Former Simininya Karasicena player Dmitri Alenichev, who won the World League title with the team in 2009, has been announced as the club’s new manager at a press conference earlier today in the capital. After a disappointing set of results for the side over several years, there has been increased speculation that a new head could be appointed, with interim manager Andrei Chekov thought to be increasingly pushing for a decision to be made about a permanent successor. The 74 year old took over back in 2023 as the club hit its lowest ebb, but has largely failed to have any significant impact. A decision however now, finally, has come, with Alenichev agreeing an initial two-year deal to return to front-line football from retirement and his subsequent failed political career in 2020.
The goalscorer of Simininya’s World victory sixteen years ago in Erlangen-Ansbach, Alenichev is perhaps more contemporarily known as the husband of former Prime Minister Asta Dahn. The pair married back in 2010, shortly after meeting, in a whirlwind romance following the surprise win for the Polascianan’s against Potenzan side A.C. Ribenna at the Königliche Post Arena in Laufen. Simininya’s players became national stars overnight, having gone from rank outsiders to champions. The young squad were however seen as somewhat lucky, having qualified into a tournament in a year where all the major favourites suffered an early exit. But, Alenichev double-downed quickly, proposing to Dahn after just six months, as she herself began to embark on her political career. A state ministerial post quickly opened up, and the couple together charted a path which saw them both cement their status as household names, with Dahn becoming Prime Minister in 2018. He left football just two years later.
Alenichev’s return however will now see him contend with a similarly young squad as his mentor Egor Bartrev did then, but one that does not have even half the belief. Hemorrhaging young talent to other clubs, Simininya has tumbled down Polasciana’s domestic league, perhaps even faster than Dahn’s political career ended, and even just narrowly avoiding relegation from professional football all together in 2022. Rumours over the stability of his own relationship with the former Prime Minister have also plagued his private life over recent years, but helped Alenichev remain well-known. The club’s management however view this history, profile and pedigree as central to “rebuilding the dream”, and returning it to the top-flight of continental games. That is certainly a tall order, even though an injection of private funding is rumoured to come as part of a package that secured Alenichev’s services.
Alenichev will take up post at the end of the month, as the new domestic season gets underway. No further press statement has yet been made, post the announcement, and it is also unknown whether Dahn is supportive of the move, having left government last year, and with the couple now having two children. Alenichev’s own failed attempted political career, running in a special election to replace a departing minister in Dahn’s own government, contributed significantly to his wife’s eventual ejection from office, in embarrassing circumstances. How well the couple will deal with this new reality therefore and a third-spell in the public limelight, only time will tell.
While not confirmed by either side, Alenichev’s deal is expected to see him paid some 1.2 million Kryak a year, a fee that will only extend his wealth in Polasciana, is still only about a tenth of that of major club managers across Gallia and beyond.
