Nail Izmailov: “Strengthening Spartak is our common goal!” Nail Izmailov: “Now the talk about Promes leaving is groundless. “In Liverpool they cannot forget the performance of our fans”

Nail Izmailov is the new vice-president of the Moscow football club Spartak. Where did this sports functionary come from, who became the right hand in the team of the owner of the “red-whites”? These are the questions many fans are asking today.

Biography of the functionary

Nail Izmailov was born in 1976. He was born in Moscow.

In the early 90s he became a student at the Metropolitan State University of Environmental Management. Received higher education with a degree in ecology. Later he became the owner of two more diplomas - from a higher commercial school, which was based at the Federal Ministry of Economic Development and at the Diplomatic Academy of the Russian Federation. He graduated from his last educational institution in 2011.

Many contradictory facts are known about Nail Izmailov’s youth. For example, they say that while studying at the university, he worked as an ordinary bouncer in a bar. Over time, Nail Izmailov himself admitted this to the journalist, noting that the work was not without interest. True, in the future this hobby did not receive any continuation. The hero of our article never became interested in martial arts.

Professional career

Before coming to Spartak, Nail Izmailov changed more than one occupation. His creative path was very diverse.

Since 2006, by his own admission, he has been overseeing several large investment projects, combining this with work in a company owned by a large financial group.

He also has experience in the real business sector. Izmailov Nail Kamilievich collaborated with duty-free stores, clothing boutiques, and chain grocery supermarkets. There is also an entry in his work book about working in the Federal Ministry of Natural Resources. After all, by first education he is an ecologist. Izmailov held the position of specialist at the Center for Socio-Economic Analysis.

He has a master's degree. He defended it in environmental engineering.

Relations with Spartak

When Nail Izmailov became vice-president of Spartak, everyone immediately noticed that he, unlike most other leaders of the Red-Whites, was not trying to measure his popularity with Zenit St. Petersburg.

He himself looks like a fairly experienced and competent specialist and sports functionary. For example, once in a conversation with a journalist I discussed that in Russia, according to statistics, there are about 20 million fans. And Spartak's matches have some of the highest ratings in the country. So the team can safely be recognized as one of the official state brands. Because Spartak's victory ultimately benefited all Russian football. At the very least, it was economically beneficial to him, because millions of fans throughout Russia, who had been rooting for Spartak for many years to no avail, now realized that everything was not in vain.

This success of the “red-whites” in the domestic national football championship led to the fact that the interest of fans in football grew even more, and there were more fans who were interested in this sport. And all this is especially important on the eve of the upcoming FIFA World Cup, which will be held in Russia for the first time.

Responsibilities at Spartak

Vice-president of Spartak Nail Izmailov in this position oversees an important economic block in the club. He is directly responsible for replenishing the budget, infrastructure facilities, developing a ticket program, and interacting with fans.

Izmailov is responsible for everything that concerns the income of the football club. These include stores with team symbols and paraphernalia, trade operations, sponsorship contracts, the implementation of rights owned directly by the club, as well as advertising and marketing issues.

Izmailov himself admits that he faces an important task - to develop an integrated approach so that the club can earn money regularly. Only in this case will shareholders be able to compensate for their expenses. In the future, the “red-whites” expect to enter an IPO in the near future and begin to attract real money from the sale of shares. There are also serious plans to expand the infrastructure network. Moreover, in this case we are talking not only about Russian regions, but also about foreign countries. These are, for example, America and China, where they also know and love Spartak Moscow.

Currently, most of these plans are in their infancy. It will be interesting to see which of them will be implemented.

— The owner of Spartak, Leonid Fedun, recently made a proposal to carry out a number of reforms in Russian football. What work is being done by the club to implement these proposals?

— We are now preparing letters to all leagues: RFPL, FNL and PFL, sending an appeal to the Ministry of Sports and hope that all our proposals will be considered at the next executive committee.

— Why change the usual structure of a popular game so radically?

— Several goals are being pursued here, because the proposed reforms are specifically aimed at improving certain components of the game. But I will highlight the main priorities: improving the quality of football itself and increasing spectator interest in domestic championship matches. This is why the proposal was put forward. Thus, viewers will have the opportunity to watch the game with their own eyes in comfortable, safe arenas, and the quality of the television picture will also increase, which, in our opinion, will affect the overall growth of interest in the RFPL.

— What about reforming the gaming grid? It turns out that the current calendar still does not suit Russian clubs?

— Yes, indeed, this story repeats itself every year, every season we try to move games from cold regions to the summer, but so far this has been difficult. I would like such issues to be automatically taken into account when creating the calendar - it is with this approach that a lot of difficulties will be avoided for both clubs and their fans.

— Your club also received a proposal to introduce a mandatory bonus system for children’s coaches who trained players for the RFPL, and to tighten the current limit on foreign players. It turns out that Spartak came to the defense of young Russian football players?

— It is important to understand here that spot work will not fundamentally solve the problem. Unfortunately, even if the limit is tightened, new young stars with Russian passports will not appear overnight. So, in addition to introducing a limit, we need to pay attention to children's coaches, football schools, youth and youth competitions. And then, having carried out reforms in all these areas, we will be able to get the first results and increase the number of potential players for the Russian national team - it is no secret that today the coaching staff of the national team does not have much choice.

— And yet your proposals look a little harsh, especially for clubs that do not consider themselves among the elite of Russian football. Are there any fears that your colleagues will not accept your project?

— Yes, we are prepared for the fact that many clubs will not be particularly happy about our reforms. After all, objectively, except for the top teams, few people will find these proposals interesting. But let's look at the situation objectively: we all pursue different goals. For some, the main task is to represent the region in the RFPL, for others it is to show good football, develop schools, and represent the country in European arenas. But we are talking about a global reform of all football in Russia, so sooner or later everyone will come to a common understanding.

Nail Izmailov: “Our goal is to make the Russian championship better and more popular”

“After 0:7 at Anfield there was deathly silence in the dressing room”

— You talked about goals and repeatedly noted that Spartak will continue to fight for the championship. But don’t you think that the club lost an unacceptable number of points at the start of the season?

— We lost a lot, I won’t deny it, and overall we started the season very poorly. There were reasons for this - both external and internal, subjective and objective. It was a difficult moment, but thanks to the guys who found the strength to pull themselves together and finish this year with dignity. We are in the top three with Zenit, so I will regard this interim result as positive.

— In the fall, a whole information campaign developed around Spartak, mostly with a pronounced negative connotation. How did you manage with thiscope with?

“The whole point is that the situation in which we find ourselves is definitely beneficial to someone.” To someone outside the club.

Internally—all the staff, coaches, players, and administration—such stories made it difficult to work productively. We held several meetings, gathered at the base in Tarasovka, in my office, talked a lot with Massimo Carrera, with the entire coaching staff, and together developed a mechanism that allowed us to unite.

