The legendary Ukrainian coach Mykola Pavlov spoke about the relegation of Poltava’s Vorskla from the UPL, and also shared his thoughts on domestic specialists.
Mykola Pavlov— Mykola Petrovych, you are well aware that Vorskla has been relegated from the UPL for the first time since 1996 this season. What can you say about this unpleasant situation?
— I am very upset that this has happened. Vorskla is one of my beloved teams, where I was happy and everyone was happy. I think this was all gradually coming— salary delays, some other issues, as mentioned by head coach Yuriy Maksymov… All this led to this outcome.
Although in terms of player selection, it seems to me that Vorskla is far from being the last team and did not deserve to be relegated.
— It is well known about Vorskla’s financial problems, that the owner of the Poltava club, Kostiantyn Zhevaho, is under sanctions from the National Security and Defense Council and has long been absent from Ukraine, regarding transfer bans. Neighbors from SK Poltava even reported that the management of Vorskla would change, after which both top managers of the club finally spoke to the media simultaneously. Do you know what plans the investors have regarding the future of Vorskla?
— No, I don’t know anything about this now, as I have not been in the club for a long time, so I don’t follow the details, I learn everything from the media.
Although last year I visited Poltava several times. I visited the city when Vorskla’s defender Volodymyr Chesnakov finished his career, came for the birthday of the head coach of the Poltava team, Serhiy Dolhansky, and also watched several Vorskla matches live.
I will say this: when I was there, nothing foreshadowed such a result.
— After the end of the season, Vorskla’s head coach Yuriy Maksymov said that the Poltava club could repeat the fate of Dnipro-1 and disappear from the football map of Ukraine. How realistic is such a scenario of events?
— I was not at Dnipro-1 when all this happened, just as I was not in Poltava. Yuriy Maksymov probably has something to compare with. If this is all similar, then this is very bad for Poltava football and for Ukrainian football, too. Losing such a team in such a region of Ukraine is very sad.
For the people who were present at that moment—I mean in the club and the team—it does not bring honor that Vorskla was relegated to the First League.
— You worked for a long time as the head coach of Vorskla (2007–2012), you know many businessmen, football fans. Perhaps someone from them could take the club and save it, or is it not the right time for football?
— Everyone understands where all this is coming from. Kostiantyn Valentynovych Zhevaho is currently abroad, cannot come back, certain sanctions have been imposed on him, there are some investigations going on. Probably, all this has led to such a negative outcome. I mean, financial instability, the coaching ‘carousel’ that has been happening lately.
— I can assume that the financial problems have very negatively impacted this entire situation. If Ukrainians could still endure the debts, it’s hard to motivate legionnaires to give their all.
— Of course, that’s true, but this problem did not arise today. As far as I know, there are people from the administrative staff who are somehow always mentioned last because they have small salaries, they don’t have a voice… So these salary delays [regarding the administrative personnel] have been going on, and I’m not revealing America here, since 2016.
— You have previously worked at many clubs— Kolos (Nikopol), FC Dnipro, Tavriya, Illichivets—and now they are not on the football map of Ukraine. How do you perceive this now and is it possible to revive these teams in the future?
— You understand that the revival of Tavriya does not depend on us, the same situation with Mariupol. Yes, there is no team in Nikopol, much has been written about Dnipro.
When Oleg Babayev lived and worked in the Poltava region (former president of Vorskla, murdered in July 2014— note “UF”), during which he was unfortunately forgotten, there was order in the club, financing was stable. Zhevaho valued and respected him, Babayev had great authority, he was loved by everyone— players, managers. When he became the mayor of Kremenchuk, he built a stadium there and did a lot overall.
My arrival at Vorskla would not have happened if it weren’t for Babayev, as he negotiated with me. In a different situation, I probably would never have ended up there. When I took over the team, it was in the relegation zone, in recent years they had to meet the goal of staying in the top league in the last couple of years.
During the time I led Vorskla, we won the Ukrainian Cup, played in European competitions, and there was never a question of fighting for survival, only for the highest goals.
