Famous sports journalist and TV host Valentin Sherbachov spoke about the legendary coach of Dynamo, Valeriy Lobanovskyi.
Valentin Shcherbachov— How did you learn about the disaster at the Chornobyl Nuclear Power Plant?
— I had acquaintances who worked there. I remember I was going to the shoots and was planning to head to Lyon afterward. There was supposed to be a wrestling tournament. At night, my friend Volodya Dyavtyan, an Armenian who worked as an engineer at the Chornobyl NPP, came to me. And he said: "Something terrible has happened, don’t let the kids outside." But I know how our propaganda works, so I didn’t trust the official reports. But I was supposed to fly tomorrow...
Our guys were already sitting in Moscow, I met them in Sheremetyevo. I told Lobanovskyi, what’s going on. And he replied: "Officially, there are no messages." Well, fine, I thought. We flew to Paris, to Charles de Gaulle Airport. And there I took local newspapers, and even there maps of radiation contamination were published!
— That’s something…
— And Lobanovskyi tells me: "So you believe?" And I said: "Believe whom?" To which Lobanovskyi said: "Journalists are your concern." But they would be asking him. And there were already journalists with microphones and dosimeters. The team with Lobanovskyi was in Moscow at that moment. And everything I had was from Kyiv — clothing, sneakers… But it passed.
We needed to fly to Lyon, but we still had half a day. It was agreed to train at the student stadium. Lobanovskyi tells me: "Valya, go run with Blokhin." He had just had a hamstring injury. And he wasn’t given much load at that time. The French resorted to trickery: they sent pretty female journalists in high heels to Blokhin. But they also failed to get anything out of him.
While I had time before the flight, I found a payphone. No way! The Soviet Union unilaterally disconnected from international telephone networks. It was impossible to call from here or there. Everywhere in Europe, it was fine, but here it wasn't possible.
— And what happened next?
— We arrived in Lyon. I see the guys had already warmed up, everyone is worried. Match day. Lobanovskyi says: "Let’s go to Lyon." I agreed. In the center, there were about five thousand Atlético (Madrid) fans. All in uniform, with flags. I didn’t care, but he would be recognized right away. He asks me: "Where are we going to hide?" I said: "To the cinema." Well, we went in. I saw some old folks sitting. The hall was half-empty. Then I looked: and there is hard pornography! I said: "Vasylovych..." — And he: "Sit, sit".
We sat for 40 minutes. Then silence fell. And Lobanovskyi says: "Let’s go out." We went out, there was no one. We returned to the team and went to the stadium.
— You said you walked with Lobanovskyi around the streets of Lyon on match day. How well did he know foreign languages?
— He always had Misha Oshenkov with him. He didn’t bother with that. There were translators, and Misha. It wasn’t a problem for him. At that time, the nomenclature we had was like this, and he was a professional. I saw various party officials, they couldn’t even say anything sensible with a translator.
In 1986, I went to the Netherlands for the team world championship in judo. The competition lasts one day, but they send you 10 days ahead. They gave me per diem, and I bought myself a bunch of cassettes.
— Once, Oleksiy Semenenko told me that one time he was lucky to ride in the same car with Valeriy Vasylovych. This was before a home match with Barcelona, which Oleksiy Mykhailovych commented on. And Lobanovskyi so coolly analyzed his opponent that the match commentary turned out to be of the highest class. Did Valeriy Vasylovych ever tell you something detailed about Dynamo’s opponents?
— No, we didn’t really have such conversations. He knew whom and how to motivate. When we started working together: I refused to create a story for the central television. Because he didn’t give interviews. He said: just write the text yourself and you’ll tell it. But does the viewer need me? Once Beskov appeared in the program "Vremya". Now the viewers need Lobanovskyi. But who am I?
And Valeriy Vasylovych says: "So, what are you doing?" I said no. The very next day, Chubarov called, saying "Vasylovych is waiting". Lobanovskyi understood that I approached my work professionally.
Usually, he was cautious in interviews, he fended off with general phrases. But when I wanted some insider information, for example, I would go running with him abroad.
