1983 was a bit unusual year in USSR – criticism was nothing new, but this time there was new and daring element to it. And criticism was right – something about fundamental problems had to be said at last, even if not acted upon yet. What fueled critics was not new at all and it was the whole concept of the football pyramid, so let begin with the very top: the team, which dazzled the international community at the 1982 Wold cup failed to qualify for the European championship finals by the end of 1983. The teams, providing most of the national team players failed to win the championship, Dinamo (Kiev) having particularly poor season. The top division had two hopeless outsiders and nothing particularly strong was seen in the Second Division. Exactly the second division became the focus of criticism, spelled out by experienced second-division coach before the season started. His argument was essentially this: Second Division was created with one fundamental aim – to discover, prepare and provide talent for the top clubs. So was the whole purpose of the vast Third Division. This was conceptually wrong and results were painfully obvious: year after year weak teams moved up the ladder, hardly lasting more than a season in the upper level. And what else could be in a system, forcing most clubs in the country to serve only as farm-teams, as possible suppliers – it would take a squad stronger than almost any in the top league to have enough quality players to give away and in the same time to get promoted and be at the same level as the best. It was absurd. Therefore, the plain results: demotivated clubs and coaches, looking for mediocre life in the Second Division – building a strong team was pointless, if not entirely impossible: if such team emerged, it was to be robbed of its players, for the rules spelled out exactly that. Getting promoted was even dangerous for administration: higher level meant very weak season among much stronger teams, which immediately brings heavy criticism and various penalties to the ‘guilty’. Mere statistics also showed how faulty was the concept: on average, Second Division gave less than 10 good players a year to the First Division. May be Third Division provided the same number. Fundamental change was needed – the coach called it ‘professional approach’. It was not a direct call for making Soviet football officially professional – it was a call making the clubs independent and free to organize their own squads as they see fit. If they were free from the yoke of ‘discovering, preparing, and providing’, they could make their own long-term plans, set goals, and pursue them – and the national football as a whole will benefit from that. The current system cultivated exactly the opposite attitude: better ‘discover, prepare, and provide’ nothing – there will be some critical note in the press that such-and-such club once again failed to do its job, which will be countered with official resolution, that ‘measures are taken’, and the case will be closed. After all, nobody will seriously attack a club, finishing in mid-table. And to do that, one only needed to be clever – to have sturdy squad of players who nobody sees as bright new talent. Practice supported precisely that approach – just look, at the end of the season, at the top goal-scorers of Second Division: Vitaly Razdaev (Kuzbass) was 3rd with 22 goals. Before him was Chugunov (Pamir) with 23. Both were already 1st and 2nd all-time scorers of Second Division. Both were already well over 30-years old – Razdaev was 37! Big scorers they were for years – but no First Division club would be tempted to snatch such veterans, expected to play their last season already. It was perfect impasse – can’t replace be decree a top scorer with a young lad, who can’t hit Kremlin, let alone a football gate; no big team would be crazy enough to get a player at his last legs. Can’t make them younger, can’t transplant their abilities into youngsters. 4-5 players of similar quality was quite enough to keep a team in mid-table for years and let the idiots get promoted. The argument was clear – and at the end of the season, confirmed entirely. But this argument went against ideology and naturally was not acted upon. Reality and ideals once again clashed and ideals lost: the coach was right – can’t have it all at once. Can’t be essentially a farm club and strong enough to equal the best. So, at the end of the season it was the same old conclusion: promoted from Third Division clubs not good enough to stay in Second Division; a big number of disinterested, but stable Second Division clubs; few candidates for promotion and these not exactly strong; hopeless outsiders in the top league, and those recently promoted from Second Division, providing easy life for clubs either in crisis or not able to develop – but having nothing to worry, since there was no threat of relegation; instability, even decline among the strongest clubs, providing for strong places of teams, which had only one thing in their favour: tight, well organized squads. Collective play compensating for lack of top quality players. And, finally – once again finals not reached by the national team. And how international finals could be reached, when the top players were unable to win domestic championship? So, teams and coaches were criticized, as they were every previous year, but the future was to be more of the same for sure, since winners of the lower divisions were of the same ilk as those previously promoted and failing right away. It was weird, because USSR had already very talented generation and new talent continued to emerge – the critical coach was right: it was faulty system, preventing clubs from true development and building competitive spirit. But all stayed as it was.
