During the first part of the season, the Serbian specialist several times intended to resign as head coach
Head coach Minaya Zeljko Ljubenovic commented on the current state of affairs in the Transcarpathian club, as well as the lack of communication with its president – Valery Peresolyak.
“Unfortunately, President Minaya does not consider it necessary to meet with me. I talked to the sports director and then went to Serbia. The situation is even worse than in summer. The sports director said: “We have a contract, we’ll move on.”
“I said that in this situation it would be better for us to part ways, and for the club to find a new coach. It could have been better, it could have been worse. First of all, the blame for the result is entirely mine. It fully suits the situation at the club.”
“We can say that the sports director and I made a mistake in choosing the players, or I did not find an approach to these players. I expected a lot from them, but received very little. Somewhere I failed to reach them. I talked about this in a conversation with the management, that probably the problem is in me and I’m ready to go so that another coach can come and correct the situation. They did not listen to me, they acted at their own discretion. That’s what led to where Minaj ended up.”
“Everything was broken by the mass exodus of players in the summer. I thought that the guys could reach the first league. If not with me, then with another coach. We will never know.”
Let us remind you that Lyubenovich took charge of Minaj before the start of the second round of the 2023/24 season. The Transcarpathian team under the leadership of the Serb almost created a miracle and remained in the UPL, but still, after losing in the final round to Krivbass (0:3), it was relegated to the First League. There was a chance to stay in the elite division thanks to the “tournament of four”, but in its final Minaj lost to the Left Bank (0:3) and finally remained in the First League for the 2024/25 season.
In the first half of August, after the victory in the Ukrainian Cup over Skala 1911 (3:1), the Serbian coach spoke about his intention to resign, but later stated that he was staying with the team “to achieve the goals that are set for us.”
Then, already at the beginning of October, Lyubenovich again spoke about his intention to leave the Transcarpathian club, but Minaya’s management opposed this.
At the end of November, the Transcarpathian team announced the departure of six players at once, including experienced defenders Dmitry Nagiyev and Vladislav Dvorovenko, as well as forward Oleg Vishnevsky.
Minaj took sixth place in Group A of the First League and did not make it into the “championship” group, in which tickets to the UPL will be played out in the spring.
Source: Sportarena
I am Ben Stock and I work in Athletistic as an author. My specialty is covering football news and other related topics. I have been writing for this website since the past 2 years, crafting compelling stories with the latest updates in the sports world. My articles have gained widespread appreciation amongst readers due to their accuracy and depth of research.
