there was no such thing. I did not feel it. There is a coaching ethic - I don't see any problems with this in the UPL at all. Regardless of age, respect must be present in the coaching department.

- It will soon be ten years since you started coaching. What difficulties did you face at the amateur level?

- The amateur level is a good school. You do everything at once, so you get a certain amount of hardening. I'm glad I had this experience. I got a lot of information and conducted a lot of experiments. It was to my benefit - 100 per cent.

- Which world-class coaches are your reference points? Whose ideas are close to you?

- There is probably no coach who doesn't like Guardiola. He makes unique teams. I am very impressed with Jurgen Klopp and Unai Emery. Why Emery? Because he doesn't work with a top club, and yet he has built a very ambitious team. He has won the Europa League before. He achieved success without superstars. He is a top coach.

- When Blokhin was coaching Dynamo, he liked to remind his players of his stellar career and the Golden Ball. Are you a fan of such methods in your own work?

- If I had a career like Oleh Volodymyrovych's, it would be easier to do it (laughs). But unfortunately, I have not reached such heights, so I share less. This is unnecessary. Today's players have many star idols to look up to. I don't think they are interested in listening to how Shandruk played.

- You are underestimating yourself. The level of the UPL you played in was several orders of magnitude higher than it is now...

- I agree about the level. Due to an injury, I finished quite early - at the age of 30. It was the 2012/2013 season - the peak of our league's power. But today's players are very attached to social media. And when you use stars from top teams as an example, they are more interested.

- You started and finished your career at Volyn. Do you have a favourite story about Kvartsianyi?

- So many stories have already been told... (Smiles.) In fact, I didn't get on with this coach. It happens, it's normal. I would not like to discuss Vitaliy Volodymyrovych now.

- You came to Shakhtar when you were very young, played a lot of matches for the Pitmen's second and third teams. What about the chances of being in the No.1 squad? Did you have any?

- There are always chances. I probably fell a little short. I came from a village, I lacked confidence in my own abilities, as well as the school I didn't have. I went through it in Shakhtar's double. There were, of course, periods when I trained with the first team - both under Shuster and Lucescu. Unfortunately, I could not withstand the competition. At that time, Matuzalem was in the centre of the pitch (I started in the supporting area) and, sadly, Tymoshchuk, as I recall his name now.

- Then you ended up at Arsenal Kyiv, which was led by the legendary Zavarov. What did you learn from this coach?

- I am grateful to Oleksandr Anatoliyovych - he was my first coach in the Premier League. What I liked about him was that he radiated confidence and embodied it in the players. We had a fairly young team, with only 3-4 senior players - Mizin and Benyo among them. I also liked the fact that we never dismantled the opposition. Zavarov used to say: "Only you decide on the pitch how strong you want to be and win." For him, there was no authority. This helped me play more boldly at the UPL level.

- Is Chornomorets 2007-2010 the best period of your career?

- One of the best, for sure. I liked living in Odesa, I had good communication with the fans. I regretted leaving the team later.

- Prykarpattia were relegated to the First League...

- And I had ambitions to stay in the Premier League. In three years I got used to the high level. However, I regretted it soon.

- A lot of star players played in that championship. Who got on your nerves the most?

- First of all, I would like to mention the Brazilians from Shakhtar - Douglas Costa, Willian... Also, by the way, Henrikh Mkhitaryan. I've already mentioned Matuzalem, who was one of the strongest legionnaires in the history of Independence. He just turned out to be a bit of an out-of-touch guy and was unable to fully realise his potential.

- In 2010-2011, you played in Sevastopol. "Was there a strong smell of the Russian world then?

- It always smelled like it. Especially in Sevastopol, where the Black Sea Fleet was based. I didn't feel anything Ukrainian there at all. Probably, during the years of independence, much more could have been done in terms of the Ukrainisation of Crimea and its integration into the life of the state. Someday this will be written about in books.

- When you go out for coffee in the city, have you tried to speak Ukrainian? What was the reaction of the locals?

- I didn't feel any aggression at the time - there were three years left before the war. Everything changed very quickly afterwards. They say it's one step from love to hate, and it's the same story here. I spoke both Ukrainian and Russian. My wife is from Donetsk, my parents came to visit. I have never seen any crooked looks from the locals.

- Did you discover any beautiful places in Crimea?

- I liked Crimea very much. My sister lived in Kerch. It turned out that I was on one end of the peninsula, and she was on the other. So I travelled around Yalta, Alushta, and Feodosia. It was quite colourful and beautiful.

- After your professional career, you also played for amateur Rubin Donetsk. Did you witness the beginning of the bloody massacre in Donbas?

- It so happened that I had surgery and decided to end my career. My friend Mykhailo Tyurin had his own amateur team, so I played for them for a while. We left Donetsk in May 2014.

- Have you had enough of checkpoints and armed separatists?

- Yes. I remember armed groups travelling around and shooting at Privatbank ATMs with machine guns. Active hostilities started at the airport. My wife and I decided to leave the city.

- Let's imagine you have the "edit" option. What would you change about your career?

- I am grateful to fate for the level I have played at. Considering where I come from and what school I went to. So I wouldn't change anything. I don't want to make God angry.

Oleg Babiy