Created in the spring in Moscow “with the support of the Armenian public and business elite” and personally the president of the publishing house News Media Aram Gabrelyanov's football club ceases to exist without even playing for a year. Gabrelyanov himself posted three days ago on the club’s official page in social network an optimistic commentary on the club's prospects and the future "people's" way of financing it. He also attacked the recently resigned president of the club, Valery Oganesyan.

“I am sure that Ararat, a club for Moscow and Muscovites, will become loved and dear in a couple of years. There should be no panic. I see how a club created in order to save shareholders’ money (and this is how the previous president Oganesyan acted in Ulysses and Armavir) is turning into a people’s project... And I’m sure that behind football, even in the age of super technology great future. Computers will not be able to love and worry about their favorite team. There is also huge potential for the business component. So we will win!!!”, Gabrelyanov wrote. Meanwhile, Ararat players do not know what awaits them in the near future.

A meteoric rise

At the end of March, the Ararat football club was created in Moscow with the support of the Armenian Youth Association of Moscow. The president of the club, as well as its founder, was Valery Oganesyan, the former owner of the Armenian Ulysses and the ex-president of the Armavir Torpedo. Became Vice President Andranik Keropyan, who worked as a journalist at Lifenews for Aram Gabrelyanov. The actor became the face of the team Mikhail Galustyan .

In a couple of months the club signed Romana Pavlyuchenko , Marata Izmailova, Igor Lebedenko, Alexey Rebko. In total, 23 new players transferred to Ararat. Alexander Grigoryan, who resigned from "Anji" at the very beginning of the season.

Later it became known that Ararat would play in the Second Division. Keropyan stated that the club expects to reach FNL from the very first season.

Hard landing

On August 30, Valery Oganesyan announced that he could no longer work in football due to a doctor’s ban - problems with nerves. A day later, Andranik Keropyan said that the president withdrew 20 million rubles from the club’s account. Later, Oganesyan replied that he could not steal money from himself, since he is the only founder of the club and has never left the post of president.

On September 5, rumors appeared in the media about the closure of Ararat. The agent of the team's football player Marat Izmailov confirmed this information.

“We have information that Ararat will soon cease to exist,” said Paulo Barbosa. - Marat himself told me about this, plus other sources. I heard that the club has big financial problems. According to rumors, the club's leaders will soon meet to make a final decision and officially announce it today. Naturally, Marat and I started looking new club, he will definitely continue to play football.”

Who is Oganesyan

Oganesyan also left previous clubs with a scandal. In the Armavir Torpedo, the shareholders fired him, and besides, Oganesyan had a conflict with Valery Karpin. There was simply no money in Ulysses. A football agent from Armenia, who asked not to disclose his name, said that Ulysses acquired several football players with the help of his company, but never paid them a salary for several months. According to him, almost all the football players and employees of the club, as well as companies that provided any services to Ulysses, faced similar problems. The Armenian special services convicted four Ulysses employees of organizing fixed match for the sake of winning at a bookmaker's office. Among them were the club's coaches, an administrator and one of the players. In 2016, the club ceased to exist. Valery Oganesyan explained to Meduza that at Ulysses he simply could not “calculate everything correctly” in the club’s budget, and emphasized that this experience will allow him to avoid the same mistakes at Ararat.

[RBC; 09/11/2017; "We breathed into "Ararat" new life": This week Oganesyan announced that the club, which features several aging Russian football stars, will have a new owner, Igor Korotkov. He represents the interests of Aram Gabrelyanov, himself the founder of the Lifenews media holding. “Korotkov worked with me all his life, he started with me back in Ulyanovsk, he was the general director in many of our divisions. His work at Ararat is purely organizational: he is not a strong specialist in football,” said Gabrelyanov.

According to SPARK, Korotkov held senior positions in many of Gabrelyanov’s companies, starting with the limited liability partnership “Economic Newspaper Skifs” registered in Ulyanovsk back in 1992. Korotkov was the editor-in-chief newspapers "Life"- Gabrelyanov’s first project implemented in Moscow.

Aram Gabrelyanov first named the size of the club's budget and sources of its financing. According to him, the budget is 150–180 million rubles. Football agent Alexey Safonov agrees that with such a budget the PFL club can really solve the problem of promotion.

Gabrelyanov named donations from large businessmen of Armenian origin as the main source of financing for FC Ararat - owner of the Tashir group Samvel Karapetyan And co-owner of the Avilon group Kamo Avagumyan. According to him, this is not sponsorship in its pure form: “People helped us before we started implementing the program with the corporatization of the club, this is exactly help. Of course, we could put the Avilon logo on the players' T-shirts, for example. But at this stage it doesn't make much sense."]

Valery Oganesyan, who at the moment is in Georgia, sent his representatives to Moscow for negotiations with the current leaders of the club. The ex-president invited them to buy out the rights to own Ararat, of which he himself is the sole founder. The current leaders and sponsors of the club abandoned this idea and left the project, but at the same time settled with coaching staff, players and with the administration of the football club.

Earlier, the vice-president of the club, Andranik Keropyan, assured that Ararat “has one shareholder who has not yet officially purchased shares, but contributed to the creation of the club.” Keropyan does not advertise his name. The Ararat press service added that they intend to attract many minority investors to the club, selling them 10-20 shares of the club.

“This is exactly the kind of project the shareholders envisioned from the very beginning. I have no doubt that the future lies with the people's club, where every fan, from a billionaire to a simple worker, can be a shareholder. Let it be a small one, but a shareholder,” Aram Gabrelyanov also wrote on the football club’s blog.

The club’s press service explained that currently about 300 people go to Ararat’s games, but in the FNL the club expects to attract 5-6 thousand spectators. The club currently attracts fans mainly through social networks. Apparently, the idea of ​​crowdfunding for Ararat will remain only in dreams.

The proclaimed idea of ​​​​creating a “people's team for all Armenians in Russia and other countries” died along with the main project of Aram Gabrelyanov. As the agency previously reported "Ruspres", On August 18, the Life channel stopped broadcasting.

Slow start, rapid growth, stagnation, decline and death are the four obvious stages of the life of an organization according to the well-known analytical model. In our case, with the Armenian football championship, two stages of this cycle have passed; in recent years it has been stagnating, perhaps already in late form. And when it seemed that the agony of the championship was just around the corner, when there were only seven weak football clubs left in it (so few teams play in the championship of any European country, even in dwarf ones), suddenly, unexpectedly, a “daring fighter, red Well done” named Valery Oganesyan.

He picked up the ownerless Ulysses, which was falling into the abyss, acquired a stake, became the owner of this Yerevan club and managed to return it to the national championship.

Before this, in Yerevan all they knew about Valery Oganesyan was that he was a well-known Russian agent, including the players of the Moscow Spartak and the Armenian national team Yura Movsisyan and Aras Ozbilis. That he was the sports director of the Yekaterinburg Ural, bringing in the team’s key players - Edgar Manucharyan, Acevedo and Lunga. As a result, Ural big advantage won the first division and received the right to play in the league of the strongest. Oganesyan also worked in Khimki near Moscow.

The passion for football came to young Valera in the courtyards and school playgrounds of his native Tbilisi. At the age of ten, he and his family moved to Moscow, where he continued to kick the ball on a real football pitch in the uniform of young Dynamo players.