In addition, we found the strength to regain lost motivation and believe that, despite the gap from competitors, the team is capable of fighting for a second championship.

— Have you determined the reason for the loss of motivation?

- This is psychology. As people say, we went through fire, water and copper pipes, and with them fame, prizes, medals and recognition. Alas, the team was not ready to win over and over again. But there are also positive aspects: having found themselves in a stressful situation, the guys became stronger. The latest rounds of the RFPL are clear proof of this.

— How do you assess the results in the Champions League? It’s unlikely that the club’s management considered the score 0:7 in the final match of the group stage to be satisfactory?

“Today, for our team, this is primarily a tournament that allows us to gain invaluable experience of performing on the international stage and playing with famous opponents. For many guys, such matches happened for the first time in their lives. With this invaluable practice, players will continue to progress and grow. I assess the club’s overall performance in the Champions League as positive, and even before the start of the season, the task was clearly formulated: to play well in the Champions League. Decent does not mean reaching the next round or getting into the Europa League. Worthy means performing to the limit of your capabilities, making the right conclusions and improving the overall quality of football.

Reuters

— You were with the team in Liverpool. What was the atmosphere in the locker room after the defeat?

— There was deathly silence. Of course, we were all hurt - such defeats are not so easy to survive. But, I repeat, for all of us it was first and foremost an experience, so whether we lost 0:1 or 0:7, for the tournament situation the result is the same. In Liverpool, the team came out to play to win, to fight for the right to continue playing in the tournament - in such a situation, it’s either hit or miss.

— Weren’t you worried about the psychological state of the players? Many experts said that, for example, Alexander Selikhov should not bet on the match against CSKA.

— Sasha, although young, is a very promising, high-quality and professional player. Still, we saw the match with CSKA - he, and the whole team, were able to redeem themselves for those seven goals in England.

— After the victory over CSKA, Leonid Fedun said that the team would fully make amends only if it beat the leading Lokomotiv with a score of 4:0. It's a joke? Or do you really believe that it is still possible to catch up with the railway workers?

— Of course, everything is possible, we are the creators of our own success. Without looking back at the opponent, we will take points in each of the remaining ten matches. So in the spring, every game is like a final.

“Talks about Promes leaving are irrelevant”

- You re-sign very quicklysigned a contract with Georgy Dzhikia. Playerwas so interested in extending the cooperation, or was the club management fueled by rumors about his possible departure to Zenit?

— Fortunately, and maybe unfortunately for many, the team does not work based on rumors and gossip. We live in the real world and in real facts. Dzhikia is a talented guy, he has proven his right to play, and we need him without any doubt. In addition, we discussed the option of extending and increasing payments in case of successful actions on the field a year ago, when he first came to Spartak.

— It’s no secret that in the summer Massimo Carrera told you the names of those players with whom he wants to work. Does such a top list from a trainer exist now?

— I would like to clarify the following right away: . And by the way, in the summer, despite all the rumors and speculation that enveloped the club, they acted the same way. There is a wish from the head coach - these are positions and names, and there are proposals from the selection department. By putting all these lists together, we begin the discussion. But believe me, the last word always remains with the head coach, he gets to play and work with them, so the entire prerogative to choose the players is his.

Nail Izmailov: “We live in a world of real facts”

— Which market will you focus your attention on?

— These are equally the RFPL and the European championships. We look not only at Russian players, we also need strong foreign players.

— Have you identified the lines that need strengthening?

— Of course, but I won’t tell you all the details of future transactions yet. I want to say something else: in addition to attracting highly qualified football players, we really want to develop our own youth, rely on our students, so we will try to strengthen the main team by attracting them.

— What is the situation with existing contracts? In the summer, Serdar Taski wanted to leave the club, and even now he honestly admits that he has not yet made a final decision. Will his contract be re-signed?

— He has a contract with Spartak until the end of the current season, the final decision will be made later, during the final negotiations.

- ANDdo they have any basisIs there talk that Quincy Promes might leave the team and go to England?

- Not at the moment. And, in general, I really don’t want to destroy the champion lineup, which is quite capable of repeating and surpassing its last year’s result.

globallookpress.com

“Liverpool cannot forget the performance of our fans”

— Last year, you entered into a dispute with Zenit for the title of the most popular club in the country, and, according to the results of a VTsIOM survey, the St. Petersburgers won. Did you request new data?

— At VTsIOM? We don't need this. We receive data at our stadium, at away matches. Our fans are with us always and everywhere. Everything here is obvious and clear.

— The club is actively working with fans. Is the loyalty system for season ticket holders justified?

— By and large, we were able to understand the full taste of this program, launched several years ago, only now, during the Champions League matches. The system works: many fans used their accumulated points to purchase real tickets to European matches as a priority, without spending a penny. In addition, this approach cuts off the air for speculators. The fans themselves rated this system very positively.

— Is Spartak fighting for a new audience?

— Of course, the success of the club in the Russian and international arenas contributes to attracting fans.

— What plans for the development of the club are Spartak making?

— Our priority is to improve the children’s and youth program. It is in young talents that the future of both Spartak and the Russian national team lies. Therefore, we pay great attention to this. But we also plan to expand our borders, in particular we are working on entering the Chinese market. We plan to develop football in this country, which will be carried out under the Spartak emblem.

— After the incident in Maribor, there were no special complaints from the red-and-white fans regarding the issue of discipline. How did you achieve this?

— We are in constant contact with representatives of fan movements. Both players, coaches and club management hold meetings with them.

— At the Champions League matches, fans of the Moscow club showed off their colorful performances.

— Performances performed by Spartak fans in Europe are still remembered with a shudder. I met with the president and director of Liverpool, they cannot forget the image and inscription on the banner that was hung at the match in Moscow. This made an indelible impression on the British delegation.

— Does the club provide any assistance to fans in creating such banners?

— We help in the matter of interaction with any government agencies, but the fans finance the performance themselves. We are very grateful to them for this. There are no analogues to this in Russia. The performances of our fans are considered not only the best in Russia, but also one of the brightest in Europe.

Nail Izmailov: “Klopp still cannot forget the performance of our fans”

— How can you comment on the incident with the rocket launcher that occurred in Maribor?

“This case cannot be attributed either to the shortcomings of Russian fans or to problems on the part of Spartak.” The inspection system and general conditions for organizing the match in Slovenia were at a low level, something like this had never been seen in Europe before. Despite the fact that everything was terrible there, the UEFA (Union of European Football Associations) inspector - RT) gave them a good rating.

— What exactly were the problems?

— Due to problems with the access system, there were one and a half times more Russian fans at the match compared to the quota - the organizers let absolutely all the fans through, and then simply locked them out of the arena. How this could happen is worth asking the management of Maribor.

