Comments on: Euro 2012: Second’s out – Round 2 for Russia http://backpagefootball.com/euro-2012-seconds-out-round-2-for-russia/40903/ Mon, 20 May 2013 04:39:48 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.5.1 By: Alan Moore http://backpagefootball.com/euro-2012-seconds-out-round-2-for-russia/40903/comment-page-1/#comment-210826 Alan Moore Tue, 12 Jun 2012 14:31:44 +0000 http://backpagefootball.com/?p=40903#comment-210826 Thanks Adam, I’d love to go Churchillian on this and speak about riddles and enigmas, but Russian football is the same as any other, only with politics thrown in! From everything I’ve been told and witnessed, Andrei is the major powerbroker. He (not his agent) engineered crisis talks for Dick last year when the coach threatened to drop him (publicly) and since he’s the only real superstar here he got what he wanted. Pepsi are the drink and snack sponsor for Russian football, Andrei is their poster boy (in every sense) and when he stamps his feet, he gets his way. And added to that the head of the RFS is his friend and former Zenit President (Fursenko). Makes what happened with Capello look minor!

]]> By: Adam Gilks http://backpagefootball.com/euro-2012-seconds-out-round-2-for-russia/40903/comment-page-1/#comment-210817 Adam Gilks Tue, 12 Jun 2012 13:22:33 +0000 http://backpagefootball.com/?p=40903#comment-210817 Great article Alan, fantastic. It’s really great to hear from a British journalist with a real insight into the Russian game.

Is the information on Arshavin’s influence entirely true? This is a fascinating point which is completely overlooked by the British media

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