By Paul Nicholson
July 15 – Russian focus on preparing a competitive team for the 2018 World Cup has intensified following the departure of Fabio Capello after a string of poor results, with a search for a new – Russian national – coach underway. The federation is also on the hunt for a new president with Russian sports minister Vitaly Mutko emerging as frontrunner to return to a post he has held before.
More details of the severance of Fabio Capello as national team head coach are emerging, with his pay off now put at €6 million with a further €2 million being paid out to his Italian backroom staff who had joined him in Moscow. Original reports of a $16 million pay off were very wide of the mark, but perhaps reflective of the hype that had surrounded Capello as Russian manager and the importance attached in-country to having a competitive team at their home World Cup.
Russian billionaire Alisher Usmanov who funded the pay off on behalf of the Russian Football Union (RFU) said that he would most likely forgive the loan to pay off the wage arrears and settlement.
At the centre of the change taking place in Russian football is, inevitably, Mutko who said that the new coach will be a Russian: “We can begin negotiating work with possible candidates starting today. I believe we have no other variant besides inviting a Russian specialist for the post.”
Speaking to news agency Tass, Mutko said: “He (a Russian coach) knows the players and our mentality. We must imply maximum efforts to qualify for the [2016] Euro Cup. If we miss the tournament it will be detrimental for the development of our football and young players.”
A poll in Russia had found that 50% of people wanted Capello removed. Mutko, who was key to the Italian’s appointment, said: “Capello worked honestly and responsibly. But sport is cruel. There must be always the result.”
Sergey Anokhin, a member of the Russian Football Union’s (RFU) Executive Committee: “We will know the name of the new head coach in the course of the next two weeks.”
It is not just a change of national team coach that the RFU has to decide on. It also has to elect a new president following the departure of Nikolai Tolstykh, who headed the organisation from September 2012. Acting President of the RFU is currently 88-year-old senior vice president Nikita Simonyan.
Mutko is widely expected to return as RFU president and according to the RFU has been nominated by several regions, though Mutko himself has said he has not decided whether he will run for the presidency or not.
If he does decide to run he will face opposition from vice-speaker of the State Duma, Igor Lebedev, who was nominated by the regional Smolensk federation. Well-know coach Valery Gazaaev has also indicated that he might run.
The elections take place September 2 at the extraordinary congress of the RFU.
In the meantime Mutko is preparing a football development plan that will go before Russian president Vladimir Putin: “In November, at a meeting with the President, we consider the development of football in the country. In this program we write out a plan of development of the sport regardless of the World Cup. The development of football at all levels, including children and youth,” said Mutko.
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