Manager Biographies - Gavriil Kachalin

Manager Biographies - Gavriil Kachalin

Gavriil Kachalin led the USSR national team to its greatest achievements. Victory in the 1956 Olympic tournament and winning the European Championships in 1960 was undoubtedly the most successful era in the history of Soviet football. He also won the 1964 Soviet Top League as the coach of FC Dinamo Tbilisi. In short, it was Gavriil Kachalin's time.

Gavriil Kachalin was a romantic. It was a pleasure to talk to him about football. He loved to dream, so much so that his interviewers would start to believe in his dreams too.
He was a democrat, and he was also a man of principle. This was reflected in his temperament as both a manager and as a central midfielder for Dynamo Moscow.
He was a patriot of his own club, but he also embraced other new and interesting styles of play at other clubs. On several occasions he gave glowing references to the style of the CSKA Moscow in the 40's and Spartak Moscow in the 50's.

Gavriil once commented “that faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead". This was reflected by his brave decisions to bring young players into his teams.
He was very successful at finding unknown but talented players and turning them into great players. For example, in 1956 he discovered the outstanding wingback Mikhail Ogon'kov playing for the reserves of Spartak Moscow and before long he was playing for the national team!
There were many other examples similar to this, all of which demonstrate both his excellent knowledge football and willingness to take risks on unknown players. These were the types of qualities that won over the hearts of his players.
On top of these attributes, Gavriil Kachalin was a very practical minded man. There is no denying that he had the ability to form a team of players, who despite not being necessarily the absolute best, could be the best come match day.
He could reasonably compare player's merits with their weaknesses and use this comparison to decide who would be best suited to the forthcoming game. This explains why he often chose ‘sensational’ teams for matches by leaving out the so called bigger ‘stars’ of the squad. Though these were always seen as sensational decisions amongst the fans they were decisions for which he had the man management skills to deal with very delicately for the players.

He was always prepared to have a heart-to-heart talk with his players. The fact that he did not like to give people a sense of false hope and also that he was never overcautious were two of his trump cards. He would also always maintain an air of independence when dealing with the board in order to protect his players and their best interests.