Gleb Krivtsov

Central Defender - Ostrovets
17 May 2029
Thursday
Process

Marked for Gleb Krivtsov

137 Edition

The Ostrovets Post

12 Mar 2029
From our football correspondent Steady

The terraces

Anger at Ostrovets spills outside the ground

It has stopped being a mood in the stands and started being something organised. Boards can ignore a bad atmosphere for a long time; they cannot ignore this stage of it for very long at all.

Squad

Gleb Krivtsov signs a new deal

“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Gleb Krivtsov commits to Ostrovets for another 3 years.

Boardroom

Ostrovets still without a manager

11 days since the seat came open, a list of names doing the rounds, and nobody has signed anything. Every week this drags on the shortlist gets shorter.

Match

Rodion Medvedev sends Ostrovets past Volna Pinsk

It finished 2‑1, and it was Rodion Medvedev’s afternoon: on the scoresheet when it mattered, and the reason the points belong to Ostrovets.

The terraces

Ostrovets supporters have found a favourite in Rodion Medvedev

There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 22-year-old it feels ownership of. Rodion Medvedev 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.

Squad

Words at Ostrovets training over how hard people work

Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Egor Shashko 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 ratings

Kirill Goncharik stands above it all

Some games turn on a moment; this one turned on a man. 7.97 on the card, and the Ostrovets support went home talking about one name.

Squad

Ostrovets are still strangers to each other

6 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 dugout

The view from the dugout

“We controlled it. There were spells I did not like and we will look at them, but the group showed me something.” Hleb Shikavka, on a 2‑1 win that he was already picking apart on the walk to the press room.

In brief

Back issues
132 Edition

The Ostrovets Post

5 Feb 2029
From our football correspondent Crisis

Boardroom

Mikalai Filipenko has until the next board meeting

What was said behind closed doors has now been said in front of a microphone. Everybody at Ostrovets can do the arithmetic, including the man it is aimed at.

Boardroom

The Ostrovets board call everybody in

Nothing has been announced and everybody understands what it means. A board that summons the whole football department on a Tuesday morning is a board that has stopped believing the problem will fix itself.

Market

Gennady Potapov 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 Ostrovets can pretend not to have heard.

Squad

Ilja Shakhmatov arrives at the club he grew up with

Every footballer has an answer to the question about his boyhood club, and most of them never get to act on it. Ilja Shakhmatov has, at Ostrovets, and the first month will show what that does to a man.

Transfer targets

The paperwork begins on Stepan Gomonov

A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Ostrovets have done the hard part with Slonim, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.

Squad

Alexandr Krotov stays put

“The easiest signature of my career.” Alexandr Krotov and Ostrovets agree another 2 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.

Squad

A row about effort at Ostrovets

Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Egor Mikhey was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.

Squad

Tempers go at Ostrovets

Egor Shashko 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 dugout

No hiding place for Gleb Krivtsov

“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Gleb Krivtsov, and the manager let it.

In brief

131 Edition

The Ostrovets Post

29 Jan 2029
From our football correspondent Crisis

Market

Egor Shashko asks to leave Ostrovets

“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.

Transfer targets

Sergey Kirikovich due for a Ostrovets medical

Everything agreed with Volna Pinsk, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.

The dugout

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Squad

Egor Shashko in a row with a teammate

It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Ostrovets this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.

Squad

Ivan Golomako 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.

Transfer targets

A loan move for Maxim Voronkovich is in the works

Ostrovets have made the call to Dinamo Minsk. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.

The dugout

Gleb Krivtsov 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 Gleb Krivtsov trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.

The dugout

Oleg Petrovskiy gets picked when it counts

Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Oleg Petrovskiy is on it.

Market

The Rodion Medvedev story refuses to die

It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Rodion Medvedev signs something — a contract at Ostrovets or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.

In brief

125 Edition

The Ostrovets Post

18 Dec 2028
From our football correspondent Crisis

The terraces

The mood at Ostrovets has turned into something else

Supporters who sing when it goes badly are supporters. Supporters who gather afterwards are a problem, and everybody inside the building knows which of the two this now is.

Boardroom

Pressure builds in the Ostrovets boardroom

The directors have stopped offering the manager public warmth. In football that is usually the stage before the short statement.

