Dynamo Kyiv’s players have now joined the tireless efforts of their managers to spotlight the club’s problems. On March 17 the UNIAN news agency hosted a press conference with team captain Valentyn Belkevych and leading players Oleksandr Shovkovsky and Goran Gavrancic, a Serbian national. The club was also represented by the well-known club administrator, Oleksandr Chubarov, who worked alongside Valeriy Lobanovsky for about 20 years. The captain, who was the first to take the floor, immediately denied rumors that Dynamo players were in fact being forced to stage protest actions. “We’re all worried about our future. We are all on contract. If the current management goes, it is highly questionable whether we’ll stay with the club,” Belkevych said.
Shovkovsky said that he has been with the club since he was 8 years old. He recalled his childhood and youth, when 9 teams from different clubs had to conduct training sessions on the same pitch at the same time. In 1992 Shovkovsky and some other players were planning to quit the club, which had almost been ruined by the previous management, but when Hryhory Surkis came, he decided to stay. He has been in the first-string team for 12 years. “I find it difficult to understand when somebody says that management is doing nothing. All I know is that if we get new owners, the club will take a colossal step back and it will be difficult to regain our current standing for many years to come,” said Shovkovsky. “I’m 30, and I’m going to play for another 5 seasons or so. But I don’t know if I’ll still be playing for Dynamo if the situation changes.”
Goran Gavrancic, the idol of Kyiv fans, is also worried about his club. “I came to Dynamo when it was an established and ambitious team with good players. It would be terrific if there were people like Hryhoriy and Ihor Surkis in Serbia — then our soccer players would never go abroad. But we don’t have people like them. Last year I renewed my contract with Dynamo because Kyiv suits me to a T: the people, conditions, and the infrastructure.”
INCIDENTALLY
President Yushchenko recently declared that the Dynamo Kyiv soccer club should switch to an “open form” of activity. Commenting on the corporate conflict between the club’s shareholders, he noted that everything that was happening with the club in the past never guaranteed its stability, Interfax-Ukraine reports. For instance, “the results of a number of deals signed with players were not reported to the tax authorities.” And “there are some problems with legal documents.” President Yushchenko has instructed Vice-Premier Mykola Tomenko and Minister for Youth and Sport Yury Pavlenko to inform him on a regular basis about this matter. “The club must not lose its dynamics. I will ensure that every required legal, legislative, and public means to resolve this conflict,” President Yushchenko said.