Once in Moscow, in the office of the children's and youth school (now the Academy) of the Moscow Dynamo, talking with its head teacher, a wonderful forward, Honored Master of Sports, Yuri Kuznetsov, we remembered his father and my coach Konstantin Petrovich Kuznetsov, one of the founders of Baku football. He was not only a bright forward, but also an excellent mentor, he coached the Baku teams “Temp” and “Dynamo” in the 30s and 40s, which were based on Armenians, including such legendary players as the players of the Transcaucasian national team - Artem Markarov, Artashes Amirjanov (both are the first masters of sports among Armenian football players in total Soviet Union) and Suren Petrosyan. Yuri Konstantinovich also remembered those who played with him at Neftyanik, and then unexpectedly offered to watch how the young Dynamo players train, tempting me with the fact that many of them were my compatriots.

Almost every group trained young Armenians. I remember the stout guy then, no, not for his ability to deftly handle the ball, which made him strikingly different from his peers, but because he was the namesake of Khoren Oganesyan.

Many years have passed since then, Valera Oganesyan went through the stages of growth as a football player, played for Leonid Oblizin in the reserve team of his native Dynamo, and played for Dynamo Makhachkala. And when he felt that he could not reach the level of a high-class professional player, he decided to leave active football and created his own agency, which provides employment services for football players and coaches in Russian clubs, representing their interests and protecting their rights. The agency also carries out orders from clubs to acquire rights to football players of appropriate qualifications and a certain role.

In recent years, the number of Armenian football players in the squads Russian teams significantly increased, which increased the interest of our compatriots in the RFPL championship. This prompted Valery Oganesyan and his friends to the idea that it was possible to create an Armenian football club with an Armenian name, which would gradually begin to gain momentum, and maybe even make it into Russian Premier League. These thoughts were reinforced at times successful performances Armenian national team, whose honor was defended by leading players Russian clubs– Roman Berezovsky, Yura Movsisyan, Aras Ozbilis, Edgar Manucharyan, Arthur Sarkisov...

An Armenian club could be founded in one of the Russian cities with a large Armenian community. I remember several years ago the Armenians of Sochi became infected with a similar idea, but only for a different reason. Then the Armenian Football Federation persistently pressed Andriasyan’s Ararat, so the Sochi residents offered our famous club to move to their city, play in the Russian championship, financial support and warm support they provided the stands. The Swiss owners of Ararat did not agree to this because of patriotic feelings, preferring a bird in their hands.

Armenian teams have long existed in many countries of the world, and in Iran and Lebanon in the mid-20th century they played a significant role in the championships of these countries. So in Argentina, the Armenian football club “Deportivo Armenio” still operates, which at one time played in the top league of the country’s championship and established in it national record Argentina in the number of matches without defeat, which was beaten only 12 years later by the Boca Juniors team. Several Deportivo Armenio players played for the Yerevan teams Ararat and Pyunik, and Jose Bilibio also defended the honor of the Armenian national team. The team plays matches at the 8,000-seat Armenia Stadium in Buenos Aires. In recent years, things have not been going well for the club, but its long-time president Norayr Nakisyan is not discouraged and dreams of a renaissance.

In 2011, Valery Oganesyan, at the invitation of Nakis, flew to Buenos Aires, where he attended the Deportivo Armenio home match. About 2 thousand Armenian fans came to support their favorite team. Oganesyan noticed how warmly they communicated with each other, how new acquaintances were made between them. He was once again convinced of the huge role of the football team in strengthening the diaspora and became even more eager to create an Armenian team, maybe even in Moscow or the Moscow region, where more than one million of our compatriots live. “In Russia, many Armenians go to church on Sundays, and this is wonderful, and on Saturdays they can go to football together and strengthen their friendship,” Oganesyan reasoned in a conversation with his friends and like-minded people. Many people liked his idea and even many began to help him in this matter, but the situation in Ukraine has worsened and this project has been frozen for now.

And then the energetic Oganesyan turned his attention to the Armenian championship. “I have long wanted to have a club in Armenia, and this summer the circumstances at Ulysses were such that my wish came true. Due to financial problems, the club practically dropped out of the Armenian championship. We expressed our desire to purchase it, since it would be very sad to see a championship consisting of seven teams in Armenia. In addition, in recent years I often come to Armenia and noticed that real football talents can grow here,” the new owner of the Yerevan club said in a conversation with Armenian journalists. – FC “Ulysses” is a joint-stock company. The shareholders are individuals who are also my friends and businessmen. They do not want their names to be known to the public. (According to conversations, a member of the board of directors of Moscow “Spartak” Dzhevan Cheloyants - A.G. will also take part in the management of the club). We talked and I convinced them that we would go down this road together.”

At the Ulysses headquarters, Oganesyan gathered people who were ready to work all day long for the sake of a common idea. The post of president of the club was taken by Henrikh Kazanjyan, and the post of general director by Khoren Kalashyan, who in recent years has done a huge amount of work to identify talent in Armenian football. As the head coach of the team, Valery Oganesyan chose Suren Chakhalyan, who was well known to him, who previously coached the Yerevan Pyunik and the Armenian youth team.

The composition of “Ulysses” was completely changed; in a record short time, Oganesyan selected new players, an impressive part of whom had previously played in the Moscow team “Kvazar” (president - Artem Khachaturyan), known for its unusual history of development and selection techniques. Three Georgians were accepted into the team - a graduate of Moscow CSKA, 20-year-old David Khurtsidze, players of the Georgian "Zugdidi" - 21-year-old Georgiy Khubua and 26-year-old Jamir Janashia - the younger brother of the famous Zaza Janashia, as well as two Muscovites - ex-players of the Armenian national team , the champions of Armenia in “Pyunik” are 26-year-old Hovhannes Goharyan (a student of Lokomotiv Moscow) and 23-year-old Artak Aleksanyan (a student of Spartak Moscow). Hovhannes was elected captain of the team, and Artak was elected vice-captain. “In our team, football has united players of different nationalities - this is the brotherhood of peoples, and on the field we act as a single fist, hence the success,” Hovhannes Goharyan emphasized after one of Ulysses’ victories.

The team included students of the Polish “Lodz”, brothers Agvan and Vladimir Papikyan, who appeared for some time in the Moscow “Spartak”. The 19-year-old midfielder of the Zambian national team, Lubambo Musunda, the 24-year-old defender from Ghana, Edward Kpodo, and two 22-year-old Serbian defenders, Rade Dugalic and Slobodan Lalic, signed a contract with Ulysses. The team included the aged Sergei Ovchinnikov, who played in the 2002 champion squad of Lokomotiv Moscow. In recent years he has replaced large number clubs, received many injuries, was operated on several times, which did not allow him to reveal his full potential.

“We met Sergei in 2007, when he played for Mashuk Pyatigorsk,” Valery Oganesyan explains his choice. – He is already 30 years old, but, in my opinion, this is not the age to retire. If he can adapt to the Armenian championship and avoid injuries, he will play in a very good football, and he can do this.

Many of our players had problems: one had no playing practice for a whole year, another for six months, some came from Russia, others from Africa and Europe. But here they must reach their maximum in order to find themselves in stronger championships in the future, as some players of the Armenian national team did.”

Suren Chakhalyan and his players did not disappoint the club owner; after 8 rounds, Ulysses single-handedly leads the championship race, 8 points ahead of Gandzasar and 9 points ahead of Pyunik. And this despite the fact that the team did not have time to hold a single training camp and is gaining shape as the championship progresses. Oganesyan is pleased with this result, but he is not entirely satisfied with the quality of the team’s play. Perhaps in December, when the transfer window opens, he will invite a couple of foreign players. The initial task is to successfully complete the championship and qualify for European competition, where he hopes “Ulysses” will perform well. “There are many wealthy people among Armenians, and in order to interest them in investments, we need good result. One, perhaps, will build a stadium for us, the other - Football Academy. Moscow was not built right away. We will have everything, but gradually,” the head of “Ulysses” confidently declares.

