After the match of the 27th round of the RPL with Lokomotiv, the owner of the Moscow Spartak Leonid Fedun announced the imminent appointment of Shamil Gazizov to the post of general director. In this post, he will replace Thomas Zorn, who was recently dismissed from his post. However, the reasons for the resignation were not named.
“This is our inner kitchen. We (Zorn. - RT ) parted in a good way. I am grateful to him for all the good that he has done. Perhaps these are all comments. I can say that this week Shamil Gazizov will start working as a general director, ”Fedun said during a conversation with reporters.
Thus, the rumors that appeared immediately after the departure of Zorn were confirmed. Then the press said that the current general director of Ufa is the main contender for a vacancy in the leadership of the ten-time champion of Russia. Gazizov’s main competitor was considered the former vice president of Monaco, Vadim Vasiliev, and some media even reported that he was ready to accept Spartak’s offer. But in the end, everything turned out differently.
In recent years, “Ufa” has been, if not the standard of the Russian club, living within its means and earning from the sale of its own players, then at least a very good example of this. With a relatively small budget of 1 billion rubles (about € 14 million), the team has been quite stable in the RPL over the past years, and two years ago it almost made its way into the Europa League for the first time. In qualification, the Slovenian Domjale and Luxembourg Progress were successively defeated, and only the Scottish Rangers under the leadership of the legendary Stephen Gerrard were able to stop the Ufa team.
In the current championship, Ufa is also fighting for sixth place, giving it the right to qualify for the Europa League. True, only if Zenit will win the Cup of Russia. Moreover, in the dispute over this line, the team is ahead of Spartak, which over the past year has spent more than three budgets of the townspeople on a re-bid campaign. According to Transfermarkt, in the summer of 2019, the red and white spent € 40.5 million on the acquisition of Guus Thiel, Alex Kral, Jordan Larsson and others, and more recently they paid another € 4.5 million for the purchase of the contract of Alexander Sobolev.
Explaining the choice in favor of Gazizov, Fedun focused on the ability of his former club to achieve maximum results with minimal funding. According to the owner of Spartak, this is especially useful given the current economic situation in the country and the world.
“Do you know what progress Ufa has? This is a club that, with a minimum budget, can succeed, conducts proper breeding work. What we need. Due to the devaluation of the ruble and the coronavirus, Spartak lost 15–20% of the budget. It's like a curse, ”Fedun admitted.
Thus, the owner of a ten-time Russian champion hinted that in the coming years he is unlikely to be able to spend large sums on the purchase of expensive athletes, as a result of which the club will have to learn to squeeze the most out of what is available. At the same time, Fedun hinted that he was still expecting a significant improvement in performance, because the budget of Spartak significantly exceeds the one that Ufa has.
“And who now, except for one club, is not in the constrained financial conditions? All. But the budgets of Ufa and Spartak differ five to six times, and the results are similar. This means that our potential is five to six times higher, ”said Fedun.
Gazizov himself has already commented on the new appointment. The functionary is aware that working at Spartak is a big challenge and responsibility, but he assured that he had time to think about it.
“After several meetings with Fedun, I understood everything. I understood what powers and tasks will be. I am sure everything will be fine, ”the Championship quotes Gazizova.
At first glance, the invitation to Gazizov seems to be the only right decision of the Spartak boss. In Ufa, he proved that under limited conditions he is able to build teams, albeit not at the top level, but high enough to fight for a place in the upper half of the table. In addition, the specialist understands the recruitment and can not only profitably buy, but also sell football players. But in the capital, the functionary will have to work in a completely different environment, which can play a key role.
Firstly, we are talking about Spartak fans who see their favorite club exclusively at the top of the RPL standings. They are not satisfied with the struggle, not only for the sixth, but even for fourth place. Yes, then the question is, why do fans react relatively calmly to the current state of affairs? The reason lies in the failure of Oleg Kononov and the restructuring of the team. People understand that after this, Domenico Tedesco simply did not have the opportunity to save this season, so they give him and the team as a whole a serious discount. But if next year the state of affairs does not change, then another rebellion may well begin in the stands. In 2019, the atmosphere around the ten-time champion was so negative that it seriously affected the results.
Secondly, there is a high probability that in the future Gazizov will not only decide to rebuild the composition for himself, but may well refuse the services of the current coaching staff. Given the fact that many fans are very warm about Tedesco, this can lead to another serious unrest in a fan environment. Especially in light of the fact that the current mentor of Ufa is called as his successor.
At the moment, Vadim Evseev has become famous primarily for his defensive scheme of the game and claims that goals in football are not the main thing. But if in Ufa they reacted calmly to this, then in Spartak one should not expect such a reaction. The local torsida is unlikely to accept such a philosophy and begin to criticize the specialist. It is enough to recall the example of Alexander Starkov, who tried to achieve the result in a similar way 15 years ago.
Thirdly, in the words of Fedun himself there is already a statement that can speak of high expectations from the work of Gazizov. According to the club owner, since Spartak’s budget is five to six times larger than Ufa’s, then the potential is much higher. But in football, such relationships are not always reflected on the field. If the owner will immediately expect from the new CEO the victory in the RPL, then his resignation may become as prompt as the dismissal of Zorn.
It must be understood that Gazizov worked at Ufa for eight years and the team did not always fight for sixth place. In 2015 and 2016, she took the 12th line, and a year ago she completely finished only third from the end, which is why she was forced to assert her right to play in the RPL in butt games. And the reason for this is largely the breeding model, designed for the acquisition of talented players and their subsequent sale. In anticipation of the unsuccessful season, the “townspeople” broke up with Ivan Oblyakov and Dmitry Stotsky, and Igor Diveev was leased to CSKA.
In Spartak, Gazizov will have significantly more opportunities not only in terms of attracting, but also retaining athletes. Fedun is unlikely to want to strengthen his competitors, so “exit” transfers will be allowed exclusively to foreign clubs. This should positively affect the results of the team, because it will not be forced to sell players literally on demand. In this regard, the functionary has serious potential in the capital, but only if they will not push him and prevent him from doing his job.
A lot depends on Fedun himself and how calmly he will relate to possible failures of Gazizov at his post and how much credit of trust will be allocated to the newly-made CEO. In the summer of 2019, the owner of Spartak assured that he had serious plans for Zorn and assigned the German four years to work in the club.
“Therefore, we picked up a promising young guy, Thomas (Zorn. - RT ), you all saw. This is a man with a strong European mentality, with German punctuality. He has carte blanche to work right up to the election (for the presidency of Spartak, due on June 1, 2023. - RT ). If everything goes well, he will become one of the candidates. He has such ambitions, ”Fedun told Sport Express.