Anzhi Makhachkala

Few things are constant and guaranteed in the volatile world of football management—Tony Pulis donning a tracksuit, Harry Redknapp delivering a sermon from his car window on deadline day and Arsène Wenger insisting, “Sorry, I didn’t see it” are some of the exceptions.

It therefore came as little shock when René Meulensteen, the technical coach instrumental behind the development of Cristiano Ronaldo at Manchester Utd, was relieved of his duties at Anzhi Makhachkala after just four games.

His tenure lasted 16 days before owner Suleiman Kerimov, supposedly tired of his overpaid and underachieving team, hit the eject button. It was another ugly stunt in football’s managerial circus.

Despite the job’s precarious nature, the employment ethics surrounding football management tend to escape serious scrutiny. The handsome pay and prestige attached to managing global superstars help sugarcoat the poisoned chalice.

Empirical studies confirm job instability. Dr. Susan Bridgewater from Warwick Business School made a forecast based on her 1992-2005 study of English football management trends. She predicted that average management tenure across the four leagues—17 months in 2005—would drop below 12 months by 2023.

Her prophecy is coming to fruition, with the English Championship proving to be an especially cruel mistress.

The League Managers’ Association places average tenure in the Championship at 1.14 seasons after a 2012-2013 campaign that saw 13 sackings and 6 resignations. The Venky’s turned Ewood Park into a farcical, managerial merry-go-round, firing two managers in the space of four months.

Volatility is a problem endemic on the continent as well.

Of Europe’s elite, Real Madrid (who parted ways with Vicente Del Bosque on the back of a Champions League triumph) and Inter Milan (6 managers since Mourinho’s departure in 2010) are the two worst offenders. Presidential politics in Spain and Italy, and oligarch influence in France and Russia can make a position untenable from the onset.

Today’s managers face a triple threat of player power, uncompromising ownership and media contempt conspiring to undermine their positions.

At Anzhi, Meulensteen was up against it from the start: A quarreling squad on exorbitant salaries and a fickle owner whose plans for the club were inextricably tied to his personal business dealings.

Media contempt is most prominent in England, where job security is unceremoniously parodied in the form of the “sack-race.” It’s a phenomenon started by the bookies and hijacked by the press. The media treatment of Blackburn’s Steve Kean in the months leading up to his forced resignation bordered on the sadistic—every week he was forced to quash rumours of his impending dismissal.

Is there any respite for the ailing role of gaffer?

Like all employees, they retain statutory employment rights, and are afforded protection in the form of tribunals and civil courts. Henning Berg was awarded £2.25 million by the Venky’s for a breach of contract.

This does little, however, to deter wealthy owners from arbitrary dismissals or to prevent the surreal scenario of a sacking on live television. Moreover, Bridgewater’s revelation that 49 percent of first-time managers in England only ever get that once chance in the professional game proves that financial compensation—which is capped at £74,200 for unfair dismissal through the Employment Tribunal—can be of scant consolation.

A more sustainable solution to upholding job security and integrity might be a managerial transfer window. It’s a view shared by Blackpool boss Paul Ince, who in reference to Michael Appleton’s short stint at Blackburn told BBC Lancashire, “Where's the protection if they're getting sacked after 67 days…it's OK that we can protect players because they're on contracts. We can sell them in January, and if they don't want to go, they stay. It should be exactly the same as a manager. It stops all the commotion and it makes sense.”

Aside from calls for a managerial transfer window, tentative attempts have been made to devise managerial performance analysis models to offer guidance for club owners.

Tom Markham from Sporting Intelligence is an advocate, claiming the likes of Martin Jol (Spurs) and Avram Grant (Chelsea) would have enjoyed a reprieve. But he accepts the model’s limitations when it comes to processing disruptive influences such as long-term injury to a key player or club administration, and adjusting to different expectation levels.

Regardless of the solution, we shouldn’t let the lucrative severance packages received by the likes of Mancini (Man City) and André Villas-Boas (Chelsea) obscure or diminish the volatile reality.

This is a reality in which the unsung hero—the René Meulensteen—is also a victim.

Patience is not infinite, and money is most certainly not. Both have a limited time span within which a desired outcome must be secured. 

