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The Interview: Miroslav Dinev
Siovanija & Teusland’s Top Football Fanzine
The Interview: Miroslav Dinev
37 years young, Energija Chernovets forward Miroslav Dinev is one of the few players to have the distinction of having played in all 10 of the Republikaliga’s seasons so far. A Golden Boot winner, a Golden Ball winner, and, of course, a Republikaliga winner with Chernovets, he’s also one of the league’s finest players of al time, and he sat down with Score! Magazine’s Viktor Prokov to talk about his career, the Republikaliga, Chernovets’ title challenge, and retirement.
VP: It’s really good to see you, Miro, thanks for having me over.
MD: No problem, Viktor, it’s good to see you again.
VP: Let’s get right into it, Miro. We’re sitting here after 20 games of the Republikaliga season - over halfway finished. Your Energija Chernovets team sit 2nd, two points behind FC Teussen Stelburg at the top. Do you think your side have what it takes to go on and win the league title?
MD: Of course. Now that I’m older, I get to actually watch us play most of the time - you know, from the bench. And I don’t think we’ve ever had a better squad. Even back when we won the league at the start, I think this team is better. All of the pieces that we’ve brought in - Enigma (Armageddon), Brahian (Cespedes), Emiliano (Gallegas) and some of the young guys too, like Taras (Maksimov) and Vsevolod (Hristov). It’s been an incredible year, and I’m proud to be a part of this team.
VP: There’s some tough competition in the league, of course. Are you surprised at how well FC Teussen Stelburg are performing, given the amount of turnover in their squad?
MD: No, no, I think everyone knows Teussen - the thing about them is they have that winning culture ingrained in them. You don’t get as good as they’ve been in this era without that. So it doesn’t matter what players they have - they are going to be near the top.
VP: Are you perhaps saying that some of their star players over the years, recently Lukas Tauscher, in the past Thorsten Kramer, have been benefactors of a system?
MD: Of course not! They’ve had some excellent players over the years - that’s why they have that culture. What I’m saying is, you could take an average second division player, put him in Teussen’s squad, and he’d be a better player.
VP: Do you view Teussen as the number one challenger to your club for the title this year?
MD: Teussen, Felsenkirchen, and possibly Olympia, especially after how good they looked in the Cup last weekend.
VP: You’ve been involved in a fair few title fights in the past - obviously, winning the league in season 1, coming second in season 6, and being only 4 points off the top in third in season 7. How does this one differ?
MD: For me, well, obviously I’m a bit less involved now. I think the difference - and I wouldn’t call season 6 a title fight, really, we were about 9 points off at the end I think - but is just how my role in the squad has changed. Back in season 1, you know, I was out there and my job was to score goals and win us games. Now, though, it’s more to provide an example for our guys in training, and be around the team to keep their heads straight when they need it. And, of course, grab a goal here and there off the bench.
VP: Would it be fitting for your side to win the league in season 10? To sort of, you know, bookend the first decade of Republikaliga football?
MD: We’re not too worried about that, I think the only ones left in the squad from then are Viktor Dimitrov and me. Apostol (Manevski, the Chernovets manager) too obviously. For most of the younger guys it’s about getting the club on top, playing Champions’ League and all that.
VP: You mention the Champions’ League. Chernovets have had a, well, not so great record in international football since season 1. What do you think a reason for that is?
MD: Well, when we went to the group stage of the old Globe Cup, it had a really negative impact on our league campaign - we went from winning the title to finishing 7th. And I think - this isn’t a criticism at all, by the way, it’s just the truth - ever since then management has made sure to emphasize the league performance.
VP: But what does the league performance matter if you can’t do anything with it? Qualifying for the Champions’ League means little if you go out in the first round.
MD: Well, I think you’ll see it change, you look at the depth we have in the squad now - guys like Dragomir (Nikolov) and of course myself on the bench, those are guys that have been capped, have plenty of experience in the league. The biggest hurdle for us to get over, though, is taking that league title back.
VP: When the Republikaliga was founded, you were considered the best forward in the league, and maybe the best player in the country. You look today - so many great players have come out of the league, and there’s plenty more on the way up. When you look at the quality of forwards in the league today, who would you say are up there at the very top?