Touching on the topic of the speech national team Armenia in Euro 2016, Valery Hovhannisyan said that the national team was in a difficult group, and Mkhitaryan, Movsisyan and Ozbilis were injured, but he believes in the national team, because many of its players are at the peak of their careers. Oganesyan also noted that Movsisyan and Ozbilis, after returning to duty, club career will continue at Spartak Moscow.

Alexander Grigoryan

General Director of Moscow "Ararat" Valery Oganesyan in an interview with medium.com he spoke about how his project was one step away from closure.

- What is happening with Ararat? How come the club is close to closing?

In March of this year, I created a team that impressed few people at the time. Quietly he developed it and soon strode sharply forward. When Ararat played in KFC, they somehow lived on my money. Then we agreed with a powerful company about sponsorship: at first for one amount, then it increased. The budget was constantly growing: we invited stars, a top coach, moved from the Spartakovets stadium to Streltsov, and constantly stopped at the hotel before matches.

From the first second I understood the outcome of this story: this is what happened in Armavir. I told Ararat’s sponsors that when there is success, everyone will want to take my place, but I warned: in the last three years, things have not been as smooth for me as before. The sponsors responded: “It’s okay, just get started. You must take first place for two seasons - first in the PFL, then in the FNL. We will end the funding only if at the end of the season “Ararat” is not first.” In the end I won, but everything only got worse.

- Who became the sponsor of Ararat?

I don't want to speculate on names. When we move forward in negotiations about the future of the club, we will find out everything. Perhaps I’ll find other people to whom I can transfer the rights.

- It was said that fans would soon own Ararat. How did you imagine it?

There are about ten million people of Armenian origin in the world, and with our game and politics I thought to attract another five million football fans. And any of them - millionaire, billionaire or ordinary person - can become our shareholder. The attention to “Ararat” is enormous: a thousand people come at home, and more on the road - like in Ramenskoye, in Lipetsk, yes. everywhere. In Belgorod, we were not allowed out of the stadium for an hour - we left only when everyone took pictures with Pavlyuchenko and Izmailov.

Even if two million people chip in a hundred dollars, there will be enough money for everything. But this should not have started immediately - in a couple of years, when we would have entered the Premier League.

- When did you realize that the plans would not come true?

The season has begun, Ararat is in first place. But I saw that football team I have a strong one, but the office one is not very strong. There may have been PR, but otherwise the organization was seriously lame. I could pursue, say, the following goals: buy Pavlyuchenko from some agent and make money from it. But at Ararat I did everything as if it were my own way, I didn’t treat it like a hired manager, as is usually the case in Russia. This is my club.

A month and a half ago I came to the sponsor and said: “So and so, we have a hole.” I honestly told the sponsor that a lot of problems had accumulated in recent years; I couldn’t find a sponsor for Ulysses at all. They told me: “Okay, Valer, but to prevent this from happening again in the future, we will appoint a financial director from the sponsor.” They installed it, everything seemed fine - and then movement began in the management of the club. I saw: the sponsor is no longer just a sponsor, but has slowly joined the work and believes that he understands football and can tell him how to do what. I'm not used to it. When I am responsible for something, I do everything myself.

Then they told me: I unofficially heard from one of the main sponsors that many other rich people were coming. And I knew that there were people who would be interested in the project. At one point - for purely soldier reasons - they say to me: “That’s it.”

- What does it mean?

After they appointed a financial director to the club, through the head of the team I took a ticket for a vacation in Russia in the amount of ten thousand rubles. This amount should then simply be deducted from the salary, as usual - I, as a founder, did not think about this at all. On the same day, the sponsor forced me to kick out the football player Artak Aleksanyan. It was very difficult for me to remove him, but I did it for the benefit of the whole team. Alexaneanu said it was my decision. The sponsor did this so that I would refuse Artak, and so that he, and not the tickets, would be the reason for my leaving. They just didn't know what else to come up with.

In short, at one point Ararat no longer needed me. How they said goodbye to me is not for the faint of heart. I'll tell you a little later if necessary. It's kind of a dead end right now. Even though the club is mine, I created it.

- Many perceived your departure as an escape.

I decided: let them cook on their own, without me, and when I return, we’ll see. At the same time, I was and remain one hundred percent founder of the club. He said goodbye to the team and said: “This is for a while, it’s okay. There is someone to manage."

They told me: “In two days you will sign some other documents.” But I couldn’t do this - I ended up on the other side. Otherwise, no one would remember me anymore.

- “Ararat” reported that you left the club “for health reasons.” What's wrong with you?

I did everything to ensure that the team did not suffer. I couldn’t just leave - I said I was going to get treatment. It was true: I felt uneasy. I feel psychologically difficult. In terms of physical health everything is fine, there is no such thing that I can die tomorrow. Although many people predict my death. And everyone says: your death depends on you. This is some kind of hint, but I understand it as a direct threat.

- Ararat announced that you withdrew 20 million rubles from the club’s account. How did you explain this to yourself?

They wanted to do PR on this. Black PR. And with this PR, let the football players and the public understand that I am some kind of thief, I did not act according to my conscience, I stole, and ran away. Probably 20 million worth of khinkali to eat.

If I had been caught in some kind of transaction - I had bought or sold someone incorrectly - that would be one thing. But I’m not even documented in the club. To say that I ran away with a bag of money is ridiculous. Do you know why?

- Why?

On September 1 - two days after I “stole” 20 million rubles - 15 million rubles drop into my account. All previous payments were like donations to a sponsor, and these 15 million are like an interest-free loan, as if I borrowed from someone. In the morning I started calling the bank to send money to the borrower - I didn’t sign anything. He replied: “The money was distributed to the club for salaries.” It's as if I don't exist. Is this normal? And they also say to me: “You took tickets for ten thousand rubles.”

Ararat vice-president Andranik Keropyan said: “Any audit will easily prove that Oganesyan has not invested a single ruble in the club.” Is that so?

How can you evaluate what you have invested and what you have not invested? When I founded Ararat, I had no guarantees from a sponsor. It wasn’t like I persuaded Pavlyuchenko and Izmailov and said that one was worth 30 million, the other 40. I did everything for myself.

I don't understand what "invest" means. Bring a box of money and show how cool you are, or give results? Our team is not in the second league anymore. We beat Baltika in the Russian Cup, a team with a very large budget, where the players' earnings on average are much higher. than in Ararat. Everyone around is already talking about Ararat. When a sponsor was found, he immediately said: “Your team is already worth 200 million.”

Keropyan is not a football person, I don’t even want to discuss him. I really feel sorry for him. He's a mentally unstable guy. I wanted to save him, give him a job. I extended my hand to him as a friend and invited him to join my team.

Perhaps Ararat means that you withdrew money from the company account to a personal account for which accounting is not kept?

When we were doing taxes, my sponsor told me: “The head of the tax office is our friend, don’t worry, don’t think about anything.” In football there are expenses not for common people. I'm not the kind of manager who will save money. “Ararat” is my club, by the way, and I determine what will happen with the money. But no, in the eyes of others I am a thief.

- What participation did Aram Gabrelyanov take in the management of Ararat?

No comments.

- Do you have any complaints against Gabrelyanov?

No comments, you'll find out everything later.

