Football field of experiments

Agent Alexei Safonov - On the exit of the Russian Championship from self -isolation

The leadership of the Russian Premier League in the first European ranks decided to resume the championship. Already on June 21, clubs will hold the first matches according to the rules of the new regulations: without spectators, handshakes, in masks and, subject to the laid distance.

Obviously, the responsible persons who made this decision are sure that the remaining month is enough to return the legionnaires to Russia, the full physical training of athletes, the recovery of infected players and reduce the general level of danger. How domestic football actually gets out of self-isolation and what will happen next to him, said the sports agent, president of the SA-Futal Agency, Alexei Safonov.

- Alexey, in your opinion, is it worth it to play the Russian championship? In such difficult conditions, with significant restrictions, with unequal conditions for participants?

- I am convinced that such decisions are made at the very top. If the most formidable Akhmat and other clubs openly opposed the continuation, and a few days later they changed their minds unanimously ... who will trample against the wind, you know?

Unfortunately, the political background is also visible in this decision - to show that we do not have panic, not to lag behind Europe where the championships are resumed. But this is my personal opinion, but I was not present at a meeting of clubs, I do not enter the Council of League and the RFU. However, you must admit that it looked strange. Three quarters of the clubs were against, and here - "it is necessary to finish."

And such a story with hasty decisions is not the first. A few years ago, when the ruble exchange rate fell sharply, panic began in clubs. The salaries of foreigners were recorded in currency, and the budget in rubles. Where to pay the difference? And everyone quickly began to record courses, cursed with players, agents. And how was the limit on the legionnaires reduced? Russian field of experiments.

- This decision, again, is not the first time, does not take into account the interests of all participants in the championship.

- Yes, there are many such moments. Someone earlier begins to train, someone later, someone has players or coaches abroad and should have time to return and sit for 14 days of quarantine, and the championship begins on June 21. And physiotherapists say that after such a long break (which turned out more than summer vacation), you need to dial a form for three weeks.

Someone will come out on the field not ready enough-will get a serious injury. Someone can become infected with coronavirus, the team will have to go on quarantine-the championship will stop again.

I wonder: who will be responsible for the consequences? Did one of our sports leaders take responsibility for making this decision?

He got up and said: “If something goes wrong, I will put my head on the block!” Something I have not seen such.

But, we will be fair, this is not only with us, chaos is everywhere now.

- What other changes did this pandemic in the football world bring and what will it affect?

- We will be frank, in the football community no one was ready for such a development of events. If states and health systems have plans for the emergence of epidemics and other emergency, then no one was engaged in such planning in football.

This is such a very unusual time: the time of precedents, experiments, new solutions and challenges. Therefore, someone resumes the championships, someone continues to sit on quarantine, and someone spends, despite the existing threats in clubs.

In Holland, they did not finish the third of the championship, calculated the results on the last round. They recognized Ajax as a champion, Az remained unhappy - after all, they have the same number of points scored with Amsterdam, especially competitors, they managed to beat twice. As a result, after all the proceedings, the results of the draw were completely dug up.

The main leitmotif now is, of course, losses. Like all spheres of the life of society, from which they are inseparable and football, they lose money.

It is necessary to pay salaries to players and staff, you need to keep the arenas, you need to adapt to new conditions, for example, pay for coronavirus tests every three days.

Clubs of those countries where the championship of this year will finish (and what will happen next - so far no one is getting guessing) will be forced to hold matches without spectators, and in Italy, Spain, England, each game brings a dozen million euros. And where the championship will be stopped ahead of schedule, the clubs will not receive money for television broadcasts. It is for us that they do not constitute a significant part of the budget, in England they reach a billion.

- In the transfer market, this will also affect, the players will be very cheaper?

- In general, the market will probably go a bit. This is logical: the clubs will reduce costs, optimize the compositions, again: to lure a football player in any country will need to try hard. But this will not affect prices little: players will cost as much as they are ready to pay for them. Messi and Ronaldo will definitely not fall in price. But the rest will choose more thoroughly, bargain.

For us, the situation is still aggravated by the ruble course, so that foreigners will apparently decide, but their level will be quite high. No one will buy medium -sized players at high prices. 5-6 Topov Premier Leagues both bought foreigners and continue, and clubs such as Ufa or Tambov, and there were not enough for them-when salaries in the team were up to 100,000 rubles.

- It is logical to assume that the poor will become even poorer. On budgetary state teams, the whole story will hit the most?

- Provincial clubs can suffer very seriously. There, much depends on the will of the governor. And he can calmly get rid of ballast, hiding behind the fight against pandemia. For example, to say that instead of supporting sports, budget money will go to restore the tourism industry or medicine.

We already see this in Vladivostok: by the will of the local governor Oleg Kozhemyako, the hockey "Admiral" and the football "Ray" are closed. So many can jump off.

And private clubs will practically not suffer. Yes, the general budget will go for a while, but, firstly, such large players should have a “airbags” pillows, and secondly, professionals are sitting behind the wheel.

The work of managers capable of withdrawing the enterprise of their general crisis situation comes to the fore.

- By the way, this is a very interesting story: how clubs agreed with their players about lowering salaries. Khimki near Moscow made a statement on the coordination of reduction of payments with the players who learned about this from the news.

- This is not an isolated case. And in Spartak, I know that everything did not go so smoothly. But here it is impossible to consider this massively, to call all the players without exception. I have young guys who receive 30,000 rubles for, where else to reduce further? Here, all situations have varying degrees of need.

Many players called me and asked: where will my money go?

They saw that some clubs arranged assistance shares - bought IVL devices, medicines, protective equipment, brought food to doctors. Some club doctors during a forced break voluntarily went to work in hospitals.

If the players were directly outlined that their money would go to such necessary, vital goals, and would not fall into someone in their pocket, if everything were transparent and openly, no one would have said a word against.

- In what condition will players return to the championship? Are they worried about self -isolation?

- Those who spend this time with the family should definitely raise the birth rate! Well, seriously, there are quite a lot of problems. And the main one, like all people around, is uncertainty.

I have many young players of a double, they cannot deal with the main composition in the club - there is no case at all. The guys have a panic: where to train, when to play, what will happen to the contract, is it time to look for a new club, what to do at all?

Again, the financial situation with the clubs - who will go bankrupt, who will survive. With the legionnaires, the Spartak Germans flew to Jet Shurrle and can return at any moment, but who does not have an airplane?

A couple of my players were stuck in Kyrgyzstan, where they introduced the emergency mode.

The championship is stopped, the club is closed, they don’t pay money, sort it out as you want.

Here with lawyers, we are trying to pull them out of there through the embassy. And the saddest thing is that no one is absolutely incomprehensible when it all ends.