Opening team and masterful coach
The current season seemed to be one of the best in history for Rostov. Under the leadership of Valery Karpin, the team from the first rounds joined the fight for the championship and finished the first round in second place, with only three points behind the leading Zenit. True, unexpected home defeat from Tambov added to the negativity, which released yellow-blue to the third line.
But even this annoying misfire did not cancel the rather bright prospects of Rostov. Firstly, Karpin put together a really strong team. Eldor Shomurodov, along with Alexander Sobolev, leads the RPL scorers with ten goals. Central defender Dmitry Chistyakov, who debuted in the RPL only this season, received a call to the Russian national team in the fall. And many people now call the Norwegian Matthias Norman the best opornik of the championship, according to media reports, he is seriously interested in Manchester United.
Enough in the team and other high-quality performers. So, the experienced Roman Eremenko is responsible for the creative in the attack, Alexey Ionov with six assists is the best assistant to Rostov, and Yegor Baburin makes spectacular salvations at the “last frontier”.
Surprisingly, in the current season, a number of performers “shot” as a part of Rostovites. Football players here stand up for Karpin and are ready to fight for their coach. In addition, “Rostov” boasts excellent support. At home, yellow-blue matches in the RPL, on average, attracts nearly 30 thousand spectators. And in front of their fans, the Rostovs lost only once this season - just Tambov.
Salary debts for three months and the “financial blockade”
It seemed that with such a coach, the composition and support of the fans, as well as competent management, the club had good prospects, and the team would be able to at least guarantee themselves getting into the top five, and, consequently, into European cups, because Rostov was in sixth place separates as many as nine points.
However, on Wednesday, fans of the team were stunned by unpleasant news. In one of the Russian media, information appeared that the club was experiencing serious financial problems. Allegedly, the players have not received their salaries and bonuses for three months already, and in winter Rostov can sell the leading players.
This is just about Chistyakov, Norman, Eremenko, Ionov, Shomurodov, as well as midfielder Ivelin Popov, captain of the national team of Bulgaria. By the way, only this six is estimated by the authoritative Transfermarkt portal at € 16.5 million. The cost of the entire composition is almost € 40 million.
This can lead to the fact that the club will also leave Karpin, President Artashes Harutyunyants and sports director Alexei Ryskin.
It was also reported that the problems of “Rostov” are connected with the “financial blockade”: sponsors stopped providing assistance and the club is forced to rely only on Harutyunyants’s funds. This is connected with the policy of the first deputy governor Igor Guskov, who oversees sports in the region.
“Without government support, stabilization is unrealistic.”
Information about the problems in Rostov was promptly confirmed by Karpin. The head coach honestly spoke about what is happening with the club at the moment.
“How complicated is it?” Highly. I hope that now those who can read between the lines will remember my words in response to questions about the champion race, the Europa League, the Cup of Russia. Based on our situation, I do not think that we can talk about this at all. We need to understand our situation and talk about it, ”the Sport-Express specialist quotes.
Karpin also confirmed that salaries in the yellow-blue camp have not really been paid for three months.
“And this is not the first time this has happened. A similar thing was observed last season, now it is repeated. Well done guys, that they understand everything, endure and work on their conscience. But it happens that the moment comes when the limit comes. I can only say thanks to the guys, but it’s difficult to fight for something serious in this state of affairs, ”Karpin added.
Finally, the coach announced that he would leave Rostov if Harutyunyants and Ryskin left and would concentrate on raising two daughters.
“All promises hang in the air. The team was assembled with great efforts, all thanks to Harutyunyants and Ryskin. And, of course, it will be a shame to lose all this after so many efforts both from the president and the club’s sports director and the team. Not to mention that huge help is needed - it is important that at least they do not put sticks in the wheels and keep their promises. Without the support of the regional government, which is a shareholder of Rostov, stabilization is unrealistic. All the promises that were made were not kept, ”summed up Karpin.
However, the All-Russian Football Union (OPSF), which is closely monitoring the situation in Rostov, is not yet inclined to assess the situation in the club as critical.
“A three-month delay often happens in different clubs, in“ Rostov ”this also happens periodically. So far, I see no reason to panic. Yes, debts form in Rostov, but they pay them off, this happens from year to year. So far, no excesses are happening, I do not think that there is a real reason for panic. The club has good assets in the form of players who have an interest in the market, so this is not a terrible situation, ”said the head of the OPSF, Alexander Zotov, to publish R-Sport.