CSKA's sports director Filip Filipov gave an exclusive and extensive interview to TOPSPORT. He talks about all current topics around the club. Due to the length of our conversation, we will publish it over two days in a row, in two parts. Filipov and I are talking in the new office of CSKA, which houses the administration of the "armymen", directors and scouts.
HERE IS THE FIRST PART OF THE INTERVIEW:
Mr. Filipov, at the end of the year it is time for balance sheets. The autumn half-season was one of the weakest in the history of CSKA. Your rating is hardly high. Why this collapse and eighth place in the provisional standings of the championship?
- Yes, the place we are in right now is really very disappointing. The play at the beginning of the season was not good. We made the selection on the fly. We had a lot of losses and a lot of poor games. At the end of the half-season, we managed to catch up, but really our game and place in the standings do not correspond to the CSKA brand. Why did it come to this? We made a lot of changes in the summer, we released ten of the players. The idea of the selection was to balance the team, to add ten new players who have better qualities than those who left. I think it was done, but it took time. In order for the new players to adapt, there should be good communication in the team. Building a team is not easy, it is a difficult process. Because of this, we have also given a time frame for building a valuable team of three transfer windows. Positive growth of the team can be seen. The club is in the process of passing to a completely different level, to a completely different status. The stadium is being built, changes and improvements are being made to the base in Pancharevo. The construction of the academy will also begin soon. Build a new team, style of play. These are all processes that require time. So that we can have a really valuable and strong team that has the football arguments to become champions, with a good game.
Let me understand that according to you the selection of CSKA is good and there are no mistakes in it, right? Because, for example, Lokilo is a winger, and his entire contribution in the half-season is one assist. A very serious amount was also given for Iseka, but it does not impress at all. Yes, on the other side we have Koyalipu who keeps scoring goals. But we can argue more about the performance of Cooper, of more of the new...
- There are mistakes in every selection, you can't help it. Especially when it's done so hastily. In two months, we had to replace ten people, which is almost an entire team. We didn't have enough time to watch. It takes time to bring in a class player. During the summer we talked to 43 of the 29 clubs! That's a lot of work. We could not bring everywhere what we wanted. Our selection has hits and people who haven't adapted yet. This is one of the most complicated processes in football - the selection. I say again - it takes time for these football players to make good connections with each other and good communication. To build synchronicity. And then the work of the team and the coach will be seen.
Still, let's be clear - which people made CSKA's summer selection? You, Stoyan Ormandzhiev and Ivan Slavov, who recently left the club. Are these the people?
- Ivan Slavov was a CSKA scout. The final decision was mine. I bear the greatest responsibility for the selection. That was how things stood. Naturally, the then coach Stipich also had a say in attracting the first players. Tomas had a word for those we took on the last day of the transfer window. But these footballers were not selected on the final day. There were conversations with them a long time ago. I give as an example Eto"o. It was first on our summer selection list. We started the talks with Botev at the beginning of June and ended on the last day of the transfer window - September 2. Football players are not easily attracted to CSKA, and to Bulgaria as a whole.
Am I to understand that as soon as Slavov left, you were not satisfied with his work on the selection and that is why this separation came about?
- No, he found another job. Prefer him to continue at another club. There have been changes with us, you know. It is already being worked on in another way. There is another chief scout in the person of Metodi Tomanov. Ivan Slavov preferred to go to Apoel (Tel Aviv).
Now comes the period for winter selection. Will Tomanov and Radoslav Zdravkov make it and can you reveal how many the new ones will be, at least as a rough estimate? Should we again expect a large-scale selection and the exact opposite - few, but quality football players?
- The process by which the selection is made should be very clear. How is it done in CSKA and how does this process take place. The coach sets a profile of the players he wants. Scouts are required to spot and monitor them. To collect complete information about them. For those we need to take according to them. This information from them is given to me and to the coach. After watching the player live on my side, the coach and I decide whether to bring him in or not. Let it be clean and clear. People should know how selection is made in CSKA. There is a lot of speculation about this.
