Amkar endured a truly dreadful start of the season and looked like a side destined for relegation from early on. Having stumbled in the second half of the previous season, they lacked momentum and belief in the early weeks, while the complete lack of firepower and quality on the wings meant that they were also extremely blunt. Indeed, Amkar lost four games in a row to start with and won just two points from the opening seven games, scoring once during that run. Yet an experienced tactician like Gadzhi Gadzhiev gritted his teeth and managed to squeeze something from his limited squad in the games to come.
Some impressive away wins at the expense of Rubin Kazan and Lokomotiv Moscow lifted the doom and gloom around the Perm side as the players started to show a bit more confidence going forward. Indeed, the Black and Reds went on a six-game unbeaten streak and swiftly moved out of the bottom four. It was expected that Amkar will continue to stabilise themselves in mid-table once they got going but the limitations of the team showed up again, with the efficiency shown in these wins waning off again. In fact, Amkar finished 2017 very much on a downward spiral after winning one in eight games and looking quite dour again. Yet, they at least managed to recover from that dire start and look to have a fighting chance of staying up.
The spring campaign started with the shock news of Gadzhiev resigning just a few days before the first competitive game of the year. Reserve team coach Vadim Evseev took over but he barely changed the formula with which Amkar played, packing up the defence and relying on scraps on the four. A battling effort against Zenit earned the team a point in his first game in charge and Amkar pulled off a major upset a few weeks later when they stunned Lokomotiv Moscow, running away with the title, at their own backyard. Yet it was not enough to catapult them to safety and Amkar remained inside the bottom four until the end of the season.
Some good results towards the end were just not enough to propel them to safety, with a goalless draw at home to Akhmat on the last match day meaning that Amkar faced relegation play-off, having earned 35 points with a measly 20 goals scored. Yet they kept their nerve against Tambov over two legs and won 3:0 on aggregate to stay up. It was not easy but the team showed enough in the spring to keep their status. Yet there is little prospect of anything too different next season for a cash-strapped club that can hardly bring any genuine quality.
