Marked for Vadim Vshivkov
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
The dugout11 Jun 2029
This is not rotation. Ilja Berkovskiy has not been in the manager's plans for some time, and nobody at Torpedo Moscow is pretending otherwise.
Squad11 Jun 2029
Mario Ćurić and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Boardroom11 Jun 2029
Nothing happens for months and then he simply arrives, at no cost, having signed a pre-contract while still turning out for somebody else. It is the least dramatic way to sign a footballer and frequently the shrewdest.
Squad11 Jun 2029
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Vladimir Moskvichev was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout11 Jun 2029
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 Rostislav Soldatenko is on it.
The dugout11 Jun 2029
Tresor Samba 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 Tresor Samba trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
The dugout11 Jun 2029
Something was said to Derrick Kyere and then it happened. In this industry that passes for remarkable, and the dressing room noticed faster than any supporter could.
Squad11 Jun 2029
No place for Vadim Vshivkov in the new shape
He is not being dropped. There is simply nowhere in the formation Torpedo Moscow are playing to put a man who does what he does, which is a harder thing to be told than any team sheet.
Market11 Jun 2029
2 months remain and no agreement is close. Every week without a signature costs Torpedo Moscow money.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Steady
The dugout28 May 2029
Márk Szelényi asks for a word with the manager
“I would rather say it to his face than read about it.” The meeting was requested by the player, which tells you most of what you need to know.
Market28 May 2029
The clock does Vadim Vshivkov’s negotiating for him
1 months left, and both sides know what that means: every week without a signature, the fee SKA Khabarovsk 2 could ask drops and the wages Vadim Vshivkov can ask rise.
Market28 May 2029
The shop window has Eldar Bliev in it
SKA Khabarovsk 2 have let the market know Eldar Bliev can be had. No price in the advert, but everyone in the trade knows roughly what it says.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market21 May 2029
Vadim Vshivkov has one foot out of the door
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around SKA Khabarovsk 2 they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Squad21 May 2029
Vadim Vshivkov 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.
Squad21 May 2029
Márk Szelényi 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 dugout21 May 2029
Andrey Putilov 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 Andrey Putilov trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad30 Apr 2029
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at SKA Khabarovsk 2 this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad30 Apr 2029
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Márk Szelényi was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout30 Apr 2029
Vadim Vshivkov 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 Vadim Vshivkov trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market23 Apr 2029
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at SKA Khabarovsk 2 is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Squad23 Apr 2029
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Márk Szelényi was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout23 Apr 2029
Vadim Vshivkov asks for a word with the manager
“I would rather say it to his face than read about it.” The meeting was requested by the player, which tells you most of what you need to know.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market2 Apr 2029
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Stepan Burdakov will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around SKA Khabarovsk 2 the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Squad2 Apr 2029
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at SKA Khabarovsk 2 this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad2 Apr 2029
“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 SKA Khabarovsk 2 will have to give him a reason to stay or an exit.
The dugout2 Apr 2029
Andrey Putilov 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 SKA Khabarovsk 2, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Squad2 Apr 2029
It will be explained as a change for the team and it may even be one. Nobody who has worn one believes that, and neither does the man who has just had it taken away.
Market2 Apr 2029
2 months remain and no agreement is close. Every week without a signature costs SKA Khabarovsk 2 money.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market26 Mar 2029
Only the photograph left for Vadim Vshivkov
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Vadim Vshivkov will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around SKA Khabarovsk 2 the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Market26 Mar 2029
“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.
Squad26 Mar 2029
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at SKA Khabarovsk 2 this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad26 Mar 2029
The injury that keeps coming back, keeps being rushed back from, and quietly costs more careers than the dramatic ones. 16 days is the estimate; the honest figure depends on whether anybody is patient.
The dugout26 Mar 2029
“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 dugout26 Mar 2029
Andrey Putilov asks for a word with the manager
“I would rather say it to his face than read about it.” The meeting was requested by the player, which tells you most of what you need to know.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad12 Mar 2029
Ovik Galayan breaks a bone — 24 days out
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 24 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Market12 Mar 2029
Eldar Bliev 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 SKA Khabarovsk 2 can pretend not to have heard.
Market12 Mar 2029
Tver come back empty-handed
The bid was some way short and SKA Khabarovsk 2 did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.
