“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Henrique Carmo and CSKA Moscow agree another 5 years.
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.
The first defeat in 4 matches. The manager will say it had to come; the dressing room will say it did not have to come against Orenburg; the supporters will say both, in that order, all week.
Successful dribbles: 16. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
The training ground goes quiet for a fortnight. 4 men have gone off to be somebody else’s players, and the manager is left with the ones nobody has called.
Successful dribbles: 24. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Baltika this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
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.
200 games in the shirt. Nobody sets out to build a record like that; it happens to a certain kind of player at a certain kind of club, and this town knows what it has.
At 21 he was better than everybody his age in the division for four weeks running, which is harder than one good afternoon. Baltika will try not to make too much of it.
Something was said to Stefan Kovač and then it happened. In this industry that passes for remarkable, and the dressing room noticed faster than any supporter could.
A brace, and Brayan Gil takes the afternoon — 9.08
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Brayan Gil provided it, and the 9.08 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
4 wins in a row changes how opponents warm up: quieter, more glances across. Runs end, everybody knows that — but nobody in this dressing room is planning for it.
Successful dribbles: 25. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
Ivan Oblyakov and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Squad8 Nov 2027
Words at CSKA Moscow training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Moisés 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.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Brayan Gil. 2‑1 against Akhmat, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
2‑0 against Dinamo Moscow, and the songs went on long after the whistle. League positions come and go; days like this get retold at family dinners for years.
Beat anybody else and it is three points. Beat them, with his name on it, and it is a year of bragging rights for CSKA Moscow and a story that will outlast his contract.
“I want to win things, and I would like to do it here.” Nothing has been demanded and nothing has been threatened — but a boardroom at CSKA Moscow hears a sentence like that exactly as it was built.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at CSKA Moscow this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Nahitan Nández was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
He is 23 and the ground already sings his name, which is a thing that happens to local boys and almost never to signings. Everything from here is measured against an affection he did nothing to earn except be from here.
Marked 9.69 — the sort of number a correspondent writes down twice to be sure. Everything he tried came off, and what he did not try was not worth trying.
100 goals for this club, and somewhere in the stand there is a person who can still tell you where they were for most of them.
Squad18 Oct 2027
Words at CSKA Moscow training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Moisés 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.
At 22 he is being sung about by people twice his age, which is an affection a signing has to earn over years and a local kid gets for turning up. It is also the hardest thing in football to live up to.
2 goals before the ground had finished arriving. Krylya Sovetov spent the rest of the afternoon playing a match that had already been decided, and everybody in the stadium knew it.
Nothing about the week ahead is ordinary. Dinamo Moscow on Saturday, a town that has already started talking about it, and a dressing room that does not need telling what it means.
It is the most legitimate ambition in the sport and the hardest for most clubs to satisfy. Matvey Kislyak wants continental football; whether CSKA Moscow can provide it is a question about the next two seasons, not about him.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at CSKA Moscow this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad27 Sep 2027
Words at CSKA Moscow training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Moisés 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.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 20-year-old it feels ownership of. Henrique Carmo has it now, and everything he does for the rest of his time here will be measured against the goodwill he was handed for free.
A 1‑0 win over Ural, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
Player ratings27 Sep 2027
Brayan Gil was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.08. There are performances a supporter describes to somebody who was not there and cannot quite convey; this was one, and the number does not help either.
The fixture the calendar is arranged around. Form goes out of the window, the table is not consulted, and for ninety minutes CSKA Moscow will be judged on one thing only.
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 23 he is doing things at this level he could not do at the start of the season, and the coaching staff will tell you exactly which of them.
It is the most legitimate ambition in the sport and the hardest for most clubs to satisfy. Nahitan Nández wants continental football; whether CSKA Moscow can provide it is a question about the next two seasons, not about him.
Ivan Oblyakov and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad20 Sep 2027
Words at CSKA Moscow training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Nahitan Nández 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 music was off and the showers ran late. What was said in that dressing room stays there, but Saturday will publish the minutes.
