Vitaly K

Credit to your players!How the hell they managed to play without laughing is beyond me! No complaints from me about the ref.....fucked up with the penalty retake,but otherwise he was ok! Oh, please!!! I was there and there were no reason for that penalty to be called to begin with... That degenerate ref. screwed up entire game. Shame, just shame.... Besides, how the hell can you laugh playing with 9 players against a power house like Everton? On the other note, let me tell you people how much I was pleased to spend these 3 days in your city and feel your hospitality. Class act, Liverpool! I hope most of those of you who will go to Kharkov can say the same.

I don't mean to rub it in your face people, you certainly know your players much better than I do and I do not dispute to what you have said, but I think that the reason you could not beat Metallist despite horrendous job by the referee (in my opinion) was because we came to Liverpool with nothing to lose. Nobody outside of Ukraine knows our team and nobody really respects us either (just ask that bum referee- 2 penalties, 2 red cards.....are you freaking kidding me?), but that is nothing new. We are not as good as Everton, but we have a lot of heart and I hope we proved it tonight. I hope that the match in Kharkov will show better football than this. I am not predicting anything; I just want to have a fair chance to play

Thanks to you all. Railroad it is. If we ever meet, beer is on me! Here is an interesting video presentation of Kharkiv: Regards, Vitaly k.

Josh, That fuss is creation of their own goverment. Ukraine is still emerging from the shadow of the communizm. And the communizm as you may remember was an iron steel fence society. Besides, not to many can afford to make a trip over to Liverpool. The cost would run over 6 month of their wages. Very sad indeed. Vitaly K.

Mike, I am planning to fly over to London and take a train to Liverpool. That will save me more than $1500 if I take a direct fly from New York to Liverpool. I'd rather spend them in the bar with your crazy fanatics. Do you think it is a good idea to go by train from London or perhaps to rent a car? Vitaly K.

No, not really - the game will be played at the Metallist stadium only one section of which (1/4 stadium seating capacity) is under renovation.

I second that, but your English is pretty good. Where did you learn to speak?

Talking about Manchester United. I saw a second half of that 2-4 debacle over the net. I don't mean to rub it in to your face, but holly crap.....what a devastating loss! You know our teams have a lot in common, we seem to have a similar problem with Dinamo Kiev. They and Shahter have our number. They practically owe us, the rest of the league is a cake walk. Well, I do not want to bore you with any more nonsense. Have a good night, Best Regards, Vitaly K.

Thanks Mike and Louis! So no black market ha? Interesting that no one came with an idea of making extra income re-selling tickets. Do you get preference in sittings when buying over the net? Which hotel is best to stay? And the last one (perhaps silly question) - Am I in danger rooting for my team in the crowd of your fanatics? Thanks, Vitaly K.

Nice try, very funny and very cute. A lot of people actually make similar mistake when they translate word for word from English. Hey, I am a big Metallist fan from USA. Can you please tell me if it is possible to get tickets for the upcoming "Everton - Metallist" game? Or if not, do you get tickets on the black market? I really do not care for the price, just don't want to waste opportunity to see Metallist game. Kharkov for me is not a convenient alternative. Thanks

Josh the fans at the Metallist forum have many, many questions for you. Can you reply to them? Thanks. Oh, by the way - when they say Command, they mean Club. Funny....

I'd say Nvoha and specially Zeze are the quickest in the front line. They are not that toll, but plenty quick. Also midfielder from Brazil Edmar is a capable force. Defensively I woul pay attention to a toll and physical Papa Guye (sp) and Goncharzhik (sp) who has a powerful strike and plays for a Polish national team. All in all the team is quite capable to make some noise, but I would in no way place them on the same level with the Everton. However if you are not careful enough, we will make some Liverpool people very sad.

My pleasure, let me know if I can help in the future. Incidentally, can you tell me if tickets are or will be available for upcoming Metallist game? I'll try to make myself free to attend the game.

About 300 members, but daily active about 10-15. They have some other forums, but this one is more comprehensive and perhaps friendlier than others. Folks there are of from the high school to a college graduate age, but some are in their late 30th. And as I mention before English is not their strongest trade, so please do not be offended when they ask you about the hooligan fans that may be coming to Kharkov. I am sure that they meant Ultras. Vitaly K.

OK, sorry my mistake. Do not click on Новости, but on the link to the right of it and post in the area in the bottom. Good luck

Just say who you are and whatever else. thish should be great experience for all. Regards, Vitaly K.

