Marked for Stepan Asharin
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Market16 Jun 2031
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
Squad16 Jun 2031
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Strogino this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad16 Jun 2031
Nobody makes a documentary about a hamstring and everybody in the game fears one. Strogino will be careful with the return date, because the second one is always worse than the first.
Transfer targets16 Jun 2031
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Volna have kept their man, and Strogino go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Squad16 Jun 2031
Words at Strogino training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Vladislav Drapeza 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.
Market16 Jun 2031
Matei Romănescu is free to find somewhere else
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at Strogino has been clear about where Matei Romănescu stands, which is more than many ever get.
Market16 Jun 2031
“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.
Transfer targets16 Jun 2031
A loan enquiry to Dinamo Bryansk: cover, or a look at somebody the club cannot afford to buy yet. Either way the answer will come back inside the week.
Transfer targets16 Jun 2031
A loan enquiry to Sokol: cover, or a look at somebody the club cannot afford to buy yet. Either way the answer will come back inside the week.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad3 Feb 2031
6 goals in one afternoon from one man. The other players were also present, a witness confirmed.
Match1 Feb 2031
Rarely has this fixture seen a display like it: 20‑0 against Rodina 2, and it could have been more.
Squad3 Feb 2031
The match ball belongs to Vladislav Drapeza, whose 5 goals turned a difficult afternoon into a procession.
Squad3 Feb 2031
4 goals in one game. The first was taken well, the second was taken greedily, and by the third the crowd were simply waiting for him to get the ball.
Squad3 Feb 2031
The match ball belongs to Ilja Antsiferov, whose 3 goals turned a difficult afternoon into a procession.
Market3 Feb 2031
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Strogino can pretend not to have heard.
Match1 Feb 2031
Strogino make it 4 in a row
Momentum is a hard thing to buy and an easy thing to lose, and right now Strogino have 4 straight wins of it.
Transfer targets3 Feb 2031
The deal with Yenisey 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.
Player ratings3 Feb 2031
Stepan Asharin was on a different afternoon to everybody else
10.00. 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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
The dugout30 Dec 2030
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Strogino may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Market30 Dec 2030
“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 Strogino, and it is not being withdrawn.
Boardroom30 Dec 2030
The silence upstairs is getting loud at Strogino
Nobody on the board has said anything against the manager, which is the point — they have stopped saying anything for him either.
Squad30 Dec 2030
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Strogino this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad30 Dec 2030
Sergey Oliynyk 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.
Match28 Dec 2030
A point taken on 91 minutes is worth exactly one point and considerably more than that to a dressing room. This side does not stop, which is a reputation worth more than the result.
The dugout30 Dec 2030
The manager makes an example of Stepan Asharin
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.
The dugout30 Dec 2030
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.
Player ratings30 Dec 2030
There was no pressure on him and nowhere he had to be. Strogino lost a goal to a decision that took half a second and will be discussed all week.
From our football correspondent
Steady
The dugout21 Oct 2030
“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.
Squad21 Oct 2030
A falling-out at Strogino
Ilja Antsiferov and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
The dugout21 Oct 2030
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Vsevolod Yermakov, and the manager let it.
Boardroom21 Oct 2030
No fees may be paid for anybody, whatever the squad needs. Every rumour about this club until it lifts is a rumour about a deal that cannot be done.
Player ratings21 Oct 2030
Successful dribbles: 16. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
Player ratings21 Oct 2030
Marked 7.51. Ask anyone leaving the ground what settled it and you will get one name, which is the only award that has ever really counted.
Squad21 Oct 2030
A row about effort at Strogino
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Christos Ioannidis was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout21 Oct 2030
The view from the dugout
“We did not lose. Some weeks that is all you get, and I would rather have the point than not.” Interim Coach chose the glass-half-full version of 0‑0; the supporters left with the other one.
The dugout21 Oct 2030
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad7 Oct 2030
The match ball belongs to Ilja Antsiferov, whose 5 goals turned a difficult afternoon into a procession.
Match5 Oct 2030
7‑0, and Ilja Antsiferov took the headlines on an afternoon when everything Strogino tried came off. Days like this are retold all winter.
