Alexei Mikhailichenko

C

Chris01

Well-Known Member
No not linking him with the manager role....


Watching some old videos of Rangers and noticed this guy was quite prominent in our midfield for a few seasons back in the day.

Just before my time really - what's the Bears memories of him?

Good player? Any game you remember him standing out?
 
He never had the impact he should have, mainly due to being played out of position but he also wasn’t the fittest or the most driven which is a big part of the reason Sampdoria sold him without him hardly playing for them.

There’s was no doubting his ability though.
 
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Calvinist said:
Scottish record signing at the time .

On announcing him signing , it was reported Celtic were buying second hand flood light bulbs from hampden .

Helped set up our equaliser v Marseille but sold a goal against Brugge
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How much was he bought for?

Too lazy to google haha
 
Central Midfielder for the USSR. One of the Best teams in the world at the time.

Walter buys him and plays him left wing. Baffling

Remember his goal at the Pedo Dome on NYD 1994. Scored the 3rd when we were 3-0 up after just 12 crazy mins.

Also his tackle on Abede Pele against Marseille in the Champions League game at Ibrox 92/93 season. He crunched him on touchline won the ball fairly and crossed in for Gary McSwegan to score that 18 year header to make it 2-1 and start an incredible journey in Europe.
 
He fell asleep on the bench at Tynecastle, not just closing his eyes briefly, properly fell asleep :D

He loved to munch on crisps, his pre match meal was filet steak.

Supremely talented player but a lazy big bugger, he was here for a pay day.
 
Think it’s mainly covered above.

Classy but lazy centre mid, who we played on the left cos he was left footed.
Think like a top class, not fat Charlie Adam, and you wouldn’t be far off.

As said, criminally under utilised by us, but perhaps his attitude wasn’t as good as it could have been!
 
Jimmy the Gent said:
He fell asleep on the bench at Tynecastle, not just closing his eyes briefly, properly fell asleep :D

He loved to munch on crisps, his pre match meal was filet steak.

Supremely talented player but a lazy big bugger, he was here for a pay day.
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If anyone has that picture I'd love it as my profile picture haha
 
Won the league 3 years running in 3 different countries

1989/90 Russian League with Dynamo Kiev
1990/91 Italian League with Sampdoria
1991/92 Scottish League with Rangers

As other have a talented player but lazy as well however he wasn't played in his normal position
 
The game that jumps out for me was against Motherwell at home. It might’ve been a cup tie but they took the lead before Miko scored a double to win the game.
 
Captained 3 different international teams too.

USSR
CIS (Commonwealth of Independent States)
Ukraine
 
Thing with Miko was that Dynamo Kiev was his team.

He left them purely to make money but I don’t think had the heart or the application to really make a go of things at another club, despite plenty of ability
 
Cracking player but wrong for Scottish football due to his lack of work rate.
His best position was attacking centre mid but we played 442 in those days and with McCall and Ferguson in midfield, plus Super and Hateley up front we had to move him wide left when he was nowhere near as effective. Still had his moments though, I always remember him scoring at the piggery one next year when we pumped them 4-2.
 
govwalker said:
Central Midfielder for the USSR. One of the Best teams in the world at the time.

Walter buys him and plays him left wing. Baffling

Remember his goal at the Pedo Dome on NYD 1994. Scored the 3rd when we were 3-0 up after just 12 crazy mins.

Also his tackle on Abede Pele against Marseille in the Champions League game at Ibrox 92/93 season. He crunched him on touchline won the ball fairly and crossed in for Gary McSwegan to score that 18 year header to make it 2-1 and start an incredible journey in Europe.
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You're thinking of the equaliser when Hateley scored....his cross for McSwegan's goal came from a Durrant pass.
 
Very skilful player. He could meg a mermaid! Could score spectacular goals too.
 
In the same way Walter played Steven wide right he played Miko wide left. Any player he felt didn’t have a high enough work rate or was too light weight he played him on the wing. Did this with Davis too.

My heroes as a kid were Walters, Miko then Laudrup.

Never felt he was here for a payday, that tag went to Kuznetsov for me.
 
As has been posted above, my dad always said:

“We signed the captain of Russia who was one of the best midfielders in the world...

...and played him wide left”
 
There was a story of him being told to warm up and him doing something ridiculous and him saying “miko warm now” was there not?
 
Smkz23 said:
He tried to chip the goalkeeper from the half way line on his debut v Falkirk at a Brockville.
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I remember that, he hit the bar did he not?
he was good, should have been better, just did not want to try hard enough imo.
 
Very good footballer and like many foreigners we've had quickly developed a cult following.

I personally found him hugely frustrating and lazy at times. Never liked the 'dirty' side of the game, ie, tackling, tracking back etc, but you could argue with the likes of McCall and Ferguson etc he didn't need to.
 
Never a winger but Walter decided he had a great left peg and so had to play wide. Waster out there. Was a mood player and when he wanted to shine no-one in SPL could get the ball off him.
 
rez1872 said:
In the same way Walter played Steven wide right he played Miko wide left. Any player he felt didn’t have a high enough work rate or was too light weight he played him on the wing. Did this with Davis too.

My heroes as a kid were Walters, Miko then Laudrup.

Never felt he was here for a payday, that tag went to Kuznetsov for me.
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This is often a stick to beat Walter Smith with perhaps a grain of truth, however it should be noted that even Ferguson at Aberdeen and for a while at Old Trafford favoured this approach. Think Cooper and Simpson at Aberdeen, Robson/Ince at Man Utd. One of his earliest attempts at introducing a more flair option Juan Sebastian Veron was hardly a roaring success.
 
archimedes said:
You're thinking of the equaliser when Hateley scored....his cross for McSwegan's goal came from a Durrant pass.
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Yes Sir I stand corrected. His tackle set up Durranty to cross for the equaliser. His slide rule pass thru the defence to Miko set up the cross for McSweegan goal :cool:
 
rez1872 said:
In the same way Walter played Steven wide right he played Miko wide left. Any player he felt didn’t have a high enough work rate or was too light weight he played him on the wing. Did this with Davis too.

My heroes as a kid were Walters, Miko then Laudrup.

Never felt he was here for a payday, that tag went to Kuznetsov for me.
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I never had this impression with Kuznetzov. I remember watching his first game for us against St Mirren and thinking that we had signed the best central defender in Europe at the time, he was absolutely immense. Badly injured his knee in his next game (St Johnstone away I think) and took a long time to get back, but I don’t remember any suggestion that he was exaggerating the injury or not doing all he could.
 
he played centre mid-field since the age of 8 came to Rangers played left wingg says it all
 
Referring to Mikhalichenko, I think that it might have been Ally who said that it was really good to play alongside big name players.
 
immortal7 said:
sure it was Findlay that said he 'warmed up with a hairdryer', some player.
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Story I heard was that they were telling Miko to get warmed up in the dressing room when he was sitting about (while John Brown was hyperventilating in to a brown paper bag and Ian Ferguson was headbutting mirrors in the changing rooms) and Alexi grabbed the hairdryer, ran it up and down himself a couple of times and said "Miko warmed up" and sat back down.

I don't care if it's not true. It's a fucking cracking story.
 
Not a great trainer but great player,one story at the time on the training ground.
Archie-“come on Miko more beep beep”
Miko -“No beep beep left Archie”
 
rangeral said:
Won the league 3 years running in 3 different countries

1989/90 Russian League with Dynamo Kiev
1990/91 Italian League with Sampdoria
1991/92 Scottish League with Rangers

As other have a talented player but lazy as well however he wasn't played in his normal position
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Did he not win Olympic gold or am I thinking of another Eastern block player?
 
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