The experience of cooperation with Vlstimil Petrzhela should be recognized as successful: from that moment until the present time, the club invites specialists from abroad to work (exceptions - Anatoly Davydov and Sergey Semak who worked with the prefix "acting" several matches in 2009 and 2014, respectively *). It is curious that if at first each new foreign specialist worked almost as long and even longer than his predecessor, then in recent times legionnaire coaches do not stay at Zenit for a long time. Vlastimil Petrzhela and Dick Advocaat worked for more than three years, Luciano Spalletti - almost four years, Andre Villas-Boas lasted for two years, and Mircea Lucescu and (most likely) Roberto Mancini had a "shelf life" only for a season. During our work, in this case, we take the interval from the first to the last official match at the head of "Zenith".
If Mancini leaves Zenit at the end of the 2017/18 season, he will become the first foreign coach in history to have failed to win a single title with the blue-white-blue.
* - at the end of the 2009 season Davydov was approved as head coach; after the 30th round, he left his post.
Vlastimil Petrzela (Czech Republic): 3 years, a month and 18 days
Statistics in all tournaments: 145 matches +73 = 41 -31; balls 245-151; 59.7% points
Titles: Premier League Cup (2003)
Dick Advocaat (Holland): 3 years, a month and 3 days
Statistics in all tournaments: 139 matches +68 = 42 -29; balls 234-143; 58.9% points
Titles: champion of Russia (2007); Russian Super Cup (2008); UEFA Cup (2007/08); UEFA Super Cup (2008)
Luciano Spalletti (Italy): 3 years, 11 months and 24 days
Statistics in all tournaments: 184 matches +105 = 47 -32; balls 325-176; 65.5% points (including two technical defeats in the Czech Republic)
Titles: champion of Russia (2010, 2011/12); Russian Cup (2009/10); Russian Super Cup (2011)
André Villas-Boas (Portugal): 2 years, month and 27 days
Statistics in all tournaments: 101 matches +62 = 20 -19; balls 195-88; 67.9% points
Titles: champion of Russia (2014/15); Russian Cup (2015/16); Russian Super Cup (2015)
Mircea Lucescu (Romania): 9 months and 28 days
Statistics in all tournaments: 41 matches +26 = 7 -8; balls 76-34; 71.9% points
Titles: Russian Super Cup (2017)
Roberto Mancini (Italy): 9 months and 17 days (for today)
Statistics in all tournaments: 43 matches +21 = 13 -9; balls 68-34; 58.9% points
Titles: -
Used photos: FC Zenit; "Sports Day by Day" (Igor Ozersky)
Roberto Mancini will play their last match as head coach Zenith May 13, when the Petersburgers in the game of the 30th round of the Premier League will host SKA-Khabarovsk.
Zenit by this moment lost the chances of getting into the Champions League and will play in the Europa League next season.
And they were voiced by a famous insider Russian football, commentator Nobel Arustamyan.
Sergey Semak
Representatives of Zenit in an interview confirmed that Russian specialists appear in the shortlist, and of course, this is none other than Sergei Semak, whom fans have long dreamed of seeing on the team's coaching bridge.
After finishing his playing career, he remained in the St. Petersburg club as an assistant to Luciano Spalletti, Andre Villas-Boas and Mircea Lucescu, from time to time acting as acting. head coach.
Having worked as an assistant in the Russian national team, Sergei Bodanovich set off on an independent voyage and headed Ufa, practically bringing the middle peasant of the Russian Premier League to the Europa League (if in the last round the Ufa players keep the sixth place).
Semak himself has said more than once that he does not mind trying himself in a club with ligochempional ambitions. According to rumors, apart from the variant with Zenit, he has an offer from Krasnodar.
The management of Ufa will not interfere with Sergei Bogdanovich's departure for promotion, and will even be glad that such a specialist has been raised.
Shamil Gazizov General Director of Ufa Zenit did not come to us about Semak. But I have said more than once that if Sergei Bogdanovich has an offer from a grand, we will not interfere. There is such an option in his contract. Information about his possible departure appears quite often. Therefore, we are calm about such news. But, of course, we will be very pleased if our coach leads such a club. In other words, we will be proud if Sergei Bogdanovich becomes the head coach of Zenit. We will definitely not fix any obstacles! If people grow up and progress like this, this should only be welcomed. Sinisha Mikhailovich
The Serbian specialist, according to Arustamyan's sources, is very interested in an invitation from Zenit, but he is not a favorite of the Petersburgers, which is not surprising.The career of a specialist who managed to work as Mancini's assistant at Inter did not work out as a successful independent coach.
