Alexander Panov is one of the best Russian coaches of all time in women’s handball, in an interview he talks about his career and rich experience.
Your foreign career began when Natalia Cigankova traveled to Buducnost a year before you. Did she somehow contribute to you being there too?
You can say. But truth be told, I also helped her go there. I had three very good left-handed players in Rostov at that time, and Cigankova already wanted to leave. It so happened that she went there and talked to the leaders of the club in Podgorica. And then people called me. Most likely, it happened to each other. Shortly after arriving in Podgorica, I received a call from Norway, from Trondheim. But, five players came with me to Buducnost. I said to myself: how can I leave people? They brought me here and I left?
During the break between „Budućnost“ and „Kometal“, he worked in „Voždovac“ from Belgrade. In the final to four victories, we always played with Podgorica – and lost in the seventh match … Panov points out
Everything was great in Skopje, we won the title of European champion, and then the leaders of „Kometal“ started interfering in the affairs of the team. Where everything goes as it should, everyone thinks it’s easy … Like, this is nothing special, we can do it ourselves. The specificity of foreign clubs is that the director says: why don’t you support this player a little? He needs to play more. And then the sponsor asks: why did we win so little? But do you need a team to win or to play certain handball players? Sit on a bench and lead alone. That is why, for example, I never went to „Hypobank“. Gunar Prokop worked there then. Shalimova kept calling me. I say: no, Tanja, I can’t work with people who interfere with work, give comments about players. Either I’m the one who decides, or let someone else do it. I am a maximalist. I never believed that others would prepare my team better in OFP. I myself have always worked with my goalkeepers. With defense, attack … I had a good assistant – Igor Eskov. We consulted, we did everything together. But you always have to make your own decisions. If you succeed – it’s yours. If they are wrong – too. I never blamed anyone, and I always took it all on myself. And many didn’t like it. Too independent … But I really don’t regret anything.
Why did „Kometal“ win in the Champions League in the 2001/02 season?
Because the team is not made in a year. We have to play together, set tactics. To perform at this level, you must be able to play 6-0, 5-1 and 4-2. Try to learn all that in a year. Also, you need to figure out how to play attack against 6-0, 5-1, 4-2. How to stop a counterattack, how to develop it. It is very difficult. And when the coach does not have the time and confidence and thinks that if he loses, he will be removed, then there is no time for thorough work. But in order to succeed in that, you have to work – three or four times a day. Macedonians were very surprised: how come – four times ?! Like this. You came to a training camp – for example, in the mountains. And what else to do there? Exercise two hours in the morning and two hours in the evening? And the rest of the time – lying in bed, eating oranges and cakes, drinking coffee and smoking cigarettes? With four training sessions a day, the handball players then run, they can keep up the pace, they can do what you need in the game. No injuries – everything is stretched, pumped out. And when tuning, giggling, laughing … The coach has to be tough. It is normal that players do not like good coaches. They are beasts. It’s understandable why they don’t like it: you get up at six, half past five – and let’s go.
– How did you celebrate the victory in the Champions League in Macedonia?
That year, the president was elected. That is how the party of sponsors and the director of the club easily won the elections. I have a tape. After winning the final, there was a sea of people on the street. Imagine, the European title in Macedonia … The finals were shown on the big screens in the whole city. Everyone agrees that the team contributed to the victory of the party in the elections by winning the Champions Cup.
You also worked for the Macedonian national team for a while, didn’t you?
Yes. With her, I defeated the Russian national team at the 1998 European Championship in the Netherlands. We took the eighth place – that was a great result for Macedonia. But I spent only one season in the Macedonian national team.
– It is said that you have changed your coaching methods abroad to some extent – you have started shouting less at the players and allowing them more.
