"If we don't set ambitious goals, we won't move forward"

Football players of Samara "Wings of the Soviets" are preparing for the new season of the Russian Premier League. In the summer, they went through drastic changes — head coach Igor Osinkin, who had been working with the team for almost five years, resigned from his post. The composition of the players has also been significantly updated. In addition, in June, the club's leaders, General Director Robert Ter—Abrahamyan and Deputy General Director Ruslan Pimenov, announced their impending departure. They remain in their positions for now, but will leave them in the next few weeks.

Magomed Adiev became the new head coach. His team played two test matches during the summer training camp — a draw with Spartak Moscow and a defeat against Akhmat Grozny. In an interview with Izvestia, Ruslan Pimenov commented on the team's preparations for the season, described what it was like to work in conditions of severe budget cuts, and also explained the logic of Adiev's appointment.

— How would you rate the team's readiness for the season?

— She's getting better and better prepared every day. For example, the test match against Spartak shows that the team is gaining shape. The result is in second place here. The main thing is to prepare for the season, for the official matches.

— Robert Ter-Abrahamyan and you announced your impending departure from Krylia in June. Are you still fully managing the club and breeding, or are you already handing over the business to someone?

— We are participating (smiles). Both in the selection process and in the team building process. There have been no successors yet. They didn't show them to us (smiles). The rest is just rumors.

— But your departure is not a rumor? You've already said that.

— There are no rumors about our departure. But, again, it needs to be improved here. And work out according to the regulations. We're still with the Wings. And, most likely, we will still be in the Wings in the first round of the new championship. We'll still be at our posts for the Akron game.

— What positions do the Wings still need to strengthen in for the upcoming season?

— The striker is high-quality, the midfielder is creative. Plus, of course, we are still waiting for Ivan Oleynikov to return from injury. He's just recovering very well — the pace is excellent.

— Considering that Krylia's budget has been seriously reduced, has it become more difficult to find players?

— Well, we are gradually strengthening, signing players.

"For me, there is no such task as "not to be eliminated," I want to win"

Krylia Sovetov football player Sergey Babkin — about the desire to get into the top eight of the Russian Premier League, the change in the composition and head coach of the Samara team and the preparation for the RPL season

— How does it work?

— We find them on the transfer market. How else?

— Where is the money from?

— Is there money for free agent transfers?

— Let's say that transfers of free agents are free to you. But you have to pay the players' salaries, they don't play for nothing. Do you have the funds for this?

— There are some possibilities. There are other points on the basis of which our newcomers made a choice in favor of Krylia.

"Which ones?"

— Modern stadium, great fans, cool city. The teammates are good. It's one thing when you go to a club where the players are weak. But here we have high-quality guys in football terms, and they create a good aura that allows a beginner to adapt.

— Krylia is tasked with taking eighth place in the upcoming championship. How realistic is this, given all the budget cuts and staff changes?

— It will be difficult. But why not? If we don't set such good ambitious goals, then we won't move forward. And there's nothing wrong with the fact that our budget has halved. We live in such a paradigm and we just try to work well in these conditions.

— Why did you choose Magomed Adiev when choosing a new head coach?

— A difficult question and an easy one at the same time (smiles). And who else was available from the head coaches? Let's start with that.

"We want to be as high in the table as possible"

Krylia Sovetov football player Vadim Rakov — on goals for the upcoming RPL season and rent to Samara from Lokomotiv

— Vladimir Fedotov.

— Fedotov, it seems to me, is still a little busy with court cases with CSKA.

— Does this affect the potential interest in him?

— I don't know. It's just that maybe he wouldn't want to join us. There may be different points here.

— But still, why Adiev?

— We needed a person who, first of all, would help Krylia discover the players and achieve results in conditions of difficult financial constraints. We have a ban on buying football players. But now, after we sold Ivan Sergeev to Dynamo Moscow quite profitably, Krylia has money that the club can count on.