Mikhailovic has failed in the national teams of Serbia and Milan, he works best as a “firefighter” -motivator, saving small clubs from relegation, or with middle peasants like Sampdoria and Torino, for which reaching European cups is already a success. Although even from the Turin club Mikhailovich was asked back in February.
The St. Petersburg club sets itself more serious tasks, and even the Europa League is equated with failure here.
Drazen Mikhailovich Brother of Sinisha Mikhailovich, Sinisha is ready to move to Russia. This is a great country where you can work well and progress. Such a move will definitely not be a problem. I know about interest in him from Russia. Will he head Zenit? I think the odds are 50-50. Maurizio Sarri
According to Arustamyan, the head coach of Napoli is very much anxious to see the chairman of the board of directors of the club, Alexander Dyukov, in Zenit.
The moment for this turned out to be a good one - the specialist who missed the scudetto and unsuccessfully performed in the Champions League quarreled with the president of Napoli Aurelio De Laurentiis and is ready to leave the Neapolitans, having bought his contract signed until 2020 for 500 thousand euros.
But the St. Petersburg club is unlikely to be high on the list of priorities of a serious Italian specialist, who, according to media reports, are claimed by Chelsea, Tottenham, Monaco and Borussia Dortmund.
And Napoli itself hopes to find mutual understanding with the coach, who, in two years successful performance The fans fell in love with the Neapolitans.
All these options look much more attractive than Zenit, and the Petrograd people can only seduce Sarri with a huge salary.
Maurizio Sarri Napoli head coach If the president is happy with my work, great. If not, it's a pity. Then there is only one way out - to leave. If he calls me, I'll talk to him. Napoli fans can make the experience here an unforgettable experience, but it also instills fears about how things might end. This makes you think that it is better to leave when there is mutual love between you, than to wait for difficult moments. Questionable
Several more candidates for the post of Zenit mentor appear more as rumors of varying degrees of credibility.
Dick Advocate
The information regarding the Dutch specialist is contradictory. According to Nobel Arustamyan's information, which, according to him, was confirmed by two competent sources, Advocate, like three previous coaches, is included in the Zenit shortlist.
Meanwhile, first commentator Georgy Cherdanesev on Twitter, and then an unnamed representative of the St. Petersburg club in an interview with Sovetsky Sport, said that Advocaat was not among the candidates for the post of Zenit head coach.
Nevertheless, the Dutchman, who heads Sparta Rotterdam until the end of the season, once became an undoubted success of the St. Petersburg management. During the period of his work, the championship, the UEFA Cup, and the European Super Cup fell on.
Under the Advocate, Arshavin shone and went to England, Shirokov opened up, best years conducted by Denisov. At the same time, a balance was observed between Russians and legionnaires, and there were no conflicts and squabbles.
Of course, it is impossible to enter the same river twice, Dick Advocaat is unlikely to be able to return Zenit's golden years, but he could have tightened the nuts in the loose mechanism by signing a contract for a year.
It just wasn't cheap. Zenit fans know the Little General's love for St. Petersburg, but the Dutchman's love for money has become an even bigger talk of the town.
Dick Advocate Head coach of Sparta Rotterdam Zenit is still playing in the Russian championship. It would be unethical for me to comment on any rumors that I am a candidate for a new coach. Let's wait until the end of the season. Carlo Anchelotti
The least likely candidate who has surfaced in rumors only because he is currently free.
Of course, Zenit would be happy to get a specialist who has successfully worked and won trophies with Milan, Chelsea, PSG, Real Madrid and Bayern, but Ancelotti himself is not at all interested in the St. Petersburg club.
A month ago, he turned down an offer to lead the Italian national team, saying he wanted to work with the clubs. According to rumors, the Italian specialist may lead Chelsea or Arsenal.
Giovanni Brancini, an agent of coach Carlo Ancelotti, said at the end of April that the specialist had no negotiations with Russian clubs.
Miodrag Bozovic
A Montenegrin specialist is the most budgetary option. He manages to put a nice attacking game on the outsiders and middle peasants, who regularly begin to painfully pinch the clubs of the big five.