The 9 winners of Third Division groups went to promotional play-offs and the winners were typical, yet, troublesome. Half of them were former Second Division members, the most famous Krylya Sovetov (Kyubyshev), First Division member for many years. Not only Kryalya Sovetov failed to win promotion – only Spartak (Ordzhonikidze) managed to get back. The other two were newcomers – Dinamo (Batumi) and Irtysh (Omsk). There was no enthusiasm about the winners… Spartak, when in Second Division, usually occupied the lower half of table. Dinamo, coming from Georgia, may have been welcomed with some enthusiasm in earlier years, but not now: now it meant that 4 Georgian clubs will play in First and Second Division, dangerously stretching out the limited pool of good players in the tiny republic. Dinamo (Tbilisi) already experienced shortage of talent and lost its competitive edge. As for Irtysh, it was only geographic trouble – it was only the third club coming from the far East to play in the Second Division. Football was not great over there, largely because the climate was harsh, so there was no hope that Irtysh could be anything else, but novelty. Which major contribution to the league will be expense… travel expense. As a rule of thumb, newcomers from Third Division were not welcomed with enthusiasm, but the words about these three winners were particularly sparse and cold.
Well, the Second Division championship chilled the perception of observers, already cooled down by the First Division championship.
Dinamo (Kirov) finished last in the Second Division with 21 points. Short-lived encounter with second level football, a level clearly above the abilities of the squad.
So was the case of the 21st, which finished with 26 points. Unlike Dinamo, Tekstilshtik (Ivanovo) had long experience with Second Division, but they were unable to keep decent team, declined, dropped down to third level and came back with a squad well bellow the general standard.
The third relegated was unlucky, which does not mean they were any good. Dnepr (Mogilev), with 36 points, was only 4 points short from 12th placed Pamir. They lost the battle only on worse goal-difference, keeping hopes for survival to the last minute of the last round: they won their last match, but their rivals – SKA (Khabarovsk) and Shinnik (Yaroslavl) – also won their last games and Dnepr went down. Luck or no luck, Dnepr lasted exactly one season in Second Division.
Shinnik (Yaroslavl) barely escaped relegation, which was something new – Shinnik was one of the most stable mid-table clubs in Second Division. At the end, it was a painful lesson – one wrong move and peril loomed. 18th with 37 points. Sitting from left: Yu. Rodionov, A. Noskov, V. Kulikov, V. Evstratov – administartor, V. Smirnov, V. Bodrov, A. Rudakov, ?, S. Novosselov, A. Nikolaev.
Moddlerow: V. Frolov – coach, A. Ermolaev, V. Kossarev, V. Churkin, L. Zyuzin, Yu. Panteleev, N. Smirnov, A. Smirnov, N. Vikharev, V. Sotnikov, A. Piskunov, V. Chistyakov – coach.
Third row: V. Gavrilov – masseur, V. Nossov, ?, V. Tkachev, S. Shafransky, B. Gavrilov, A. Tzenin, E. Martyanov.
The typical second-division squad… well known for years players made the core. The basic group either got too old or was not looking this year – and the team immediately dropped down. Also typical… such teams usually went down with time, not up.
Shinnik was not alone in decline – Lokomotiv (Moscow) was the same. They ended 15th with 38 points. Let say, they dodged relegation not in the last championship round, but in the second-to-last. Some comfort… Crouching from left: L. Kozhanov – doctor, A., Mashkov – administrator, B. Petrov – assistant coach, V. Nikonov, V. Bukievsky, N. Badussov, V. Mukhanov, V. Safronenko, M. Chesnokov, T. Aymaletdinov – masseur.
Middle row: I. Avakumov – team chief, M. Lyuty, A. Parov, S. Surov, I. Kalachev, V. Radionov – coach, A. Kalaychev, A. Ilin, A. Kharkov, B. Zhuravlev – assistant coach.
Top row: O. Kozhokhin, A. Strakhov, R. Bilyaletdinov, P. Bezglyadnov, I. Makarov, A. Boky, V. Shevchuk, S. Baburin, A. Pavlov.