Squad20 Sep 2027
7 new faces, and CSKA Moscow are still learning each other
A squad rebuilt inside one window pays for it in a currency nobody budgets for. The football is not worse than the sum of the players; it is worse than the sum of the players who have played together before.
Two goals and a mark of 9.04 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Sochi have kept their man, and CSKA Moscow go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
The deal with Lokomotiv Moscow is done in every sense but the one that puts him on the pitch. Nothing goes wrong at this stage, except on the occasions when it does.
“I want to be playing for trophies while my legs still let me.” Nothing in that sentence is a transfer request, and nobody at CSKA Moscow heard it as anything else.
Ivan Oblyakov 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.
Squad6 Sep 2027
Words at CSKA Moscow training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Matvey Kislyak 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.
He is 22 and the ground already sings his name, which is a thing that happens to local boys and almost never to signings. Everything from here is measured against an affection he did nothing to earn except be from here.
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around CSKA Moscow people have started saying his name in the past tense.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Nahitan Nández was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The first defeat in 4 matches. The manager will say it had to come; the dressing room will say it did not have to come against Krasnodar; the supporters will say both, in that order, all week.
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Matheus Reis, and the manager let it.
Squad23 Aug 2027
11 new faces, and CSKA Moscow are still learning each other
A squad rebuilt inside one window pays for it in a currency nobody budgets for. The football is not worse than the sum of the players; it is worse than the sum of the players who have played together before.
CSKA Moscow and Rosenborg have settled on $16.5M. The rest belongs to the player and his agent, and a supporter who has watched one of these before knows not to buy the shirt yet.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” CSKA Moscow have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
4 wins in a row changes how opponents warm up: quieter, more glances across. Runs end, everybody knows that — but nobody in this dressing room is planning for it.
Ivan Oblyakov and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
CSKA Moscow asked and Rodina said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
3 wins in a row changes how opponents warm up: quieter, more glances across. Runs end, everybody knows that — but nobody in this dressing room is planning for it.
Ivan Oblyakov 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.
It is not a grievance and it is not a demand: he wants to play continental football, and he has stopped hiding it. Whether CSKA Moscow can give him that is a question about the club, not about him.
22 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Baltika lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
The offer from BATE for Eldar Ćivić was heard out and sent back the same day. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loudly the door closes.
The clubs have shaken hands with Akron; the player has not yet. Personal terms are next, and personal terms are where more deals die than anybody prints.
The accountants will call it good business and they will be right, which is not the point anybody outside the boardroom is making. Brayan Gil was one of the reasons people came, and $8.6M does not replace that by itself.
Eldar Ćivić and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
$140.0K was the most the club would pay and Arsenal Tula were asking for more. Deals like this are revived in the last week of a window roughly half the time, and everybody involved knows it.
Squad5 Jul 2027
Fahd Moufi 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.
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at CSKA Moscow, and it is not being withdrawn.
Footballers are asked about their boyhood club so often that nobody listens to the answer. Brayan Gil has just signed for CSKA Moscow, and for once the answer mattered.
CSKA Moscow asked and Torpedo Moscow said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Chernomorets paid $390.0K and CSKA Moscow took it, which is the whole story in one sentence. The longer version involves a wage budget and will be told all season.
“I have given this everything, but my family is not here and neither am I, not really.” A footballer can be coached out of bad form. Nobody has ever been coached out of this, and CSKA Moscow know it.
Squad5 Jul 2027
Words at CSKA Moscow training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Moisés 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 words a physio says slowly. 29 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
“I listened, I thought about it, and I am staying. That is the whole story.” The clubs had agreed a fee. Brayan Gil had not agreed to go, which turned out to be the part that mattered.
Ufa have accepted the money. What Baltika do not yet have is the man, and between here and the photograph is a conversation about wages that both sides are dreading.
The offer from Chelyabinsk for Agustín Arnejo was heard out and sent back the same day. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loudly the door closes.
Baltika offered $1.5M; Dinamo Makhachkala said it was not close. The manager will be told the money is still there for the right player, which is what managers are told.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. SKA Khabarovsk have kept their man, and Baltika go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 21 he is doing things at this level he could not do at the start of the season, and the coaching staff will tell you exactly which of them.