Okay, but should we expect a large-scale selection in CSKA again?
- The winter selection has a different purpose and will not be like the summer selection. It won't be as large-scale. We are looking for football players in certain positions. If we find them, the goal is to raise the level of the team, the class is higher than what we currently have.
Many names appear in the media. Is there anything that is true? It was rumored that Tomanov and Zdravkov were on a scouting mission in Spain and they were mainly watching players from the second level of football there. Is that so?
- We watch football players. I can't say that we follow a large number of football players. We follow those who interest us in certain positions. Things are based on negotiations with the players and their clubs. Let's see if we can attract them. At the moment, they are all from abroad. We are not negotiating for any player from the Bulgarian championship.
Can we say that CSKA is as strong financially as Ludogorets?
- There is such stability in CSKA, which has never existed before. This does not mean that we should splash money just like that. Everything is thought out, we have a strategy and a plan that we are working on. We will not deviate from this plan. Yes, we are back to the results again, which are not good, but I am sure, I am convinced that this sequence of work that we have now will give the necessary results. What we have planned will happen. I want to insert something very important that we did in June. We want CSKA to have its own identity, its own style of play. It won't be like it was - a new coach coming and introducing his own way of playing. CSKA will now play in a way that they played back in time - attacking, offensive and attractive football. CSKA will now have to win every match.
Are there any offers for CSKA footballers and would you part with some of the team's key players?
- The most normal thing in football are transfers - both incoming and outgoing. When there is a good offer for a player, it is normal for him to be sold. Because if a football player is requested by a team competing in a better league than ours, and you don't give it, his motivation drops and he won't be the same. Because in the major championships, the salaries are also very high. But the conditions must be such that his club is satisfied, not only him. At the moment we do not have specific offers for our players, but there are many inquiries.
Are there unsalables - like goal scorer Koyalipu, for example. Can you guarantee that he stays at CSKA for sure at least until the end of the season?
- For me, there are no irreplaceable footballers, nor people in general. Every single player is marketable, but it depends on the offer they make for him.
CSKA terminated the contracts of De Neuer and Yuga. Did they take serious sums to do this?
- We made an agreement with them, they took compensation and that is normal. We are finished with them and there is nothing more to comment on them.
Is Shakic next? And is Tobias Heinz leaving in the winter?
- Since the beginning of the championship, we have greatly increased the requirements for football players. For this reason some left. Some were out of contract, others in the aftermath, like Yuga and De Noyer. CSKA will not tolerate footballers whose behavior damages the prestige of the club. I mean off the field behavior. Those who are not disciplined and do not have a serious relationship with the club, who are not fully committed to CSKA, will leave. We will be uncompromising towards such. Shakic is serious as a person, he is absolutely disciplined, we have no objections to that. But he is not included in Tomasz's accounts for the spring and we are currently negotiating to terminate his contract.
Another piece of information has appeared in the media - that UEFA is watching you and you are not allowed to take a single new player if you don't sell one. Is this true?
- No, there is no such thing. We can make transfers.
At the beginning of the season, the fans were absolutely furious and demanded resignations. Subsequently, Stoyan Ormandzhiev left. Why didn't you resign?
- That's right. I cannot comment on Stoyan Ormanjiev's decision, he decided to do this. I respect his decision. Why haven't I resigned? Because I think what I'm doing is right. I am confident in myself and what I do. I am convinced of the path we have taken and that things will happen. It's just that the period is very difficult. Accepting responsibility is not resigning, it is rather running away from responsibility. I have been in CSKA since I was a child and I was brought up in the "army" values. We have always been taught that when there is an obstacle, you must overcome it, not turn around and run. I think I have a strong enough character to fight and resignation is the last thing I will do. Only the people who hired me, if they are not satisfied with my robot, can ask for my resignation.