Exclusive interview of Viktor Vatsko with FC Shakhtar CEO Sergey Palkin specially for Football. Ua.

- The miner regained his title after a two-year break and in fact became the first club to complete the championship of his country without playing a match in his native walls. Which of these gives you more emotion today?.

- The fact that we have formalized the championship of our country without playing a match in native walls can not bring joy. This is more trouble, from which you do not get positive emotions. This is additional, in some moments - insurmountable difficulties, through which it was necessary to pass in order to achieve the result. I think emotions would be much stronger if we did the same, only in Donetsk. These difficulties are more of a psychological nature. When you always play on the road, constantly on the flights, face different everyday troubles associated with travel and living, it detracts from the goal. From the point of view of our current realities, in which the club is located, for us this double takes on greater value.

- Was this an additional incentive: to prove to everyone, including myself, that Shakhtar can become a champion without even playing at the Donbass Arena?.

- Of course, there was such an incentive. But when you are in such a situation for a year or two ... To some extent, you already stop paying attention to the difficulties around you - you start to adapt to the situation, you go with these difficulties in life and try to solve them somehow. Why did we move to Kharkov and started playing there? Because we understand that there our fans are much more. That is, we tried to somehow solve the problem of the shortage of our house by moving closer to Donetsk. In the Kharkov region today there are more people from Donbass. Many even come to the matches in Kharkov from Donetsk. This is a small number, but I think that there are a lot of such people at key matches.

- In the hot pursuit, journalists asked you a question about the asterisk on the logo. You said that this is more of a marketing move, and the club will think about it. But this is certainly a sign of status? The asterisk gives an opportunity to people, to a lesser extent knowing our football, to understand that the club is titled.

- I'm sure that the main thing is not external attributes. You can hang at least 2 stars, but if you do not show attractive, attacking, victorious football, then all these asterisks fans do not need. Fans need victory. And behind each victory there are football players and coaches. Here we reward them with stars that are on the "Walk of Fame" in the Donbass Arena. And I'm sure that the number of these stars will only grow.

ABOUT PAUL FONSEKE - In football, there is nothing more difficult than finding your coach ... - A good coach is, by and large, 50-60 percent of success. From the mentor depends very much.

- Especially considering the given situation of Shakhtar, after all for 12 years the team was led by Mircea Lucescu, under which the whole activity of the club was imprisoned. And after him comes Paulo Fonseca - a young coach, with a relatively small in comparison with his predecessor experience, not titled. I know that in deep football circles there was a lot of skepticism about this choice. When you communicated with the Portuguese, did you decide on the appointment, put before him the tasks of instant triumphs or were you ready to wait?.

- Paulo perfectly understood that we have the most ambitious tasks: to win all the titles on the domestic scene and to show meaningful and productive football in European tournaments. As for the "wait", it can be done in the middle-aged club, and Shakhtar is the best club in Eastern Europe, where the strongest players are gathered. Therefore, the Club does not need an expectation, but the result. It is clear that before making a decision to take a Portuguese coach or not, we conducted a lot of analysis. We spoke with many players playing in other European clubs, because it was important for us to understand what the atmosphere in the team and the interior kitchen. After all, everything is simple: turned on the TV and watch what kind of football he plays, how he manages the processes, what substitutions he makes, what scheme he uses, and so on.. But it is important that there is inside.

- Honestly, were there many candidates?.

- Three.

"I will not ask who exactly, it's unethical in relation to the coach and the club ..." "As life showed, we made the only right decision, because we already know what happened to the other two candidates ..." "The two applicants came out to you through agents?".

- No, of course, we ourselves made a search and a choice.

- What struck Paulo Fonseca most of all this year?.

- The main thing he hit us with was the fact that he won the championship and the Cup of Ukraine. These are the main tasks. But what helped to achieve this goal can be broken down into several components:.

First, today the team has a very good microclimate. And do you know how best to determine whether it is good or not? This is when players who sit on the bench, and those who did not get into the application at all, are happy for those who play on the field, happy for the team's victories. When this is achieved, we understand that everyone is motivated by the same task. This is the main indicator of how the head coach forms an internal atmosphere in the team;.

Secondly, our team began to control the ball more, there was a very strict discipline in the defensive actions of the team;.

And thirdly, the coaching staff accepted that everyday life in which the team lives and trains, and this one training field without heating and constant flights. But Paulo with his coaching staff squeezed out the maximum from this situation and never complained that conditions are not the level of the Champions League team.

