The coach of CSKA Moscow's hockey team Julius Supler confirmed to RIA Novosti on Wednesday that he had been fired.
A highly placed club official earlier told RIA Novosti that the 61-year-old Slovak was released to "unsatisfactory results" despite almost guaranteeing CSKA's qualification for the playoffs in the Kontinental Hockey League this season.
"I just came to work this morning and I was informed that I won't be the head coach of CSKA any more," Supler said in a telephone interview. "The team has been told. I have said goodbye and thanked the guys for their work, wished them luck," he added.
Supler said he was still to tie up certain contract issues with the club.
CSKA has been in financial disarray for the last few months, but hope appeared in November when state oil giant Rosneft snuffed out $3 million worth of debts and took control of the club.
However, last month CSKA president and former NHL star Slava Fetisov walked out in acrimonious circumstances, complaining of Rosneft's "sickening" influence in team affairs.
Rosneft said in a subsequent statement that the company's president Eduard Khudainatov would meet with Supler to discuss the condition of the team.
Supler was considered Fetisov's man. When he joined from Dinamo Riga last year he was mandated with securing passage to the KHL playoffs.
CSKA, eighth in the western conference, occupies the last playoff spot with a week of the regular season to go.
The team of the Soviet Army, CSKA was dominant in Soviet times, winning 32 regular season championships, including 13 in a row from 1977 to 1989, and the European Cup on 20 occasions.
Since the Soviet collapse, CSKA has failed to win a major championship, although the team has supplied a number of stars like Sergei Krivokrasov and Anton Volchenkov to the NHL.
