Very hard and filled with injuries, scandals and serious problems with fans and players season saw Spartak just about doing enough to qualify for Europe.
Early on it all looked calm and 5 clean sheets in the opening 6 rounds and strategic 0:0 away draw vs. Zenit seemed to have settled the Reds nicely. However, 3 consecutive home defeats vs. Akhmat, Rostov and Arsenal Tula saw the hugely popular with the fans title-winning coach Massimo Carrera shockingly sacked after round 11.
This happened after the team’s captain Glushakov had made awful public comments about him and war between angry fans and the disgraced player marked every home match from that point on.
Eventually in late November the arrival of experienced Kononov in charge steadied the results, he started his reign with 5 wins and 2 draws, but the fans kept attacking the players and wanting Carrera back.
On top of all that injuries to key players were issue all campaign, with at least 3-4 likely starters missing at all times.
April was the month that nearly saw Spartak throwing away their top 5 position with 3 defeats in 4 rounds showing that Kononov struggled to improve the displays much. In the end luck and mistakes from others helped Spartak to steal the last visa for Europa League.
With many question marks about the future and lots of uncertainties surround players, hugely important Fernando is expected to be one of many to leave this summer, Spartak are likely to have more unsettled times ahead.