For example, Zenit recently became convinced of this, having barely carried away their legs in Tula from Arsenal, led by the enraged Artyom Dziuba.
As a result, Bozovic falls into the sphere of interests of more serious clubs, but it turns out to be much more difficult to prove himself there.
Miodrag has already had a not-so-successful experience at Lokomotiv on his account. And Zenit has already burned itself with Mircea Lucescu, who was taken as a “budget option”, and is unlikely to repeat this mistake.
Bozovic's benefit is that he has already worked with Luka Djordjevic, Artem Dziuba and Ivan Novoseltsev, leased from Zenit, and knows how to get results from them.
And it's not the first time for a Montenegrin to build teams from the customer's material.
Miodrag Bozovic Head coach of Arsenal Tula I heard something like that, but no one spoke to me. If they call from "Zenith" and say: "Miodrag, we are waiting for you" - I am ready to negotiate. Whom to choose?
Zenit's situation is like an old toast, wanting our desires to match our capabilities. The St. Petersburg club can easily get Mikhailovich or Bozovic as a coach, but does not want to. He wants to get Sarri or Ancelotti, but cannot.
Against this background, Sergei Semak looks like the most balanced and compromise figure. Managed to prove himself as Main coach in the Premier League, worked for Zenit, financial needs are much more modest than those of Sarri / Mancini / Mikhailovich, and even the loyalty of fans will be ensured even in case of setbacks.
There will be no problems with leaving “Ufa”, the Bashkir club has already found a candidate for a possible replacement - ex-mentor of “Akhmat” Mikhail Galaktionov.
Why not support a domestic manufacturer?
Had one of the most disastrous seasons in recent history... For the first time in ten years, the team was left without medals in the Russian football championship, where it finished only in fifth place. It was worse only in 2005, when the blue-white-blue remained sixth.
A year ago, the management of the club from the banks of the Neva spent millions on transfers and an invitation to the post of head coach of the eminent Italian. The bet didn't work. Mister could not prove himself in Russian club and went to pull the national team of his country out of the swamp.
Tired of spending that does not live up to expectations, Zenit decided to invite a Russian specialist to the position of the team's mentor. The club was headed by Sergey. Except for the emergency measures in the form of a three-month arrival at the post in 2009, who then worked with a double, then
Zenit has the role of a full-fledged mentor Russian coach will be for the first time since 2002.
The agreement with 42-year-old Semak is designed for two years with the possibility of extension for one more. The young specialist noted that it is an honor and pleasure for him to work with a renowned club.
“Of course, it was a great honor for me to be even among the candidates for this position, and getting an invitation is very honorable and pleasant.
At the same time, I understand how difficult and difficult it will be, there is a lot of work ahead, immediately you need to start your duties and slowly put in order those issues that are now, "Semak said.
The previous year and a half, the specialist spent at Ufa, which became the first club where he worked as a head coach. Under his leadership, a team from the capital of Bashkiria for the first time in its history entered the Europa League, taking in the finished RFPL season sixth place. The team got a ticket to the Eurotournament after the winner of the Russian Cup "Tosno" could not get licensed in.
“Today I am very happy. I would like to thank Ufa for giving me the chance to get a specific experience.
Well, my family and I are happy to return to the city, which has become a home for us, "Semak said.
Semak's career is almost perfect.
He made his debut as a player very early and became one of the few athletes who managed to score a goal in the elite division of Russian football under 18.
After a season at Asmaral, Semak spent 11 years at CSKA, becoming a true red and blue club legend. Having scored the famous hat-trick against PSG in the Champions League match, the footballer received an invitation to the Parisian team, where he could not fully prove himself, as a rule, remaining in the reserve. Then there were two seasons in FC "Moscow", and three in each and "Zenith".
With teams from St. Petersburg and Kazan, as well as with the Moscow army team, Semak became the champion of Russia.
Currently, he is the only one to have won the Premier League with three different clubs.
Semak's performances for the Russian national team deserve special attention.
It was Sergey who was the captain of the team that won the bronze medals of the 2008 European Championship.
At that tournament, Semak performed a difficult goal pass through himself, after which he scored the only goal against the Greek national team, and the meeting ended with a victory for the team with a score of 1: 0.
