SCOTLAND
- What is Larry Kingston in Scotland?
- Good very good! Great country and great football. The championship for me is very successful: in all matches, except one, I was recognized as the best player in the meeting.
- When you moved to Britain, many in Russia thought: the guy found his place.
- Exactly. I love English football - wherever I play, I always watch the Premier League on TV. In addition, both in Wings and in other teams they always told me: you have an English style of play, you would play much better there. Now I can say that they are right. After all, Scotland is almost the same as England. Long balls, fast and aggressive game. Only the stars in Scotland are fewer, and everything else is the same.
- Just because of the aggressive game in Russia, many were unhappy with you.
- No, I can change my style of play. I can be very tough on the field, but it’s not difficult for me to calm down - it all depends on the opponent. But those who call me aggressive are absolutely right - the defensive midfielder must work for three. Look at Makelele - both the hard worker and the killer in one bottle!
- Your current club is teeming with Lithuanians - now there are ten of them in the team. How do you feel in this colony?
“Absolutely fine.” They are great guys and players. Our president (Lithuanian businessman Vladimir Romanov - “Sport Today”) did not just bring compatriots to the team. He bought the really best - those who deserved it. I do not agree with those who consider their game level to be inappropriate for Harts. They play great football.
- And who do you think plays the best? Chesnauskis? Yankauskas?
- The best, in my opinion, Marius (Zalyukas - “Sport Today”), our central defender. Just a wall.
- In previous teams you had a lot of funny nicknames - from “Goal Machine” to “Samara Pit Bull”. What are you responding to in a new place?
- Now they call me wee-man ("shorty" - "Sports Today"). I am not tall, much lower than the other players on the team. But knocking me down is almost impossible. So, we can say that they are called with respect.
- How do you like the Scottish fans? Emotional?
- Highly! They love football, fill the stadium at all matches and support the team very aggressively. Although not as aggressive as in Ghana. The fans there are generally crazy. When I moved from Olympics to Hearts of Oak - for Ghana, it's like Celtic and Glasgow - they wanted to kill me, and for real. Disfigured the car, threatened for several months. In Scotland, of course, I can not imagine this.
- You said that you dream of playing in Barcelona and every new club is a step towards the Catalan dream. Plans have not changed?
- Not at all. I'm still playing, I'm in good shape, I'm trying to go to my dream - Barcelona. Many years ago, he promised himself - to play in the strongest club of the strongest championship before finishing with football. For this, I work a lot and ask God for help.
- And when, according to your estimates, should you be in the European top club?
“Of course, I won’t say it.” But I’m sure that in 2010, and maybe a year earlier, I will play in a super club. This is the limit that I set for myself.
RUSSIA
- With what feelings do you recall Russia?
- With the good. I have always respected Russian football. A very good league that inspired me and made me stronger, and also returned to the Ghana national team. Arriving in Russia, I no longer wanted to play for the national team and thought that I would never get a call there. But my game made the coaches call me, and I returned.
- Who made you stronger?
- Gadzhiev, for example. Thanks to him, I became much stronger physically. When I joined the team, we had a lot of great players in midfield: Karyaka, Cowboy, Fire Koroman. But Hajiyev called me and said: “Kingston, I believe in you! But in order to play, you must become stronger. " I began to linger after each workout for about twenty minutes - either pumped up in the gym or worked on the field. As a result, I played a lot of great matches in Samara.
- In the “Locomotive”, it seems that you are not very much favored.
- Lokomotiv is an excellent team. But I still remember some players without pleasure. For example, Evseeva. He criticized me without stopping. Especially after they showed me the cards. This man himself made a lot of mistakes, received punishments, including deletions, but no one told him anything. But when I fouled, he told reporters: "I don’t understand what Kingston is doing on the field." What is strange - if I hadn’t been a good player, a team like Lokomotiv would never have called me.
- Bickey, another African who exchanged Russia for Britain, is now playing in Reading. At the same time, he tells English journalists terrible things about Russia - as if there are racists everywhere.
- In Russia, I encountered racism only once or twice. All the same Evseev told me nasty things in training. But I don’t want to talk about this in detail, because I do not care about this person. Another Zenit player shouted racist words to me. I don’t remember his name, but he is a player of the Russian national team, a midfielder.
- Is your Russian good enough to understand what the players are screaming to you?
- Of course! We communicate with Lithuanians from Hearts in Russian. I understand them well and can explain something myself. I don’t speak Russian about football communication - everything is simple there.
- At Hearts, you are on lease. When will it end, are you planning to return to Russia?
- Probably not. My goal is to continue playing in Europe. Although who knows how life will turn.
- The Norwegian Eric Hagen, having arrived at Zenit, could not understand why the judges are so strict on him and punish him for any contact with an opponent. In desperation, the guy even wanted to return to his homeland. Have you had problems of this kind in Russia?
- No, everything was okay with your judges (laughs).
- In England, probably, even more so? It is believed that the people there in black whistle only in extreme cases.
“Yes, and everything is fine here.” Although they differ from the Russian referees very much. In my opinion, the British referees are more relaxed. In Russia, judges make decisions in tension, as if they are afraid to regret it. Why it happens? I don’t even know, for me this is a mystery.
Vadim SINAEV