Got kicked

Two football events in December (a pleasant one - a successful draw for the World Cup, an unpleasant one - the loss of Loko to Hapoel) finally closed the season and, like a drop of water, reflected its entire black and white essence. True, if you mix these colors, you get the most common color for our football - gray. That's basically what last season was like.
Flights and overflights
It’s amazing that there were no middle peasants this year. By the beginning of summer, the major league was divided equally (8 to 8) into those who “fly” and those who dream of “not relegating.” In the first eight, the ancient capital was strongly pushed aside by young St. Petersburg and the Volga region, which had no longer been starving for a long time. But the feast of surprises lasted only until the second round. And then ironclad laws came into force. Having slept through the start, Spartak and Loko made up for lost time and for the third year in a row took their rightful places - first and second. But to the question “Will you be third?” Zenit responded affirmatively. St. Petersburg team. Although Putin, whatever one may say, has nothing to do with it.
As for the other leaders, all of them, having shone brightly at one stage or another of the championship, were eventually satisfied with the role of caliph for an hour. Everyone had different reasons. In CSKA - the tragic death of the goalkeeper and the fatal illness of the coach, but most importantly - the excessive financial well-being of the club, when they bought more players than necessary. “Torpedo” froze at a crossroads, unable to decide even for itself how best to play: beautifully or reliably? “Saturn,” like any resident of the Moscow region, was unable to break through the ranks of self-confident metropolitan “things.” And “Wings” and “Falcon”, having flown and soared at the top of the standings, eventually took geographical places along the Volga river bed - somewhere in the middle of Russia.
Outwardly, the struggle was intense among outsiders. But people experienced in the sum of football and especially non-football factors quickly identified the future losers. After the financial and bureaucratic scandals of the off-season, the first in line to part with the major league was Voronezh “Fakel”. And after coach Baydachny left Novorossiysk, the rest of the outsiders breathed a sigh of relief - here you have the second candidate for relegation. "Chernomorets", like a true sea crew, sank even faster.
Export-import
Perhaps someday 2001, for all its unprepossessingness, will be called a turning point. Our football won the battle near Moscow when people stopped leaving us en masse for some Austria or Israel.
But now we are finally waiting for the return wave. At the same time, Spain and France did not even notice that our stars Beschastnykh, Levitsky, Yanovsky had left them... But for Russia this became an event.
Among the pleasant surprises is Nigmatullin’s intractability, looking through Italian clubs in search of a place as the main goalkeeper, and not as a bench player (what previously unheard-of impudence!). But just recently our football “marriageable brides” jumped out to marry any European groom.
Veteran Chugainov’s refusal to leave for the English Premier League is also indicative. But a year and a half ago, Igor said that he would not mind playing in a strong European championship. But the example of the Kiev resident Luzhny, who turned out to be the fifth wheel in the four fast defenders of Arsenal, is very visible. I bet that next year there will be conversations: isn’t it time for Alenichev, Khokhlov, Smertin to return to their homeland?
But these are all exports, and what do we have among imported goods? The streams of Ukrainians, Yugoslavs, Belarusians, Uzbeks coming to us do not dry up... But this year there was also a “trick”. Quite a decent African set, unlike in previous years: Lekheto, Obiora, Kebe, Billong. With all the whims of Obiora and the indiscipline of Billong, this black four became the bright spot of our championship.
Young is not green
An ideological alternative to attracting foreign players was the personnel policy of Zenit, Rotor, and Torpedo-ZIL. Their youth and backups were completely out of competition. They would have been talked about a hundred times more if Izmailov had not appeared this year. “Oh, Marat!” - the press and fans moaned in unified ecstasy. But what was most striking about this pandemonium was the behavior of Izmailov himself. Safely hidden behind the rare image of a monastic football player in our lives, he still goes to bed exactly at 23.00 and does not allow himself a sip of wine even after winning the Russian Cup.
Veterans also had fun this year. For which special thanks to Oleg Ivanovich Romantsev. He builds his communication with the “old people” according to all the canons of Hollywood film scripts. Romantsev not only dismisses the veterans, he insults them at parting, calling them “waste material.” Naturally, after this, the meeting between Spartak and the new club of another “waste material” turns into a “death match”. Truly Oleg Ivanovich is a great master of intrigue. He should write plays. Is it possible that, combining so many positions (president of Spartak, head coach of Spartak and the national team), will you have time?..
Coaching leapfrog
The past season was built according to the law of conservation of matter: “where as many coaches disappear, the same number of them will be added elsewhere.” The movement of coaches within the major leagues was massive, like the migration of birds. There have been so many transitions and dismissals that some patterns can be found in them. For example, teams from Moscow and the Caucasus (Dynamo, CSKA, Alania, Anzhi) prefer to work with coaches according to an option that can conventionally be called “acting.” After several victories, the prefix “acting.” disappears. And after it, the game finally disappears. The team switches from draws to defeats, giving out victories on major holidays.
But the teams of the Cossack regions (“Fakel” Voronezh, “Rostselmash” Rostov-on-Don, “Chernomorets” Novorossiysk) love to watch the ingenious castlings “flawlessly.” Anatoly Baidachny leaves Chernomorets for Rostselmash, and a little later Sergey Andreev goes in the opposite direction from Rostov to Novorossiysk. Averyanov, having been fired from Alania, takes over Fakel. Expelled from Fakel, Nenenko, in turn, comes to Chernomorets at the end of the season. By the way, as many as 5 people managed to lead the Novorossiysk team this year. As in the joke:
- Who hasn't slept with the bride yet?!
- I.
- Go away, you husband - you still have time!
Peace to the world
Against the backdrop of such coaching leapfrog, even traditional showdowns with annoying amateurs - judges and journalists, who always interfere with the work of professional coaches, have faded.
Fan vandalism has also declined. The guys are having a growth crisis. They don't know what to do next. It will still not be possible to surpass the luxurious pogroms staged a couple of years ago in Moscow, St. Petersburg, Ramenskoye, Voronezh (hereinafter - everywhere). The police are on standby, and the enthusiasm is not what it used to be. And any popular movement that is devoid of a goal, as the classics of Marxism teach, degenerates. God grant that at least this time the creators of the only true teaching do not make a mistake.
OLEG KUDRIN
The most boring champion
Spartak 2001 is by far the most colorless Spartak. No, he seems to have retained the traditional red and white colors, but the game has been lost. Please note: how similar “Spartak” in the Russian Cup was to “Spartak” in the Eurocups: lack of will, jitters, inability to play through “I can’t”.
But it’s not enough for the nine-time Russian champion to become first again. We need to do it beautifully. Or at worst - not boring. The show, as you know, is a must-go, and the Luzhniki stands are empty. Something needs to be done with this Spartak. Will head coach of the Russian national team Romantsev, who next year is expecting the most important World Cup in his life (World Championships in Japan-Korea), will reach out to him?

