"Jumping out of the budget and grabbing stars from the sky is not our principle"

The current offseason in Russian football has turned into a series of scandals related to the transfer of clubs from one division to another. One of them occurred at the junction of May and June, when Khimki were not allowed to compete in the RPL next season due to financial problems. They finished the previous championship in 12th place, which allowed the club to avoid relegation to the first league. According to the regulations, Pari Nizhny Novgorod, which finished after him, got into transitional matches with one of the representatives of the first league, which turned out to be Sochi, from its 13th place.

At the end of May, Nizhny Novgorod lost the joints to Sochi (2:1; 1:3), but even before these games, it was known that the question of who would replace Khimki in the RPL would be decided at a special meeting of the RFU Executive Committee bureau, since the regulations did not fully prescribe a replacement option for such cases. The choice was between Paris NN, who were eliminated directly from the Premier League by Orenburg, Voronezh Fakel, and Yekaterinburg Ural, who lost the transition matches to Grozny Akhmat, the representative of the first league. As a result, it was only in mid-June that it was decided that Paris NN would remain in the RPL, despite losing in the matches.

In an interview with Izvestia, the club's general director, David Melik-Huseynov, appreciated the opportunity to prescribe clearer criteria for such cases and told how long Pari NN would be deprived of the opportunity to play home matches in Nizhny Novgorod in the new season. He also explained the appointment of Alexei Shpilevsky to the post of head coach and the reasons for parting with the long-term team leader Kirill Gotsuk.

— Is there a need for a clearer definition of the procedure for replacing one of the RPL participants in the event of a repeat of the situation with Khimki?

— I think everyone wants clearer definitions. Of course, you can't write everything down in the regulations — it's impossible. But the more variable the points are recorded in the relevant documents, the better for all parties.

— It's not a fact that Paris NN will find itself in a similar situation again. But are you in favor of the 13th team remaining in the RPL in the future without a tie if one of the teams above is not allowed to participate in the tournament?

— Logic dictates that yes, everyone should be in favor of this option. But perhaps there are some points that we don't fully understand yet. Here it is necessary that the interpretations in the regulations be as close as possible to sports results. So that as few questions as possible are given to desk work.

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— Khimki acquired Lukas Vera, one of its leaders, from Orenburg a year ago, but they never paid the money, and now they are going bankrupt. It is clear that Paris NN is not as much a victim in this story as Orenburg, but still, without this football player, the Moscow region club could not have beaten you and you would have finished the season outside the joint zone without all this hassle. Are there any additional mechanisms for monitoring the financial activities of clubs in order to avoid such unsecured transfers?

— There is a question of control here. He's pretty tough right now. There is a licensing procedure for all plans, and there are intermediate control points that are carried out throughout the year. Maybe it's worth making certain decisions more quickly regarding clubs in such situations, but again, there are many nuances. From logistics, which develops in advance, to the moments associated with the unclear status of certain stakeholders, who are in the management, ownership of certain clubs.

There are a lot of nuances that cannot be unambiguously interpreted. Therefore, I am more than sure that the RFU has taken certain actions, in particular, conducted an analysis, assessed risks, and so on. And the path that all the RPL clubs have followed in the last few weeks before the end of the championship has taught us all something.

— Is it confusing that because of the actions of Khimki, the competition with you was initially unequal? In fact, you, Orenburg and Fakel turned out to be victims of your desire to live within your means. We could have gone into debt, intercepting Vera, Anton Zabolotny and many others from Khimki, finished the season above the Moscow region club, and then somehow tried to solve the financial problem, as was often done in our football. Instead, they counted every penny and got a lot of hassle with the joints, and Orenburg and Fakel flew out altogether.

— When we talk about the sporting principle, we should not forget what you are talking about. In no case should you forget. We live within our means, we live within the budgets that we have. Jumping out of the budget and starting to grab stars from the sky is not our principle. Someone may be following this path.

— And you were not protected from this.

— Yes, we were exposed. Therefore, when we talk about the sporting or unsportsmanlike principle, I generally believe that this approach in controversial issues should be completely disavowed. If there is a conflict situation that has occurred due to the fault of management, owners, and so on, then it is pointless to talk about a sporting or non-sporting principle. A management error has occurred, and it needs to be addressed properly in some way.

