Dear Fellow Blues,
CALM DOWN.
Allow me as a Russian, who sometimes reads some of the <a class="postlink" href="http://www.sports.ru" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;">http://www.sports.ru</a> content to provide you with a bit of a background on the story.
As you know, our national team basically managed to fuck up at Euros (it was a very even group, but qualification was quite attainable). A few days after this, Fursenko (the head of RFS or Rfu as some call it here) quit. This was a bit unexpected, even for his enemies in the upper echelons of Russian football. To give you an idea of the guy's vision of the world - his main focus during the election campaign was that our team would win the World Cup in 2018. Yes, actually winning it, the man repeated it many a time with a straight face. Many moronic decisions later (the classy and polite FU to the Belgian FA when Advocaat was appointed for example) he still stood out as a bit of a loon to the vast majority of football fans in Russia. I mean seriously - the guy was on live TV when one of the journos asked him who was funding the construction of stadiums for the World Cup in cities such as Samara and Kazan and he replied tha he doesn't know. Another question - what was the purpose of establishing a Russian B team (basically - national reserves) when players on the brink of the main squad avoided getting called up there like some sort of a plague, he responded by picking up a piece of paper and listing "interesting prospects" from relegation battling clubs. In a word - he was a bit of clown and many people were happy when he resigned (some suggest that he was forced to do so by a few high ranking politicians who got fed up with PR embarrasments and ultimately the failure at the Euros).
The site itself is basically a large network with tons of blogs, communities etc. with regards to news - sometimes they genuinely provide interesting ITK stories, sometimes it's just tabloid drivel.
Now back to the topic- during the last few days, the very same website posted stories about Guardiola and Capello being approached for the job. A shitstorm is born, some people laugh, some seriously believe the extent of ambition. Funny thing is - it will take a few days (probably months) to find out who will be the new head of the federation i.e. there is actually nobody calling the shots right now. But you can't steal a good story from people, can you? What happens next? Cappelo's son (who is one of his key representatives) states that mom and dad are on vacation and the story is a load of shite (the story being that Don Fabio was actually in Moscow negotiating a deal). Guardiola? His agent was reached and could not be clearer - Pep was planning to have a year long vacation in New York with his family and take care of his back problems, and he specifically instructed him to not negotiate anything for at least a year. Bottom line is there is a power struggle for the control of the federation right now, and media is being used in it, nothing new here.
With regards to our Mancio - Fursenko is a bit a loon (he hired a fucking medium to help him with some of the decisions for crying out loud!), he can not be reached by any reporters right now and I suppose it is just a way to remind people how wrong they were and what a brilliant boss he could ultimately be. If it was all down to just money, us and the Chinese would have the very best leagues in the world, end of. It is not all about the money, far more complex than that. Journalist who claimed to get the scoop on this has a bit of a reputation himself (comes up with complete shite sometimes), kinda like some of the "ITK" dudes in the British media or say on ESPN (if you follow NBA, you know who I mean). It is a known fact that Roberto is friends with Giner (CSKA Moscow owner and a good personal friend of Abramovich), it is a fact that Zenit approached him and courted him with serious determination before they managed to get Spalletti (the same goes to Ranieri). But I do not think the story is anything but a load of crap. If Roberto was indeed interested in working for a rich Russian with plans to dominate - I could see him only consider offers from Chelsea and Monaco (who hired Ranieri and who are bankrolled by an incredibly wealthy Dmitry Rybolovlev who actually was asked by Prince Phillippe himself to invest in the club and restore it as a force). But only once he feels like he needs a new challenge, and if he ever feels like it.
On a side not - much love goes out to the purveyors of "fucking Russia", "commie bullshit" and "shit and corrupt". If Vinny ever decides to go to PSG, one would presume a whole bunch of frog and surrender monkeys references.
For fuck's sake - it is silly season for a reason.
We are the champions, so just relax people. This is not our old typical City anymore.
