Born in Vilnius, which was then part of Poland, Polakow's family will have moved to Gdańsk during the Polish population transfers.
After failing to become a footballer, Polakow became a football manager at the age of 24, starting with small village and town teams of Jedność Gościcino in Gościcino and Grom Wejherowo in Wejherowo.
He helped Zawisza get promoted to the I liga for the first time in their history, but wasn't in place for their first season of top flight football.
In 1974 he managed Bałtyk Gdynia, ŁKS Łódź in 1975, and Lechia Gdańsk in 1976, with whom he helped to finish runners-up with in the II liga.
After another break, Polakow returned to management for the final time with Bałtyk Gdynia in 1994,[5] and finally once more with Arka Gdynia, being part of the 1994–95 season when Arka was in turmoil, having five different managers over the course of the season.