The most outrageous coach in Russia was suspended from work. What's happened?

Andrei Razin has been suspended from his role as head coach of Metallurg. The Magnitogorsk club reported a conflict between the specialist and the players. About the main sensation in the KHL - in the material of RIA Novosti Sport.

"The club intervened"

While the hockey community was digesting the fateful announcement of Alexander Ovechkin about retiring from the National Hockey League at the end of this season, Metallurg sharply pulled the blanket of attention towards itself. The decision of the Magnitogorsk club to remove Andrei Razin from the duties of the team’s head coach turned out to be very loud and unexpected. In the club press release, Magnitogorsk immediately noted that the reason for such an unconventional move was an internal conflict between the coach and the hockey players.

“The intra-team situation is really being discussed and we are not going to hide it. Disagreements have arisen between the head coach and the players - both on game issues and on the nature of interaction. This is a normal practice of professional sports: the coach has the right to determine the requirements for players, the players have the right to express their position. The problem arose when these disagreements were no longer resolved within the team and began to affect the working climate. The club took this into account and intervened,” quotes Metallurg director Alexei Zhlob.

What conflict are we talking about? There are two stories on the surface - Andrei Razin’s relationship with team defender Yegor Yakovlev, as well as his dialogue with striker Vladimir Tkachev. Both players, in their nominal roles, are team leaders.

Yakovlev is an experienced hockey player, Olympic champion and Gagarin Cup winner, and until recently the captain of Metallurg. This season, Andrei Razin handed over the captain's stripe to Vladislav Provolnev. Yakovlev, in turn, missed eight matches in the new regular season, his average playing time this season is just over 16 minutes. The Metallurg coach explained the decision to reduce the playing time of the 35-year-old defender by a decrease in the player’s efficiency, usefulness and level of motivation.

“I believe that the captain is a conductor between the coach and the team. The captain must show everything with his play, dedication, and then say something in the locker room,” Razin said at one press conference, and then made a powerful statement at another.

- Take the same Yakovlev - I feel like I’ll be fired, but... The man won everything. All he had to do was win the cup with Metallurg as captain. He won. The next year he is captain again, but there is no motivation. What was the result? Elimination in the first round of the playoffs, and he had 0+7 and minus 7 in usefulness. During the championship season, he was also motivated - a new coach came, he had to show his goods. Then I didn’t have to strain, but here I had to strain him so much that he gave out at least 100, or even 120% of himself.”

Tkachev is a skilled player, a KHL star, one of the league’s top scorers. Last season, which was the striker’s first since the scandalous move from Avangard Omsk to Metallurg, he scored 71 points (13+58) in 66 championship matches. Razin did not include the striker in the lineup for the last match of the regular season, which is why he was unable to improve his statistics and get into the top three scorers of the championship, thereby not earning a cash bonus.

In the new season, Tkachev scored 6 points (1+5) in 11 championship matches with a utility indicator of minus 4, his average playing time is less than 16 minutes. As in the case of Yakovlev, the head coach of Metallurg tried to achieve an increase in the level of motivation and a positive impact on the game and results of the team, and at one of the press conferences he gave vent to his emotions.

After those statements, the management of Metallurg imposed a disciplinary sanction on the coach, and the specialist himself publicly apologized for the harsh words.

What's next?

The removal of Andrei Razin from work is especially loud for the simple reason that with his leadership on the coaching bridge, Metallurg is one of the undisputed leaders of the KHL. In 2024, from his first season as head coach of Magnitogorsk, Razin led the team to the first Gagarin Cup in eight years; last season, his players won the regular season by a landslide and reached the semi-finals in the playoffs. Now the “steelworkers” are also one of the strongest teams in the league: in the East “Metallurg” is first with 19 points after 13 matches, and in the overall championship standings it ranks third, behind only “Lokomotiv” and CSKA (both have 20 points).

In its statement, the club notes that Razin’s suspension is temporary and “not a final verdict, but a management decision that allows you to stop the escalation and assess the situation without outside pressure.”

“We went through several stages. First, the club considered the option of transferring players - this is a normal market procedure when the parties do not find a common language. However, at the moment, no acceptable proposals have been received. In parallel, we initiated negotiations between coaches and players to resolve the situation in a working manner. Unfortunately, it was not possible to reach an agreement, which left no room for compromise,” said Zhloba.

Any decision of this level affects the atmosphere - it would be dishonest to deny. The team and coaching staff always work together, there are professional and human connections between people. We understand that this is not an easy decision for some of the team. At the same time, the club is obliged to prioritize the performance of the team, the image and reputation of the club as a whole, and not individual relationships. We have already had conversations with the players and coaching staff and explained the logic of the decision. Now it is important that the team and coaching staff focus on the game and achieving the sporting goal, and not be distracted by sports-related topics."

But there are big doubts that the temporary suspension will not lead to a full separation between Metallurg and Andrei Razin. With this decision, the club showed that in a conflict between the players and the coach, they side with the former. Thus, Andrei Vladimirovich, known not only for his outrageousness, but also for his principled attitude to work processes, received a signal that his opinion and position were not a priority. It’s unlikely that anyone will be surprised by Razin’s departure from Metallurg.