- What do you do at Dynamo training camp now that the season is over and everyone’s left?
- I’m also leaving, but later as I’ve got some more stuff to do. I need to plan the start of the next season.
- What does your typical day look like, when you don’t have training sessions?
- I write a lot. I note everything. I also watch a lot of videos, check statistics and analyze our players’ performances. It’s not that easy to get ready for a match. I always need to have new ideas to have something to discuss with players. I must catch their attention so that they were focused. I talk to my players: not only about the game, but also about life, hobbies and other fields. Teaching is my priority. If I can’t teach players, I don’t have a chance to succeed.
I also have my own hobbies, so I’ve got things to do. I never get bored, when I’m alone.
- How much time do you have for rest?
- My wife came recently. It was a tough year away from home. Fortunately I’m a grownup – a great-grandfather already. The youngest members of my family don’t understand who I am and what I do yet while grownups are okay on their own. For example, my son Razvan is a coach. He’s a really good specialist. That’s what I do. I enjoy seeing smiling people around me. That’s what matters.
I guess it was the game against Vorskla, when I came up to players and noticed they were upset. Then I asked them: “What’s the most beautiful present in the world?” Mykolenko said it’s victory, but I responded: “No. It’s a smile. That’s the best you can do. So do me a present – smile”. They relaxed and started laughing after which I started discussing the game.
- After the Ukrainian Cup final you said finals are meant to be won, not played. How many finals of the kind did you have this season?
- A lot. As for my words, you’re right. I told players that sadness after such defeats is much tougher than joy after victories. It’s terrible. There’s nothing better than winning and enjoying the moment, but there’s another side of the coin too. Some players cry after they fail to win the Cup. Sometimes I tell them that the cost of defeat is loneliness and I don’t want them to be lonely.
- Which game made you really happy this season?
- We started with hardships. Back then we told players we need to win against smaller clubs first of all as we didn’t defeat a single top-four team in the first part of the season. We failed to beat Desna and Zoria, then lost against Shakhtar. Then there were Kolos. We’ve won the league by defeating other teams. After the winter break the situation changed. I guess we won every match except for the game against Desna. It’s not true that Shakhtar have lost the league – Dynamo have won it. We’ve played two matches against them and each side succeeded once.
I’ve told guys that they’ve won the league, no one has lost it. They were the best. It’s wrong to say Shakhtar have lost the title. Dynamo players have won it. Next season the league will be even more intriguing. Besides we’ll have 16 teams in the UPL which means more matches.
- You used to discuss refereeing before. How about this season?
- I’ve got nothing to say. What do people expect from me? Do they want me to rebel? Every time I was doing it, I was right. Usually my teams succeeded, so when we were losing, sometimes that was because of referees’ mistakes, but that didn’t happen too often. That’s okay as everyone wanted successful team to lose.
- You had claims to refereeing in the game against Kolos when you went to the field…
- That was my only protest – against unfair penalty. Shepelev was sent off for no reason. Same fouls occurred in the Ukrainian Cup final a bunch of times. They stepped on Buialskyi’s foot twice. Is a player supposed to be sent off for that? I rushed to the field, but then came back as realized I could be sent off too.
- Dynamo have some emotional players, like Rodrigues, Harmash, but they were calm this season. How did you do that?
- They can’t have conflicts with me. If something like this happens, that would mean I don’t have enough experience to deal with them. When players feel coach is right, they can’t argue against him. I tell guys what matters to me and what rules I stick to. If they violate those rules, they can’t work and succeed with me. Learning, attitude, discipline, respect… My demands are related to life, not only to football.
