Andre Villas-Boas Q&A: "My main impression of St. Petersburg - such a bright city"
The Zenit Manager answered the fans questions and summed up his two and a half years here at the Petrovsky. Below are some of the questions AVB answered and the full version of the interview will be published in the ProZenit matchday program on Sunday at the match with Lokomotiv.
Everything was decided after we left London. We did not want our children to have to learn another new culture, so we decided that the family would be better off staying in Portugal. We sent them to the international school there, so they've learned English and are ready to move around, but then we did not want to dive into a new world so quickly. After Tottenham we spent three months at home and then I went to Russia and we believed that after some time, they would all come to St. Petersburg, but at school my daughters were doing so well that we decided otherwise. They would have taken well to Russia of course, but my wife and I decided that it would be better in Portugal for them. My daughters are now 7 and 6 years old, and my son will be a year soon, on the day of the match with Lokomotiv on the 15th.
How would you rate your time spent at Zenit?(Sanya Arnautov)
It has been a great time, I have really had a great time. Firstly, the culture, Russian culture. Its Patriotic but fair. People here are either black or white in their attitude - no gray, no one is trying to pretend to be something they are not, people here aren't hypocrites. It was Immediately clear to me how to relate to you. You give respect and take respect well. I liked other points too, the way society works. Russians teach children to spend as much time as possible out of their home, and I cannot help but reflect on how you live. Russians love nature, love to go out and the cold is not a problem. The restaurants are always full of people. And of course, the city, it is the most beautiful of any I have known. But on the other hand, during these two years the distance between me and my family grew, so I have decided to go back and take a break for a year.
What do you like most about Russian football and what will miss? (Alexander Polyakov)
I will miss the competition and the intrigue. It is because of this we are now having a difficult time. Look at Spain there has always been just two teams there and now you can add Atletico. In the French Championship, in League One there's only one club. In Germany and in Italy it's the same. Yes, in England everyone is surprised by Leicester, but if you look at the recent past, it was usually dominated by Chelsea, Manchester United or Manchester City. In Russia there are 5 or 6 teams that compete for the title, Spartak, Lokomotiv, Rostov, Krasnodar and of course, Zenit. And this is good. This gives the league excitment. I will not pay much attention to other problems, because I've had a great time here. But it is clear that changing the rules a week before the championship was nonsense. And then, again, we need only to blame ourselves for the fact that we allowed it to happen. But otherwise I have really enjoyed it. Yes, sometimes in the stadiums there weren't so many fans and soon many clubs will get new large arenas, which will need to be filled. If you don't have full stands now, what will happen then? But the Russian championship is really good, and it is interesting to work. We can also talk about the variety of tactical teams.Some teams here likes to hold the ball, some like to counterattack, It's also part of the challenge of league. Of course, I'll miss it and everyone here. I will miss the players and the people who brought me to the club. Mr Dyukov, Mr. Miller and Mr Maxim Mitrofanov have always fully supported me. Unfortunately, when I first arrived, we had some limitations due to the financial fair play rules, which affected our hopes of creating something really big. We were forced to take a break. Yes we got Javi Garcia, Garay and Mogilevets joined us, but this year we have also grown with Mauricio, Dzyuba, Kokorin, and Zhirkov. In general, I'm going to miss the people and the club. It was a great time.
What is your main impression of St. Petersburg? (Nickolay Spring) -
Such a bright city, April, May, June, this period is very beautiful. You feel that the sky is very close.
What has been the most unusual event that has happened to you in Russia? (Rinat Batraev)
I can't really say about this, but rather about my impressions. I like Sochi, Ufa, Kazan - all very beautiful cities. I would like one day to visit lake Baikal, but we don't know if that will happen this year. And I have a dream, a big dream to go to the place where Russia meets with Alaska. I know that this is not so easy, but I would like to.
