Marked for Ibrahim Juma
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Boardroom21 May 2029
Pressure builds in the Rukh boardroom
The directors have stopped offering the manager public warmth. In football that is usually the stage before the short statement.
The dugout21 May 2029
This is not rotation. Oleksii Tovarnytskyi has not been in the manager's plans for some time, and nobody at Rukh is pretending otherwise.
Squad21 May 2029
Tempers go at Rukh
Yehor Hunichev was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Squad21 May 2029
Marian Shved falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Squad21 May 2029
Home is on Adrien's mind
“Some mornings you wake up and you are still a long way from everything you know.” It is not the football and it never was; Rukh are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
The dugout21 May 2029
Klayver knocks on the manager’s door
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Klayver trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Market21 May 2029
The Marian Shved story refuses to die
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Marian Shved signs something — a contract at Rukh or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
The dugout21 May 2029
Nobody at Rukh will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
Market21 May 2029
The shop window has Klayver in it
Rukh have let the market know Klayver can be had. No price in the advert, but everyone in the trade knows roughly what it says.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Boardroom7 May 2029
The board have said in public what they had been saying in private. Results between now and the next meeting decide it, and everybody in the building knows the arithmetic.
Market7 May 2029
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Rukh they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Squad7 May 2029
Tempers go at Rukh
Marian Shved was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
The dugout7 May 2029
This is not rotation. Danylo Sydorenko has not been in the manager's plans for some time, and nobody at Rukh is pretending otherwise.
Squad7 May 2029
A row about effort at Rukh
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Klayver was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout7 May 2029
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
Squad7 May 2029
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Ibrahim Juma and Rukh agree another 3 years.
The dugout7 May 2029
Yehor Hunichev asks for a word with the manager
“I would rather say it to his face than read about it.” The meeting was requested by the player, which tells you most of what you need to know.
Squad7 May 2029
Nothing is announced when this happens and everybody knows. He is a bigger part of the plan at Rukh than he was a month ago, and the training ground worked that out before the team sheet said so.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Boardroom26 Mar 2029
The silence upstairs is getting loud at Rukh
Nobody on the board has said anything against the manager, which is the point — they have stopped saying anything for him either.
The dugout26 Mar 2029
This is not rotation. Oleksii Tovarnytskyi has not been in the manager's plans for some time, and nobody at Rukh is pretending otherwise.
Squad26 Mar 2029
A falling-out at Rukh
Marian Shved and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad26 Mar 2029
Words at Rukh training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Klayver is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
The dugout26 Mar 2029
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
The dugout26 Mar 2029
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Rukh, and both men came out saying it was fine.
The dugout26 Mar 2029
Nobody at Rukh will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
Market26 Mar 2029
The Marian Shved story refuses to die
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Marian Shved signs something — a contract at Rukh or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
Market26 Mar 2029
The list is a quiet document with a loud meaning. Tutti may talk to anybody who asks, and everybody at the club understands what that means.