St. Petersburg Travel Guide
easy, detailed, ask a local
Weather in Saint Petersburg
Gismeteo Gismeteo
2-week forecast
Navigation
  • Ask local & About us
  • Basics
    • Saint Petersburg Tourist Information. Basic Facts
    • Main Historical And Geographical Facts About St. Petersburg
  • Travel tips
    • Transportation
    • Where to stay
    • Where to eat and drink
    • Useful to know
    • Interviews
  • How to get to
    • Gatchina
    • Pushkin
    • Peterhof
    • Pulkovo
    • Valaam
    • Veliky Novgorod
    • Vyborg
  • Things to do
    • Entertainment
    • Museums
    • Sports
    • Theatres
    • Walking routes
    • Shopping
    • Excursions
You are here : Home > News > Gardiner-Smith: Playing In Russia Is Challenge For Me

Gardiner-Smith: Playing In Russia Is Challenge For Me


Soccer

A new FC Zenit St. Petersburg player Jacob Gabriel Gardiner-Smith whose coming to the club surprised many football fans, including The St. Petersburg Travel Guide, gave his first interview in Russia (and in his career) with the Championat.com sports website. He denied that his father provided him any assistance in negotiating with Zenit, said he sees coming here as a challenge and expressed hope he would one day play for the Zenit’s first team and the England’s national team.

Jacob Gabriel Gardiner-Smith
We highlighted some points from the interview we found interesting.

Jacob, as the interviewer wrote, speaks Russian rather fluently, can order food at a restaurant, talk to teammates and so on, in spite of having learned just for 6 months. He’s being helped by his older brother who teaches Russian language and literature at Oxford. The interview was in English, though.

He uses public transport to get around, sometimes someone of teammates gives him a lift.

He explained choosing Russia for football career by his wish to live in another country, get familiar with other cultures, try another kind of football and have trainings with foreign coaches. He’s been in love with Russia since his childhood, the country where his family has a lot of friends. Gardiner first came to Russia, St. Petersburg, when he was only five years old, and the only things to remember from that visit are cold and snow, lots of snow.

«When I started to play football I decided to do it at a place where I feel like at home. Russia is a good country for it», he said in an interview.

St. Petersburg is, perhaps, the most beautiful city which he has visited. In Russia people are very friendly, here one has more chances to get help than in London. Gardiner tried vodka, but just because of curiosity.

He trained with Spartak Moscow and CSKA, but at that time he was too young to sign a contract. The question whether he wanted to stay with these teams he answers that he is at Zenit now and doesn’t want to talk about the past.

How come he is in St. Petersburg now? It’s totally about his own decision and his agent’s business, his father, Barry Gardiner, the Labour’s shadow secretary, has nothing to do with it. «My family has never told me what to do», he said. And he doesn’t have any interest in politics.

Last, but not least. He arrived for the interview in time. Not that a very rare thing in Russia, but coming late is also rather widely seen. Well, a true gentleman’s style, good thing to start.

Share this with your friends:
Tags:
FC Zenit , football , people , sport
Category: News 08.03.2017
You may be interested in
St. Petersburg Sells Coca-Cola From Iran And Afghanistan
Pulkovo Airport Launched Winter Schedule 2022/2023
Cruises From St. Petersburg To Veliky Novgorod To Be Launched In Season 2022
Public Holidays And Days Off In Russia In 2022
Railway Service Between St. Petersburg And Helsinki Resumed
Five-Star Wawelberg Hotel Launched In St. Petersburg Close To Hermitage
  • Travel Tips
    • Interviews
    • Transportation
    • Useful to know
    • Where to eat and drink
    • Where to stay
  • How to get to
    • Peterhof
    • Pulkovo
    • Pushkin
    • Gatchina
    • Valaam
    • Veliky Novgorod
    • Vyborg
  • Things to do
    • Entertainment
    • Museums
    • Sports
    • Theatres
    • Walking routes
    • Shopping
    • Excursions
  • Basics
    • Main Historical And Geographical Facts About St. Petersburg
    • Saint Petersburg Tourist Information. Basic Facts
    • Home
    • Ask local
    • News
    • Posts
    • Sitemap
    • Privacy Policy
    We are in social:  
    St.Petersburg Travel Guide © 2023. All Rights Reserved.
    When using the materials of the St. Petersburg Travel Guide the hyperlink to https://guidetopetersburg.com is obligatory.