The offer went to Akron this week and it is theirs to answer. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loud the door closes.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Baltika this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The clubs have shaken hands with Baltika; the player has not yet. Personal terms are next, and personal terms are where more deals die than anybody prints.
“I listened, I thought about it, and I am staying. That is the whole story.” The clubs had agreed a fee. Maxim Voronov had not agreed to go, which turned out to be the part that mattered.
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Vladislav Torop is 23, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
The offer went to Torpedo Moscow this week and it is theirs to answer. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loud the door closes.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Rodina have kept their man, and CSKA Moscow go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
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.
38 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Baltika lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
“I listened, I thought about it, and I am staying. That is the whole story.” The clubs had agreed a fee. Amur Kalmykov had not agreed to go, which turned out to be the part that mattered.
$1.5M on the table at Dinamo Makhachkala. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Baltika this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
$140.0K on the table at Arsenal Tula. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.
At 20 he is doing things this season that he could not do last season, and doing them every week. Form comes and goes; this has stayed long enough to be called something else.
The offer went to Baltika this week and it is theirs to answer. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loud the door closes.
At 20 he is doing things this season that he could not do last season, and doing them every week. Form comes and goes; this has stayed long enough to be called something else.
Nahitan Nández and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Grzegorz Krychowiak was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
45 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Baltika lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
The rules permit it and it stings anyway. Agustín Arnejo has agreed terms with Sochi for the summer, and until then he pulls on this shirt as a player who has already chosen his next one.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Baltika this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The name of Amur Kalmykov has come up in conversations Baltika were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
Squad14 Jun 2027
Words at Baltika training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Mingiyan Beveev 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.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Nathan Gassama trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
52 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Baltika lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Eldar Ćivić and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
There are footballers who have a good season and footballers a season is remembered for, and the second kind get their names read out in a hall in the summer. Baltika will be quietly delighted and privately nervous.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Mingiyan Beveev was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Baltika, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at Baltika. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
4 months left, and both sides know what that means: every week without a signature, the fee Baltika could ask drops and the wages Agustín Arnejo can ask rise.
60 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Baltika lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Eldar Ćivić 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.
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Chinonso Offor, and the manager let it.
Squad31 May 2027
Words at Baltika training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Cleitinho 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.
Nobody will confirm this and nothing else explains the last month of selections. A costly error buys a player a period of being second choice that is always longer than the error was.
He asked about his future and was given an answer with minutes in it. The manager has now made a promise in a building where promises are remembered, and the clock on it has started.
84 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Baltika lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
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.
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Gleb Bobylev has been at this club since he was a boy and is now, formally, one of the first-team squad — which for a local readership beats any signing of any size.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Cleitinho trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
A conversation in the manager’s office, and a commitment that came out of it. Promises like that are cheap to make and expensive to break, and Mikhail Schetinin has written the date down.
“It was not right for me. I am not going to explain why to anybody except the people I owe an explanation to.” A deal agreed between two clubs, and a player who declined to be part of it.
Eldar Ćivić 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.
Squad12 Apr 2027
Words at Baltika training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ramazan Gadjimuradov 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.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Baltika know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Baltika, and both men came out saying it was fine.
6 months left, and both sides know what that means: every week without a signature, the fee Baltika could ask drops and the wages Agustín Arnejo can ask rise.
The standards have slipped, and in a building where everybody watches everybody it has not gone unremarked. This is how a player loses a place before he loses one.
32 points in position 9: too many to go down, too few to go anywhere. The honest description of a season like this is a shrug, and the supporters have already given it.
14 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Baltika lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Eldar Ćivić 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 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.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Bahia have kept their man, and Baltika go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Baltika know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
He trains hard, says the right things and goes home to an empty flat. Nobody at Baltika has done anything wrong, which is exactly what makes it so difficult to fix.
He asked about his future and was given an answer with minutes in it. The manager has now made a promise in a building where promises are remembered, and the clock on it has started.
The words a physio says slowly. 46 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
Baltika had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at Zugdidi, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.
$1.2M on the table at Spartak Kostroma. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.
