Milacic: It will be difficult to make a living from football for a while

The Montenegrin first league players are preparing diligently under the prescribed conditions for the continuation of the competition in Telekom 1. CFL. The last 13 rounds will give many answers, but only one is important for Kom - staying in the company of the best.

The situation in which Kom - and not only the club from Zlatica - found itself after the suspension of the championship due to the new coronavirus pandemic is unenviable. In the entire club structure of Koma, there are only four people outside of work on the field, and the role of the legend of Montenegrin grass fields, Branislav-Bran Milačić, is coordination in all tasks. His many decades of experience and experience of success are great assets of Koma in overcoming difficulties.

- We won the most important battle, the one with the preservation of health and life. Our players are athletes, young people and people focused on healthy lifestyles, they have proven that in this crisis. And not only that! We at the club were pleasantly surprised by the preparedness with which the players approached training for the continuation of the season after the two-month isolation. I have a lot of experiences from the past when football players came back from the army and it wasn't like that then. Now technology also helps, and during the break, coach Radisav Dragićević sent the players a program of work and individual preparations for each day in advance. And now they train in separate groups, without a locker room, but I can see that it also brings some advantages. Working in smaller groups helps in the technical and tactical improvement of the players and corrects what was missed in the younger categories - said Milačić.

Kom met the end of the championship in the penultimate position with 22 points, but also with a 3:2 victory away from OFK Titograd, which ended the spring series of defeats. However, two months have passed since then...

- Points after a bad series is not a gain, but it is the fact that we parted in a good mood and that raised the mood. He contributed to such good individual work, but the players also showed that they are real people and athletes, they respected themselves and the club because they received a 50 percent reduced salary for March and April. That's all the club could do. Given that only money from the Football Association is a safe source of income for Kom, that we are the only country in Europe where there is not a cent of income from tickets, advertising and TV rights, we depended on the help and understanding of football enthusiasts from business entities, but that gate problems caused by the corona crisis are closing. The economy is in trouble, and this is currently the biggest damage caused by the pandemic. What remains for us is rationalization, and it will be difficult to make a living from football in some period.

What are the prospects for Koma to "survive" the period of crisis caused by the pandemic?

- We will last until the end of this season, for sure! Then comes the budget revision. It would mean a lot to us to fulfill our goal, which is survival in the First League. In preparation, we have 13 first team players under the age of 21, who are asserting themselves in the right way and for whom there has been interest since January. If we manage to survive and with a little patience, the football market will stabilize and we will gain. The guild crisis will be paid by older and more experienced players who have families and if they do not find a good football engagement, they will have to change their profession. Younger players have smaller expenses, and their careers and affirmation come before finances at that age. Young people were and will be the future of Koma, and there are many talents. But they also need a coach on the field during the matches, which are old experienced players, who are leaders and they advise and teach younger teammates. There is no progress without them, but there should not be so many of them in the teams of our league. For example, France, even the Premier League, have more young players than ours. And the quality will remain there somewhere, because even until now our league could not boast of great quality - Milacic concluded.

Affirmation of young people is the only hope for a way out

The Telekom 1. CFL will be one of the first competitions to continue in Europe. In the last days of May, he will play football again.

- Even now, the happiness of the players that they are finally working can be seen. The burden on the coach is incomparably greater, but the players make it easier for him with a great relationship. These are young people used to daily and hard work, and this crisis must have hit them hard. Unfortunately, they cannot get what they deserve, because Kom is not on the municipal budget. Budućnost, Iskra, Sutjeska and Rudar are on the budget from the first league in Montenegro, Podgorica is the most organized club and is also not threatened, while for all other first league teams, including Kom, the time of great trials is coming and it will depend on the resourcefulness and work of the management. The state, unfortunately, never recognized the importance of football. The raising of hands by the national champion and the shutting down of Mogren, and the attitude towards Rudar prove that. The club doesn't have to be in the first division, but shutting down a champion is a crime. We will try to survive in Koma, even if we play for nothing, but ambition will be envious from the end of the season. We have young players who are progressing, coach Raj Dragićević has shown that he knows how to work with them and they are a pledge for the future - Milacic believes.