Denis Maslov, former president of Torpedo, spoke to reporters about comments made by ex-club defender Roman Shishkin regarding his departure from Torpedo, and urged the former footballer not to air his grievances in the press.
Earlier, Shishkin had explained in an interview how he left Torpedo: “When I left, club president Denis Maslov said: ‘It was a coaching decision, I don’t know the reasons.’ Is that really an answer from a president? I had the feeling that people were deliberately deflecting blame onto the coaching staff for not keeping certain players. It would have been more honest to shake hands and part ways calmly.”
“Let me remind Roma that I became president of Torpedo on June 1, 2020, and Roma was released in February of that same year, when Elena Elentseva was president. Roma has apparently forgotten that a little. He can open our correspondence and read the messages himself. At that time I was overseeing the club’s financial matters. I came in, listened to Ignashevich [the coach], listened to Roma, and concluded that it was not going to work out. After speaking with sporting director Vladislav Bondarenko, who also gave his reasons, we told Romchik that nothing would come of it. He then received three months’ salary and left.
“On June 1, 2020, when I was named president, Shishkin was the first to congratulate me. He wrote to me: ‘I am always ready.’ I told him: ‘The door is always open, you have Ignashevich’s number.’ We had a laugh about it. Roma is now expressing his resentment, but there are thousands of situations like this in football. Let him read the story of how Alenichev left Spartak. Apparently Ignashevich wanted different players at that point. Back then Sergei Nikolayevich may have had difficulties in his communication with players; by now he has probably improved in that regard.
“Romchik has my number. I am always ready to hear him out. I still have affection for him, and it would be better not to spread your grievances through the press,” Maslov said.
Shishkin signed a contract with Torpedo in the summer of 2019, but it was terminated in February 2020.
Torpedo are 16th in the RPL standings with six points.
The RPL season will resume on March 3. Live broadcasts of matches will be available on the federal channel and the holding’s sports channels, as well as on the websites matchtv.ru and sportbox.ru.
