Shahdag ring the changes

FK Shahdag Gusar changed their coach and their name before the start of the new Azerbaijani season.

Gasymov arrives
The club has taken on the new name FK Shahdag-Samur Gusar and has brought in the experienced 53-year-old Nadyr Gasymov to replace their 32-year-old player-coach Kyamran Nurakhmedov.

Coaching pedigree
Gasymov became famous in the late 1990s when he coached the Azeri Under-16 team and his players unexpectedly drew 1-1 with their Italian counterparts in the UEFA European Under-16 Championship. Later on, he coached FK Baki Fehlesi and FK ANS-Pivani. ANS-Pivani went into liquidation in 2000 and Gasymov has not coached since then.

'We need some time'
"When I agreed to take over, I promised the directors that I would do everything possible to improve things at the club," he said. "I also met some representatives of the regional council and I feel that they are interested in the good performance of the team. Taking the situation into account, I declare that Shahdag-Samur will show their worth by the end of the first part of the championship. For the moment we need some time."

Poor start
However, changes off the field did not seem to have done the playing side of the club many favours as the newly-named Shahdag-Samur were beaten 5-1 at home by title hopefuls FK Karabakh-Azersun in their opening game of the new season.