By Gennady Fyodorov
MOSCOW, May 18 - Former Spartak president Andrei
Chervichenko has denied allegations of widespread doping in the
Moscow club in 2003.
Russian media reported last month that Spartak were involved
in systematic doping two years ago and that the country's soccer
authorities knew about it and tried to conceal the problem.
"I'm tired of hearing that Spartak under my control was an
evil empire," Chervichenko, who had run the club for five years
until he was pushed out last year, told Izvestia newspaper.
"They keep bringing these doping allegations and just throw
everything into one heap: tax evasion, criminal cases, money
laundering...It's like I'm the only one guilty of all these
things, as if they didn't exist long before I came to the club.
"I'm surprised that I haven't been accused of cold-blooded
murder yet."
Spartak captain Yegor Titov received a one-year ban by UEFA
in January 2004 after testing positive for the banned stimulant
bromantan following the first leg of Russia's Euro 2004 playoff
against Wales in November 2003 when he was an unused substitute.
Wales lodged appeals with UEFA and the Court of Arbitration
for Sport (CAS) to try to overturn Russia's victory and take
their place in Euro 2004.
The appeals were rejected by both UEFA and the CAS.
Asked if the club had conducted its own probe into the Titov
affair, Chervichenko said: "Of course we did, but I don't want
to tell you the results of our investigation because it won't do
the club any good."
DOPING RIFE
Two former Spartak players, Maxim Demenko and Vladislav
Vashchyuk, alleged that doping was rife in the club.
"The players were simply used as guinea pigs," Demenko was
quoted as saying by Sport-Express newspaper last month.
"I know that sooner or later we will suffer the
after-effects of all that (doping)," said Vashchyuk.
Demenko said that players were given small white pills just
before a match. He said at halftime once he had been so
disoriented that he went to the wrong bench after being
substituted.
The daily also wrote that several Spartak players had been
suddenly withdrawn from the national team on the eve of Russia's
key Euro 2004 qualifier against Ireland in September 2003.
However, the outspoken Chervichenko, who now runs first
division Khimki, said the players' allegations were just sour
grapes after Spartak did not renew their contracts.
"Demenko said he was on drugs and that's why he went to the
wrong bench but I say he shouldn't have been drinking so much,"
Chervichenko countered.
He said Vashchyuk was using drugs to regain strength after
injury: "He wanted to play because his salary would have been