Throughout Europe there are numerous clubs steeped in history and tradition that have lumbered on without success for many years and decades. But there may not be another club with such history that has underachieved more than Dynamo Moscow. It’s nearly forty years since the Moscow club was at the front of Russian football. Ever since, they have struggled to achieve a fraction of the success witnessed in the late 1940’s until early 1960’s when both domestic and European honours were commonplace.
These days Dynamo are managed by Stanislav Cherchesov. He is the man charged with the impossible task of toppling the other Moscow clubs. Unfortunately for the club, it’s not only Moscow clubs that rule the roost in Russian football anymore, as the extremely wealthy Zenit St. Petersburg have created a squad that has achieved both domestic success and captured a Europa League title.
As the popularity of Russian football rises, Dynamo have recently benefited from an influx of money into the historic league. Marquee signings such as Mathieu Valbuena this summer from Marseille have added to the belief that the club can re-establish the glory days of the mid-20th century. Kevin Kuranyi signed from Schalke in 2010, brought in as a catalyst for success. Players such as Alexander Büttner, Christopher Samba and Russian legend Yuri Zhirkov have also joined the club and created a squad that’s reached contender status.
In the golden era for Dynamo Moscow, the club was littered with talent throughout. Iconic Soviet goalkeeper Lev Yashin (arguably the greatest goalkeeper of all time and the first goalkeeper to be crowned European footballer of the year) was at the spine of the successful Dynamo side. Viktor Anichkin and Viktor Tsaryov were also crucial pieces. It was a good time to be a Dynamo fan, as the club regularly finished about bitter rivals Spartak Moscow in the league and won numerous championships.
Iconic figure of Lev Yashin, nicknamed the Black Panther.
But Dynamo fans have been deprived of success since the 1994-95 season when they won the Russian domestic cup, the second highest honour in Russian football today. Since then the club’s highest finish was third place in 2008. Since Dynamo’s last trophy in 1995, CSKA Moscow have won nineteen major honours, Spartak Moscow fans have seen their side achieve silverware on eight different occasions, whilst Lokomotiv fans have been victorious on nine occasions. For a club steeped in history there’s no surprise that the discontent amongst the fans has been ever present for nearly two decades. Exactly twenty managers have been been in charge since Konstantin Beskov lead Dynamo to the cup in 1995.
Unfortunately for Dynamo Moscow fans, the only bragging rights left are with Torpedo fans, who in recent years have seen their club yo-yo up and down the divisions in Russian football. But with the club newly flush with cash, it seems domestic success is a matter of when, and not if, and should the club achieve success in the form of a league title, no fans will be more deserving in recent times than the fans of Dynamo Moscow. Dynamo is currently building a squad ready to challenge Russian football’s elite and regain its crown as Moscow’s premier club.
______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Follow Shane Burns on Twitter: @FNN_Official
Leave a Reply