Ex-striker of the Russian national team and the foundations of the Moscow Dynamo Dmitry Bulykin today stands for a double of blue and white and hopes to find a new job at the end of the season. Three years ago, the striker, who became famous for his fateful hat-trick in a game with the Swiss national team, was brought to the farm club by a team that had barely escaped relegation from the Premier League and what kind of team he might end up in next year, Dmitry Bulykin told the newspaper ", NTV + commentator Alexander Shmurnov.
- Dmitry, it seems that your hat-trick in the match against Switzerland was yesterday or the day before, and now it seems that there is no player Bulykin in the Russian Premier League. What do you feel?
- I almost forgot about that time, but I try not to relax, continue to work and I hope that, as they say, everything will come, everything will return.
“Do you believe that it will be so?”
- Yes, and very much. I am still a young player, and with football I finish early.
- Do you make any efforts not to sit still and act now?
- Of course, I try my best to return to big football. The problem is that I belong to Dynamo for another year, but now the team simply does not need me. And the period of transfers in Russia is August and January. So I have to wait.
- Why did it happen that the team does not need you even when there are practically no attackers, and you are a textured forward and could be useful at least tactically?
- I have already repeated many times that the reasons why I do not go out on the field are not sporting in nature. I would not want to delve into the topic, but I repeat once again: it’s not in my athletic form, because some of my qualities as a football player can be used very well now.
- Why are you in a double? Did you not agree with someone on the characters, or maybe you have different views on certain football moments compared to the leadership?
- I can once again repeat that my excommunication has nothing to do with football. Everyone knows that the reasons why I don’t play are clearly not sporting. I don’t want to name specific names, but the conflict continues, and it is unclear how long it will last. I hope that in January I will find another team.
- What does Dmitry Bulykin still not like the people who put you in a double? Is this connected with your non-football, social life? Although in our time there are a lot of football players who sing, dance and so on.
- It so happened that in Dynamo they chose me. That is, "Bulykin is to blame for everything" - this is the phrase that has a place to be.
- Is there any point in your conflict with Dynamo in which you are wrong?
- I think that basically such a moment was the lack of goals scored. And this is only a small part of the claims against me. Although the fact that I did not score, depended not only on me, but also on the game of the whole team, as well as on luck. Each player has unsuccessful seasons, and as soon as this happened with me, they immediately got angry and started saying that Bulykin was playing through his sleeves. And this despite the fact that I played well, and even experts noted that Bulykin played, but so far has not scored. This happens to everyone, and you shouldn’t strangle a player at such moments - you need to give him a little more time.
- Last year there was already a situation when you were going to leave Dynamo. But then Yuri Semin came to the team. Are you therefore left?
- Yes, of course. The words of Yuri Pavlovich, the promises he made to me, allowed me to remain in the team.
- Have you ever spoiled relations with Yuri Semin?
- No, we always had a good relationship. Yuri Pavlovich demanded a lot from me, but this was due to the fact that he wanted me to achieve something, to play.
“But under Semin, you did not always end up in the main team.”
- I think this is just an educational element. Yuri Pavlovich always believed in me, about which he spoke not only to me, but also to other people. I must say that I believed in Semin and much more, so I stayed at Dynamo. And after his departure, I again stopped going on the field.
- What caused such a sharp decline in your performance?
- Then it was not the best period not only for me, but for the whole Dynamo team. If I'm not mistaken, that season the club's top scorer scored five goals in a season. That is, the whole team did not play, and not just Bulykin, as many are used to thinking. None of the players really knew what to do on the field, and the strong qualities of the players were not used. Everyone just played as they could.
- And how can you evaluate your game for the national team at that time?
- As for the game for the national team, here my statistics are one of the best among the players. And I scored goals for the national team. Probably because the team brought together the best players who knew how to use me optimally. But in Dynamo there was no such understanding. So it turned out that I played for the national team at a good level, and things were not going very well in the club.
- What is the way out of the current situation at Dynamo? Your transfer costs $ 1.5 million. Do you think that someone is willing to pay this amount for a player who sits in a double?
- You know, even in my contract it is fixed that I am cheaper. It was just that amount that was assigned for me.
- And how will you solve the problem with the club? Is it really profitable for the team, as in your case, to keep the players practically in slavery?
- At the beginning of the season I regularly went on the field, tried to help the team and even scored, that is, I spent the season, in my opinion, it’s quite normal. And then Yuri Semin left, and again I was left out of work. The most annoying thing in this situation is that all this happened two or three days before the end of the transfer window, and I no longer had time to go anywhere.
- Are you ready to play for any club from the first division?