- Gabrelyanov provides only “moral support”, as Keropyan said?

I'll tell you on Wednesday, when the negotiations take place. So far these questions are incorrect. They can influence the fate of the club in the future. And I want it to grow and prosper. This is the people's team.

In the third round of the PFL, Ararat lost points for the first time. Immediately after “for family reasons” he resigned head coach Sergey Bulatov. What's the real reason?

It seemed that the team did not take him very seriously. But I have assembled such a team that no matter what coach you put in, it will win. For three or four rounds I started coaching myself - and did it get worse? They didn't even draw a single match - the team won.

- Did you like the role of head coach?

When I started winning, the team asked me to stay. There was even a thought to remain at the post. But then I realized that everyone should mind their own business. I had many other global tasks.

They invited Poghos Galstyan, then Alexander Grigoryan. When the team heard the name Grigoryan, they held meetings for two days and persuaded me: no need. As a result, I still made all the substitutions during the game, even when Grigoryan became the coach. At the same time, I always considered Grigoryan a strong coach, he could help us in training process, organizationally.

Is he the owner of the club to say such a thing? It would be better to speak like a coach - for example, about why he didn’t win last match against Lipetsk. Maybe his words about Ryazan are also a PR stunt.

When Grigoryan came, I told him: “Think more about football, talk less.” Grigoryan is not a weak coach, I wish him to work really hard high level. But I suppose that the match with Ryazan will be the last for Grigoryan in our football. If there is no Ararat, who needs Grigoryan? “SKA Khabarovsk” is no longer needed - maybe “Luch-Energia” then or “Sakhalin”. To fly, to come to my senses a little.

According to my information, the conflict in Ararat was caused by your interview on the YouTube channel Let Mi Speak. Did it influence your departure from the club?

Not at all. Do you know who influenced? Rich people who have been following me for several years and who are haunted by my results. There are a lot of them. My negative image is built on their old grievances and gossip. This is where my problems at work come from.

Grigoryan admitted in an interview: “One smart person told me: “You spent most of your Premier League babbling.” Have you ever been told this?

What words should I regret? It would be one thing if I was talking nonsense, but I'm telling the truth. Some of us go on TV channels, they write on the screen - “ best agent" or "the best CEO." I don't need it. I want people to understand at least a little bit what is happening in our football. Otherwise, we are building a lot of stadiums for the World Cup, but my question is: will people go to them?

- Do you remember how you said goodbye to the Ararat players when you left?

Like at a funeral, as if saying goodbye to loved ones. Even tears welled up. But honestly, if I had said goodbye two days later, it wouldn’t have even affected me. I was sure that I was dear to the team that I had assembled. It turned out that many people don’t like it.

- Do you now have contact with the team?

Let's talk. You see, I brought a sponsor and introduced him to each player. And at some stage I, not the richest person, become unnecessary. Football players see a conflict, and they need to choose some position. The sponsor convinced them that I was a thief, a person with a bad reputation, with debts in life. And they sided with the sponsor, because he has money, and it will be harder with me. I will not name the names of these low people, but the rest took an adequate side.

- Izmailov’s lawyer says that Marat is already looking for a new club.

No, this information is invalid. Izmailov is here, Izmailov remains in the club.

- Pavlyuchenko, Lebedenko, Rebko, are the other stars staying too?

Everyone wants to stay, they want there to be a project. Everyone is worried about their families. I want everyone to think a little about my family. Most of all, I would not like to come home and tell my son: “We are no longer going to the stadium, and in general, your father may not come to Russia anymore, they won’t let him in.” And because of what - I can’t even explain.

- What is Ararat capable of without your participation?

Now we are in first place. But you know how it happens - changes begin, everyone gets nervous, one misfire follows another. I wouldn't like that.

- When last time Have you talked to the team?

Yesterday. I told them: “If they let me into the country, I will find you a sponsor within two to three months.” I can no longer say: yes, everything is fine, I’ll do everything, everything will be fine. But if I found one sponsor, I would find another, and a third. But she and her current sponsor already have a love like Romeo and Juliet. And with some players it’s like they’ve known each other for 150 years. And that means I am such a villain.

People are trying not to come to an agreement, but to solve everything somehow differently. Although I think it’s right to sit down and discuss everything in a civilized manner within a day or two.

- Is it true that yesterday you sent representatives to Moscow for negotiations with the leaders of Ararat?

On Wednesday, a person will fly to me who represents the interests of the possible future founder of the club. I will put forward fair conditions, which I can publish later.

- Tell me briefly, what will these conditions be?

If I understand that a person’s eyes are shining and he will do everything better than me in terms of finance and management, we’ll come to an agreement. But if there is pressure, tension, sudden movements... You know, threats - it doesn’t matter, “we won’t touch you physically” or “we will send the Air Force, Navy” - this is not for me, this is not for adults. “You’re worried about your safety, about your family, about the fact that you’ll be jailed” - none of this will bother me. If God wills, what is destined will happen to a person.
Everything needs to be discussed culturally. IN Russian football There are already too many scandals. I wouldn't want another one ahead of the World Cup.

- What do you want in these negotiations?

First of all, make “Ararat” well. I want to look people in the eyes and understand who I am handing over the club to. If people want to disregard the people's team that I created, that will not suit me. Football club- not a factory, not a plant, this is a fine cuisine.

Secondly, I don’t want to feel worse if I leave the project. Let people explain: how could I steal 20 million from myself?

- What if you don't agree?

I’ll come back, find another sponsor and further develop the team. I don’t want Ararat to lose its status because of two or three people. After all, we have already gathered a lot of fans. Some initially doubted that the project would be long-term, and now they will criticize Ararat even more.

I wouldn’t want our loyal fans to say: “As soon as we started, we finished right away.” The other side of the conflict must understand: it will be responsible for this to the country and to fans like those in Belgorod, for whom Ararat is a holiday.

- Do you see what is happening with Ararat as a raider takeover of the club?

Not yet, but something close. “I want it and I take it.” I don’t understand such forced conversations.

- Is your return to Ararat possible?

Today it is 99.99 percent excluded. Either they will come to an agreement with me, or - if I am not allowed to return to Russia and continue to work quietly - the team may cease to exist.

- What prevents you from returning to Russia?

I just can’t come. There are various conversations - that if I come, all hell will break loose.

- Do you mean criminal prosecution?

Yes, anything: I will either be imprisoned or killed. If someone communicates a couple of times upstairs, he thinks that someone is someone’s comrade, a friend, things will start to happen that you won’t be able to get out of. I don't want to risk my life for someone else's whim. I don't want this and I won't risk it.

I assumed that this would start when Ararat entered the Premier League. But somehow it started too early.

“Ararat” was born at the end of March 2017, and played its first match on April 12 – against “Zelenograd” in the “Moscow” zone of the LFL. Even then, the team included quite well-known football players in the past. For example, a 36-year-old Levan Gvazava, who previously played for Alania, Luch-Energia, Terek and Anzhi, as well as a former CSKA goalkeeper Sergey Revyakin.

Ararat's father is a football functionary Valery Oganesyan who worked football agent. Oagnesyan collaborated with Spartak, CSKA, Ural and other Premier League clubs, took care of business Yury Movsisyan, Aras Ozbilis And Edgar Manucharyan, at the same time I met Pavlyuchenko and many other “famous” football players. Oganesyan once said that he tried to place a current Manchester United player in Anzhi or Spartak. Henrikh Mkhitaryan, but the deal did not take place.