In the paradigm of football the above statement is incredibly pertinent in relation to the profligacy of super-rich owners bankrolling success. From PSG and Monaco to Man City, Chelsea and Anzhi Makhachkala, monetary dependency on their eye-wateringly rich benefactors is a reality faced with increasing frequency.

With the onset of the new Financial Fair Play rules to govern participation in football’s elite competition, extravagant spending has been somewhat tempered. Yet, the rule is not infallible and loopholes exist, as proved by Man City and Monaco each spending over £100 million this summer.

Broken down to its most basic level, this patronage is the archetypal path of the underdog striving to overcome the odds. 

The clubs, to a certain degree, all fit a shared blueprint. The success has been enhanced as a result of its owners’ expenditure. 

Before their takeover’s these clubs were competitors rather than champions. Admittedly clubs such as Chelsea, Manchester City and PSG were already situated towards the upper echelons of their respective leagues, but their super-rich owners have elevated their success to a new level.

All have tasted success, nouveau-riche Monaco possibly excepted as their financial revolution has only come in the last couple of years. PSG won the French League this year for the first time since 1994. Manchester City’s 2011/12 title was their inaugural Premier League championship, and their first top division crown since 1968. Chelsea, since Roman Abramovich’s 2003 takeover, have won three league titles, numerous cups (four FA, two League) and their first ever Champions League crown.

It is true, money can and does buy success. All these clubs have been elevated into a position that, without their financial sponsorship, would have been unlikely.

Such dependency does leave the club in a situation where expectation is enhanced and managers and players are put under unfeasible pressure to succeed. The very definition of this came under Roman Abramovich’s notoriously trigger-happy regime as manager Roberto Di Matteo was fired just a few short months after delivering the club’s first Champions League.

The plight of Anzhi Makhachkala has put a unique slant on the role of a benefactor after its Russian billionaire owner’s patience simply ran out. 

Ordering a more conservative spending approach and radical cutbacks, including transfer-listing the entire squad, owner Suleyman Kerimov called time on his unequivocal financial backing.

Anzhi’s squad, littered with a roster of delectable talent including £31 million man Willian, and Cameroon superstar Samuel Eto’o, had transformed the team from also-rans to contenders. After a strong third-place finish last year, much was expected this time around as £50 million was invested into the squad in the offseason.

Yet, after failing to register a win in their first four games of the season, Kerimov’s patience simply evaporated; Anzhi were ordered into a more modest approach.

A club statement via The Mirror spoke of “a new and long-term development strategy”, that would involve “considerable deformations in the team's life and in the current structure of our club on the whole.”

The move, according to chairman Konstantin Remchukov, will look to slash the Russian club's annual wage budget from £120 million to £50 million.

While the imminent Anzhi fire-sale will not unduly panic fans of the other super-rich clubs, it is most certainly a warning shot.

Suleyman Kerimov is simply the first benefactor to lose patience in his project. Without his financial support, an imminent halving of the budget has been ordered—such was the club’s dependency on his millions.

Manchester City, PSG and Chelsea are all bigger sides than Anzhi, with larger profiles, fanbases and more success. They are, therefore, more autonomous and not quite as reliant on their owners' billions. However, if Abramovich became disillusioned, Chelsea would no longer operate as they do and City would be forced to regress significantly without Sheikh Mansour’s lavish spending.

Anzhi Makhachkala therefore serve as a warning shot. Without success, patience and ultimately finance is not eternal; these men will only wait so long.

Money can do most things in football, but it cannot always buy success...Just ask Anzhi Makhachkala.

Russian football received something of a shock on Wednesday as Anzhi Makhachkala owner Suleyman Kerimov made it known he was cutting the club off from its lavish funding, in favour of a more manageable approach.

Anton Kolodyazhnyy of Reuters.com reported how the budget to run the club would be cut by more than half, from around $180 million per year to just $50-70 million.

James Appell reports for the BBC that Anzhi took this course "having analysed the club's recent sporting results, the decision has been taken to work on a new long-term strategy for the club," suggesting that the owner was disappointed with the lack of success that his lavish spending brought to the Dagestan club.