On account of the athlete and one of the most important goals in the history of "Zenith". In 2012, in the first leg of the 1/8 finals of the Champions League against Portuguese Befnika, he brought his team forward with a heel kick. True, on aggregate, the blue-white-blue nevertheless lost (3: 2, 0: 2).
After completing his player career, Semak worked in the Zenit coaching staff in 2013-2016. Once he was even the acting head coach of the St. Petersburg team, under his leadership Zenit played two matches - in the national championship lost to CSKA (0: 1), and then defeated German Borussia in the return match of the 1/8 finals of the Champions League. from Dortmund (2: 1), which turned out to be insufficient for reaching the quarterfinals (the first match the Petersburgers lost with the score 2: 4).
Semak also has experience working with the Russian national team, in whose headquarters he was in 2014-2016. At first, the specialist was an assistant, and then - Leonid Slutsky.
Zenit will be the specialist's first serious challenge. The last two blue-white-blue coaches - Mancini and the Romanians - did not stay in office for more than a year. All that remains is to wait and see how the first Russian specialist in many years will do business in the “firing squad” position.
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About appointment Sergei Semak the head coach of "Zenith" became known a few days ago. A meeting of the new blue-white-blue mentor with the fans at the club's base in Udelny Park was planned in advance. On the day of the signing of the contract, however, she was transferred to the Petrovsky Stadium. Because of this, the journalists had to rush around the city for half a day, frantically trying to catch Sergei Bogdanovich. It was not possible to get to the closed meeting with the fans, but it was possible to talk with Semak after it. After talking with fans, he devoted a few minutes to journalists.
- Sergey Bogdanovich, congratulations on your appointment. How was the meeting with the fans?
- Initially, the meeting with the fans was planned at the base in the Udelny Park, then it was transferred to the Petrovsky stadium. The guys asked, drove up for five minutes, no problem.
- How did the fans receive it?
- If they came to the meeting, it means that they accepted my appointment normally. Their attention is pleasant. But I perfectly understand that I am at the very beginning of the journey. There is a lot of work ahead.
- What was the conversation about?
- There are no secrets about what they talked about. The general phrases that fans would like to see did not concern a deep tactical understanding of football.
- Did you easily agree to Zenit's offer?
- It is not easy, any decision is difficult. Of course, for me this is a step forward in my work. The risk is always present, it is never small, when it comes to the work of the head coach. There are many additional complications. If you take on any business, you must try to do it to the maximum.
- There is an understanding who will enter your coaching staff?
- It is too early to talk about it. A lot of information in the press was untrue. The appointment went very quickly, with an element of surprise. In the near future we will decide about the coaching staff, training camps and everything else.
“Everyone is hugging and kissing Semak now. He returned home"
Zenit President Sergei Fursenko - on the appointment of Sergei Semak as head coach.
- Is Alexander Nizelik included in the list of candidates under consideration?
- Naturally he comes in.
- And Alexander Kerzhakov?
- No. I did not talk to Sasha about this and did not hear anything about it from the leaders.
- You first came to St. Petersburg for negotiations about two weeks ago. What happened during this time?
- You know perfectly well that the position of the Zenit management that I am one of the candidates for the post of the head coach of the club was announced. Then there was a meeting, but it was not specific. Last night everything went in a different direction.
Many players will return to Zenit from loan, including Artyom Dzyuba and Oleg Shatov. Do you have an understanding of their future?
- You will find out everything very soon. I have all the information on the players: who and where. Zenit had a lot of players on loan. Very soon you will find out which of them will go to the training camp and which will not.
- When do you plan to hold your first training session?
- As planned: June 15 - medical examination, and on the 17th - departure for the first training camp.
- There is talk that Denisov will return to Zenit. This is true?
- I can't say anything about possible transfers. It takes time to work, everything should be weighed properly. - a top football player, his game is liked by any coach.
What goals were set by the management in terms of result - Champions League and first place or formation new team?
- The tasks will be announced before the season. Of course, our team must fight for the championship and constantly play in the Champions League.
Was there a conversation about the sports department? Will Vyacheslav Malafeev and Oreste Cinquini stay? Will there be a new one sports director?
- There was a conversation around everything, but it takes time to analyze everything before making decisions.
- We understand that you will not say anything about the players now, but there is one player who ...
- Messi? - Semak asked with a smile.
