Listening to the news of the appalling Russian missile attacks on Kharkiv and a small village close by, I was reminded that 16 years ago (4 October 2007) about 500 of us had made the long journey eastwards to watch the Blues defeat Metalist Kharkiv 3-2 in the away leg of the qualifying round of the UEFA Cup, thus gaining access to the league stage.
We had flown to Frankfurt, on to Kyiv, and then by train to Kharkiv. I had expected the city to be industrial (I suppose because of the name of its football team), and was pleasantly surprised to land at one of the most ornate train stations I have ever seen. The Cathedral, although relatively modern, was absolutely spectacular –especially when lit up at night – and the central square was amazingly open and spacious. The beer was inexpensive, the locals friendly and inquisitive.
Regrettably, I am sure that Ukraine’s second city, being so close to the Russian border, will be considerably different now after 18 months of fighting. This seems to make a match report somewhat irrelevant so I will leave it at that.
I also remembered that Metalist’s history since that night has been an object lesson in how not to run a football club.
When we were there, Metalist were trying to become a force in Ukraine football, mainly by outspending the more illustrious Dynamo Kyiv and Shakhtar Donetsk. If memory serves, at the time of our visit, there was a large section of one side of the ground missing, reducing the capacity to about 27,000. The team included some expensive second-tier Brazilians (Edmar springs to mind) and some first-class Africans.
The stadium was finally developed into a 40,000 all-seater and the Brazilians became expensive first-tier Brazilians (Cleiton). The dreams of their owner never reached fruition and, other than one season when they finished 2nd, they never overcame the stranglehold of Dynamo and Shakhtar.
By 2014, their wage bill was crippling and they ceased operations in 2016 due to insolvency; they were expelled from the Ukrainian League and their owner had basically ‘done a runner’ and left Ukraine. In 2017, the club had its assets confiscated by court order and was placed under government ownership.
The club itself restarted as FC Metal Kharkiv, playing in the Ukrainian 4th division as an amateur team. It has now returned to the Ukrainian 1st division and has had its former name and history returned to it following the repayment of previous debts.
I wonder if this series of events should ring any very loud bells???