The biggest clown
Nigerian James Obiora is no stranger to skill. It is not surprising that Lokomotiv fell for such a talent: careful, technical work with the ball, dribbling, speed, shooting. “What a sucker these Europeans are - they let such a guy go!” — we decided after the first 5 goals, quickly scored by Obiora in the Russian championship. But time passed, and we became convinced that Europeans are not suckers. It turned out that all of James's circus tricks - scoring a goal with his heel into an empty goal, mocking dribbling, the soft unpredictable plasticity of an African ostrich - were just a parody of football. Obiora only plays when his opponents allow him to.

The most "abandoned"
The story of how Vyacheslav Ivanovich (Koloskov, Russian Football Union) quarreled with Nikolai Alexandrovich (Tolstykh, Professional Football League) entertained the football community for many years. And, by golly, it’s a shame that this plot seems to have exhausted itself. The powerful structure of the PFL fell not as a result of the attacks of the administrator Koloskov, but was destroyed from within. Representatives of the elite division were tired of the fact that their voices were valued on an equal basis with the votes of Uryupinsk football players and the major league clubs created their own JSC “Russian Premier League”. But this, apparently, is just the beginning.
And Nikolai Alexandrovich at the same time looks more and more like the Grand Duke of Kievan Rus - the state is being torn to pieces by appanage princes, and even at any moment he will be removed from the post of president of Dynamo Moscow.
And from somewhere above, Koloskov looks at all this with a smile...

The most unlucky club
Two years ago, Anzhi Makhachkala had three dreams: 1) beat Spartak, 2) win championship medals or the Russian Cup, 3) get into the Eurocups and beat one of the European giants. Two years passed, but not a single dream came true. Despite fierce resistance, Anzhi is a reliable supplier of points to Spartak. The bronze mirage dissipated last year in the match with Torpedo, and the crystal ringing of the Cup shattered in the game with Loko. In the UEFA Cup, Glasgow Rangers were afraid to go to Makhachkala, and the match on the field in Warsaw was lost by a goal rebound that was undeservedly given to the Scots.
Oh Allah, why are you doing this?

The most terrible tour
For all the belligerence of the terminology (attack, assault, cannon strike, chopping), football has always seemed a relatively safe activity. The 22nd round of the Russian Championship on August 18 was a terrible blow for us. On that “Black Saturday” CSKA and Anzhi, two ambitious teams charged with winning, played head-to-head. And the forward and goalkeeper collided in the same way. Both played like men, tough. Perkhun was unlucky. And the lucky one spent six months in a hospital bed. The other tragedy of that day is less remembered. "Fakel" - "Spartak". Halftime. The organizers stage a biker show, during which a motorcyclist crashes into two women at the edge of a field. Three more deaths...
And one cannot help but remember Pavel Fedorovich Sadyrin. Just recently he said goodbye to Perkhun with tears in his eyes, and exactly a week ago football said goodbye to him. Hurt...