Albert Shigabutdinov: ''The decision that was made came as a surprise''
A meeting of the Board of Trustees of Rubin FC under Tatarstan President Rustam Minnikhanov took place on 31 May. A very important decision about the transition of management and finance of the club to TAIF Group of Companies was made. After the meeting of the board ended, Realnoe Vremya's correspondent managed to do an exclusive interview of TAIF CJSC Director General Albert Shigabutdinov almost on the fly. Here is the full text:
''Although we expected that unordinary decisions would be made at the meeting of the Board of Trustees, the decision that was made came us as a surprise.
Due to the difficult situation in the financial markets of Tatarstan and Russia, equity construction and especially on the threshold of world-scale events like FIFA Confederations Cup, WorldSkills, 2018 FIFA World Cup, the president withdrew Mayor of Kazan Ilsur Metshin from the post of Rubin FC president.
''It is a pity Ilsur Metshin left Rubin FC, though we understand he needs to focus on the accomplishment of very important projects for Kazan, Tatarstan and Russia, in general.'' Photo: kzn.ru
Rustam Minnikhanov also offered TAIF GC to manage and finance Rubin FC. I won't hide we had more complicated, unusual events in our history. But, to tell the truth, this offer caught us flatfooted. It is a pity Ilsur Metshin left Rubin FC, though we understand he needs to focus on the accomplishment of very important projects for Kazan, Tatarstan and Russia, in general.
A huge and careful job was done to improve the management of Rubin FC including to approach it to the current legislation. And this job is about to be completed.
On the other hand, we need to examine and analyse the financial and economic activity of Rubin FC in detail. I won't hide that it will be very difficult for us to pay that huge money that Rubin FC spent in the last season. This is why we will have to reduce these prohibitive costs and find an opportunity to attract new sponsors. But I will repeat once again that we need to examine all these issues in detail. I will say more that some experts offered to drive Rubin FC to bankruptcy and start from scratch. Rubin's development vector will probably change. But I will stress once again – we need to think of it scrupulously.
At the meeting of the Board of Trustees, Rustam Minnikhanov recommended to carefully choose the administration of Rubin, especially its president and agree with him on the candidature.
''Rubin's development vector will probably change. But I will stress once again – we need to think of it scrupulously.'' Photo: rubin-kazan.ru
The president set a task to find a way to transition from Rubin's private and state juridical organisational model to a completely private joint-stock form. So we are going to have a lot of work we need to complete in the short run because we almost have the time.
We must comply with all the decisions that have been made today by the board of trustees and approved by the Tatarstan president.
We were offered to create a new board of trustees Rubin FC. We are sincerely glad that Tatarstan President Rustam Minnikhanov agreed to chair it and Mayor of Kazan Ilsur Metshin consented to be a member of the board. It means that both the Tatarstan president and mayor of the capital of Tatarstan are going to support the development of Rubin FC, especially by non-financial resources. We will be able to cope with any difficulties only by joint efforts.
We are going to inform the society on time about all further actions linked with compliance with the decisions that were made.
Let's wish ourselves, football amateurs, residents of Tatarstan, Rubin fans luck!''