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Sergei Pnov:
>> Greatest part of my life I played for CSKA . And frankly speaking I felt it boring playing there. It is not the thing that they were bad to me, but even to watch a good film many times gets boring. I wanted to leave CSKA already last season, but I had my contract with the club which they fulfilled completely. This year the contract with Rosbank has finished and I got the status of a free agent. I have received many offers and chosen the best. Ural Great has good organization of the club and has serious ambitions to become Russian champion and Belov works for it as head coach. In my opinion it is a good basis for Russia to have two teams in FIBA Supro League next season.
Serguei Kouchtchenko:
>> I would like to clarify the situation with the second contract between CSKA and Sergey, the one much spoken about in mass media. Other CSKA players - Daineko, Kudelin, Karasev - have such contracts, too. We have analysed this document. It is an agreement for employment with the deadline indicated. Such agreements competely correspond Russian laws of employment. And Clause 5 of Sergey's contract states that it can be terminated by the employee - basketball player on his own wish before the deadline without explaining the reasons. Sergey follows the law to terminate his contract, he presented necessary papers to his former club. Russian Basketball Federation will be also informed. And we will wait for the answers from CSKA and RBF, though CSKA has already given its response in mass media. We do not see any reasons why this contract actually in force until May 31, 2004 cannot be terminated. We try not to take this situation emotionally but to work with documents only.
Sergei Pnov:
>> I also have a contract with the Russian army until December 2001, it means I am a military man. I am not going to terminate it, but if it becomes necessary, I will terminate it in accordance with the Russian legislation.
Serguei Kouchtchenko:
>> But this is the worse course of events. There are many military institutions in Perm and Sergey can go there. We hope everything will go well. Even if everything goes bad, Sergey would miss not more than two months as our lawyers say. If they take into account his army contract, in my opinion it will make no good for the leading club of Russia, then it might last until December. But I am sure reasonable people work for CSKA, we respect them and I do not think it might happen.
Sergei Pnov:
>> I would like to mention that financial side has not been the main thing for me this season. CSKA has suggested better conditions for me, but am interested in establishing better relations with the President of the club I play for.
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| > What did your family say? |
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Sergei Pnov:
>> I've already made something like that in my career. After the second team of Spartak (St. Petersburg) I moved to Cherepovets. At that time leaving Leningrad was as unreal as leaving Moscow now. But I did not start playing worse. Though 12 years ago some players thought that leaving St.Petersburg Panov would finish being a basketball player. They were wrong. And I repeat it today. Moving to Perm is not a step back for me, I will play a lot. As for relatives... We discussed it in the family, opinions were different. I am used to take decisions myself, they just have nothing to do, but to support me.
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| > Sergey, would not you like to play with Tikhonenko as the head coach? |
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Sergei Pnov:
>> You see, twice I have already done to my utmost for CSKA. First time it was in 1994, when a new team was created and we qualified for the Final Four. Then I could leave in 1996 because of the financial crisis in the club, but I stayed. And now I am just tired of going to one and the same gym. The army club made a lot for me and I helped it in a way. I wish Valeriy to become a very good coach. He's got carte blanche from Alexander Gomelskiy and nobody will fire him in case of unsuccessful result. He is to decide for himself whether he can become a good coach or not. For all those years Eremin had the strongest team in Russia and it was not hard to become champions. Tikhonenko's team roster is not the strongest and everything depends on him first of all. I do not think I do anything bad for him.
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| > Did the enormous support of basketball spectators in Perm influence your decision? |
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Sergei Pnov:
>> Of course it is much better to play 30 games of Russian championship with 8 thousand people watching the game than 3 Euroleague games with 5 thousand. It means much for me. And the only bad thing is leaving the capital. But I've spent all my life in Russian province and do not consider myself to be a resident of Moscow.
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| > What does Belov think about the name of Panov in the team roster? |
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Serguei Kouchtchenko:
>> As the general director I never take any decisions concerning employment without the approval of the head coach. When we were discussing the team roster for the 2000/2001 season we were taking Panov into consideration. And I know that for Sergey honesty is one of the main things in human relations. For our club it is also the most important.
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| > You have already said that the final roster was defined in the beginning of summer. So why have you invited Panov in the beginning of autumn? |
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Serguei Kouchtchenko:
>> We really wanted to complete forming the team in early June. And we made our offer to Sergey already in May. But he has taken his decision only now. If Panov had rejected it, we would have started looking for another player. Besides we carefully follow the process of forming other Russian and NEBL teams and make some changes in our team. We still have new offers from Russian and foreign players and the final roster will be announced after the Olympic Games.
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| > Is Sergey Panov the most expensive player in the club? |
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Serguei Kouchtchenko:
>> No, he is not.
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| > Recorded by Evgeniy Permyakov |