Market

Egor Shashko puts it in writing

“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 Ostrovets, and it is not being withdrawn.

The dugout

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Squad

Words exchanged at Ostrovets

Egor Shashko 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.

The dugout

Gleb Krivtsov gets it from the manager

“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.

Squad

Ivan Golomako 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.

The dugout

Rodion Medvedev 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 Ostrovets, and both men came out saying it was fine.

Market

Talks stall between Ostrovets and Sergei Kavalyou

“We are a long way apart, and pretending otherwise helps nobody.” Neither side is close, and the calendar is not on the club's side.

In brief

124 Edition

The Ostrovets Post

11 Dec 2028
From our football correspondent Crisis

Market

Kirill Laptev 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 Ostrovets can pretend not to have heard.

Market

Sergei Kavalyou has one foot out of the door

Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Ostrovets they have already started talking about him in the past tense.

Squad

Tempers go at Ostrovets

Egor Shashko 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 dugout

Kirill Goncharik gets it from the manager

“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.

Squad

Ivan Golomako 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.

Squad

Stanislau Balanovich signs a new deal

“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Stanislau Balanovich commits to Ostrovets for another 3 years.

In brief

121 Edition

The Ostrovets Post

20 Nov 2028
From our football correspondent Crisis

The terraces

Supporters organise against the Ostrovets board

A bad atmosphere can be waited out. A group of people meeting afterwards to decide what to do about it cannot, and everybody in the building knows which stage this is.

Boardroom

The silence upstairs is getting loud at Ostrovets

Nobody on the board has said anything against the manager, which is the point — they have stopped saying anything for him either.

Market

Egor Shashko 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 Ostrovets can pretend not to have heard.

The dugout

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Squad

Words at Ostrovets training over how hard people work

Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ivan Golomako 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.

Squad

Andrei Kendysh in a row with a teammate

It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Ostrovets this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.

In brief

118 Edition

The Ostrovets Post

30 Oct 2028
From our football correspondent Crisis

Market

Rodion Medvedev 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 Ostrovets can pretend not to have heard.

The dugout

The manager makes an example of Gleb Krivtsov

“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.

Squad

A falling-out at Ostrovets

Uladzimir Skavysh and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.

In brief

117 Edition

The Ostrovets Post

23 Oct 2028
From our football correspondent Crisis

The terraces

Anger at Ostrovets spills outside the ground

It has stopped being a mood in the stands and started being something organised. Boards can ignore a bad atmosphere for a long time; they cannot ignore this stage of it for very long at all.

Boardroom

Pressure builds in the Ostrovets boardroom

The directors have stopped offering the manager public warmth. In football that is usually the stage before the short statement.

Market

Egor Shashko puts it in writing

“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 Ostrovets, and it is not being withdrawn.

The dugout

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Squad

Words exchanged at Ostrovets

Egor Shashko 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.

The dugout

No hiding place for Kirill Goncharik

“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Kirill Goncharik, and the manager let it.

In brief

108 Edition

The Ostrovets Post

21 Aug 2028
From our football correspondent Crisis

Match

No end in sight to Ostrovets's wait for a win

23 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Ostrovets has to find a result from somewhere.

Match

Ostrovets are in real trouble now

Position 14, 15 points, and a fixture list with fewer games left in it than excuses. The arithmetic is not cruel yet, but it has stopped being kind.

Squad

A one-man rearguard from Andrey Agapov

There were 7 saves in it, and at least three that had no business being saves at all. The ten outfield players owe him a drink and they know it.

Market

Only the photograph left for Sergei Kavalyou

Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Sergei Kavalyou will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Ostrovets the goodbyes have quietly begun.

Transfer targets

Ostrovets rebuffed over Maksim Palitsevich

Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Minsk have kept their man, and Ostrovets go back to a list with one name crossed off it.

Player ratings

Kirill Goncharik was on a different afternoon to everybody else

8.06. 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.

Match

Ostrovets caught on 90 minutes

The board was up, the win was priced in, and then Dnepr Mogilev scored. There is no worse minute to concede in and the ground emptied in the silence that follows one.

Match

Honours even between Ostrovets and Dnepr Mogilev

2‑2, and both dressing rooms will call it two points lost. A draw that asked plenty of questions and answered none of them.

