Mikhail Gershkovich summed up the results of the year: “I am against incomprehensible specialists”

– The 31st Russian Football Championship ends this weekend. This is the first championship that was held under the conditions of total sanctions against our football. As you know, our clubs and national team have been banned from European football. I would like to know how it affected our football?

– The championship was held in conditions that outraged and upset many. Excommunication from big football could not but affect the psychological state. The struggle for 2nd and 3rd places has lost its meaning a little. We must pay tribute to the Russian Football Union, leagues and players – after all, this decision did not have a big impact.

“Zenit is a champion. In this club, everything is debugged, there is harmony. Others have a lot to learn from Zenit. I must say that the head of Gazprom, Miller, who sincerely cheers for the team and does everything so that everything is in order there, plays a big role. Of course, I would like to see more competition in the future, but we must pay tribute to those who are fighting for second and third places.

Not everything was smooth, there were failures. CSKA had a period that did not allow them to compete with Zenit. “Spartak” is in a fever, “Rostov” too. There is no stability that would allow joining the fight for “gold”. I hope that next season, the teams will be able to compete.

– The struggle in the Premier League is now going on at the bottom of the standings. Did the results of Torpedo and Khimki surprise you? Especially Torpedo, whose return to the RPL we have been waiting for a long time.

– Yes, “Torpedo” waited a long time. I can say that the problem of Torpedo and Khimki is catastrophic management. Clubs are run by incompetent people who are far from football. It is difficult to say what tasks they solve.

Khimki removed Yuran, a good coach, from the team during the season. He came to Nizhny, and the club played with him in a different way.

In Torpedo, the situation is generally incomprehensible. Removed head coach Alexander Borodyuk, who led the team to the Premier League. They removed President Denis Maslov, who worked well. It got to the point that they invited a Spaniard coach to fight for survival. This is ridiculous. These two teams were relegated due to the incompetence of their leaders. Although, maybe they had other tasks.

– An interesting question related to the general situation and sanctions. It can be seen that legionnaires are coming to us, but many Russian football players also appear. At the end of the season, which of the Russian players can be singled out?

– There are many young guys who are progressing. I will not list them so as not to offend anyone. The fact is that the progress of the player depends on which hands he falls into.

For example, there are many promising guys in Dynamo. And I’m sure they will play again. But now there is a regression. I would like to wish all club leaders to select coaches very carefully, to think about how the guys develop in their hands

Slavias Jokanovic is leaving Dynamo. There is an important choice of a new head coach. And I hear that they are looking for such a specialist abroad. But we must also pay attention here. There are many Russian specialists who can give both results and progress.

Our championship has become more attractive, because the guys began to take to the field not with the goal of “just not to lose”, but on the contrary, to show football. Yes, the level of skill is not yet up to the game that would please the eye. Here we need to change youth football, change the psychology of coaches who work with children. The very training of children’s coaches leaves much to be desired.

We have such a bifurcation – there are places where academies work very well. In Rostov, Rubin, Zenit, Krasnodar, Dynamo, Spartak, CSKA, Lokomotiv, training work is very well organized. The problem is that the regions do not yet have the conditions that our leading clubs can create. There are problems in infrastructure, in equipment, and in children’s trainers too.

The RFU is doing a lot to improve this. Running the Youth Football League (UFL) is doing a great job. But on the other hand, there are many problems in the preparation of children’s trainers. The academy created by the RFU should be redesigned. Many children’s coaches have no special education at all, this is a problem. The work is very badly staged, there are few stars.

– You raised a very important issue. Your Association of Domestic Coaches pays great attention to the training and development of coaching skills, the development of youth football. While we do not have international tournaments, maybe this is a good time to pay more attention to the development of youth football. Prepare more coaching staff?

– This is a very serious question. We have a magazine, there are a lot of methodical things. We write about how the academies of Barcelona, ​​Bayern, Ajax work. They published books about Kuznetsov. Now they have begun to print a selection of teaching aids from Nikolai Ivanovich Kiselyov. Our specialists travel to the regions to conduct master classes to improve the skills of trainers.

– Mikhail Danilovich, when you listed the children’s academies, the championship standings immediately appeared before your eyes. In your opinion, are the work of the academies and the places of the main teams in the tournament table related?

– They have the most direct connection. Thanks to the leaders of the clubs who allocate funding and well select coaches for their educational centers. Some academies reach a high level even in terms of world standards. The structure, the organization of the whole process, and also the education is wonderful.

– Since we started talking about this champion, then in the first place is Zenit with Russian coach Sergei Semak. CSKA is in second place – head coach Fedotov, Rostov – Karpin. In most clubs, Russian coaches are at the top of the standings. It turns out that our coaching school still works fine? How would you rate coaching skills?

– I can say that both the Soviet and Russian coaching schools have been proving their worth for a long time.

We had a fashion for inviting foreigners. I was accused all the time of being against foreigners. I am not against foreigners. If Capello, Spalletti or Hiddink arrives, who have worked very well before. But when incomprehensible people come who have no achievements, it’s strange. They do not just come, but bring seven assistants with them. This is a dead end path. I would like to turn to the leaders of the clubs: look at the teams that I have already mentioned. Yuran works, Khokhlov works, Evseev works. These are all Russian specialists who previously and as footballers left a bright mark. This is not the most basic, but it is a good help in the work of a coach. Maybe I forgot someone, not on purpose.

– There is one coaching name that I would like to discuss separately in connection with the cardinal transformation of the club. It’s about Lokomotiv. Galaktionov came, our football players Pinyaev, Glushenkov, Dzyuba came. How do you assess what is happening in Lokomotiv now and what is the secret of Galaktionov’s success?

– I can say that we were all upset with the policy pursued at Lokomotiv earlier. An incomprehensible foreign landing of people who did not show themselves. It is not clear what they did in Lokomotiv, what tasks they set. I don’t even want to talk about bad things. But with the arrival of the Nagornykhs, the whole policy changed. This is a vivid example of how a leader can influence the state of affairs. He drew attention to our specialist. Galaktionov made a good impression on me, even when he studied at the higher school of coaches. Lokomotiv made a bet on our specialist, and here is the result. A very smart policy. I’m sure that in the off-season Lokomotiv will buy some new players and players and will compete for the highest places.

We talked about Semak. 5 years ago, when Zenit became the champion, I was very surprised by Miller’s performance. He said that he thought for a long time and made a bet on a Russian specialist. And I didn’t guess. Maybe it was a revolutionary decision, risky, but they did it. And here is the result – Semak becomes the champion of Russia in football 5 times in a row. The infrastructure in which he works and the people he works with have played an important role in this, they also need to be thanked.