Penza, 11 February 2016. PenzaNews. Mikhail Kryukov, who recently was fired from his position as the head coach of the Penza mini-football club “Laguna-UOR,” must make up his mind over the path of his future career, Grigory Kabelsky, Penza region Minister of Physical Education and Sports, told PenzaNews agency.

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“[Mikhail] Kryukov is a good trainer, an experienced one. We still have some hopes for him. But each coach has a moment of time when they need to stop and see themselves from the outside. I think this moment has come for Kryukov,” Grigory Kabelsky said.

He pointed out that Mikhail Kryukov simply did not have the time to do quality work with two professional mini-football teams – “Laguna-UOR” and “Atmis” – at the same time.

“The thing is, I think we did not have any prior experience in the history of Russian sports when somebody trains both a women’s and a men’s mini-football team. […] He simply needs to choose: if he wants to work with the men’s team, he can work with the men’s team, if he wants with the women’s – then he works with the women’s,” Grigory Kabelsky said.

Discussing the potential of “Laguna-UOR,” which failed to reach the top three of the Russian Cup in this season, the head of the regional Sports Ministry noted that the team currently has many inexperienced players that need regular attention and training.

“We can see the results declined after the New Year celebration – we are losing to underdogs. And the results he [Mikhail Kryukov] wanted to show during the Russian Cup were not achieved, the team got the lowest place. […] This is not goodbye with him. We want him to continue to work. We see him as a good coach with potential. I think this situation will be a shake-up for the team, and will be giving more struggles for the winning places this year,” he stressed.

A coach is always responsible for the results of his team, Grigory Kabelsky added.

“When there is a win, it’s the players’ win, and when there is a loss, the coach is to blame. This is common practice. He had everything necessary to train, he had set the goal to play games well. The event [the Final Four of the Russian Women’s Mini-Football Cup] took place in Penza, in the native land. There was everything done for him,” the minister concluded.

As PenzaNews agency reported earlier, the layoff of Mikhail Kryukov, now former head coach of the Penza women’s mini-football club “Laguna-UOR,” had been announced on Wednesday, February 10.

In a comment on the staff change, the coach himself said the layoff had not been expected.

According to the president of the mini-football club Vitaly Antonov, there were two reasons behind the layoff of Mikhail Kryukov: the unsuccessful performance of the women’s team during the Russian Cup, and the fact that the coach trained two professional teams at once – starting from the current season, Mikhail Kryukov combined training “Laguna-UOR” with working as the head coach of the men’s mini-football club “Atmis” in the Center division of the Supreme League.