In the meantime, the players respect the dismissed Serb (words of gratitude to him have already been expressed by Fyodor Smolov, Guilherme, Rifat Zhemaletdinov), we talked about the current situation in the club with a person who is not a stranger to Lokomotiv. Rinat Bilyaletdinov worked in the club’s double for six years, brought up many red-green stars and even served as head coach for some time. Therefore, he understands what is happening in “Loko” like no one else.
Rinat Sayarovich, what is your attitude to Nikolic’s resignation?
Rinat Bilyaletdinov: Suddenly. An unexpected change. Recently we renewed the contract with the coach, everyone shouted hurray hurray. There were a lot of games without defeat, at last it started and went, but here … If the resignation had happened in the fall of last year, I would not have been surprised. Then there was no face, no game, the team was faded. In the spring I started up. And now it is incomprehensible to me. Wait one game at a time, when, as Evgeny Serafimych Lovchev put it, the coach will stumble? A coach should not be a hostage of one or two matches, one should look at the distance in order to understand whether the team is following the intended course, corresponds to the plans or not.
They say that against Nikolic was the new leadership of Lokomotiv, headed by Ralph Rangnik. What do you think of such a squeezing tactic, when transfers are not coordinated with the coach and are waiting for his first misfire?
Rinat Bilyaletdinov: Probably, this decision was hatched, analyzed by the structures that are authorized to do this. We must negotiate on the shore. Although I came across such a situation. You agree on one thing, and after a week you come across the fact that agreements, handshakes are not being fulfilled. Additions are suddenly made to the first agreement. If we talk about selection, we must immediately discuss how the work will be structured. For example, there is a practice when a coach can express wishes, but only wishes. You never know who he will ask there. But so that there is no protectionism, when the coach is obviously dragging some player, the last word remains with the selection department. But this coach, who is mentioned in various publications, can also be called someone’s patronage. You know how. They buy for a lot of money a player who has not won anything, and they tell us that this is the best playmaker in Europe, but no one has heard of him until now. It was like that ten years ago in the “Locomotive”. And then the coach is already working with the material that the club was able to provide him. And if this material is still damp and needs some work, you need to give the coach some time. It is easy to say this, but in practice, first of all, they sacrifice the coach, shake up the team. Well, now they will shake it up, but the shake-up will end in two or three rounds, and then what will be gained in training will remain.
Rinat Bilyaletdinov: A 36-year-old German is being wooed into coaches. A person of this age can be trusted with Loko if he is a genius or has already won something
Who should be Lokomotiv’s next coach?
Rinat Bilyaletdinov: First Loskov will work, and then … German surnames appear, but they don’t tell me anything. More precisely, I know about Tedesco. But with him it is not clear: he asks home from “Spartak”, then he is bored with his family. Ends and ends do not fit. Either he was cunning then, or now he is cunning. And I don’t know anything about the second coach. But you can only trust such a large team to a person who is 36 years old if this person is a genius and has already won something. For me, then it’s better Loskov, let them give him a job.
What can we expect from Loskov as a coach?
Rinat Bilyaletdinov: I know him as a player. As a coach, he appeared at Lokomotiv later. I did not work with coach Loskov. But I have repeatedly said that a player who has shown himself at a high level involuntarily transfers his playing capabilities to coaching. But being able is one thing, teaching is another. I don’t know whether Dima will succeed or not, it’s better to ask those who worked with him as a coach about it.
And if you start from his personal qualities?
Rinat Bilyaletdinov: We now have many coaches of Loskov’s age. You need to understand the following thing. A coach who has even reached certain heights in a single team may fail in the same team in a year. There are a lot of such cases. Everyone promises to fight for the championship, but there is only one champion. What coach Loskov is, it will become clear in the process of work.
Another high-profile resignation this week: Sergei Pryadkin left the post of President of the Premier League …
Rinat Bilyaletdinov: I did not work under his supervision, so I cannot judge him as a boss or a colleague. But, to summarize, under him the Russian national team became the third at Euro-2008, with him our championship switched to the autumn-spring system, with him the questions of the limit for legionnaires were discussed and accepted, with him the issues of expanding the league were discussed. I cannot say that I am delighted with everything, but with him the league was trying to grope for something, looking for something. I think the leaders of the clubs will give a more complete description of Pryadkin. But the league was functioning. There were, probably, positive moments, otherwise the clubs would not have expressed confidence in him for such a long time. In the end, we do not know all the information: maybe Sergei Gennadievich went for a promotion.
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