Roman Pavlyuchenko: My English was bad, but still better than that of certain Spurs players

Former Tottenham striker Roman Pavlyuchenko revealed the linguistic problems he encountered during his time at the London club in an exclusive interview to Sports.ru.

«Were there Spurs players who struggled more than you with the English language?»

«There were some.»

«Who?»

«I won’t name them. But some were in the side several years before me, and still couldn’t speak the language. I don’t know why Redknapp would always single me out as a bad English-speaker.»

«Why did you find it so difficult?»

«Because my environment was Russian-speaking: friends from Russia, Russian television. Perhaps if I’d immersed myself in the English-speaking environment, it would have been easier».

«What was your most memorable chat with Redknapp about?»

«We didn’t really talk much outside work… Actually, one time I was in Moscow and journalists asked me about him: «Why is his face so red, is he a drinker?» I replied: «I don’t know, maybe.» But later he came up to me and said: «Roman, actually, I don’t drink alcohol at all.»»