MD: Well, firstly I’ll go to my good friend Brahian Cespedes, who’s done an excellent job for the club this year. There’s so many names - this is a goalscorer’s league, obviously. But I want to look at some of the younger guys - Denis Dezelac, Lothas Ludwig, it’s going to be their league in the next few years. You look at what they are already doing for their clubs, and then think that both guys are under 23 years old! I’m glad my time’s almost up, haha, because I could never keep up with that.
VP: Denis Dezelac represents a big change from the average Siovanijan and Teus player - he’s loud, and he’s cocky. Some people like it, some don’t - how do you view the Olympia Borograd forward?
MD: I get why some people aren’t fans of it, but look - you need characters like that in the game. The thing I look at is - can he back up his talk? And, I mean, you look at how well he’s doing, the amount of things he’s won already at such a young age, he’s in the national team - I’d say, yes, he can back it up. So all power to him.
VP: I want to talk about the league itself now. You’re one of the few who have played in all ten seasons of the league. Take yourself back to when the changes were announced - could you imagine all of the success that has come out of it?
MD: I was on board with the idea from the start - really, I wasn’t sure how the regional leagues had lasted as long as they did with all of the money in football in this country. But I thought it would be, maybe 15-20 years from now that we’d be where we are now. You’ve got, well, Felsenkirchen played in a Champions’ League Quarterfinal, there’s two teams in the Challengers’ Cup knockouts, Zvezda just beat Directus the other night. Players, too - if you told anyone ten years ago that a Teus player would win the Champions’ League, captain his team to another final and be considered one of the best players in the world? You’d get laughed at. At World Cup 80 - and no disrespect to Atanas Velikov, because I played with him later - but we had a second-division player in the squad. You look at the squad now, it’s players in some of the biggest leagues in the world, Golden Boot winners, Galacticos. We knew things would get better, but maybe not this quick.
VP: We’ll get to the national team in a few minutes - but I’d like to hear, then, what you think of the proposed changes to the league system. It’s the topic everyone has been talking about lately, Miro, so we’d love to get your thoughts.
MD: I can kinda see both sides of the argument, but honestly, I think I’d vote in favour of it if I had the option. The amount of games - some of the best players in this league are playing over 60 games a year, when you count it all up with international fixtures, and then tournaments every summer. We’re going to see guys get run into the ground. With this system, there will be less games, but every game will mean more, and I think it’ll be very exciting.
VP: Now, Miro, some would say that you, as an Energija Chernovets man, of course you’d be in favour of it, because it’ll really benefit Chernovets.
MD: Like I said, I know that side of the argument - that for the midtable clubs, suddenly you don’t really have a chance at the top because you’re now suddenly fighting for your own survival. Some people say it takes away the idea that any club can rise and win the league. But let’s be honest - I think that that is already an illusion. It used to be, back in the regional leagues, you could take a few years, develop a team, and then once every few years hope to compete with the big boys. But now? Look how well that’s gone for St. Jakob. Even Metropola Borogad have had their struggles. And SW Stahlberg have hung onto a team that’s probably a bit too old for a few extra years because they know it’ll be hard to fix things. They talk about cutting away the ladder - but the ladder doesn’t really exist.
VP: So what should the smaller teams do? How does a team like TSV Marzig get to the top?
MD: You can still build a team for success. But you need - look at Felsenkirchen. They went out and spent plenty of money on their team, they took a big risk, and it paid off. They spent at the right time, they had the perfect mix of players, and it paid off. But they knew from the start - I remember reading about, when they were struggling a bit in that first season, that if they didn’t make the Champions’ League they’d have to sell all these guys off. You need to have that perfect timing, a good business sense, and honestly, a bit of luck.
VP: Another concern that some people have had - is that with the amount of money that will come into the league with the proposed changes, and with new television deals, that maybe the bigger teams will focus on buying up international players and there won’t be as much of a focus on home-grown talent.