But Oganesyan’s big plans remained. In 2014, he saved the destruction of the Armenian Ulysses, investing about a million dollars. The hastily assembled team was among the leaders of the local elite division for a long time, but in the end it stalled and became second, winning a ticket to the Europa League. However, the investors who promised Ulysses a bright future never came to the club. As a result, the team faced bankruptcy, and most of the players, along with Oganesyan, moved to Torpedo Armavir.

There was a rumor in Armenia that “Ulysses” never paid some of the newcomers a salary. Almost all players and employees of the club, as well as companies that provided any services to Ulysses, faced similar problems. Moreover, the Armenian special services accused four Ulysses employees of organizing a match-fixing in order to receive winnings from a bookmaker. Among them were the club's coaches, an administrator and one of the players.

But in Armavir no one was interested in this.

Oganesyan did not invest there, focusing exclusively on attracting players and coaches. First he agreed with an excellent speaker Alexander Grigoryan, but then canceled the deal and brought him to the club Valeria Karpina, for which sponsors also came along. However, the functionary and the ex-coach of Spartak did not work well together - the team did not show the expected results, and before the end of the first half of the season, Oganesyan was fired.

About a year ago, Oganesyan mentioned plans to create a new club. “I have a project for a serious club in Russia. I want people to gather for matches every week, just like they would go to church,” the functionary said. Soviet sports" Obviously, we were talking about the current Ararat.

The club was created in March 2017, and on April 12 it played its debut match in the Moscow zone of the third division, in which it beat Zelenograd with a minimal score. True, there was a scandal. An undeclared player took part in the game, which is why Ararat was given a technical defeat of 0:3. Also, 6 points were deducted from the club and a fine of 20 thousand rubles was imposed. Because of these sanctions, the team took only 15th place in the Moscow zone (with 20 participants), but on May 30 they received a license from the RFU and entered the PFL.

Where does the finance come from?

It is clear that the invited stars did not come to Ararat for cheap salaries. Where does a representative of the now second division get such funds?

We have not yet learned the answer to this question, but we are promised that everything will become known soon.

It is still unknown whether Valery Oganesyan invests his money in Ararat. The club declares support from the Armenian “public and business elite.” True, so far we are talking only about moral support. One of the people providing “moral support” to the club is the head of the News Media holding Aram Gabrelyanov. By the way, it was on the Life site, immediately after the signing of Roman Pavlyuchenko, that the player addressed the fans.

In addition, during the creation of the club, the Association of Armenian Youth of Moscow also provided “organizational assistance”.

It is also known that Ararat “has one shareholder who has not yet officially purchased shares, but contributed to the creation of the club.” The Ararat press service reports plans to attract many minority investors to the club, selling them 10-20 shares of the club. “In Russia there are already many clubs sucking money from the state. We don’t want this,” said the head of the Ararat press service, Georgy Makovetsky.

Oganesyan, in turn, noted that the club will have “an average annual budget by PFL standards” - in the region of 60-200 million rubles.

What are the goals?

At Ararat, I plan to advance to the FNL at the end of the 2017/18 season, and then they intend to aim for the RFPL. Naturally, there is no talk of any “purely Armenian composition”. "Everything according to sports principle“They say at the club, which is confirmed by recent transfers.

At the same time, Ararat still plans to unite Armenian football fans, and not only Moscow ones, and also to achieve an attendance of 5-6 thousand fans. The arena where Ararat is already holding matches allows this - the Spartakovets stadium named after Nikolai Starostin can accommodate 5,100 football fans.

The moral support of Aram Gabrielyanov has already been mentioned. You can find a photo on the official Ararat Instagram account Mikhail Galustyan with team paraphernalia. Those. There is already a certain fan base. Let it be modest for now.

Who will play?

May 30, i.e. on the day of receiving the license, Ararat made its first high-profile transfer - signed a one-year contract Roman Pavlyuchenko. “Of course, at Ararat Pavlyuchenko’s salary is not at the level of the Russian Premier League. Higher than our other players, but not like the rest of Ararat’s players combined. We discussed the financial issue least of all. He was in last place for Roma,” explained the club’s vice-president Andranik Keropyan.

Posted by FC Ararat Moscow (@fcararatmoscow) May 30, 2017 at 6:20 PDT

Following the former forward of the Russian national team, the PFL newcomer signed a Spartak graduate Alexey Rebko, who played for the national team under Guus Hiddink, and then Marata Izmailova. There were also rumors about Vladimir Bystrov, Diniyar Bilyaletdinov and Arshak Koryan, but so far they have not been confirmed.

Posted by FC Ararat Moscow (@fcararatmoscow) Jun 7, 2017 at 7:03 PDT

Having signed Pavlyuchenko, Ararat got excited and even allowed himself to joke about Gareth Bale. Yes, yes, you heard right. And the head did not let you down. “Dear Bale, we want to see you on our team. In Russia with your friend. Here you will never be in the shadow of Ronaldo,” says Ararat’s Twitter post. The Welshman has not yet responded to the offer.

There were some jokes like this.

Moscow "Ararat" tried to acquire Alexander Kerzhakov, but, unfortunately, he did not get into the "Ararat" office.

FC Ararat Moscow (@FC_AraratMoscow)

Valery Oganesyan: At Spartak they gave Mkhitaryan a piece of paper and said: “Write your salary”

Agent Valery Oganesyan in an interview with the site - about working with Valery Karpin and Evgeny Giner and the weakness of Spartak.

He went from a second league agent to the president of Armavir Torpedo, but after leaving the club, he disappeared from the media radar for six months. In an interview Sovsport. ru Valery Oganesyan spoke about working with Valery Karpin and Evgeny Giner, the weaknesses of Spartak and the prospects of Kokorin.

“Giner is a brilliant president”

– It was not easy to contact you. Where did you go?
– After leaving Torpedo, I wasn’t really involved in agency activities. I've been working hard, and now it's time to relax a little. I took care of my family.

– You ended your gaming career early and began agency work at the age of 23. Why didn’t the player’s career work out?
– There are several factors here. He showed some promise for the young men – He played at Dynamo Moscow school, but failed to break into the first team. In my opinion, he didn’t even play official matches for Dynamo. At the end of the 90s, he moved to Makhachkala - to the local Dynamo from the second division. Footballers at that time did not earn as well as they do now. At some point I realized that I wouldn’t have a great career, so I decided to leave. For two or three years I had nothing to do with football at all, and then my relative opened an agency company with me.

– Where did you start?
- From children's football, from the second league. I made acquaintances and made a name for myself. It’s a difficult time – traveling for 24 hours, spending the night in the car. But little by little things went uphill. In 2008, he found several players for CSKA Moscow and began collaborating with the army club.

– Who did they bring?
– World champion as part of the Nigerian Oseni junior team, from the Togliatti Academy of young guys – Ambartsumyan, Stolyarenko. Piliev made the transition from Lokomotiv to CSKA. Then everyone thought that Piliev would have a fantastic career - he played great against Wolfsburg in the Champions League, but then he suffered an injury, surgery on the spine. Well, Nika is still a young guy - 24 years old - maybe he will play again.

– How would you rate your experience working with CSKA?
– We have developed a very trusting relationship with Evgeniy Lennorovich. I remember those times with great warmth. Later, when I encountered other teams, I realized that Giner is a brilliant president. You enter Evgeniy Lennorovich’s office with your thoughts, and leave with his. In a good way. I learned a lot from him, one might say, I learned life.