Eldar Ćivić 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.
It is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. Baltika told Ilja Petrov something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Baltika know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
61 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Baltika lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Ramazan Gadjimuradov was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Chinonso Offor and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Bogdan Tsvetkov after 0‑1, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
The demotion a club never announces and a dressing room always notices. Agustín Arnejo is further from the side than he was, and the reason will not be given until he asks.
24 seasons and 642 appearances, all of them here. Careers like this are not designed; they happen to a certain kind of man at a certain kind of club, and this town has one.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what CSKA Moscow can pretend not to have heard.
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around CSKA Moscow people have started saying his name in the past tense.
Baltika have accepted the money. What CSKA Moscow do not yet have is the man, and between here and the photograph is a conversation about wages that both sides are dreading.
$6.1M on the table at Zenit. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.
Player ratings1 Feb 2027
Matheus Alves, 21, plays like he has been here for years — 8.43
A mark of 8.43 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 21-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
“I want to be playing for trophies while my legs still let me.” Nothing in that sentence is a transfer request, and nobody at CSKA Moscow heard it as anything else.
69 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Baltika lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Two goals and a mark of 8.74 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Baltika can pretend not to have heard.
8 without a win is the sort of run that changes how a town talks about its club, and Sochi were the afternoon it stopped. Nothing is fixed by one result and everything feels different by one.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Baltika this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Three points for Baltika, 2‑1 the final word against Sochi in a contest settled by the finer margins.
Squad25 Jan 2027
Words at Baltika training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Agustín Arnejo 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.
In brief
The dugoutThe manager makes an example of Agustín Arnejo
The words a physio says slowly. 77 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
8 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
Two goals and a mark of 8.78 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at Baltika, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad18 Jan 2027
Words at Baltika training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ramazan Gadjimuradov 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.
“I have given this everything, but my family is not here and neither am I, not really.” A footballer can be coached out of bad form. Nobody has ever been coached out of this, and Baltika know it.
102 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Baltika lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Baltika this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Ramazan Gadjimuradov was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 0‑2, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
The words a physio says slowly. 116 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
At 22 he is being sung about by people twice his age, which is an affection a signing has to earn over years and a local kid gets for turning up. It is also the hardest thing in football to live up to.
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Nikita Guskov has been at this club since he was a boy and is now, formally, one of the first-team squad — which for a local readership beats any signing of any size.
200 games in this shirt, through managers and relegations and everything else. Service like it is disappearing from the game and the crowd knows what it is watching.
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.
126 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Baltika lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Ramazan Gadjimuradov was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The goal that put Akron ahead was still being replayed on the concourse when Baltika equalised, 1 minutes later. Leads are only worth what you do with them.
1‑1, and both dressing rooms will call it two points lost. A draw that asked plenty of questions and answered none of them.
The dugout7 Dec 2026
The manager’s verdict
“I am frustrated, honestly. We did enough to win and we did not win.” Bogdan Tsvetkov was not hiding it after 1‑1, and nobody in the Baltika dressing room was either.
The words a physio says slowly. 133 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
Maxim Shnaptsev 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.
Squad30 Nov 2026
Words at Baltika training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ramazan Gadjimuradov 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.
Player ratings30 Nov 2026
Yegor Golenkov was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.08. There are performances a supporter describes to somebody who was not there and cannot quite convey; this was one, and the number does not help either.
“It is not the end of the world and it is not good enough. Both of those are true.” The manager, after a 1‑1 draw, said the honest thing and then went to say it again inside.
Two goals and a mark of 9.03 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at Baltika, and it is not being withdrawn.
Eldar Ćivić 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.
A 3‑1 win over Krylya Sovetov, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
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.
“The players deserve the credit. My job was easy today.” It was not, and everybody in the room knew it; after 3‑1, Bogdan Tsvetkov could afford to be generous.
0‑4 to Zenit, and it was every bit as bad as the number suggests. There are defeats you argue about and defeats you apologise for; this was the second kind.
The terraces2 Nov 2026
The ground has had enough
“We travel everywhere and we get this.” 8 of the 33 senior players heard it walking off, and the ones who did not hear it were not playing.
