Transcript of the beginning of the meeting:

Vladimir Putin: Good afternoon, Mr Tikhonov. I am happy to meet with you here on your birthday. Happy birthday!

Viktor Tikhonov: Thank you.

Vladimir Putin: I would like you to accept this Certificate of Honour as a token of gratitude for your big contribution to national sports development. This was the formal greeting on behalf of the government. And I would also like you to accept my personal gift. This book is on Russian history. It is called Russia: the Great Road. You contribution to Russia's greatness was quite significant.

Viktor Tikhonov: Thank you very much.

Vladimir Putin: You are welcome. What do you do now, Mr Tikhonov?

Viktor Tikhonov: Gardening, mostly. Sent them all to the dacha, and gone on vacation myself. But it's time to help rebuild CSKA. This club has always been the basis for the national team. I do not believe it's possible to build a basic team there in Ufa. It should be done in Moscow.

Vladimir Putin: They have been showing good results...

Viktor Tikhonov: They have indeed. But they lost the payoffs, and playoffs are very important.

Vladimir Putin: I would like to talk to you about the national team, not only CSKA. I would like to hear your opinion of the current situation and of the work being done. What do you think needs to be done to achieve the results our hockey supporters are expecting?

Viktor Tikhonov: I have just reported on the situation to the Russian Ice Hockey Federation executive committee. Vyacheslav Bykov (head coach of the Russian national hockey team) reported too. The committee members asked us questions. I was the only one in fact who was not satisfied with the team's performance. I said silver was good of course, but something still needs to be done about national hockey. I have a number of proposals for the coaching staff. I was sure that this staff would not do well at the Olympics. With so many excellent players on the team, we lost. The second day, and the third - the team was so strong; the experts here agreed it was the clear frontrunner!

We should have learned some key lessons from the Olympics by now. Foreign players are a big issue. We always saw it as a drawback that their numbers were growing every year: we have 140 foreign players now. I don't think this is right. I told Alexander Medvedev (member of the supervisory board of the Russian Ice Hockey Federation and chairman of the board of directors of SKA St Petersburg) that this was unacceptable because we are not giving our young players a chance.

Vladimir Putin: They won't be able to grow into strong players.

Viktor Tikhonov: I know about your attitude.

Vladimir Putin: I was talking this about football, but it makes no difference actually.

Viktor Tikhonov: No it doesn't. You know where this could lead us? Say one or two of the foreign players fail to turn up - it's a fiasco. The Czech team crushed us although they were certainly not as strong as our team. It was not a question of refereeing. Our team was so strong it should have outperformed everyone. The Canadians had only one wonder boy. The American team was young, and the Swedes only brought three serious players. The Czech team won thanks only to the titanic efforts of Jaromir Jagr. He managed to build up the team. These foreign players we hire, they go and defeat us then. But it doesn't have to be like this! We used to have a backup national team, which I headed with Boris Mayorov. That team produced a lot of good players.

I think all those tournaments our media covered with such enthusiasm.... We did win 15 international tournaments ...without sending young players at all. Other countries brought young players, but we won, and then it turned out we had no reserves...

Vladimir Putin: And no future.

Viktor Tikhonov: Exactly. We have no reserves. It is crucial to build them today. If we don't, we'll lose the team by the 2014 Olympics. We would be lucky to have even one third of the current team left by then.

Also, our coaching staff insists on working for four years. I don't think that's right. Two years is enough. What if they aren't doing well? We end up paying for the damage! As was the case with Guus Hiddink! But we shouldn't have to pay. We need to focus on training new players. This is essential. I was very straightforward about this, even blunt, and must have scared the committee members a bit. Bykov had no retort. And the media didn't print it...

Vladimir Putin: They will now. (Chuckles) Thank you.