ALEXEI SMERTIN, THE CHELSEA AND Russia midfield player, could be excused for having seriously confused loyalties. On Saturday he played for Charlton Athletic, with whom he is on a year’s loan, against Portsmouth, with whom he was on loan the season before last. On Wednesday he returns to Stamford Bridge when Charlton play Chelsea in the Carling Cup, but he will watch from the stand, as he did when the teams met in the Barclays Premiership.
The terms of his loan deal at The Valley prevent him from playing against Chelsea. But who will he be cheering? “I’m not ready to answer,” he said with a laugh. “On the one hand I would love to play against Chelsea because it’s very important, psychologically, to play week in, week out in every game, but on the other hand I’m a Chelsea player and perhaps I would kick someone.”
Accidentally, no doubt. After meeting the good-humoured Siberian, it is hard to believe that he could put a “reducer” on a former team-mate. “Yes, I can,” he protested. “I’m very kind in life apart from football, but on the pitch I’m quite aggressive. My wife doesn’t like football, fortunately, so when I come home we don’t speak about it. But sometimes she comes to the stadium to watch a game and afterwards she asks me, ‘Why are you so aggressive on the pitch? You are very kind with me in our private life, but you’re a different person on the pitch.’ ”
Some players might be disappointed to forego a chance to remind their permanent employers what they are missing. “Actually, I don’t need to prove anything because I did it already,” he said. “It was my decision to leave Chelsea and I was ready to go. I am used to playing every game for the national team, always from the start. I changed many teams, many clubs, but always playing everywhere I went. As a competitive person I always want to play.”
He has no doubt where his competitive streak or his flat-out-for-90 minutes style comes from. “It’s thanks to my father,” he said. “He built my character from my childhood. He said that if you are on the pitch you have to do your best all the time, even if you are tired or you have problems that affect you, you have to forget them and concentrate on football.”
Gennady Smertin was a hard taskmaster, requiring his son to train in all weathers — and Barnaul, 200 kilometres south of Novosibirsk, where he grew up, experiences extremes of winter cold and summer heat. “He dreamt about his sons being footballers,” Smertin said. “I have an older brother who was really good. He played for Torpedo Moscow but he couldn’t play in another country — it was a different situation ten years ago. All the family are coming to watch me next month.
“I still listen to my father. I call him before every game to ask his opinion and his advice. It’s not very important for me, because I’m quite adult now, but it’s important for him. So I do this favour for him and he advises me very well. ‘Alexei, you have to be sharper, get forward, if you have an opportunity you have to shoot’ — every detail. And after a game when I call him sometimes I get killed by him and he criticis es me like a small child.” No chance of pretending about how well you played? “He gets all the television channels,” Smertin said, “and he can read the papers. He’s honest with me and doesn’t flatter me. But he’s proud of me, of course.”
He might have been prouder still if Alexei had been able to captain Russia into the 2006 World Cup finals, but the money beginning to flood into the nation’s club football has yet to benefit the national side, who failed to qualify. “I’m not surprised because we didn’t play so well during this period,” he said. “It’s a shame because before, when we played as the Soviet Union, we participated in all the big tournaments. When we lost Ukraine, Belarus, Georgia and when we split up, we lost our tradition and we haven’t got many good players.”
Or if they have, the problem is unearthing them in such a vast country. “Take my example,” he said. “It was about 3,000 kilometres to Moscow, where there is everything necessary to improve. The situation has been changing and now there is good investment so footballers get well paid and a lot of good players are going to Russia, so in general the level is getting better. But it is not as good as in England, otherwise I would go back to Russia. It’s not a question of money, but for me, at 30, it’s very important that I feel comfortable and the Premiership is the best in the world, definitely.”
Right now that means helping Charlton to press for a place in Europe rather than sitting on Chelsea’s bench and he is pleased with the decision he made after consulting Scott Parker, a former Charlton player. “We’ve started very well and I’m happy,” he said. “As a Chelsea player you have to think of winning every game and when I came to Charlton I brought the same spirit. Realistically we can’t win every game, but why not top five, to get into Europe? I know about the history, and someone on the team told me, ‘You’ll see, the last two months are going to be difficult.’ I asked why, but they didn’t know. We have to change that situation.”
He turned down a chance to move back to Portsmouth because he and his family wanted to stay in London, but he has good memories of the South Coast. “It was a good situation at Portsmouth — good supporters, very loyal,” he said. His recall to Chelsea offered the extreme contrast of a chase for the Premiership title and a run to the European Cup semi-finals. “Chelsea was very different: a high level of performance, a squad of 25 players at the same standard, so a big rivalry inside the squad and a lot of ambition. Imagine every day, every training session, you had to fight to improve, to be in the line-up, not to be in the stand or on the bench.”
More often than not last season, Smertin came up short on that score, making only 11 Premiership starts. So when the loan ends next summer, does he go back and fight for a place, with Michael Essien providing even more competition for places, or would he like to stay at Charlton? “I don’t know — it’s too early for that question,” he said. “I want to do my best until the end. And then we will see.”
BACK IN FROM THE COLD
ON GROWING UP IN SIBERIA: It’s too hot to play football in summer and too cold in winter, but we still played. It’s just a question of habit. When I was young I played every day, minus 30C, it didn’t matter. Now I can’t even walk in the street when it’s cold
ON DANNY MURPHY: I think he deserves to play for England. He is a clever player and he is consistent, he plays well in every game. If I were the manager I would pick him, but unfortunately it’s not up to me
ON LIFE AFTER THE PREMIERSHIP: I’ve got an apartment in Moscow, because my brother lives there, and I’m sure I will end up there. For me there are two great cities in Europe: London and Moscow. Big temptation, everything is big
ON LARGE PREMIERSHIP SQUADS: I think Danny left Liverpool for the same reason that I left Chelsea — because he wanted to play. It’s a worse situation for José Mourinho at Chelsea. He has 25 players who deserve to play every game but he can’t put all of them on the pitch