— Did Sevilla do the right thing by not allowing Russian fans to attend the Champions League match?

- according to the letter of the law - the club received a ban from UEFA on allowing fans from Russia into the stands and began selling personalized tickets in order to in every possible way exclude all kinds of violations of this decree. As a result, even those who obtained tickets through resellers could not pass control at the stadium.

— Don’t you get the impression that Spartak is under more intense public scrutiny due to the approaching 2018 World Cup and foreign media stories about violent Russian fans?

— “Spartak” is a leader in everything: in football, organization, fan movement, business and work with academies. Naturally, because of this, there is a certain subjectivity in relation to the club, attempts are being made to harm Russia in general and us in particular.

Take, for example, the incident with accusations of racism against the captain of the Spartak youth team. We will defend his rights at the meeting of the UEFA disciplinary commission, as we are confident of his innocence.

- Where such confidence?

“He doesn’t speak English well enough to say such rude words to a person of a different skin color.”

— Is this connected with not the most friendly attitude towards Russian sports?

— I think parallels can be drawn, because Russia is now looked at with a special squint.

“The stadium will undergo changes before the World Cup matches”

— In 2017, the Otkritie Arena stadium hosted the Confederations Cup games. Did FIFA have any complaints?

— We work closely with the Russia 2018 organizing committee and FIFA; we received high marks for hosting the tournament matches. The reason for this can be considered our extensive experience in organizing competitions at the highest level. Tushino employs people with extensive experience in organizing tournaments, which, perhaps, none of the RFPL teams has.

— Before the Confederations Cup, the stadium was modified, in particular, the number of seats for journalists was increased. Will similar work be carried out before the World Cup?

- That's right, we will need to start rotating the seats again. At FIFA, we will again increase the working areas for media representatives, the so-called hospitality area, and expand the areas for restaurants. There will also be changes in the logistics of the stadium; teams will enter the field along a different route. But you shouldn’t think that such works will have a negative impact on ordinary viewers. The ticket program has been launched and is being successfully implemented, including for matches at our stadium.

— Most recently, Lokomotiv President Ilya Gerkus said that the club was seriously thinking about installing a retractable roof over the stadium. Have you ever had such thoughts?

— There will be no reconstruction at our stadium in the near future. By the way, we considered the option with a roof when developing the Opening of the Arena project, but have not yet returned to this issue. Now there are simply no necessary resources, it is very expensive, and Spartak is already not in the most favorable position regarding the financial principle of fair play.

The board of directors of the red and white currently includes, in addition to Rodionov and Leonid Fedun: Sergei Mikhailov (member of the board of directors of Lukoil and chairman of the board of directors of Capital Group Asset Management), Alexander Matytsin (vice president of Lukoil), Alexander Zhirkov ( Chairman of the Board of the Lukoil-Garant Pension Fund) and Andrey Fedun (General Director of Spartak Stadium LLC).

Mikhailov Sergey Anatolyevich - member of the board of directors of Spartak since 2004.

Mikhailov received 3 higher educations: he graduated with honors from the Dzerzhinsky Military Academy, the Moscow Aviation Institute and the Plekhanov Russian Academy of Economics with a degree in Finance and Credit. One of the main areas of work at the club is the fans. He defines the main task as economic: “The main thing is to sell tickets and season tickets. Today it is advisable to sell 30 thousand and the entire VIP zone, then the revenue will be approximately 10 million euros - this is already something.” Every year he plays an increasingly greater role in making club decisions and was even considered as a replacement for general director Roman Askhabadze. It’s difficult to say anything about Mikhailov’s possible “sabotage,” but it is known for certain that Mikhailov’s brother is an ardent CSKA fan. I don’t put this forward as the main argument or some kind of evidence, just information for your information.

Matytsin Alexander Kuzmich has been a member of the board of directors of Spartak since 2004.

In 1984 he graduated from Moscow State University and received a PhD in Economics. Ten years later he received a degree from the University of Bristol. Honored Economist of the Russian Federation, and was also awarded two medals, including the medal of the Order of Merit for the Fatherland, II degree. What this merit is is not very clear. From 1994 to 1997, he was director of the international auditing firm KPMG. From 1997 to 2012 - Vice President of the Main Directorate of Treasury and Corporate Finance of OJSC Lukoil. In the period from 2012 to 2013 - Vice President for Finance of OJSC Lukoil. Since 2013, he became senior vice president for finance at Lukoil OJSC. His wife, Lyubov Khoba, is the chief accountant of Lukoil. In 2000, a criminal case was opened against her and Vagit Alekperov for fictitious oil exports abroad. The case was closed because Lukoil paid the state as much as they were told.

As for Spartak, he is considered the most devoted fan of the current board of directors and at the same time a fairly sane manager and financier.

Zhirkov Alexander Nikolaevich - member of the board of directors since 2013.

Zhirkov, who graduated from Moscow State University in Mechanics and Mathematics in 1988, has been working in the banking sector since 1993, and Alexander Nikolaevich came to IFD-Kapital, which is also controlled by Fedun, in 2005. Zhirkov holds the position of member of the board of directors of the Petrocommerce Bank, part of the holding, and the main direction of his work is non-state pension funds. Zhirkov is the chairman of the board of NPF LUKOIL-Garant.

He is Fedun’s deputy on the club’s board of directors. The main pest in today's Spartak! The fact that Zhirkov is a fan (well, or sympathizes/sympathized) with CSKA (even before appearing in Spartak) is an open secret. And the red and blue pennant (!!!) and the calendar in his office (!!! ) at the Otkritie Arena (!!!) and completely goes beyond the bounds of reason.

Fedun brought Zhirkov to Spartak with one single goal - to save, and to save a lot. Zhirkov is not concerned about the club’s sporting successes, he is only concerned about total savings. This is indirectly confirmed by Fedun himself: “I have a deputy, Alexander Zhirkov, who often argues with me. He has his own view on everything. I want victories, and he wants a balanced budget.”

In Zhirkov’s first transfer window - and it was the winter transfer window of 2014 - Karpin asked to buy two or three newcomers. However, Zhirkov radically opposed transfer spending and in the end only one player was purchased - the German Ebert for 1.4 million euros. The economy mode was launched to the fullest. And the main incentive for his work is the following: the greater the savings, the greater his salary.

Fedun Andrey Arnoldovich - member of the board of directors since 2013.

In general, Andrei Fedun appeared at Spartak in March 2009, when he took the position of director of medicine and rehabilitation, since he had a medical education. He worked in this position until the summer of 2013, after which his brother decided that it was inappropriate for his own blood to practice medicine, and it was time to count the family money and appointed him general director of Spartak Stadium LLC. From the same moment he became a member of the board of directors. It is obvious that he understands even less about football than his brother - although, it would seem, it is simply impossible to understand less about football than Leonid Arnoldovich. This is clearly demonstrated by his recent statements in the press that “Spartak” has an excellent lineup, in which there is not a single failed line and that, quote: “The coaches are probably missing something.”

