one. On what basis is a new head coach being sought?

This question is relevant to any RPL club and even the world. A new head coach is always a lottery. Is always. Wish Akron now to invite Carlo Ancelotti, the result would be as unpredictable as if in Togliatti they hired a fifth assistant from the team of a neighboring children’s school. Too many factors of influence, ambitions, material, gaming and other burrs. Didn’t say hello to someone at breakfast – already an abscess.

In Lokomotiv, this is squared by the utter sloppiness into which the club has driven itself. A trainer is needed there, either loyal, or patient, or a firefighter, or revolutionary. On the one hand, a person will have to close all club processes on himself, because there is no one else to close them on. On the other hand, the coach will have to share influence and a moment of glory, if it comes, with Loko’s supporters. Or those who pretend to be them.

They write that Mikhail Galaktionov is expected in Cherkizovo. The only way to give this event a positive tone is to prepare a serious informational support. We call Galaktionov, and not, say, Vasilenko, Rakhimov, Semin, Yuran, because. And start bending your fingers at a specially convened press conference. Point by point. Otherwise, any appointment will be perceived as a habitual wandering around a dark room, Lokomotiv has been especially strong in this in recent years.

Photo: © Alexey Eremin / Match TV

Empty talk like “a promising specialist”, “a great future”, “bright distances” will not pass either. Only specifics. The club owes a lot to its fans and football people in general in terms of the sanity of actions. Every match of the current Napoli is a thousandth confirmation of this. And after all, no one returned the profit lost for Khvich to the club cashier, did not even say “sorry”. Sovereignly, through the lips, as with small children – there was plenty of such communication. The other is zero. And even less.

So, why, in fact, Galaktionov? Is his style close to the current Loko game vinaigrette? Does he have experience in similar situations? Is he free from obligations to Nizhny Novgorod? Is he able to deal with the scraps of the German concept, for which we were given the Brownian attempts of the leadership of Loko?

Galaktionov is definitely a coach and definitely promising. But this is not enough to understand the logic of its purpose. And without understanding, I repeat, any encroachment of the club will be regarded as the panicked fuss of Kozodoev from the “Diamond Hand” in the walls of the old city.

2. What does Vladimir Leonchenko do in the club?

It is clear that it is doing something, otherwise it would not work anymore. Lokomotiv is still a sinecure, but not that much, I hope. Another thing is, again, logic. If Leonchenko is not involved in the cases for which Thomas Zorn and Josef Zinnbauer were fired, then what kind of CEO is he? After all, he is higher in position than both, and zero results – there is nowhere more general responsibility.

If Leonchenko is to blame for the tournament horror, then why didn’t he leave after the German team for what he did or did not do in this area? The question is primitive, but key. It contains a reference to the defective vertical of club power and an analogy with seven nannies, whose child usually wears a Kutuzov bandage. The only thing that comes to mind is that Leonchenko is someone with the status of “remove cannot be left”. But is it easier for the club? And isn’t the clarification of the situation in the interests of Loko, if we talk about truly football interests?

Photo: © RIA Novosti / Evgeny Odinokov

3. Why is a board of directors needed?

This body in Lokomotiv has a demonic reputation. They are strictly summoned there, the guiding pulse beats there, sometimes general directors hatch from there. But this collective brain, as practice shows, does not think very well. Or does not have the mechanisms to translate their ideas into reality.

There are rumors about the replacement of Alexander Plutnik as the head of the board of directors by Yuri Nagornykh. Ok, why not? It won’t get worse, because it can’t get any worse. Both are not from football, one did not succeed – let the next one try, for Lokomotiv it is quite conceptual.

Nagornykh’s ministerial past is another matter. If and when Russia is nevertheless returned to international football, will an official who has a faulty image through WADA be ready to vacate his seat? I am silent about the rest. It is naive and even absurd to hope that at least some substantiation of their football decisions will follow from Russian Railways. There, a priori, they owe nothing to anyone, someone’s expectations are their problems. If this one fails, they will appoint a new one, there will be a line of candidates for such posts, no matter what they represent in football.

four. What does the head of Russian Railways, Oleg Belozerov, think about in relation to the club? Does he think at all?

The question is rhetorical, since such stratospheric heights cannot be seen because of our plinth. But the relevance of the topic is high. I remember that after the departure of Loskov, a hole formed in the thought processes of the team. The term “Bezloskovshchina” was born, meaning the transition from playmaking to “hit-and-run”. Now it is time to use not the analogy with Chekhov’s play, but its direct title – “Fatherless”.

Oleg Belozerov / Photo: © RIA Novosti / Vitaly Ankov

Lokomotiv has no owner, only a shareholder. The entire managerial link of the club is a set of officials. Some of them are afraid of losing their place, of not pleasing someone, of being exposed to something. The other part, there is an assumption, is engaged in matters of a more practical orientation, fortunately, the financial fair play is in suspended animation, and no one has yet been attracted to the club for transfers. And if so, where is the unifying principle? What is the ideological axis?

Previously, it was personified by the Ministers of Railways. Now you can’t find such rocks. The club has been transferred to the management of too many people and at the same time to no one in particular to talk about a strong hand and strong management.

5. How to rally and grind the existing composition?

The general trend is clear and sad. Through the same, by the way, Guillermo Abascal painfully makes his way in Spartak.

The players recruited by a mass of previous directors and coaches are a pile of different-sized spills, puzzles that do not fit together. There are rumors about the ceiling of salaries and transfers coming down to the club from the board of directors, but I have never heard of the stylistic nuances of finding newcomers. Meanwhile, the bosses change – the players remain, because they have contracts. And each next coach has to work with the leftovers, not the core. With flaps, not a solid piece of matter. Patching, not sewing.

Staff turnover is not uncommon in football, in three years the average club of the highest European league is considered to be updated by 90%. But it’s one thing when it happens as part of an overall strategy. Another, if the only strategy is unsystematic.

Sooner or later, Lokomotiv will have to adjust the squad to a single game standard. Judging by the fact that the club is reportedly planning to do without a sports director from now on, it is more late than early. The main thing is not to be too late.

6. Why not bet on young people and their own pupils?

In a sense, it’s understandable why. But if you approach the issue with a strict measure – what’s stopping you?

Savings – times. The absence of international feasts, we hope, is temporary – two. Concentrating the club’s efforts in one direction – three. The most likely fan support is four. Giant moral upsurge in the ranks of homegrown footballers – five.

Kilometers of lines have been written about this, it is pointless to repeat. Against the background of choral cries “we will develop our own”, we must manage to continue to bend the pseudo-German line and, of course, eventually drop everything. We are not on the world football map, crossed out! And here are the Germans, swing them there. What for? Why? But who will understand this “Locomotive”.

Photo: © RIA Novosti / Alexander Wilf

7. Does the club need a manager, Boris Rotenberg?

A figure of the scale of Yuri Semin (or Semin himself) as president, keeper of traditions and owner is definitely needed. And as for Boris as a sports director, there is something to think about.

In what way does he seem to be superior to Thomas Zorn? There is no experience, market relations will have to be worked out, Russian sports will not benefit from another Rotenberg image. But imagine what kind of roof Lokomotiv can have in his face? What is the barrier from agents of influence and just agents, from bipolar forces, let’s call a spade a spade, tugging at the club?!

You can’t order Rotenberg to give Khvich for free if he doesn’t want it. In terms of attitude to the matter, I have heard many times that there was no more professional player in the team. What if he really loves football?

We wait. We follow. We evaluate. We have already seen how to make Cherkizon out of a normal club. I would like to become a contemporary and reverse processes.