Translated material
Club traditions
General manager remains to coach Spartak
Hockey “Spartak” can follow the path of its football brother and continue the season led by the club’s general manager. Negotiations with Sergei Mikhalev have reached a dead end and will not be continued. And Milos Riga is still unemployed. True, the news of his appointment to a new place may be made public on the day when Atlant returns from the trip.The more days pass since Milos Rzhiga left Spartak, the more details appear. It is already known that no one fired the Czech specialist from the club - he himself wrote a statement in a fit of emotion after the defeat from his fellow countrymen Dynamo, left the paper on the table and walked away. There is a version that by this time he received a call from Atlant and was offered to work with the club, which remained ownerless after the dismissal of Nikolai Borshchevsky. “I didn’t have any offers from other teams,” Rzhiga nevertheless insists. - I was going nowhere. If we talk about my resignation, it was a mutual decision, but I won’t say who took the first step.”
The leaders of Spartak hastily began searching for a coach and got through to Sergei Mikhalev. Mikhalev is considered not the most successful specialist. Yes, he had success with Salavat Yulaev, but that year the Bashkir club had a lot of money, unlimited opportunities to buy players and constant violations of the salary cap. The next year, the Ufa team was eliminated in the first round of the playoffs and got rid of Mikhalev. And they did it so quickly that even the team’s hockey players were surprised. The order was signed almost a minute after the end of the lost series with Avangard.
Having earned money in Ufa for the rest of his life, the specialist rested at home in Tolyatti, and last year he unexpectedly agreed to come to Nizhny Novgorod to help Torpedo. Having replaced Evgeniy Popikhin, Mikhalev lost seven matches, and was again replaced by the one he replaced. Since then, Mikhalev was not even considered among the candidates for the vacant vacancies. And Spartak was the first to reach him.
But negotiations with the red and white quickly reached a dead end. According to available information, Mikhalev, after watching two matches of the team, said that he needed at least six new players plus a goalkeeper. Only then will he agree to work. At the same time, Mikhalev did not give any guarantees, promising only that he would get into the playoffs with the team, and there he would “fight to reach the next round.”
At Spartak, where they are not accustomed to handling money so freely, they decided to stop negotiations, which greatly offended Mikhalev. “I was ready to work with the club on Monday,” he said in parting. - I won’t tell you any details of the meeting - please contact management. But I won’t answer any more calls from Spartak.”
It is possible that in the near future the question of the head coach will be closed. The club's general manager Andrei Yakovenko will lead the Spartak team. And the lack of experience should not bother anyone. Yakovenko was a fairly good hockey player, he played for a long time in the Czech Republic, and after leaving the big sport he was responsible for the defenders at Severstal. But in Cherepovets they decided to take advantage of his knowledge of the Czech and Slovak markets, first transferring him to the position of trainer-breeder, and then general manager.
It is possible that he will lead Spartak until the Eurotour break, and then his fate will be determined depending on the result. “The first thing I told the guys is that we need to calm down and continue playing, we need to straighten out the situation,” said Yakovenko. - I’ll say thank you to the players - they followed me. If they trust me to coach, I won’t refuse. I don’t want to leave the team in a difficult situation.”
Riga, who left Spartak, is still officially considered unemployed, since not everyone among the owners of Atlant wants the Czech coach to return to the club. After all, he already worked in the Moscow region, but left there after he asked for too much of a salary increase. And this despite the fact that his candidacy was supported by the governor of the Moscow region. Rzhiga expected him to sign a new contract on Monday, but for now in the Moscow region they are thinking, choosing between him and a certain Swedish specialist. Most likely, Rzhiga will still be appointed, but this will happen only after the team returns from the trip. Although anything can happen in two days.
But talk about Rzhiga’s appearance in SKA is absolutely groundless, although the former Spartak player made it clear that he would not refuse such an opportunity. “Every coach would love to work at this club,” he noted. “The strongest hockey players are gathered there, and with them you can achieve serious results.”
However, SKA President Alexander Medvedev seems to have already decided everything for himself. “We are giving the team time until the break for the Eurotour,” he said immediately after the end of the meeting with Spartak. - If by this time there is no result and no game, then we will take measures. Our main problem is that we are extremely unstable. In the first period we can show excellent hockey, but we don’t have time to adjust if the opponent adds. I am not happy with this situation.” At the same time, Medvedev once again denied that the St. Petersburg residents went to Rzhiga.
The first match took place in Chelyabinsk under the leadership of Valery Belousov, who replaced Andrei Sidorenko. So far, the work of the club often brings a smile. For example, the club announced two tasks back in the summer: the conference finals and the preparation of young players. Two veterans were immediately invited, but there was no real reinforcement. The team, naturally, began to lose and by the beginning of this week did not even make it into the playoff zone. Andrei Sidorenko fired his assistant in charge of defense, but he himself was not saved. Belousov is from Chelyabinsk, but at the same time he worked in his native team for a very long time, in the early 90s. This summer they parted with him without regret in Magnitogorsk, unofficially noting that the veteran of the coaching workshop had already lost his enthusiasm and interest in hockey.
After the events in Chelyabinsk, Mytishchi and Sokolniki, only one personnel question remained: will Sergei Nemchinov be able to keep his job, because CSKA’s results are far from expected. For now, behind Nemchinov’s mountain is the president of the club, Vyacheslav Fetisov. “I think the problem is with some players,” he said. - Many people need to think about their actions, understand whether they have the right to defend the colors of such a club. I have no complaints about the coach.”
Results. KHL. Regular season. October 11. "Dynamo" M -- "Severstal" -- 4:3 (OT), CSKA -- "Torpedo" -- 2:3 (OT), "Spartak" -- SKA -- 1:2 (bullet), " Dynamo Mn - Atlant - 2:1 (bullet), Dynamo R - Lokomotiv - 5:3. October 12. "Amur" - "Avtomobilist" - 5:4, "Metallurg" NK - "Neftekhimik" - 2:3 (bullet), "Sibir" - "Ak Bars" - 2:3 (OT) , "Metallurg" Mg - "Avangard" - 3:4, "Traktor" - "Yugra" - 1:3, "Salavat Yulaev" - "Barys" - 5:4 (OT). Leading: West. Dynamo M -- 30 points (13 games), Torpedo -- 23 (12), Severstal -- 22 (12), Dynamo R, SKA -- 22 (14). East. "Metallurg" Mg - 31 (14), "Salavat Yulaev", "Avangard" - 25 (13), "Barys", "Sibir" - 23 (14).