- On the other hand, there is a departure from the Champions League from Young Boys and the defeat of Celta in the European League, which gave rise to many doubts ... In fact, Paulo Fonseca lost two of his most important matches of the season.

- In any case, every subsequent match would be the most important. Because, having passed Celta, would be the most important duel with the next team. This is a tricky topic. If you take a meeting with Young Boys, then the biggest question was that Fonseka tried to play according to his scheme 4-4-2, which he played on the fees. Unfortunately, our guys in such a short time could not adapt to it. It seems to me that this is what caused the main problem. Concerning Selta. There the situation is completely different. Again, do not put a penalty shooter - we would have passed the Spanish club.

- That is, it was a kind of accident ... - Probably, this is the case when in one match all the worst converges. At the same time, we must admit that on the road we played an order of magnitude better. I'm not saying that at home we were at the height of the first match. But if the referees were more attentive, then everything would be normal. I'm sure we would have reached the final. You know, sometimes you need to make your mistakes, to fix them and not to repeat them in the future.

- And Fonseca understood all that had happened? You in fact constantly talk with him.

- Naturally, I regularly communicate with him. But the question is this: you know, sometimes even when he wins, you realize that he is not satisfied. That is, what Paul wanted, he did not succeed. And sometimes he can lose, but he has a good mood. He says: yes, we lost, but I got what I wanted from the guys. So I'm sure Fonseca also made the right conclusions. It may be better to stumble somewhere in the Europa League, but then in the Champions League to prove themselves fully armed. I hope so.

ABOUT THE TEAM AND TRANSFER - How satisfied are you with the team at the moment? How strong is it for a successful performance in the Champions League?.

- For today we are actually fully staffed. From the selection point of view, we are very strong. Also, given the fact that they extended the contract with Tyson, other players. In terms of selecting players, we believe that today we have a fairly strong composition.

- What in recent years Shakhtar has singled out among all and makes him number one, is the system of heredity. Club sells football player, but his position already has a ready, adapted and high-quality player. Fred, Tyson, Marlos and Bernard came to the places of Willian, Costa, Teixeira and Fernandinho. Who are these artists now?.

- Let's go through the positions. In addition to Pyatova, we have Shevchenko. He does not have enough playing practice, but he is also a football player of the national high-level team. On the right is Srna, but also there is Butko. In the center of Krivtsov, Ordets and Rakytsky, but there are also guys from the Academy, which we will gradually attract to the first team. To our left are Ismail and Azevedo, but behind them there are Matvienko and Sable. Fred, I do not at all want to consider a substitute or an alternative, because he himself is young. On the other hand, there is a very promising Tankovsky. Now I basically call the Ukrainians. At the same time, you should understand that someone may not succeed, and in this case, the decision algorithm will be different. But while the formula is such. Bernard, Tyson and Marlos? There are Zubkov and Kovalenko. Alan Patrick, we are trying to look at different positions. On the left except for Bernard is Petriak, whose level we want to see at the training camps. In the attack there is Boryachuk. It is necessary to make a decision how to make it so that he spent as many matches as possible. That is, answering your question, it is mainly about Ukrainians. But this does not mean that we do not follow anyone.. Just today, transfer decisions need to be taken carefully. We talked a lot with the coach about how many performers should be in the team. Fonseka replied: a maximum of 22-23 field players. Today we are going exactly in this vein, as each coach has his own concept. It is important for a mentor to pay attention to everyone. Sometimes we used to reach 26-28 players, now we do not want it. Everyone should have a practice game, everyone should be in good shape. The team needs a balance. Although in the future there may be a certain situation, when we have to enter the transfer market and buy some football player. The club will be ready for this.

- You named many Shakhtar pupils, who will compete for a place in the composition. Does this mean that you are 100% satisfied with the work of the Academy?.

- Naturally happy, because in fact all these guys are graduates of our Academy. So I have not yet called those who play in other clubs of the Ukrainian PL, as well as in Europe. Transfer rights to Malinowski, for example, bought Genk, although in his transfer history it was not peculiar to him to previously pay such money. And this already speaks about the level of our football player.

- All these players - the level of the Champions League?.