Transfer targets

A loan move for Kirill Butevich is in the works

Ostrovets have made the call to Dinamo Minsk. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.

In brief

106 Edition

The Ostrovets Post

7 Aug 2028
From our football correspondent Crisis

Match

22 matches without a win for Ostrovets

The run now stands at 22, and the questions being asked around Ostrovets are no longer polite ones.

Boardroom

Mikalai Filipenko has until the next board meeting

What was said behind closed doors has now been said in front of a microphone. Everybody at Ostrovets can do the arithmetic, including the man it is aimed at.

Squad

6 saves: Andrey Agapov was the team

Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 6 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.

Match

Vitebsk take the points off Ostrovets

Beaten 1‑3, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.

Squad

Egor Shashko in a row with a teammate

It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Ostrovets this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.

The dugout

The manager makes an example of Gleb Krivtsov

“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.

Squad

Ostrovets count the cost of losing Ihar Noyok

26 days, the scan says, and scans are kinder than reality. The fixtures in that window have just become somebody else’s job.

The dugout

Mikalai Filipenko: “No excuses”

“I could talk about decisions and I could talk about luck. I will not. We lost.” The manager, 1‑3, and a press conference that lasted four minutes.

Market

Ivan Golomako told to find a new club

“They were honest with me, and I would rather know.” Ivan Golomako has been informed he is not in the manager's thinking at Ostrovets.

In brief

105 Edition

The Ostrovets Post

31 Jul 2028
From our football correspondent Crisis

Match

21 matches without a win for Ostrovets

The run now stands at 21, and the questions being asked around Ostrovets are no longer polite ones.

The terraces

Supporters organise against the Ostrovets board

A bad atmosphere can be waited out. A group of people meeting afterwards to decide what to do about it cannot, and everybody in the building knows which stage this is.

Boardroom

The silence upstairs is getting loud at Ostrovets

Nobody on the board has said anything against the manager, which is the point — they have stopped saying anything for him either.

Market

Egor Shashko 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 Ostrovets can pretend not to have heard.

The dugout

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Match

3 matches without a goal for Ostrovets

The chances are being made and something is happening between the making and the finishing. 3 matches now, and the anxiety in the ground arrives a little earlier every week.

Squad

Tempers go at Ostrovets

Egor Shashko 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.

Match

Ostrovets come up short against Torpedo-BelAZ

Torpedo-BelAZ left with the points after a 0‑1 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.

The dugout

The manager makes an example of Egor Shashko

“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.

In brief

104 Edition

The Ostrovets Post

24 Jul 2028
From our football correspondent Crisis

Match

No end in sight to Ostrovets's wait for a win

20 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Ostrovets has to find a result from somewhere.

Match

Ostrovets are in real trouble now

Position 14, 14 points, and a fixture list with fewer games left in it than excuses. The arithmetic is not cruel yet, but it has stopped being kind.

Market

Viktar Palitsevich asks to leave Ostrovets

“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.

Market

Sergei Kavalyou has one foot out of the door

Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Ostrovets they have already started talking about him in the past tense.

Transfer targets

Lida tell Ostrovets: Artem Krent is not for sale

The approach was made and the answer came back in a sentence. There is no number on the table because there was no number that would have been enough.

The dugout

The manager makes an example of Ivan Golomako

“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.

Squad

Words exchanged at Ostrovets

Uladzimir Skavysh 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.

The dugout

Half-satisfied: Mikalai Filipenko on the draw

“There are things I liked and things we will be doing on Tuesday until they are right.” 0‑0, and a manager who had already decided what Tuesday looked like.

The dugout

Kirill Goncharik 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 Kirill Goncharik trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.

In brief

97 Edition

The Ostrovets Post

5 Jun 2028
From our football correspondent Crisis

Match

13 matches without a win for Ostrovets

The run now stands at 13, and the questions being asked around Ostrovets are no longer polite ones.

Match

The cup run ends for Ostrovets

0‑1 against Dinamo Minsk, and the road stops here. Cup exits are quick deaths — no second leg, no next week, just the league from now until May.

Market

Egor Shashko puts it in writing

“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 Ostrovets, and it is not being withdrawn.

Match

Ostrovets cannot find the net

7 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.

Squad

Tempers go at Ostrovets

Egor Shashko 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.

