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One of the more progressive mid-ranking clubs Saturn Ramenskoye gave up the ghost and dissolved. They dropped out of the Premier and out of football, as far as everyone is concerned. Their place has been taken by Krasnodar (promoted from the 1st), while Fakel Voronezh, a recently re-constituted club/merger took the vacancy in the 1st. Fakel, in their previous guise, were thrown out of football after threatening and bribing officials during a derby match in the 2nd Divison.
So there'll be 2 Krasnodar teams in the Premier league this season?
Exactly, there were almost 2 Nizhni Novgorod teams but it wouldn't have been sustainable. However the southern lobby is very strong so FC went up with Kuban. FC are strange, a good coach and are only 3 and a bit years in existence, but they've drawn on overlooked locals and have a tiny budget (15th in the 1st Division last season). There was a big challenge from KAMAZ to go up, but because their backer is in receipt of government funding they were refused. Plus they would have struggled, they're primarily a feeder club to Rubin.
It's instructive as to how Russian clubs operate. If they don't have the budget set in advance they are refused the chance to be apply for a licence, so many drop down a division or two, yet it doesn't really affect the crowds. Some, like Volga Ulyanovsk have bigger crowds than clubs in the Premier but they run a tight ship and plough profits back into infrastructure and youth teams.
Has there ever been a club from the east of the country to get to the Premier. Even before the break up did any Uzbek clubs get to the premier?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FC_Luch...ya_VladivostokQuote:
Originally Posted by cornflakes
7-hour flights to away games.
An old colleague of mine was coaching Luch when they were in the top flight, they'd a decent team and were competitive. It's funny as you now, in the 1st, have Vladivostok playing Kaliningrad - almost the two extremes of Russia.Quote:
Originally Posted by cornflakes
A few Uzbek teams had decent runs, Pakhtakor Tashkent always had, and have, a decent set up - they're now owned by a leading industrialist. Clubs from Kazakhstan played at the top level, even Tajikistan. The only republic, as far as I know, who never had a team in the top flight were Kyrgyzstan.