Player ratings7 Oct 2030
Two goals and a mark of 8.79 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Player ratings7 Oct 2030
Chances created: 20. Somebody has to open a door before anybody can walk through it, and he spent the afternoon opening doors.
Match5 Oct 2030
7 goals. Both benches spent the second half looking at each other rather than at the pitch. Purists will complain about Strogino and Rodina 2 in equal measure; everybody else had a wonderful time.
Squad7 Oct 2030
Ilja Antsiferov 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.
Player ratings7 Oct 2030
Marked 9.58 — 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.
Boardroom7 Oct 2030
The owner puts $143.8K into Strogino
This is money that keeps the lights on rather than money that buys a centre-half, and the difference is the whole story. A club funded by its owner rather than by its football has exactly one conversation left ahead of it.
Squad7 Oct 2030
Words at Strogino training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Sergey Oliynyk 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.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Match31 Aug 2030
7‑0, and Stepan Asharin took the headlines on an afternoon when everything Strogino tried came off. Days like this are retold all winter.
Player ratings2 Sep 2030
2 goals, and the second was the one that settled it. Marked 8.92, and he could have had a third with better luck at the near post.
Squad2 Sep 2030
3 goals in one game. The first was taken well, the second was taken greedily, and by the third the crowd were simply waiting for him to get the ball.
Match31 Aug 2030
Defending was optional and nobody took up the option. 7 goals between Strogino and SKA Khabarovsk 2, and not one of the people who paid to be there will ask for the money back.
Squad2 Sep 2030
Words exchanged at Strogino
Vladislav Saushkin 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.
Player ratings2 Sep 2030
Marked 9.67 — 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.
Boardroom2 Sep 2030
The owner puts $136.1K into Strogino
This is money that keeps the lights on rather than money that buys a centre-half, and the difference is the whole story. A club funded by its owner rather than by its football has exactly one conversation left ahead of it.
Transfer targets2 Sep 2030
Strogino asked and Zenit Penza said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Squad2 Sep 2030
Words at Strogino training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Sergey Oliynyk 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.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Boardroom3 Jun 2030
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.
Boardroom3 Jun 2030
Emergency meeting at Strogino
The whole football department in one room on a weekday morning. Nothing was announced afterwards, which is what a board announces when it has run out of patience.
Market3 Jun 2030
Joel Quaison hands in a written request
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Strogino can pretend not to have heard.
Squad3 Jun 2030
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Strogino this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Boardroom3 Jun 2030
$121.1K from the owner keeps Strogino afloat
The gap in the accounts was filled from upstairs again. Supporters are entitled to be grateful and to ask what happens the month it is not, and both feelings arrive together.
Squad3 Jun 2030
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Stepan Asharin commits to Strogino for another 3 years.
Squad3 Jun 2030
A row about effort at Strogino
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Vladislav Saushkin was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout3 Jun 2030
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Vsevolod Yermakov, and the manager let it.
Boardroom3 Jun 2030
No fees may be paid for anybody, whatever the squad needs. Every rumour about this club until it lifts is a rumour about a deal that cannot be done.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad13 May 2030
Sergey Oliynyk 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.
Squad13 May 2030
Vladislav Saushkin 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.
Boardroom13 May 2030
Wages swallow 108% of the Strogino income
Every club pays most of what it earns to its players. Paying nearly all of it is a different arrangement, and it has ended the same way every time it has been tried.
The dugout13 May 2030
Danil Shageev knocks on the manager's door
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Strogino, and both men came out saying it was fine.
The dugout13 May 2030
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Arseniy Ustinov, and the manager let it.
Market13 May 2030
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Konstantin Antipov signs something — a contract at Strogino or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
The dugout15 Apr 2030
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Strogino have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Squad15 Apr 2030
Sergey Oliynyk 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.
Squad15 Apr 2030
A row about effort at Strogino
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Vladislav Saushkin was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Boardroom15 Apr 2030
Wages swallow 112% of the Strogino income
Every club pays most of what it earns to its players. Paying nearly all of it is a different arrangement, and it has ended the same way every time it has been tried.
The dugout15 Apr 2030
Ramil Khuranov knocks on the manager's door
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Strogino, and both men came out saying it was fine.