Match

Ostrovets come up short against Belshina

Belshina left with the points after a 0‑1 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.

The dugout

The manager makes an example of Gleb Krivtsov

“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.

Squad

Egor Shashko makes it 100

100 times in these colours, in all weathers and under four or five different managers. That kind of service is quietly disappearing from the game.

The dugout

The view from the dugout

“We will look at it, we will learn from it, and we go again.” The three sentences every manager keeps for a 0‑1 defeat, delivered by Mikalai Filipenko to a room that had heard them before.

In brief

93 Edition

The Ostrovets Post

8 May 2028
From our football correspondent Crisis

Match

8 matches without a win for Ostrovets

The run now stands at 8, and the questions being asked around Ostrovets are no longer polite ones.

Squad

Andrey Agapov stands alone

8 saves, and a scoreline the ten men in front of him had no right to. Goalkeepers only get noticed on the bad days; this was one of the other ones.

Market

Egor Shashko 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 Ostrovets can pretend not to have heard.

Squad

Tempers go at Ostrovets

Egor Shashko 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.

Match

Ostrovets come up short against Dnepr Mogilev

Dnepr Mogilev left with the points after a 0‑1 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.

The dugout

Mikalai Filipenko faces the questions

“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Mikalai Filipenko after 0‑1, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.

The dugout

Oleg Petrovskiy gets picked when it counts

Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Oleg Petrovskiy is on it.

The dugout

Uladzimir Skavysh gets it from the manager

“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.

Looking ahead

A reunion for Gleb Krivtsov

He used to wear the other shirt. On Saturday he plays against Minsk in this one, and whatever he says this week about it being just another game will be untrue.

In brief

91 Edition

The Ostrovets Post

24 Apr 2028
From our football correspondent Crisis

Market

Artem Gonzhurov 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 Ostrovets can pretend not to have heard.

Match

7 matches without a win for Ostrovets

The run now stands at 7, and the questions being asked around Ostrovets are no longer polite ones.

Squad

A falling-out at Ostrovets

Egor Shashko and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.

Match

A bad afternoon for Ostrovets against Vitebsk

0‑1 to Vitebsk, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.

The dugout

The manager makes an example of Rodion Medvedev

“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 dugout

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 0‑1 Mikalai Filipenko left the room before anybody could ask which.

The dugout

Gleb Krivtsov is still being punished for one mistake

Nobody will confirm it and the team sheets confirm it every week. One error has bought him a spell as second choice that is already longer than the error deserved.

The dugout

Gleb Krivtsov 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 Gleb Krivtsov trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.

Player ratings

Gleb Krivtsov could not find anything

4.89. Every footballer has these and most of them happen away from a full ground; his did not, and he will be aware of that all week.

In brief

90 Edition

The Ostrovets Post

17 Apr 2028
From our football correspondent Crisis

Market

Alexandr Fedosenko asks to leave Ostrovets

“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.

Match

6 matches without a win for Ostrovets

The run now stands at 6, and the questions being asked around Ostrovets are no longer polite ones.

The dugout

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Match

Torpedo-BelAZ take the points off Ostrovets

Beaten 1‑3, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.

Squad

Tempers go at Ostrovets

Alexandr Fedosenko 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.

Market

Ostrovets promote Andrei Volodko from within

The academy exists for exactly this morning. Andrei Volodko has come through every age group the club runs and has now been handed a senior number, and the people who coached him at twelve will be the proudest in the building.

Market

One of our own: Viktar Palitsevich joins the Ostrovets first team

Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Viktar Palitsevich is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.

The dugout

The manager makes an example of Gleb Krivtsov

“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 dugout

The view from the dugout

“We will look at it, we will learn from it, and we go again.” The three sentences every manager keeps for a 1‑3 defeat, delivered by Mikalai Filipenko to a room that had heard them before.

In brief

85 Edition

The Ostrovets Post

13 Mar 2028
From our football correspondent Triumph

Player ratings

Rodion Medvedev, 21, steals the show — 7.88

Marked 7.88 at 21, in a side that makes no allowances for age. He did not need any, and he looked the least nervous man on the pitch.

Match

Nobody wins at Ostrovets

12 home matches unbeaten. Visiting sides arrive already talking about the atmosphere, which is usually the sign that they have half-lost before kickoff.