–Why then did they stop cooperating?
– In 2012, when Yura Movsisyan moved from Krasnodar to Spartak, CSKA was also very interested in him. The Army team offered a significantly lower amount for the player than Spartak gave. My agency company has fallen on hard times: there are few transfers, many tails have accumulated. And we could not accept CSKA's offer. And the footballer himself wanted to move to Spartak.

– Is Giner offended?
– If I were Evgeny Lennorovich, I would probably be upset too. Although I won’t say that CSKA lost a lot by missing Movsisyan, then the army team had excellent players in attack: Wagner returned and left, the same Doumbia.

– What is your relationship with the president of CSKA now?
– Whatever it is, I have only a positive attitude towards this person and this club. I won’t say that my company earned crazy money there. But it was warm in CSKA - the atmosphere in the club is very family. When I walked into the office, it was as if I was visiting someone.

“Injuries prevented recovery”

– Didn't MLS take part in Movsisyan's departure from Spartak?
- No, I didn’t accept it. I had already retired by then.

– Why didn’t Yura succeed at Spartak?
– I don’t think it didn’t work out. He hit a lot of balls. I believe that over the last ten years, Yura, along with Velliton and Pavlyuchenko, can be considered one of the brightest forwards of Spartak.

– When Movsisyan left Spartak, he said an interesting phrase: “The better I played at Spartak, the worse they treated me.” The player later clarified that he meant the press.
– He probably said it out of emotion. Yura is very nice guy. He always gave his all in games for Spartak. When he first came to the club, he told me that he was very proud to join such a great team.

– You also brought Ozbiliz from Kuban to Spartak. Were you also not involved in Aras' move to Besiktas?
– He consulted with me, but I did not take part in the negotiations.

– But can we say about Ozbiliz that it didn’t work out for him at Spartak?
– His injuries prevented him. If it weren’t for injuries, I think he would have succeeded. Aras is a talent, but when you undergo three or four serious operations, it’s difficult to return to your level. And Ozbiliz is in good standing even in Europe.

“Ulysses”, collected by Oganesyan two weeks before the start of the Armenian Championship, eventually took second place

“I want to apologize to Mkhitaryan”

– Have you collaborated with Ural?
– Yes, he was an adviser to the president of Ural Grigory Ivanov, and then the sports director of the club. He brought many current leaders to the team - Acevedo, Lunga, Manucharyan. At one time I organized a tournament in Moscow with my own money. He gathered talented legionnaires - who recommended whom. And he spent several days selecting. Among the best at the end of one of the tournaments were Acevedo and Lungu.

– Why did you leave Ural, since the team solved the problem in 2013 and reached the Premier League?
– This was the situation. IN RFPL club brought out by the coach Pavel Gusev. And after the final game of the season, we were flying on a plane, and Grigory Ivanov told me: “We need to fire him (Gusev).” I didn't understand this. Perhaps Gusev’s training process was not fantastic, there was little theory, but the team produced results. She was undefeated in 24 matches this season. I didn't see the point in changing anything. But someone suggested to Ivanov that Gusev should be removed.

– Like, the Premier League can’t handle it?
- Don't know. Perhaps there was jealousy on the part of the club president. The fans loved Gusev very much and chanted his name during matches. This probably hurt Ivanov, who is very sensitive to his place in the club. He doesn’t like it when someone in Ural becomes a more prominent figure than him. I tried to dissuade Ivanov from dismissing Gusev, but it didn’t work. By the way, six months before, when we were in first place, I had a meeting in Moscow - I won’t name names - and I received the following proposal: “Listen, let’s give you half a million dollars, and you go and relax, go to Georgia, Just sign the resignation letter yourself. Still, in six months, other people will come to take your place.” But I didn’t want to sell my dream, I wanted to prove that I could take the club to the RFPL.

– Who suggested this?
– I won’t name names. These are football people, everyone knows each other.

– So the company finally came?
- Yes. And before the start of the season, I was told that, at the instigation of the leaders of this company, Oleg Vasilenko would be the head coach of Ural. Well, I think Vasilenko means Vasilenko. Then they brought me one person and said: “He will help you,” and I said: “Listen, why help me, if everything is fine with us, why do we need to change anything? If there is no trust, you must say that there is no trust, and that’s all.” Ivanov reassured us then: “I have confidence in you, you helped us a lot.” But I felt that something was already going wrong. There was less trust, some issues were resolved without me. Although, I think, he proved his loyalty to the club by working at Ural almost for free.

– For free?
– There was an incident: Acevedo flew in to sign a contract with the club (they announced one amount to him, but upon arrival they told him another - less). Acevedo immediately wanted to fly. I refused my club salary and told Acevedo to pay extra. It happened that sometimes he personally bought the transfers of football players. For example, I bought Manucharyan’s transfer, brought him from Pyunik to Ural, paying 300 thousand dollars. I understood that the guy was very talented. I believed and still believe that he is the most talented Armenian football player.

– Taller than Mkhitaryan?
– Mkhitaryan is fantastic, but Manucharyan’s subtlety of football, technique, tactics are at the highest level. If Edgar could, like Mkhitaryan, do so much physical work, then he would grow into a big star. But Manucharyan sometimes loses half a season due to injuries. That's a lot. God willing, if he doesn’t have any injuries, because so far he’s been playing and scoring this season. I can’t say that he is the strongest Armenian football player, but that he is the most talented - a million percent. By the way, there is a story about Mkhitaryan.

– Which?
– Even before moving to Borussia, he had to move from Shakhtar to Anzhi. They gave fantastic money - a lifting 6 million euros, the salary was about the same. Commissions are a cosmic figure. And it turned out that because of my persuasion to move to Anzhi, I had a fight with Heinrich. It's not about the money. I just sincerely wanted to carry out this transfer, to complete the task. The leaders of Shakhtar themselves were more inclined to the option with Anzhi, but Heinrich did not agree. He said that he wanted to go to Europe. In general, I want to apologize to him for the pressure and say: he’s great for moving to Dortmund and not looking at the money. He also had a serious offer from Spartak.

– Yes?
– I brought him to Spartak. Dzhevan Cheloyants, a shareholder of the red and white, told him: “Here’s a paper for you - write how much you want to receive.” But Henry set his sights on Europe.

“Lodygin should have moved to Ural”

– Let's return to the Ural. What were the motives of the new agency company that came to the club?
– Normal competition in the agency environment. This company needed a platform where they could sell their football players. I don’t want to say that they didn’t succeed in Ural: they brought Smolov and Zabolotny. But I still haven’t seen any other successful deals. Yes, there were also transfers of Podberezkin and Erokhin, but it seems to me that the success of the guys was largely due to their Russian passport.

– Do you think they won’t play at the national team level?
– Podberezkin has more chances. I don't like to talk bad about football players. But I didn’t understand Erokhin at all. I think the same Kangav “Rostov” is stronger.

– Is the loss of Erokhin and Podberezkin a miscalculation of the Ural selection? Both left almost for free: Erokhin to Rostov, and Podberezkin to Krasnodar.
- Yes, this is a miscalculation. That's why this doesn't happen in CSKA? One Honda left free, but it brought so much benefit. Of course, issues such as contract extensions cannot be left for six months or a year. Another thing is that maybe economically “Ural” could not re-sign the contract?

