Second Division. Two things stand out this season, both confirming the sense of uncertainty: for the first time a champion of USSR was relegated from Second Division, sinking down to the Third. In the same time the promoted teams were found wanting – and wanting quite a lot. Second Division was under criticism for years, but there was also a push for ‘improvement’, which translated into enlargement. 40 teams were proposed to play second level football – a doubling of size. Reality, however, spoke strongly against: there were few teams trying to get promoted. There was a bulk of clubs comfortably settled in mid-table and not wanting to aim higher. There were clubs too weak, fighting for survival at best. A glance at the final table clearly spoke the bitter truth: only two clubs went for promotional spots – which were 2. 10 clubs – out of 22 total – only tried to escape relegation. Not different from most previous seasons. Not many players worthy of going to first division clubs either. The only thing which appeared to work was the limit on ties – the plague of going for 1 point and forget about the risks of trying to win somewhat decreased. Scoring was not getting better, though. So, the league was not going to be increased after all.
Irtish (Omsk) finished last with 26 points. Nothing was expected from the debutantes, so they even produced a mild surprise earning that many points. But last and out.
Tavria (Simferopol) was 21st with 35 points. This team went heavy criticism at the end: just a few years back they went to play top league football, but rapidly declined after that and now were going to Third Division. But the club was in shambles and may be in such shape precisely because they overreached and went up.
Zarya (Voroshilovgrad) finished 20th with 37 points and was the third relegated club. They were also the first USSR champion to sink to Third Division. Unprecedented and unbelievable, but fact. More than 10 years back they were a bit suspect champions and not exactly expected to maintain leading position for long, but third division was unimaginable. The club declined sharply, however, and there was no stopping of the rapid sinking. Which reached its logical conclusion this season…
Front row, from left: A. Sorokalet, Yu. Bobkov, A. Kuksov, Yu. Kolesnikov, Yu. Yaroshenko, I. Gamula,V. Glukharev – assistant coach, O. Bazilevich – coach, V. Pechenevsky – team chief.
Second row: A. Bashlyk – assistant coach, V. Tarasenko, V. Kobzarev, V. Yurchenko, A. Nikitchenko, A. Malyshenko, A. Samara, V. Skvortzov- doctor, Yu. Rabochy, L. Tkachev – administrator.
Back row: A. Chistyakov, A. Tkachenko, V. Polyakov, S. Yarmolich, N. Fedyushtenko, O. Mozhaev, V. Kirilenko, V. Khromey, V. Zinchenko, A. Kolchenko, A. Cherednichenko.
Well… A. Tkachenko and A. Kuksov were the only players remaining from the champion squad. And Oleg Bazilevich was co-coaching the first great Dinamo (Kiev), the team which won the Cup Winners Cup. Now – going to Third Division. Amazing in entirely negative way.
Kolos (Nikopol) barely survived – 19th with 38 points.
Nistru (Kishinev) – 18th with 38 points. Another former first division now fighting for mere survival. And near folding – it was that bad.
Shinnik (Yaroslavl) – 17th with 38 points. Normally a sleepy, secure, mid-table team, but now in trouble. They survived, though.
Spartak (Ordzhonikidze) – 16th with 38 points. Hard to believe they played first division football – only once, but still.
Rotor (Vogograd) – 15th with 38 points.
SKA (Khabarovsk) – 14th with 39 points. Far-East clubs were normally weak and hardly able to improve, so there was no surprise SKA fought only for survival. But all depends on the standpoint… at the end of the season 14th place was quite good-looking at home. Here we are, proud 14th…
Zvezda (Dzhizak) – 13th with 39 points. Even with worse predicament than SKA, so they ended… very well and high in the table. In their own eyes.
Iskra (Smolensk) – 12th with 40 points. Just happy to play second division football, a rare occasion for them. Iskar occasionally got a player or two from the big Moscow clubs, but the squad is fairly anonymous – more interesting is who else is also on the picture, for it that could be a good comment on attitudes and perhaps the reason why most clubs failed to develop. The photo was made after cup match in Samarkand and really looks like a vacation trip: there are a journalist and his son, the director of the Smolensk stadium, the head of Smolensk regional sports committee, and… the vice-director of the poultry-processing plant in Smolensk. And tour-guide, naturally.
