An Englishman in Rostov

By Dan Brennan

Having taken temporary charge when coach Gennadi Stepushkin was taken ill, 35-year-old Paul Ashworth became the first ever Englishman to take charge of a Russian Premier-Liga side as FC Rostov earned a 1-1 draw from their 1,800km round trip to play FC Rubin Kazan last weekend.

Latvian experience
Ashworth, who was appointed as the club's director of football at the start of the season, had previously been in Latvia where he had coached FK Ventspils and more recently FK Riga, so, as he told uefa.com, the step up to the Russian leagues has not caused such a huge culture shock.

Language skills
"I watched a lot of Russian football when I was in Latvia so was already pretty familiar with the league here," he said. "Obviously because I worked in Latvia for four years, I learned Russian, as that is the working language of the football world there. And it helps that my wife is a native Russian speaker!"

High standard
"There is no question that the standard in the top flight is very high," he added. "The fact that [PFC] CSKA Moskva are in the UEFA Cup semi-finals, and are not even in the top four in the early stages of the Russian league says a lot about how competitive Russian clubs are becoming."

Dual responsibilities
Amid such exalted company, Rostov have not thrived this season, picking up just two points from their first six games to remain firmly rooted to the foot of the table. Getting the team back into shape is a big job - even bigger with the added responsibilities of his role as sporting director.

Busy days
"It's a bit of a juggling act," he admitted. "At the moment I'm taking training in the mornings and evenings, and then fitting in the longer term work in my capacity as sporting director - focusing on areas like scouting and stadium infrastructure - in the afternoons."

Vision required
It is in this latter area where Ashworth feels that the Russian clubs have the most to learn, saying: "Clubs need to focus on longer-term development and infrastructure. The pitches, for example, are generally of a poor level, which doesn't befit the standard of the football."

English connections
Ashworth is considering utilising his contacts in England to help in one facet of the development work at Rostov. "My brother, Dan is academy director at West Bromwich [Albion FC]," he said. "I'd certainly like our youth coaches to go over and see what they are doing at West Brom - that could be really beneficial."

Local heroes
Due to newly-imposed restrictions on the number of foreign players permitted to play in Russian Premier-Liga sides, Ashworth will be redoubling his efforts to unearth more talent locally. He explained: "We've employed a full-time youth scout who will travel across Russia looking for potential talent, but the first priority is to make sure we pick up all of the best talent in the local area."

Slow start
Hopefully a few key discoveries on their own doorstep will boost Rostov's league form. "This is an extremely competitive league," joked Ashworth. "And they tell me here that the side who win the championship always starts badly. If that's the case then maybe we can win it!

Good spirit
"But being serious, our short-term objective for this season remains to improve on last season's 12th place finish," he added. "There is a long way to go, and our performances are getting better by the week. The spirit here is good, and I'm confident that we will achieve our goals."