Former CSKA coach Juande Ramos
Two days after Juande Ramos’s unexpected departure from CSKA, we are finally starting to get explanations for why the renown if wanderlust-stricken coach left his Moskva charge after only 47 days.
As speculated on our QuickCast, CSKA’s announcement that the decision was mutual appears to be more Army smokescreen. Ramos has since said that he did not feel comfortable in Russia and had previously told the club he would not seek to extend his stay in Moskva. At that time, the club started looking for a new coach, and once they had settled on Leonid Slutsky they allowed Ramos to leave.
From a certain point of view, this seems like a mutual decision; however, it is clear that Ramos wanted out of Russia more than CSKA wanted him to leave. While there has been speculation that CSKA’s embarrassing derby loss to FK Moskva precipitated this move, it seems more likely that the loss merely added urgency to ongoing negotiations with (at least) Slutsky.
“I did not want to stay in Russia, so they had to find a new coach,” Ramos told Madrid-based paper Marca. “The technical director found a replacement who wanted to start the job right away and that was not a problem for me. I’m fine with my departure.”
[...] deal with CSKA, one which the club can opt out of before the start of next season? Given the nature of information we get from the Army, anything is possible, and for a club that has a recent fascination with high-profile foreign [...]