VALERY Karpin has the kind of relationship with Spartak Moscow's fickle billionaire chairman Leonid Fedun of which most managers would dream.
Having taken up the post of general director at the club in August 2008, he stepped into the breach in April 2009 when the man at the top decided Michael Laudrup's time was up, only for the silky former Spartak and Russia midfielder to safely shuffle himself back upstairs when the cracks began to show in his own regime some two years later.
So perhaps it should surprise no-one that the man Karpin should turn to after the dismissal of former Valencia coach Unai Emery is, essentially, himself.
"They say they will start looking for a manager after the new year," said Areg Oganesian, of Russian newspaper Sport Express. "But the situation is very strange. The board say they are not looking, because all the good managers are in jobs. Karpin has good experience of doing this job so maybe he is a candidate. And they are signing players with Karpin's approval, such as Yura Movsisyan from Krasnodar, who will join before the new year.
"You never know what [Spartak] are thinking. The president is a billionaire like Roman Abramovich, the kind of man who always changes his mind. He might think he doesn't need Aiden McGeady now but at Christmas he could quite easily call him into his office and say 'let's discuss a new contract'."
Whether Karpin fancies the task of trying to things around is a moot point. The latest indignity was a 4-2 loss to Zenit St Petersburg on Friday night, following last weekend's 5-1 rout by Dinamo Moscow – the final nail in Emery's coffin.
Spartak have not won the Russian league since 2002 and approach the winter break in the country's first autumn-spring season in mid-table. Trying to pick up form to requalify for the Champions League is the priority but most observers expect a strong team to arrive in Glasgow for Wednesday's final Champions League Group G match against Celtic.
However, in addition to striker Artem Dzyuba being fined two weeks' wages for remarks about the Emery regime – and talk of dressing room bust-ups – the loss to Zenit was punctuated by a couple of red cards, one for centre-half Juan Insaurralde, as happened in the first match against Celtic.
If McGeady's return from injury from the substitute's bench was one of the positives from Friday's match, the fixture also provided a glimpse of why they may let him go.
Georgian Zhano Ananidze, Spartak's 20-year-old, 5ft 7ins winger, has 19 caps, and is a Karpin project who once had big clubs on the continent paying attention: his ability on the ball alone may be worth the admission on Wednesday night.
"Karpin put Ananidze in the team when he was 17," said Oganesian. "He looked like he was going to be a superstar, but his growth just stopped, and recently he has been coming on more as a sub. But he is still young and can improve."
Celtic manager Neil Lennon was as interested a spectator as anyone on Friday. "There might be an expectation to win the game considering the problems Spartak have had but I don't look too much into that," he said.
"There's a bit more flair and pace in this Spartak team than Benfica although they do throw caution to the wind sometimes and leave themselves open. We have to be careful attacking-wise because Russian teams historically are excellent on the counter-attack. Karpin knows the players and they're an excellent side."
McGeady, another signed by Karpin, was a non-factor in the first match against Celtic, but could return to haunt his old team.
"We knew he'd play very well so we sent the players out to watch him because he was their main source of attacking thrust," Lennon said. "I don't know if he found it difficult playing against Celtic in terms of his own feeling for the club and knowing some of the players."
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