The dugout15 Apr 2030
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Vsevolod Konovalov, and the manager let it.
Market15 Apr 2030
Every press conference now starts and ends the same way: with Vladislav Drapeza’s future. The manager has run out of new ways to say nothing.
Market15 Apr 2030
The list is a quiet document with a loud meaning. Ramil Khuranov may talk to anybody who asks, and everybody at the club understands what that means.
Market15 Apr 2030
2 months left and the two sides are nowhere near each other. Every week this drags on takes money off what Strogino could get for him.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad18 Mar 2030
Sergey Oliynyk 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.
Boardroom18 Mar 2030
Wages eat 124% of everything Strogino earn
There is a figure at which a wage bill stops being ambitious and becomes the reason nothing else is possible, and this club has reached it. Nothing is left over for a transfer, a stand or a rainy afternoon.
Squad18 Mar 2030
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Strogino can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
Market18 Mar 2030
Every press conference now starts and ends the same way: with Vladislav Drapeza’s future. The manager has run out of new ways to say nothing.
Market18 Mar 2030
3 months left and the two sides are nowhere near each other. Every week this drags on takes money off what Strogino could get for him.
The dugout18 Mar 2030
Daniel Barabás 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.
Squad18 Mar 2030
Joel Quaison is starting to look at home
The language is arriving, the jokes are landing, and there is somebody at the next peg to talk to. None of it appears in a scouting report and all of it shows up on the pitch.
The dugout18 Mar 2030
“Judge me on him.” Managers do not say that kind of thing by accident — it moves the pressure from Konstantin Antipov’s shoulders onto his own, and both of them know it.
Boardroom18 Mar 2030
Strogino keep producing them
30 graduates from an academy now rated 4 out of 20. A club this size does not survive any other way, and every name on that list is known in the town.
In brief
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Match
A season winding down at Strogino
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Squad
Joel Quaison is training like a man with a point to make
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad11 Mar 2030
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Strogino this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Transfer targets11 Mar 2030
Strogino asked and Spartak 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.
Squad11 Mar 2030
Vladislav Saushkin 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.
Boardroom11 Mar 2030
No fees may be paid for anybody, whatever the squad needs. Every rumour about this club until it lifts is a rumour about a deal that cannot be done.
Boardroom11 Mar 2030
The borrowing at Strogino reaches $3.3M
Past the limit the bank set, which is the line between a club being financed and a club being in trouble. $3.3M is now the number every conversation about this club will start with.
Market11 Mar 2030
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Strogino, another week without a signature from Stepan Asharin.
The dugout11 Mar 2030
“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 dugout11 Mar 2030
Stepan Asharin 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 Stepan Asharin trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Market11 Mar 2030
Every press conference now starts and ends the same way: with Konstantin Antipov’s future. The manager has run out of new ways to say nothing.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Boardroom4 Feb 2030
Interim Coach has until the next board meeting
What was said behind closed doors has now been said in front of a microphone. Everybody at Strogino can do the arithmetic, including the man it is aimed at.
Squad4 Feb 2030
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 7 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Match2 Feb 2030
No end in sight to Strogino's wait for a win
6 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Strogino has to find a result from somewhere.
Transfer targets4 Feb 2030
The deal with CSKA 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.
Squad4 Feb 2030
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Strogino this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Boardroom4 Feb 2030
$122.2K of the owner's money at Strogino
The shortfall was covered from upstairs again. Supporters are entitled to be relieved and entitled to ask what happens the month it is not, and both feelings usually arrive together.
Match2 Feb 2030
Strogino cannot find the net
3 games without scoring. Strikers stop looking up, midfielders take the extra touch, and every shot that clears the bar is followed by a groan that has been building since the last goal.
Transfer targets4 Feb 2030
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. CSKA Moscow have kept their man, and Strogino go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Match2 Feb 2030
Beaten 0‑1, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad14 Jan 2030
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Strogino this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Match12 Jan 2030
1‑2 to SKA Khabarovsk 2, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Boardroom14 Jan 2030
Strogino cannot sign anybody
The embargo bars a fee being paid for a player, whatever the manager thinks the squad needs. Every rumour printed about this club between now and its lifting is a rumour about a deal that cannot happen.
