Lokomotiv follows the path of Rubin. And resignations alone won’t help.

In Kazan, a petition has been drawn up to dismiss the coach Slutsky. A case remarkable in that it showed that Rubin fans are not a phantom. But how many times, looking at their half-empty podium on the TV screen, you asked: “Where are they all? Who is football for?

It is especially funny that ex-referee Vilkov from Nizhny Novgorod turned out to be a situational fan of the Kazan club. His personal scores with Slutsky coincided with this general claim, and Mikhail signed the petition. When the referee turns into a cheerleader, what plot twist can you expect? Is that the transformation of a coach into a judge. Therefore, we will not be surprised if one day referee Leonid Slutsky, serving a meeting of amateur veterans, removes Mikhail Vilkov from the field. In the order of countersanctions.

Leonid Slutsky / Photo: © FC Rubin

In Lokomotiv, the sports director and head coach were dismissed in one fell swoop. It seems to be the third in a row, although it is easy to stray and take Zinnbauer for a screen (previously retired) Compper, who, in turn, managed to outlast another ersatz commander Gisdol. It was possible to collect mushrooms in one place as long as the underground mycelium existed. But with the resignation of Zorn, Lokomotiv ceases to be a mushroom place. Although it remains both bread and fish: there are plenty of people who want to go to a wealthy club. One of these football managers, who was accidentally met at football, in response to a random question asked if he was also invited, did not deny: “They are now calling everyone in general.”

The “revolution from below” that is brewing in Kazan and the “revolution from above” that has already happened in the former “Kazanka” only seem to be different events, having only a distant resemblance. In fact, there are many similarities between these cases.

For example, the two best Russian transfers this year are directly related to Rubin and Loko. Kazan became the place where the rocket engines named Khvicha Kvaratskhelia were warmed up to the maximum. Leonid Slutsky often repeats that he has no ceiling. Still would! What ceilings, if you are made for flights into deep space. Although Rubin did not manage to exclusively sell the current hero of Naples and the entire Champions League, since Dynamo Batumi and the player’s agent got a significant jackpot, Kazan became its launching pad.

It is curious that he came to Kazan just from Loko. And some kind of bonus is now due to railroad workers. But even without Khvicha, this year they managed under sanctions to crank out the transfer to Nice of Alexis Beck-Beck, unthinkable in terms of the amount and speed of the transaction.

Photo: © FC Lokomotiv

This means that both clubs have high-precision selection. They know how to find and show, in a fairly short period, the best qualities of strong players to potential buyers. “Rubin” was such a team for sale, in which, as if by a living thread, everything rested on bright legionnaires. And their force majeure departure became for Kazan “the robbery of the century.” It turned out that there was nothing behind the display case. More precisely, there is: a robbed trading company. It is remarkably skillful in finding, highlighting and selling. But it did not invest in the main football funds at all. And Slutsky spoke about this in a completely open text: a conscious bet, they say, was made not on the preparation of the reserve, but on the purchase-sale-services. So it turned out that in the football club “Rubin” there was no actual football club. Rubin was a market enterprise. An economic phenomenon, not a sport.

Similarly, the sports component sank in Lokomotiv. The sale of Beka-Bek is an economic success. The optimization of Kazanka, which was merged with the youth team, is also, apparently, a financial success. But against this background, purely football activities – recruitment, training work, team building, training of reserves – failed.

At the economic forum, Rubin and Lokomotiv could have been applauded for their beautiful presentations. But real football life punishes some with relegation, others with an unambiguous threat of relegation. Lokomotiv is definitely moving down Rubin’s path. There, where the red semaphore burns for too long in the opposite direction, where it will be useless and too late to look for switchmen.