One more statement of his stands out: " I have traveled a lot around the world and know very well that angry fans attacked coaches and shot at players, but no one ever touched the owners. Criticism of the Spartak management in the stands is an inadequate reaction to what is happening. The club has created all the conditions for winning. If football players don’t play, ask them.”.

Of course, we agree that the players should be asked. But we cannot ignore his knowledge of the untouchability of football club owners. We, of course, will not give examples of how fans from different countries around the world exert physical influence on the owners of their clubs - for example, they break through the stands straight into the VIP box, or how, for example, just recently fans of Partizan Belgrade beat them half to death one of the club's leaders right outside the stadium, but we remind you that at one time there were quite loud protests by Manchester United fans against the Glazer brothers, Newcastle fans against Mike Ashley or Milan tiffos against Silvio Berlusconi and a dozen more similar shares So the current criticism of Fedun is just a “reprimand” with a finger.

Stupid, unprofessional, ignorant - all these, unfortunately, are characteristics of today's management team of our club and Andrei Fedun in particular. It is clear that he ended up in the club thanks to his brother and that Leonid Fedun himself wanted to see him in the club. In general, it’s surprising how Leonid Arnoldovich’s 2 sons still remain outside the club. I wouldn’t be surprised if after some time he adds them too. It’s good that I haven’t thought of taking my daughter to the club yet, even if I took her husband Geraskin. In general, there are great fears that the “team of professionals”, which, as Fedun himself says, should lead the club to victories, will not turn into a family affair.

But today's Spartak does not live by the board of directors alone. It is necessary to say a few words about other “heroes of our time”.

Izmailov Nail Kamilievich - vice-president of the club.

During his student years, he combined his studies with work as a bouncer in a bar. After completing his studies, he was involved in investment projects in the regions. He has been involved in large investment projects since 2006, working in a company of a large financial group. He worked in the Ministry of Natural Resources as a specialist in the center for socio-economic analysis. Later he graduated from the Higher Commercial School under the Ministry of Economic Development of the Russian Federation, MBA in Strategic Management. Leonid Arnoldovich Fedun invited him to Spartak.

One of his main areas of responsibility is the sale of tickets and subscriptions. “The greater the revenue, the greater his salary,” in connection with which Izmailov allegedly wanted to raise prices for season tickets in the new season - this opinion is often found among fans. The issue is controversial, because he managed to contain even the minimal increase in prices for season tickets for the new season. Although, on the other hand, this is logical, given the low place of Spartak in the standings of the completed championship.

The question is different - what will the prices for season tickets be if, for example, Spartak makes it to the Champions League in a year or even wins the championship. Last season, Spartak became the most visited team in the championship, including an average of about 25 thousand people coming to the red-and-white home matches. The figure is certainly good, but the percentage of the stadium’s capacity, which is about 50%, leaves much to be desired. For example, “Zenith” has a lower average attendance at home matches only because “Petrovsky” seats 21 thousand spectators, but the percentage is close to 100%. And if “Spartak” finally becomes the champion, then fans will rush to buy season tickets for the post-championship season, and then “Demand creates supply” will work and we can expect an increase in season ticket prices of up to 20-30%. Perhaps such changes will not affect the fan stand, but the central stands, and especially VIP stands, will noticeably increase in price.

But so far these are all just assumptions and mere speculation, and Izmailov continues to earn advantages for his reputation - most recently he made an attempt to return the historical diamond to Spartak. Although initially they said that the final decision in this matter rested with Fedun and the board of directors (after all, they were the ones who had to agree with Aleshina on money), this is his great merit, because it was he who raised this topic and worked on it (although Izmailov is far from the first who raised this issue earlier, but none of his predecessors were able to bring it to its logical conclusion) and, apparently, will bring it to the final stage - in any case, everyone is talking about returning the “correct” diamond to Spartak more persistent and specific character.

Leonid Fedorovich Trakhtenberg - director of the public relations department and press attache of the club from 02/17/2010 to 07/25/2012 and from 06/22/2015 to the present.

Trakhtenberg worked at Spartak as director of the public relations department from 2010 to 2012, after which he worked in a similar position at Rostov for 3 years, until he returned to the red-white camp last summer. Despite the fact that he is a sincere fan who cares deeply about our native club and, in essence, has dedicated his life to it, but, alas, this in no way cancels the fact of his professional stupidity. “Old fool”, “Crazy Fuck” - these “epithets” have similar views of fans of different ages and different, let’s say, “fan layers”. Sometimes Trachtenberg's stupidity is even funny and touching, but, unfortunately, most often it only causes irritation. And this taste of stupidity, narrow-mindedness, mediocrity, which you clearly feel when opening the next commissioned interview with Mr. Mikhailov, Cheloyants, Fedun Sr. and Jr., reading Trachtenberg’s reports, permeates everything connected with the club today, is passed on by inheritance (or virally - God knows) from year to year. And the hallmark of this oppressive regime was the opuses of Leonid Fedorovich Trakhtenberg on the official website and his unforgettable reports, and his clichés about the “Persian carpet” and “thanks to Leonid Arnoldovich for such a wonderful stadium” were simply tired.

Atamanenko Alexander Vladimirovich - commercial director from July 2014 to the present.

In 1996, Atamanenko received a diploma of higher international commercial education from the Academic Center for Management, Business and Law of the International Academy of Sciences (San Marino) with a degree in marketing director. In 2005, it was certified by the American Hotel and Lodging Association in Service Standards. In 2008, he completed a full course of training in the direction of “stadium director” at the Amsterdam Arena educational center. In 2013, he received the “Spectator Safety Management” certificate in England. Before Spartak, he worked at Shakhtar Donetsk, where he was the head of the Donbass Arena stadium and led it for 6.5 years. Atamanenko was entrusted with the Donbass Arena when it was still under construction, so he also had to participate in the management of a large-scale project for the opening of this stadium, and then head the project for the preparation and holding of Euro 2012 matches. It also fulfills the main tasks set by the investor - obtaining maximum profit from the stadium. Under him, the Donbass Arena had good financial results - even before Euro 2012, the stadium's income was more than $18 million. Atamanenko believes that this is largely due to his ambitious and well-coordinated team - and this is 265 people, not counting the temporarily hired personnel holding matches. Since 2010, he has been a member of the council of the European Stadium and Safety Association (ESSMA), and is also an honorary worker of tourism in Ukraine and has a medal “For Labor and Valor”.

In 2014, Atamanenko was invited to Spartak and since then has been making profit from the Spartak stadium. We have already spoken in detail about the numbers and amount of profit in the 2nd section of this article - “On income and expenses” - and we will not repeat it.

