Unsuccessful transfer campaign and a possible conflict with the management: what could be the reason for Gazizov's departure from Spartak

On Tuesday, December 8, it was officially announced that Shamil Gazizov was leaving the post of general director of the Moscow "Spartak".

Rumors of resignation have been circulating over the past weeks, but finally materialized at the end of the 17th round of the RPL.

At the same time, it became known who exactly will take the place of the functionary in the management of the club, as well as the name of the person who will henceforth be responsible for the transfer policy.

“Football club“ Spartak Moscow ”has decided to terminate cooperation with General Director Shamil Gazizov and wishes him success in his new football projects.

By the decision of the board of directors, the management of Moscow "Spartak" is entrusted to the managing director Yevgeny Melezhikov.

The main tasks of Evgeny Vladimirovich will be to improve the efficiency of the office divisions and implement investment infrastructure programs, including those dedicated to the 100th anniversary of the club.

Sports director Dmitry Popov will be in charge of managing the sports block, forming a transfer strategy, as well as building a vertical of interaction between Spartak teams of all ages - from the academy to the base, ”the official statement says.

Gazizov became the seventh general director to work during the reign of Leonid Fedun, as well as the owner of a kind of anti-record for the duration of stay in the club.

The functionary was appointed on July 10 and dismissed 151 days later.

For comparison, until now the least of all in "Spartak" was Thomas Zorn, who held his post for 14 months.

And although Gazizov's resignation was almost beyond doubt, the decision of Spartak to end the relationship before the end of the first part of the season seemed strange.

Earlier in the media there was information that Shamil would at least be allowed to work out before the match of the 19th round with Zenit, after which they would draw conclusions about his future.

But apparently, the contradictions between management and the CEO turned out to be so serious that it was decided not to wait until mid-December.

Fedun's decision may seem impulsive, but the head of the red-and-white people had enough reasons to be dissatisfied with Gazizov's activities.

One of them was an unsuccessful transfer campaign, as a result of which Spartak was almost left without strengthening in key positions.

But one of the most important points for the club in Shamil's resume was his ability to complete the squad with high quality and inexpensively.

None of Gazizov's signatures has yet justified itself.

Aleksandr Kokorin, although he became a kind of glove thrown to Zenit, has not yet revealed himself in Spartak.

Ten matches played, three points on the "goal + pass" system, as well as more than 60 missed days due to various injuries are not very convincing figures for a football player with a salary of about € 3 million per year and signed with a bonus of € 4 million, according to information MASS MEDIA.

Oston Urunov is also not an important element in Tedesco's constructions, but he gets much less.

He entered the field in just eight games, scored one goal, and now there are rumors about his possible transfer to Rubin.

Moreover, the former CEO himself actually admitted his own failure with this acquisition, admitting that already in the winter Urunov could go on lease or finally leave the team.

However, the main failure can be called the situation with the search for a right-wing defender.

Back in the summer, it became clear that Nikolai Rasskazov was not included in Tedesco's plans, and Roman Zobnin felt uncomfortable in the role of a lateral.

In this regard, Gazizov organized a large-scale search for a performer of this role, which became one of the most discussed in Russia.

With a difference of several days, fans could hear about how Spartak failed in negotiations with this or that player, which was unlikely to benefit both the team and the CEO.

Kenny Lala, Kenny Tete, Brandon Soppi, Serge Aurier and Elseid Husai have refused to move to Moscow in turn, until an agreement with Victor Moses has been reached.

Yes, a Nigerian is a high-status, qualified football player, and over time he will probably get in shape and look more impressive.

But in the fall, Moses only vaguely resembled himself a model for Chelsea and Inter, and his signing could hardly be considered a success.

In addition, Viktor's invitation was only a temporary solution to the problem, because he went to Spartak on loan.

Consequently, in the summer, the club will have to decide whether to buy out the 29-year-old defender or start looking for a replacement.

On the one hand, Gazizov does not deserve serious criticism for such an additional application campaign.

If only for the reason that, according to the press, only € 1.3 million was spent on it. But the question is whether Fedun wanted the red-and-white to be engaged in economy in anticipation of the super-intense season 2020/21, during which will the consequences of the pandemic be more and more affected?

In the summer, there were rumors that the owner of Spartak was ready to allocate € 40-50 million to strengthen the squad.

And if they correspond to reality, then the question arises why the CEO did not listen.

Perhaps the reason is the very "closed trough" that Gazizov himself spoke about.

The ex-general director noted that in recent years, many teams have profited from "Spartak", and he managed to put an end to this.

It is possible that he could come into conflict either with certain teams or with agents, as a result of which it was not possible to carry out some transfers.

And this despite the fact that there are positions in the roster that could benefit from strengthening.

We are talking about both the lack of attacking midfielders, able to conduct partners, and a quality defensive midfielder.

In addition, the problem could have been a lack of understanding between the functionary and the head coach.

The press has repeatedly reported that the opinions of Gazizov and Tedesco did not coincide on many issues, in particular, regarding the staffing.

Such disagreements clearly had a negative impact on the development of the club, so it is not surprising that Fedun had to choose.

But if the mentor proved himself with high results and good quality of the game, then the CEO had practically nothing to show.

It is possible that in addition to successful acquisitions, Gazizov was expected to establish closer relations with Khimki and Ufa.

On the eve of the season, many said that these teams could become a kind of farm club for Spartak, from which it would pick up the most talented players, and lease out temporarily unsuitable ones.

This was partially confirmed by rumors about the relocation of a number of red-and-white players to the Moscow region, as well as the appointment of Dmitry Gunko to the position of head coach of the team.

If such plans were really considered by the leadership of the red and white, then they were not destined to come true.

A number of teams promptly responded to rumors about the possible appearance of farm clubs within the RPL and advocated the adoption of a law limiting the maximum number of players who can go on loan from one team to another.

All of the above blunders could indeed cause dissatisfaction with Gazizov, but the main question is when the point of no return was passed - after the departure of his protege Nariman Akavov or the appointment of Dmitry Popov to the post of sports director.

It can be assumed that if the first event indicated the lack of a credit of confidence in Shamil on the part of the leadership, then the second finally drew the line under his being in the team.

In fact, after that, he was deprived of the opportunity to engage in his main task - strengthening the composition and was forced to focus exclusively on organizational issues.

Such a restriction of functions was unlikely to suit Gazizov himself, so it should not be ruled out that in the end he himself expressed a desire to leave the club.

Taking into account the fact that in case of dismissal, as reported by the media, he was entitled to € 3 million as compensation, it was much more profitable for the Spartak bosses to create conditions under which Shamil himself would be asked to “leave” than to terminate the contract with him unilaterally ...

Thus, they would not only get rid of the CEO, but also save money.

Of course, only time will show the correctness of Fedun's decision.

But at the moment we can safely say that Gazizov's departure is, if not logical, then at least partially justified.

The management had reasons to expect more from him, but for various reasons this did not happen.

Yes, in such a short time it was difficult to achieve serious success, but in Spartak they always demanded immediate results, and Shamil probably understood this.

And if the rumors about the ultimatum to the leadership after Popov's arrival are true, then it was difficult to expect another outcome.