While the club and it's players might be disappointed at the decision, it's a reminder of what can happen to the ever-growing number of hugely bankrolled clubs if their financial backers suddenly decide enough is enough.

So why didn't Anzhi's big spending yield bigger success?

Short term rise, but success takes an age

Kerimov took over Anzhi in 2011, with the team having finished 11th in Russia's 16-team top flight during the 2010 season.

The following campaign saw them just about finish in the top half at the end of the first league phase, when the division split in two, before a strong finish meant they ended the campaign in fifth place overall. The spending had started, which saw the likes of Jucilei, Joao Carlos, Diego Tardelli and Mbark Boussoufa arrive at the team, and helped propel them to a higher league finish.

Already an improvement of six places from the previous season, Anzhi and Kerimov of course wanted better from the following campaign.

An estimated combined £80 million was spent on the transfer fees of Samuel Eto'o, Chris Samba, Yuri Zhirkov, Balasz Dzsudzsak and Lacina Traore over the next two years as Anzhi continued to build a squad capable of challenging for honours. Anzhi also added Brazilian attacker Willian to their squad in January for a fee of around £31 million, and they were rewarded with a third-place finish in the Russian Premier League in the season just finished.

It's been a reasonable and respectable surge from 11th to third in just two and a half years under the Kerimov regime, but anything more substantial was always going to take at least that long, if not more.

This season Anzhi wanted to challenge for the league title.

Summer dealings included bringing Samba back for a second spell, adding Igor Denisov from key rivals Zenit St. Petersburg and signing up Aleksandr Kokorin from Dinamo Moscow after he scored 10 goals in 22 games last season, a total outlay of £45 million, with next to nothing coming back in from departures.

Rene Meulensteen was also appointed as new manager after Guus Hiddink's exit.

Four games into the season, Anzhi have drawn two and lost two, and the Anzhi experiment is over. They lie in 13th place with two points, and even though it is so early in the campaign, do not look a side ready to challenge Zenit and CSKA Moscow for the Russian Premier League title.

Kerimov wanted and expected the success to follow the money in rapid succession, but he needs only look at Roman Abramovich and Chelsea to realise that such huge investments do not pay off immediately. Having taken over in 2003, it took Abramovich and his spending until 2012 for Chelsea to finally lift the Champions League title—four times the span of the Kerimov era at Anzhi, who haven't even managed to qualify for that competition yet.

A domestic cup might have stayed Kerimov's attentions and ambitions a little longer—but even that prize was bitterly lost after CSKA Moscow beat Anzhi on penalties in the Russian Cup final in June.

Top rate pay without similar return of quality

It's all well and good splashing out humongous fees on star names, but for the footballing prizes to follow, the talent has to match the price tag.

While Eto'o, Denisov and others might be established internationals with long records of winning, Lacina Traore has far from proven himself a top European striker, yet Anzhi paid £16 million for him. Taking into account his two moves, Anzhi have spent £23 million on Samba, who was relegated and out of the team at QPR last season.

Too many of the deals, while offering big wages and the chance to compete for trophies, were shelling out top-rate sums of money on transfers while only bringing in second-tier players in return.

A large turnover of the squad in a short space of time also no doubt made it difficult for the side to grow together, while the club has also only recouped around £38 million in transfer fees after spending more than £205 million since 2010-11.

The players brought in for huge money were not worth the expenditure, and it has showed in numerous cases when the time came to sell those initial purchases back on. More will likely come to light in the coming transfer windows if Anzhi are forced to sell the high earners to make up for the lost income from Kerimov.

Management disorganisation

While Hiddink made a good impact in his time as manager, his "hand-picked replacement", according to the BBC, has lasted just 16 days.

Meulensteen becomes the fifth manager to depart under the Kerimov era, after Gadzhi Gadzhiev was dismissed eight months after the owner's arrival, Andrey Gordeev lasted just two months, and Yury Krasnozhan only three.

In addition, veteran left-back Roberto Carlos went from player to assistant caretaker to team director in a short space of time, before leaving for Sivasspor in Turkey in June because he was not promised a coaching role at the Russian club.