I allow? – I didn’t let anyone do anything. I’ll tell you the case. Balkans are blowing everywhere. Including dinner at the restaurant. I say: what are you? Go to your rooms if you want. But I won’t see a single smoker at the table. In Belgrade, I went to cafes, caught girls. If I catch you, I’ll take you for a chat. I tell her: look, I don’t want to punish you, but let’s make a deal. The answer is: yes, yes, Sasha. It’s not that I changed my principles … But I couldn’t afford the previous rudeness. At home I was the master. Rewarding, punishing. I was everything. Above me was the director of the sports club – and no one else. One thing I have never done – is that I have not insulted their dignity. In the Balkans, the administration has its favorites. One of them can have dinner with the director, complain, and the coach is easy to clean. I had to talk at least half a tone lower than I usually do. I continued to punish but within „reasonable limits“, for example with punitive training. That is why they said: Sasha has become more democratic. Another example. They invited me to Rostov. We are going to the first training camp on the territory of Stavropol. The bus leaves at seven in the morning. I’m coming – there are no main stars: Kupriyana, Sagitova … And it’s seven o’clock. I tell the driver: fire up – and let’s go. And he: ka-a-ako? There are no stars. We have to wait. No, let’s go. On the bus you only hear: shu-shu-shu … A few hours later, they come by taxi. And it immediately became clear that discipline comes first here. And without delay, and without quarrels. And I couldn’t do that abroad. What are you then?
– After a while, you returned to „Buducnost“ …
I don’t know if I’m a happy or, conversely, unhappy coach. In Rostov, the team is in ruins, sixth and seventh place – come on, Panov, come. There are no players in Buducnost, no results – come on, Panov, come. But for sponsors, directors, a coach means nothing. Players are much more valuable. They didn’t like the coach, three or four handball players gathered – and you were removed.
– I heard that you left the club for the second time due to health problems …
No no. Honestly, it is very difficult to work in Macedonia and Montenegro. People do not fulfill contracts. No rights. In the first, they did not pay in full what they promised. The team should have already returned to the preparations for the new season, and I have not yet received my annual salary. They don’t want to pay – that’s all. And then the director and sponsors changed. Come on, they say, Sasha again. And I left. But I say: I don’t want it to be the way it was. Pay me for the first six months – and I work. Then for the second – and I move on. Everything was fine in the first half of the year. But it’s time to pay the other part – and they don’t give money. Day, two, three, ten. They say: Sasha, it will be. The answer is: I know this situation, goodbye. I don’t like to be bullied. Cunning, Balkan tricks … The players were paid all the time.
– Dragan Adzic was your assistant in Buducnost?
– Yes. And besides, I coached the girls who play there now. Specifically, Jovanka Radičević. She was a good, hard-working child. From a poor family. She lived thirty kilometers from Podgorica. She went to trainings by regular bus. I say: people, at least pay her. They answer me: oh, she is still small. And me: she is small now, and in two or three years she will be a player. In order to get money for the bus, she had to quarrel. I had a very good children’s group from which the world’s handball stars came out. Sonja Barjaktarevic and Andjela Bulatovic, who later played in Rostov, and Milena Raicevic (Knezevic) also played there. And Adzic went with me, wrote down all the trainings – for children, adults. How was I? Four workouts a day. What to do in a strange city? Just work and work, so you don’t die of boredom.
– Have you ever been offered to become the coach of the USSR or the Russian national team?
Not. There were no such proposals. I was always in disgrace.
What was the cause of that?
This was the relationship between the management and me. For some reason we disagreed. I do not know. I have always been on good terms with Alexander Kozhukhov. However, Igor Turchin worked with him at the time and there was no talk of his dismissal. Then I went abroad and Alexander Tarasikov became the favorite. You know, in Russia, personal relationships are very important. Unfortunately, business quality is not ahead of them. If you disagree with someone, they will blacklist you. They put obstacles in your way more than they „help“ you. Maybe this is my tendentious assessment. But support existed only when Kozhukhov worked. At the level of the republic, I no longer felt that. If Panov had become the national team selector, that would have been too much.
