Viktor Goncharenko has officially left the post of head coach of CSKA.
The specialist and the club decided to terminate cooperation by mutual agreement.
According to media reports, the mentor has already said goodbye to the team.
In his statement, he thanked the management, colleagues from the coaching staff and the fans, and also admitted that it was an honor for him to work at the club.
“It was a very interesting and best period in my coaching career so far.
For a little over four years we have had both bright victories and offensive defeats.
But the team was never indifferent, the players fought for the red and blue colors.
Maybe at times I was overly emotional, but only because I lived in an army club.
This magnificent period will forever remain in my heart ”, - quotes the words of Goncharenko on the official site of CSKA.
Initially, it was reported that Vasily Berezutsky would leave after the mentor, allegedly disagreeing with the leadership's policy regarding the development of the team.
However, then the club denied rumors about drastic changes in the coaching staff.
Alexey Berezutsky and Alexander Ermakovich will also remain in their posts.
The Belarusian specialist took over the leadership of CSKA in December 2016.
Since then, the team has won the Russian Super Cup in 2018 and won silver medals in the Russian Premier League (RPL) in the 2016/17 and 2017/18 seasons.
In total, under his leadership, the red and blue played 125 matches in the Russian championship, which is the third indicator in history.
Longer than Goncharenko, only Leonid Slutsky and Valery Gazzaev were at the helm.
According to media reports, the former striker of the red and blue Ivica Olic will take the place of the head coach of CSKA in the near future.
It is reported that on March 22 he will be in Moscow to sign a contract, and the next day he will be presented to the players.
Olic is currently a member of the coaching staff of the Croatian national team.
Commenting on the assistant's departure, Zlatko Dalich supported his colleague, but lamented that he would need him in the next qualifying matches of the national team for the 2022 World Cup, and the search for a replacement would take some time.
Considering the team's recent results, Goncharenko's resignation did not surprise anyone.
At the same time, many suggested that CSKA chose the wrong time for this.
According to Viktor Onopko, who left the coaching staff in the offseason, it was worth waiting for the end of the championship.
And ex-striker Valery Masalitin is sure that parting with a specialist should have happened much earlier.
“How it all comes back to haunt CSKA, we will see in the summer, the season can swing in any direction.
The big disadvantage is that Olic had no experience of working as a head coach at all.
Sergei Ignashevich was recently released, perhaps it would be worth putting him on.
He has at least some experience of working as a head coach, maybe unsuccessful, has.
It would have been better to remove Goncharenko after Rostov, the person would have already started to prepare the team.
It seems to me that CSKA only lost from this in the end, "- quoted Masalitin" Championship ".
Olic's upcoming appointment also raised many questions.
Most of the experts agreed that such an ambitious team needs a more experienced specialist.
So, according to Andrei Sozin, a member of the ethics committee of the Russian Football Union (RFU), the club's management is "playing the lottery", trying to "find their Guardiola", which will lead him to the championship.
And the ex-midfielder of the red-blue and the Russian national team Roman Shirokov suggested that one of the Berezutsky brothers would be a more suitable candidate.
“Vasya has been in the army team for a long time, he knows all the players, and by and large there would be no need to change anything.
It is difficult to say how justified the appointment of Olic is now.
Probably, it would be right to do it in winter.
It cannot be said that CSKA was reeling this season, they have always been stable, were in the top five, and were in second place.
I think that they will continue butting until the last round, ”Sport24 quotes Shirokova.
At the same time, former CSKA midfielder Dmitry Khomukha noted the positive aspects of the possible appointment of Olic.
“The only plus that is possible in the short term is additional emotions that players can get with the arrival of a new coach.
All football players will be as interested as possible to show themselves, to show the goods with their faces.
As it seems to me, here we are counting on emotionality, ”Khomukha said in an interview with RB.
As for the further fate of Goncharenko, according to information from several media outlets at once, next season he will replace Murad Musaev as head coach of Krasnodar.
This information is confirmed by rumors that the Belarusian specialist negotiated with the club of Sergei Galitsky back in the offseason.