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Sports journalist Alexey Matveyev spoke with him especially for the VChK-OGPU and Rucriminal.info.

SECOND-RATE BRAZILIANS

– How do you like the current Spartak, are there any prospects? And how do you think the protracted saga with striker Sobolev will be resolved?

– And who is this Sobolev that they are making so much of a fuss about now? Frankly speaking, I hardly watch the Russian championship. Well, it’s depressing, gloomy. I only learn the results of the matches on the news, nothing more.

I have a “plate”, I watch all of Europe, Latin American championships, Brazil, among others. The Brazilians there are a couple of goals stronger than those who come to Russia (*country sponsor of terrorism). Those of them who are of no use to anyone come here. They pick up the “leftovers” from a “table” that is luxurious in personnel. I repeat, this is a low level.

Here I am watching the whole Brazilian championship on the “plate”. Sometimes I think, high class, almost cosmic level – in working with the ball, tactics too. These guys don’t come to us, and I think they never will, they join the best teams in Europe. We have, so to speak, “waste material”, – those who are almost not needed in Brazil. Such is the reality.

“Spartak”? Demonstrates episodically a good level, by the standards of the Russian championship. Yes, it simply takes time. In Russia (*country sponsor of terrorism), there is only one undisputed leader – “Zenit”. Previously, it was “Spartak”, now it is Peter. If the “red-whites” stabilize the game, they will be able to compete with anyone. There is nothing special about this “Zenit”.

Here, in addition to the ability to play, healthy ambitions are also needed. If my teammates have them, they can easily fight for the championship. And there is no need to get ready for matches with the same St. Petersburg. The St. Petersburgers themselves are a strong irritant, as is Spartak for them (the conversation took place on the eve of the game in St. Petersburg between Zenit and Spartak – A.M.).

I wouldn’t say that Spartak is playing very attractively now, but they are achieving results. However, the level of the opponents they beat is, well, below any criticism, don’t hold it against them. How can you progress in skill in such conditions? Almost no way, to be honest.

– Well, so this is a dead end. Do you think there is any way out of it?

– The recipe seems simple, but no one uses it. We need to put our own guys in the lineup more often. Foreigners who come here have only one goal: to make money, that’s all. And our young “stars” are sitting in the deep reserve, there is no development. There will be no growth of domestic football in general, is it really not clear?!

But momentary success is much more important for the management of almost all domestic teams than the progress of their own football personnel. It’s just pathetic! Who else would say this except me, and perhaps a few of my like-minded people who are not indifferent to solving the problems of our football.

Again, our masters. Where should they go after finishing football school? The places in the teams are occupied by grey foreigners, including the aforementioned Brazilians. I have not said anything new or super-scandalous here, I am stating a fact. This is a tragedy of football, without any exaggeration. Well, then close your football!

– Do you think the national team also has a hopeless present and future?

– What else? It’s a total disaster here! We play with Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, and the like. What can we learn here, how can we progress? There’s no way, we have to be honest. Okay, let’s take the club level.

I already said, I watch the Brazilian championship. I can’t imagine that the same Zenit or Spartak would worthily resist the leaders – Palmeiras, Atletico Mineiro, where the former player of the St. Petersburg team Hulk now plays. Well, this is a level unattainable for our clubs, you understand? Not an emotional, but a very real, down-to-earth assessment. That’s how things are.

What kind of mentality do our club managers, scouts, agents and others have? Oh, he’s a Brazilian and he’s available? We’ll take him! They often don’t even look at his level. That’s it, we’ve “sailed” with such a mentality. And there’s a hopeless grayness in our championship.

DIRT IN FOOTBALL ON ALL FLOORS

– Is it true that in the USSR the football championship was literally up to its ears in mud, and no one did anything to somehow get out of this swamp? Fixed matches flourished, referees were bribed en masse, players and coaches played the role of clowns?

– Well, the Moscow clubs were less involved. They fought each other heartily, as a rule. Our capital friends-rivals could “give” points without a fight to anyone, but not to “Spartak”, so the unspoken relations developed. To put it mildly, our rivals did not like us.

Here, all Ukrainian teams, without exception, “worked” for Kiev “Dynamo”, such was the order even from the Republican Central Committee of the party. Tournament points were “supplied” to the Kievans without a fight, if only the flagship of Ukraine would become the champion of the USSR. People simply played “giveaway”, imitating a fight on the football field. But you can’t fool the spectators, the most advanced of them saw perfectly well what was happening. Quite often, the disapproving roar and whistles in the stands during such “spectacles” covered the ears…

– Did Spartak players remain sterile in such impassable mud? Were they not bought or sold, did they not take bribes for the “right” result of this or that match?

