Akhmat is the main loser of the first third of the championship. Just a continuous series of failures that led to last place in the RPL. The management believed that the coach was to blame. On September 1, Magomed Adiev left his position, but Sergei Tashuev, who replaced him, although he slightly changed his style, did not change the results. Since his appointment there have been four defeats and one draw. It wasn’t worse with the previous coach.
It is clear that the team is very unlucky. With the same Dynamo they reached 2:2, but in the end they conceded. Or we played most of the game against Fakel, then we ended up being the majority, but we conceded in extra time. At the same time there was a match against CSKA, where we lost almost without a chance. Or, for example, a meeting with Rubin: nothing came of it there either.
How Akhmat lost to Fakel:
Thriller in Grozny with an ending in 90+4! Nobody expected this in the battle of the RPL outsiders.
Now Akhmat is the main relegation contender for the RPL. It is clear that a few victories can change the situation, but this is all theory. And the schedule is not the easiest: there is an away game against Rostov, home games with the resurrected Nizhny Novgorod and Zenit ahead. And then before the winter holidays, Krylya Sovetov, Dynamo Moscow and Orenburg.
It is curious that once “Akhmat” (then the club was called “Terek”) already flew out of the elite when no one expected it. This happened in 2005. Under interesting circumstances.
How the team rose to the elite
It’s important to keep in mind the context: in 2005, Terek was the most unusual team in Russia. After the end of hostilities on the territory of Chechnya, the leaders of the republic paid close attention to football, considering it an important social phenomenon.
The club revived, entered the second division and received a base in Kislovodsk. The path to the Major League turned out to be surprisingly fast: already in 2004, the team confidently won the first division with a streak of 21 games without defeat, and Andrei Fedkov set what seemed like an eternal record, scoring 38 goals. Only years later was this achievement surpassed by Ivan Sergeev from “The Wings of the Soviets.”
In the spring of the same year, Terek won the Russian Cup and soon debuted in the UEFA Cup (CSKA won the trophy that season). The Grozny team beat Lech and almost reached the group stage. We note: all this was done by a team from the first division of Russian football.
Terek players and Ramzan Kadyrov with the Russian Cup in 2004
Photo: FC Anzhi
A ticket to the RFPL was the logical end of the cycle. And it seemed like this was just the beginning. However, those who believed too much in the continuation of the fairy tale were sadly disappointed. Terek was simply not ready to play in the Premier League: first it lost in the Super Cup match, and then five defeats in seven opening matches. Furthermore, it is a disaster with the best: three goals from CSKA, as many from Spartak and five from Zenit. During that period, only “Wings” and “Saturn” barely managed to win.
There were several reasons. The first is that coach Vait Talgaev believed too much in the squad, which helped the team reach the elite. Although the average age of the players was over 30 years old. Oleg Terekhin, Dmitry Khomukha, Alexander Shmarko, Viktor Bulatov are respected, but at that time they were already older footballers who simply could not stand it. At the same time, Talgaev in every possible way disowned the legionnaires from foreign countries. Only in the summer, when things were really bad, did they bring in Jalen Pokorn, Igor Lazic, Larry Kingston, Ognjen Koroman. The latter’s transition is a separate story, but we’ll talk about that later.
The second reason is geographical difficulties. Here the club management saw a big problem. Although the team was based in Kislovodsk, they played in Pyatigorsk and consequently spent a lot of time travelling. In the First Division this situation did not bother anyone. However, now the problem has been noticed.
Has anyone already escaped when they found themselves in Akhmat’s situation?
Is “Akhmat” doomed to relegation? After such a start, only one team was saved in the RPL
At the same time, there was not much pressure on the team for results: in 2004 they already presented the public with a trophy and a debut in the European competition, although then the matches were played in Cherkizovo. And the attention of the leaders of the republic was not so strong. Thus, the Terek took off silently and almost without making a sound. Only at the end of the season did the club exchange Talgaev for Alexander Tarkhanov, but by that time there was no longer any chance of salvation. As a result, we got 20 points with a goal difference of -30. And after a while, of these 20, 14 remained: the RFU KDK deprived the Club of six more due to lack of payments from Coroman.
Kadyrov even then supported the club and fans wrote letters to Putin.
It is interesting that at that time Ramzan Kadyrov’s influence on the club was not as strong as after the team moved to Grozny. He became president of Terek just a year ago, sometimes attending training and even participating in bilateral matches. And most importantly: he paid salaries on time. However, he did not get involved in management. Witnesses of what happened noted that Kadyrov had just come to power in the republic after the death of his father, so other directions were a priority. And Khaidar Alkhanov was in charge.
Kadyrov with Terek player Andrei Fedkov in 2004
Photo: RIA Novosti
In addition, at that time the club already had sponsors: Rosneft and Vneshtorgbank. It is clear that this was not an economically justified project for companies, but rather a social mission at the request of government agencies. But even with such sponsors there was not enough money; at least we can remember Koroman’s story.
It is interesting that in the 2005 season, the club, in addition to difficulties with the location, found the reasons for relegation in the referees. And then he sent a letter to Russian President Vladimir Putin, asking him to investigate the situation. Until then, the Head of State had met with the Terek players twice: the first after winning the Russian Cup and the second after their debut in the UEFA Cup. So I knew the club well.
However, the president did not react to the call. But Vitaly Mutko (then president of the RFU) and Vyacheslav Fetisov (director of the Federal Sports Agency) got involved in the work. They promised to solve the problem themselves, without the involvement of senior government officials. But apparently it didn’t work at all. After all, in the end “Terek” took off.
The team did not remain in the first division for long. She quickly returned, moved to Grozny and from that moment on she never flew out again. Will this really happen for the first time in 20 years?
