An interview with Ehtiram Guliyev, Chairman of the Board of "Turan Tovuz", for Futbolxeber.az
- With 1 round left, it has been confirmed that "Turan Tovuz" will finish the championship in 4th place. How do you assess the season for your team?
- I rate the season as great. We continued our fight for the bronze medal until 1 round left. We were able to take the fourth place that we aimed for and dreamed of when the championship started. All this was achieved thanks to the efforts of our fans and players. We achieved this with a small budget. We had an excessive number of injuries throughout the season. Perhaps a better result was possible. But everything is fair in a 36-round competition. The owner of the first place, the second place, the third place, the fourth and the fifth as well. All of these are not accidental. It is an achievement we have achieved at the end of a great competition. Therefore, I congratulate all our fans.
- Was "Turan Tovuz"'s goal to take fourth place or a ticket to European Cups?
- In recent years, the teams that always took the first 4 places in the championship have gone to Europe. Therefore, in our transfer meetings with the head coach, I asked, as I said before, can we be 4th? He remained silent. I understood that Berdyev did not understand my question. Therefore, I repeated my question again after 5-10 minutes. He stated that we will achieve this result. Set bigger goals for us. But we were thinking realistically. We knew our opportunities and strength. Whether we go to Europe or not is not in our hands.
- Taking this point into account, can it be assumed that you will support "Qarabağ" in the final?
- I have always answered your questions sincerely, and I will be sincere now, yes, I will support "Qarabağ" in the final. It's sad, I wish we could decide our own destiny. But if I say today that I will not support "Qarabağ" in the final, it would be insincere. Fate.
- How satisfied are you with Kurban Berdyev's performance?
- I am very satisfied. We have a contract and he will continue his activities at the club.
- Have your goals for next season already been determined?
- Our goal for next season will be to further improve our results this year. We will again fight for European Cups.
- What are your expectations from the 12-team championship?
- Next season will be more difficult. Therefore, it is not easy to make predictions. We have no experience, we do not know what we will face. God willing, we hope everything will be fine.
- AFFA will cut 500,000 manats from the 3 million that should be allocated to each of the 10 clubs due to "Karvan" and "Imishli". How much will this affect "Turan Tovuz"?
- This moment will affect not only "Turan Tovuz", but all teams, including us. I would not want it to be like this, but we have to form our budget accordingly.
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