Andrei Kanchelskis

Football player infobox
playername = Andrei Kanchelskis


fullname = Andrei Antanasovich Kanchelskis
nickname = KanKan
dateofbirth = birth date and age|df=yes|1969|1|23
cityofbirth = Kirovograd
countryofbirth = USSR
height = height|ft=5|in=10
currentclub = FC Nosta Novotroitsk (Sporting Director)
position = Winger (retired)
years = 1988-1990
1990-1991
1991-1995
1995-1996
1996-1998
1998-2002
2001
2002
2003
2004-2005
2006
clubs = Dynamo Kyiv
Shakhtar Donetsk
Manchester United
Everton
Fiorentina
Rangers
→ Manchester City (loan)
Southampton
Al-Hilal
Saturn Moscow Oblast
Krylia Sovetov
Total
caps(goals) = 022 0(1)
021 0(3)
123 (23)
052 (20)
026 0(2)
076 (13)
010 0(0)
001 0(0)
003 0(0)
032 0(3)
022 0(1)
388 (71)
nationalyears = 1989-1991
1992
1992-1998
nationalteam = USSR
CIS
Russia
nationalcaps(goals) = 017 0(3)
006 0(0)
036 0(4)
pcupdate = 12:00, 12 February 2007 (UTC)
ntupdate = 13:20, 7 December 2006 (UTC)

Andrei Antanasovich Kanchelskis ( _ru. Андрей Антанасович Канчельскис) is a retired Soviet and Russian football midfielder of Lithuanian and Ukrainian origin. He played for a number of teams, most notably Manchester United, Everton and Rangers. Kanchelskis is the only player in history to have scored in all 3 of the Glasgow, Merseyside and Manchester local derbies.Fact|date=March 2008

Club career

Early career

Kanchelskis started his career with Dynamo Kyiv in 1988 and then went to Shakhtar Donetsk in 1990.

Manchester United

He signed for Manchester United in March 1991 and made his debut for United on 11 May 1991 against Crystal Palace - the final game of the 1990-91 season, which United lost 3-0 at Selhurst Park.

In 1991-92, Kanchelskis enjoyed many first team opportunities and helped United win the Football League Cup, although they were beaten to the Football League title by Leeds United.

In 1992-93, Kanchelskis established on the right side of midfield, being a key part of the team who won the first ever Premier League title.

1993-94 brought more success as United won the Premier League title and the FA Cup, and Kanchelskis was now United's first choice right-sided midfielder, and their first "proper" right-winger since Steve Coppell in the early 1980s, as the previous first-choice player in that position - Bryan Robson - was more of a right-sided midfielder.

Kanchelskis was United's leading goalscorer in the 1994-95 season with 15 goals in 32 games (14 of them in the Premier League), but missed the final few weeks of the season due to a hernia and during that time United surrendered the league title to Blackburn and the FA Cup to Everton. United were also without the suspended Eric Cantona (who was banned for eight months after he assaulted a spectator against Crystal Palace in late January), while Andy Cole was cup-tied for the FA Cup games.

Kanchelsksis had played 145 times for United and scored 48 goals in the space of four years, but he had fallen out with manager Alex Ferguson earlier in the season and felt that they could no longer work together. He was promptly put on the transfer list in early July.

Everton

Bryan Robson made an unsuccessful bid to sign Kanchelskis for Middlesbrough when it was announced that United would be selling him, and there was also speculation that he would sign for Liverpool. In the end, Kanchelskis was sold to Everton just after the start of the 1995-96 season. His first season with the club saw him score 16 goals to cap a season of excellent performances which made him arguably the best right-winger in the country. He rapidly gained cult status with Everton fans especially after his two goals against rivals Liverpool at Anfield and his performances helped the club to a sixth place finish, their best finish since 1988, though it wasn't quite enough to secure a UEFA Cup place. Before Kanchelskis had been able to reproduce that form in his second season he was sold mid-way through for £8million to Fiorentina, and it was to be six years before Everton recovered anything like the form they had been showing while Kanchelskis was in the side.

Later career

At Fiorentina he again struggled to find his best form and later went on to play for Rangers (1998-2002), Manchester City (2001) (on loan), Southampton (2003), Al-Hilal (2003), FC Saturn Moscow (2004-2005), and Krylia Sovetov (2006). Whilst playing over 70 games for the Ibrox side, he only showed glimpses of his earlier career success, and found himself yet again on the fringes of the first team.

After leaving Krylia Sovetov he was without a contract and despite expressing interest in continuing playing, he retired on 12 February 2007 his last competitive game being on 25 November 2006 in Round 30 of the Russian League. [http://rsssf.com/tablesr/rus06det.html] [http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/6354263.stm]

Honours

* USSR Top League Champion 1990
* USSR Cup 1990
* UEFA Supercup 1991
* English Premier League Champion 1992–93, 1993–94
* FA Cup 1994
* League Cup 1992
* Charity Shield 1993, 1994, 1995
* Scottish Premier League Champion 1999, 2000
* Scottish Cup 1999, 2000, 2002
* Scottish League Cup 1999, 2002

International career

Although Kanchelskis was born in Ukraine and his heritage is Lithuanian, he chose to represent Russia. He was capped 23 times for the Soviet Union national team, scoring three goals, and 36 times for Russia, scoring five goals. After leading a player boycott against head coach Pavel Sadyrin and therefore missing the 1994 FIFA World Cup, the only senior major international tournaments Kanchelskis played in were Euro 92 and Euro 96.

Controversy

In his autobiography, Managing My Life, Sir Alex Ferguson alleged that he was offered a £40,000 bribe to sell Kanchelskis. When this was refused, he claimed that death threats were made to Martin Edwards, then chairman of Manchester United. There was no suggestion that Everton or Kanchelskis were aware of either the bribe or the threats. [http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sport/football/409526.stm BBC report] .

Post-playing Career

In 2007 Kanchelskis became the sporting director of Russian 1st division football club FC Nosta Novotroitsk.

External links

*soccerbase|4047|Andrei Kanchelskis
* [http://www.rsssf.com/miscellaneous/kanchelskis-intlg.html Andrei Kanchelskis on RSSSF-site]
* [http://www.legioner.kulichki.com/index.php?id=6&lang=en&play=39&sort=1 Kanchelskis: all goals in career]