Various discarded from other Moscow clubs players here with one thing in common: all beyond their prime. Not a bad squad on paper, but paper does not win games. The only positive thing about this squad is that they finished with positive goal-difference. Which helped them none – head-to-head record determined positions when points were the same.
Not Lokomotiv, but modest Daugava (Riga) took the 14th place. Nice finish, but let not hide the simple fact: Daugava finished with 2 points more than relegated Dnepr (Mogilev). Of course, the season ended for them a little earlier – before the last round they were already out of danger. Which did not bring them to much effort in the their last home match against Tavria, also already in vacation mood.
Zarya (Voroshilovgrad) – 13th with 39 points. Safe to say that by now few remembered that Zarya was champion of the USSR… 1972 was getting more and more distant from present, which was insignificant at best.
And so was the existence of most second division clubs, whether former first division members, or not. But Kolos (Nikopol) was considered positive example – may be because they emerged recently from third division, may be because they did not even represent a city, but a region. It looked brave and noble to have a whole region gathering resources to support a football club. It also worked – Kolos was 6th this year. Nothing close to battling for promotional spot, but 4th placed Rotor (Volgograd) had 51 points and Kolos – 48.
And as it had been almost ever since the establishment of Second Division, no more than 3 teams fought for promotion. No more than three, may be only two, for Fakel (Voronezh) ended 3rd with 54 points – 5 points behind the 2nd placed. They either lost steam sometime during the season or never had any real strength. If they did not really tried for promotion, it was understandable – they already got the bitter experience of small club suddenly appearing in the top league. Short experience and better not repeated.
SKA (Rostov) finished 2nd, not much bothered by other rivals. Thus, they were promoted for a 4th time… meaning, they were also relegated back to second level. Really checkered history, with few successes spread through the years. The most recent one was winning the Soviet Cup in 1981. They were also relegated the same year, spent 1982 in mid-table obscurity, and now were going back to familiar first division grounds, but… Apparently they pleased nobody and impressed nobody, judging by the article on them in ‘Football-Hockey’. The weekly always presented the newly promoted with big article and photo – SKA not only appeared late, but with small presentation and no team picture. One look at the squad perhaps explains why… apart from few seasoned, but hardly impressive even in their best years veterans (save for national team forward Sergey Andreev), it was a team of suspect nobodies.
So, the champions of the Second Division – Kayrat (Alma-ata). A typical ‘in-between’ club, constantly moving from first division to second and back to the first. Too strong for second level, too weak for top flight… Up again and early enough to allow to lose their last match in the championship. The match saved the skin of SKA (Khabarovsk) and Kayrat was still first. First row from left: A. Shokh, A. Kuklev, V. Massoudov, S. Ledovskikh, F. Salimov, B. Dzhumanov, V. Nikitenko.
Standing: A. Fech – administrator, K. Ordabaev – team chief, Yu. Shadiev, E. Kuznetzov – assistant coach, L. Ostroushko – coach, S. Bayshakov – assistant coach, A. Ubykin, B. Evdokimov, K. Berdiyev, I. Kuchin – doctor.
Champions and promoted, but… nothing special. Some familiar names – for they played many years for Kayrat, thus quite experienced with first division football, some promising youngsters, some players with ‘difficult careers’, meaning they were getting old, but spent most of their earlier years in various lowly clubs. Clearly, this was a squad to have many problems in first division – unless they did not recruit almost a whole team of new and better players. But also a good example of the fundamental problem of first division teams – as far as they were mere ‘developers and suppliers’, whatever talent emerged should go to bigger clubs. Since so far Kayrat was in second division, that was all its role. Evstafy Pekhlevanidi (not on the picture) was arguably their best asset – technically, a player any first division club would get and thank you very much, well done. Getting recruits was another matter… a second-rate or over the hill Moscow player, who could still help Kayrat, would not go to far-away Alma-ata. It was pretty much the same of moving to Lokomotiv (Moscow) – still more likely to play in the second division, only no need to leave hometown. That was the bitter reality.
Anyhow, that were the two promoted teams this year – Kayrat (Alma-ata) and SKA (Rostov). Good for them, but nothing new.