Dinamo (Batoumi) – 11th with 40 points. Not bad for them either. A closer look at the season tells that they were largely preoccupied with escaping relegation, but the final table shows nothing of it – it looks great.
Guria (Lanchkhuti) – 10th with 42 points. Strong Georgian football? To a point, yes – 3 teams in Second Division, playing not so bad: Kutaisi, Batoumi, and Lanchkhuti. Unfortunately, the Georgian republic is small and had no means to support so many clubs.
Kuzbass (Kemerovo) – 9th with 42 points. Business as usual – mid-table, nothing more, nothing less, no worries.
Pamir (Dushanbe) – 8th with 43 points. As ever… despite constant criticism that the club had bigger potential, but no ambition. Why bother to try going up? Look at the fate of Tavria, Nistru, Zarya, and get wise: stay comfortably in the middle of the table.
Daugava (Riga) – 7th with 43 points. Now, that was an optimistic story: the club managed to climb up from the vast unknown of Third Division and was doing very well.
Lokomotiv (Moscow) – 6th with 46 points. Should have been among the leaders fighting for promotion instead of playing rather disinterested football, but they had perfect iron-clad excuse: since they were the smallest Moscow club, they had almost no chance for recruiting and keeping strong players. So… they were rebuilding… and under such objective circumstances it was going to be difficult and long process. Sitting from left: R. Bilyaletdinov, Yu. Shumlin, S. Surov, V. Abramzon, A. Boky, A. Lebedev, V. Zemlin, A. Ilin, V. Safronenko, L. Fedorov.
Second row: V. Peregontzev – coach, V. Koloskov – masseur, R. Gallagberov, P. Bezglyadnov, I. Makarov, S. Baburin, I. Pestretzov, V. Shevchuk, N. Kalaychev, M. Lyuty, A. Kolesnikov, B. Zhuravlev – coach.
Metallurg (Zaporozhie) – 5th with 48 points. One of the eternal mid-table clubs. It looked like they were aiming higher this season for awhile, but eventually got ‘wiser’ and dropped out of the promotional race. Why bother? It was cozy enough where they were.
Kuban (Krasnodar) – 4th with 49 points. They got a taste of top league football and either did not like it, or were not quite ready yet for a second try. One can bet they preferred to be among the top second division teams than in the relegation zone of first division.
SKA Karpaty (Lvov) – not the best period of the club’s history. Karpaty merged with the other club in the city, the Army club SKA, and the combination did not work so well. 3rd with 49 points – but not in the promotional race and not deliberately that: just not good enough.
Torpedo (Kutaisi) – 2nd with 55 points. The problems with second division in nutshell: Torpedo did not have very strong team and was not exactly envisioned as potential climber for a good chunk of the season. Yet, they finished far ahead of 3rd placed SKA Karpaty – the potential rivals lost steam, or were not able to sustain even season, or decided to drop out of risky promotion, and at the end Torpedo looked mighty… when one sees the 6-point gap between them and the SKA Karpaty. They played top league football before and wanted to try again, having the same problems they had in the previous campaigns: short squad. They urgently needed strong reinforcements and it was more than doubtful they could get them: the only hope was to get some veterans from Dinamo (Tbilisi). All this happened before…
Fakel (Voronezh) – champions with 57 points. Their greatest season ever. Favourites from start to finish, winning the first place early. Practically, without rivals. Promoted for the first time in their history. A nice story with happy end. Well deserved happy end. However, it was observed that the squad is not exactly up to top league standards and needs additional players. It was wonderful to see Fakel – ‘the Torch’ – on top, but… observers were not exactly raving about them and were particularly pessimistic about the prospects of both Fakel and Torpedo next year.
Unusual champions, so let have one more look at them: Fakel (Voronezh), the Second Division champions. Great season.