Athletistic / Soccer Kazan “Rubin” became the main sensation of the last RPL season with a minus sign. The club, which was initially given a place in at least the top six, abruptly collapsed in the second half of the season like a landslide, finding itself in 15th place, and flew to the FNL . Head coach Leonid Slutsky didn’t work at Hull and Vitesse at the time, he failed Euro 2016 with the Russian national team, he was suspected of taking part in a match-fixing at the start of his career. But he is currently going through the most difficult stage of his coaching journey.

Yesterday, the general director of “Rubin” Rustem Saimanov said that in order to coach the club in the first division, Slutsky was even ready to give up his salary. I do not exclude that this willingness of the coach was figurative to show how interested he is in continuing to work in the “Ruby”. However, it is a marker of the importance of a moment that the coach of the Kazan club is going through in his career.

Slutsky is well aware that the past season will forever remain a black stamp on his CV. Yesterday, one of the most promising Russian coaches, in a single season, was in the status of “downed pilot”. He understands that he has lost a lot overnight. Maybe even everything. But his decision at all costs, by all means to fall behind in the “Ruby”, suggests that career prospects for him are no longer the most important thing. Slutsky is aware that despite all the criticism from the judges and the constant references to the influx of legionnaires, he is also responsible for what happened. He knows he’s let people down and he just wants to make amends and that’s above his career and everything else.

Does this characterize Slutsky as a good person? Is there anything new in there? A person who built a stadium in his hometown with his own money does not need such a reputation. Yes, Slutsky was extremely nervous last season. He ruthlessly criticized referees, clashed with players and even the bus driver, but it’s extremely difficult to maintain absolute composure when everything is literally slipping away from you. Before that, Leonid Slutsky always enjoyed a reputation as one of the most open and intelligent Russian coaches, and some high actions, like what the coach did in his hometown of Volgograd, pleased him.

But something else is much more interesting here. For a coach who has worked in Europe, led the Russian national team, and led CSKA to the quarter-finals of the Champions League, the most important season of his career will be the one he will spend in the FNL! This is truly an incredible turning point in Slutsky’s coaching career. There is absolutely no irony here. And all the same, the point here is not just that the coach really wants to get leniency in the eyes of the Kazan football community. The departure to the FNL is certainly a tragedy, but if Slutsky fails to bring the club back to the top flight after that, it will ultimately become the sunset of the coaching career of a still quite young specialist.

Even today, many of his critics “dance on his bones” in absentia. I won’t mention them by name, they are well-known football personalities. One can only imagine what they will say if Slutsky has trouble with the FNL. And again, he understands it very well. Here are some strange judgments about Slutsky’s coaching abilities from those who, in principle, have never coached and, unlike him, do not even have a coaching education. One can only imagine how much all this hurts the coach and how much he wants to defend his reputation, which suffered badly at the end of last season.

However, I will emphasize once again that career prospects and the desire to silence critics for the time being are not Slutsky’s main priorities. In his subconscious, of course, he holds all the risks, but saving the club, in which he was granted an inexhaustible credit of confidence, is much more important to him now. And knowing Slutsky, it’s very hard to doubt that he would really be willing to do it for free. And even, perhaps, to pay for it with his own money.

He could leave, and I’m quite sure he would have had offers from the RPL. But he chose the path of awareness. And at the same time one of the riskiest ways. After failing in the FNL, it will be extremely difficult to return to the top flight of Russian football. But until recently, he dreamed of setting foot in Europe.

The following season, Slutsky went bankrupt.

Pavel Novikov, Athletistic