Former Dnipro midfielder Eduard Son told about the attempts to save the club when it was living its last days.
Eduard Sohn-Eduard Vasilyevich, recently Dnipro general manager Andriy Stetsenko said that Kolomoyskyy hadno one willing to buy Dnipro . There was other information in the media - that you and your friend once tried to contact Kolomoisky to discuss this issue. How was it in fact, can you remember, please?
- This is already in the past, unfortunately, nothing can be fixed. The situation was as follows - my comrade and I were looking for a meeting with Kolomoisky, including through his close people. There was a promise to call me on the phone, but I never received any feedback. Later, one person from Kolomoisky's team called me from America and promised to organize a meeting with Igor Valerievich in Geneva, but later this person disappeared and the meeting never took place.
- Have you had any other attempts to contact the owner of Dnipro?
- Yes, in 2016 at the match dedicated to the memory of Yevhen Kuchevskyi, we communicated with Andriy Rusol and asked him to pass on the information that we want to meet Kolomoyskyi, but after that there was silence again. I think that Kolomoisky did not want to hear anything and did not even consider the possibility of selling Dnipro.
- Do you think the information about your interest reached the addressee?
- I think so. Andriy V. Stetsenko had to be aware of it, because the information about it got to the media and the public. Vyacheslav Yevgenyevich Fridman was definitely aware of it.
- You have not had a direct dialog with either Kolomoisky or Stetsenko?
- No. I want to clarify the point for the fans - it was not me, but my friend who wanted to buy the club and become the president. I only helped him to get Kolomoisky, because I am known in Dnipro, and he has long left Ukraine. Many people still think that I wanted to buy the club, and they write to me that they regret that I did not take Dnipro under my wing.
- Was your friend ready to take the club only "clean" or ready to pay off the existing debts?
- We wanted to find out what the debts to players, staff and coaches were, to conduct an audit and decide what to do. It all depended on the amount of debt, but we considered all options.
- Can you name your comrade, not every ordinary person can take over a club like Dnipro?
- He is an influential and wealthy man, although not a billionaire. He is very decent and loving soccer, in his youth he was a fan of Dnipro, but he has not lived in this city for a long time. That's all I can say about him.
- What do you think about the disappearance of Dnipro in general?
- It is a pity that a club with such a history has disappeared. It was the pride and a trademark of the city.
Igor LYSENKO