— Paris NN will not be able to start the season in its city, as a number of Rosatom events will be held at its home stadium. Do you have an understanding of the minimum time frame, how long will the team perform outside its arena?

— Most likely, we play on the reserve field all August. Next, we will see how ready the stadium will be to host us again. The work is in full swing. I have already said that in addition to some external cosmetic issues, the roof will be overhauled, which has fallen into disrepair in some places - it needs to be replaced. And the roof is always a very difficult moment, especially in the stadium, because everything can fall on the field, no matter how it is guarded or covered. The pitch may be damaged, so the stadium admits that there will be more lawn remediation after the roof is repaired.

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— Would this have been done regardless of the use of the stadium during this period?

— Yes, these processes were planned a year and a half ago, when the allocation of funds for the stadium was discussed. After all, it is on the state budget. And it doesn't work here in such a way that today they wanted to allocate money, and tomorrow they have already allocated it. This is put into the budget, it takes some time, the money is brought from the budget, then the bidding is carried out. And the events you're talking about are being built in along the way, meaning you can quickly make a decision there and coordinate some technological pauses.

— In June, there was information that Juan Boselli and Thiago Vecino did not immediately arrive for the pre-season training camp.

— It was said in advance that they would not arrive immediately. And the coaching staff was aware. Therefore, there are no complaints about them.

— Last season you spoke about the high demand for Boselli from richer clubs. Is his departure from Paris NN possible this summer?

— Let's wait for some clear proposals. There is interest, we don't hide it. Not only for Boselli, but for many of our players. The media and Telegram channels very often come up with certain stories related to the players of our club and other clubs. And we often have to refute this. Let's talk about it when the specifics come up.

— Are you negotiating with Dynamo Moscow to lease Daniil Lesovoy?

— I can't answer that question right now.

— Taking into account the departure on a sporting basis, even if it was canceled by the bureau of the RFU Executive Committee, was the question raised about the dismissal of sports director Alexander Udaltsov and his deputy Vladimir Rykov?

— The issue is under the jurisdiction of the Board of Directors. He hasn't picked it up yet. Everyone continues to work.

— Are such decisions possible during the season or at the end of it, if the results of the last championship are repeated?

— It's not my area of responsibility to comment on such things. I repeat, there is a board of directors that is authorized to make such decisions. It all depends on him.

— Why did you choose Alexey Shpilevsky when choosing the head coach?

— A talented coach. Ambitious, young, bright. He plays interesting football. He has certain ambitions that he wants to realize. It coincided with our requests.

— Since 2022, when Mikhail Galaktionov took over Paris NN, almost every appointment of a head coach was accompanied by explanations that he was playing interesting, attacking, entertaining or modern football. And all the time it leads to a nervous struggle for survival through the joints. At the same time, the club's most successful head coaches, Alexander Kerzhakov and Sergey Yuran, played a less vibrant game, but left the team outside the transition zone. Shouldn't Paris NN have stopped at least for a while at specialists of this style in order to finally gain a foothold in the middle of the RPL?

— You're asking the right question. And it's complicated in terms of the fact that there is no definite answer to it. I want to say that any decision that was made at Paris NN or is being made now always carries a certain amount of analysis and sound logic. The coach is selected according to certain requirements that are set for the team. And there is an advance of trust, which is being discussed on the shore. It is formed based on the background of a particular coach. What he used to show, what results he had. Well, when life disposes, when the process has already begun, then, of course, there is an assessment of whether it turned out or not. We hope that Shpilevsky will succeed.

— Why did you decide to break up with Kirill Gotsuk?

— On the one hand, I think Kirill himself understood that it was time to reboot himself, since he spent a lot of time at the club. On the other hand, the club has decided that it should move forward, taking into account the course of development that has now been adopted. I think that the decision made will benefit Kirill in the end, because he continues his professional career, he has an interesting vector. Perhaps a new step will then allow him to decide what to do after football. Will he become a coach, agent, or choose some other story for himself? Gotsuk now has the opportunity to rethink all this. And in our club, there should also be certain changes in those positions that were planned to be strengthened.