Selyuk reveals reasons for leaving Pyunik and criticises Gunko appointment

Well-known football agent Dmitry Selyuk is leaving Yerevan-based Pyunik. The reason is the club management’s decision to back Dmitry Gunko as the new head coach. The news was previously reported by InsideYan.

Selyuk worked within Pyunik’s structure for around a month. During that period, several players joined the club with his involvement, while changes were also made to the sporting department. In particular, the coaching staff led by Artak Oseyan left the team.

Selyuk planned to continue restructuring the club and wanted to appoint former Rodina head coach Juan Diaz, but Pyunik’s management ultimately opted for Gunko.

In an interview, Selyuk explained the reasons behind his departure in detail.

“Pyunik’s sponsors supported Dmitry Gunko’s candidacy. I was invited to the club so that I could completely change and transform Pyunik both from a sporting and financial perspective: reduce the budget and build a stronger team that would compete in European competitions every year.

I can now reveal the details of why the coaching staff led by Artak Oseyan was dismissed. First of all, I was completely dissatisfied with the way Pyunik were playing. The players looked as though they were walking on the pitch, and there was no intensity in training. I asked to see all of the players’ testing results, but they were never provided. It turned out nobody was doing this work at all, which is strange.

From a sporting perspective, I was not satisfied with the work of the coaching staff. After the 60th minute, the team was literally ‘dying’ on the pitch. That is why we decided to part ways with Oseyan’s staff and bring in other specialists.

I invited Zhirayr Martirosyan to become head of recruitment, while Alexander Bazarevich was appointed coach of Pyunik-2. We have a good understanding with Suren Baghdasaryan, and everything was going well. We were considering different candidates.”

According to Selyuk, the leading candidate for the head coach position was Spanish specialist Juan Diaz, who recently left Moscow club Rodina.

“I proposed Juan Diaz together with his coaching staff. He recently left Rodina. They are professional specialists: together with the team, they made the journey from the FNL to the Russian Premier League. Diaz worked at Sevilla and alongside Juan Carlos Carcedo. He is a knowledgeable specialist.

We had practically reached an agreement with him. I was prepared to cover half of the coaching staff’s salary budget from my own funds. Unfortunately, however, the club’s sponsors decided to appoint Russian coach Dmitry Gunko.”

Selyuk also strongly criticised Gunko’s candidacy, stressing that he does not agree with the club management’s decision.

“I believe Gunko is not capable of achieving serious results. His championship victory with Urartu in Armenia, in my opinion, was also connected with the level of competition that season.

If you genuinely want to fight for the Armenian championship, changes are needed. I am a professional, and I came here on the condition that I would be responsible for the sporting department. However, Gunko’s candidacy is being imposed on me.

Because of this, I am leaving Pyunik and wish the club good luck. I will always follow the team. Pyunik are an ambitious club, so the decision to appoint Gunko, who was recently dismissed by Arsenal Tula, is difficult for me to understand,” Selyuk said.

Thus, Dmitry Selyuk’s cooperation with Pyunik has ended around one month after he joined the club. An official decision from the Yerevan side regarding its new head coach is now expected.