By Paul Nicholson
July 31 – Fabio Capello committed his future to the Russian team through to the 2018 World Cup yesterday. There had been criticism internally of Russia’s failure to make it through the group stages of the Brazil World Cup, as well as of Capello’s reported $12 million salary.
But Capello remains and he has committed to looking to work with more Russian coaches in his set-up.
One of the debates within Russian football has been over the use by clubs of foreign coaches, with the criticism being that they do not help the national game develop. The Football Union of Russia (FUR) already taxes clubs that employ foreign coaches, and that tax looks set to be increased following recommendations from a ‘commission of coaching excellence’.
Clubs who have foreign head coaches currently pay a 2.5 million rubles ($72.800) levy to the FUR if they are in the First Division and 5 million rubles (145,800) if they are in the Russian Premier League.
Capello has taken the Russian sentiment as regards foreign coaches to the national set-up. Whether this is a pre-condition of him remaining in charge of the Russian team or not was unclear.
“We are looking for some different Russian coaches,” Capello told Russian news agency ITAR-TASS. “We are working. To choose Russian coaches is really important thing for me…All the (coaching) staff would be in really short time Russian…in one year.”
Capello, who is 68, has said that the role with Russia will be his last in football before he retires. Renowned as being single-minded and running a strict football regime, some of that character was evident at the announcement of his re-appointment.
“If I’m not trusted, I’ll resign, [the resignation] is ready, I’m a serious person,” said Capello. He added that he was staying on with Russia because the Russian Football Union and the Sport Ministry trust him.
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