It was wrong of the Russian FA to promise not to interfere in new coach Fabio Capello’s work, the organization’s honorary president has told R-Sport.
Capello quit the England job in February after English football bosses took the armband from John Terry, who was then facing racism charges of which he was subsequently cleared.
Russian Football Union acting president Nikita Simonyan pledged his organization would “not involve itself in [Capello’s] work” when the Italian was unveiled as Russia coach Thursday.
Honorary president and former FIFA vice-president Vyacheslav Koloskov vehemently disagrees, he told R-Sport on Thursday.
“They won’t interfere in the coach’s work. How can an employer not interfere in the work of a hired employee?” Koloskov said.
“The RFU obviously won’t dictate the squad or make the selections, but it’s obliged to interfere.”
Under Capello’s predecessor Dick Advocaat, the Russian squad at Euro 2012 was based in a hotel in the center of Warsaw, rather than the countryside bases favored by many other teams, which Koloskov said showed the danger of allowing a coach too much freedom.
“We didn’t interfere in Poland, when the national team was living in an absolutely inappropriate place. We should have interfered,” he said.
Koloskov also hit out at what he said was a lack of transparency about Capello’s contract.
The Russian Football Union has not said how much the two-year deal is worth.
“At the press-conference he should have said clearly: ‘I, Capello, earn this much, my assistants earn this much, I’m going to do this and that.’”
“But to present a person while leaving more mysteries than answers, that’s not a press conference.”
Capello’s reign kicks off with a friendly against the Ivory Coast on August 15.
After the Ivory Coast game, Russia will then have two World Cup qualifying games, one at home to Northern Ireland on September 7 and one away to Israel on September 11.
