Rotor in a tailspin

By Eduard Nisenboim

Shared pain
"I can imagine what kind of pain are Rotor are going through at the moment, because I am shocked myself," said FC Shakhtar Donetsk technical director Viktor Prokopenko, who was Rotor's coach in the later 1980s and early 1990s. "A great city like Volgograd does not deserve to remain without top-level football."

Swift decline
Rotor's decline has been almost as swift as their rise. Back in the 1970s and 1980s, the club was a modest one, playing in the second and third tiers of the Soviet football league before spending two seasons in the Soviet Supreme League in 1989 and 1990, before being relegated.

Early professionals
Nonetheless, as they became one of the first professional clubs in the Soviet Union, Rotor were not down for long, and after winning promotion from the second level again in 1991, were admitted to the new post-Soviet Russian top division and were one of the most stable sides.

Near misses
All-conquering FC Spartak Moskva denied them the Russian title in 1993 as Rotor finished second. Rotor then reached the final of the 1996 Russian Cup only to lose against FC Dinamo Moskva after a penalty shoot-out. Finally, a draw at Spartak would have been enough to see Rotor win the 1997 league title - they lost 2-0 and the title went to Spartak again.

European campaigns
Russian near misses brought the club into Europe. They made their European debut in 1994, but their greatest coup was overcoming Manchester United FC in the first round of the 1995/96 UEFA Cup. Having drawn 0-0 in Russia, they held United to a 2-2 draw in England to win on the away goals rule. Indeed, United only earned a draw in Manchester by virtue of a last-minute header from Danish goalkeeper Peter Schmeichel.

Recent struggles
The successes of the mid-1990s soon gave way to struggle, however. Lacking a big sponsor, Rotor found themselves increasingly unable to keep hold of the stream of quality players who emerged from their youth academy, and by the turn of the century, they were perennial strugglers in the Premier-Liga.

Rotor exodus
The 2004 season was to be the end of their top-flight run. Having started badly, Rotor tried to cling on to a place in the top division by loaning players from bigger clubs but could not escape the drop. No sooner were they relegated than they saw 20 players terminate their contracts at the club and move elsewhere. Those departing players included former Russian international Valeriy Esipov, long a talisman for Rotor, who joined FC Saturn Moskovskaya Oblast.

Licensing problems
Rotor soldiered on and were due to start the coming season in the first division with a younger squad only to fall foul of the Professional Football League's licensing board. They may now start the season in the second division, where their feeder club SC Rotor-2 Volgograd have already received a licence.

Prokopenko's prayers
"They do not deserve such a fate," added Prokopenko, as he remembered the great days he had at the club. "If the help of the Volgograd people is not enough to save Rotor, if they need a miracle from the heavens, I will go to church and pray for such a wonder." Those prayers have yet to be answered.