da wazamba： As we mark this week’s investigation into the influx of foreign players into English football, the first of our ‘Whatever happened to’ series begins with the first Russian to make an impact at Stamford Bridge during the Premier League era.
da pinup bet： There was a point during Dimitri Kharine’s career as a Chelsea footballer when he could quite easily have been mistaken for Bonnie Tyler in her music video for ‘Total Eclipse of the Heart’, such was the Russian goalkeeper’s penchant for wild barnets, presumably styled with hairspray, combined with Chelsea’s oddly coloured goalkeeping tops.
The sadness for Kharine is that his most memorable moment in one of the aforementioned bizarrely coloured jerseys came during his club’s 4-0 humbling at the hands of Manchester United in the 1994 FA Cup final. Diving each and every way during a cataclysmic second half for the Blues, Kharine is remembered for his wacky choice of tracksuit bottoms – a mainstay of the player’s wardrobe, regardless of the time of year.
The former USSR goalkeeper, a pub quiz gem, having played for three separate national sides during his career, was often blighted by injury. His most serious instance came during a Premier League fixture against Sheffield Wednesday when he fell awkwardly under a corner and ruptured his cruciate ligament.
The injury and subsequent rehab cost Kharine the chance to play in Chelsea’s run to the FA Cup final and redemption as his team mates saw off Middlesborough to capture the club’s first trophy in 26 years.
In truth Kharine’s career would have been misrepresented by cup success, as so many of his years at Stamford Bridge were tinged with brave yet futile efforts at a time when he was the only Russian remotely involved at the club, and acquiring Scott Minto for £775,000 from Charlton was considered big business.
The Russian stopper was signed from CSKA Moscow in 1992 for £400,000, playing sporadically for the remainder of the season, Kevin Hitchcock maintaining a place between the sticks. His biggest campaign in terms of appearances came the following year, as the West London club complemented a solid mid-table finish in the Premier League with the FA Cup final berth against league champions, United.
The Blues enjoyed a remarkable run in the following season’s Cup Winners’ Cup – a competition that the club would go on to have a love affair with over coming seasons. Eventual defeat in the semi-finals to Spanish outfit, Real Zaragoza, spoiled hopes of an all-English final with London rivals Arsenal, however marked the high point of the eccentric goalkeeper’s spell in English football.
The following season marked the beginning of a frustrating spell for Kharine – after a reasonable first half of the season, the Russian spent much of the early part of 1996 out of the team, missing the Blues’ FA Cup semi-final re-match with United.
After recovering from his cruciate ligament injury suffered at the start of the 1996-97 campaign, keeping him out of action for almost a year, Kharine was relegated to a squad player as Dutchman Ed de Goey, established himself as the Chelsea number one.
As opportunities became even scarcer under Gianluca Vialli, Kharine found a sympathetic home when he moved to the SPL and Celtic on a free transfer. The Russian’s luck with injuries worsened with the shift to Parkhead – limited to only 11 league appearances over a three-year spell, it was clear that Kharine’s career at the top level was over.
A two season experiment at non-league Hornchurch ended at the culmination of the 2003-04 season and with his family firmly established in Britain, the former Chelsea stopper moved into coaching with Luton Town, working as a goalkeeping coach to this day.
Kharine was interviewed earlier this season by Sky television as part of the build up to Luton’s second round FA Cup clash with Charlton. Remarkably, the Bonnie Tyler do certainly remains in place, although the patented black tracksuit bottoms were, sadly, nowhere to be seen.
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