Fabio Capello Reportedly Hasn't Been Paid as Russia Manager Since June
Russia national team manager Fabio Capello reportedly hasn't been paid since June, as rumours have surfaced suggesting the Russian Football Union is struggling with financial concerns and the team's recent run of poor results may have something to do with the monetary issue.
Russia have won just one of their last six competitive matches, via the Associated Press (for The Guardian), and now it has been revealed the former England boss hasn't been paid since the 2014 World Cup:
"The veteran Italian coach, who took over Russia in 2012, has not been paid since June.
Since that time, the national team have won only one of six competitive matches, and the Russian sports minister, Vitaly Mutko, who played a crucial role in attracting Capello in 2012, seems to think the team’s struggles and the coach’s missing paychecks are related.
'[It] doesn’t give either the team or the coach any extra motivation,' Mutko said of the lack of pay, adding that the ordeal 'could be having an effect on the team’s results.'
Capello, however, has denied that either he or the team is distracted by the dispute.
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Capello reportedly earns £6.8 million in yearly wages, per The Guardian, making him the highest paid national team coach in all of football, via CBS Sports' Jerry Hinnen.
He failed to deliver on his massive pay cheque, however, as the Russians couldn't make it out of the group stages of the 2014 World Cup. The results of the squad haven't improved since, as Capello and Company are in a fight with Austria and Sweden for the top spot in European Championship qualifying Group G.
Sport Express' Artur Petrosyan voiced what many were thinking after the team's most recent disappointing showing, against Moldova:
The news shines a poor light on Russian football at a time it can hardly use it. The country has already faced a lot of criticism for a variety of topics, including its treatment of the LGBT community, via The Guardian's Owen Gibson. With the World Cup heading to the nation in 2018, any form of controversy is unwanted at this point.
Not paying the world's most expensive coach counts as controversy, and while Capello has so far denied the matter has had any effect on his team's performance, one has to wonder how much longer the Italian will be in charge if the situation persists.
