end of an era
Spartak’s victory in the Russian Cup and the drama (2:1) in the final against Dynamo came to an end when Daniil Fomin put the ball into the stands from the penalty spot during the pause.
Even during the match, insider Ivan Karpov said that Leonid Fedun, who has owned the most famous club in the country for 20 years, will step back from managing the team.
Later, the news was confirmed by the sports media through their sources, although there is no official information about it yet.
It is reported that Fedun will leave a small percentage of his shares at his disposal and will step away from the operational management of the club, and his partners Vagit Alekperov and Alexander Matytsin will sell their shares to Lukoil. It is the oil company, of which Fedun is one of the vice presidents, that should take over the management of the red-whites.
Fedun indirectly confirmed this information after the Russian Cup final, saying that the circle in the management of the club has closed for him and it is no longer he who decides the fate of head coach Paolo Vanoli.
“How’s the game? And the whole championship. It’s very tense and there are huge refereeing mistakes. Do you agree with the penalty? Who cares. What is debated. Any victory is great, even with refereeing decisions like this in the end.
Will Vanoli stay? It’s not up to me. I came to Spartak after winning the trophy in 2003. So I closed the loop, ”said Fedun.
uncertain future
News that Fedun was leaving Spartak began to appear in April, but each time it was denied either by the businessman or by the club’s press service.
However, the financial crisis seriously affected Fedun’s condition and affected Spartak.
The owner complained several times about the resulting financial difficulties, and confirmation of his words was that the second high-scoring red-and-white team that played in Olympus FNL for many years was shut down after this season. seventh place in the current championship.
In addition, there was information that the red-whites will sell part of the territory of the club academy in Sokolniki for housing development, leaving only two spaces for the needs of the younger generation of football players.
It is still difficult to say how the leadership change will affect the club and its first team. Will Paolo Vanoli, who won the trophy but didn’t make it to the RPL, stay as head coach? Which legionnaires will leave Russia and who will continue to perform? What transfers will the club make?
By Russian standards, red-whites are unlikely to give up too much. The ten-time national champions have built a pretty strong sporting foundation, so they need to stay competitive in the local arena.
Well, at the international level, Russian football is not yet represented.
At the same time, it is clear that with such a development of events, Fedun’s partner Zarema Salikhova will lose her position in the club, which last year really closed the decision of all significant and operational issues led by Spartak.
“We don’t know who’s coming”
“Now it is difficult to comment on this news. We do not yet know who will enter the division, who will be the specific leader. Maybe Fedun will remain, but Lukoil will take the reins. It’s hard to say. It takes some time, – said the former, who played for the club at the beginning of the era of its owner Maxim Demenko. – If you remember the period when Smorodskaya worked at Lokomotiv, many were skeptical about her, but the team became the champion, won the Cup.
If Fedun remains to some extent, he will probably put his man down. I don’t think anything supernatural will happen. But we see that Spartak has problems. If everything was okay, they wouldn’t have closed the second team.”
Another former Spartak player, Alexander Mostovoy, one of the legendary names of the club, also sees the situation ambiguous.
“Now it is impossible to say how the situation in the team will change. Fedun was at the helm for almost 20 years, he finally won the trophy. There was one more championship. If Spartak wins championships in the coming years, everyone will say that it has become better. If there is no trophy, everyone will say that it is the same thing,” says Mostovoy.
– Nobody knows who will lead the team anymore.
It’s good that we won the trophy. If they had lost in the final, everyone would have shouted: “Firs-sticks, how much can you do?!” And they won, and everyone forgot everything. And everyone forgot about the fact that there was only one trophy for 20 years.”