— Moreover, at that time, the level of the Ukrainian championship was much higher.
— And the level of teams was higher, the competition was very strong. That period (2010–2014), as journalists write and experts who worked at that time say, was the peak of Ukrainian football in terms of achievements, funding, and the level of players.
Don’t forget that the level of coaches was respectable as well.
— Since we’ve touched on the subject of coaches, then I’ll ask your opinion on the work of current Ukrainian specialists. Many talk about the work of Ruslan Rotan and Oleg Shandruk... Who would you highlight, perhaps someone among the more experienced coaches, such as Yuriy Vernydub or Roman Hryhorchuk?
— In recent years, I have liked— and I have said this more than once— Ruslan Rotan. This season, he confirmed his ability.
Despite the fact that “Veres” spoiled the end of the championship and finished ninth in the UPL, I very much appreciate how Oleg Shandruk works.
I would also highlight the work of Ihor Yovichevych, who worked at Dnipro-1 and Shakhtar.
If you noticed, I name young coaches and if they were given more trust, I think we would have more success. This is not to insult the more experienced colleagues; it’s just that ten years ago, when I retired, I mentioned some coaches’ names, calling them “failed pilots” and that they would have nothing left in their careers (laughs, — note “UF”). That is how it turned out.
Currently, under the conditions of war, we need young coaches— they are more energetic, and they should be the ones to work. This is my point of view, and I never back down from it. They only need to be trusted and supported. We have a good coaching school.
— Do you think Rotan will achieve serious results at “Polissya”?
— At the Zhytomyr club, the responsibility will be even greater because in Oleksandriya earlier had different tasks— if they made it to the European cups, that was very good, and now mainly it’s a struggle to retain a place in the UPL.
This season, FC Oleksandriya has risen to such a level because nobody was hindering them, nobody expected anything from them, nor demanded it; there was no pressure on the coaching staff. And now at Polissya, after failures with the previous coach (Imad Ashur, — note “UF”), problems may arise for Rotan. There are too many footballers there who still need to be figured out.
— Yes, there are indeed too many players, plus Rotan will also demand strengthening.
— And not only are there too many footballers, but there are also a lot of coaches— in the first team, the second, and in U-19, so the coaching staff at Rotan will have a lot of work ahead.
— I’ll return to the question about the more experienced coaches— Vernydub and Hryhorchuk. Why has Roman Yosypovych not managed to achieve results recently? It seemed he worked in clubs with good financing, but there have been no significant successes. What’s the reason?
— I have already spoken about this for a long time: when a coach approaches the age of 60, the advice to everyone is— do not appoint him as the team’s mentor. I know this from my own experience, and I will never work the way I did when I was 50 or 55 years old. Those who are already 60 years old and older will never be able to work as actively as younger coaches. Young coaches will make mistakes, but they will work more actively, emotionally, and productively than those who are over 60.
Moreover, if we take Hryhorchuk’s work not only in LNZ: at “Chornomorets”— it didn’t work out, in Azerbaijan (Neftchi and partially Gabala, — note “UF”)— it also didn’t work out, so why wouldn’t it work out in Cherkasy? This is my point of view, and it is not to insult older coaches, I just prefer to trust younger specialists.
— This year, the champion of Ukraine was Kyiv’s “Dynamo”. Do you think they deserved it?
— Of course, they deserved it. “Dynamo” did not lose a single game in such a situation— war, relocations, alarms, and yet the Kyiv team did not give up in the UPL. And this is the merit, first of all, of the coaching staff led by Oleksandr Shovkovskyi.
— Does Dynamo need strengthening for the Champions League?
— I don’t know what to say about that. This season, “Dynamo” took risks and did not always play with the main squad; there was a lot of rotation. They set the task of winning the Ukrainian championship— and they achieved it, so the risks were justified. But if they played with the same squad in European cups, such success in the domestic arena might not have happened. Probably, they would have run out of strength.
Pavlo Kylymenko