Squad12 Mar 2029
Vadim Vshivkov and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Market12 Mar 2029
5 months to run and not a word offered. A club that lets the calendar negotiate for it usually ends up losing to the calendar.
Squad12 Mar 2029
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Vladislav Zykh was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout12 Mar 2029
Vadim Vshivkov asks for a word with the manager
“I would rather say it to his face than read about it.” The meeting was requested by the player, which tells you most of what you need to know.
Market12 Mar 2029
5 months left and the two sides are nowhere near each other. Every week this drags on takes money off what SKA Khabarovsk 2 could get for him.
Squad12 Mar 2029
“If we are going to be beaten, let it not be because somebody in here could not be bothered.” He stood up and said it in front of everybody, which is a thing a squad remembers about a man for years.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad5 Mar 2029
A fracture rules Ovik Galayan out for 32 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason SKA Khabarovsk 2 will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Market5 Mar 2029
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at SKA Khabarovsk 2 is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
The dugout5 Mar 2029
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
Squad5 Mar 2029
Ovik Galayan is no longer first choice
The manager has re-ordered his thinking and Ovik Galayan has come out of it lower. He will be told it is temporary, and the players who have heard that before will avoid his eye.
Squad5 Mar 2029
Words at SKA Khabarovsk 2 training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Vladislav Zykh 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 dugout5 Mar 2029
Vadim Vshivkov 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 SKA Khabarovsk 2, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Squad5 Mar 2029
Nothing is announced when this happens and everybody knows. He is a bigger part of the plan at SKA Khabarovsk 2 than he was a month ago, and the training ground worked that out before the team sheet said so.
The dugout5 Mar 2029
Vladislav Zykh loses the manager who believed in him
A change in the dugout is not one story, it is twenty-five of them. This is Vladislav Zykh's: he was somebody's player, and now he has to be somebody else's, starting from nothing.
Market5 Mar 2029
The clock does Vadim Vshivkov’s negotiating for him
3 months left, and both sides know what that means: every week without a signature, the fee SKA Khabarovsk 2 could ask drops and the wages Vadim Vshivkov can ask rise.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad26 Feb 2029
40 days out for Ovik Galayan after a fracture
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. SKA Khabarovsk 2 will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Market26 Feb 2029
“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.
Market26 Feb 2029
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at SKA Khabarovsk 2 is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Squad26 Feb 2029
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at SKA Khabarovsk 2 this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Player ratings26 Feb 2029
Successful dribbles: 16. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
Player ratings26 Feb 2029
Marked 7.84. Ask anyone leaving the ground what settled it and you will get one name, which is the only award that has ever really counted.
Match24 Feb 2029
It needed Stepan Burdakov to find the net to bring anything home at all: 1‑1 against Strogino, and half the dressing room will call it a point won.
Squad26 Feb 2029
“I want to play”: David Bekoev speaks
“I respect the manager and I am not going to sit here and pretend I am happy.” It is the most common sentence in football and it has never once been the end of a story.
The dugout26 Feb 2029
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at SKA Khabarovsk 2, and both men came out saying it was fine.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad19 Feb 2029
A fracture rules Ovik Galayan out for 47 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason SKA Khabarovsk 2 will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Market19 Feb 2029
“It was not right for me. I am not going to explain why to anybody except the people I owe an explanation to.” A deal agreed between two clubs, and a player who declined to be part of it.
Match17 Feb 2029
1‑4 against Orenburg 2, and no complaints that would survive the replay. The manager spoke about character afterwards; the terraces used shorter words.
Market19 Feb 2029
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at SKA Khabarovsk 2, and it is not being withdrawn.
Match17 Feb 2029
Orenburg 2 held the lead for 2 minutes, which is not long enough to enjoy it. SKA Khabarovsk 2 answered before the celebration had properly finished, and the shape of the afternoon changed with it.
The dugout19 Feb 2029
The manager makes an example of David Bekoev
“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.
Boardroom19 Feb 2029
The manager kept them in and said what needed saying. A response is expected on Saturday, and if it does not come the questions move upstairs.
The dugout19 Feb 2029
Ovik Galayan 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 SKA Khabarovsk 2, and both men came out saying it was fine.
The dugout19 Feb 2029
It is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. SKA Khabarovsk 2 told Mikhail Gorelishvili something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad5 Feb 2029
62 days out for Ovik Galayan after a fracture
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. SKA Khabarovsk 2 will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Match3 Feb 2029
1‑4 against Metallurg, and no complaints that would survive the replay. The manager spoke about character afterwards; the terraces used shorter words.