– Why did you decide to leave coaching in the mid-2000s? You were about 60 years old – you could still work and you work.
Because I switched to tennis. I started actively helping my children. They were already at the age when the question of participating in Grand Slam tournaments was raised. Tennis is a game in which parents are very important. Travel, expenses … And I was a coach. That is the main reason. There were suggestions. They invite me to Rostov – and I have a ticket to the US Open. They invited me back to Krasnodar. But I was so engaged in tennis that these options did not create enthusiasm for me. In addition, knowing the situation in Russian handball – again the war, the fight against windmills, mice, quarrels, gossip. It didn’t appeal to me. I decided to dedicate myself to children and families. And I do not regret it. It turned out pretty well. For example, Alexandra won the Kremlin Cup last year. In singles, she was 70th on the world list for a while. In pairs – 40. This is a very good result in tennis. My second daughter Olja was Alexandra’s coach, and I was a physical training coach. There were three of us. But they assured her: they say, it’s better at the academy – it’s easier to break through. And we moved on, to Germany, France. The results stood for a while, and then gradually began to fall. Injuries occurred. I know my child well …
– Have you thought about the opportunity to recruit children, as at the beginning of your career, and work for your own pleasure?
You know, Natasha Anisimova, the director of the Krasnodar Children’s and Youth Sports School, suggested to me: come on, help us, young coaches need to learn from someone. But where should he go now? It takes motivation to do something good. And to educate players, you have to plow and plow. And just going to work, for some work and holding master classes is not for me. Besides, I live in Gelendzhik. There are no conditions. And no one needs a handball part anyway. And then – the years are not the same. It takes at least five to six years to learn a player. And I am, thank God, already seventy-five. How long can I wait? Very difficult. The other thing is that he could be an advisor in a club somewhere. For example, a team has faced a certain defense and does not know how to outplay it. Or they don’t understand how to organize their own. Unfortunately, relations in Russia that date back to those distant Soviet times still exist. As well as handball leadership. Some are loyal, some are not. A lot of good coaches and educators are unemployed and do not work. And those who nod their heads – „yes-yes-yes“ – do not enter into any conflicts. A generation that fought for itself, for its ideas, has gone or is leaving. It is not the kind of atmosphere that someone would be interested in using the knowledge of others. It used to be a taboo topic and just mentioning Pan. There was nothing about me in any newspaper or show. All the prominent coaches of our generation have been treated unfairly. There were no conditions before, but there were players – world stars. Now the conditions in Rostov, Krasnodar and Volgograd are excellent, but there are no such students. I don’t know if the inertia comes from the leadership or if it is the choice of people – not diligent workers, but slaves who obey in everything. I decided a long time ago that no one needed it anymore and I played tennis.
Do you still have objections to Vladimir Maksimov, with whom you were in conflict?
There was injustice, of course. But are we children to insult? Complaints are forgotten. „Hello“ and „goodbye.“ And that has been going on for a very long time. As I said, among other things, I left Rostov because another team was being formed there. But this was not done without his knowledge. I repeat, I feel unfairly treated in Russian handball – that’s all. There was more respect in Soviet handball. They asked for help, held seminars and gave lectures on the same defense. Kozhukhov would give us a task: to prepare exercises for a seminar on this and such a defense system. My teams have always excelled in defense. Now I am surprised how in one half you can score 25-26 goals and lose the match. We didn’t have that. What kind of handball is this? It also concerns national teams and clubs. We had a task – to receive a maximum of 20 balls. 21 is already a disaster.
– What else do you dislike about modern handball?
