Before the expiration of the agreement between Yuri Semin and Moscow Lokomotiv, less than six months remained, but the capital club is in no hurry to offer him a new contract. The leadership denies rumors about their disinterest in continuing to work with a mentor, but offer to wait until the end of the season. At the same time, everything indicates that the remaining 11 rounds of the championship may be the last for the specialist at the helm of the railway workers.
In the winter transfer window, Lokomotiv managed without acquisitions and, as a result, did not increase its chances of successfully passing the spring stage of the championship. Even CSKA, which is experiencing serious financial difficulties, invited forward Ilya Shkurin, and Emiliano Rigoni returned from the lease to a more than fully equipped Zenit. Meanwhile, one of the richest RPL clubs did not buy a single player, leaving even a long-suffering attacking line without amplification. And this, taking into account the departure of Fyodor Smolov and the serious injury of Luke Djordjevic, who turned Eder into the only option in the center of the attack.
Even in the fall, it became noticeable that Lokomotiv was seriously suffering due to the insufficient depth of the composition. The red-green obviously lacked a bench, which was especially evident in those stretches when they had to play the third two days later. It seemed that this fact itself spoke of the need to expand the cage, and three defeats and two draws in the last six rounds should have made this the main agenda of the winter transfer campaign.
But the leadership of the railroad workers could not agree with any of the candidates for joining the team and as a result left Semin with an even smaller set of performers and all the same ambitious tasks. According to the chairman of the board of directors of Lokomotiv, Anatoly Meshcheryakov, the team “has every opportunity to fight for the highest place”. And this despite the fact that the gap from the leading “Zenith” is 11 points.
In light of this, it can be assumed that the leadership of the railway workers poses an impossibly impossible task for Semin to not extend the contract with him. At the moment, there are no prerequisites for the fact that red-green will be able to pass the spring period without spectacle losses, and blue-white-blue suddenly lose all their advantage. For Zenit, even the loss of Artem Dziuba can hardly be considered critical. The team has huge reserves sufficient to not notice the loss of a fighter. In addition, ex-Barcelona striker Malkom recovered from the injury, with whom Sergei Semak may try to slightly restructure the team’s game and minimize negative factors due to the lack of a better RPL scorer.
However, it is possible that the leadership of Lokomotiv can still offer Semin a new contract, even if the team finishes outside the top three in the national championship. However, one of the conditions will be some restrictions on the format of communication between the specialist and the press. According to people close to the club, the top officials of the railway do not really like that Yuri Pavlovich regularly expresses his personal opinion, often diametrically opposed to club policy. This was confirmed in his interview by the famous TV presenter Ilya Kazakov.
It is worth noting that he really was never shy about voicing his position on any issue, which often only increased the atmosphere around the team. It is enough to recall the story of Murilo, whom Semin did not take to the collection. And all this is only because this football player was bought without his knowledge. Even then, it was possible to note some roughness in the relationship between the head coach and the bosses of the club, but over time the situation is unlikely to improve.
Not surprisingly, Lokomotiv CEO Vasily Kiknadze may be dissatisfied with the criticism addressed by his mentor. In this regard, the inclusion of a clause on the limitation of Semin’s capabilities in the information field (or his certain loyalty) seems quite reasonable. But whether the specialist himself, who over the past 20 years has become the personification of the success of the red-green ones, agrees to this, is a big question. Especially given that he had previously allowed himself to express dissatisfaction with the actions of his superiors, which more than once led to conflicts. An example is his period of collaboration with the previous club manager Ilya Gerkus.
Thus, this season may well be the last for Semin at the helm of the club, to which he devoted a total of about 25 years. Yuri Pavlovich managed to visit him as a player, coach and even president. Perhaps this fact, coupled with great achievements, does not allow him to get used to the role of an employee and makes him look at Lokomotiv as a team for which he is primarily responsible.
Of course, you should not put an end to Semin and claim that his days at Lokomotiv are numbered. The railwaymen still have a high-class selection of footballers, inferior in level except to the “Zenith”. And even then, for the reason that Petersburgers have a significantly larger number of performers, which is a major factor in the distance. But Yuri Pavlovich has repeatedly proved that he is able to squeeze the maximum out of his wards, so it is unlikely that anyone will be surprised if it was his team who will lead the pursuit of the current champion.
Of course, in the summer, the mentor may well lead another RPL club or go to work abroad if he does not succeed and does not receive a decent offer from the railway workers. However, it is unlikely that Semin, who will turn 73 in May, will once again want to start all over again and experience increased pressure away from Cherkizovo and Bakovka, which became his home. In addition, the need to prove to detractors that his methods are still effective, the specialist disappeared a couple of years ago. It was at that moment when he led Lokomotiv to the championship.
Therefore, try not to miss the last matches of the railroad this season, they are most likely to be the last in the coaching career of the legendary Palych