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Touchline • Issue 14 • 13
It’s as though they are
closing their eyes to
the main problems,
and as long as the
money is coming
in, there is more to
divvy up, there is
something more to
fight for.”
expensive player on the planet, Samuel
Eto’o, has a three metre television in his
massive home near Moscow. It is hard
to believe that he would enjoy such
exclusive pleasures in the Caucasus.
Cameroonian Eto’o, the former Barcelona
and Inter Milan star, earns 350,000 dollars
a week playing for Anzhi Makhachkala.
The average Dagestani worker makes
about 200 dollars a month.
The outlay on other star names- Lassana
Diarra, Roberto Carlos and Yuri Zhirkov-
keeps on ratcheting up the wage bill.
Then there is the new stadium, training
facilities and those constant flights. All
in all, the money being spent on the club
is staggering. Beyond the predictable
platitudes that can be heard when
considering the obscene money spent on
football while basic services are being
denied, it is hard to see how this set
up is becoming an adhesive factor that
will bring the country together. Surely
seeing such extravagance would trigger
revolution rather than pride.
In a report in The Guardian, Gulnara
Rustamova, a local human rights activist
says, “It’s as though they are closing their
eyes to the main problems, and as long as
the money is coming in, there is more to
divvy up, there is something more to fight
for.” And the money is still coming in.
The players don’t mention the money.
Roberto Carlos talks about how the team
brings joy to the people, and Eto’o claims
he has plenty of friends who want to
join them in the Russian league for the
professional challenge. But surely if they
wanted to unite a warring people they
could join one of the Merseyside teams.
Kerimov bought Carlos a Bugatti at over a
million dollars as a “gift”, a car the Brazilian
legend had shipped back to his home
nation immediately. This probably has
less to do with making Dagestan a better
place and more to do with splashing
some cash on a prized thoroughbred.
So, is the experiment baring fruit? Or is
this just another ego stroke for a man
with too much money? On the pitch,
though, things seem to be working out. At
the time of writing,Anzhi Makhachkala sat
in second behind CSKA Moscow, and Eto’o
has bagged seven goals. Dutch supercoach
Guus Hiddink came in and steadied the
ship, and after some mediocre work with
the Russian and Turkish national teams,
it seems that Hiddink still has the knack
of getting big players to perform. On a
sour note, there has been plenty of crowd
violence despite the changing pattern on
the field.
Off the pitch, Chistyakov puts it this way:
“Many criticise the club for spending huge
money on transfers, but that’s just the tip
of the iceberg. It’s so the team can change.
And parallel to that, we’re preparing more
important things. We have a higher task
– to change life in the republic.”
We will have to wait and see if a winning
team can bring together a desperately
poor and divided region.
Anzhi plays at the Dynamo Stadium in Makhachkala.
Suleiman Kerimov invested £100 million in the club