Alexei Vlasov, exclusively to Vestnik Kavkaza
There is a possibility for Nalchik Spartak to find money to stay in the second football league of Russia. However, information sources of the republic think that the possibility is tiny.
Sporting periodicals analyzed in detail all the options connected with the reasons for the financial collapse of the main football project of Kabardino-Balkaria. We should agree that, despite the declaration of a social aspect of the project, the existence of Spartak in its current form is anti-PR for big football in the North Caucasus rather than an advantage for Putin, Medvedev, and the new authorities of the republic.
The point is not only in the multimillion debts and disastrous commissions to football agents, but also in the fact that Spartak Nalchik was far away from people at all levels, from the absence of trainees at the club to the gap between the club and children and amateur football in KBR; the football face of the republic mainly ignored a drastic fall of interest among fans.
The dismissal of the former KBR authorities seemed to encourage the process of self-liquidation of Spartak, which would have been inevitable in the next 2-3 years. Thus, in this context the decision on bankruptcy and establishing a new amateur club under a brand-new name could not only be a smart way to get rid of some of the debts, but also an attempt to reload the project, trying to start a football construction from ground level, relying on its own trainees rather than foreigners. In other words, the club starts living up to its income. I wish it to be true, but the experience of development of North Caucasus football in the last 5-6 years shows that a poor but proud life is not for football managers.
Alania's example, which several years ago suffered a fall into the financial abyss, shows that football managers in all constituents of the RF repeat their own mistakes. In the North Caucasus republics the 'heroism' of the football authorities resembles a feast during the plague, while in Moscow and St. Petersburg it is easier to find formal grounds to accuse objective reasons of football and non-football expenditures.
I predict that there will be attempts to save the Vladikavkaz club with typical speeches about a 'pain in the hearts of North Ossetia's citizens', and an inevitable worsening of the socio-political situation in the republic. The arguments are typical, only the details are changing; as an example we can look at the story over hockey Spartak, after a desperate letter to Vladimir Putin, LUKOIL seems to be ready to save the team.
Therefore, the whole history of the ups and downs of the North Caucasus clubs has a few things in common with football. The point is in ineffective, non-professional management. The gap between those who create football performances and those who watch them has never been so huge. A way out should be found through using the principles of financial 'fair play' not only by Russian clubs at international level, but also in the internal football market.
Of course not all the teams will survive it, but it is necessary to create a product which will be interesting not only for the presidents of clubs, but also TV-companies, which are thought to be the backbone of financial stability of sporting teams in the world.