Market5 Feb 2029
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Tyumen waiting with a shirt. Nobody at SKA Khabarovsk 2 is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
Squad5 Feb 2029
Alexandr Mukhin 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.
Boardroom5 Feb 2029
The manager kept them in and said what needed saying. A response is expected on Saturday, and if it does not come the questions move upstairs.
Squad5 Feb 2029
A goalkeeper’s error has no defender behind it to tidy it away. He knew before the ball crossed the line, the crowd knew a second later, and there is nothing anybody can say tonight.
Squad5 Feb 2029
Eldar Bliev named in the team of the month
A month is long enough that nobody gets in by accident. Eldar Bliev is in the division's best eleven for it, which is a quieter compliment than an award and a more reliable one.
The dugout5 Feb 2029
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Stanislav Kupeev, and the manager let it.
The dugout5 Feb 2029
Andrey Putilov 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 Andrey Putilov trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Boardroom5 Feb 2029
Mark Potapov has until the next board meeting
What was said behind closed doors has now been said in front of a microphone. Everybody at SKA Khabarovsk can do the arithmetic, including the man it is aimed at.
Market5 Feb 2029
The interest is real enough to have reached print. SKA Khabarovsk have said nothing, which in a transfer window is its own kind of answer.
Boardroom5 Feb 2029
He will play here until the summer and then walk out of the door for free, having already signed elsewhere. Supporters will manage the first part of that sentence; it is the second they will struggle with.
Boardroom5 Feb 2029
The accounts make uncomfortable reading. Wages first and ambition second is the order of business at SKA Khabarovsk now.
Squad5 Feb 2029
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Denis Fomin commits to SKA Khabarovsk for another 2 years.
Squad5 Feb 2029
Kamran Aliev 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 targets5 Feb 2029
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Sochi have kept their man, and SKA Khabarovsk go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
The dugout5 Feb 2029
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Islam Imamov, and the manager let it.
Match3 Feb 2029
Conceding is one thing; the response is what tells you about a dressing room. Igor Shkolik had SKA Khabarovsk level again within 4 minutes, and Rotor never got to play with a lead at all.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Market5 Feb 2029
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at Torpedo Moscow, and it is not being withdrawn.
Match3 Feb 2029
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.
Transfer targets5 Feb 2029
The offer went to SKA Khabarovsk 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.
Market5 Feb 2029
He left as a boy and has come back still knowing where the away end is. Most signings have to be explained to a town; this one needed a photograph and nothing else.
Squad5 Feb 2029
Mario Ćurić 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 Torpedo Moscow this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Transfer targets5 Feb 2029
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Sochi have kept their man, and Torpedo Moscow go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
The dugout5 Feb 2029
This is not rotation. Szymon Bartlewicz has not been in the manager's plans for some time, and nobody at Torpedo Moscow is pretending otherwise.
Boardroom5 Feb 2029
The paperwork is done long before the player is. Vadim Vshivkov has agreed terms to come here when his current deal runs out, which means Torpedo Moscow have spent a summer's transfer budget on a phone call.
Match3 Feb 2029
1‑2 to Chaika, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad29 Jan 2029
Ovik Galayan breaks a bone — 70 days out
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 70 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Market29 Jan 2029
Vadim Vshivkov has one foot out of the door
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around SKA Khabarovsk 2 they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Squad29 Jan 2029
Stepan Burdakov and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Market29 Jan 2029
Alexandr Mukhin is free to find somewhere else
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at SKA Khabarovsk 2 has been clear about where Alexandr Mukhin stands, which is more than many ever get.
Match27 Jan 2029
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Andrey Putilov. 1‑0 against Orel, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Player ratings29 Jan 2029
Marked 7.64 on an afternoon he ran from the first whistle to the last. Whatever else went wrong, SKA Khabarovsk 2 had the best player on the pitch.
Player ratings29 Jan 2029
Successful dribbles: 15. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
The dugout29 Jan 2029
Daniil Borisov 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 Daniil Borisov trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad22 Jan 2029
78 days out for Ovik Galayan after a fracture
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. SKA Khabarovsk 2 will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Squad22 Jan 2029
Vadim Vshivkov 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.
