As we already reported, on the eve of the New Year holidays, the coach and vice-president of FC "Volyn" Vitaliy Kvartsyany expressed a desire to speak with mass media representatives. Shortly before that, he and the team returned from Zakarpattia, where the first preparatory training camp of "Volyn" for the second round of the championship took place. \n \nChanges in the lineup are inevitable \n \nSo first the journalists asked Mr. Kvartsyany about the results of the team's visit to Zakarpattia. According to Vitaliy Volodymyrovych, the first training camp was successful. In total, the team "clocked up" 92 kilometers of cross-country running and played one friendly match (a victory was secured over the first league leader "Zakarpattia" with a score of 2:1 - author's note). A number of new players were reviewed, and the upcoming reserves were also checked. In the very near future, the ranks of the region's main team may be reinforced by young graduates of Volyn football: Kots, Shpak, Dyachenko, Malysh, Zhyhulin, Kravchuk, Trefilovskyi, Bobyliev, Chepura, Holiuk. Three players from the Georgian youth team are contenders for the role of useful acquisitions - Davyd Chichvishvili, Lasha Salukvadze and goalkeeper Bisa Kabalayev (a contract with them is planned to be signed already in mid-January), two Serbs Nenad Savich and Sasha Mitich, as well as Cameroonian Ngaha Collins and Belarusian forward Luzhenkov. \n \nThe next point of preparation for the second round will be a training camp in Sevastopol, which will take place from January 11 to 28, and potential newcomers from Ukrainian clubs will join the team. On February 3, the team will head to Bulgaria, and the final fourth training camp will take place in Antalya, if weather or the political situation in Turkey does not interfere with this (Bulgaria and Poland are being considered as backup options). \n \nAs for losses, the question of Vasyl Sachko's transfer to Kyiv "Arsenal" is currently being decided. With 90 percent probability, it can be said that the most experienced player of the Ukrainian top league - Oleh Fedyukov - will end his football career. Most likely, he will devote himself to working with youth, and in the first official match of "Volyn" in Lutsk, a farewell match will be arranged for Fedyukov. A number of experienced players who recently have not lived up to the coaching guidelines and fans' expectations have been put on the transfer list. In this regard, Mytrofanov, Honcharenko and Hashchyn will be looking for clubs for themselves. There are offers from other clubs for Aliyev, Huliyev, Humeniuk, Zherzh and Panas, but all of them remain "Volyn" players for now. \n \nThe escape of Siankam \n \nOnce again, the inter-season period did not pass for "Volyn" without a scandal. This time the anti-hero was the black legionnaire Ernest Siankam, who after the end of the first round fled to Simferopol "Tavria". Vitaliy Kvartsyany commented on this situation as follows: \n \n- Ernest came to us on the basis of an agreement with a firm that offered us African footballers. Under the arrangement, we received these footballers free of charge for a certain period and only had to pay organizational expenses and the footballers' accommodation in Ukraine. If any of the "Volyn" players was suitable, we were supposed to pay the transfer sum for him, and the firm, in turn, was supposed to return the money spent by the club on this footballer. It was on these terms that Siankam ended up in Lutsk. At first he was negligent in performing his duties, loved Ukrainian beer and Volyn girls, although the club management continued to fulfill all the terms of the contract and paid him good money. Siankam declined significantly as a footballer and the "Volyn" coaches were forced to seriously take him in hand. Ernest began to show decent play. Therefore last summer we decided to sign a three-year contract with Siankam. In order to settle accounts with the firm for the footballer, we invited its representative to Lutsk. The sum that "Volyn" was to pay for Ernest was discussed, and an agreement was also reached with the firm about the arrival in Lutsk for review of several more black footballers. \n \nAnd indeed, some time after the departure of the firm's agent Mr. Smith, another Cameroonian arrived in Lutsk. He was memorable perhaps only for his height - 132 centimeters, and then a group of coaches met another Zambian in Kyiv. But he looked as if he had taken part in the Afghan war. It is clear that such "footballers" did not suit us and we began to demand from the firm under the agreement the return of funds for their travel and several days' accommodation in Ukraine. But the firm refused to fulfill its obligations, so we also did not hurry to settle accounts for Siankam. Meanwhile, Ernest continued to gain form and became one of the best in the team. Coaches of various Ukrainian clubs began to take an interest in him, and the head coach of Simferopol "Tavria" Anatoliy Zayaiev showed particular interest. I don't know what happened, but Siankam again began to violate the sports regimen, moreover - at training sessions he deliberately injured first-team players, counting on being kicked out. And after the end of the first round of the 13th championship, Ernest fled to "Tavria" and even managed to sign a contract with this club. Now we demand that the Simferopol side reimburse at least the sum that the firm that offered us Siankam never returned. We have appealed to the PFL with a request to sort out the situation. Before this, our club had already appealed to the professional football league for help several times, but none of the disputed situations (with Hapon, Hrebenozhko, Sokolenko and Poliakov) was resolved in our favor, - Vitaliy Kvartsyany pessimistically concluded the Siankam topic. \n \nKvartsyany for deepening cooperation with the authorities \n \n- In March 2004, the licensing period for top league clubs ends. The management of FC "Volyn" has already completed a large volume of work on developing the club's infrastructure. But there are very many requirements, and we are not yet fully ready for licensing, we still have not managed to finish the stadium construction. Here we largely count on the support of the regional and city authorities, - said Vitaliy Kvartsyany. - We understand that in 2003 the city council could not help us as much as we would have liked. After all, large funds were directed toward worthily representing our city at the All-Ukrainian landscaping competition - roads were repaired, facades of buildings on the central streets of the city were renovated. The club management is especially grateful to the regional council, which last year allocated 300 thousand for stadium construction. The president of FC "Volyn" Vasyl Stoliar and other club leaders look to 2004 with optimism. We believe that in the new year we will raise the level of cooperation and mutual trust between the club and local authorities. \n \nToday, the support of the authorities is especially important for "Volyn", since it finds itself in a rather difficult tournament position and will fight to retain its place in the top league. Among the main rivals in the struggle for survival, Vitaliy Kvartsyany named "Borysfen", "Vorskla", "Zirka", "Illichivets", "Tavria", "Karpaty" and "Kryvbas". Everything will depend on what resources they will have at the start of the second round, which, in the opinion of Vitaliy Volodymyrovych, will be the hardest and most spectacular in the entire history of the Ukrainian championship.