It's fair to say that the couple of years under Kerimov's reign have been tumultuous in a number of ways for Anzhi Makhachkala, and a club that has not been allowed to catch its breath or have ample time to properly challenge for major trophies suddenly now finds itself facing an altogether different future.

The Russian Premier League title that Kerimov wanted never arrived, and nor did Champions League football. Anzhi have gone from a bottom-half side to a top-three one in less than three years, but the greatest challenge now has changed.

It should have been to take the final steps over the next year or two to sustain themselves as a power domestically and win the league title.

Instead, they'll face a battle to manage the finances, try to stop the revolving door of management and possibly even survive a free-fall into the lower reaches of the league once more.

Follow @karlmatchett

Transfer fees and financial data from transfermarkt.co.uk

The rise of Anzhi Makhachkala has seen a Russian region previously renowned for conflict celebrating something special on a football field.

Situated in the Dagestan region of the country, near the war-torn Chechnya region, Makhachkala was described by BBC News as "the most dangerous place in Europe" in November of 2011.

But Anzhi are on the rise and will line up against Newcastle United in the Europa League last-16 first leg on Thursday with a renewed sense of pride, a world away from the devastation of previous years.

The club have only been in existence since 1991, when they were formed by ex-Dynamo Makhachkala player Magomed-Sultan Magomedov and entered the Dagestan League.

Anzhi entered the third tier of the Russian League in 1992 following the dissolution of the Soviet Union and would reach the Premier Division in 1999.

The club first came to some European prominence in September of 2001, when then-Glasgow Rangers chairman Sir David Murray stopped his team from travelling to the Dagestan region for their UEFA Cup tie after Anzhi had finished fourth in the Russian Premier League.

Murray was concerned at the security in the area despite UEFA saying the match must go ahead. The Scottish club released a statement indicating their intention not to travel in September of 2001, as reported by the Daily Telegraph.

Within 24 hours of the statement, the atrocities committed on the World Trade Center in New York would underline Murray's concern about terrorist activities.

UEFA postponed the ties scheduled for Sept. 12 as a mark of respect and eventually agreed to Rangers playing Anzhi in a one-off tie in Warsaw, Poland.

Ten years later, Anzhi was bought by Dagestan multimillionaire businessman Suleyman Kerimov, who made an immediate impact when he persuaded Brazil international Roberto Carlos to join the club.

Later arrivals would include Yuri Zhirkov from Chelsea and Samuel Eto'o from Inter Milan. These were serious signals of intent from the club. The arrival of Guus Hiddink as manager in February 2012 was another sign that Anzhi meant business.

Hiddink might have left the club in November, but that has not halted the team's progress, and they are currently second in the Russian Premier League, two points behind CSKA Moscow.

With the financial muscle of Kerimov behind them, Anzhi are becoming a major power on the Russian scene with notable squad members such as Eto'o and Zhirkov supplemented by the arrivals of Lassana Diarra and Willian.

This Europa League campaign may not end in glory at the Amsterdam Arena in May, but there will be plenty of major clubs noting the rise of Anzhi.

In what can only be described as shocking comments, Anzhi Makachkala forward Samuel Eto'o has told of how he fears for his life from the Cameroon Football Associaton. The comments come after the African legend spoke about his conflict with the Cameroonian Football Federation.

The former Barcelona man told Cameroonian magazine Je Wanda (via ESPN):

The leaders of the FCF want to attack my life, they want to kill me. I live with a group of gendarmes (military forces) and one sleeping in front of my door. I do this not out of snobbery, but for my own safety.

[The federation] have swindled our money long enough. Instead of managing football for the general interest, they are only concerned with fictitious missions, first class travels and untraceable bank accounts in Europe.

The last few years haven't proved too promising for Cameroonian football. In 2012, they were bundled out of AFCON qualifying by Cape Verde. Les Lions Indomptables have also slipped down six places in the most recent FIFA rankings to 67th.

Eto'o's comments come just a week after the investigation into world-wide football match-fixing was announced. Personally, his comments regarding money prove quite alarming, especially considering the extent Eto'o is alleging people will go to in order to cover their tracks.

