Former Zenit, Spartak and CSKA footballer Roman Shirokov said in an interview with Match TV that Russian football clubs would not be able to survive without government funding.

— What is the main problem of Russian football for you? Abstract.

– In frames. First of all, coaching. This is the main problem. The better we will work in the same children’s football, not to pay all attention [командным] results, then there will be some progress. But even then – not earlier than four years later.

Plus there is a psychological moment. We say that we have young football players who are not at all charged with achieving big goals. Satisfied with little.

– Salary and benefits?

– Maybe. At some stage, they calm down, but this should not happen. As Sergei Nikolaevich Galitsky said and probably still says: “We need not good guys, but hungry wolves.” There will be young hungry wolves – they will have different results.

How to educate such a generation?

– Hard to tell. Life has changed. We grew up at one time, they at another. Now life is more stable. Perhaps this does not discourage them, but pacifies them. In general, this is an internal story – motivation. Whether you want to achieve it or not.

You can force a young person to do something, but only for a short period of time. If there is no such thing inside that you must always be the first, win all the time, then this will not happen. How can you force?

– Remove state money in the same volumes. Then salaries in millions of euros will leave.

– Let’s do it in such a way that you don’t have erotic fantasies: state money leaves – and football ends. We have about 60 clubs in the Second League, 18 in the First League, 16 in the RPL. There are about 100 clubs in total. If you find 20 of them with private money, it will be good. If you want us to have 20 clubs left, then let’s take public money out of football. But what will the rest do? Where are they?

They talk all the time about some mythical money that will come to football. No one invests in it, no one needs it. Everyone is focused on making some kind of profit. Football doesn’t have it at the moment. Neither in the Second League, nor in the First.

Therefore, when they shout: “Let’s remove the state money,” well, remove it. And you will be all over. Moreover, in all areas of activity – be it football, hockey, and so on. Everything is also not private there, ”the Match TV website quotes Shirokov as saying.