By Richard van Poortvliet
May 16 – A year is a long time in football, especially for Anzhi Makhachkala. This time last year, they were on their way to finishing third in the Russian Premier League and could dream of European football and bringing in yet more reinforcements to try and win the title the following year.
However, a year on, the team from Dagestan have been relegated from Russian football’s top division, following a 1-0 defeat against FC Krasnodar. They needed to win both their remaining games to have any chance of survival, but defeat to the beaten Russian Cup finalists ended their hopes of staying up, as they are rooted to the bottom of the table with 20 points from 29 games, with one game left.
“We needed to win today, but we could not. We had a lot of chances. We now have the task of trying to get back into the Premier League next season,” said their head coach, Gadzhi Gadzhiev.
Anzhi’s plight has been well documented. Things began to unravel for the side from Dagestan, when owner Suleiman Kerimov decided to cut back on the team’s budget in August 2013 after becoming disillusioned with the team’s lack of success. The billionaire, who hails from the volatile region in the south of Russia, bought his local club in 2011 and embarked on a spending spree, bringing in the likes of Samuel Eto’o, Roberto Carlos and hiring former Chelsea and Russia head coach, Guus Hiddink.
A wave of top Russian internationals also arrived, like Igor Densiov and Aleksandr Kokorin, who actually never played a game for the side from Makhachkala, as Kerimov’s total spending on transfers exceeded $315 million.
Almost all Anzhi’s stars left the club, following Kermiov’s decision to cut back, while the club were in a downward spiral and picked up just eight points in their first 19 games. In a push to starve off relegation, Anzhi’s owner did bring in the likes of Aleksandr Bukharov, Vladimir Bystrov and Dinyar Bilyaletdinov on loan, but it was not enough to stave off relegation as they could only muster 20 points from 29 games, condemning them to the drop, with one game left in the season.
Of course the turmoil within the club this season did not help. Much has been made about the number of key players who left, but it is also forgotten the Anzhi went through three head coaches this season. Guus Hiddink lasted just two games at the start of the season, before being replaced by fellow Dutchman Rene Meulensteen, who was in charge of the team for just 15 days. Gadzhi Gadzhiev, who took over at Anzhi for the fourth time in his career was ultimately left with too much to do.
So the big question is what is next for Anzhi and equally as important will Suleiman Kerimov stay? According to Timur Zhuravel, who is a commentator with the Russian TV station NTV Plus, the answer is no. Although he believes that the side from Dagestan will have its future decided at a later date, he said; “I believe that Kerimov will quit the club and the Dagestani local government will take over responsibility for the running of the club.”
It is unlikely that Anzhi would ever be allowed to fall into financial ruin, given that there is genuine support for the team in Makhachkala and Dagestan. The club have also helped to play a part in bringing together the community in one of the most impoverished regions of Russia.
If Kerimov does decide to quit, the local government will certainly back the team, but it would be hard for them to bring in even players of the caliber of Aleksender Aliyev or Bilyaletdinov.
Getting back into the Premier League may even have been beyond Kerimov’s abilities due to a new rule that has introduced a salary cap into Russia’s first division. The National Football League, will limit players, coaches and officials to receiving a monthly income of 300,000 roubles ($8,370). However, teams are free to pay bonuses to their players, which will not count against the salary cap. But, even getting the likes of Bilyaletdinov or Bukharov, who are both on the fringes of the Russian national team to agree to such a small basic sum would be a challenge.
The Anzhi dream has unraveled, almost as quickly as it started and illustrates the dangers of teams relying on wealthy backers. The team still have one of the best stadiums in Russia, which holds 30,000 spectators as a legacy of Kerimov’s grandiose plans for his home town club.
However, there are likely to be large numbers of empty seats when Anzhi begin life in the National Football League and the likes of Eto’o and Roberto Carlos pulling on an Anzhi shirt will be all but a distant memory.
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