A "DRONGO-TYPE" CHARACTER JOINS NEFTCI

A new age is beginning in Azerbaijani football. In keeping with the decision taken by the Association of Football Federations of Azerbaijan (AFFA) last year, there is no longer to be any presidential management in the football clubs. Monitoring councils consisting of seven people are being set up. Now decisions about the clubs will be taken by a collective management body. The first of these councils has been set up by the flagship of Azerbaijani football, the Neftci club.

Its members were introduced at the monitoring council meeting attended by AFFA president Rovnag Abdullayev, and People's Writer Cingiz Abdullayev was elected the chairman of the Neftci monitoring council. Abdullayev is especially well-known for his detective fiction, the main character in which is the investigator Drongo. Football veterans Mubariz Zeynalov, Samad Qurbanov, the former chairman of Neftci Sadig Sadigov, the deputy vice-president of the State Oil Company of Azerbaijan (SOCAR) Cabrayil Cabrayilov, the deputy head of SOCAR's Investments' Division, Zaur Qahramanov, and the director and actor Bahram Bagizada were elected the members of the council. The club's monitoring council meetings are to be held at least once a month. The post of executive director has also been instituted, and the former Neftci deputy chairman, Elnur Mammadov, has been appointed to this post.

On the instructions of the monitoring council, the executive director should draw up a new framework for the club and submit it for confirmation within a month. The club's ex-president Sadig Sadigov has been appointed the head of the management apparatus of the Neftci football club public association. Besides this, turning the club from an association with limited responsibility [a closed joint-stock society] into an open joint-stock society, which would issue more shares for distribution among the general public is being considered.

It can confidently be said that a new epoch in Azerbaijani football has begun with this meeting. First and foremost, the clubs will no longer be managed by individuals but collectively by the monitoring councils. At the same time, the election of the well-known writer Cingiz Abdullayev as the head of the republic's oldest club is something out of the ordinary. Well-known throughout the world, the writer Abdullayev will undoubtedly breathe new life into Neftci and will also promote the club's popularity abroad as an Azerbaijani brand.

In an interview with Regionplus, Cingiz Abdullayev commented on his election as the president of the monitoring council: "I am reading the press. They are all writing that I have nothing to do with football. I must admit that I have never been a football player. Nor am I preparing to go out on the pitch now. But in my student years, I was head of the university football club. I'm really keen on German football. I have always kept track of the championships in that country and of world football. On the other hand, is it really necessary for the heads of football clubs to be former footballers? Was Aleksey Miller, the head of Zenit, a football player? Of course, he wasn't. The head should make every effort to achieve the team's progress. He should forge international contacts. Neftci's offer to me was made four months ago. I was in Riga at that time. I agreed to it straightaway. It is a great honour to be the head of a club with such a history."

Neftci's ex-president Sadig Sadigov believes that the new decisions are timely and will be to the advantage of Azerbaijani football. According to him, the "black and whites" will enjoy great success under Cingiz Abdullayev: "Under my management the team won a place in the group stage of the European League. I believe that in the new circumstances, we will get the opportunity to play in the group stage of the League of champions. Now there will be collective management. As far as I myself am concerned, I am a little bit tired of football. Last year's experiences have worn us out. Although, after the game against Partizan, we should have moved on to the next stage, we did not manage it. The team needed a new manager."

At the meeting, where the members of the monitoring council were chosen, its chairman, the AFFA president Rovnaq Abdullayev, also explained a number of important elements. In future, SOCAR will conclude a sponsorship deal with Neftci, and it is planned to attract other sponsors later on. After it has been converted into an open joint-stock society, the club's shares will be distributed both among the members of the monitoring council as well as among the public at large. The main aim is that the public should have a hand in running the club. The clubs in Germany and Turkey are managed precisely along these lines. The club's shares are offered for sale, but part of them are handed over to the management. Then the members of the management team and the chairman are elected. As a result, the club's financial issues are resolved precisely by selling shares.

 Neftci will change altogether with the arrival of Cingiz Abdullayev. The celebrated writer has admitted that radical reforms will be introduced into the team. Abdullayev does not rule out changes to even the leading posts: "I'll tell you straightaway that we cannot afford players like Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi. As soon as I was elected president, I asked whether we could get the Baku Olympic stadium. The reply I received was we could have it, but first we had to fill the 12,000-capacity Bakcell Arena with spectators. We have to look at how much we can pay football players. The combined wages of all our football players do not amount to what Ronaldo earns. On the other hand, he would bring into the club tenfold more income than he earns. Football is one of the most profitable forms of sport. So, why, when we are paying out hundreds of thousands, aren't we getting the right results?"

He noted that in future discipline would be tightened up. Although I am a writer today, my first profession was lawyer. Players who do not obey the club's rules will immediately be expelled from it. This is because football is the No.1 sport in the world. It is primarily young people and children who come to the matches. If a football player behaves in an amoral way on the pitch, his fans will follow his example. These are the rules of fair-play. If the football players get into a scrap, swear at each other or insult the referee that is no longer football. We shall try to be a model team. Those who get into a fight, allow themselves to swear or insult the players will be expelled from the team. I promise you that, if things like that happen, one of us will have to leave the team. I am a very tough person.

There are world standards. I understand that the fans like to shout, but they should not be shouting insults. First and foremost, that is a crime. Secondly, you are the football player being watched by children. Those who cannot keep themselves under control should not go out onto the pitch. It is similar to the theatre. When [Luis] Suarez bit another player, the whole world saw it. And everyone laughed. They are still talking about the goal that Maradona scored with his hand even now," Cingiz Abdullayev said.

A new "investigator" started work in football when Cingiz Abdullayev arrived. Now football is expected to be livened up, especially at Neftci, and there will be new rules. Only time will tell whether the famous writer has done a good job.