"I came back from Scotland because of a romantic story. A huge mistake"

24 years have passed, and Jean Telsnikov still does not feel guilty about playing the laces ("I did not ask them for anything, I did 100 percent to win"), tells why he cut a term in Europe after one season ("everything I did there was a mistake") and of course, speaks About the little brother who fell in the collision.

Exciting interview

Asher Goldberg

07/04/2022

Thursday, 07 April 2022, 16:35

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"At the end of the game we saw a drop in tension among the Beit Shean players, and I did not get into any kind of theories around the result at the end. Personally I made an effort to win this whole game. It was our 100 percent legitimate victory and a big championship. "Nothing to win the game, or they will do something to help us fight for the title."

Even just before the sixth decade of his life (he will be 50 in December), Jean Telsnikov knows that one of the moments he and Betar Jerusalem remember in 1998 is the game of laces. In a difficult 0: 1 victory over Maccabi Petah Tikva.

Arrived in Europe and returned.

Telsnikov in the big days with Istvan Fishont and Stefan Shalevi (Photo: Ben Oscar, Maariv)

"After the championship with Kashtan, the Tottenham managers were impressed with me and asked me to come to their training camp to be impressed and sign a contract," he recalls. I had the required amount of games for the Israeli team, I could not get a work permit in England. "

"Dundee United executives paid Betar Jerusalem $ 1 million for my ticket.

Attorneys Yossi Geyer and Moshe Dadash flew to Scotland and arranged for me an excellent four-year contract.

After one powerful season of mine, I returned to Israel. "

" This is indeed a good question, my wrong move.

Among other things, there was a romantic story of mine with an Israeli girl, a friend of mine that I returned to.

It's a big mistake around the whole decision I made, including with the girl. "

He returned to Gad Zeevi's Betar Jerusalem, with Eli Gutman as coach. "It was supposed to be Betar Jerusalem's galactic season, hopes to the sky," Telsnikov recalled. "From here, the decline began for me. I gradually lost my passion and love for the game."

Hopes to the sky.

Telsnikov, Giovanni Russo, David Amsalem and Shmulik Levy in a group of the early 2000s (Photo: Danny Maron, Maariv)

Telsnikov was born in the Soviet Union in December 1972. He is married to Sonia, and they have three children with whom they live in Moshav Mesilat Zion.

"At the age of 6, because of communism in the Soviet Union, my parents left Moldova for Zionist reasons. They are actually from Orel that in Russia and Israel life was not easy, there were difficulties in absorption. Avi Sasha was an amateur footballer in Russia and studied at the Wingate Institute. "I played football and made sure to leverage me for achievements as a footballer. Amir Turgeman, Ofer Talker and I trained with him, three of whom later joined the Israeli national team."

When Jean was 16, his father unexpectedly passed away ("I'm sorry he didn't get to see my career as a footballer").

Aryeh Redler promoted him to Ashdod's senior team, and Nissim Bachar turned him into a car player.

He made the big leap under Eli Cohen in Betar Jerusalem. "Betar paid Ashdod, which was relegated to the national league at the end of the 1994/5 season, $ 70,000 for the entire loan season. "The names were exciting - Kornfein, Ohana, Zohar, Shaloi, Fishont, Harazi, Sevilla, Aboksis, Amsalem, Shmulik Levy and others."

In 1998, Shlomo Sharaf invited him to the Israeli national team.

"The opening was dreamy. In the friendly debut against the Turkish team I scored in our victory 0: 4. I scored both in the second game a goal against Poland and in the fifth game against Latvia. My fourth goal out of 21 games was against Estonia."

"It was in the World Cup qualifiers in October 1998. 50,000 fans stood in the anthem, excitement and chills, I saw in my fevered imagination the late father in the audience, like my mother and little brother Dan in the stands watching me but they were not there.

I turned every fan in the stands into my dad.

We lost, but this game is recorded in our history books. "

Exciting names.

Telsnikov and Betar players record the championship song in 1997 (Photo: Maariv, Adi Avishai)

After Betar Jerusalem, he returned for two years in Ashdod. "Football was my livelihood, and already towards the end of the contract in Ashdod I felt an emotional erosion, there was not the same ambition and ambition.

I moved to Hapoel Jerusalem and in the 2007 season I retired from football at the age of 35. "

Does

" I'm organized and I have a private employment house, and everything's fine and with football. "

Aura and connections around you.

When you retire almost everything is gone, you are left with yourself.

I took into account that after retirement you are irrelevant and in a place of change from high salaries to nothing money, you are not in fashion.

Today I feel more famous than I used to.

The fans do not forget me, during visits to the Mahane Yehuda market and to Jerusalem itself, they stop me, hug and remind me of my days as the soul player of Betar Jerusalem. I am happy about that. "

"Eli Cohen, the sheriff, is a huge coach, I was by his side at the club in the midst of the Chechen crisis that created a human trauma in Betar Jerusalem, a racism that exploded.

Eli Cohen and also Dror Kashtan are giants in training.

With the sheriff, I did the internship, the entry into the depths of football. "

" I am a mental coach, whispering to footballers.

I have a clinic and workshops.

I accompany players like Dor Peretz, Dor Micha, Omri Glazer, Arik Janko and many others, including pilots and senior executives in the economy, how to turn theory into practice, barriers and meetings in removing barriers, breaking out of the field, in spirit and direction to give added value.

I also give a service to the Football Association.

I studied and trained in the subject around the world.

I studied at the art school, Camera Obscura, at the Tut school I received training as a coach and life links. "

The events brought him back to the fall of his brother.

Jean and Dan Telsnikov (Photo: Courtesy of Jean Telsnikov)

We mentioned Brother Dan earlier and it is impossible without going back to him.

In May 2005 he fell in front of terrorists in a paratrooper patrol encounter.

17 years have passed since then, and Telsnikov is still living this story.

"My little brother Dan was a child of love. He studied theater and music and grew up in Nir Galim, enlisted with a crocheted cap for the paratroopers' patrol and was very close to liberation. Meters, fell in defense of the people and the State of Israel and is 20 years old. "

Recent events have brought his feelings back to him and he wants to convey a message: "This is a sad story. Enough of the endless whispers of war. We only want peace in the country."

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