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Sergei Stepashin, a member of the RFU’s executive committee, said Capello’s salary, which has not been paid at all since June, remained unaffordable.
“I can declare that the money to pay Capello is not there,” he said. “Clearly it’s wrong to fail to pay the salary of your national team’s coach, but when they signed the contract they should really have thought about how to fund it. Today we’re still looking for a source of funding.”
Capello admitted earlier this month that his patience over the dispute was running out, saying he felt “close to the limit … I’m somewhere near”.
The financial crisis at the RFU this week led to two members of Capello’s coaching staff, Christian Panucci and Massimo Neri, refusing to travel with the side to their Euro 2016 qualifier in Austria due to what the governing body called an ongoing “contractual dispute”.
The scale of Capello’s salary has repeatedly caused unrest in Russia, with the nationalist politician Vladimir Zhirinovsky branding him “a thief”in July, while fellow MP Oleg Pakholkov said the Italian was simply in the job for the salary: “I think Capello knew very well he would achieve nothing with our team, but he simply decided it was a good way to make money, he wanted to hoover up bundles of cash for his retirement.”
Capello’s contract runs through to the 2018 World Cup, which Russia will host. Russia’s sports minister, Vitaly Mutko, has previously suggested that the RFU’s failure to pay salaries had caused the team’s slump in form, as well as reputational damage.
“It doesn’t give either the team or the coach any extra motivation ... The whole situation doesn’t make Russia look good in any way.”
Russia are second in Euro 2016 qualifying Group G, behind Austria and level on points with Sweden.
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