- They have the potential, which is revealed only in matches. Need only a game and self-confidence, the understanding that they believe in you. However, when there is Fred, and you need to find internal energy and incentives, show results and be ready, it's difficult. Zubkov today is difficult to block Marlos. The guys need two years of training with the first team and fully understand what kind of football we play. We have time to pull guys up. All of them are talented! Today you need to build a training and gameplay so that these players smell gunpowder and understand that the head coach believes in them. In Fonseca, thank God, it turns out. All the guys today are happy for each other, even those who do not qualify for a separate match. Paulo created an aura when everyone is happy and ready to wait. On the issue of continuity. Why did we give Nem? This is a very good player. However, Wellington was psychologically not willing to wait until on the field of Marlos. Therefore there was a situation: either we will lose Nem and he will destroy the atmosphere in the team, or we need to give it away. We extended the contract with him for four years and rented out, thus preserving the situation in the team. In this case, the player has a practice game in Sao Paulo and, according to the scouts, looks very good. We understand that the decision was correct. The same goes for Alan Patrick. Now we decided to see it for another six months. Here, too, the question of psychology. Will it survive until the second roles, because at the moment it turns out only in this way. You need to be able to balance the team correctly.

- Alan Patrick will be in Shakhtar next six months, during the group stage of the Champions League?.

- Yes. We have a contract until the end of 2018. I think he did not fully realize the potential. He has an excellent pass, a vision of the field, excellent technique. We bought Alan in 2011, but in Shakhtar he was not long. Alan actually played all the time in Brazil, where a completely different intensity - there you can read the book before you give someone else a pass. Therefore, it seems to me that he needs a little more time to prove himself.

- Does Shakhtar gradually move away from the system introduced by Lucescu: the Ukrainian defense and the Latin American attack?.

- Our coach wants to have a strong leader in the line of defense, among the central defenders. For him, the relevant qualities are very important. Fonseca needs this man to control the entire defensive line very rigidly. Therefore, the factor of a foreigner is a football player or not,. However, I repeat, the priority in this position for the Ukrainians. Next, let's see. The club signed a contract with Hocholava and take it to the collection, after which we will make a decision.

- I can congratulate you on re-signing the contract with Tyson. I do not remember when the Brazilian national team player extended the club six months before the end of the agreement - it's almost impossible ... - Thanks. For the Club, it was very important to sign Tyson.

- There were rumors that Tyson and Marlos wanted to leave without finding motivation in the club.

- No, frankly, there were never any questions as to whether they are happy in Shakhtar. Moreover, they always said that they are very good in the team. This is very important for Brazilians. When they say they are happy, any domestic issues are leveled out. With this there were no problems. Regarding the fact that there were clubs from different countries, including the Chinese - everyone understood that there remained half a year of the contract.

- What is the fate of the footballer, whom the club wanted to buy for insurance in case of Tyson's departure? Will you continue the negotiation process?.

- This process is in sluggish mode. The football player, whom we considered for this position, is very talented and promising. If he came to our club, I think in a year would be no worse than Tyson!.

- Many football players belonging to Shakhtar act on leases in other clubs. If earlier you had only the Ukrainian vector (Ilyichevets, Zarya, Chernomorets), now there are obvious changes - many play in Europe. It can be seen that the club seeks to give players to the European championships: Karavaev in Fenerbahce, Totovicki and Bolbat in Belgium, Malinowski was redeemed by Genk. This is part of the transfer strategy of the club, and it will remain in the future?.

- It will persist, but there is one moment. Those who are now playing abroad, these are our guys, but also, if I may say so, the first wave. We are against the young guy from the Academy or the double, or one who trained with the first team, to give immediately abroad. Footballers need to sum up this through the championship of Ukraine. They must first try themselves here. And when we already see that the guys are really ready - then it's time to take the next step to a higher level. This is our concept today, and we will adhere to it. When we see that the guys outgrow the championship, but still do not reach the level of the Miner, it is necessary to take a step abroad. We try our best to make the guys try their hand at Europe.

- How important is the image component in this?.

- Very important. Today all of Belgium, France and Turkey speak about the same Malinowski. It is important for us that in Europe we understand: The Academy of the Miner educates a high level of football players.

- Sable in summer will go to the Turkish club?.

- It's too early to talk about this. We need to negotiate with Zarei, who will perform in European competition. Sable is good and constantly plays. Although interest from Turkey is huge.

- What is the fate of Kucher?.