- So far, I have not considered such options.
- And if the proposal came from a strong team, for example, from Kuban?
“I would have thought in any case, but most likely it was too late to do anything.” Some people then tried to pick me up from Dynamo, at least rent me. However, the club management refused.
- Apparently, are you not ready to move to the first division?
- I'm still quite young and, I want to believe, a promising player. Therefore, I want to play at a high level for a good team. And then it will be possible to think.
- In 2003, the Russian team had two ram type forwards - you and Denis Popov from CSKA. Three years have passed, Popov - in Belarus, you - in the double. Situations are somewhat similar. What caused this?
- I think that the point here is in the relation to the overall strikers. Many clubs would like to have such rammed forwards in their ranks, but the spirit of some kind of obesity and slowness constantly hangs around them. This is another stereotype. Although, personally, I see in the textured strikers a lot more pluses than minuses.
- At one time, coach Viktor Prokopenko said that Bulykin is very addicted to nature, and if he is seriously interested in football, he can become a great football player. Is there any truth in his words?
- In any case, whether it's football or something else, the main thing for a person is desire. I constantly have a great desire to play, but there are always some obstacles. For example, I wanted to perform normally this season, show myself, help the team. Did not work out.
- How do you train now to keep fit?
- I train for the Dynamo double, where training, by the way, is very interesting and necessary. In addition, I play tennis.
- With football player Sergei Ovchinnikov, who, despite all his experience, also ended up in a double, do you discuss the current situation?
- I got the impression that Sergei was in the same situation as me. He was left out of the team due to some moments not related to football.
- How did Dynamo main squad react to your excommunication?
- The guys are very surprised, and that’s all: both Russian football players and legionnaires. No one really understands what happened, and we are often asked what happened after all. And the most interesting thing is that Sergey and I don’t know what to say. That is, for us the transition to a double is still a mystery by and large.
- With what feeling do you watch the championship of Russia?
- I really want to go back to the field and play. A huge desire to prove to everyone that you should and can play on this, the highest level.
- What, in your opinion, was the reason for such a prolonged fall of Dynamo?
- I believe that somewhere in the top management something went wrong. The team obviously did not benefit from such a frequent change of coaches. And it also seems to me that at some point the management forgot about the team. That is, it emphasized business, not football.
- What prevents the team from playing at full strength? The team includes both national team players and other good players.
- There were many factors due to which the team could not play normally. Frequent change of trainers completely unsettle everyone. The team had to be created anew, and this could not but affect the game. In addition to the coaches, a large number of players constantly changed - this caused a constant lack of play. A normal club needs at least a season to play, learn to feel each other. And in Dynamo there is a constant rotation, and if you count, it will become clear that there are three or four players left from the team of three years ago. The rest went where.
- Nevertheless, some work is being done at Dynamo, and new young players are appearing. After all, you can’t say that everything in the club is destroyed to the ground?
- Of course, not to the bottom, but there are a number of points that need to be established by joint efforts. And to establish not in one season, but gradually. It is necessary to carry out constant work for two or three seasons so that Dynamo can claim a leading position in the championship.
- Was there a conflict in the team between the Portuguese legionnaires and Russian football players?
- It was, and it's no secret. He, of course, came to naught, but at the beginning of the season this became a serious problem for Semin and for the team.
- At the beginning of the season there was an episode when the fans came to your base, which, in principle, is unusual for Russian football. How did the team perceive this peculiar gesture?
“Absolutely normal.” We talked with the fans. Not everyone, of course, managed to do this, as some planned measures were outlined. But those players who could reach the fans, including Sergey Ovchinnikov, talked to the fans closely.
- The famous cry of Yuri Semin “Take off your mittens!” Was heard by almost the whole country. What was it and how did you react?
- Yuri Pavlovich just went too far. At that time, half of the team played in gloves. Maybe just in this way the coach wanted to cheer me up, get me to pack up.
- You have repeatedly visited England for viewing. In Russia, this is treated with a certain degree of sarcasm. And how are things really?
- In fact, some of the teams I went to see were ready to continue relations with me, but they did not understand what was going on with Dynamo and, in general, what was going on at Dynamo, whose leadership, by the way was not interested in the negotiations. And the rest, everyone was happy with me, except, perhaps, Crystal Palace.
- You do not have the right number of matches for the national team to get a working visa and go play abroad. Do you regret that you can’t play in England right now?
- Yes very. Playing in England is just a dream. They play exactly the football that I love. And, of course, I would like to find a place there. But since it still doesn’t work out, don’t be upset - you need to look ahead and move on. And, as you know, maybe there will still be a chance.