Recently, Leonid Slutsky appears more often as the hero of high-profile shows and high-profile scandals than as a football coach. This activity backfires: the specialist was mercilessly criticized and threatened with sanctions. And then the moment came when Slutsky went too far.

Still got off easy!

Behavior is unethical

The last high-profile scandal involving Slutsky occurred in August, when the coach made a very rude comment on the case of Artyom Dzyuba. The Lokomotiv football player and Leonid Viktorovich’s partner on the YouTube show treated the journalist harshly in the parking lot, promising him to “put his phone in one place.” Slutsky defended his companion in an extravagant manner.

— They say: they say, we need to think about the fans, journalists work for the fans. Of course, a 19-year-old moron works for the fans when he runs out of the territory… Thousands of people approach Dziuba. He takes pictures with everyone, smiles, jokes. But when a person runs after you, points a camera at your forehead and asks idiotic questions… – these are the words Slutsky said on air in mid-August.

Dmitry Guberniev and Leonid Slutsky / Photo: © Commentary Show

The statement about the “moron” instantly spread across the Internet. The Ethics Committee of the Russian Football Union became interested in him. At the meeting of the body on September 14, the episode with Slutsky’s words was studied, perhaps, most closely.

As a result, the commission decided to seriously teach the coach a lesson. The punishment is a fine of 100 thousand rubles and suspension from any football activities for one year. True, it’s conditional, and in this regard Slutsky was lucky.

— Leonid Slutsky’s behavior does not comply with the requirements of Article 8 of the RFU ethics regulations. It states that football subjects need to evaluate their behavior, which can have a corresponding impact on the reputation of FIFA, UEFA, the RFU, and therefore such subjects must behave with dignity, ethically, and respectfully, noted the head of the committee Andrei Stukalov, his words are quoted by the official website of the RFU .

“I think they’ll put me in prison for five years”

Slutsky, however, was unlikely to be very upset. His attitude towards punishment was clear long before the commission’s decision. At the end of August, when it became known about the planned meeting of the ethics committee, the coach ironically commented on possible sanctions.

– What threatens me? I think they’ll put me in prison for five years. Most likely, with confiscation of property,” said Leonid Viktorovich.

Leonid Slutsky / Photo: © Commentary Show

Even earlier, Slutsky said that he did not regret what he said and did not pay attention to the resonance around his name. At the same time, it seemed like everyone in Russian football was disrespecting him. Even some colleagues in the workshop could not restrain themselves and criticized the specialist for using too long a language.

Now, if the former coach of the Russian national team continues to express his thoughts in a similar manner, he risks actually being left without football for a year. However, he is now out of football anyway, and no ethics commission can prevent him from exposing himself to ridicule and insulting everyone on the show.

“Why make idiots out of us?”

And this scandal is far from the only one in Slutsky’s career. There have been even more disgusting situations. In the same show, the coach, discussing Lokomotiv football player Dmitry Barinov, called him stupid. The statement quickly became public knowledge. Barinov, however, said that Slutsky’s words did not resonate with him at all, but in any case there was enough criticism.

At Rubin, Leonid Viktorovich fought with the judges and once ran into sanctions. In August 2020, when Kazan played Lokomotiv in the Premier League, Slutsky received a straight red card for insulting referee Sergei Ivanov. Later, he tried to justify himself in a very original way.

“I’ll now shoot five people here and start making excuses, saying: guys, it’s not me at all, they shot at me, and I wanted to dodge, and so on. These people will probably say: are you even normal? That’s pretty much what I said too. You already killed the team, deprived us of possible points in the First Game. Why continue to make idiots out of us? — Slutsky was indignant in an interview with Match TV.

Leonid Slutsky / Photo: © FC Rubin

Then the coach was fined 200 thousand rubles and suspended from football for two matches. This punishment, by the way, was taken into account during today’s meeting. And in the First League, Leonid Viktorovich was repeatedly punished for altercations with referees.

Old Slutsky is no more

Slutsky allowed himself to criticize the referees, the fields, the weather – in general, everything that could somehow influence the defeat of his team. He didn’t like journalists before. There is a known case when he ran into… one of the Kazan newspapers, considering it worthless.

“The press wrote things about me that were monstrous in their stupidity. There is one newspaper that is read by three people, one of them is the editor-in-chief, the second is his wife,” said Slutsky, his words are quoted by Komsomolskaya Pravda.

Alas, that Slutsky, whom all of football Russia adored, has finally become a thing of the past. Nobody remembers his championship with CSKA, qualifying for Euro 2016 and his work at Hull and Vitesse. The once most positive coach in Russian football, who rocked KVN and club media, has become a toxic and unpleasant character. And, apparently, he has no intention of changing.