A tablet with the inscription “Vladimir Egorovich Pronichev” was carefully placed in the center of the table, but before the start of the press conference it was removed - the chairman of the Dynamo Sports Center was “loaded with his main position”. His first deputy Yuri Isaev and club president Dmitry Ivanov had to answer questions.
“The Central Council bought back from Alexei Mikhailovich (the leadership didn’t utter the last name of Fedorychev - approx.) 71 percent of the shares,” Isaev began cheerfully. - It’s as if we were born again! Now we own 96 percent, and the remaining four are distributed among the shareholders, who are ex-Dynamo footballers and other people who are not alien to the club. And their wives.
According to Isaev, from now on the club is completely free from financial obligations to Fedorychev and, most importantly, from previous debts. Isaev hopes that from now on the media will no longer mention salary delays to Dynamo players - because these delays will no longer be. However, the club still has some debts. Dynamo has not yet paid for some of the players who joined the team in the winter. According to President Ivanov, this is a “working moment”.
The details of the Dynamo deal with Fedorychev Isaev refused to divulge.
- We have the right not to give specific numbers. Respect for confidentiality is a common practice in the world, and I see no reason why we should step back from it, ”the first deputy chairman confidently stated.
Well, he is right. However, the practice of buying players on a national basis and having a European title is far from the most common in the world. Talking about breaking up with Fedorychev, or at least lifting the veil over this certainly interesting story, CS Dynamo would have scored whists from fans. But no - barely completing one ambitious financial project, the club launches another.
“We concluded an agreement with VTB,” Isaev began optimistically. - The bank gives us a loan for the reconstruction of the stadium and the creation of a new sports complex. Therefore, the new board of directors of the club, in addition to five representatives of Dynamo, will also include two people from VTB. They will control the construction issues and will not interfere in the affairs of the team.
It seems that the five Dynamo will also not be up to the team. The construction project is grandiose and in its scope threatens to overshadow the distance of recent experiments with the composition of blue and white. So, the Dynamo stadium is deployed 90 degrees: the northern stand will become eastern, the south - western and so on. Only the facade declared as an architectural monument will remain from the previous structure. The stands will be designed for 30,000 seats.
- We will have a new field of modern sizes - 120 by 80 meters. Like the Camp Nou, ”Ivanov said enthusiastically. - In the meantime, reconstruction will take place, the team will play in the Dynamo small arena.
Thus, the Premier League (or first division) will receive another stadium with artificial turf. The small sports arena, by the way, is perfectly visible from the office of the Dynamo Sports Center. After the construction of a new stadium, it will also be rebuilt, a pool, an ice rink and, most importantly, a hotel complex and “commercial buildings” will be made nearby.
“Of course, VTB sees us as a source of income,” Isaev reasoned reasonably. - Therefore, we are obliged to build a commercial infrastructure on the site of these parking lots and pawnshops along the Third Ring Road.
Hotels that can compete with pawnshops will begin to be built at the end of 2008. And after two years they will begin to solve one of the most painful Dynamo issues - about the training base.
“The club has not yet decided what it needs,” thought Ivanov. “We act as customers here: if we want a base, let's tell the Central Council.” And they will do it. But we are thinking.
At the end of the press conference, a journalist asked several questions in a row, looking like a disguised Dynamo fan. There was bitterness and disappointment in his voice. Having not received an answer to the provocative question why the CA will not give out all the shares to “loyal Dynamo fans”, which, in theory, can’t harm his beloved team, he asked when the club would get at least a decent website. After all, if you go to fcdinamo.ru immediately after the site of Manchester United, you want to cry.
“Well, you compared,” Isaev was surprised. - Where are Manchester United and where are we? Although how old are Sir Alex and how old is our Kobelev? We are young, and we have everything ahead!
On this optimistic note ...