The new main coach of the “red and whites” relates of the plans for preparation to the season and his basketball preferences. Working days of the main coach of Spartak will start August 1, but still before the beginning of the contract Aleksandr Trifunovich flew to St. Petersburg in order to get acquainted with the conditions of the future work. A Sport Week End correspondent managed to spot the Serbian coach in one of the hotels in Vasilyevsky Island and interview him exclusively.

I like Petersburg in summer more than in winter
- What are your first impressions of St. Petersburg?
- Now I don’t remember how I found myself in Petersburg for the first time. It was very long ago, about 15-20 years. Already then the city left an indelible impression on me. But then I was in St. Petersburg in winter, which somehow affected my perception of the city. Now I feel much better here. I am very satisfied that my sons will live in this remarkable city.
- Have you had time to get acquainted with the training base of Spartak and the club’s employees?
- Yes, I was in the office and the training hall. My today’s visit is introductory. The work will begin in August. It is not so important where we shall train, the important thing is how.
- Once you played for such known clubs as Tsrvena Zvezda, Zadar, Shlensk, but the German stage of your career is behind the secret curtain for Russian fans…
- I found myself in Germany by far not in the best moment of my basketball life. After the injury of an Achilles tendon the doctors advised me to quit the great sports at all. For me the participation in the Bundesleague for the Freiburg club was a kind of challenge. Certainly, the championship of Germany was inferior in level to that of Yugoslavia, especially in the times of the unified state. But for me, at that moment it was the right thing.
Always wanted to become a coach
- Completing the career of a player, your became general manager of Tsrvena Zvezda. Was this the necessary step toward the position of main coach?
- I had finished training in a coach school long before I closed the career of a player. I need some time for adaptation in the new environment. And I also had no license which would enable me to coach a club. In addition, Tsrvena Zvezda where I started to work was living through its poorer time. I was asked to help in solving organization issues. Thus, all coincided. I had not originally planned to hold a position of manager for long. I had always dreamt of becoming a coach.
- Can it be said that the main lessons of the coaching occupation you received from the known specialist Zmago Sagadin, who headed Tsrvena Zvezda at the time?
- For me he became a basketball professor, as for Yevgeny Pashutin from Army’s Central Sports Club Dushan Ivkovich and Ettore Messina were. It can be said that Sagadin made the road toward delving into the secrets of the coaching occupation easier for me. Undoubtedly, I would have covered it, but it would have taken more time. At that, it is not worth copying either Sagadin, or Ivkovich, or Messina. Any coach should have his own philosophy of basketball, his own style. Nevertheless, I am thankful to Sagadin for his lessons. Due to them I started to see basketball not through a player’s eyes, but through a coach’s eyes.
- Your way and Sagadin’s crossed in the summer of 2006, in Vilnius, when Zmago invited you to assist him in Lietuvos Rytas. Did your tandem work the same in Serbia and Lithuania?
- General system was not used, but a multitude of nuances had to be taken into account. It is not about the specifics of working in another country. It is just that the teams of Tsrvena Zvezda and Lietuvos Rytas were noticeably different. Just as the tasks set before these teams.
- Do you consider the participation of Lietuvos Rytas in the final game of the ULEB Cup in the spring of 2007 your highest achievement as a coach?
- I had to replace Sagadin as main coach of the Lithuanian team already during the season, but in the next season I headed Lietuvos Rytas from the beginning. It seams to me that the season 2007/2008 is the best one in my coaching career as yet. We went to Top 16 and even could have made the Final of the Four, if we had not lost two greats before the decisive matches. In addition, the European League is the pinnacle of the Old World basketball, and a successful performance in the contest not only raises your coach rating but also brings enormous satisfaction.

Encountered a financial crisis in Greece
- In the previous season with Greek Panionios you failed to leave the group in the Enroleague, and in the national championship you lost in a quarterfinal to Aris. Can these results be called a failure?
- One has to face reality. Panionios performed just as the abilities of this club allowed it to. It is Panatinaikos and Olimpiakos in Greece that are able to play in three contests simultaneously: in the championship and the Cup of the country, and also in the Euroleague. My club had a very modest budget. Not even in the Euroleague, but in the club tournament second in significance in the Cup of Europe, we wouldn’t have made the top ten by this indicator. Nevertheless, Panionios contended for Top 16 until the last round in the regular season of the Euroleague. We won Efes Pilsen in Istanbul and Real in Athens. But it was utterly useless to contend with Army’s Central Sports Club.
- Do you think the sixth place taken by Panionios in the championship of Greece corresponds to the power of the team?
- Winnings over the grands of European basketball resulted in great problems in the national championship. In the Cup of Greece we reached the semi-final where we lost to Olimpiakos by just a little. And in the spring Panionios started to have financial problems. In such an environment it is very difficult to find levers to control players. It also affected the mood of the team.
- Can one say that in Lithuania and Greece you acquired a necessary experience that will help lead Spartak successfully to the tops in both the Russian Superleague and the Cup of Europe?
- The game schedule in the Russian championship is not so thick, which will help prepare for them better. I am sure that in Spartak there will be no such problems amidst the season as Panionios had. This make us look to the future optimistically.