Match

Ostrovets see off Dinamo Minsk

Three points for Ostrovets, 2‑1 the final word against Dinamo Minsk in a contest settled by the finer margins.

Squad

Tempers go at Ostrovets

Egor Shashko 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 terraces

The crowd has taken to Rodion Medvedev

At 21 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 dugout

Gleb Krivtsov gets it from the manager

“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 ratings

Ninety minutes of Kirill Goncharik at his very best

Marked 8.18. Players have careers without a single afternoon like this in them, and he has just had one in front of everybody at Ostrovets.

The dugout

Mikalai Filipenko has his say

“We earned that. I asked them for a reaction and I got one, and now I want the same again on Saturday.” Mikalai Filipenko on a 2‑1 afternoon that pleased him more than he was prepared to show.

Looking ahead

A reunion for Alexey Semenov

He used to wear the other shirt. On Saturday he plays against Slutsk in this one, and whatever he says this week about it being just another game will be untrue.

In brief

84 Edition

The Ostrovets Post

6 Mar 2028
From our football correspondent Upbeat

Match

The run at home goes on for Ostrovets

11 matches unbeaten here. Every visiting manager is asked about it in the week before, which is precisely why it keeps going.

Market

Sergei Kavalyou is on his way

The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Ostrovets is pretending he will be back in the shirt.

Squad

Oleg Petrovskiy stays put

“The easiest signature of my career.” Oleg Petrovskiy and Ostrovets agree another 4 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.

Match

After 6 games, Ostrovets finally taste it again

The first defeat in 6 matches. The manager will say it had to come; the dressing room will say it did not have to come against BATE; the supporters will say both, in that order, all week.

Match

Ostrovets come up short against BATE

BATE left with the points after a 0‑2 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.

The dugout

No hiding place for Egor Shashko

“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Egor Shashko, and the manager let it.

Market

Ostrovets and Gleb Krivtsov are talking past each other

“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 dugout

Mikalai Filipenko faces the questions

“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Mikalai Filipenko after 0‑2, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.

Boardroom

Wages eat 88% of everything Ostrovets 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.

In brief

82 Edition

The Ostrovets Post

21 Feb 2028
From our football correspondent Upbeat

Market

Gennady Potapov asks to leave Ostrovets

“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.

Transfer targets

The paperwork begins on Raman Bykau

A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Ostrovets have done the hard part with BATE, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.

The dugout

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Squad

Gennady Potapov gets the move he always wanted

Footballers are asked about their boyhood club so often that nobody listens to the answer. Gennady Potapov has just signed for Ostrovets, and for once the answer mattered.

Squad

Gleb Krivtsov 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.

Squad

Egor Shashko in a row with a teammate

It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Ostrovets this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.

Market

Yahor Chalavach steps up from the Ostrovets academy

There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Yahor Chalavach 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.

Market

One of our own: Viktar Kislyak joins the Ostrovets first team

Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Viktar Kislyak is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.

Squad

Ostrovets lose Artem Gonzhurov

31 days, the medical staff say, and medical staff are optimists by profession. The team sheet will look wrong without him.

In brief

81 Edition

The Ostrovets Post

14 Feb 2028
From our football correspondent Upbeat

Market

Alexandr Fedosenko 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 Ostrovets can pretend not to have heard.

Squad

Gleb Krivtsov 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.

Squad

Tempers go at Ostrovets

Egor Shashko 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 targets

A loan move for Alexandr Alexandrovich is in the works

Ostrovets have made the call to Dinamo Minsk. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.

Transfer targets

A loan move for Mikalai Savitski is in the works

Ostrovets have made the call to BATE. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.

Market

Ostrovets buy the years ahead of Danila Antonov

He is 19, and the scouting reports agree on the only line that matters: the ceiling. Signings like this are lottery tickets written by professionals.

The dugout

Rodion Medvedev 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 Rodion Medvedev trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.

Market

Talks stall between Ostrovets and Danila Antonov

“We are a long way apart, and pretending otherwise helps nobody.” Neither side is close, and the calendar is not on the club's side.

Market

Valery Laptev leaves for nothing

Contract settled, hands shaken, no fee changing hands. Valery Laptev leaves Ostrovets the quiet way, and the wage bill breathes a little easier.

