First Division. 50th championship of USSR, time for celebration, but the season was not all that festive – Dinamo (Kiev) suddenly was not a factor at all and there was practically no intriguing battle for the title: Spartak (Moscow) was first all the way. More drama unfolded at the bottom of the table, but that was not exactly positive drama. The rule limiting ties to 10 was still intact and four teams lost because of it, including the champions. Torpedo (Moscow) had the record tied games – 12 – and lost 2 points because of that, but the rule had positive effect as a whole and few teams reached the limit of ties. The crisis of CSKA continued, Dinamo (Tbilisi) was also steadily going down, but the biggest shock was the disappointing season of Zenit (Leningrad), which barely escaped relegation.
Guria (Lanchkhuti) finished last with 18 points and was relegated. The league debutantes lasted only one season… too bad and one can be really sorry for the modest club from Georgia, but reality was against them: they did not have a strong enough squad for objective reasons – the Georgian pool of players was naturally small and currently not very talented.
CSKA (Moscow) ended 15th with 24 points and was also relegated. Like Guria, they were just promoted, but sunk right away. Both newcomers failed, but CSKA’s story was different from Guria’s: first of all, they were in crisis for a long time and unable to get over it. Somehow, CSKA was unable to recruit enough good players for a solid team – true, their goalkeepers Vyacheslav Chanov and V. Novikov were former members of the national team, but apart from them there was very little (one defender Galyamin and two midfielders – Vedeneev and Broshin – were the only experienced field players and they were not first class). Second, CSKA was unlucky – if there was no limit on ties, they would have escaped relegation – 1 lost point did them, for they had worse head-to-head record against Zenit.
Zenit (Leningrad) survived at 14th place with 24 points. Lucky to finish ahead of CSKA – which they knew before the last round: they lost the last match and CSKA won theirs, but it did not matter because Zenit had better direct record against CSKA. Zenit, however, was arguably the most criticized team this season – it was ‘only yesterday’ when triumphed with the title and the squad was pretty much the same, but the coach was new and some key players were no longer around. At the end, the coach was largely blamed for the grand failure.
Dinamo (Tbilisi) ended 13th with 25 points. Also lucky to survive, but their struggle was hardly a surprise: they were going down for quite some time. The problem was that they were unable to find good enough young players – the great old guard was retiring one after another and the newcomers were not at the same level.
Kairat (Alma-ata) – 12th with 26 points. Well, nothing new.
Metallist (Kharkov) – 11th with 27 points. Their prime aim was establishing themselves in the top league – so far, so good. May be not in the first half the table, but they were becoming experienced and confident team, which was difficult to beat.
Dinamo (Moscow) -10th with 28 points. Depending of viewpoint, they were either miserable failure this season or their previous season was lucky one-time wonder – they almost won the 1986 championship. May be the previous season was unusual, not this one: Dinamo was not real factor for a long, long time – practically, since the early 1970s. Top row from left: A. Uvarov, A. Borodyuk, V. Popelnukha, B. Pozdnyakov, I. Bulanov, A. Novikov, I. Sklyarov, I. Dobrovolsky, I. Kolyvanov, A. Prudnikov.
Middle row: S. Kiryakov, A. Timoshenko, A. Gassov – masseur, A. Golodetz – assistant coach, E. Malafeev – coach, I. Mozer – team chief, M. Gershkovich – assistant coach, V. Mozalyov – doctor, A. Kobelev, S. Ushakov.
Sitting: G. Morozov, S. Stukashov, V. Lossev, ?, V. Vasilyev, V. Karataev, S. Silkin, V. Demidov.
Although the coach was blamed for the failure, the real reason was the quad – hardly very strong and balanced. Dinamo had plenty of young talent – Dobrovolsky, Borodyuk, Kolyvanov, Kiryakov – but they would come to their peak in the 1990s.
Neftchi (Baku) – 9th with 28 points. Pretty much, familiar performance – in a good year.
Ararat (Erevan) – 8th with 29 points. Hanging on…
Shakhter (Donetzk) – 7th with 30 points. Middle of road, but solid, even if the team was somewhat weaker than earlier vintages. Top row from left: Valentin Elinskas, Sergey Zolotnitzky, Oleg Morgun, Oleg Serdyuk, Sergey Ovchinnikov, Nikolay Fedyushtenko, Yury Belichenko, Viktor Grachev, Oleg Smolyaninov.