- The club will not extend the contract with Kucher. As far as I know, Alexander intends to continue his career in the Turkish Championship. It is necessary to thank Alexander, because he gave a lot to the team. The coachman always worried about Shakhtar, regardless of whether he played or was on the bench. Young people need to take from him an example in terms of professionalism and leadership qualities. We need to take this difficult decision for us. Alexander is also not easy, let's say, leave Ukraine and go to Turkey. But today we need to understand what the Horde and Krivtsov represent.. We will give these guys the opportunity to show themselves both in terms of growth, and the manifestation of leadership qualities.

- Srna extended the contract for another year. From your point of view, is the recognition by the club of Dario's beautiful physical form or influence in the locker room and merit before Shakhtar?.

- If we talked about the influence in the locker room, he would not always play. Since he is constantly in the composition, this speaks primarily of the sports component. Today, his physical condition allows you to perform at a good level. For the trainer, the result. The one who is stronger at the moment is playing.

- Rakytskyi extended the contract until 2022, and now information from Italy about the interest of Inter Milan.

- The club has not yet received any official information.

- Is it true that Shakhtar estimated Rakitsky in 30 million euros, when the Turkish Fenerbahce went to the club with a proposal?.

- Yes, we estimated it at 30 million.

- Is this his real value or the polite refusal of the Miner because of his reluctance to part with the key defender?.

- The President of the Club made it clear that we will not sell expensive, but very, very expensive.

- What is more important - the economy of the club taking into account the financial Fair Play or, figuratively speaking, the status of the company that sells exclusively expensive goods?.

- The question is, we are perceived as a club with very good players. And they go for a lot of money. This is our reputation in Europe, which we support. I hope, as the president said, so it will be. Everyone in Europe understands that it is impossible to buy cheap from the Miner, because we have first-class players.

- But there is an example of another club that does not sell at all, considering players a top level, and in time they remain and do not bring any economic benefits.

- Everywhere you need to make decisions on time - this should be the golden mean. If a little hesitated, the moment goes away. Has he hurried? Too it will not turn out.

- Summing up the season, it is impossible to avoid the topic of stadiums. Two and a half years the house for the "miners" was Arena Lviv, after which the team moved to the USC Metalist. Are you happy with the move to Kharkov?.

- At the moment - yes. Even if to compare, on a recent game with Dynamo, which did not solve anything, came 12 thousand fans. Agree, this is an indicator. Therefore, I think the move decision was correct. Moreover, by and large we just started playing. Look, what will we be there when we bring the Champions League to Kharkov. I think this will be an additional push. In doing so, we will conduct some work with the fans, which will also add people to the stands.

- I understand that there is a certain strategy for the development of Shakhtar's brand in Kharkov. What results do you plan to reach and in what time frame?.

- At the end of this week, we will hold a so-called strategic session, on which the main issue will concern fans. Marketing departments and work with fans, businessmen will make their offers, tell their vision of average attendance. Then you can already talk about some numbers. Now they are preparing this information. Why was not she here before? We have not yet felt the market. For half a year we watched as everything happens. Now, based on a certain experience, they will draw up a plan for moving forward.

- From the point of view of the result, we have repeatedly heard that the Arena Lviv was more than a caravan. Especially after the failure with Celta, a draw with Olimpic, a defeat to Chernomorets ... - Yes, the players have such a topic concerning the fart and will take. But, I think, we have already passed a kind of turning point in the stadium's non -articity and everything will be fine after that.

- The situation in the east of Ukraine looks far from the resolution, plus the story of the nationalization of the Donbass Arena gives rise to saying that Shakhtar will not soon return home ... - If we had answers to these questions, we would be geniuses. For today there is no answer. We want to return as quickly as possible, and we believe in this - these are the two main components. And when this happens, we do not know. It is necessary only to wait. At least, we are doing our own thing and trying to do it in the conditions in which we live. And about the nationalization of the Donbass Arena and the base ... If you took away the violin from a man, and you do not know how to play it, the question is: Why do you need it? Here is about the same story with our objects in Donetsk.

- Did not you consider the possibility of full-time in one city? For example, in Kharkov. After all, at one time the option with this city was considered, the services came with the inspection and were satisfied with the base, the stadium, but then there was no permission to play in European competition. Now at the USC Metalist you can take international matches.

- You know, life will show, as they say, never say never.

- Shakhtar, as the locomotive of Ukrainian football, will continue to take an active position on cooperation with FFU, the Premier League on reform issues, create a kind of pressure?.

