After a disastrous start to the season, Aleh Konanau has resigned as manager of Ukrainian club Karpaty Lviv.

Karpaty finished in 5th place last season and thus earned an opportunity to compete in this year’s Europa League qualifications but they were eliminated in the play-off round by Greek club PAOK.  However, the problems for Karpaty Lviv continued in league play as they are currently in 14th place out of 16 teams with only ten points after 13 rounds in the Ukrainian top division.

So, after the recent 0:3 home loss this past Sunday against Arsenal Kyiv, the Karpaty manager Aleh Konanau decided to resign today.  His resignation was accepted by the management of the club so Konanau is no longer the manager of the Lviv based club.

Martin Bogatinov did not even make the bench for the past two league games for Karpaty so the change of coaches might benefit the Macedonian international.  Bogatinov opened the season as the starter but the team was underperforming and Konanau decided to play musical chairs at the goalkeeping position between Bogatinov and Andriy Tlumak.  He kept on going back and forth before finally settling for Tlumak in the past month as youngster Oleksandr Ilyuschenkov also overtook Bogatinov to become the #2 keeper in the past two matches.

The Karpaty president announced that Pavlo Kucerov will be the interim manager until the winter break.  That means that Kucerov will be in charge of six league games for Karpaty before the club will then decide whether to keep him permanently or hire another manager for the second half of the season.  Keep in mind that the last game of the first half of the season is on 3 December.  Then, a winter break of three months follows before the second half of the season resumes on 3 March 2012.

Karpaty’s next game is on 22 October when they face Kryvbas on the road.  We will find out whether the interim manager will stick with Tlumak at keeper or turn to Bogatinov.  Also, if he starts Tlumak, will Bogatinov at least return to the bench as the #2 keeper or remain out of the squad?  Those questions will all be answered on Saturday during the Kryvbas vs. Karpaty game.