It is gratifying that, at least on the issue of pyrotechnics, he is quite adequate and treats it, if not loyally, then with understanding. Here's what he said after the derby against CSKA in the first round: “Millions watched the Spartak - CSKA match, and everyone saw that there were pyrotechnics. But there were no incidents in terms of interference with the safety of fans and the holiday atmosphere football". He also noted that in general it is unrealistic to remove pyrotechnics from the stands and that if a person wants to bring pyrotechnics, he will do so. In general, he does not make any tragedy out of the use of pyrotechnics, quite reasonably noting that fireworks are used throughout Europe, and in some countries it is even legalized.

The only serious flaw in his work is the incomprehensible stewards and other staff of the Otkrytie Arena, cheering for other teams. I think not everyone has yet forgotten the scandal after the same match “Spartak” - “CSKA”, when after the second goal of the army team the assistants of the Spartak medical service (porters) jumped up from their seats. Then, fortunately, they were all fired almost immediately after the match. Things are still much worse with the stewards - some are fired, but others like them take their place, which indicates the absence of at least a minimum interview when hiring (read more about the Otkritie Arena stewards who support other teams). In general, we can only hope that Atamanenko will focus more serious attention on this problem - after all, this is his area of responsibility.

Closing the topic of Spartak managers, one cannot fail to mention one more person who was on the board of directors for many years. This:

Cheloyants Dzhevan Krikorovich - member of the board of directors from 2004 to 2015.

Cheloyants' ancestors moved to Russia from Western Armenia during the genocide, and he was born in Grozny. His father played for the local Neftyanik, and instilled in his son a love of football and Spartak. From then until his last day at Spartak, Cheloyants was almost the only real fan of our team in the club’s management. He served as vice president of OJSC Lukoil for 18 years (1993-2011), is a laureate of the Government of the Russian Federation in the field of science and technology (2007) and an honored worker of the oil and gas industry.

He was included in the club's Board of Directors in 2004 - shortly after Leonid Fedun bought a controlling stake in Spartak. For a number of years, Cheloyants’ work at the club remained outside the media field, although some of his personal actions were still known: for example, in 2004, he offered Nikita Simonyan to take the post of president of Spartak, which he, on reflection, refused. After retiring from Lukoil in 2011, Cheloyants focused entirely on working for the club. The scope of his activity can be defined as “organizational” - once, for example, he and the general director even flew to Spartak’s Spanish training camp. In addition, Cheloyants participated on behalf of the club in meetings of the Russian Premier League and the United Russian and Ukrainian Football Championship. When a discussion arose about whether it was worth placing 4 stars above the Spartak diamond, Cheloyants publicly supported the team veterans, who demanded that the USSR championships be taken into account in this matter.

As part of his activities, Cheloyants personally supervised the Spartak “Academy” named after Fedor Cherenkov, which trains players for the main team. For young Spartak players, he allocated personal scholarships, for their mentors - funds for sanatorium-resort treatment, and, if necessary, organized charter flights for football players to fly to away matches.

On a national basis, he lobbies for the purchase of Armenian football players and their interests - thus, with his direct participation, the transfers of Aras Ozbiliz and Yura Movsisyan to Spartak were organized. Both of them eventually left the red-white camp just at the same time as their patron. In addition, it was Cheloyants who at one time really wanted to see Armenian national team midfielder Henrikh Mkhitaryan in Spartak, but the matter never came to a discussion of numbers.

Cheloyants also influenced the choice among candidates for the post of head coach. He was one of the main participants in negotiations with Cherchesov two years ago and even flew on a personal plane to Rostov-on-Don, where Amkar, which then coached Cherchesov, played a match with the local Rostov, and at the end of the game took the coach to Moscow. It was from Cheloyants’ phone that the famous SMS was sent, in which Cherchesov was confronted with the fact that he was not suitable for Spartak. He supported the candidacy of Alenichev and against the candidacy of Yakin.

When considering individual personnel issues, Cheloyants very often remained in the minority on the board of directors. This, in particular, happened when questions about the resignations of head coaches were being decided - Michael Laudrup in 2009 and Valery Karpin twice - in 2012 and 2014. Cheloyants was also the only one who voted on the board of directors to extend the contract with Askhabadze, while everyone else opposed.

Cheloyants’ rhetoric often ran counter to the rhetoric of the club, or more precisely of President Fedun. The businessman was active in the press and did not hesitate to criticize some decisions of the board of directors. Thus, a year before his departure from Spartak, Cheloyants said that no positive events had occurred over the past year at Spartak after the dismissal of Valery Karpin, with the exception of the opening of the stadium.

Soon Cheloyants was left without a board of directors - in August 2015, Sergei Rodionov took his place. The businessman himself then admitted that he did not understand the reasons for this decision. After this, it became clear that his position in the club had weakened significantly. After that, he sold 10% of his shares to Leonid Fedun, and he himself became a shareholder of the Yerevan football club Banants. But even after leaving the team, Cheloyants remained faithful to Spartak, saying: “I have been rooting for this team for 50 years and I want to root for another 50!”

Just as in the case of Dzhevan Cheloyants, we cannot pass by the figure Vagit Yusufovich Alekperov .

About a year ago, the famous TV commentator and journalist Vasily Utkin named Alekperov, and not Leonid Fedun, as the real owner of Spartak. Still, this is not entirely true. Yes, he regularly provides personal sponsorship to Spartak (one might say that they finance it together with Fedun) and certainly owns an impressive percentage of the red-and-white shares. But football itself with its problems is of little interest to him, and even more so he has no desire to engage in it - there are enough “Lukoil” worries here, otherwise he would have personally headed the club’s board of directors long ago. Since Alekperov is not interested in football, it is better for him that Fedun is involved in the club, depriving him of additional headaches. But his participation, even if somewhat distant, is both in Spartak and in the stadium. They just don’t talk about it or don’t talk about his participation to a lesser extent than it actually is.

Populism is a tactic of directly flirting with the broad masses of the people, making unfounded promises in order to gain popularity in the election campaign. It is this word that pops up in the head of every red-and-white fan after the release of another interview with any of the Spartak management. These interviews contain a lot of bombast, a lot of promises and confidence in a bright future. It is populism that the leadership of Spartak has been engaged in all these years. They don’t need any sporting achievements, successes, or trophies. Of course, they won’t mind if some trophy suddenly falls on their heads, but even without them, everything is going fine for these “leaders”: attendance records will not go anywhere, not writing about Spartak in the media is suicide, paper hot dogs for 200 rubles and tea bags for 100 rubles will be sold in tons. Promes, if he leaves, will go for a tidy sum to a good club - everything will be fine for them, one might even say excellent. And everyone understands this: from Fedun to the Kombarov brothers, and the saddest thing is that everyone is happy with this. And Leonid Fedun continues to blame all his own mistakes on the players, the conspiracies of the judges, and the machinations of his opponents. When Emery came to Spartak, there was a real chance to take a serious step forward for the entire club, but it turned out to be of no use to anyone: neither the players, who dumped one of the most talented coaches in the world, nor the management, who did not deign to support the Spaniard in his struggle. And it’s just wonderful that after leaving Spartak, Emery won the Europa League with Sevilla 3 times in a row (!!!) - I hope that after each of these victories, Fedun was tormented by hiccups for a week.

