“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 The request is on a desk at Zvezda, and it is not being withdrawn.
The offer from Rodina M for Artem Tsvetkov 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.
5 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.
The deal with Torpedo 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 pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Damir Zhelegotov, and the manager let it.
Squad30 Aug 2027
Denis Lebedev 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.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, and a scan that said otherwise. He goes back to Nizhniy Novgorod; Zvezda go back to the market; and both will insist there is no story here.
Add another name to the list: Rodina M have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Artem Tsvetkov. The answer from Zvezda has not changed — yet.
Damir Zhelegotov 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.
Zvezda offered $53.0K; Shinnik 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. Yenisey have kept their man, and Zvezda go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Nikolai Fokin 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.
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.
The offer went to Shinnik 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.
Zvezda have gone to Nizhniy Novgorod with a bid, and the supporters have gone to the internet with an opinion about it. Whether either changes anything is up to the selling club.
Damir Zhelegotov 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 Denis Lebedev was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
10 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.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Zvezda can pretend not to have heard.
The deal with Amkar 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.
$28.0K 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.
Damir Zhelegotov 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 clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Zvezda people have started saying his name in the past tense.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Zvezda can pretend not to have heard.
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Damir Zhelegotov is 18, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
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.
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: Fakel keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
“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 Zvezda, and it is not being withdrawn.
Denis Lebedev 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 May 2027
Words at Zvezda training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Leon Aiba 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 easiest signature of my career.” Vyacheslav Mitrokhin and Zvezda agree another 3 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
The words a physio says slowly. 19 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.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Zvezda is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Denis Lebedev 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.
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Savely Demidov is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Leon Aiba was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Artem Kolobov trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
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.
40 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Zvezda lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
“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 Zvezda, and it is not being withdrawn.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Zvezda 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 Leon Aiba 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 Zvezda, and both men came out saying it was fine.
47 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Zvezda lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
“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 Zvezda, and it is not being withdrawn.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Mikhail Lukjanov will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Zvezda the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Igor Smirnov was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Ivan Shilov 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 Roman Zaitsev trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
The words a physio says slowly. 61 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.
Position 13 and 13 points, and the table gets read bottom-up in this part of town. The calendar has stopped being a schedule and started being a countdown.
“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 Zvezda, and it is not being withdrawn.
Artem Kolobov 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 Denis Lebedev was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
At 23 nothing has moved for months. Not backwards, which would at least be a conversation — simply nowhere, and somebody at the club has to decide whose fault that is.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Arsen Nyshanaliev trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
82 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Zvezda lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
The board’s statement ran to three sentences and one of them mentioned results. Mikhail Bulgakov has managed long enough to translate: win soon, or the next statement is shorter.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Chernomorets have kept their man, and Zvezda go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Denis Lebedev 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.
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Yaroslav Dyachkov is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
Every squad has men who were signed by a particular manager and men who were merely inherited. Andrey Zaitsev is in the first group, and the man who wanted him here is no longer in the building.
89 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Zvezda lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Position 13 and 13 points, and the table gets read bottom-up in this part of town. The calendar has stopped being a schedule and started being a countdown.
“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 Zvezda, and it is not being withdrawn.
The offer from Dinamo Vladivostok for Artem Tsvetkov 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 deadline has passed and the squad is the squad. 1 arrived, 0 left, and everything else printed about this club last month was a rumour that stayed one.
Zvezda had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at Leningradets, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.
103 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Zvezda lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
“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 Zvezda, and it is not being withdrawn.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Zvezda they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Denis Lebedev 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.
Zvezda have made the call to Chernomorets. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
Squad15 Feb 2027
Words at Zvezda training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Mikhail Lukjanov 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.
117 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Zvezda lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Position 13 and 13 points, and the table gets read bottom-up in this part of town. The calendar has stopped being a schedule and started being a countdown.
The chances are being made and something is happening between the making and the finishing. 8 matches now, and the anxiety in the ground arrives a little earlier every week.
The offer from Cherepovets for Petr Timofeev 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 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.
In brief
SquadIgor Smirnov falls out with a teammate over standards
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.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Zvezda will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Zvezda have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
4 matches, no goals, and a training ground that has tried everything. It will end — droughts always do — but nobody at Zvezda can tell you which week it ends in.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Zvezda will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
“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 Zvezda, and it is not being withdrawn.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Igor Smirnov was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Denis Lebedev 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. Zvezda told Alexandr Yegunov something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
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.
In brief
Player ratingsAn afternoon Maxim Kopitets will want back
Denis Lebedev 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.
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Valery Rybakov is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Artem Tsvetkov, and the manager let it.
The dugout14 Dec 2026
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 Mikhail Bulgakov to a room that had heard them before.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Zvezda can pretend not to have heard.
Player ratings7 Dec 2026
Iljas Abdullaev, 21, plays like he has been here for years — 7.75
A mark of 7.75 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.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Zvezda have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
“The easiest signature of my career.” Alexandr Yegunov and Zvezda agree another 3 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Squad7 Dec 2026
Words at Zvezda training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Igor Smirnov 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.
“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 Zvezda, and it is not being withdrawn.
6 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.