Since his move to Anzhi in Russia, Eto'o ha somewhat fallen off the footballing radar. He is currently working to be fit for his side's clash against Hannover in the Europa League.

The Cameroonian International further labelled those involved with the federation to be "incompetent and corrupt."

I must stress these are only allegations made by Eto'o—serious ones at that. There has not yet been any response from the Cameroonian Football Association.

Scary stuff.

Pontus Wernbloom, who is a midfielder for CSKA Moscow, said that Anzhi Makhachkala's budget may damage Russian Football. He made the statement in the CSKA Moscow website with a h/t to RIA Novosti.

Wernbloom stated that the budget of Anzhi Makhachkala does not guarantee success in football. He went on to say that Anzhi created a disparity of wealth between the club that have it and those that don't.

It cannot be denied that Anzhi Makhachkala is able to sign players such as Roberto Carlos and Samuel Eto'o. Samuel Eto'o receives (according to an article in the Daily Mail) $501,000 a week at Anzhi.

The club based in Dagestan were able to sign Guus Hiddink as its manager. Hiddink did not waste time in attempting—without success—to sign Robin Van Persie from Arsenal for $70m last spring.

Anzhi Makhachkala is one of the success stories of Russian Football. The danger is that its success may harm it for two cardinal reasons.

Disparity of Wealth in Clubs

Wenbloom is right in addressing the disparity of wealth in Russian Football. It is one of the reasons Anzhi may harm it.

While clubs like Anzhi Makhachkala, CSKA Moscow and Zenit St. Petersburg may have the money to sign top players, other clubs lack that luxury. According to Domm Norris of Back Page Football, clubs such as Tom Tomsk and Spartak Nalchik do not have the means to sign star players.

The reason is that Tom Tomsk and Spartak Nalchik were recently relegated from the Russian Premier League (RPL). This may or may not be one of the contributing factors in the wealth disparity but it does not help. 

One could only imagine how the owners and managers of relegated clubs in the RPL must feel when they see Anzhi spending money on players. It is not a good feeling for the relegated clubs.

UEFA Financial Fair Play

Anzhi Makhachkala is a member of UEFA and will participate in the 2012-2013 Europa League matches. UEFA recently implemented the Financial Fair Play rules to assure fairness and financial solvency for clubs.

Eventually, UEFA may see the disparity of wealth in Russian Football and issue rulings about it in the future. It would be interesting what the ruling for UEFA could be for Russian Football.

The Resolution

Wernbloom addressed the problem of Anzhi's budget affecting Russian Football. What could be the solution for this growing problem before the 2018 FIFA World Cup in Russia?

Anzhi and other Russian Football clubs can learn from AC Milan President Silvio Berlusconi and FC Barcelona. Berlusconi recently sold Zlatan Ibrahimovic and Thiago Silva to Paris Saint-Germaine.

The purpose was to balance the budget at AC Milan and eventually set up an academy for future players for the club, according to Goal.  This solution is realistic but long off since it does not address the immediate concern of wealth disparity of Russian Football.

According to The Guardian, John W. Henry, who is the Liverpool FC Chairman may, propose that the English Premier League (EPL) implement its version of Financial Fair Play. The idea is for clubs in the EPL to keep its finances in line.

The same could apply to Russian Football with one exception. The Russian Premier League will have to sit down, study the Berlusconi and EPL concepts, discuss it and find a resolution based on their reality.

Whether that can be done remains to be seen.

FC Anzhi Makhachkala of Russia are reportedly set to spend €300 million Euros in transfers over the next three seasons to make the team one of "Europe's elite" football teams.

The reports of the team's ideal plan includes the likings of Napoli forward Ezequiel Lavezzi and Chelsea striker Fernando Torres, respectively.

Anzhi's rise to fame came not too long after it was taken over by billionaire Russian owner, Suleyman Kerimov. Kerimov plans to build a brand new 40,000 seat stadium that complies with all of UEFA's requirements.

The team recently added Roberto Carlos, Yuri Zhirkov, and the newly-minted highest-paid player in the world, Cameroon's own Samuel Eto'o. And let's not forget the new coaching staff headed by Guus Hiddink.

It has been reported that Roberto Carlos, former captain and current sporting director, would be the brains of the operation in assembling a Russian super-club team.

