Children with handmade flags

It usually starts out when you are young, but back then no one around me was obsessed with football. To my father it was a matter of indifference, and there were no football fans among my friends, so I am not exactly sure how I became mad about football. Probably I saw an exciting match on the TV. I come from St Petersburg, which makes me a Zenit fan. I still remember how in 1980 the club won the medals and came in third in the USSR Championship for the first time in its history. By the 1984 championship, I was 14 and all determined not to miss a single match. Some like-minded kids and I got together and went to see games, sporting the flags that girls made for us (back then, there was no official football merchandise).

Just image a bunch of kids marching to the stadium with a heavy pole and a three coloured flag! There were no ultras in the 1980s, so it was safe and many of the 70,000 seats of the Kirov Stadium would always be filled with women and children. Now, of course, things have changed. I have four kids, but out of them all I only take my seven-year-old son with me to the stadium. I do not think he fully understands the fan chants yet (smiles). He does like watching the game though, and that is what really turns you on, even if you are outside of the fan sector.

Pavel Lyakhovich and his son Sasha

Dodging fares to see the match

While in school, I used to hop on a train and go to Zenit’s match in another city without purchasing the ticket. The customary practice was to fare-dodge your way from St Petersburg to Moscow on three trains calling at Bologoye and Tver. The first time I did this was at the age of 13. I took the train with some classmates – the undertaking was much too risky to go it alone. We were lucky enough not to get into any serious trouble. The trip took three days. Back then, our families had no stationary phones, let alone the mobile ones, so we told our parents we were out for a sleepover. The adrenaline rush was immense: we risked getting caught by the police or, probably worse yet, by the opposing team’s fans. I have not shared this story with my children so far, I want them to grow up a bit first (smiles).

The farthest I have gone to see a match was Vladivostok, back in 2008. The people there were very friendly and gave us an extremely warm welcome, despite the difference in our team allegiances. The match coincided with a heavy downpour – the players were virtually knee-deep in water. Everybody expected the match to be cancelled, but the game carried on. Unfortunately for us, Zenit and Luch ended the game with a tied score of 0–0, so we were leaving not only soaking wet, but disappointed. There were no chants and whistles that day.

There was one time when we got into a fight in Europe. Our team was playing against the Spanish in Seville. We were sitting in the central stand, watching our guys lose 1–4, when all of a sudden I saw Spanish fans making obscene gestures at me. The provocation proved successful, and we got into a scuffle. My wife, a true Russian woman as she is, jumped to my rescue and started to hold me back. As a result, both of us got socked (laughs). The police soon came and escorted us out. After that, I stopped taking my wife to football matches for a while.

Nowadays, I rarely go to matches in other cities, as I am away from home on business trips most of the time. According to my calculations, all of my last year’s work travels across the country are equivalent to several trips around the Equator. I cannot follow Zenit everywhere, but I try not to skip their matches, when they come to Moscow. This even makes me root for the Moscow teams. For example, Dynamo has lost in the Russian Premier League, so now it is one less team for Zenit to play with in Moscow (smiles).

Some people say they are fans of several teams, but to me that sounds bizarre. It is like love – you cannot rationalise it, you just fall in it.

Pavel Lyakhovich’s wife

Fans vs the “Kuzmichis”

There are three types of fans. The first type sticks with the team as long as they win. It is during the winning streaks that they start coming to matches and talking about football, although their knowledge is usually perfunctory. Then there are middle-of-the-road fans, me being one of them. And, finally, there are ultras, who call us ordinary fans the “Kuzmichis”. All three types are diametrically opposed in their attitudes to football. For instance, the ultras devote their entire lives to the team, and may reject a “Kuzmichi” fan that finds himself in their stands during a match. Their team is their religion. When I was a kid, at my first out-of-town matches, I sometimes wanted to be “cool” like them too, but, thankfully, life had other plans in store for me (smiles).

I cannot say I am surrounded by football fans. My wife demonstrates the devotion of a Decembrist wife. But when she watches Zenit's matches with me, she cares more about my reaction than the actual game. My friends and colleagues are pretty much the same. There are also those who support other teams. For example, my deputy is a Spartak Moscow fan. Naturally enough, we engage in friendly banter whenever our teams meet in the field. However, none of my business contacts or partners is as ardent as to allow their fandom to influence our relationship. We may exchange some quips, but it is all in good fun. There were times when I found myself at a conference table with someone I had previously seen in the stadium, which is always an instant ice-breaker. It does not really influence the outcome of the negotiations, but it does accelerate them by providing some common ground right off the bat.

Football fans appeal to me, even if they do not support Zenit. Any hobby, be it football, hockey or any other sport, is a plus in my book. That means the person is not focused solely on work, and such versatility can go a long way in business, too.

Game "Zenit" – "Krylya Sovetov"

Love for St Petersburg

It has been 13 years since I moved from St Petersburg to Moscow, but you know what they say – you can take the boy out of the country, but you cannot take the country out of the boy (laughs).

A couple of years ago, SKA Saint Petersburg was up against CSKA Moscow in the Kontinental Hockey League play-off. I was back from work at 10 pm and caught the final moments of the match on the TV. My kids know whom to support when it comes to football, but this time they were taken aback. My six-year-old daughter asked me, “Who do we root for?”, to which I said, “For CKA.” When she asked why, I told her that it was because they were from St Petersburg. She took a moment to mull it over and said:

- Daddy, do we live in Moscow?

- We do.

- Is Moscow a good city?

- Yes, it is.

- Then why do we root for teams from St Petersburg?

I could not think of an answer.

Stress relief

Failures of your team can be frustrating. Thankfully, my job does not let me give in to sulking. Some of my friends can be out of sorts for two or three weeks, when their club loses. I may come home in low spirits after a loss, but there is no time to wallow in sadness. At work, you inevitably talk to people, and it takes your mind off things. But, generally speaking, I take losses much more seriously than wins (grins). Zenit is a strong team, so winning is something we are used to.

I have a Zenit calendar and some other football merchandise in my office. Obviously, there is much more football-related stuff, but it would be impolite to shove it in people’s faces. Still, all co-workers know about my hobby and often bring me souvenirs. One example would be the FC Amkar team’s ball given to me by Gennady Shilov, the club's President and former SIBUR-Khimprom CEO.

Attributes of FC "Zenit" in the Pavel Lyakhovich's office

Overcoming internal obstacles

Sport has the power to change a man’s life. Imagine a value scale, the opposite ends of which are occupied by a beer-drinking burger-binging couch potato and a professional sportsman who devotes an entire life to achieving his goal. I would like to think that I am closer to the sportsmen on that scale. After all, I do not just sit around – I go to the gym and play football myself. We have corporate sports training sessions on Wednesdays and sometimes even hold staff matches. I approve of it, as sport does wonders for employee productivity and motivation.

Sport is truly the proverbial magic bullet: it hones both the body and the mind. The people who go in for sports are also more competitive and hence able to surmount many obstacles, both external and internal (the latter, I find, is often tougher). In team sports there is also another critical aspect: we are all cogs of a big machine, and each cog is important, no matter how small it may be. That is why during job interviews I always ask people about their interest in literature, theatre or sports. To me, these are the three pillars that help develop a versatile and engaging personality, and thereby achieve success in both career and life.

2015. SIBUR's Spartakiade. The game "SIBUR's Board members against the general directors of enterprises"

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