Match20 Jan 2029
Rotor 2 made SKA Khabarovsk 2 work for it, but the scoreboard read 2‑1 at the end and the table does not ask how.
The terraces22 Jan 2029
He is 23 and the ground already sings his name, which is a thing that happens to local boys and almost never to signings. Everything from here is measured against an affection he did nothing to earn except be from here.
Player ratings22 Jan 2029
Ninety minutes of Eldar Bliev at his very best
Marked 8.02. Players have careers without a single afternoon like this in them, and he has just had one in front of everybody at SKA Khabarovsk 2.
The dugout22 Jan 2029
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Aslan Goyaev, and the manager let it.
Player ratings22 Jan 2029
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.
Player ratings22 Jan 2029
There was one mistake and it ended in the net. Defenders are judged on the worst thing they did rather than on the eighty-nine minutes either side of it, which is unfair and is also the job.
The dugout22 Jan 2029
Vadim Vshivkov 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 SKA Khabarovsk 2, and both men came out saying it was fine.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad15 Jan 2029
Ovik Galayan breaks a bone — 85 days out
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 85 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Market15 Jan 2029
“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.
Match13 Jan 2029
No end in sight to SKA Khabarovsk 2's wait for a win
4 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at SKA Khabarovsk 2 has to find a result from somewhere.
Player ratings15 Jan 2029
Successful dribbles: 20. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
Match13 Jan 2029
0‑1 to Spartak Tambov, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
The dugout15 Jan 2029
The manager makes an example of Andrey Putilov
“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.
Squad15 Jan 2029
100 games in the shirt. Nobody sets out to build a record like that; it happens to a certain kind of player at a certain kind of club, and this town knows what it has.
Squad15 Jan 2029
“I have done everything asked of me in training and it has not changed a thing on a Saturday.” The most familiar complaint in football, and one SKA Khabarovsk 2 will have to answer with minutes or with a transfer.
The dugout15 Jan 2029
Vadim Vshivkov 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 SKA Khabarovsk 2, and both men came out saying it was fine.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad8 Jan 2029
93 days out for Ovik Galayan after a fracture
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. SKA Khabarovsk 2 will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Match8 Jan 2029
20 points, and a fixture list that is running out. The mathematics are not yet cruel, but they are no longer kind.
Market8 Jan 2029
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at SKA Khabarovsk 2, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad8 Jan 2029
Andrey Putilov 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.
Match6 Jan 2029
0‑2 to Kvant, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
The dugout8 Jan 2029
The manager makes an example of Alexandr Mukhin
“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.
Squad8 Jan 2029
“I did not sign to watch. Nobody does.” The oldest complaint in the game, and SKA Khabarovsk 2 will have to answer it with minutes or with a move.
The dugout8 Jan 2029
Something was said to Stanislav Kupeev and then it happened. In this industry that passes for remarkable, and the dressing room noticed faster than any supporter could.
The dugout8 Jan 2029
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at SKA Khabarovsk 2, and both men came out saying it was fine.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad25 Dec 2028
A fracture rules Ovik Galayan out for 107 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason SKA Khabarovsk 2 will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Squad25 Dec 2028
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at SKA Khabarovsk 2 this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Match23 Dec 2028
0‑2 to Rodina M, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
The dugout25 Dec 2028
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Mikhail Gorelishvili, and the manager let it.
Player ratings25 Dec 2028
Successful dribbles: 12. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
The dugout25 Dec 2028
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at SKA Khabarovsk 2. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
Market25 Dec 2028
SKA Khabarovsk 2 have let the market know Daniil Borisov can be had. No price in the advert, but everyone in the trade knows roughly what it says.
Player ratings25 Dec 2028
Chances created: 6. The column nobody reads carried the whole story of the match, and his name was at the top of it.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad18 Dec 2028
Alexandr Mukhin 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 terraces18 Dec 2028
He is 23 and the ground already sings his name, which is a thing that happens to local boys and almost never to signings. Everything from here is measured against an affection he did nothing to earn except be from here.
Player ratings18 Dec 2028
Successful dribbles: 16. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Player ratings18 Dec 2028
7.78, and no serious argument from anybody who was there. SKA Khabarovsk 2 had eleven men on the pitch and one of them decided how it went.