Boardroom14 Jan 2030
Strogino are $3.3M in the red
The borrowing is past what the bank agreed, which is the line where a debt stops being how football is financed and starts being a problem. Every phone-in in this town will quote the figure for the next five years.
Player ratings14 Jan 2030
Chances created: 13. Not on the scoresheet and not remotely anonymous — a passing performance that pulled a defence apart without leaving a mark on the column that gets read.
Squad14 Jan 2030
“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 Strogino know it.
Squad14 Jan 2030
7 goals and a season average of 7.20. Form like that gets noticed well beyond this town.
The dugout14 Jan 2030
“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 1‑2, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
Player ratings14 Jan 2030
Shots: 24, not one of them in. A centre forward is paid for one thing, and on this evidence he has forgotten which thing it is.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Market31 Dec 2029
“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 Strogino, and it is not being withdrawn.
Boardroom31 Dec 2029
Pressure builds in the Strogino boardroom
The directors have stopped offering the manager public warmth. In football that is usually the stage before the short statement.
Squad31 Dec 2029
Sergey Oliynyk 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.
Squad31 Dec 2029
A row about effort at Strogino
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Vladislav Saushkin was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Match29 Dec 2029
Znamya Truda left with the points after a 0‑2 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
The dugout31 Dec 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 dugout31 Dec 2029
“I could talk about decisions and I could talk about luck. I will not. We lost.” The manager, 0‑2, and a press conference that lasted four minutes.
Player ratings31 Dec 2029
Successful dribbles: 14. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
The dugout31 Dec 2029
Victor Aamann 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 Victor Aamann trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad24 Dec 2029
18 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Strogino lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Match22 Dec 2029
Rarely has this fixture seen a display like it: 3‑0 against Rotor 2, and it could have been more.
Player ratings24 Dec 2029
Two goals and a mark of 8.09 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Squad24 Dec 2029
Words exchanged at Strogino
Sergey Oliynyk 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.
Boardroom24 Dec 2029
143% of the income goes out in wages at Strogino
Every club in football pays most of what it earns to its players. Paying nearly all of it is a different arrangement, and it has ended the same way every time somebody has tried it.
The terraces24 Dec 2029
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.
The dugout24 Dec 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.
Player ratings24 Dec 2029
A performance of 8.06 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
Player ratings24 Dec 2029
Marked 8.02 — 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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad17 Dec 2029
The words a physio says slowly. 25 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.
Match15 Dec 2029
Chastening afternoon for Strogino
A 0‑3 beating by Irkutsk was the sort of result that empties a stadium long before the final whistle.
Squad17 Dec 2029
A falling-out at Strogino
Sergey Oliynyk and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad17 Dec 2029
Words at Strogino training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Vladislav Saushkin 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.
Boardroom17 Dec 2029
No fees may be paid for anybody, whatever the squad needs. Every rumour about this club until it lifts is a rumour about a deal that cannot be done.
Boardroom17 Dec 2029
The borrowing at Strogino reaches $3.3M
Past the limit the bank set, which is the line between a club being financed and a club being in trouble. $3.3M is now the number every conversation about this club will start with.
The dugout17 Dec 2029
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Stepan Asharin, and the manager let it.
Boardroom17 Dec 2029
The music was off and the showers ran late. What was said in that dressing room stays there, but Saturday will publish the minutes.
The dugout17 Dec 2029
“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 0‑3, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Market3 Dec 2029
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Strogino can pretend not to have heard.
Boardroom3 Dec 2029
The scrutiny sharpens at Strogino
Nobody upstairs has said anything, which is the loudest thing they could do. Results buy silence in this game; the account at Strogino is running low.
Match1 Dec 2029
Nobody wants to play Strogino right now
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.
Squad3 Dec 2029
Sergey Oliynyk 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.
Boardroom3 Dec 2029
$115.6K from the owner keeps Strogino afloat
The gap in the accounts was filled from upstairs again. Supporters are entitled to be grateful and to ask what happens the month it is not, and both feelings arrive together.
Match1 Dec 2029
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Konstantin Antipov. 1‑0 against Metallurg, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Player ratings3 Dec 2029
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.06, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
The dugout3 Dec 2029
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.
