Slavolub Muslin became the new head coach of the club

personnel

Moscow "Lokomotiv" fulfilled its promise - it decided on the candidacy of the head coach by the end of last week. Late on Sunday evening, the former Russian champion signed a two-year contract with a possible extension for a year with 52-year-old Bosnian Slavoljub Muslin.

It was the term of the contract, according to reports from Lokomotiv, that became decisive in the choice of a new coach. Oleg Dolmatov, considered the number one candidate until Thursday, wanted to sign him for two years. Club president Valery Filatov proposed a year. The parties did not agree. After that, the same two years that Dolmatov did not receive were offered to Muslin, and even with a possible extension.

The paradoxical solution (at least in terms of timing, when the impossible suddenly becomes possible) is easily explained. Lokomotiv, like any football club, however, is not managed individually. There may well be more than one opinion on issues that are key to the life of the team. That Wednesday, some representatives of Lokomotiv convincingly reported that Oleg Dolmatov would be the coach, others equally convincingly said that Slavolub Muslin. The only thing both sources agreed on was that the appointment deadline was the end of last week. Considering that the new shareholder of the football club OJSC Transtelecom was against the candidacy of the Bosnian, and the immediate management of Lokomotiv in the person of Valery Filatov did not want to agree to a two-year contract with Oleg Dolmatov, the disposition is quite clear.

Slavolub Muslin may now be experiencing persistent deja vu. He did not work in Russia, but quite recently the Bosnian lived in the mentally most Russian city among those located abroad - Donetsk, the epicenter of Eastern Ukraine. Let’s compare the stories and see how it all ended: in the Donetsk “Metallurg” Muslin also signed under the “2+1” system in the summer of 2004, just like in “Lokomotiv”. Under approximately similar circumstances: pluralism of opinions when choosing a head coach has always been characteristic of the second club in the city, which has replaced ten coaches in the same number of years. Slavolub Muslin, let’s say, was not the creation of the Industrial Union of Donbass (owner of Metallurg). To top off the similarities, Muslin came to Metallurg immediately after the end of the Ukrainian Championship and began working with the team 36 days after signing the contract. He cannot work with Lokomotiv at least until December 21, that is, until he regulates his relationship with Lokeren (sixth place in the Belgian championship), which Slavolub Muslin is currently still coaching.

In Donetsk, the Bosnian lasted no longer than the others. About nine months, four of which were in the off-season. And a scattering of reasons for resignation to choose from. Situational - defeat from teammates from Zaporozhye in the midst of the fight for third place. Official - family circumstances. Unofficial - conflict with the club management. Another unofficial one - Slavolub Muslin was dissatisfied with the composition of the team, which allowed Metallurg to fight only for third place. As if in Ukraine someone besides Dynamo and Shakhtar can lay claim to the first two.

Slavolub Muslin is a pedantic and quarrelsome person. Accustomed to winning. He made Crvena Zvezda the champion of Serbia twice - he quarreled with the management and left. A year later he returned and won gold again. Made the Bulgarian Levski champion. Took first place in the Moroccan championship with Casablanca. In 1996, he pulled the French Bordeaux from the Intertoto Cup to the UEFA Cup final - however, at that time he had a very young Zinedine Zidane and Bixant Lizarazu playing for him. Apparently, even at 53 years old, he remains faithful to the ideas of Delije (the self-name of Crvena Zvezda fans), which is not surprising for a man who played 302 matches for this team as a football player. Slavolub Muslin's features correspond to generally accepted concepts about Delije. Shaved head, gold signet. 15 days of visiting a Belgrade prison as a public intercessor and lawyer: Serbian and Bulgarian (from Levski) fans who fought at the Belgrade derby with the “grobars” from Partizan were imprisoned there. He is too self-sufficient and independent to look for opportunities to survive at any cost in the era of change, which is now in full swing at Lokomotiv, and in a situation where not all bosses were so eager to see him. Therefore, it is unlikely that Slavolub Muslin will work at Lokomotiv until December 21, 2007, but he will spend the next pre-season in any case, and at the moment this is the most important thing for Lokomotiv. “Lokomotiv” is going to create a new team in many ways - it is believed that Muslin knows how to create new teams and organize games for them. We will soon see whether this is true or not - skepticism in relation to Muslin coexists with hope.

ANDREY Kommersant-TARASOV

The Bosnian will lead Lokomotiv