The dugout18 Dec 2028
Vladislav Zykh 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 SKA Khabarovsk 2, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Squad18 Dec 2028
“I am not asking anybody to be better than they are. I am asking everybody to be as good as they are, every week.” Said out loud, in front of everybody, and the room at SKA Khabarovsk 2 was different afterwards.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad11 Dec 2028
15 days, the scan says, and scans are kinder than reality. The fixtures in that window have just become somebody else’s job.
Squad11 Dec 2028
Stepan Burdakov 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.
Match9 Dec 2028
0‑2 to Dinamo Bryansk, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
The dugout11 Dec 2028
The manager makes an example of Alexandr Mukhin
“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 dugout11 Dec 2028
Daniil Borisov asks for a word with the manager
“I would rather say it to his face than read about it.” The meeting was requested by the player, which tells you most of what you need to know.
Player ratings11 Dec 2028
A mark of 5.78 tells the story without any need for embellishment. He will want the tape of this one quietly lost.
Squad11 Dec 2028
“I did not sign to watch. Nobody does.” The oldest complaint in the game, and SKA Khabarovsk 2 will have to answer it with minutes or with a move.
Market11 Dec 2028
6 months remain and no agreement is close. Every week without a signature costs SKA Khabarovsk 2 money.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad4 Dec 2028
Vadim Vshivkov 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.
Match2 Dec 2028
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Andrey Putilov. 1‑0 against Irtysh, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
The dugout4 Dec 2028
Ovik Galayan 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 ratings4 Dec 2028
A mark of 7.63, and nobody in the ground would argue with it. He was involved in everything that mattered and most of what did not.
Squad4 Dec 2028
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Vladislav Zykh was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Player ratings4 Dec 2028
Successful dribbles: 15. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
The dugout4 Dec 2028
Vadim Vshivkov 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 SKA Khabarovsk 2, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Looking ahead4 Dec 2028
The team at the top of the table next, and the honest measure of where this side actually is. Anybody can beat the club below them; the question is what happens against Dinamo Bryansk.
Squad4 Dec 2028
Not a new contract, not a new number: a new place in the manager’s thinking, which is the only promotion in football that actually matters. David Bekoev has moved up it.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Player ratings27 Nov 2028
At 35 every good afternoon gets called a throwback, and this one was: 7.89, and nobody on the pitch better.
The terraces27 Nov 2028
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 23-year-old it feels ownership of. Ovik Galayan 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.
Match25 Nov 2028
It had gone 5 games. The players did not celebrate like men who had won a match; they celebrated like men who had been let out of something.
The dugout27 Nov 2028
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to David Bekoev, and the manager let it.
The dugout27 Nov 2028
Vadim Vshivkov 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 Vadim Vshivkov trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Player ratings27 Nov 2028
Successful dribbles: 12. 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.
Player ratings27 Nov 2028
Shots: 6, enough of them from close enough that a striker in form scores two. He is not a striker in form.
Market27 Nov 2028
SKA Khabarovsk 2 have let the market know Daniil Borisov can be had. No price in the advert, but everyone in the trade knows roughly what it says.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad20 Nov 2028
Andrey Putilov 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.
Looking ahead20 Nov 2028
Both clubs in the mire, one fixture between them, and a ground that will be louder and more frightened than at any point in the season. SKA Khabarovsk 2 know what is at stake and so does everybody in the away end.
The dugout20 Nov 2028
Stepan Burdakov asks for a word with the manager
“I would rather say it to his face than read about it.” The meeting was requested by the player, which tells you most of what you need to know.
Squad20 Nov 2028
“I did not sign to watch. Nobody does.” The oldest complaint in the game, and SKA Khabarovsk 2 will have to answer it with minutes or with a move.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match6 Nov 2028
Position 13, 11 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.
Match4 Nov 2028
4 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.
Match4 Nov 2028
4 matches, no goals, and a training ground that has tried everything. It will end — droughts always do — but nobody at SKA Khabarovsk 2 can tell you which week it ends in.
Squad6 Nov 2028
Alexandr Mukhin and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
The dugout6 Nov 2028
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Ovik Galayan, and the manager let it.
Squad6 Nov 2028
“I respect the manager and I am not going to sit here and pretend I am happy.” It is the most common sentence in football and it has never once been the end of a story.
Market6 Nov 2028
SKA Khabarovsk 2 have let the market know Alexandr Mukhin can be had. No price in the advert, but everyone in the trade knows roughly what it says.
