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Spartak on Tuesday officially announced a reshuffle in the club's leadership. Evgeny Melezhikov left the post of general director, and Oleg Malyshev took his place.
Melezhikov has been working at Spartak for a long time — since 2013. Only Artem Rebrov, who came in 2011 from Yaroslavl's Shinnik, stayed at the club longer than him. He has served as CEO since July 2021. Prior to that, Melezhikov worked as a security director and executive director.
Sport recalls the main highlights of the former head of Spartak.
Criticized the sports directorIn August 2021, Spartak got to the Portuguese Benfica in the Champions League qualification. The team led by Rui Vitoria in two meetings could not oppose anything to the opponent. Sports director Dmitry Popov was so disappointed that during the match in Moscow he announced his resignation. The owner of «Spartak» Leonid Fedun called what is happening «unmanly act», he was supported by Melezhikov:
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"I read about Popov, but I didn't talk to him. If he brings an application, of course, I will sign it. I also think that this is not a man's act. In "Spartacus" place strong. If Popov made such a decision after the first loss, then this is his choice. Who said that Tedesco approves the players? Popov? Well, that's his opinion, unfortunately. I don't have such information. The last time I spoke with Popov was this morning and yesterday afternoon. I felt that he was tense, but what can I do. Ready for anything: for the departure of Popov, for the departure of Fetisov and for the departure of any person.
As a result, Popov left the club. Spartak got into the Europa League, where they took first place in the group with Napoli, Leicester and Legia.
He called the purchase of Kofrier a mistake. In the same summer, Spartak experienced problems with signing players. The whole transfer window has been talking about a new right-back. There were nominations by Gonzalo Montiel and many other foreigners. As a result, Maximiliano Cofrie from the modest Saint-Truiden arrived in the camp of the “red-whites”, which caused a large number of questions from the fans. Melezhikov defended the Belgian newcomer, but extremely unsuccessfully:
“Why did we become interested in the Belgian? Because there was an incomprehensible situation with Gigot. If we took advantage of the family situation of Gigot, then we had to prepare. The choice fell on Maximiliano. Maybe this is not an increase compared to Gigot. But then we decided that if «Sam stays, that is, there is an opportunity to close the position of the right-back. Maybe this is a mistake, but it is not necessary to sprinkle ashes on your head prematurely and regret buying Maximiliano. Yes, he is inferior to Sam in terms of qualities. But he can close problem positions for us. We will see later how will come out, show. For now, you have to be patient.»
Won the Cup of Russia After the departure of Rui Vitoria from Spartak in the winter, the team was headed by Paolo Vanoli. There was also a lot of skepticism about him: an unknown specialist who has never been a head coach. In the end, the Italian did not achieve success in the championship, but helped the “red-whites” win the Russian Cup 19 years later: in the final, “Spartak” beat “Dynamo” in Luzhniki with a score of 2:1 in an epic match. Melezhikov definitely had a hand in success.
Conflicted with ZenitImmediately after winning the Russian Cup, there were reports that the match for the Super Cup could be held in St. Petersburg. The general director of Spartak did not agree with this decision:
«Not St. Petersburg. I liked Luzhniki. It would be nice to play there all the time, why the stadium is idle.»
General Director of Zenit Alexander Medvedev, in turn, said that the club «is ready to hold the Super Bowl on any day at the choice of the RFU in St. Petersburg.» to this meeting of foreign referees, and after the announcement that the match would be held in St. Petersburg, they even wanted to boycott it. Moreover, on the day of the game, the performance of the Ruki Vverkh group was planned at the stadium, but it was postponed.
Later, Medvedev said that Spartak was not against the match in St. Petersburg before the Cup final:< br>“I didn’t want to talk about it, but I had to. Before the Russian Cup final, two general directors, Spartak and Dynamo, approached me in front of witnesses. And they said that no matter who wins the Russian Cup, they will support holding the Super Cup final in St. Petersburg on the condition that we support the postponement of the championship for one week. We agreed, and they received official assurances. But the day after the victory, the general director of Spartak said that he was withdrawing the proposal. And then he said that he was against playing in St. Petersburg In such cases, they say «no comment».
Melezhikov did not stand aside and answered the general director of “Zenith”:
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"Tales. But, unlike some, we do not suffer from a lack of memory. Before the Cup final there was no talk about the Super Cup and could not be, in principle, and it is impossible to imagine that I ever asked Mr. Medvedev about anything. These questions are not in his competence. Already on May 30, after the general meeting of the RPL, representatives of Zenit approached and came up with the idea to hold a match in St. Petersburg — I talked about this in a recent interview. To which we replied that we were playing for a neutral stadium.
As a result, the match for the Super Bowl did take place. «Spartak» did not boycott the meeting and came to St. Petersburg. The result — 0:4 in the first match under the leadership of Guillermo Abascal.
What to expect from Malyshev? Let's return to the new face in the leadership of Spartak: Malyshev joined the board of directors of the Red-Whites in the fall of 2022 as one of two independent directors. The second was the son of the former owner of Lukoil, Vagit Alekperov, Yusuf Alekperov. The new CEO of the “red-whites” is distinguished from his predecessor by the absence of a serious football background.
He was as close to this industry as possible while working at the consulting company PwC. Then he led the practice of providing services to companies in the entertainment industry. Among other things, PwC conducted extensive research on the economics of Russian football.
Such experience and less than a year on the board of directors of Spartak, of course, can help Malyshev in his work at first. But in order for Spartak fans to avoid another cycle of «belief in new management — first victories — gaming decline — fan anger — dismissal of the manager,» the ex-consultant introduced on Tuesday will need advisers himself.
And from someone who enters the inner circle Malysheva, will largely depend on how successful and long his career will be in the most popular club in the country.
The opinion of the authors may not coincide with the position of the editors