MOSCOW, July 19 (R-Sport) - Meeting a new boss is always a stressful experience, and it may have become even more so for Dynamo Moscow's football players after the club's new president began his reign Friday by chastising them for not smiling when he met them.
In one of billionaire Boris Rotenberg’s first statements since taking over at Dynamo on Wednesday, he said only striker Fyodor Smolov had appeared happy to greet his new boss.
“We communicated very well. It did, in truth, seem to me that the lads were insufficiently at ease,” he said on the Dynamo website.
“Only Fedya Smolov was smiling. It’s their job and a job should make you happy. If they get positive emotions from what they are doing then they will win.”
“In football there is a large burden of responsibility and it weighs you down. You have to throw off this burden and do what you can, to the maximum.”
Rotenberg, a longtime friend of Russian President Vladimir Putin and also the president of the Dynamo Moscow hockey team, said he would emphasize youth development over expensive signings.
“I want more of our Russian players to appear. Then you don’t have to attract as many foreign players,” he said.
Rotenberg also praised manager Dan Petrescu as “a good coach” and “very professional.”
The first match of Rotenberg’s tenure is at home to Anzhi Makhachkala on Friday, and the tycoon said he expected “only victory” from Dynamo.
