"Did not inform the FHR": why Zhamnov's arrival in Spartak may indicate the completion of his work in the national team

On the eve it became known that the new coach of the hockey "Spartak" was appointed Alexei Zhamnov. Changes in the club were expected. The Red and Whites changed coaches twice during the season, but still finished the regular season in ninth place in the Western Conference and did not make the playoffs.

Rumors that Zhamnov will appear in the team appeared in January. As the specialist explained, negotiations with the leadership of Spartak were conducted for a long time, and it was his balanced decision.

"I needed to understand how the club planned to develop further. I see what needs to be done to strengthen. And when we came to a common denominator, we hit the nail on the head. I signed a contract for two years," Zhamnov was quoted as saying by Match TV.

In addition to the head coach of the Russian national team, Ilya Kovalchuk, who held the position of general manager of the domestic team in Beijing, may also appear in Spartak.

In this regard, a reasonable question arises whether Zhamnov will remain at the helm of the national team, with which he has been working for two years. Together with the coach, the hockey players won silver medals at the 2022 Olympics in Beijing, after which they signed an agreement with him for another year.

Zhamnov himself sees nothing wrong with combining posts. On the contrary, in his opinion, it will only help to gain experience, which is so lacking. Before leading the national team, he worked as a general manager, not a coach at Spartak.

"Why not? You can see for yourself, now the calendar of the national team is not so busy. Sitting idle is losing your qualifications as a coach. So employment in the club will only benefit. Will there be talks with the FHR? I think so," the expert said.

However, it seems that with his decision to come to Spartak, Zhamnov can put an end to the work with the national team. Even before the coach signed an agreement with the Moscow club, the sports community doubted that the Russian Ice Hockey Federation would extend the contract with the specialist, which expires on June 30. This became clear after the Cup of the First Channel, at which the national team did not perform in the best way, losing to the representatives of Belarus and sensationally taking second place.

Then the coach was severely criticized by the coaching council of the FHR. He was rated "unsatisfactory" and also recommended to change assistants.

"Zhamnov and his staff had shortcomings and mistakes in other issues related to the preparation of the team, the choice of the game model. All of them were discussed at the meeting," said Boris Mayorov, Chairman of the Council.

Now, in addition, the coach did not coordinate with the FHR the desire to work at the club level, which naturally no one liked.

"Alexey's current contract with the federation expires on June 30. He did not inform us about his decision to take the post of head coach of HC Spartak, the FHR learned about his new place of employment from messages on the official website of the red and white, "the organization said in a statement.

At the same time, formally, according to Zhamnov, he did not violate anything, since he will officially start working in Spartak in the summer.

"What's the problem? I haven't signed anything yet this season. I don't even know what to say about it. I do not understand why this is being done, "the specialist explained to RIA Novosti.

However, in any case, the situation looks rather strange and speaks more about the hidden conflict between the FHR and Zhamnov than about the desire to continue cooperation. So, for example, it is difficult to imagine that Valery Karpin or Mikhail Galaktionov headed Spartak and Lokomotiv without receiving approval from the RFU.

In addition, not everyone shares Zhamnov's position on combining posts. According to the honored coach of Russia Vladimir Plyushchev, the national team needs to be engaged 24 hours a day, and the workload at the club will affect the result.

"A lot of people think it's work from tournament to tournament, but no. If a specialist competently approaches his business, if he understands that he is entrusted with responsibility, then he has enough work: viewing, selection, developing bundles of players ... I've been through this whole thing and I know very well how hard it is to combine work in the club and the national team. You have to go to the tournament with the national team, and your head hurts about club problems. So for me, it's pretty much like that. The coach of the national team should be released," Plyushchev said.

Therefore, who will be the head coach of the Russian national ice hockey team after June 30 remains a big question. And you can't put it off in the FHR box. Of course, the national team's competition calendar is now very modest. Nevertheless, there are already rumors about the desire of the IIHF to return the team to the international arena in 2024, which means it's time to prepare.