– Who could Ural sign?
– I had a number of agreements to strengthen myself before the debut season in the RFPL – Lodygin (a transfer was already arranged from Greece for 200 thousand), Gerard Gou from the first Turkish league, who eventually moved to Krasnodar. Last season, by the way, Gou became the best player and scorer of the Kazakhstan championship in Kairat. There was also an agreement with Spartak regarding Jano Ananidze and Artem Dzyuba (both eventually moved to Rostov). This was under Manucharyan, Acevedo... But after the second round of the championship, I left the club, and all these transitions fell through. Decide, because I became uninterested when some kind of help is imposed on you, and sometimes decisions are made for you.

– For example?
– They brought us one football player from Belarus. I look, and he is already our sixth legionnaire, and according to the limit of an application for a match in the FNL, no more than five are allowed. He wouldn't be able to play if he weren't even a foreign player. He’s a good guy, I won’t mention his last name, but he won’t do it, I say. I understood that the president of Ural Ivanov was under pressure, maybe he owed it to someone. As a result, they hired the guy, and he played one half for Ural, in my opinion, but received a serious salary.

– And when did you realize that it was time to leave Ural?
– When they brought an analysis to my table, who should remain from the team that qualified for the RFPL. Among others, the name of this Belarusian football player was on the list. And I decided: “Well, what’s the point of everything then? Take it and decide for yourself.”

In “Torpedo” Armavir Valery Oganesyan received carte blanche to create a team

“Cheloyants said: “You must develop Armenian football”

– Then in 2015 you bought the Armenian Ulysses? When did the idea to buy your own club appear?
– Two to three hours before the transaction itself. By that time, I had made two transfers to Spartak - Movsisyan from Krasnodar and Ozbiliz from Kuban. I became very close friends with Dzhevan Cheloyants, then a shareholder of Spartak, and now - Torpedo from Armavir. I considered him very close comrade. Here we are once sitting with him in the stadium during the match between Armenia and Denmark in the qualification for the 2014 World Cup. He tells me: “You must do business here, you must raise the level of football in Armenia, develop a football club.”

– How is football doing in Armenia?
- Hard. We were supposed to have a deal with the Armenian Pyunik. They planned to buy the club with all the bases and fields, but Cheloyants refused for some reasons. Then we sit together with the president of the Armenian Football Federation, and he says that the local club “Ulysses” is falling apart. I say: “Well, how much is the budget needed?” We sit and count. I have it in my head that I need to start, and Cheloyants and other shareholders will come later. I think, let me prove what I can do, put together a team. Two weeks before the start of the season there is no team. And without Ulysses, there are only seven teams in the championship - this is no longer a professional championship. In general, I took the team. Closed debts - 150-200 thousand dollars. He assembled a team that won 12 of the first 13 matches of the season and played one 0-0.

– And then?
“Money began to run out, and those I was counting on were in no hurry to come to the club. Cheloyants flew in on his personal plane and watched the matches. I thought that I only had a little time left to hold out, that a person wouldn’t just leave it like that. But the season ended and nothing happened.

– Did Cheloyants promise to come?
- He was thinking. He even sometimes came into the locker room and told the guys: if you become champions, I will give you a bonus from myself. I even came to Europa League matches in Malta. Probably how much he spent on flights to our matches is the annual budget of Ulysses. As a result, the championship ends, we take second place - we got into the Europa League. It’s a shame, of course, that in the middle of the season we were in first place with a gap of 13 points, but missed out on the championship.

– What do you remember about the year you spent in the Armenian championship?
– Good fields, but, unfortunately, empty stands. We only once attracted a little more than seven thousand spectators (this is approximately half the capacity of the stadium) - in the Europa League match against Birkirkara from Malta. I also remember the interview with the President of the Football Federation of Armenia RubenHayrapetyan and his words that all the teams in the Armenian championship dream of beating Ulysses. It’s a pity that I couldn’t achieve more with “Ulysses,” but I achieved the two goals I set for myself: I got into the Europa League and brought a major sponsor to the Armenian championship, but not to “Ulysses,” but to “Banants.”

“I expected more from Karpin”

– How did it all end?
“I understood that without a sponsor the project would die. I could no longer bear everything on myself. Then, before the start of the 2015/16 season, I held negotiations with the owner of Kuban Oleg Mktrchan, and we agreed that we would transfer some of the Ulysses players to Torpedo from Armavir. This is Mktrchan’s homeland, so he has been helping them for a long time. Mktrchan, one might say, gave me carte blanche to build a team in Armavir. My task was to bring players, a sponsor and a top coach.

– Karpina?
– First, I agreed with Grigoryan, who is now at SKA-Energia. But in my heart I understood that in order not to repeat the fate of Ulysses and to find sponsors, I needed a name. Therefore, unfortunately, he did not deal very nicely with Grigoryan, violating the agreement. And he brought Karpin to Armavir.

– And after five draws at the start, the team failed to start the season.
– To be honest, I was confident that we would succeed. He reasoned like this: Pavel Gusev, who brought Ural to the Russian Premier League, did not use any ultra-modern methods at that time, he did not have Spanish assistants - just the old Soviet school. I thought that since such a system produced results, then if we bring Karpin, then the result cannot fail. I thought we'd be at least in the top ten.

– The problem is the players?
– I won’t say that Ural, which I assembled and which then entered the RFPL, is a fantastic team. But still there was a result. I think that in Armavir, some of the football players I brought would also play leading roles in that Ural team. There were weaknesses, of course, but I didn’t fully believe that the problem was only in the players. They came, and the first five matches played 0:0. If they came and lost by five or six goals, then yes, the problem is with them.

– What's the matter then?
– I expected more from Karpin as a specialist. I thought he was one level stronger. When you are given a team and you can buy whoever you want, as he had at Spartak, that’s one thing, but in Armavir we didn’t have that kind of money for transfers. Karpin and I spent 24 hours together. Karpin is my choice. Cheloyants was against it, saying that Karpin could not build a team. But Oleg Mktrchan, who by that time had become the owner of Torpedo, completely trusted me - bring whoever you want.

Valery Oganesyan and Valery Karpin (right) started working as friends in Armavir…

“I told Karpin: “Let’s leave together”

– Have sponsors reached out to Karpin?
– This was the essence of Karpin’s invitation, in addition to football tasks. I knew that if we had such a name, sponsors would definitely come forward. It's a shame, I just prepared a base at Ulysses, brought the train to Armavir, invested, and received my resignation. And after some time, Cheloyants became a shareholder first of Torpedo, and then of the Armenian Banants.

– Doesn't look friendly...
– I don’t know what it looks like, but you invest money for a year, and the fruits of your labors go to other people. I didn’t understand what happened to me in Armavir.

– As the season progressed, did you think about Karpin's resignation?
- Yes. I asked myself: “How many matches do you need to win: three or two?” Then I tell Karpin: “Let’s leave together.” And he: “No, I want to work.” Then I feel that negotiations are already starting behind my back between the shareholders.

– Did Karpin admit any of his mistakes?
– I haven’t heard such a thing. At some point, he decided that it was impossible to play passing with these players at all, so he began to play diagonally. Although in Ulysses these same football players played very nice football. Karpin hammered into the players’ heads that they couldn’t do anything: let’s shoot forward, rebound, and we’ll score points. Like Spanish coaches... I started to get involved and got the answer: look at them, can they really play?

– Were the players afraid to respond?
- What will they do when they are told directly in team theory: “You are not a football player, you don’t need to pass five meters, shoot forward.” The whole team sits and hears it.

– Was the person to whom this was reprimanded silent?
– One football player tried to say something, to defend himself. After this theory, in a personal conversation, Karpin told me: “Remove him from the team.” I talked to the player and did not clean up. Now he is the captain of the team - Miroshnichenko. There were many such moments. At the same time, I won’t say that there were stronger players in the same Baltika or SKA-Energia than in Torpedo. But the result...

