 Just before the start of new 1996–97 season a scandal took place related to ownership.Dmytro Zlobenko was removed from the club which with help of the Army was passed to some businessman by name of Mikhail Grinshpon, a president of "Kiev–Donbass".Concurrently, Mikhail Grinshpon was an adviser to the Ukrainian Minister of Defense Oleksandr Kuzmuk.