Leonid Slutsky did not make it to winter – Sport – Kommersant

Rubin Kazan, playing in the first league of Russian football, announced the resignation of the club’s head coach Leonid Slutsky. The well-known specialist, who at one time won the title of national champion with CSKA three times, left the post on his own initiative. At the moment, Rubin is fourth in the first division and is fighting for promotion to the Premier League. For now, Yury Utkulbaev will act as head coach.

Quite long by football standards – almost three years of Leonid Slutsky’s work at Rubin has come to an end. True, his resignation happened somewhat unexpectedly. The head coach of the Kazan club decided to leave at willwithout waiting for the winter break in the championship of the first league, before which there are two rounds left, and the standings did not seem to require the adoption of such drastic measures.

Yes, Rubin, which was considered almost the main favorite of the division, had certain difficulties, but in general, Slutsky managed to stabilize the situation, and the team has a fairly high chance of returning to the Premier League.

Now Kazan is in fourth place, having scored 31 points after 18 rounds, that is, they are in the zone of the so-called play-offs for promotion. Arsenal, which is ranked higher, and Yenisei have the same number of points, and the leading Baltika and Alania are just four points away. It is clear that the main showdown, including for direct trips to the elite, is still ahead. On the nose of “Rubin” is an away match with “Ufa”, and then an important home derby with a neighbor in the region – “Neftekhimik”. However, Slutsky submitted his resignation. A farewell match for him was a recent match with Enisey, in which Kazan failed to realize the advantage of their field and tied 0:0. However, Slutsky himself was removed at the end of that meeting for excessive displays of emotion. Moreover, in Rubin they insist that the mentor did not deserve a red card, since he passionately appealed not to the referee, but to the wards.

In general, apparently, Slutsky was not satisfied with the team’s performance. In particular, at his last press conference after the match with Dynamo Makhachkala, he said that “unfortunately, due to a host of objective, subjective and other reasons, we do not show our maximum.” The coach also complained about “serious personnel problems.” Although the names of Rubin’s line-up are probably the best in the first division. All lines are well-stocked, there are players with national team experience, and Ghanaian striker Joel Fameye has even been considered as a candidate for the upcoming World Cup.

Still, it is not clear why Slutsky left right now. A much more convenient moment for this seemed to be the end of last season, when Rubin flew out of the Premier League.

But then the coach did not leave the team, he even wanted to train it for free and promised to do everything possible to return Kazan to the top division. Slutsky did not leave after a series of three defeats in a row during the current season, when Rubin also dropped out of the Russian Cup at the 1/32 final stage, losing to Ulyanovsk Volga on the Way of Regions. True, they say that just then Slutsky had a strong desire to write a letter of resignation, but with the help of veterans Alan Dzagoev and Oleg Ivanov, he was dissuaded.

Recall, Leonid Slutsky, who at one time headed FC Moscow, Krylya Sovetov, CSKA, the English Hull City, the Dutch Vitesse and even the Russian national team, has been working at Rubin since December 2019. That season, he saved Kazan from relegation from the Premier League, and the next season he took fourth place with them and led them to European competition. But they performed poorly in the Conference League, failing to qualify for the group stage, and then failed in the Russian Championship, losing their place in the elite. Nevertheless, at parting, the management of Rubin thanked Slutsky for his “invaluable contribution to the development of the club.”

So far, at least in the remaining matches against Ufa and Neftekhimik until the winter break, the team will manage Yuri Utkulbaev, who does not need, as they say, to be brought up to date.

He is a pupil and former player of Rubin, worked in the structure of the club in various positions, and recently was the director of the department of sports development and professional training. As a coach, Utkulbaev is known for his work with Neftekhimik, which promoted them to the first league, and in the 2019/20 season showed the highest result in their history with Nizhnekamsk — fifth place in the championship.

Alexander Ilyin