– When did you realize that you had made a mistake in choosing a coach?
– By the 15th round. Karpin began to fight back to the shareholders: they say, this one hasn’t played for six months, this one beach soccer came. But, for example, when Karpin watched one of the Ulysses matches, when I was still working there, he said that they were a good team.

– And your actions?
– I wanted to agree on a peaceful separation, but there was compensation.

– They say about 300 thousand euros.
- Yes, plus or minus. For the first league - normal money.

– And then they removed you.
– I can’t blame Karpin for the fact that I left. He could not decide for the shareholders. Shadow games began - there was no result, so someone had to devour someone. Everything seemed to be done well, but then it turned out to be unnecessary. When the club reissued the documents, I was not listed in them as the president of Torpedo. Since I worked on a friendly wave. After the re-registration, I was already out of the club.

– Have you spent a lot financially?
– I spent about a million dollars on “Ulysses.” Oleg Mktrchan knew about my financial problems, so I no longer invested in Armavir, but only looked for sponsors. But everything that he invested in Ulysses, of course, he expected to get back.

– Did you decide to take a break from work because of this story?
- Yes, I needed to figure myself out. Cleanse yourself of everything. Now we need to start all over again - I don’t know yet whether it will be an agency activity or a club. From this story I drew the main conclusion that when everything is good with you, everyone needs you. And when there are problems, then no one. I remember when we agreed on Movsisyan’s transfer to Spartak, they blew specks of dust off me and took me on planes.

– And then?
“Many people gave up and stopped calling, especially when money problems started.” But thank God, there are those who helped a lot at this moment. I am very grateful to the president of “Kairat” from Almaty Boranbaev Kairat, the general director of “Ufa” Shamil Gazizov, Nikolai Skorokhodov, who was the president of “Sibir”. There are others, but their names are not particularly well known.

“Fedun did not build a system”

– How do you remember your cooperation with Spartak?
“I didn’t see that people’s souls hurt over there.”

– Leonid Fedun doesn’t fall asleep with meanings about Spartak?
– He falls asleep, but he did not create the system that Giner created

– Why? Both are businessmen, smart people.
– I can’t find the answer to this question. Perhaps Fedun is even more worried about the result. And he spends it on the club too. He built such a stadium for them, but he did not create a system. And the fact that he entrusted the creation of the system to Askhabadze, Karpin... It seems to me that Fedune will continue to work on the work of this super-duo for a very long time.

–By the way, is it true that you helped Andrey Dikan continue his career?
– In the summer of 2014, after the expiration of the contract with Spartak, Andrei was offered to work as a goalkeeper coach in the reserve team of the Spartak school. He already considered himself a coach. But we got in touch, talked, and I got him a job at Krasnodar. Today he is the main goalkeeper there.

– At CSKA you speak like a family, but at Spartak it’s not like that?
– I don’t know now. And at the moment when I collaborated with them, it was as if everyone there were enemies of each other. This is how you can work when the sports director of a club Popov doesn’t talk to general director Askhabadze and head coach Karpin?

– Cause?
– I don’t know, although they were friends.

– How long did this game of silence last?
- Six months minimum. The moment came when transfers took place without Popov’s participation. I started having similar problems with Karpin in Armavir. In general, I don’t really understand when a coach says that the players are not the same. I doubt that at CSKA Slutsky makes the final decision on the players. Of course, they ask him and get advice, but the verdict is up to the selection service. I think that the coach should not be more important in transfers than the selection service.

– Didn’t you communicate with Karpin anymore after leaving Torpedo?
- No, and there is no desire. Valery Georgievich has a trait that when someone needs to leave for football, there is no friendship or anything for him. Although, perhaps, I was mistaken in considering him my friend. At some stage, Karpin needed me, and then he didn’t.

“The most talented in Russia is Kozlov”

– Kokorin at Zenit. See logic?
- I see. Despite Kokorinsdal's recent performance, for me he is still the best striker in Russia.

– The best or the most talented?
– The most talented is Alexander Kozloviz of Spartak. They say Kokorin scored tens against the youths? So Kozlov scored 15 goals. To this day, in Italy, photographs of Kozlov hang at all tournaments.

– Have many super talents been lost before your eyes?
- A lot. For example, in “Ulysses” I had such a football player - Hovhannes Goharyan, he also played in the “Loko” reserve team in 2011-2012. Could become a real RFPL star, at the very least. He could do everything on the field, but this year at the age of 27 he retired due to weight problems. Due to the characteristics of the body and improper nutrition, I constantly gained weight. If we had met him when he was 20 years old, I think he would have achieved a lot. In Ulysses he became captain and scored more than anyone else last season. And this is considering the fact that he weighed about 100 kg with a height of 176-177 cm. Can you imagine the potential? But the time was already lost, and even after Ulysses he decided to stop playing. Or Shatov – now he’s a star.

– So.
- But the same guys from the Togliatti Academy - Ryzhov, who left for CSKA, and Gorbatenko, who moved to Spartak, were much better than Shatov. Or Artak Aleksanyan, who came to Ural at the age of 18 and constantly played at pre-season training camps, looked brighter than Shatov. I can compare because all four of them played together before my eyes at about the same time. Not everyone understands that the life of a football player is short. Shatov worked a lot on himself. Of course, he could also go for a walk and indulge in something, but this did not happen every day. Ryzhov is now in Armavir, but this is not the same Ryzhov. Gorbatenko was in “Wings”, Aleksanyan was in Georgia, but all three could play at a much higher level. Ryzhova was almost compared to Higuain when he became the European youth champion.

– With Higuain? Not weak.
– I remember the moment at the training camp. We play against the Croatian team Major League. And Ryzhovso accelerated his half of the field by 60-70 meters. I have never seen such accelerations in my life. Imagine what kind of athlete - with a height of 190 cm, developed such speed. He even with overweight at five or six kilograms, he ran 30 meters in 3.7 seconds.

– Do you believe that Kokorin will not suffer the same fate as Ryzhov?
- I believe. The fabulous contracts probably broke him a little. But what to do if they overpay because of the limit. And Kokorin has everything: speed, technique, punch. It seems to me that there is no need for a limit at all. Our guys are suffering from this - good player it will break through anyway.

“I want to make a family club”

– Is there a need for a salary cap? Recently, the RFPL rejected the financial regulations, which included a clause on the salary ceiling.
– You will not limit salaries in any way. If they want to pay the conditional Kokorin five million, then they will pay him. The player’s wife, for example, will be hired as the general director of some enterprise. Of course, without a limit, such a mess could start in the clubs, they will bring in such personnel. In England they came up with a good idea: if you don’t have enough matches for the national team, then you can’t play in the Premier League. Perhaps something similar should be tried in Russia.

– Do you already have certainty about your work?
– I won’t do anything during this transfer window. And since March I have a project for a serious club in Russia. I want people to gather together every week, just like going to church.

– I read that you went to Argentina, the local second division team “Deportivo Armenio”, which is mainly supported by the Armenian diaspora. Was the idea for the project inspired there?
– Yes. There weren’t even Armenian players on the team, but people gather with their families for football, eat barbecue, talk about football and life. I want to do it family club so that the atmosphere would be like in CSKA and Krasnodar. I discussed the project with one influential person. Let's see how it goes. There are still unfinished matters, but hopefully by the summer I will work and close everything, and in the summer I will start with a clean slate. Fortunately, there are proposals, friends, we will work.