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The former coach of the Russian national team, Oleg Romantsev, left the position of head coach of Moscow's "Dynamo" after a poor start to the season, the capital city club announced on Monday.
"Unfortunately, I was unable to build a team from the players," Romantsev said on the club's website.
Former club goalkeeper Andrey Kobelev has become the interim coach of "Dynamo."
This year, "Dynamo" was considered one of the strongest contenders for the Russian championship title as the club owner, Alexei Fedorychev, spent about 60 million euros on player acquisitions before the season.
Last week, the club confirmed signing a contract to acquire Portugal national team stars Maniche and Costinha from "Porto" for 20 million euros. They will join seven other Portuguese-speaking players at the Moscow club.
Despite the impressive names, the "police" club has struggled to find its game: suffering a fourth consecutive defeat on Saturday, this time to "Amkar" Perm, dropping to tenth place in the standings.
"Dynamo" also announced the release of forward Dmitry Bulykin from the club, who did not deliver the expected results.
51-year-old Romantsev is one of the most famous Russian coaches: he won the Russian championship nine times with Moscow's "Spartak," but in June 2003, he was dismissed from the head coach position after a conflict with the club's management.
He helped the Russian national team qualify for the 2002 World Cup in Japan and South Korea but was fired from his coaching position after his team failed to advance past the group stage, considered the easiest in the tournament.
Until February 2004, Romantsev led the Ramenskoye "Saturn" team but unexpectedly left, joining "Dynamo" in October of last year, saving one of Russia's most famous clubs from relegation to a lower league.