Then, behind the screen of a brand new stadium, you can annually shuffle coaches and shuffle players under them - only in this case the players are not bought, but only sold out and given away for free to their closest competitors. And then in an interview they state that this was done only in order to introduce young people into the vacancies, simultaneously comparing Davydov with Messi, admiring and calling “lace” any 2-3 accurate passes in a row.

At the most critical moments, you can take extreme measures - fire the general director, simultaneously declaring that his course was wrong, that Fedun put the team at his complete disposal, but he failed, but now we will find a real professional in his place and everything will be fine.

In the end, Fedun decides to form his own “team of professionals” from real Spartacists - Alenichev, Titov and Ananko, under the clear gaze of Rodionov and Trachtenberg’s breathtakingly delusional enthusiastic comments, burst into Tarasovka, carrying behind them a carriage and cart of the Spartacist spirit. And everyone is happy - the Spartak public - with the return to Spartak's roots, and Fedun is happy with the fact that Rodionov is in fact an uninitiative general director, and the new coaching staff does not seem to need purchases, which means that a large amount of money may not be pledged for transfers.

All 13 years of Fedun at Spartak were continuous mistakes. We can say that Fedun himself is one big mistake. The incomprehensible dismissal of Pervak, behind-the-scenes games in the management of the club, which brought the same Fedotov (the wife of Vladimir Grigorievich herself spoke about this in an interview), whom Cherchesov once caught up with, the shameful transfer window in 2010, code-named “clean check”, when " Spartak, which was tasked with winning the championship, spent as much as 4 million euros on transfers before the season, and the transfer campaign itself (Spartak then signed Drinčić, Ari, Golyshev and Sheshukov, and returned Sovetkin, Sukhi, Dzyuba and Shishkin from loans. Moreover, Golyshev, Shishkin and Dzyuba will leave Spartak in the same year), the dismissal of Unai Emery, the coaching leapfrog, football-doubtful people in the club's management - all these are the reasons why Spartak has not achieved anything in 13 years under Leonida Fedun. Once again, Fedun admitted his own stupidity quite recently when he said that 5th place, thanks to which Spartak secured participation in the Europa League next year, is shameful for the red and white. This is indeed true, but for some reason Leonid Arnoldovich does not consider the task that he himself voiced before the 2015-2015 season - which is 4th place and, accordingly, participation in the Europa League - shameful.

What’s saddest for a Spartak fan is that everyone (well, almost everyone) in the management and on the team absolutely doesn’t care about Spartak or what’s happening in it. For Fedun, the goal has always been the same - the self-sufficiency of Spartak, which hides his real goal - obtaining maximum profit either through Spartak or with its help. Now he is betting on Otkritie Arena and the 2018 World Championship and, of course, on the Tushino 2018 project. Everything else doesn’t matter to Fedun, and that’s why many people around him say that Leonid Arnoldovich simply doesn’t care about the team’s results. The main thing is to arrange everything beautifully, shuffle coaches and management, spend the minimum possible amount of money on the team, but to keep the fans happy and to divert the rays of hatred from your loved one, while at the same time making a profit from parallel projects.

His subordinates don’t care about Spartak because they are all only interested in Fedun’s money and how to better use it. That is why they strenuously sing in his ears about how Fedun is a great manager, a wise leader and a sensitive “dear father”, how insightful and purposeful he is, how good everything is at Spartak and what excellent prospects await the club in the very near future. And all this day after day, month after month, year after year.

Absolutely all players, including foreign players and youth, know everything described above - after all, this has long been no secret to anyone in Spartak. Hence the disregard for the game and the team’s results among all players in half of the matches this season. The game is going well. It doesn’t work - well, after the match we’ll say that we tried, we ran, but today it didn’t work out. SMS from the bank about salary is the quintessence for the players and employees of today's Spartak.

For this situation to change, changes must occur in Fedun’s head. Fedun has been at the helm of Spartak for 13 years. A very long and painful 13 years. During this time, Spartak did not win anything (jokers may remember the Copa Del Sol). He must finally understand that the football club was created primarily for victories, and not for the implementation of his business ideas. And that is why he is constantly criticized - precisely as the president of a football club, and not as a prudent accountant. You can be a prudent accountant and live within your means - there is nothing wrong with that. On the contrary, in the conditions of constantly tightening financial fair play, this is very good. Only in this way can you still win, because not all clubs spend fabulous sums to win. And to do this, you need to completely clear the Augean stables (and in the case of Alexander Zhirkov, the expression about the stable takes on another additional meaning) in the leadership and in your “team of professionals,” which in fact are not professionals, but the most ordinary economists who consider and protecting every penny of Fedun. Only in fact, Fedun’s money is not protected, but is diligently pinched off by each of these lures, and the official frugality of Fedun’s money is done to the detriment of the club. It’s also time for Leonid Arnoldovich to stop managing the team according to the principle “Today I want one thing, tomorrow another, and the day after tomorrow I want it again as it was the day before yesterday.” So it’s time for Fedun to ask himself a question - what does he really want? To rejoice every year at yet another positive financial report, despite the fact that the club has remained outside the top three for four seasons in a row? Or should I still win? If he doesn’t want this, then it’s probably time for him to sell Spartak and give up his place to someone who realizes that a football club was created for football and for winning in it, and not for turning around money.

Deputy Chairman of the Board of Directors of the capital's Spartak, Nail Izmailov, in an interview with RT, explained what goals the leadership of the red and white pursues, proposing the RFPL to carry out fundamental reforms. He also shared his transfer plans, told how the team managed to get out of the crisis situation, and revealed details of the relationship with the fans.

“Our goal is to make the Russian championship better and more popular”

The owner of Spartak, Leonid Fedun, recently made a proposal to carry out a number of reforms in Russian football. What work is being done by the club to implement these proposals?

We are now preparing letters to all leagues: RFPL, FNL and PFL, sending an appeal to the Ministry of Sports and hope that all our proposals will be considered at the next executive committee.

- Why change the usual structure of a popular game so radically?

Several goals are being pursued here, because the proposed reforms are specifically aimed at improving certain components of the game. But I will highlight the main priorities: improving the quality of football itself and increasing spectator interest in domestic championship matches. For this purpose, a proposal was put forward to reduce the participants in the national championship to 14 teams. Thus, viewers will have the opportunity to watch the game with their own eyes in comfortable, safe arenas, and the quality of the television picture will also increase, which, in our opinion, will affect the overall growth of interest in the RFPL.