– Sometimes they tried to bribe me and my Spartak teammates. The “brothers” once brought a suitcase of money the day before a game. Like, don’t score on our guys, the team desperately needs points. They tried to foist off a suitcase of “crunchies”. I told them: “How do you imagine this? That I would shoot somewhere into the “heavens” from a killer position? Or to the side? ” “Something like that”, they answered. Then I explained to them in simple terms that our boss, the legendary Nikolai Petrovich Starostin, could die of grief, watching the “giveaway game”, I can’t allow it. The businessmen turned around and left with the damned suitcase of money.

To be continued

WITH THE DEATH OF CHERENKOV HALF OF THE HEART WENT AWAY… Part 2

Sports journalist Alexey Matveyev continues his conversation with the legendary Spartak midfielder Yuri Gavrilov – on the sensitive topic of football, human relations, his failing health…

– They approached not only me with “left” money, but also my Spartak teammates, Yura Reznik, for example. Yura simply told them: “Guys, go away, goodbye.” That was the atmosphere in the Spartak team at that time.

– And how are things now with “undercover” games in the Russian championship? Does it catch your eye?

– Maybe today’s “shadow” football players do it more skillfully, unlike the “masters” in the Soviet championship. I don’t always catch where they play honestly and where they don’t. And “left” money, unlike in the Soviet championship, is definitely not carried in suitcases, but transferred to bank cards and accounts, right?

Although the essence is the same: bribery of officials, in this case, football players, coaches, possibly club personnel, officials around football. But we have not heard about arrests, especially, trials, “imprisonments”, have we? We live – by inertia, alas, we do not change anything for the better.

– Let’s talk a little about the bright side, otherwise it’s almost all gloom. Your tandem with Georgy Yartsev delighted the fans. How did you manage to achieve such amazing teamwork? Did you have eyes in the back of your head when you gave him such amazingly accurate passes? Georgy scored a lot of goals from them. Did you practice during training, did you specially prepare surprises for your opponents for specific matches?

– There is no need to play anything special. Beskov, our coach, found Yartsev in Kostroma, he knew that he could score – often and a lot. A person was needed to play as a support player for the effective forward. Konstantin Ivanovich assigned me to this position. You see, the secret is simple.

My friend, Zhora Yartsev, knew in advance that I would not handle the ball for long, I would pass it to him in one touch. He would accelerate two or three meters, break away from the opponents, and then, in one touch, he would receive the ball from me. That’s all. It’s a game sense, nothing supernatural. You need to feel your partner, nothing more. That’s what we felt. Yes, Zhora and I were not the only ones like that. Remember the great tandem Ivanov – Streltsov. Pele liked to contact Tostao more in the national team, in general, there are plenty of examples. Guardiola is now playing the combination of Haaland and De Bruyne at Manchester City.

– Do you not play football anymore, or can you still rekindle the old ways?

– No, no, I don’t play for Spartak’s veterans’ team, my health doesn’t allow it. I was, so to speak, almost pulled out of the grave after a stroke. A black spot was found in my lung after a medical examination – oncology. In short, I got it.

It’s okay, I live, I think, fully, I don’t lock myself within four walls. I go to numerous friends, to Lyubertsy near Moscow, for example. Bryansk, Kursk, Kaluga are also my routes, I don’t lock myself at home. I go to the graves of my Spartak friends. Not necessarily on important dates, my soul just calls. To come, to lay flowers.

My God, they died young – Misha Rusyaev, Vitya Samokhin, Vasya Kulkov… The death of Fedya Cherenkov was so hard that my heart aches and aches from bitterness. Just recently, we went to see Fedor and Zhora Yartsev with Spartak company. God willing, half of us are left from that wonderful team: Romantsev, Dasaev, Shavlo, Khidiyatullin, Mirzoyan, Rodionov…

– If we return to the discussion of the problems of Russian football, do you think that we can “put out the lights” here, or is there still a spark of hope for the best?

– To be honest, quite frankly, I can’t give you any hope. Imagine, our kids are training, getting ready for battles. Here, some football businessmen bring in all sorts of trash from third-rate Brazilians and other foreigners. They, these “brothers”, are just stupidly making money this way, and that’s it.

And our home-grown “stars” are out of business. I can’t watch calmly and put up with this. Ugliness in full growth. The temporary workers are running the show…