Dynamo Moscow fans made good on their promises, but brought shame upon themselves.
A group of them stormed the club’s practice facility Friday, shooting players, coaches and staff with paintball guns. They attacked their own team in protest of its poor start to the season, according to the Mail.
“They are idiots,” Dynamo Moscow president (and retired KGB general) Gennady Solovyov said. “I have no other words to describe those who could do such things. I promise I’ll do my best to try to find and punish those responsible for these actions.”
The assailants wore camouflage and masks during the attack. They also dropped flyers on the field warning the club to cut ties with foreign players Kevin Kuranyi (from Germany), Luke Wilkshire (Australia), Balazs Dzsudzsak (Hungary), Leandro Fernandez (Argentina) and Cristian Noboa (Ecuador).
“This is the final warning,” the flyers said. “We’re not going to support these losers any more. They are killing Dynamo’s football, get rid of them.”
Dyanmo Moscow, Russia’s oldest club, is struggling this season. It lost eight of its first 11 games and sits in 13th place in the 16-team Russian Premier League.
Dynamo fans have grown increasingly dissatisfied with results, and their tactics have become more confrontational and dangerous. Earlier this year, they lit flares and scrawled grafitti on the street outside the practice facility demanding improvement. The flyers they left on that occasion contained ominous warnings.
“If the club and the coaches can’t motivate you, then believe us, we will do it,” they said. “We are the supporters and the fans. And our methods will be a little more serious.”
They returned in an incident which took place in September, the Mail reports.
“Last month, several dozen supporters arrived at the club’s training ground to have what they called a ‘frank chat’ with the players about ‘their poor attitude’,” the report says.
“Video images later showed the frightened-looking players, surrounded by fans, listening to the supporters’ complaints for several minutes.”
Dynamo Moscow promises to identify, name and shame those who carried the paintball attack. Sensible fans should cooperate with the investigation, as there is no telling what will happen if new head coach Dan Petrescu doesn’t turn things around fast enough. The group of attackers have already taken their “protest” way too far.
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Photo via Facebook/Dan Petrscu
