Ex-Levadia sporting director Tarmo Kink: 'You don't treat people like that'
Tarmo Kink, who resigned as FCI Levadia Tallinn's Sporting Director at the beginning of October, has spoken at length about the incident that led to his departure from the club, in the latest episode of the documentary series "For Victory: FCI Levadia" (Võidu nimel: FCI Levadia).
The most recent episode of the documentary series, which is sponsored by betting firm CoolBet, goes behind the scenes at Levadia at the time of Kink's departure.
Following Levadia's dramatic win over fellow Tallinn club Nõmme Kalju in early October, Kink, who at the height of his playing career played 22 games for English side Middlesbrough, scoring 4 goals, was ordered to leave the team's dressing room by owner Viktor Levada.
"After that, I immediately called Sergei (Levadia CEO Sergei Hohlov-Simson - ed) and told him I was resigning. Levada asked me to leave the dressing room, and definitely not in a polite way. Not in a rude way either, but it definitely was not the way you usually treat people," Kink said.
"I was basically forced to quit. I didn't want to go, I would have happily stayed and fought until all those who were not on our side were kicked out, but, in the end, it was me who was kicked out instead," said Kink.
Comparing his time in charge at Levadia to an unfinished construction project, Kink, 37, said: "Basically, in half a year, we built the house and put the windows in, but then they just went ahead and started decorating everything without asking."
A week after Kink's departure, Levadia CEO and board member Sergei Hohlov-Simson announced that he would also be stepping down from his post at the club at the end of the season.
"The decision to leave at the end of the season was accelerated by certain events, namely the involvement of people with whom my principles and views do not align when it comes to important decisions concerning the club," said Hohlov-Simson.
With three rounds of games left to play in this season's Meistriliiga, FCI Levadia are guaranteed a second place finish. Tallinn rivals Flora have already been crowned this year's Meistriliiga champions, securing the fourteenth title in the club's history with an emphatic 7-1 win over Pärnu Vaprus on October 10.
The documentary series (Võidu nimel: FCI Levadia), which follows Levadia's progress through the 2021-22 season can be seen (with some episodes including English, Russian and Estonian subtitles) here.
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Editor: Michael Cole