Squad6 Nov 2028
He used to be one of the options. He is now one of the men the options are picked around, and the change happened quietly enough that only the dressing room noticed on the day.
Match4 Nov 2028
Nil-nil, and few chances worth the name. Strogino came to defend and left with exactly what they came for.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match28 Oct 2028
A 0‑3 beating by Orenburg 2 was the sort of result that empties a stadium long before the final whistle.
The terraces30 Oct 2028
The boos come down from three sides
“We pay for this every fortnight. The least we want is somebody who looks like he cares.” 3 of the 15 senior players walked off into it; the rest were not playing.
Squad30 Oct 2028
Vadim Vshivkov 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.
Match28 Oct 2028
3 matches, no goals, and a training ground that has tried everything. It will end — droughts always do — but nobody at SKA Khabarovsk 2 can tell you which week it ends in.
Squad30 Oct 2028
The injury that keeps coming back, keeps being rushed back from, and quietly costs more careers than the dramatic ones. 15 days is the estimate; the honest figure depends on whether anybody is patient.
The dugout30 Oct 2028
The manager makes an example of Daniil Borisov
“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.
Boardroom30 Oct 2028
Nobody left the SKA Khabarovsk 2 dressing room in a hurry
The door stayed shut a long time after the final whistle. What was said in there is between them; whether it worked is between them and Saturday.
Squad30 Oct 2028
An error at the back is a moment; an error in goal is a goal. Vadim Vshivkov knows it, the crowd knew it instantly, and there was nobody behind him to make it anything else.
Squad30 Oct 2028
One yellow too many, and a match watched from the stand. The most avoidable absence in football, and SKA Khabarovsk 2 will feel it on Saturday.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad23 Oct 2028
Stepan Burdakov 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 dugout23 Oct 2028
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to David Bekoev, and the manager let it.
The dugout23 Oct 2028
Daniil Borisov 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 Daniil Borisov trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
The dugout23 Oct 2028
The shape wanted a different profile against this opponent, which is a real football answer and no comfort at all to the man it is about. He did nothing wrong and he did not play.
The dugout23 Oct 2028
A conversation in the manager’s office, and a commitment that came out of it. Promises like that are cheap to make and expensive to break, and Alexandr Maximenko has written the date down.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad16 Oct 2028
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at SKA Khabarovsk 2 this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The dugout16 Oct 2028
“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 dugout16 Oct 2028
Vadim Vshivkov 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 Vadim Vshivkov trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market25 Sep 2028
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what SKA Khabarovsk 2 can pretend not to have heard.
Squad25 Sep 2028
Eldar Bliev 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 SKA Khabarovsk 2 this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The terraces25 Sep 2028
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 23-year-old it feels ownership of. Ovik Galayan 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.
Match23 Sep 2028
Rotor 2 made SKA Khabarovsk 2 work for it, but the scoreboard read 1‑0 at the end and the table does not ask how.
Player ratings25 Sep 2028
Vladislav Zykh was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.01. There are performances a supporter describes to somebody who was not there and cannot quite convey; this was one, and the number does not help either.
The dugout25 Sep 2028
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to David Bekoev, and the manager let it.
Player ratings25 Sep 2028
Successful dribbles: 13. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
The dugout25 Sep 2028
Ovik Galayan 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 Ovik Galayan trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Player ratings25 Sep 2028
11 times he got in the way of something. Centre-halves get written about when they make mistakes and ignored when they do not, so an afternoon like this needs saying out loud: he is the reason the scoreline reads as it does.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
The terraces18 Sep 2028
The boos come down from three sides
“We pay for this every fortnight. The least we want is somebody who looks like he cares.” 6 of the 15 senior players walked off into it; the rest were not playing.
Squad18 Sep 2028
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at SKA Khabarovsk 2 this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Match16 Sep 2028
0‑2 to Spartak Tambov, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
The dugout18 Sep 2028
“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 ratings18 Sep 2028
Successful dribbles: 12. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
Market18 Sep 2028
The Eldar Bliev story refuses to die
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Eldar Bliev signs something — a contract at SKA Khabarovsk 2 or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
Market18 Sep 2028
The window shut and Alexandr Maximenko is still in the building
SKA Khabarovsk 2 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.