— Seriously?
— Yes. I put on sneakers and we went to run. During the jog, I cautiously asked who was sick, who was injured. That’s how 40 minutes of jogging went, and I was already prepared. And I knew what I could say, not like our commentators often say: "Oh, what kind of game is it." There are many circumstances regarding why players perform in a certain way.
When I raised the issue about the fur coats (1995 — ed.), they began to set him up that I wasn’t that friendly. Later, the newspaper "Den" ordered me a piece about sports. Editor-in-chief Larysa Ivshyna said: "Make a piece about who can replace Lobanovskyi in the national team." And he had already wanted to step back from leading the national team. One time I asked him about it, and he said: "I have no students." And still, I managed to draw out an answer: "Mykhailo Fomenko can." And I wrote in the piece that among the candidates were Mykhailo Fomenko and Anatoliy Byshovets. But who else could it be?
The piece ended up being long, and they didn’t want to shorten it. And I had already forgotten about it, about that text. And a month later, we were flying somewhere with "Dynamo," and at Boryspil airport, someone from the "Dynamo" management, either Semenenko or someone else, mentioned Byshovets' surname in that piece. Lobanovskyi approaches me and says: "Valya… well, you walk in the Himalayas, so go ahead, but why the hell do you write that Byshovets is a coach?".
— And what did you say?
— And I said: "Vasylovych, you have a bronze medal from the Olympic Games. And he has gold. This is a historical achievement." But I realized that there’s a crowd, for which in this situation it was necessary to play outrage. Well, they grumbled and then stopped.
Lobanovskyi died, Tolya came… It seems it was 80 years of "Dynamo." I said: "Tolya, well, the man is gone. What do you want now?". And he says: "I won’t forgive him".
— What did he get offended by?
— We were friends. He had an injury, he was recovering. In 1972, Lobanovskyi replaced a really cool coach, Oleksandr Sevidov. He comes in and says: "Tolya, you’re free, you can’t cut it anymore." Byshovets replies: "Well, how do you know? I’m training!". But Lobanovskyi was convinced that Byshovets couldn’t meet the demands he imposed on his players.
— Returning to Lobanovskyi. When was the last time you saw Valeriy Vasylovych?
— Not long before his death. Before his departure to Zaporizhzhia. I was at "Dynamo," had a meeting with Tolya Shepel, we were planning some "Football Dialogues." I wanted it to be a regular program. Someone from the patrons promised to help. But you know, they all always promise a lot...
Well, Lobanovskyi was also at the stadium then, we greeted each other, asked how we were…
— In other words, just a regular, as they say now, small talk.
— Yes. I saw that Vasylovych was not feeling very well. He was untying his sneakers, his legs were swelling… He had diabetes.
— Everyone knows the phrase "Lobanovskyi's notes." But why has no one of Lobanovskyi's pupils come close to his results? Did he overwhelm them with authority or do the notes still lack universal configurations?
— For example, Oleksiy Mykhailichenko had very good potential. There was a moment: Lobanovskyi found it hard. And sometimes our colleagues ask unprofessional questions at press conferences. And when it hurts him, he simply gets up and leaves. They wrote that this was rude behavior. In such cases, the press conference was held by Mykhailichenko.
Once Oleksiy, commenting on another match, said something like: "In my personal opinion..." — well and continued about the game. After that, Lobanovskyi told him: "Lesik, what opinion? You are the second." And a certain complex was already born in the person. In general, he clearly told me: "I have no students." And indeed, he took ready human material, and here a lot depended on Bazylevych and his system. He was a systematic scientist. There was also Zelentsov, and it was from Kyiv's "Dynamo" that these scientific teams left.
Separately, I would point out the selection process. There were cases when the leaders of their teams ended up in Kyiv's "Dynamo," sat on the bench and disappeared from football. There is a critic of Lobanovskyi by the surname Ostapchuk. He often talks about this. At the same time, one cannot overlook the fact that Lobanovskyi was a Professional. I often communicated with his daughter, Svitlana. She says that her father lived for his work...
Danilo Vereitin
