I'm very surprised that Yuriy Maksymov is still without a job. There is a thing in Ukrainian football that we don't always appreciate or truly value people, and then we regret it when they succeed elsewhere. Maksymov deserved to work at the UPL level more than anyone else.
Yuriy Maksymov. Photo — scdnipro1.com.uaLast season, Dnipro-1 failed to qualify for the European Cups and started the season in the UPL. When Yurii Vilievych joined the team, the team rose from the bottom of the standings to the top. "Sportkliubivtsi spent the winter sharing first place with Kryvbas. Maksymov beat Mircea Lucescu's Dynamo in crisis and Shakhtar, which was on the rise after the arrival of Marino Pushic. If Dnipro-1 had been doing well with money in the spring, the team would hardly have dropped below third place in the standings.
After a successful season and qualification for the Europa League, Vorskla began to go through a bit of a rough patch. The team was simply collapsing in the UPL. Maksymov was able not only to bring the team out of the crisis, but almost won the Ukrainian Cup. In the final, Poltava lost to Dynamo only in a penalty shootout. Maksymov began to trust Dmytro Riznyk in goal. "Vorskla received very good money for their student. The club's leaders wanted the aesthetics of the game... The result was not very good.
Nowadays, many UPL clubs rely on their own youth. I remember very well when Maksymov took over Obolon, he invited Denys Boyko and Mykola Morozyuk, who could not find themselves in Dynamo. If Yurii Vilievych hadn't believed in Dynamo's talents then, no one knows whether professional football would have been possible for them at all. When Obolon fired Valerii Ivashchenko, Maksymov was not even considered. Serhii Shyshchenko, who had never been successful anywhere, got the job.
At one time, Kryvbas had no money and no prospects. But the team fought in every match because they had a team. The players played for coach Maksymov. Now I'm looking at Kolos, which has everything to succeed - the squad, the opportunities, the infrastructure, but has neither results nor games. The team is languishing at the bottom of the standings. If the club's managers hadn't bothered to hire young coaches and instead trusted Maksymov, the Kovalivka club could have really competed for European competitions. Oleksandr Pozdeyev lacks authority, and the atmosphere in the locker room is no better (the situation with Ihor Kharatin). The solution to Kolos' problems is on the surface. There is no need to reinvent the wheel and just waste time.
"Metalist-1925 has an experienced squad of Ukrainian players. They just need a good motivator, a person who will make the locker room comfortable. After Viktor Skrypnyk's failure, the club's management invited Patrick van Leeuwen to take over. The Dutch coach is famous for his work with young players and strict discipline. You have to break everything through the knee and build everything in a new way. Or you could just hire a coach who would be the best fit for the existing squad. Then there would be no need to make personnel revolutions in the middle of the season. No need to send players on loan with big salaries.
I am sure that sooner or later Yuriy Vilievich will find a job abroad and be successful there. And in Ukraine they will just say that we have lost another coach...
Serhiy Tyshchenko