Yevgeny Pashutin has a good taste
- It was not you that picked players for today’s Spartak. Will it not create problems in the work with the team?
- I am excellently informed that there is a restriction for legionaries in Russia, and in the first place one has to care for our own basketball players. One just may give credit to the taste of my predecessor Yevgeny Pashutin as a coach. Such players as Zakhar Pashutin, Anton Yudin, Aleksey Zozulin, Vasily Zavoruyev, Roman Levter are not to be dispensed with.
- What is your opinion on the legionaries of Spartak?
- The role of the leader will undoubtedly be vested in Yegor Meshcheryakov. He is a player of the European level. I think we will find a common language with an American playmaker Levance Fields. He made quite a name in student basketball and is going to conquer Europe. With such young ambitious players one may move mountains.
- Your compatriot Milovan Rakovich is one of the favorites of the President of the Basketball Club Spartak Aleksandr Krasnenkov …
- I’ve known this guy for a long time. He amazed many in Serbia. Few had expected that Milovan would play at such a level.
- How many players should be invited for Spartak to be able to successfully perform in two contests simultaneously?
- At present, our priority objective is a central player. We conduct activities jointly with the club’s management, discuss options. Possible, we will invite another player able to cover positions of numbers three or four.
- In early August Spartak will hold a training rally for young players. What do you expect from it?
- I expect that guys hungry for basketball will gather together who dream of playing in Spartak. We will search not for those who will be bargaining about the contract terms, but those who are looking forward to getting a chance. Additionally, I want to have a look at the boys who are in the team under contracts. I know that over long years St. Petersburg was an acknowledged center for training young basketball players, but many of them supplemented other teams. A chance to return should be given to them, if they want to. It is such objectives that the summer training camp will be pursuing.
- Have you decided on your training staff?
- I will be assisted by Sergey Grishayev and General Physical Training coach Kalyu Korstin. Probably, another specialist will appear who will be responsible for selection and individual work with basketball players. For such talented guys as Zozulin and Zavoruyev need individual polishing of their talents. There is Yugoslavian school, there is no Yugoslavian mafia.
-  May you be called a typical representative of the Serbian, or, probably, it will be correct to say, Yugoslavian training school?
- In Yugoslavia many talented players grew, and not less talented coaches. A particular feature of our school is the development of the best qualities of basketball players. Any Serbian coach pays great attention to athletic abilities. I am proud of being part of the best training schools in the world.
- In the basketball world it is being said that there is Serbian mafia which can decide many problems …
- You can say about any mafia. I don’t like the point at all. Many Serbian coaches achieved success working in Greece and Spain, Germany and Italy. And there are enough envious persons everywhere. The achievements of the Serbian basketball are impressing, and here are the talks of some mafia. Though nowadays many of our distinguished coaches cannot find a job.
- Did you discuss the particular features of the Russian basketball with Zeljko Lukajic and Aleksandr Sesar who were working last season in Surgut and Perm?
- In any national championship there are particulars features for which one has to be ready. The most interesting information on the Russian basketball was given to me by Ivan Yeremich who worked in Army’s Central Sports Club with Ivkovich, and will in the current season assist in the Army club to Pashutin. We worked in tandem with Yeremich in Lietuvos Rytas.

Let’s work for a year, then we’ll see
- The contract with Spartak is for one season. Do you want to get from the Petersburg club a more financially attractive proposal in a year or, having recommended yourself in the Cup of Europe, to choose from among clubs of other countries of the Old World?
- After leaving Panionios I had contacts with the managers of the Italian Benetton and the Turkish Telekom, but the proposal from St. Petersburg was the most real. For me it is a new challenge. In principle, I will be satisfied with both options, both with the extension of the agreement with Spartak and the transition to a leading European club. Only all this can be considered after a successful performance of the Petersburg club in the championship of Russian and the Cup of Europe.
- Had you contacts on professional issues with Yevgeny Pashutin?
- We conversed with him, talked about Spartak, Saint Petersburg. My predecessor has worked a lot in one season, and I cannot lower the level set by him.
- The sports director of the Basketball Club Spartak Aleksey Karvanen said you’re your contract does not stipulate the study of Russian. It’s as though English is enough for working with the team …
- I really can explain myself in English quite well, and this helps much in my work. Only, when a training session is over, there’s a wish to talk to many people. Some of them may not know English, to say nothing of Serbian. In don’t think I will face problems with studying Russian.

…The correspondent of Sport Week End is also certain of it. For the new Spartak coach gave answers to the questions not waiting for them to be translated to him.

Dmitry PECHERSKY


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