As for the game, the teams may have been stronger before. There is a lot of running, there is a lot of individual action. Players today play with less brain. More like a run-and-gun. For me, this is not a concept. Whichever team they take, they just run, rush, and don’t play in defense And from start to finish, one defense. They lose the whole game and stand 6-0. The coach has to think. I don’t see anyone taking measures to change the rhythm so that the „game“ itself has become a search for results. Only the goalkeeper is on the field – and besides, nothing new. All players create situations for themselves. In our handball, the team prepared chances for wings, pivots, backs. Collective, intelligent handball. And I also don’t like that there are a lot of falls. In the final match against Krasnodar in the championship of the Soviet Union, eight clear goals were taken away from us in the counterattack, allegedly due to the landing. And we lost. Even when I played, if you step into the zone ahead of time, the goal never counted. And now it’s too often.
– And what are the advantages? How does the current handball compare favorably with the previous one?
I don’t see it. It seems even with Olympic champions. But before there were such players, they were part of the team – you could enjoy with them. Power, intelligence … And now everyone is just shooting, every man is playing for himself.
– And what about Vyakirev? Wouldn’t she be a star in the USSR as well?
It’s hard to say. Her place is on the wing, not in the back line. It seems to me that at that time, even with those coaches, no one would bet in her back category. There was only one Hungarian, a low playmaker, they are somewhat similar. But for me, Vyakireva is a classic wing. She plays with the pivot, and very successfully, because the defense allows it. In Russian and European handball today, no one can deal with it because they are defending themselves improperly. However, in my understanding, the defenders should not only outplay, but also shoot from eight or nine meters. That is not my business, but, by the way, I do not support foreign coaches in Russian handball. Count how many Olympic male champions we have. Someone could do the job normally. And many women could be coaches. Is Russia really that shallow in terms of experts? I do not believe.
– Olympic champions Dmitry Torgovanov and Eduard Koksharov worked in the men’s national team, but without results.
That’s right. It should not be the case that the Olympic champion is immediately appointed head coach as soon as he graduates. You need to work in a club, gain skills, understand the essence of the game. It will take five, six or even ten years to feel the bench, when, for example, a replacement is made. Take the recent Russian Women’s Cup final. CSKA leads several goals. Macedonian Ristovska runs one on one, shoots with a „popcorn“ and does not score. And suddenly everything started to turn in the opposite direction. One such psychological moment breaks everything. You have to feel it. What kind of cuddling ?! The end of the first half and she shows the technique of rotating the ball. In our time this was not the case, sorry! Meat, goalkeeper, goal, you have to score. I broke my fingers twice due to a collision with the goalkeeper. I broke my nose. You pass or you have to give up. Either death – or goal. And these tricks, tricks … Torgovanov still has to work, to try to break through to the finals in Europe with the club, to beat Maksimov in Russia. That doesn’t happen: hop – and you’ve become a coach. And where are the other Olympians, what are they doing? They don’t want to work, or what? To become a coach, you have to do your best, be in the gym from morning to night. Everyone loves to collect cream.
– Why did you decide to return to Gelendzhik at the end of your coaching career?
– Gelendzhik is my home. My parents are buried here, I grew up here. I love this place to live. You can do sports all year round. Sea, air, good walk, cycling. At a distance of five hundred meters there are training grounds. You can walk in the mountains. My sister is 87 years old. No desire to move. Everything suits me. Children and grandchildren come, swim, sunbathe. During the quarantine, everyone was here for three months. We rarely see each other, and because of the coronavirus, everyone came together and lived as one big family. Achieving a dream.
– You have your own small hotel in Gelendzhik …
It’s not a hotel. Private house with guest rooms. In the summer, relatives, friends and others come. No hotel status. And it doesn’t carry a form of business. We live for our own pleasure. We don’t bother making money. We have everything. The children are very independent. Own garden and vegetable garden – figs, grapes, cherries, cherries, plums, tomatoes, cucumbers. Eco products. The sea is mostly a hundred meters away. And purely thanks to the filters. You swim in the morning and dolphins swim around you. Regular life expectancy of retirees. During the Olympic Games and the World Cup, we helped the local museum and made sports showcases. Hobbies – cycling, swimming, exercising. The years go by, health is not good, you have to maintain it. That is the main occupation, said Aleksandar Panov
