Team Rotan: Kravchenko is already there, Ezersky and Gres are getting ready. Who else will join the headquarters of FC Oleksandriya?

Rotan is at the pinnacle of success – after an ambiguous first selection at the head of the youth team of Ukraine, he led our U-21s to the European Championship among peers. Everyone talks about Ruslan’s special coaching style – even at the level of rivals, like France with its multimillion-dollar teenagers, Ukraine is trying to play football, control the ball, play the game, and not just fight back with all the buses.

And now Ruslan Rotan himself will form his staff in the first solo work in the Premier League. Intriguing? Very interesting!

And what happened?

Although in the summer Rotan is waiting for such a test as the youth Euro 2023, he took the risk of accepting the UPL club. And right at the height of the season, where FC Alexandria is fighting for a place in European competition.

Rotan’s predecessor, Yuri Gura, led the team to fifth place in a year and a half and regularly took points from the giants. But, apparently, the club’s management remained dissatisfied with a devastating defeat from Zorya, a 4-point gap from Luhansk and wintering in fifth place.

On December 14, Gura left the post of head coach, and on the 20th it became known that all his assistants were leaving the club – Alexander Lomko, Sergey Laktionov, Sergey Kovalev and goalkeeping coach Andrei Kovtun. On December 21, 2021, Ruslan Rotan officially accepted the team, although unofficially, insiders leaked this information two weeks earlier.

And what is Rotan?

In his winter interviews, he explained that he was going to start solo club work from the 2023/24 season, but the circumstances were such that the invitation came precisely during the winter intermission. After weighing all the pros and cons, Rotan decided to combine two positions. The UAF is not against it – it was even additionally announced that if the headquarters of the youth team of Ukraine fulfills the tasks set, cooperation (presumably joint) will be continued for an automatic next period.

The task is announced as an entry to the Olympic Games (which has never happened in the history of Ukrainian football).

Now Ruslan Rotan is looking for employees in the new headquarters of FC Alexandria.

What are the principles for the formation of Rotan’s headquarters?

It seems that Ruslan is not going to involve members of the headquarters in combination. At least insiders reported that in FC Oleksandriya, Vladimir Yezersky and Sergey Kravchenko would become assistants to the new head coach. The role of the analyst will be taken by Yevgeny Gres. Vladimir Timenko will work with goalkeepers. Physical training and rehabilitation will be done by Vladimir Tomilenko.

The names of Vasily Kardash, Alexander Melashchenko and Vitaly Reva, with whom Rotan works in the youth team of Ukraine, are not here. This is probably due to the desire of the head coach to divide the array of work between the national team and the club so that the assistants are not torn between different tasks.

The headquarters is formed evenly. 39-year-old Sergey Kravchenko ended his playing career in Chernomorets. This is considered the first step to enter the headquarters of FC Alexandria. Vladimir Yezersky, apparently, will also combine work in the youth team of Ukraine. Evgeny Gres – too, he used to work in Metalist 1925 and Vorskla. He has extensive practical experience, combined work with journalism and television expertise. There are also no questions about professionalism.

It is not yet known whether the changes in the youth squads of FC Oleksandriya will be affected. Also, we do not know what the transfer vector of Rotan will be – in particular, in relation to existing players. But one thing is clear – having headed an ambitious club, Ruslan Rotan took another step forward in his coaching development, because before that he had only briefly been part of the staff of Vyacheslav Shevchuk in the Donetsk Olympic. This is a new experience for him.

Bogdan Gryschuk