No, Danny said he was ready to return to Zenit and devote a few more years to it. Are you considering his candidacy?
- We consider all quality players who can strengthen Zenit.
Sergei Semak has officially become the head coach of Zenit. The 2-week pause, which quite exhausted the St. Petersburg football fans, ended with an appointment, which the fans had time to discuss on the Internet inside and out.
Sergey Semak // Alexander Nikolaev / Interpress
The agreement between Semak and “Zenith” was concluded according to the 2 + 1 system - for two years with the possibility of extension for one more year.
Sergei Semak entered the Gazprom building on the Angliyskaya Naberezhnaya on Monday, May 14: Moscow commentator Georgy Cherdantsev posted a photo of Semak entering on Twitter (and there is reason to believe that this move was part of a complex PR combination to probe public opinion; with that the same goal in the public "Zenith" in social network VKontakte conducted a poll: 45 thousand out of 70 voted for Semak, that is, 65%).
For more than two weeks, rumors circulated about a power struggle in the leadership football club, and the lack of news about the choice of the head coach looked natural against this background. The news alternately flashed the names of Dick Advocaat, Maurizio Sarri, recalled Rafael Benitez and even completely exotic football heroes like Jose Pekerman.
It can be assumed that in addition to the football component, public opinion also affected the choice of Semak, that poll in VK is another example of this. The season for “Zenith” turned out to be frankly unsuccessful, and there is a feeling that the appointment of Semak is in many ways a signal to the fans: we hear you, we ourselves are unhappy, we want it to be better.
Now to the football component. Pupil of the luhansk school Olympic reserve He moved to Moscow right after school, at the age of 16 (he finished school with a gold medal), ended up in the mythical club "Asmaral", from where he was drafted into the army and became a CSKA football player.
For CSKA, Semak spent about 300 matches, scored 68 goals and, tired of the coaching tone of Valery Gazzaev, moved to Paris Saint-Germain: at that time a modest French club, not yet drowned by the generous investments of Arab sheikhs. In 2006 Sergey returned to Russian league and became the main footballer of the young coach Leonid Slutsky in FC "Moscow". Since 2008 - twice champion in "Rubin" Kurban Berdyev. Since 2010 he has been a Zenit footballer. Semak - the only footballer, who became the champion of Russia in the composition of three different teams: CSKA, Rubin and Zenit. After completing his career due to injury, he entered the coaching staff of Luciano Spalletti, then worked as an assistant for Fabio Capello in the Russian national team, Andre Villas-Boas and Mircea Lucescu. In January 2017, he headed Ufa, with which this season he achieved a record 6th place for the club and got into the Europa League.
Semak has an amazing career: for 20 years on the field, he managed to work with the legendary Konstantin Beskov and Guy Lyakomb, Gazzaev and Slutsky, Berdyev and Spalletti. Sometimes they say: it doesn't matter who the footballer or the coach worked with, he simply does not fit the role of the boss. A year and a half Semak in “Ufa” showed that he definitely has the qualifications. “Ufa” played pragmatic, understandable football, with pressure and with an obvious focus on results. Moreover, I achieved this result. Ufa has very balanced statistics: 34 goals scored, conceded 30, 11 wins, 10 draws, 9 defeats. Bright football “Ufa” language will not turn to call it, but, unlike the same “Zenith”, Semak's team could be recognized.
We often hear: they say, Sergei Bogdanovich is too soft, too kind. This is an illusion: a kind and gentle football player will not the highest level two decades on the field, it is an axiom. And remember how Semak shoved the assistant referee Igor Fedotov in the game "Ufa" - "Zenith" in April this year. On TV it seemed that in a second, and the entire coaching staff, headed by Semak, would move from words to deeds and a fight would begin.
Naturally, Semak has an incredible scope of work. For some reason, myths come to mind Ancient Greece... In fact, Sergei needs to deal with two teams: one consists of Lucescu's players returning from leases, the second is the team of the current head coach of the Italian national team. What will be the support of the fans and, most importantly, the management, we cannot predict now. By the way, in general there is a hypothesis that the troubles of "Zenith" recent years not from the coach. But in any case, the phrase "Semak will be - I'll take a subscription" at the end of May, we heard often, and a very exciting season awaits us.
Fedor Pogorelov, "Fontanka.ru"