In brief

79 Edition

The Ostrovets Post

31 Jan 2028
From our football correspondent Upbeat

Squad

Raman Hleb breaks a bone — 52 days out

Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 52 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.

Squad

Gleb Krivtsov 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.

Squad

A falling-out at Ostrovets

Egor Shashko and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.

Transfer targets

A loan move for Ivan Bykau is in the works

Ostrovets have made the call to Minsk. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.

Boardroom

Ostrovets have to sell first

The manager has a list and the board has a condition attached to it. That is not a crisis — half of football works this way — but it decides which of the two of them gets his way in August.

Boardroom

Open for business: Ostrovets enter the window

The registration window is open and the phone has started. Between now and the deadline this club will be linked with forty players and sign three, which is the usual ratio.

In brief

77 Edition

The Ostrovets Post

17 Jan 2028
From our football correspondent Upbeat

Squad

Raman Hleb breaks a bone — 67 days out

Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 67 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.

Market

Alexandr Fedosenko asks to leave Ostrovets

“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.

Squad

Ivan Mokshin in a row with a teammate

It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Ostrovets this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.

Market

One of our own: Ruslan Yablonski joins the Ostrovets first team

Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Ruslan Yablonski is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.

Market

Ostrovets promote Ihar Arlouski from within

The academy exists for exactly this morning. Ihar Arlouski has come through every age group the club runs and has now been handed a senior number, and the people who coached him at twelve will be the proudest in the building.

Market

One of our own: Anton Kendysh joins the Ostrovets first team

Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Anton Kendysh is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.

Squad

Alexandr Fedosenko 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.

The dugout

Kirill Laptev gets it from the manager

“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 dugout

German Zhernosek 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 German Zhernosek trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.

In brief

76 Edition

The Ostrovets Post

10 Jan 2028
From our football correspondent Upbeat

Squad

A fracture rules Raman Hleb out for 74 days

Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Ostrovets will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.

Market

Only the photograph left for Sergei Kavalyou

Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Sergei Kavalyou will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Ostrovets the goodbyes have quietly begun.

Squad

Gleb Krivtsov 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.

In brief

75 Edition

The Ostrovets Post

3 Jan 2028
From our football correspondent Upbeat

Squad

Egor Mikhey honoured for the season

The kind of year that ends with a name being read out in a hall. Ostrovets had the benefit of it every week and now have the problem of everybody else knowing.

Squad

Words at Ostrovets training over how hard people work

Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Gleb Krivtsov 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.

Squad

Sergei Kavalyou in a row with a teammate

It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Ostrovets this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.

In brief

73 Edition

The Ostrovets Post

20 Dec 2027
From our football correspondent Upbeat

Market

Alexandr Fedosenko puts it in writing

“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 Ostrovets, and it is not being withdrawn.

Squad

Daniil Tsyk is the real thing at 21

A season average of 7.12 at an age when most of his year group are still in the youth team. Ostrovets know what they have, and so, by now, does everybody else.

Squad

Words exchanged at Ostrovets

Nikita Yakimovich 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.

In brief

72 Edition

The Ostrovets Post

13 Dec 2027
From our football correspondent Upbeat

Market

Only the photograph left for Sergei Kavalyou

Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Sergei Kavalyou will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Ostrovets the goodbyes have quietly begun.

Squad

Words at Ostrovets training over how hard people work

Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Gleb Krivtsov 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.

Squad

Words exchanged at Ostrovets

Artem Davidovich 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.

Market

One of our own: Anton Shikavka joins the Ostrovets first team

Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Anton Shikavka is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.

Market

Ostrovets promote Ihar Shikavka from within

The academy exists for exactly this morning. Ihar Shikavka has come through every age group the club runs and has now been handed a senior number, and the people who coached him at twelve will be the proudest in the building.

Market

Uladzimir Korzun steps up from the Ostrovets academy

There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Uladzimir Korzun 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.

In brief

70 Edition

The Ostrovets Post

29 Nov 2027
From our football correspondent Upbeat

Boardroom

Up they go: Ostrovets promoted

Confirmed, mathematical, and a town awake all night. Whatever else the season contained, it finishes a division higher than it started.

Squad

Egor Mikhey is named among the best

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. Ostrovets will be quietly delighted and privately nervous.

