The midfielder of Zhytomyr’s 'Polissya', Oleksandr Andriyevskyi, recalls his time playing for 'Metalist' and working under the head coach Myron Markevych.
Oleksandr Andriyevskyi— Was Markevych’s attitude towards Ukrainians and foreigners the same?
— No, it was different. He hardly touched the foreigners, but Ukrainians he was direct...
— Pushed them?
— Yes.
— Into certain frameworks or..?
— No, if something went wrong, it was always the Ukrainians who were to blame.
— So, regardless of status, whether playing or not, all foreigners were treated differently?
— Yes. I wasn’t much in the first team, but from what I saw, especially how the young ones were treated — the priority, of course, was for the foreigners. Such were the realities at that time.
— At that time, this was indeed the case, because the foreigners that were invited had to be pampered, paid 2−3 times more money, or even much more than ours. But in the top clubs at that time, let’s be honest, the foreigners made the difference.
— Of course. This was true in 'Dynamo', in 'Shakhtar', and in 'Dnipro', so it was not surprising at the time. And at 'Metalist', they delivered results.