With all due respect to any owner who is attempting to make his squad the best he can, in the quest for perfection, these spoiled rich businessmen are ruining the world's most beautiful game.

Rome was not built in a day, nor was the current dominant FC Barcelona squad. This recent trend toward buying teams and spending ridiculous amounts of money to win a few games and try for a title could doom the sport we all have grown to love.

For example, along with Anzhi, you have France's Paris Saint-German and more notably Premier League's Manchester City who spend big money in pursuit of footballing excellence.

Now we can all be in agreement that trying to become an elite team in our class takes team excellence. However, the correct way to achieve that excellence could take longer than spending millions upon millions of dollars to make yourself successful.

That is why I love and respect players like Ryan Giggs and Paul Scholes, who stayed with their faithful youth clubs. And in itself I respect the Manchester United team for building such a great legacy.

Would you agree the billionaire trend in football is bad for the sport?

Roberto Carlos (who is the assistant for Anzhi Makhachkala, whose owner is Suleyman Kerimov) revealed that the Russian Premier League club will try to sign Cristiano Ronaldo of Real Madrid and Lionel Messi of FC Barcelona when their contracts with their respective clubs expire.

He commented about Messi and Ronaldo in an interview with Radio Marca to ESPN Soccernet. The reason is the star power in both La Liga players.

During the interview, Roberto Carlos said that Anzhi has no preference about the signing, but the club will attempt to sign Ronaldo and Messi, anyways.

What is the possibility of Messi and Ronaldo signing with Anzhi with an unimaginable salary?

It is time to discuss the advantages and disadvantages of a move to Russia for the two stars of La Liga.

Lionel Messi

Roberto Carlos told CNN that Suleyman Kerimov  wanted to sign Messi, Samuel Eto'o, or Neymar during the 2011 Summer Transfer Window. 

Messi could give Anzhi the same energy he did in FC Barcelona.

Messi has won numerous trophies for La Blaugrana in the UEFA Champions League, La Liga, and the UEFA Europa Cup. He participated in the Spanish Super Cup and the FIFA Club World Cup for Barca, as well.

The recent success of Messi, though, was in the UEFA Champions League match between FC Barcelona and Bayer Leverkusen.

During the match, Messi scored five of the seven goals that gave FC Barcelona the victory over Bayer Leverkusen in this crucial match.

Messi has graced the cover of Time Magazine throughout the world with the exception of the US Edition. He is also one of the few football players who is down to earth off and on the field.

Who could forget how Messi praised and gave credit to Pep Guardiola (FC Barcelona manager) for La Blaugrana's victories?  Only positive things can come from Messi Signing with the Russians.

Will Messi move from Spain and FC Barcelona to Russia and Anzhi Makhachkala? Messi has stated in an article published in ESPN Star.com that he wishes to remain with Barca until he retires.

Cristiano Ronaldo

Ronaldo may sign with Anzhi in the future. In an interview with Sportbox.ru , Ronaldo praised Russian Football and said that the possibility exists of him in Russia in the future. 

Ronaldo is currently engaged to his Russian born girlfriend Irina Shayk. The idea of Ronaldo in Russia appears to be lucrative.

The downside of Ronaldo in Russia is that he expressed a desire to return to the EPL (English Premier League). Ronaldo's nostalgia for the EPL was published in The Mail on February 5 2012.

Ronaldo can also be demanding with clubs wanting his services, such as Manchester City. The Metro has published an article stating that Cristiano Ronaldo will possibly sign with Manchester City in the year 2011.

In the article, Ronaldo allegedly demanded £150 million (roughly $237,650,000) from Manchester City fas a signing bid with £400,000 (roughly $633,800) in salary per week. Ronaldo also asked Manchester City for the captain's shirt and the number 7.

Manchester City denied that any deal with Ronaldo was in the works during the year 2011. The latest information about Ronaldo, published in Talk Sport,   has him deciding that he will remain with Real Madrid.

Conclusion

One factor that will influence any future move is the UEFA Financial Fair Play Act which changed the rules of football. It remains to be seen what Messi and Ronaldo will do in the future since there are factors which can change.