The dugout

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Squad

Words at Ostrovets training over how hard people work

Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Gleb Krivtsov 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.

Boardroom

123% of the income goes out in wages at Ostrovets

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.

Squad

Alexandr Fedosenko in a row with a teammate

It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Ostrovets this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.

The dugout

Kirill Goncharik gets picked when it counts

Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Kirill Goncharik is on it.

The dugout

The manager makes an example of German Zhernosek

“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.

Market

The Rodion Medvedev question follows Ostrovets around

Every press conference now starts and ends the same way: with Rodion Medvedev’s future. The manager has run out of new ways to say nothing.

In brief

69 Edition

The Ostrovets Post

22 Nov 2027
From our football correspondent Upbeat

Market

Alexandr Fedosenko 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 Ostrovets can pretend not to have heard.

Squad

Remember the name: Daniil Tsyk

He is 21, he is averaging 7.12, and older professionals have started passing to him in the difficult minutes. That last part is the real scouting report.

Squad

A falling-out at Ostrovets

Dmitriy Gradoboev and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.

Squad

Gleb Krivtsov 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.

The dugout

The manager makes an example of Sergei Kavalyou

“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 dugout

Alexandr Emeljanov 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 Alexandr Emeljanov trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.

In brief

63 Edition

The Ostrovets Post

11 Oct 2027
From our football correspondent Upbeat

Match

Ostrovets refuse to drop out of the race

Position 2, 46 points, and the result everyone checks first is now theirs. The word is still not being said around the ground, which is how you know everyone is thinking it.

Squad

Tempers go at Ostrovets

Dmitriy Gradoboev 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.

Boardroom

The numbers do not look good at Ostrovets

Wages have outrun income and the accountants have started attending meetings they used to send apologies to. Ambition comes second in a season like this.

Squad

Gleb Krivtsov 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.

Market

Stanislau Balanovich steps up from the Ostrovets academy

There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Stanislau Balanovich 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.

The dugout

German Zhernosek gets it from the manager

“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 dugout

Daniil Tsyk has become a man the manager trusts

Nobody at Ostrovets 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.

The dugout

Egor Shashko 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 Egor Shashko trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.

Squad

The penny has dropped for Nikita Yakimovich

He looks like a man who lives here now rather than one who is working here. It took most of a season, and at Ostrovets the difference is visible from the back of the stand.

In brief

60 Edition

The Ostrovets Post

20 Sep 2027
From our football correspondent Upbeat

Market

Sergei Kavalyou is on his way

The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Ostrovets is pretending he will be back in the shirt.

Squad

Tempers go at Ostrovets

Nikita Yakimovich 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.

Squad

Words at Ostrovets training over how hard people work

Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Dmitriy Gradoboev 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 dugout

The manager makes an example of Viktar Laptev

“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 dugout

Viktar Kislyak 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 Ostrovets, and both men came out saying it was fine.

Market

The window shut and Daniil Turischev is still in the building

Ostrovets spent a month trying to move him and nobody rang back. He trains with a squad that has told him where he stands, and both sides start counting down to the next one.

In brief

47 Edition

The Ostrovets Post

21 Jun 2027
From our football correspondent Uneasy

Player ratings

Kirill Goncharik was unplayable

Successful dribbles: 30. 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 dugout

Dzmitry Noyok: that is not what I was promised

“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Ostrovets have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.

Squad

Tempers go at Ostrovets

Dmitriy Gradoboev 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.

Boardroom

Ostrovets counting the cost

The accounts make uncomfortable reading. Wages first and ambition second is the order of business at Ostrovets now.

Transfer targets

Door shut on Nikita Matusevich

Ostrovets asked and Torpedo-BelAZ said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.

The terraces

Ostrovets supporters have found a favourite in Gleb Krivtsov

There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 23-year-old it feels ownership of. Gleb Krivtsov 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.

Squad

A row about effort at Ostrovets

Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Alexandr Emeljanov was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.

Transfer targets

A loan move for Ivan Bykau is in the works

Ostrovets have made the call to Minsk. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.

Player ratings

Nobody on the pitch touched Gleb Krivtsov

7.29, and no serious argument from anybody who was there. Ostrovets had eleven men on the pitch and one of them decided how it went.

In brief