Baltika and Armen Margaryan have agreed to end their cooperation by mutual consent.

The reasons will surely be discussed. But right now I would separate the circumstances of the parting from the assessment of almost three years of his work.

My grade is 8 out of 10. And the thank-you here is anything but routine.

⚖️ COMPARED TO WHOM?

When people judge a sporting director, they usually start with the failed transfers. That's normal. Margaryan made mistakes too.

But then a simple question suggests itself: who are we comparing him with?

With the ideal sporting director who buys everyone cheap, sells everyone dear, instantly replaces whoever leaves, fills every position and never gets one wrong?

For now that specialist only works in the comments section.

At CSKA the fans grumble about Shevelyov. Lokomotiv eventually parted with Ulyanov. Dynamo have problems with foreign signings and deals collapsing after medicals. Rubin talk about a shortage of players. Spartak searched for a forward for ages and ended up paying big money for Daku.

Krasnodar also have expensive buys that haven't yet delivered the expected effect. Zenit have their own questions about costly newcomers. Krylia and Rostov are a separate story altogether when it comes to resources and squad depth.

And that doesn't mean bad sporting directors work there.

It means something else:

the market is hard. Everybody misses.

So judging a man by the principle of "this transfer didn't work out" is too easy.

What matters far more is the bottom line.

📈 AND MARGARYAN HAS A BOTTOM LINE

He took charge of Baltika's sporting department in November 2023.

During his time the club:

  • reached the Russian Cup final;
  • won the First League;
  • returned to the RPL;
  • finished sixth — the best result in the club's history;
  • began selling players for record money by its own standards;
  • produced footballers who drew interest from Russia's leading clubs;
  • brought some of them up to national-team level.

There was a relegation too. It cannot be crossed out.

There were Kaplenko, Kovac and other debatable decisions. There were windows that left you wanting more. There were positions you wished had been filled better.

But a sporting director is judged not by the absence of mistakes, but by what outweighed in the end — the misses or the hits.

And here, in my view, the answer is obvious.

There were more hits.

Andrade. Saus. Gil. Petrov.

Different players, different stories, different jobs.

Too many to put it all down to chance.

🤝 AND THERE'S NO NEED TO CARVE UP THE CREDIT

I am not fond of the logic that goes:

if a footballer blossomed, the coach deserves the credit;

if a footballer didn't take off, the sporting director is to blame.

It doesn't work that way.

Talalaev, Ignashevich, Margaryan, the management, the scouting department, the players themselves — all of them had a part in this result.

Finding a player is one job.

Agreeing the deal is another.

Developing him is a third.

Building a team out of them is a fourth.

Margaryan is not the only author of this Baltika. But he is certainly one of the authors.

🤔 AND ONE MORE THING

I don't quite share the general delight at his departure.

Yes, the club may have had internal reasons.

Yes, disagreements may have piled up.

Yes, every working cycle ends sooner or later.

But from a fan's standpoint I don't yet see an event here that calls for celebration.

Because the man who left is not the one under whom the sporting department fell apart.

The man who left is the one under whom the club lived through one of the strongest periods of its modern history.

And the main question for me now is not even whether removing him was right.

The main question is different:

who comes in his place, and can they do better?

Because removing a man is always the easier part.

Finding the one who gives the club its next step is a different task entirely.

So today I definitely have no feeling of "at last".

Rather, respect for the work done and a cautious question to the club:

what next?

💙 Thank you, Armen Margarovich.

For these almost three years.

For the players.

For the result.

For the record seasons.

For the fact that the demands made of Baltika today are far higher than they were before you.

Good luck ahead. And may the next sporting director, at the very least, not lower this bar. 🌊