In an interview with Przeglad Sportowy, the former head coach of Polish Zaglembe Sosnowiec Aleksander Khatskiewicz spoke in detail about the scandalous situation with the visit to the training session of the team by unknown masked people who tried to pick a fight with the coaching staff and players of the team.
Aleksandr Khatskiewicz- What happened during the training session of Zaglembe? Were you really beaten up by hooligans who associated themselves with the club?
- First of all, what happened made me decide to stop working at this club. An aggressive crowd in balaclavas came to the training session and started complaining about the team. When I turned to them, I told them in English: "take off your masks". In response, one of them threw a punch. I blocked it. The law of the street says that if you are hit first, you can strike back. However, I realised that if I retaliated, there would be a big conflict with hard to predict consequences.
People who come to talk to the team do so without masks. After what happened, I went to the locker room because I needed to get away from that rabble. Some of the players followed me. I went on my own. Nobody chased me or hit me.
- So it's not true that you were beaten?
- Can you see that I have any injuries? It's only on the internet that they said the coach was beaten up. I can confirm that about 25 people came to the training session and attacked us. It was a shock to me. Some of that rabble asked me, "Who didn't score a penalty? Who got a red card?" (we are talking about the match against Katowice, 0:4 - ed.). They don't even know the players. Are you such real fans, but you don't know the players?
- Because they are hooligans, not fans.
- This incident meant for me that I will no longer work at Zaglemba. I liked everything else about the club. I will not forget the support in the stands, there were real fans. It is impossible to confuse them with that rabble. The reaction of the team was also important to me. This moment showed who was who. Who was behind me and who wasn't. Which coaches were on my side and who did nothing. Now I know which player and coach I can shake hands with. Not everyone on the coaching staff was in the same boat.
- Who didn't take your side?
- I'm not going to name names. All those people know which ones I'll shake hands with and which ones I won't.
- How did the hooligans behave with the players?
- I did not see that.
Mikhail Zalewski, former sports director of "Zaglembe": - I can tell you. Everything was as Alexander said. They asked who didn't score a penalty. Janota didn`t realise it, so they talked to him. They also asked who got a red card (Sebastian Bonetskyi - ed.). The players stood face to face with them and talked to them, they were not afraid. And those people tried to hit the players on the head or leg. It was exactly a physical attack, but none of the players touched them. They stood and were ready to continue the conversation. However, they did not react more sharply, because they did not want the matter to turn into a big fight.
Khatskievich: - It could have ended very sadly.
Zalewski: - It's hard to imagine a scene where the team fights with the fans.
- Director, were you beaten too?
- No
- Did they threaten you?
- They told me: "Fuck you to Belarus". They shouted to the Ukrainians that they should "fuck with Ukraine". There were no Belarusian players in the team, but there were Belarusian coaches in the staff, and they heard that they should "fuck with Belarus". And Valencia and Remy were told that "blacks have no place here". They shouted that local players from Sosnovets should play.
- What happened next?
Khatskevich: - The police came. The hooligans quickly left the field and hid in the park, and three or four minutes later the police arrived. She received a call from the club, but I do not know who.
We told the police we would not file a report. The police left and we continued our training. Then the criminal police came to see me. They told me that I should file a report because I was attacked and that they would start an investigation. I arrived at the police station at 7pm and wrote a statement.
- Are you ready to testify in court?
- But what can I say, because they were all wearing masks? Let's imagine I come to your house wearing a mask, beat you up, you'll be shocked, then the police will ask you if you recognise this man when we find him.
- That could be tough.
- It's impossible.
- Well, unless I recognise his voice.
- And that man didn't say anything, just threw a punch, and I was in shock.
- Is this the first time you've encountered a situation like this?
- I've worked with the national team of Belarus, in such a big club as Dynamo Kyiv, and in smaller clubs, and I've never been in such a situation. They should not exist in the civilised world of football.
- Did Dynamo fans somehow also come to the training session?
- Dynamo did not have good results, but the leaders of the fans came. We had a dialogue with them. They wanted to know why the results were so. But they were calm talks, they supported the team. I didn't see that here, just an aggressive rabble.
I've been involved in football for 30 years, I'm 50, and this happened to me for the first - and hopefully the last - time in my life. It was a shock to me as a professional coach. And I notified the club management that I could not continue working after this incident.
