An Interview with ex-Amkar, Mordovia and Anzhi Defender Thomas Phibel
http://russianfootballnews.com/an-inter ... as-phibel/
It soon turned out that this wasn’t true at all, and that Phibel had seemingly been swindled. Unable to escape his demons, the player was arrested upon returning home in 2017 and had to spend 10 months behind bars.
After being released from prison, Phibel aimed to move on with life and get himself back into playing condition.
"After getting out, I had to find a team for myself and started training with local teams. Sadly, I can’t do anything about my situation. Life is like that, I just tried to stay happy and focused on reviving my career. I’ve played with many players over the course of my career, but when you’re in a bad situation, nobody is able to help you. There are no friends, everyone forgets about you. I still tried to stay strong, got myself fit and tried to overcome this."
In early 2019, Phibel signed for Lithuanian club Palanga, who was ejected from the league later in the year after being convicted of match manipulation. Baltic football is often considered to be a wild west when it comes to illegalities in the sport, and it’s clear that Thomas too was exposed to some of these, much to his displeasure.
"This club had too many complications. Even though it wasn’t about the money for me as I just wanted to get back to normalcy and get match practice, it was still too much for me. There were fights within the team, crazy things going on all the time, it was not professional at all. I then told my agent to find a club in Russia, due to how much I like the league and the country."
After 16 games in Lithuania, Phibel left the country and returned to free agency.
In fact, Phibel almost did come back to Russia after leaving Lithuania. Grigoryan, who had previously worked with the player at Anzhi invited him to newly promoted Tambov.
"At the time, Cedric Gogoua had just signed for CSKA Moscow and Tambov needed a central defender. In the end, I sadly didn’t make it because I couldn’t meet the transfer deadline as my visa and work permit didn’t arrive in time. Finally, I chose to stay in Geneva."
Following this saga, Phibel’s agent convinced him to move to Ararat Yerevan in Armenia:
"My agent said that only Armenian clubs were willing to sign me, and even though I didn’t want to go there, he convinced me by saying that I could earn a move back to Russia if I played well in Armenia."
Another stroke of misfortune hit, in the form of the COVID-19 pandemic, and Phibel’s career was derailed again.
"I went to Armenia because I really needed the playing time, but the situation here was as strange as Lithuania. The stadium was bad, there was absolutely no professionalism, and COVID made everything worse. Different countries had different restrictions which meant that half the team couldn’t fly back in to play. The coaches kept changing, you didn’t know who the real manager was, and because of everything, I ended up leaving after just 8 games. After Russia, I’ve only played for crazy teams! (laughs)."
Phibel returned to Switzerland once again, and has been looking for a club ever since.
"I got some offers again, from clubs in Bosnia, a shady team from Serbia, but no offer from a club I had heard of. I don’t want another bad experience, I don’t want to take risks."
Another thing about the football world that bothers Thomas is the explicit bias towards young players, and to be fair, he has a point. Football has moved to a point where the first thing players are judged by is their age, and anyone over the age of 30 is looked at with suspicion.
"Everybody these days including my agent says that age is a big issue. Everyone is like ‘age, age, age!’ I don’t get it. You should at least see a player on the pitch, and then judge him after his performances, at least give him a small trial. So what if I’m 34? I have the experience, every manager I’ve played with knows that I am a serious player with high ambitions who can play at a good level. The situation right now is tough but I believe that if I can find a serious team, I can still make good of my career."
Most recently, RPL newcomers Khimki showed interest in Phibel, only for the club to be turned off because of his age.
"If you have a player who is free, a player that wants to fight and doesn’t want much money, why can’t you give him a chance? I’m still in good condition, but nobody wants me because of my age. Of course, I am a little bit sad."
To end, Phibel left us with a message he wanted to share with the world:
"I deserve at least one more chance. If you have players that constantly keep slipping up, that always have problems with their mentality, then you can understand the hesitation. I’ve never had any problems, no conflicts, not with any player, any manager, or any fan. I just want a second chance."