What about reforming the gaming grid? It turns out that the current calendar still does not suit Russian clubs?

Yes, indeed, this story repeats itself every year, every season we try to move games from cold regions to the summer, but so far this has been difficult. I would like such issues to be automatically taken into account when creating the calendar - it is with this approach that a lot of difficulties will be avoided for both clubs and their fans.

Your club also received a proposal to introduce a mandatory bonus system for children's coaches who trained players for the RFPL, and to tighten the current limit on foreign players. It turns out that Spartak came to the defense of young Russian football players?

It is important to understand here that spot work will not fundamentally solve the problem. Unfortunately, even if the limit is tightened, new young stars with Russian passports will not appear overnight. So, in addition to introducing a limit, we need to pay attention to children's coaches, football schools, youth and youth competitions. And then, having carried out reforms in all these areas, we will be able to get the first results and increase the number of potential players for the Russian national team - it is no secret that today the coaching staff of the national team does not have much choice.

And yet, your proposals seem a little harsh, especially for clubs that do not consider themselves among the elite of Russian football. Are there any fears that your colleagues will not accept your project?

Yes, we are prepared for the fact that many clubs will not be particularly happy about our reforms. After all, objectively, except for the top teams, few people will find these proposals interesting. But let's look at the situation objectively: we all pursue different goals. For some, the main task is to represent the region in the RFPL, for others it is to show good football, develop schools, and represent the country in European arenas. But we are talking about a global reform of all football in Russia, so sooner or later everyone will come to a common understanding.

“After 0:7 at Anfield there was deathly silence in the dressing room”

You talked about goals and repeatedly noted that Spartak will continue to fight for the championship, but don’t you think that the club lost an unacceptable number of points at the start of the season?

We lost a lot, I won’t deny it, and overall we started the season very poorly. There were reasons for this, both external and internal, subjective and objective. It was a difficult moment, but thanks to the guys who found the strength to pull themselves together and finish this year with dignity. We are in the top three, we have an equal number of points with Zenit, so I will regard this interim result as positive.

In the fall, a whole information campaign developed around Spartak, mostly with a pronounced negative connotation, how did you manage to cope with this?

The whole point is that the situation in which we found ourselves is absolutely beneficial to someone. Someone who is outside the club.

Internally, for all employees, coaches, players and administration, such stories prevented them from working productively. We held several meetings, gathered at the base in Tarasovka, in my office, talked a lot with Massimo Carrera, with the entire coaching staff, and together developed a mechanism that allowed us to unite.

In addition, we found the strength to regain lost motivation and believe that, despite the lead from competitors, the team is capable of fighting for a second championship.

- Have you determined the reason for the loss of motivation?

This is psychology. As people say, we went through “fire, water and copper pipes” and with them fame, prizes, medals and recognition. Alas, the team was not ready to win over and over again. But there are also positive aspects: having found themselves in a stressful situation, the guys became stronger. The latest rounds of the RFPL are clear proof of this.

How do you assess the results in the Champions League? It’s unlikely that the club management called 0:7 in the final match of the group stage satisfactory?

Today, for our team, this is primarily a tournament that allows us to gain invaluable experience of performing on the international stage and playing with famous opponents. For many guys, such matches happened for the first time in their lives. Having received this invaluable practice, players will continue to progress and grow. I assess the club’s overall performance in the Champions League as positive; moreover, even before the start of the season, the task was clearly formulated: to play in the Champions League with dignity. Worthy does not mean reaching the next round or getting into the Europa League. Worthy is to perform to the limit of your capabilities, draw the right conclusions and improve the overall quality of football.

- You were with the team in Liverpool, what was the atmosphere in the locker room after the defeat?

There was deathly silence. Of course, we were all hurt; such defeats are not so easy to survive. But, I repeat, for all of us it was first and foremost an experience, so whether we lost 0:1 or 0:7, for the tournament situation the result is the same. In Liverpool, the team came out to play to win, to fight for the right to continue playing in the tournament, in such a situation it was either hit or miss.

Weren't you worried about the psychological state of the players? Many experts said that, for example, Alexander Selikhov should not bet on the match against CSKA...

Sasha, although young, is a very promising, high-quality and professional player. Still, we saw the match with CSKA, he and the whole team were able to redeem themselves for those seven goals in England.

After the victory over CSKA, Leonid Fedun said that the team would fully make amends only if it beat the leading Lokomotiv with a score of 4:0. Is this a joke or do you really believe that you can still catch up with the “railroad workers”?

After the completion of the first part of the season, the deputy chairman of the board of directors of Spartak answered questions from a Match TV correspondent.

- Spartak improved significantly before the break and shares second or third place with Zenit. But will the gap from Lokomotiv allow you to aim for more?

If we managed to radically change the situation in the table now, why not continue in the second round? Time will show.

- What means did you use to restore your nervous system after 0:7 in Liverpool?

We gathered at the hotel after the game with members of the management and board of directors, discussed the match and went to bed. These are the means.

- Is everything quiet, calm?

What's the point of making noise? Yes, it hurts, it’s unpleasant. We did not have serious experience of participating in European cups, which was confirmed by the match with Liverpool. There was a reason to think about what we were doing wrong. Certain conclusions were drawn, as the game with CSKA showed. It is clear that the high stages of the main European club tournament are not yet the most achievable goal for us. And the task before the season was formulated as follows: worthy participation in the Champions League.

- Was what happened worthy?

If you don't take into account these 0:7 - yes. To qualify for the spring part of the Europa League is worthy. You cannot set unrealistic goals for yourself, because this has the opposite effect: realizing that they cannot be fulfilled, people lower the requirements for themselves and stop fulfilling them altogether.

- But there is another point of view: you would be forgiven for 0:7 if not for two draws with the outsider Maribor.

Both are offensive. But they are also an experience that has not happened for a long time. As well as 5:1 against Sevilla.

- Give Spartak a rating for the first part of the season.

- “Good”, judging by the current RFPL standings. There were a lot of bumps though.

- Of all the rivals of Russian clubs in the Europa League, is Spartak the most serious?

Didn't she work?

In the summer, according to my information, the proposals and conclusions of the selection department were ignored by the coach. Who will look for candidates now?

Your information is incorrect. Maybe someone wanted to see problems in Spartak, but in reality there were none. They worked closely, in tandem. And someone on the side tried to put unnecessary rumors into rotation. In fact, the mechanism remains the same: some candidates are proposed by the coach, others by the selection department. Then - discussion and choice. Within budget.

- How big is it?

I won’t name the amount, of course. But it is important to remember about financial fair play.

- Is he pushing you too hard?

