Famous Ukrainian coach Yuriy Virt revealed the reasons for his resignation from the position of coach of Veres Rivne last summer.
Yuriy Virt. Photo — nkveres.com- Are you ready to tell us the real reason why you left Veres?
- Three rounds before the end of the season before last, when we didn't make it into the top ten and the president said: "We're going to terminate your contract because you didn't fulfill the task." Ivan Oleksiyovych (Nadein, Veres president - ed.) gave me a task before the start of the championship to invite new players for $1,000, relatively speaking, and that was it. And then they couldn't negotiate with the players anymore, offering 3-4 thousand dollars. The players refused.
When the president, his deputy and former sports director Shevchuk took part in the negotiations, they did not sign a single player. And I had to persuade the newcomers to accept even more modest terms. And I did it. Then Roma Goncharenko left us and received an invitation to Kolos. When I said to the president: let's talk honestly: you said "Save the team," and now you're saying: "You have not fulfilled the task and we are firing you"? I did not understand this.
He agreed with me, but the decision had already been made. I gave my word to keep Veres in the UPL.
- And this is interesting. Imagine that we are at a business conference and you are invited as a speaker who talks about a case study on how to persuade a football player to play in the UPL for $1,000. How is this possible?
- It was. The players did agree to play for 30 thousand hryvnias. That was the amount we started with in the Second League. Believe me, the attitude to football was the same as when guys play for much more money.
We spent many years together. I said: "Guys, you have to be patient, it's a war. Let's play for a year, and then we'll talk to the president." 10 players agreed and worked hard. They understood this perfectly well. Many thanks to the guys who took this step.
- What is your relationship with Nadein now?
- We parted well. We still keep in touch. At the time, I just didn't understand him. The people around him could have had a great influence on Ivan Oleksiyovych: they were walking around whispering at me. I could have acted differently, but you can't turn back time. The team with the worst financial conditions fought for a place in the sun and ended up in transition matches due to poor performance. For three months, our luck was turning away from us. What kind of luck can there be when people are rooting against Wirt in the stands next to the president?
- Going back to your speech in the last episode of the TV series Footballer, who did you not want to see in that photo with the team?
- I'm not going to name names. Believe me, football people know perfectly well. God is their judge.
- You have heard a lot of accusations that you took on many issues that were not limited to coaching.
- Understand, when we started, there was no club vertical in general. If I had listened to the people who said that, Veres would not have played in the UPL. There were three people in the club - the president, the CEO and the head coach. So who was supposed to make decisions?
If we didn't have the appropriate positions, who was supposed to make these decisions? I did not interfere with the administrative activities of the club, but was exclusively involved in the sports part. I don't even know where the club's office was. I had nothing to do there. I was focused on the sports component.
For me, the most important thing was to prepare the team and recruit it. I did not have one agent who brought players to the club. People don't know what they are talking about. I read and was surprised at what people were writing about.
Oleksandr Karpenko