Middle row: Valery Goshkoderya, Evgeny Dragunov, Vladimir Parkhomenko, Mikhail Sokolovsky, Sergey Yashtenko, Igor Petrov, Sergey Gerasimetz, Sergey Akimenko, Sergey Khlysta.
Bottom row: Vladimir Bedny, Konstantin Vikhoronov, Mikhail Olefirenko, Anatoly Radenko, Yury Gulyaev, Aleksandr Sopko, Sergey Svistun, Vladimir Yurchenko, Viktor Onopko.
Dinamo (Kiev) – 6th with 32 points. Deja vu… 10 years ago Dinamo suddenly slumped right after winning the Cup Winners Cup. Now – the same. Both times the squads were the same as in the greatly successful previous season. Very suspect drops of form, but this time there were some objective difficulties: Bessonov and Belanov suffered heavy injuries, Blokhin was 35 years old, Demyanenko was coming back from injury and was still shaky. Yet… Dinamo had plenty of strong players – a good 10 national team members after discounting the mentioned 4.
Dinamo (Minsk) – 5th with 33 points. It was clear even when they won the title that the success will not be repeated, but Dinamo was doing well enough for a team which did not add significant players to their winning squad, inevitably aging, and on top of everything lost their great coach Malafeev, who went to coach Dinamo (Moscow).
Torpedo (Moscow) – 4th with 34 points. Great position – and against the odds. Not a bad team, but not a great one either. Young talent – Kharin, the Savichev brothers, and few worthy veterans – Shavlo, Prigoda, Kruglov, but that was all. It was pretty much middle of the road squad, so they overperformed somewhat.
Zalgiris (Vilnius) – 3rd with 36 points. The best season of Zalgiris, but hardly a surprise – by now, the team was experienced, but not old yet. The squad was somewhat short, so a title very likely was out of question, but what they had, they used well – a well knitted team of players playing together for years, serious and high-spirited boys. Since the core of the team went all the way from Third Division to success and invitations to national selections (mostly to the Olympic team of USSR), it was very pleasant story – and Zalgiris was often pointed at as shining example.
Dnepr (Dnepropetrovsk) – 2nd with 39 points. The other great story of success from this period: Dnepr managed to stay on top, even to perform better than mighty Dinamo (Kiev). Perhaps the title was impossible this season – they closely pursued Spartak and finished close, but that was all – Spartak led from start to finish. Sitting from left: A. Sorokalet, O. Taran, A. Cherednik, S. Bashkirov, A. Lysenko, V. Bagmut, N. Kudritzky, V. Tishtenko, E. Shakhov.
Middle row: V. Chebanov – masseur, V. Gerashtenko, N. Cherny – doctor, V. Gorodov, I. Nadein – assistant coach, G. Zhizdik – team chief, E. Kucherevsky – coach, L. Koltun – assistant coach, S. Krakovsky, S. Puchkov, V. Maslov – administrator, N. Chernysh – doctor.
Top row: A. Tevs – deputy chairman of the club, O. Fedyukov, G. Litovchenko, I. Vishnevsky, A. Shokh, V. Lyuty, A. Sidelnikov, O. Protasov, R. Kanafotzky – administrator.
Success against the odds – ‘Perestroyka’ or not, Dnepr was in the shadow of Dinamo (Kiev) and had no way to prevent the powerful club from taking stars – Litovchenko and Protasov were in biggest danger at the moment and actually Dinamo took Oleg Protasov right after this season ended. Keeping strong squad was difficult, so Dnepr really managed to beat the odds so far – and their great years were not over yet.
As if on cue, Spartak (Moscow) won the 50th championship – almost a symbolic victory, suggesting that the original strong Moscow clubs still rule. Spartak did it in very convincing manner – they led through the whole season and finished with 16 wins, 11 ties, and only 3 lost games. 49-26 goal-difference, 42 points. Even the point lost to the tie above limit did not endanger their title – they were even theoretically unreachable two rounds before the end of the championship. Sitting from left: Oleg Kuzhlev, Almir Kayumov, Konstantin Beskov – coach, Fedor Cherenkov, Andrey Rudakov, Babkan (?) Melikyan.