Very. A cruel tool. It limits, but also encourages you to earn more.

- Which lines are priority for amplification?

Defense for sure.

- Will Taski leave?

Taking into account the spring part of the European Cups and the upcoming matches of the Russian Cup, I would not like to lose anyone from the current squad. It’s too early to talk about the rest.

- Is the significant amount of compensation stipulated in Promes’ contract capable of protecting Spartak from his departure?

There really is such a sum. But we must understand that this is not a dogma that excludes the negotiation aspect.

Quincy Promes “destroys” Sevilla after a great individual pass and an accurate shot on target / Photo: © Vasily Ponomarev / Edgar Breshchanov / Sportbox.ru

- Have the club received any official offers to purchase Promes?

Not at the moment.

How true is Spartak's interest in midfielder Patrick Twumasi from Astana, voiced in the press?

There is no interest, we are not considering purchasing it. And it’s unlikely that it would become a gain. Another information “stuffing”, of which there have already been many.

- And yet, once again about selection. Who will lead it?

The final decisions, like last summer, rest with the head coach. Naturally, within the budget.

- It was the same in the summer. But Spartak's selection policy smacked of controversy.

Perhaps it seemed so from the outside. But there is centralization, interactions are streamlined, everything will go as usual.

There were complaints about the behind-the-scenes celebration of the championship. A small hall for our own people - and no fans.

There was a celebration for the fans at the stadium when the championship cup was presented. This was how it was originally planned. 45 thousand people came, people ran onto the field, thanked the team, and the team thanked them. I have not heard that the championship was celebrated on such a grand scale anywhere else. Everyone was happy. And the presentation of medals took place in a more intimate atmosphere, which is normal.

- How many medals were there, by the way? Really four hundred? Didn't this devalue the champion's valor?

Far less. We considered it necessary to thank the club employees who gave years of their lives to this championship with medals. Quite natural, in my opinion. It would be wrong to do otherwise: victory includes a piece of the work of everyone who works at Spartak. We definitely didn’t give out medals left and right, each of them was deserved.

- Why was the restaurant at the Spartak stadium rented out to CSKA fans?

Well, this is not the same steppe at all. It's not really like that. There was a children's birthday party with a football theme. A girl who is a fan of Spartak. Children and parents came supporting various clubs. Some are wearing a Barcelona jersey, some are wearing an Ajax scarf, some are wearing a CSKA uniform. The strange thing is not that this happened, but that we are discussing it at all.

- How did you feel when you read the interview with the Spartak bus driver?

Sorry, but I didn't read the interview with the bus driver.

- Will fire shows at Spartak home matches remain the norm?

Pyrotechnics are prohibited in stadiums, which means this cannot be the norm. We do everything possible to prevent this from happening. Even though it's not easy. At the match with CSKA, for example, the search was carried out by police cadets. Did not help.

- Do you think fans have the right to demand influence on the club without being its shareholders?

The fans are our support, we always listen to them. Moreover, we will soon create a platform for fans to vote on certain issues. With feedback in the form of answers to their questions. I hope it will work by the end of the season. We live and work for them. Of course, their opinion interests us.

You spoke about the emphasis on your own students. Are there quantitative “orders”, and if so, what are they?

If the world of football worked according to regulations, the viewer would not be interested in watching this. The installation of young ones into the base should occur naturally. If at least one of them manages to join the main team during the season, it will be nice.

- Do you often attend Spartak-2 and youth matches?

I don’t often, Sergei Rodionov comes to every game. Doesn't miss a single one.

- And Carrera?

Both reserve teams train in Tarasovka, they are constantly in sight of the head coach.

Why does a foreign coach need Spartak youth? A long, tedious process. And the result is needed here and now.

Not certainly in that way. The goals set by the board of directors for this season: worthy participation in the Champions League, getting into the top three at the Russian Championship and winning the National Cup. This allows us to raise our own students to the level of regular players of the main team.

- Do you want to say that Spartak is not faced with the task of defending the championship?

It has been put before us for many years. And we wandered with this task throughout the table, except for the very top. Finally, the understanding came: forward movement is required. And four years ago the strategy underwent changes. Since then, we have been developing this way - progressively. For four years we cooked a mess with an axe, built and polished the team until we got one that wants, can, and does what we set out to do. Because only progressive development provides the team with a future. Academy graduates should also develop within the framework of this idea. They need game practice in the first team - otherwise there will be no progress.

Massimo Carrera during the match between Spartak and FC Spartak-Nalchik / Photo: © Edgar Breshchanov / Vasily Ponomarev / Sportbox.ru

- What form of reporting does the head coach have to the club at Spartak?

Once every six months, all coaches of all teams report to the board of directors. Including Carrera. The growth dynamics of players, their potential, possible mistakes of the coaching staff, and conclusions from these mistakes are indicated. Standard permanent procedure for several years.

- Does the board of directors only listen or set tasks too?

Of course, both.

That is, Carrera only once every six months has the opportunity to hear: “Massimo, something is storming you along the distance - sometimes 0:7, sometimes 3:0; instability, however"?

Sergey Rodionov and I visit Tarasovka at least once or twice a week. So the head coach can hear this much more often.

- What are the reserves for increasing home attendance?

It’s difficult to come up with something revolutionary. We should rather talk about strengthening those areas that we have been working on for a long time and, by the way, successfully. Quality of the game - one, work in the media space - two, improvement of service for fans on match days - three. Much has been done - and much remains to be done.

- How difficult will the World Championship, the matches of which will be held at the Otkritie Arena, make life more difficult for Spartak?

It will complicate things - not entirely true. There is a lot of technical work ahead, and the regular activities of the club’s services, which are currently not taking place on match days, will be interrupted for some time. We will have to take into account a completely different contingent of fans, requiring a different approach. We will give the stadium to the organizing committee, then return it, adapt it to club life and continue to operate it. On the plus side, during the World Cup the arena will be officially named “Spartak Stadium”. This is good advertising for the club and society.

- Is the problem of agent clans noticeable for Spartak?

If there is such a problem, it does not affect Spartak. What does an agent need? Good contract for the mentee and commission. We work with different agents, Russian and foreign, and we don’t bias things in one direction.

- How many of Marco Trabucchi’s players are playing in Spartak now?

Marco is one of those who participates in Spartak transfer deals as an intermediary. Without the slightest tilt in his direction. The club definitely does not have “basic” agents.

- Were you shocked when you read Glushakov’s statement: “Carrera is not a top coach”?

Headline - yes. The essence of what was said is no, because the phrase was taken out of context. The most important thing is that the captain and coach have an excellent relationship, and no amount of headlines can change that.

Photo: RIA Novosti/Vitaly Belousov, RIA Novosti/Alexey Filippov, Vasily Ponomarev/Edgar Breshchanov/Sportbox.ru,