THE FATE OF A COACH

Back in the 1990s, when Azerbaijani football was in a financially deplorable situation, only local coaches worked with all clubs. Later, the state's attention to football helped to attract capital into this area. Azerbaijani clubs began to build modern bases and invite players and coaches from abroad, which, in turn, led to unemployment among Azerbaijani football specialists. Now only 4 out of the 10 clubs involved in the Azerbaijani championship employ local coaches. Other clubs are headed by foreign specialists. Recently the head coaches of Neftci and Ravan, Nazim Suleymanov and Sahin Diniyev, were fired, which raised this issue again. Both coaches left due to the reluctance of the club managements to reinforce the teams. Although Suleymanov was replaced by well-known Boyukaga Haciyev, Ravan invited a Turkish coach to Sahin Diniyev's position.

Interestingly, recent years have seen a trend when a number of clubs prefer only foreigners. After the fiasco of one foreign coach, they invite another one. However, there are both objective and subjective reasons for that.

The biggest problem of Azerbaijani coaches is manning their teams. Some find it difficult to provide physical training for the team, while others have discipline problems. But local coaches have quite a few positive qualities. For example, unlike legionaries, Azerbaijani coaches are able to operate within the budget of the club. Given the material and moral aspects and relying on "the word of honour" from the club management, local coaches do not demand large compensation. As a result, a local coach gets a monthly salary at dismissal at best. 

Any desire of a foreign coach is perceived as a demand, and coaches begin to think about resignation if their demands are not met. Experienced coaches are able to conduct selection work in the shortest possible time. All foreign coaches sign contracts by European standards and stipulate a large amount of compensation in the event of early resignation from the club. So it turns out that working with local coaches is much easier than meeting the demands of foreigners.

But the few clubs relying on local coaches demand results in the shortest possible time. Coaches who fail to fulfill this demand are fired. And in European countries, coaches work with one team for 3-5 and sometimes even 25-38 years. Despite problems, the management of European clubs supports local specialists.

In Azerbaijan, clubs consider only their local interests without caring that frequent resignations of local coaches damage the image of Azerbaijani football.

In an interview with R+, Olympic champion Igor Ponomarev, who remained jobless for a long time, explains such frequent changes of local coaches by the wrong decisions of club managers. "In football, I've seen a lot. I learned a lot when I played and worked. The root of the problem is that amateurs work in football. Everyone thinks that they are well-versed in football. But living in football and being inside it is quite another matter. The problems you specify are generated by the fact that most clubs are managed by people who are far from football. They themselves don't know what they want. How can they achieve their desires?" says Ponomarev. And he's right. Typically, club managements in Azerbaijan demand results within 2-3 months. But it is not possible to win or start playing for the championship in such a short time.

A former player of the Azerbaijani national team, Yunis Huseynov, in turn, accused coaches of signing unprofessional contracts with clubs. "Azerbaijani coaches believe in 'man's word'. They never demand a European contract, including me. But in the future I will only sign such contracts, because they envisage compensation in case of dismissal. Planning to fire a coach, the club management will think about large compensation and may change its mind. Therefore, clubs respect foreign coaches, but treat ours without ceremony," Huseynov told us.

To confirm the words of Yunis Huseynov, remember the epic of Xazar-Lankaran with John Toshack. The club's management refused to fire Toshack after he requested solid compensation. The "Southerners" simply waited for Toshack to leave himself.

Azerbaijani coaches need to practice in foreign countries. There is no need to hurry to become a coach immediately after completing your football career. Experience is required to have your say. Qurban Qurbanov and Boyukaga Haciyev increased the authority of local coaches in Azerbaijan. Qurbanov's team (Karabakh) demonstrates stable performance and has played in the Euroleague playoffs several times. Boyukaga Haciyev has achieved the most memorable result - under his leadership, Neftci made it to the group stage of the Euroleague for the first time. It is precisely after scoring success that local coaches can recover the credibility they have lost. Now not everyone believes local coaches and wants to entrust their teams to them.

It is no secret that club managers create for foreign coaches favourable conditions, which local specialists do not see. When dismissing a foreign coach, they replace him by another foreign specialist. Meanwhile, employing local coaches contributes to the development of the national coaching school, otherwise we will have to rely solely on foreigners in the future. Also, if local specialists do not work in domestic clubs, it means a recovery in this area should not be expected either.