Middle row: Aleksandr Hadzhi – administrator, Nikolay Starostin – team chief, Petr Shubin – assistant coach, Fedor Novikov – assistant coach, Yury Susloparov, Viktor Pasulko, Aleksandr Bubnov, Vagiz Khidiatulin, Boris Kuznetzov, Rinat Dassaev, Genady Belenky – masseur, Genady Shibler – chief of Spartak Society, Boris Ivanov – chief of Spartak Society, Daniil Khodorkovsky – doctor.
Top row: Viktor Kolyadko, Valery Shmarov, Zaur Kharda, Aleksey Eremenko, Andrey Mitin, Sergey Rodionov.
Spartak waited 8 years for this title – their 11th,which also equalized the record made by Dinamo (Kiev). This 8 years Spartak was the most stable team – always in the top 3 – but also always failing short of winning the title. In part, it was the squad – somehow always kind of short, without enough depth and dangerously depending on the health and current form of about 10-11 regular players. This time everything clicked right, although not without some difficulties: the picture above shows the squad at the beginning of the season – some starters from the second half of the season were not even in it. Four players left during the season to play elsewhere, largely for failing to satisfy Beskov (Eremenko, Melikyan, Kolyadko, and Rudakov – note, that all 4 were well established players, but not top stars, brought exactly to provide depth to the squad). Instead of them, Alekasandr Mostovoy, Mikhail Meskhi, Yury Surov, Aleksandr Boky, and Evgeny Kuznetzov were introduced – except Meskhi, all became regulars right away and eventually Mostovoy became huge international star in the 1990s. The changes in the squad practically beg for another photo of the actual champions:
The winners of the 11th title – sitting from left: E. Kuznetzov, O. Mostovoy, O. Kuzhlev, N. Starostin – team chief, K. Beskov – coach, V. Shmarov, A. Boky.
Middle row: P. Shubin – assistant coach, A. Hadzhi – admisnistrator, S. Novikov, F. Cherenkov, Yu. Surov, V. Khidiatulin, R. Dassaev, V. Pasulko, Yu. Susloparov, F. Novikov – assistant coach, G. Belenky – masseur, D. Khodorkovsky – doctor.
Top row: V. Kapustin, S. Rodionov, S. Cherchessov, B. Kuznetzov.
The solid regular team, which practically won the title in the second half of the season – standing from left: F. Cherenkov, Yu. Susloparov, Yu. Surov, R. Dassaev, S. Rodionov, A. Boky.
Crouching: E. Kuznetzov, A. Mostovoy, V. Khidiatulin, V. Novikov, V. Pasulko.
Bubnov was also regular player, but since all later additions are here, one can thing that the team uneasily shaped during the season – it was not made before. And still the version above is a bit suspect: of course, Dassaev, Khidiatulin, Cherenkov, Rodionov, Bubnov were big stars and national team regulars for many years and Mostovoy became big star in the next decade, but Susloparov, although successful addition, reached his peak in his former club, Torpedo Moscow, and even by his current teammates he was considered a guy who could no do better. Pasulko, the two Kuznetzovs, Novikov – reliable, but middle of the road players. Kuzhlev, Shmarov, Meskhi… well estabished, but it is somewhat telling that unknowns like Mostovoy, Boky and Surov kept them at the bench. As a whole, this squad was deeper than most previous ones, but still was far from perfect. The shortcomings of the team were easily detectable in the post-season introduction of the team by its captain Rinat Dassaev: he was not exactly excited about Kayumov, Shmarov, Kuzhlev, Boris Kuznetzov, Kapustin, Meskhi, Boky; cautious about Susloparov, Surov, Mostovoy.. and praising Bubnov largely for his loyalty to Spartak and great fighting spirit, but also pointing at his limited skills. Unfortunately, this makes 11 players of a squad which just won a championship after leading during the whole season – not a great recommendation for champions. But they were and it was great. Spartak maintained all-time top position in Soviet football and as for the team – well, Beskov had to continue his search and constant building.