Maxim Shnaptsev 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.
Squad2 Nov 2026
Words at Baltika training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Agustín Arnejo 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.
9 combined actions and 6.65. The job he did is the one that shows up as other people looking good, and the only reliable way to notice it is to watch what happens on the afternoons he is missing.
“There is a gap, and pretending there is not helps nobody.” Neither side has moved, and the calendar is working for exactly one of them.
The dugout2 Nov 2026
The manager’s verdict
“That is on me. I pick the team and I picked wrong.” Managers say that when they mean it and when they need to be seen to, and after 0‑4 Bogdan Tsvetkov left the room before anybody could ask which.
“I was told what my role would be, and I signed on that basis. It has not happened.” A grievance with a date attached is the hardest kind to settle.
Squad26 Oct 2026
Words at Baltika training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Yassine Benzia 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.
“I have given this everything, but my family is not here and neither am I, not really.” A footballer can be coached out of bad form. Nobody has ever been coached out of this, and Baltika know it.
14 new signings in one window. Every one may be an upgrade and the side can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild the verdicts never mention.
“The players deserve the credit. My job was easy today.” It was not, and everybody in the room knew it; after 2‑1, Bogdan Tsvetkov could afford to be generous.
In brief
The dugoutThe manager makes an example of Ilja Petrov
Eldar Ćivić 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Ramazan Gadjimuradov was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
A performance of 8.08 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
Squad28 Sep 2026
14 new faces, and Baltika are still learning each other
A squad rebuilt inside one window pays for it in a currency nobody budgets for. The football is not worse than the sum of the players; it is worse than the sum of the players who have played together before.
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Bogdan Tsvetkov after 1‑3, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
Nobody at Baltika is suggesting he is out of form. The manager simply wanted somebody with a different set of qualities for ninety specific minutes, and there is nothing a player can train to fix that.
The deadline has passed and the squad is the squad. 22 arrived, 16 left, and everything else printed about this club last month was a rumour that stayed one.
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.
Anass Achahbar 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.
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Makar Sazonov has been at this club since he was a boy and is now, formally, one of the first-team squad — which for a local readership beats any signing of any size.
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Mikhail Maksimov has been at this club since he was a boy and is now, formally, one of the first-team squad — which for a local readership beats any signing of any size.
Marked 8.52 — the sort of number a correspondent writes down twice to be sure. Everything he tried came off, and what he did not try was not worth trying.
200 games in the shirt. Nobody sets out to build a record like that; it happens to a certain kind of player at a certain kind of club, and this town knows what it has.
Maxim Shnaptsev 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.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Rubin have kept their man, and Baltika go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Ramazan Gadjimuradov was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Baltika, another week without a signature from Ramazan Gadjimuradov.
The dugout7 Sep 2026
The manager’s verdict
“That is on me. I pick the team and I picked wrong.” Managers say that when they mean it and when they need to be seen to, and after 1‑2 Bogdan Tsvetkov left the room before anybody could ask which.
A brace, and Brayan Gil takes the afternoon — 9.60
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Brayan Gil provided it, and the 9.60 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at Apollon is saying, and nobody at Baltika is enjoying the guessing.
The chase for Mikhail Schetinin ended with $550.0K changing hands and Lokomotiv Moscow out of reasons to say no. The supporters will judge the fee the only way that matters: on Saturdays.
Eldar Ćivić 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.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Brayan Gil. 3‑1 against Orenburg, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
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.
The offer from Spartak Moscow for Maxim Petrov was heard out and sent back the same day. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loudly the door closes.
Every footballer has an answer to the question about his boyhood club, and most of them never get to act on it. Ramazan Gadjimuradov has, at Baltika, and the first month will show what that does to a man.
Add another name to the list: Orenburg have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Eldar Ćivić. The answer from Baltika has not changed — yet.
The offer went to Rubin this week and it is theirs to answer. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loud the door closes.
Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at Ferencvaros is saying, and nobody at Baltika is enjoying the guessing.
Eldar Ćivić 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.
Baltika asked and AEK said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.