5 matches, no goals, and a training ground that has tried everything. It will end — droughts always do — but nobody at Zvezda can tell you which week it ends in.
Denis Lebedev 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 Arsen Nyshanaliev was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Half the programme played, position 13, 9 on the board. Doubling it is the sum every supporter has done and the only one nobody at the club will do out loud.
Something was said to Damir Zhelegotov and then it happened. In this industry that passes for remarkable, and the dressing room noticed faster than any supporter could.
“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 Zvezda, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad16 Nov 2026
Words at Zvezda training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Igor Smirnov 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.
Denis Lebedev 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.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Roman Zaitsev trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
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.
Nobody at Zvezda 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.
In brief
SquadQuestions about Leon Aiba on the training pitch
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.
3 matches, no goals, and a training ground that has tried everything. It will end — droughts always do — but nobody at Zvezda can tell you which week it ends in.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Zvezda 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 Arsen Nyshanaliev 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.” 0‑1, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
In brief
The dugoutLeon Aiba dropped after a run of poor form
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Zvezda will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Zvezda can pretend not to have heard.
Defending was optional and nobody took up the option. 6 goals between Zvezda and Baltika 2, and not one of the people who paid to be there will ask for the money back.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Igor Smirnov was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Denis Lebedev 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.
Whether it was the goalkeeper or the ten in front of him is the argument that will fill every conversation in town this week. 3 saves does not settle it either way.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Zvezda will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
“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 Zvezda, and it is not being withdrawn.
Defending was optional and nobody took up the option. 8 goals between Zvezda and Yenisey 2, and not one of the people who paid to be there will ask for the money back.
Beaten 7 times, with 5 saves for company. Goalkeepers carry these scorelines on their record whoever actually caused them, which is the quiet injustice of the job.
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Platon Bulgakov 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.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Zvezda will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Player ratings5 Oct 2026
Roman Zaitsev, 21, plays like he has been here for years — 8.38
A mark of 8.38 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Igor Smirnov was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Zvezda this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
He is 21 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.
9 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Zvezda has to find a result from somewhere.
Squad28 Sep 2026
Igor Smirnov 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.
Denis Lebedev 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 am grateful for the games, but I did not become a footballer to be somebody else's spare part.” He wants to be at Zvezda, and 0 appearances in 5 say he has earned the hearing.
The dugout28 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 0‑2 Mikhail Bulgakov left the room before anybody could ask which.
“I did not come here to warm up in front of people.” He is out of contract eventually, he is old enough to count the weeks, and Zvezda will have to give him a reason to stay or an exit.
The list is a quiet document with a loud meaning. Arsen Nyshanaliev may talk to anybody who asks, and everybody at the club understands what that means.
In brief
The dugoutRoman Zaitsev asks for a word with the manager
Zvezda asked and Khimik said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Denis Lebedev 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.
Zvezda ran out of time with Textilschik. The paperwork was open when the deadline passed, and a transfer that was almost done is now a transfer that never happened.
“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 0‑1, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
Squad21 Sep 2026
Words at Zvezda training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Mikhail Lukjanov 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 hardest thing about being 19 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Yegor Grafov did not need any: 7.62, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
Boardroom14 Sep 2026
Zvezda close the window on a squad of their own making
9 in and 1 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.
Zvezda 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.
Squad14 Sep 2026
Igor Smirnov 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.
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Valentin Nikulin 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
Transfer targetsThe window shuts on the Pavel Golubkov deal
The dugoutThe manager makes an example of Andrey Zaitsev
“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 Zvezda, and it is not being withdrawn.
The chances are being made and something is happening between the making and the finishing. 6 matches now, and the anxiety in the ground arrives a little earlier every week.
Cherepovets have accepted the money. What Zvezda do not yet have is the man, and between here and the photograph is a conversation about wages that both sides are dreading.
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.
Squad7 Sep 2026
Igor Smirnov 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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Zvezda this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Zvezda can pretend not to have heard.
5 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.
5 matches, no goals, and a training ground that has tried everything. It will end — droughts always do — but nobody at Zvezda can tell you which week it ends in.
The deal with Dinamo Makhachkala 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.
Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at Dinamo Makhachkala is saying, and nobody at Zvezda is enjoying the guessing.
Denis Lebedev 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.
He is 20 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.
4 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.
Zvezda asked and KAMAZ said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Squad24 Aug 2026
Igor Smirnov 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.
Denis Lebedev 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.
At 20 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.
Dinamo Makhachkala have been asked whether they would lend him. Loans are agreed quickly or not at all, and this one will be one or the other by the weekend.
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Zvezda have lost him in all but the paperwork.
Squad17 Aug 2026
Igor Smirnov 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.
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Mikhail Bulgakov after 0‑4, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
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.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Dinamo St Petersburg have kept their man, and Zvezda go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Denis Lebedev 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.
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Vitaliy Fadeev is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Arseniy Bessonov 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.
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Vsevolod Arkhipov is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Ilya Borisov 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.
Successful dribbles: 15. 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.
Zvezda have gone to Dinamo Vologda with a bid, and the supporters have gone to the internet with an opinion about it. Whether either changes anything is up to the selling club.
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.
Squad3 Aug 2026
Igor Smirnov 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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Zvezda this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.