The dugout3 Dec 2029
“The players deserve the credit. My job was easy today.” It was not, and everybody in the room knew it; after 1‑0, Interim Coach could afford to be generous.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad12 Nov 2029
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Strogino this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Match10 Nov 2029
Three points for Strogino, 2‑1 the final word against Zenit Penza in a contest settled by the finer margins.
Player ratings12 Nov 2029
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.39, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
Player ratings12 Nov 2029
Marked 8.16 — 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.
The dugout12 Nov 2029
The manager’s verdict
“I am not going to get carried away and I will not let them either. It was a good day. There will be harder ones.” Interim Coach kept it short after the 2‑1 win, which is what managers do when they are happy.
The dugout12 Nov 2029
The manager makes an example of Pavel Karpov
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.
The dugout12 Nov 2029
Victor Aamann 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 Victor Aamann trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Market12 Nov 2029
The name of Sergey Oliynyk keeps appearing in other people's back pages. Strogino say nothing, which says plenty.
The dugout12 Nov 2029
The plan did not have a place for Andri Kurniawan
Nobody at Strogino 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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match20 Oct 2029
Rodina 2 will want this one forgotten quickly: 3‑0, every duel lost, and a long ride home. Strogino were ruthless in the way good sides are ruthless.
Player ratings22 Oct 2029
A brace, and Vladislav Drapeza takes the afternoon — 8.49
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Vladislav Drapeza provided it, and the 8.49 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Player ratings22 Oct 2029
One scored and one made, which is a different afternoon from scoring twice and an easier one to overlook. Marked 7.95, and involved in 2 of his side's goals.
Squad22 Oct 2029
A falling-out at Strogino
Sergey Oliynyk and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
The terraces22 Oct 2029
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 23-year-old it feels ownership of. Ramil Khuranov 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.
Boardroom22 Oct 2029
No signings allowed at Strogino
The manager may talk to whoever he likes and may pay nobody. A squad survives a window like this by borrowing, by promoting, and by hoping the injuries land somewhere else.
Boardroom22 Oct 2029
The Strogino debt reaches $3.2M
Football clubs borrow; that is not the story. Borrowing more than the facility allows is, because from here it is the owner's money or somebody else's decision, and neither of those belongs to the board.
The dugout22 Oct 2029
“We earned that. I asked them for a reaction and I got one, and now I want the same again on Saturday.” Interim Coach on a 3‑0 afternoon that pleased him more than he was prepared to show.
The dugout22 Oct 2029
Victor Aamann dropped after a run of poor form
The one version of being left out a player cannot argue with, and the one he takes worst. Somebody else has been better and the team sheet says so, in public, every week until it changes.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad15 Oct 2029
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Strogino this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad15 Oct 2029
A row about effort at Strogino
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Vladislav Saushkin was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Market15 Oct 2029
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Strogino, another week without a signature from Stepan Asharin.
The dugout15 Oct 2029
Ramil Khuranov 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.
Squad15 Oct 2029
A year in and the language has not come, the city has not opened up, and he eats alone more often than anybody at Strogino would like to admit. It is showing on Saturdays.
Market15 Oct 2029
Strogino have made Daniel Barabás available for transfer. A career at this club is over in all but paperwork.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Boardroom10 Sep 2029
Strogino close the window on a squad of their own making
12 in and 17 out, and no more changes for months. The manager has what he has, the supporters have their opinion of it, and the table will have the last word.
Transfer targets10 Sep 2029
Strogino had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at Metallurg, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.
Squad10 Sep 2029
Sergey Oliynyk 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.
Transfer targets10 Sep 2029
Strogino asked and Orel said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Market10 Sep 2029
“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 dugout10 Sep 2029
Danil Shageev 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 Danil Shageev trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Looking ahead10 Sep 2029
SKA Khabarovsk 2 next, and one man in the Strogino dressing room knows their training ground better than his own. The reception will tell him what they thought of him.
Market10 Sep 2029
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Konstantin Antipov signs something — a contract at Strogino or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
Market10 Sep 2029
Strogino have let the market know Danil Shageev can be had. No price in the advert, but everyone in the trade knows roughly what it says.