Shakhtar CEO Serhiy Palkin has commented on the dismissal of head coach Patrick van Leeuwen and the appointment of Marino Pusic.
Sergei Palkin. Photo: shakhtar.com"I would like to congratulate Marino Pusic on his appointment as our team's head coach and wish him success, victories, trophies. For our part, we will support him as much as we can.
Why did we make the decision? Because the fans saw where we were going or not going, what kind of football we were showing or not showing. The quality of football answered all the questions, and so did the results. We made a mistake, we recognised it. We admitted it together.
I'm not saying it's only the fault of Patrick's coaching staff. No, we all made a mistake. But we corrected that mistake very quickly and move on. We have to flip through this page and realise that above everything else is the club. Not names, not positions, but the club and its results. That's why this decision was made.
Maybe it is not so human, maybe it is too fast, maybe we should have given more time, but we sat down, analysed and decided that there is no time. And to be frank, we made the right decision," Palkin is quoted by Shakhtar's official website.