MD: I don’t know. Season 5 or so of the Republikaliga, you already saw foreigners coming into the league, and you have FC Teussen Stelburg still being very dominant after that point. Wasn’t that the story the last few years, that Felsenkirchen was the big villains of the league because they went out and bought all their talent? And look now - they’ve promoted plenty of strong youth players up, and their future looks pretty secure.
VP: With respect to some of the players that have been signed in the past - it’s a bit different now, the foreigners coming over? When Stahlberg signed 32 year old John Ferry, he’d made the Galacticos longlist once and was capped three times for his country, and it was seen as the biggest signing in the league’s history. Now, John will go down as one of the league’s great midfielders of all time - but last summer, your team spent big money on Farf international Emiliano Gallegas, and of course, everyone knows Felsenkirchen and their double-signing of two World Cup winners.
MD: That just shows the league improving. Our guys - the domestic players - will only get better for having to go up against Emiliano (Gallegas) or Ciriko (Useternix) every week. I predict that, one day - and this might not be for a while, but one day - that a Galactico Player of the Year will play in this league. There’s so much potential here. I’m happy with the quality of players that are coming in, it just makes the league better.
VP: I wanted to talk to you now about the upcoming World Cup. You played in the very first match of the national team, all those years ago. What have you seen change over the years, since that 3-1 win in Banija over The Cereal Isles?
MD: Haha, that was a long time ago now! I guess the big thing is the level of confidence some of our younger guys have now. I remember in the lineup before that game - we were scared, honestly. We didn’t know how we’d match up. But now, they go out with no fear, because we’ve built a tradition of being able to get good results at times.
VP: You’ve given us a big prediction about the league itself - want to make any about the national team?
MD: Haha, you’re trying to bait me into something! Obviously you want me to say that we’re going to win the World Cup. And I think we can, one day far in the future. But I have to tell you - and I don’t want my friends to get mad at me, I can think of a few guys who are going to text me as soon as they read this. But I see it as - me, Raphael (Klopfer), Ivo (Romanov), even Thorsten (Kramer) to an extent - we were the first generation. We built the foundation. But we won’t win anything. The second generation - guys like Karl-Heinz (Jager), Mario (Kogler), Michael (Ribbeck), they pushed us higher and higher. They probably won’t win anything either. It’s the third generation - Denis (Dezelac), Florian Krukenberg, Jesper Porsche, and some kids that are probably trying to find the money to buy the next edition of your magazine right now. They’re the hungry ones. When I played, we just wanted a good showing, maybe beat a team above us. Now, the expectation is to qualify. But for them - that won’t just be enough.
VP: You named a few players who you see as the future of the national team, clearly - any others you can think of?
MD: Well, I remember reading about guys like Thorsten Kramer in magazines 15 years ago. But I also remember guys like Michael Ribbeck, no one had ever heard of him, but he made it on his own. So I’m excited to see who that player will be for the next generation.
VP: Miro, to your own career now. You turn 38 before the end of the season. Are you thinking at all of when you’ll call it a day?
MD: I mean, when you get to my age, it’s on your mind. I’ve talked to my wife, and my kids too. I’m most happy my kids got to see their dad play, that was big for me - and not just, you know, watching the game, really knowing what was going on. But what I have said for years is, the day I wake up and don’t want to go to training, or don’t want to play the game, that’s the day I’ll quit. If I go out there and feel that I’m a burden to Chernovets, I’ll call it a day.
VP: If you won the league this year, would it be a perfect farewell?
MD: Maybe. Maybe. I haven’t thought that far ahead yet. I’m not the type of person that has to go out on top, though - I could retire next week and be perfectly content with my career if I felt like it. It’s about love for the game, and I still love what I do.
VP: How do you hope Chernovets fans, and fans across the country, will remember you when the day does come?
MD: I hope they’ll remember a player who left everything on the field every time he played, and whatever shirt he wore, Chernovets or the national team, he wore it with the utmost pride.
VP: Thanks Miro for your time, and some interesting thoughts. Best of luck the rest of the season.
MD: Thanks, Viktor - when I do retire, I’ll let you break the story, haha.
VP: Haha, well Miro, I think I speak for most football fans when I say we hope the good times go a little longer yet.
