It’s no secret that Russian football is rapidly degrading. Some people believe that a crisis is a time of opportunity, but, in essence, it is just complacency. The problem is that the bottom has not yet been broken, and we have nothing to push off from. God only knows how long the descent into this Mariana Trench will last.

There were times when we were upset that Russian coaches did not work abroad. Now they suddenly began to leave and try their hand at foreign clubs. But this is no reason to rejoice.

Are we not respecting ourselves anymore?

Is Andorra better than FNL?

On the eve it became known that Dmitry Cheryshev would soon leave Russia. The specialist goes to work in Europe, and this is not the first time for him. Cheryshev played and coached a lot in Spain, thanks to which his son Denis spent his entire football career in this country. Dmitry was a playing coach at the Aranjuez club, then worked with children at Real Madrid, and in 2016 he was part of Unai Emery’s headquarters at Sevilla, with whom he won the Europa League.

Alas, this time Cheryshev goes to a club of a completely different level. He flies to Andorra to lead one of the local teams. According to Match TV, the job was offered to the coach by American agent Dan Milstein, a native of Kyiv. He intends to acquire one of the Andorran top clubs, but which one is still unknown. By the way, Milstein helped many famous Russian hockey players find jobs in the NHL – from Pavel Datsyuk to Nikita Kucherov.

Photo: © Official website of Daniel Milstein

Andorra occupies the penultimate place in the UEFA ranking, ahead of only San Marino. Cheryshev is also far from Guardiola, but the fact that the Russian coach will work in such a hole is still depressing. In the end, even the average team from the FNL looks more attractive than the Andorran top club.

Senseless Departure

Even more indicative in this regard is the example of Kurban Berdyev. The man who broke the Champions League with Rubin and Rostov will work in the Iranian Traktor. Hasn’t there been anything better?

Recently, it has been customary for us to rejoice at any transfers abroad, but this definitely does not benefit anyone. The departure of coaches to the most backward football countries is meaningless – it does not bring prestige or experience. For Russia, of course, it would be better if specialists stayed here and helped carry out reforms.

Kurban Berdyev / Photo: © RIA Novosti / Alexey Filippov

Berdyev, as it turned out, is full of ideas on how to make our football better. And Cheryshev knows perfectly well how the football personnel training system works in Spain. The experience of both would be very useful in this difficult period. But there appears to be a lack of political will. If the Russian football leadership had only called, surely many would have responded and taken up new projects with enthusiasm.

Perhaps, with proper work, in a few years our coaches would have been invited at least to clubs of the Ferencváros level – and Stanislav Cherchesov would no longer be a pleasant exception to the rule. But while they, unfortunately, go to Andorra and Iran – and this is the ceiling. What’s next? Central Africa?