The seventh round of the Russian Premier League was played in the shadow of match fixing rumours. The rumours surrounded Friday evening’s match between Ural and Terek Grozny, and it was believed that the hosts would give away three points for Terek as a thank you for letting them win a crucial game last season, which allowed them to stay up. The story hit the media after online bookmaker Marathonbet offered odds of over 5.00 for Ural to win, even though they were placed higher in the league than Terek.
Goncharenko’s reputation as one of Europe’s most promising young coaches has taken another hit after his departure from Ural.
To make things even worse for Ural, head coach Viktor Goncharenko left Yekaterinburg and returned to Minsk in his native Belarus shortly before the game, which left his assistant in charge of the team for the match. It is still unknown exactly why Goncharenko left Yekaterinburg, but most reports suggest that he did it because he was asked to throw the game against Terek. Goncharenko returned to Russia Tuesday afternoon where he and Ural agreed to terminate his contract. His disappearance was explained with personal problems, and he has now again experienced a stay with a Russian club ending too soon.
It is however unlikely that Goncharenko will go without work for long, as he is currently the favourite to take over Rubin Kazan where Rinat Bilyaletdinov’s reign is over after the Tatars have only won one match this season and are currently placed in 15th place. Bilyaletdinov is not the only one who has been dismissed at Rubin, as the president of the club, Valeriy Sorokin, is now also a thing of the past. The dismissal of the pair comes by direct order from the president of Tatarstan who issued a statement saying:
“Today, acting President of Tatarstan Rustam Minnikhanov suggested President of FC Rubin Valeriy Sorokin and head coach of the club Rinat Bilyaletdinov to voluntarily resign from management positions because of the low level of team play.”
Another coach who is in problems at the moment is Zenit St. Petersburg’s André Villas-Boas. Villas-Boas was expelled during Zenit’s disappointing 1-3 defeat at home to newly promoted Krylya Sovetov after he pushed the fourth official. Villas-Boas is for this offence expected to receive a six match suspension, something that doesn’t help him at a moment where Zenit have lost two home games in a row. On the last day of the transfer window rumours emerged of Zenit pursuing both the aforementioned Goncharenko, but also the former Dortmund coach Jürgen Klopp. These rumours made Zenit issue an official statement in where they expressed their support and trust in Villas-Boas. The red card came only a day after Villas-Boas stated that he had tried to get out of his contract after last season, but that the Zenit board refused to let him go.
What else happened?
- The construction workers at Zenit Arena threatened to sue two subcontractors, after they hadn’t been paid for months. The subcontractors have promised to pay the salaries right away.
- Both Lokomotiv and CSKA won this weekend, and they are the only remaining unbeaten teams in the league.
- Pontus Wernbloom has signed a new contract with CSKA. The new contract makes him one of the club’s best paid players.
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