- Shakhtar is only for the leadership of the Federation or the Premier League to set clear, understandable tasks and fulfill them. And we, on our part, are ready to help them. Do you know what we are against? For example, they chose the president of the Premier League, and what goals are set and what is achieved - no one understands. That's what we do not want. We want the president to have a clear and understandable KPI. This can be either attendance, or the amount of money earned by the Premier League, or something else that could be felt and understood: here he worked for a year, did something, achieved this. Then there will be no questions.

- These words can be taken as criticism of Vladimir Geninson?.

- I'm not criticizing anyone right now - I'm just saying that you need to change the system. The fans, the clubs that stand behind the Federation and the Premier League, need to understand what are the clear goals and objectives of the leadership of these organizations.

- You communicate with the leadership of our football. They - Pavelko, Geninson - see this problem, do they have a model for solving these problems?.

- They see and understand. The question is, they can not solve this with a single click. It's not so easy sometimes. And in some situations, building this system in a European way, you sometimes can file a branch on which you sit. In addition, to change everything so hard, we need courage. You go in some situations, by and large, all in, but you are confident in yourself that you will prove to everyone with your work: you can manage this organization and lead it to the goals that are set before it.

- Recently you actively defended the position on a certain reform of the format of the championship of Ukraine, presented ideas that the Premier League did not fully implement. How do you react to this? After all, you try, argue, and then just took, rejected - and all.

- To implement those ideas that we proposed, I need, I repeat, have the courage. Because the person who made this decision can get a lot of criticism. But in the future he will still prove his case. When it was said that it is necessary to introduce more playoff games, in order to stimulate teams playing in two "six", and I was more worried about the second "six", it was a very important point. Moreover, then the second "six" would be no less interesting than the first, if there were butt games. They say, the sports principle ... But I repeat: we are not in the situation to talk about principles. We generally can do 16 teams tomorrow, but understand: it will not be professional, but amateur football. But we all want to show ourselves on the euro. Many say that Shakhtar plays with Dynamo four times, the interest somewhere fell ... For us, as for the club that plays with such a team (and now for us the Dynamo is a club of the Champions League level), the more such fights, the better. For all.

- So, you are for changing such an artificial way in the direction of reducing the quantity and increasing the quality?.

- That's right.. We have no other choice. Look, who will be coming from the First League now? Only Illichivets passes through infrastructure and requirements. Who will end up playing if the second and third teams do not fit? Now we have reached Kharkov's Helios. It seems that this club has a good infrastructure, visually everything is beautiful, but is this a sports component? Here and it turns out. When I'm talking about the playoffs, I'm told about the sports component, and when we talk about the club that needs to enter the PL principles change.

- Your position: stronger championship - stronger club?.

- Yes. Once again I say: let there be fewer clubs, but at least they will keep the level of the Premier League of Ukraine.

- How do you feel about the words that we have already reached the bottom and will not be any worse? That the clubs that will come out will pull the infrastructure and level to the level of the Premier League.

- The trouble is that we have not yet reached the bottom. I do not exclude that in the future we will have 10 teams.

Is this assumption or possession of some information?.

- Each new season presents us with something new. Metalist has disappeared, now the Dnieper is in an incomprehensible situation - everything is moving towards the fact that it will not be either. Next season, something else will give us. I assure you, there will be many more surprises.

- In your opinion, what should be done to exclude such surprises?.

- A very competent football policy is necessary. Sometimes it is necessary to take an unpopular decision, but to go through this difficult period, then to jerk up. And you can tell everyone that we have 16 clubs, and then simply fail - all Ukrainian football. We will wait tens of years to return from there. Therefore, you need to get away from the rhetoric of profanity and from the stories about 16 teams. They are not here! Today there is not even twelve. All countries - Poland and Belgium - passed through this ... Look at the Belgians' national team, what kind of stars there are and for what amount they are sold. At the same time, take their clubs: no one is stronger than Shakhtar and Dynamo. However, they are building such a system that on the games of the championship of Belgium is the entire European scout beau monde. They experimented and applied various schemes. As they explained it to the fan - I personally do not understand. But they were not afraid. You need to have the courage, not cowardice, to make decisions that someone does not like right now. People generally do not like change.

- Who should conduct this policy - FFU?.

- Together. Today we should all be together: the federation, the Premier League and clubs. We should hear each other, not stick the wheels. You just need to make decisions and then take responsibility for them.

Victor Vatsko, especially for Football. Ua.