MOSCOW, March 25 (R-Sport) - Amkar Perm coach Stanislav Cherchesov suggested on Tuesday his return to Spartak Moscow may be imminent, despite wishing to see out the season with the Russian Premier League underdogs.
Spartak have been without a manager since they fired Valery Karpin earlier this month, and Cherchesov has impressed by guiding Amkar to seventh place in the table and a shot at European qualification.
Spartak have been in talks with Cherchesov to bring the 50-year-old back to the capital after he took them to second place in 2007.
"I'd really like to see out the season in Perm, but sometimes life's circumstances fall in such a way that you have to take some unpopular decisions," Cherchesov was quoted as saying by Amkar's website.
"I can say one thing: today I am Amkar's head coach and I'm preparing the team as normal with my assistants for the next game against Zenit," Cherchesov said of Saturday's match against the St. Petersburg side.
He confirmed that he had met Spartak management Monday and would discuss their offer with Amkar club president Gennady Shilov later Tuesday. "I don't want to hurry events," he said.
Joining after the next round of matches would mean Cherchesov avoids a potential baptism of fire: Spartak's next game is away to league leaders Lokomotiv Moscow on Sunday. After that, they take on relegation-threatened Ural Yekaterinburg.
Cherchesov spent two years in charge at Spartak and guided the club to a second-place finish in 2007. He played more than 300 games for Spartak as a goalkeeper in the 1990s and won 39 caps for Russia.
Karpin was dismissed three games after the winter break, having overseen humiliating defeats to third-tier Tosno in the Russian Cup, second-from-bottom Terek Grozny in the league, and the squandering of a 2-0 lead to draw 2-2 with Anzhi Makhachkala.
Spartak's last game under interim coach Dmitry Gunko saw them drubbed 4-0 away to FC Krasnodar.