OK, here is what you need to do in order to register at the http://www.metallist.3bb.ru/ Metallist forum: 1. At the top yellow line click on "Регистрация" - this will take you to a registration page. 2. In the field "Имя" type in your name (25 characters max.) 3. In the field "Пароль" type in your password and retype it in the next open field (at the right). 4. Next type in your e-mail address in the field below (marked "e-mail") 5. Chose your Time Zone in the field marked as "часовой пояс" and click on "Регистрация" button below. And that is it, my friend. You will recieve confirmation in russian, do not pay attention to it. Just go and start chatting. People there will be glat to see your posts. P.S. When you log in, go to a very first topic on the top marked "Новости" and post there. Tell them that Vitaly had helped you. Do not be worry, they will be able to reply to you in english. Just stay away from using slent, so they can understand you. Good luck my friend! Vitaly K.

Nice one dude! That smells like you asking of me to give you few clues to our weakness. Hey, I am not a rat, you know....(just kidding) Our goalkeeper is pretty good and he is a team captain. Our most talented midfielder is injured, but this does not matter, because he is not eligible to play for us in the UEFA cup, the rest of the team is pretty healthy so far thanks God. Hey, tell me about the Liverpool. I am dying to visit your city and walk the streets the Beatles used to. You know I had met John Lennon once in New York in the Central Park. I could not believe my eyes it was him sitting on the bench talking to someone else just about couple of month before he was shot. Would getting a ticket to a game with Metallist be a problem? Should I reserve a ticket ahead of time? One more thing; we have F.C. Metallist forum and people there would like to exchange few words with your fans. I understand that the language barrier makes it difficult, but this can be fixed by me acting as a translator for both sides. Here is a link: http://www.metalist.3bb.ru/. See you soon. DO'SVIDANIJA (good bye)

Yes you are right. Kharkov is and was the largest industrial city in Ukrain and former Soviet Union. Legendary T-34 tanks were build here at the Malyshev plant to fight Germans in the World War 2. And incidentally F.C. Metallist originally affiliated with that plant for almost 80 years. But Kharkov also is famost by it's cultural achievemants. We have more than 30 universities and scientific centers and thousands students from all over the world. Kharkov is also a first capital of Ukraine and located in the East of the country just about 50 miles from the Russian border. By the way Metallist recently sighed 2 significant additions to the club. One is a midfielder from Brazil (Edmar) who is well known in Ukraine and was a captain of Tavria from Simferopol, the other is a defender from Morocco (Mahduffi) who was playing for Olimpic Morocco and rated top young defender by FIFA. So we are getting ready for you guys

Yes, you are right. Ukrainian league is dominated by Dinamo Kiev and Shahter Donetsk. These 2 teams are owned by a very reach people even by your standards. Metallist (meaning metal workers) Kharkov (Kharkiv is Ukrainian spelling, but most people in our city speak Russian) is owned by Alexandr Yaroslavsky who is a very successful businessman (also very, very reach) from Kharkov has purchased our team just 3 years ago and within such small period had moved it from second echelone to bronze medals. And we were just 1 point behind Donetsk in the end. Currently we are not doing that well, but holding 5 place after 7 games. Our problem is unbelievable lock of luck, we have allowed opposition to score goals on the last minute of the game twice in last two games that cost us 4 points. Ok, now about transportation. If you planning a trip to Kharkov, be prepared to some inconveniences: 1. we do not have direct flights to England, you will have to fly to Kiev and then a little less than 1 hour will take you to fly to Kharkov. 2. Our hotels are not exactly 5 stars, but not as bad as some may think. So lets just say they are OK. 3. People generally do not speak English, so prepare some knowledge in Russian. 4. Our stadium is being under renovation. 1 section (1/4 of capacity) is not even there yet. We are building state of the art facility for 2012 UEFA, but we are still far away from finish. This said the stadium will be packed because your team will be the largest attraction this stadium has ever seen. So it will be loud. But please take time to visit our city center, where you will see our historical buildings and monuments and the largest square in Europe. Oh yes, our girls are the most beautiful in Ukraine and this is no joke. A little about me. I do not currently live in Kharkov. I had left it 30 years ago for America, but my heart is allways there. I keep contact with many friends there and sometimes go there to visit my father's grave. Best regards, Vitaly K.

Hello there!!! I am a big Metallist Kharkov fan since 1961. Please do not be worry for I am not here to annoy you in any way. I just want to say hello from many other fans from our beautiful city of Kharkov. I know that most of you have never heard about our football team and or about our city. This off course does not surprise me at all because our team although exists since 1925, had never achieved much with exception of 1988 when we won a cup of USSR. But we know a lot about English Football league and certainly know a lot about your team. We do not make illusions about our chances to beat you, quite frankly they are small, but we hope we will. One who never dreams never gets anywhere....you know. Well, should you need any information about Metallist please feel free to ask me any questions. I will be happy to answer. Best regards to all of you, Vitaly K.