- Previously in Sosnovets fans also came to training sessions and threatened players, but without physical aggression?
- It happened for the first time. If something like that had happened before, I would have already left. The club did not ensure our safety.
- Do you have any serious complaints about this?
- I have no claims, because the club did everything it could to provide conditions for training, but did not guarantee safety at work for me and my colleagues. On the pitch I am responsible for the players' health and the club did not react in any way to this incident. I have only one question for the club - why has it failed to ensure my safety at work? This is about my life and my health. I could have lost my health at the very least in this situation. I don't want to risk losing it.
This is about health. No amount of money can buy that. And if the club doesn't keep you safe at work, you leave. Now they come with masks, tomorrow they'll come with brass knuckles and knives. If it was the first time, it could be the second. For me, health is more important than money. I didn't come to Sosnowiec for money, because there isn't much of it in Zaglemba. I came there to help the club and to participate in this project. If the club was relegated to the second league, we had a task to return to the first league and continue our work.
- Do you know that similar situations happen in Poland? Fans often come to training sessions. Of course, it usually ends with insults and threats. They rarely beat someone, although there have been such cases, for example at Legia.
- Are you proud of it?
- Of course not. It is something very bad.
- In modern football and modern society it cannot be done. It has to be fought against. The federation and the clubs have to deal with it.
- What happened in the match against Katowice, which Zaglembe lost 0:4? You said then that the players themselves determined the tactics for this match.
- It was a translation problem. I will explain everything in detail. Two days before each week the players already knew who would play, because we trained tactics, standard positions, and at training sessions we worked out how we would play and how to behave in certain situations.
We had three or four ways to get out of defence, where to go in the formation area. We prepared how we would press and how to play on the counterattack. We did all this in training. Before the match against Katowice, I said that it was a very important match. At the installation I chose the line-up, told the players how they would perform standard positions, and that's all. I told the players that we have two options that we have practised in training - high pressing and medium pressing with a quick release, but I said: "You are on your own for a minute or five and you decide how you want to press. We've given you all the options, but now you have to choose." That was it, they didn't decide on the line-up or tactics.
You can ask any player. I chose the line-up, I described the standard positions. The players only had to choose one of the two models of the game. After the first half, I told them that I saw how they tried to play. With "Katowice" we played quite aggressively, we were not worse than the opponent, but they scored goals. If the coach believes in the players, and I do, I give them different ways to play.
- Did you do it in Dynamo Kyiv as well?
- Yes, I did the same at Dynamo. Moreover, my coaches did the same, including Valeriy Lobanovskiy in the match between Dynamo and Barcelona in the Champions League in the season-1997/98. He decided on the squad, and we decided how we would play.
- Don`t you regret that you took over this team? Did you make a mistake coming to Sosnovets at all?
- No, it wasn't my mistake. I joined a good project. I trusted these people. Only this case affected my perception of the club. Nothing else. I came out of it healthy. I said I would still be there if it wasn't for that incident.
- Is this the biggest disappointment of your career?
- Just that incident alone will leave a dark mark in my memory, but the way the people at the club treated us, the way they welcomed us, the way they wanted to help us, the way the fans in the stadium supported us will remain in my memory with love. Of course, a coach cannot be kind to all players. One plays more, the other less. I told the guys that I believe in them and as long as there is a mathematical chance to stay in the first league, we will fight. I can look into the eyes of every player, but now I won't shake hands with everyone.
- Have you said goodbye to the team?
- I got a call from the club and we signed a document on the cancellation of the contract by mutual consent. However, I said that I can't come to the club because I don't know if anyone will attack me there.
- What would you like to do now?
- We need to analyse it calmly. You know how it is with coaches: you never know when there will be an offer.
- Do you want to continue working in Poland?
- Why not?
- Are you not scared by this incident at the training session? Similar situations happen in other clubs in Poland.
- Referring to your words, I can jokingly say that at least in other clubs coaches are not beaten. This incident did not affect my general impression about Poland, about the football atmosphere here, about the support of the teams. And those people who came to the Zaglembe training session didn't even know the players of the team.
Maciej Kaliszuk, Przeglad Sportowy
Translation and stylistic adaptation - Dynamo.kiev.ua, when using the material hyperlink is mandatory!
