THE legacy of Valery Lobanovsky lives on in Ukrainian football yet it has taken three of his fondest disciples to even come close to the great man's imperious expectations.

A true footballing pioneer of the 1970s and 1980s, it is fitting that a trio of his proudest creations - such was his scientific approach to development - are now the standard-bearers for the perennial dark horses from Eastern Europe. Just as Lobanovsky had a penchant for blindfold five-a-sides, and punishing players with shifts as groundsmen, so discipline is the key to their revival.

Oleg Blokhin's social principles may be stuck in a 70s time warp, judging by his racist remarks condemning the multi-cultural effects capitalism has had on the Ukrainian league, yet his legendary status has helped him survive many a personal and professional crisis.

A depression engulfed the Ukrainian international scene after Lobanovsky's death, fittingly in the dugout of his beloved Dinamo Kiev, and perpetuated throughout the grim, uninspiring regime of Leonid Buriak.

But Blokhin, a former European footballer of the year, is the centrepiece of a triumvirate who had, during two separate eras, realised the old man's vision for club and, after a fashion, country in the form of the Kiev-dominant former USSR national side.

Flanking him, are Govan's great enigmas from behind the Iron Curtain.

Oleg Kuznetsov, a sumptuous sweeper consigned to the role of back-up to the likes of Dave McPherson, John Brown and even Brian Reid during an injury-ruined Rangers career, is the tactical brain of the new operation.

Like so many of the countrymen who headed west in search of fame and fortune when communism collapsed, Kuznetsov discovered just how unique an environment Lobanovsky created in Kiev.

A diet of reserve football with Rangers was followed by a disastrous season in Israel with Maccabi Haifa. He returned home and found himself working as a bank clerk before reuniting with old friends to begin a coaching with CSKA Kiev.

Meanwhile, his comrade, Alexei Mikhailichenko, was starting an improbable reinvention. Effectively retiring at the end of his Rangers career, after an ill-fated trial period at Crystal Palace, he was reunited with Lobanovsky and taken under his wing.

To those at his old club, the prospect of Mikhailichenko, the man who once turned on the dressing room hairdryer on a chilly winter's morning when urged to warm up, turning to management was as likely as getting him to track back and defend.

Therein lies the magic of Lobanovksy. Of all the players painstakingly cultivated in the Kiev laboratory, Mikhailichenko was a particular favourite. His description as "the perfect footballer" by Lobanovksy was based on extensive physiological and physical testing.

Fast-tracked to assistant at Kiev by an ailing Lobanovsky, it was Mikhailichenko who had the unenviable task of replacing his mentor in 2002 after his death aged 63, to a brain haemorrhage.

"I did not look for excuses but the tragedy of the loss of our great coach affected the team, " said the new Kiev manager, after Shakhtar Donestsk broke a decade's domestic dominance.

Lobanovsky's state funeral, meanwhile, attracted 200,000 mourners, among them the hundreds of players influenced, directly or otherwise, by his unique style.

How, then, do you replace a genius? With patience. Blokhin, like Mikhailichenko, has survived calls for his head with the Ukraine, post-Lobanovsky, in freefall in the world rankings, lagging behind near neighbours, Russia and Poland, and seemingly suffering from a sporting crisis of faith since the demise of their leader.

But Ukraine were the first European side to qualify for the World Cup in Germany after a vintage campaign that has helped them rise to 41st in FIFA's spurious world order.

Now with Andriy Shevchenko determined to prove that, at 29, his best years are not behind him after agreeing a GBP30.8m transfer to Chelsea, there is growing hope that they can, at least, proceed past the group stages.

In Andrey Rusol, a commanding centre back from Dnipro Dnipropetrovsk, and Anatoliy Tymoshchyuk, Shakhtar's fearsome midfield general, Blokhin is blessed with an accomplished core.

Signs of regeneration are deep rooted. The Ukrainian under-17s upset the hosts, Germany, en route to the Youth Championships while Mikhailichenko's under-21s qualified for yesterday's European Championships final against Netherlands.

For Blokhin, Kuznetsov and even Mikhailichenko, the challenge now is to spearhead a new revolution.

In 20 years as keymaster of Kiev, Lobanovsky won 13 championships, 10 domestic cups, two European Cup Winners Cups, as well as taking the USSR to the final of the 1988 European Championship.

Shevchenko, speaking at his funeral, recalled him as "my father, my teacher". His influence will be felt in Germany and beyond.