Marked for Ivan Pavlov
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market15 Feb 2027
“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 targets15 Feb 2027
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Gomel have done the hard part with Levski, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
Squad15 Feb 2027
Words exchanged at Gomel
Kirill Leonovich 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.
Transfer targets15 Feb 2027
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.
Squad15 Feb 2027
Words at Gomel training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Pavel Pashevich 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.
Transfer targets15 Feb 2027
A loan enquiry to Spartak Moscow: cover, or a look at somebody the club cannot afford to buy yet. Either way the answer will come back inside the week.
The dugout15 Feb 2027
“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 dugout15 Feb 2027
Gleb Protasenya has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at Gomel 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.
Squad15 Feb 2027
“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 Gomel will have to give him a reason to stay or an exit.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market8 Feb 2027
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Orsha waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Gomel is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
Market8 Feb 2027
“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 targets8 Feb 2027
Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at Levski is saying, and nobody at Gomel is enjoying the guessing.
Squad8 Feb 2027
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Kirill Burov commits to Gomel for another 4 years.
Transfer targets8 Feb 2027
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Neftchi have kept their man, and Gomel go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Squad8 Feb 2027
Vladislav Lazarev 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.
Squad8 Feb 2027
Egor Yudenko 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 Gomel this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Transfer targets8 Feb 2027
A loan move for Nikola Iliev is in the works
Gomel have made the call to Levski. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
Transfer targets8 Feb 2027
Narva Trans 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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market1 Feb 2027
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Gomel people have started saying his name in the past tense.
Market1 Feb 2027
“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 Gomel, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad1 Feb 2027
Words exchanged at Gomel
Viktor Sotnikov 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.
Transfer targets1 Feb 2027
Gomel asked and Lech said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Squad1 Feb 2027
Vladislav Lazarev 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 dugout1 Feb 2027
Kirill Burov 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.
Transfer targets1 Feb 2027
A loan enquiry to Neftchi: cover, or a look at somebody the club cannot afford to buy yet. Either way the answer will come back inside the week.
Transfer targets1 Feb 2027
Levski 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.
Transfer targets1 Feb 2027
A loan move for Anton Shamonin is in the works
Gomel have made the call to Rostov. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match16 Nov 2026
Gomel sink to position 14
6 points, and a fixture list that is running out. The mathematics are not yet cruel, but they are no longer kind.
Squad16 Nov 2026
A falling-out at Gomel
Viktor Sotnikov and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad16 Nov 2026
Words at Gomel training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Pavel Pashevich 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 dugout16 Nov 2026
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Denis Kovalevich trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
The dugout16 Nov 2026
Egor Yudenko 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 Egor Yudenko is on it.
The dugout16 Nov 2026
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at Gomel. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad9 Nov 2026
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Gomel this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad9 Nov 2026
Words at Gomel training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Pavel Pashevich 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 dugout9 Nov 2026
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 Pavel Sergutko is on it.
The dugout9 Nov 2026
He asked about his future and was given an answer with minutes in it. The manager has now made a promise in a building where promises are remembered, and the clock on it has started.
Market9 Nov 2026
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Gomel know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
The dugout9 Nov 2026
The message was aimed at the stands as much as the dressing room: Pavel Pashevich plays, and the argument is closed until the manager decides otherwise.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad2 Nov 2026
Pavel Pashevich 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 dugout2 Nov 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Kirill Burov, and the manager let it.
Loan watch2 Nov 2026
“I watch every Gomel game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Ostrovets runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
Squad2 Nov 2026
A falling-out at Gomel
Oleg Kovalev and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad2 Nov 2026
Four or five weekends of consistency, measured against everybody else in the division. A quieter compliment than an award and a more reliable one.
Squad2 Nov 2026
Nothing is announced when this happens and everybody knows. He is a bigger part of the plan at Gomel than he was a month ago, and the training ground worked that out before the team sheet said so.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad14 Sep 2026
A fracture rules Pavel Sergutko out for 59 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Gomel will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Boardroom14 Sep 2026
Deadline passes with 10 signed and 2 gone
That is the business done at Gomel until the window opens again. Whether it was enough will be answered on Saturdays rather than in a column, and the first Saturday is close.
Transfer targets14 Sep 2026
No thanks: Pavels Kamess rejects the move
Gomel had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at Skonto, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.
Transfer targets14 Sep 2026
Gomel asked and Atromitos 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
A row about effort at Gomel
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Pavel Pashevich was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Squad14 Sep 2026
24 new faces, and Gomel are still learning each other
A squad rebuilt inside one window pays for it in a currency nobody budgets for. The football is not worse than the sum of the players; it is worse than the sum of the players who have played together before.
Squad14 Sep 2026
Oleg Kovalev 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 Gomel this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The dugout14 Sep 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Ivan Pavlov, and the manager let it.
The dugout14 Sep 2026
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 Pavel Sergutko is on it.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Transfer targets7 Sep 2026
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: Bjelovar keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
Transfer targets7 Sep 2026
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
Pavel Pashevich 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 dugout7 Sep 2026
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
Squad7 Sep 2026
A falling-out at Gomel
Oleg Kovalev and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Transfer targets7 Sep 2026
A loan enquiry to Atromitos: cover, or a look at somebody the club cannot afford to buy yet. Either way the answer will come back inside the week.
Transfer targets7 Sep 2026
Skonto 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.
Squad7 Sep 2026
Nothing is announced when this happens and everybody knows. He is a bigger part of the plan at Gomel than he was a month ago, and the training ground worked that out before the team sheet said so.
The dugout7 Sep 2026
Denis Kovalevich has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at Gomel 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.