Squad18 Sep 2028
“I want to play”: Elio Landi speaks
“I respect the manager and I am not going to sit here and pretend I am happy.” It is the most common sentence in football and it has never once been the end of a story.
Market18 Sep 2028
1 months remain and no agreement is close. Every week without a signature costs SKA Khabarovsk 2 money.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match2 Sep 2028
7 without a win is the sort of run that changes how a town talks about its club, and Kvant were the afternoon it stopped. Nothing is fixed by one result and everything feels different by one.
Market4 Sep 2028
Mezőkövesd are about to pick up the phone
A conversation is coming this week. SKA Khabarovsk 2 will put a number on him, and from there it stops being football and becomes arithmetic.
Squad4 Sep 2028
Eldar Bliev 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 terraces4 Sep 2028
He is 23 and the ground already sings his name, which is a thing that happens to local boys and almost never to signings. Everything from here is measured against an affection he did nothing to earn except be from here.
Match2 Sep 2028
Three points for SKA Khabarovsk 2, 1‑0 the final word against Kvant in a contest settled by the finer margins.
Squad4 Sep 2028
Words at SKA Khabarovsk 2 training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Stepan Burdakov 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 dugout4 Sep 2028
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Ovik Galayan, and the manager let it.
Squad4 Sep 2028
Ovik Galayan is no longer first choice
The manager has re-ordered his thinking and Ovik Galayan has come out of it lower. He will be told it is temporary, and the players who have heard that before will avoid his eye.
Player ratings4 Sep 2028
7.85, and no serious argument from anybody who was there. SKA Khabarovsk 2 had eleven men on the pitch and one of them decided how it went.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market28 Aug 2028
Pobeda come back empty-handed
The bid was some way short and SKA Khabarovsk 2 did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.
Match26 Aug 2028
7 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.
Squad28 Aug 2028
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Vadim Vshivkov was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Player ratings28 Aug 2028
Eldar Bliev ran the middle of the pitch — 6.93
He won it back and then made something of it, which is two jobs and the reason the scoreline looks the way it does. 12 combined actions and a mark of 6.93, and not one of them will make a highlights package.
Squad28 Aug 2028
Stepan Burdakov and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Player ratings28 Aug 2028
Successful dribbles: 14. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
The dugout28 Aug 2028
Vadim Vshivkov 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 Vadim Vshivkov trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
The dugout28 Aug 2028
Something was said to Sergey Yemelkin and then it happened. In this industry that passes for remarkable, and the dressing room noticed faster than any supporter could.
Match26 Aug 2028
Ninety minutes, two goalkeepers with clean gloves, and not one finish worth keeping. Ryazan will be the happier side with the point.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market21 Aug 2028
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. SKA Khabarovsk 2 have lost him in all but the paperwork.
Match19 Aug 2028
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.
Market21 Aug 2028
Tommaso Villa 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 SKA Khabarovsk 2 can pretend not to have heard.
Squad21 Aug 2028
Vadim Vshivkov and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad21 Aug 2028
Ovik Galayan 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.
Match19 Aug 2028
It needed Márk Szelényi to find the net to bring anything home at all: 1‑1 against Rodina M, and half the dressing room will call it a point won.
The dugout21 Aug 2028
The manager makes an example of David Bekoev
“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 dugout21 Aug 2028
Vadim Vshivkov asks for a word with the manager
“I would rather say it to his face than read about it.” The meeting was requested by the player, which tells you most of what you need to know.
The dugout21 Aug 2028
The shape wanted a different profile against this opponent, which is a real football answer and no comfort at all to the man it is about. He did nothing wrong and he did not play.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Market7 Aug 2028
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what SKA Khabarovsk 2 can pretend not to have heard.
Match5 Aug 2028
No end in sight to SKA Khabarovsk 2's wait for a win
4 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at SKA Khabarovsk 2 has to find a result from somewhere.
Market7 Aug 2028
Add another name to the list: FC Bacău have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Márk Szelényi. The answer from SKA Khabarovsk 2 has not changed — yet.
Squad7 Aug 2028
Words at SKA Khabarovsk 2 training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Vadim Vshivkov 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.
Squad7 Aug 2028
Eldar Bliev 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.
Match5 Aug 2028
0‑2 to Dinamo Bryansk, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
The dugout7 Aug 2028
“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 Aug 2028
The young player of the month award goes to a 21-year-old at SKA Khabarovsk 2 who has looked like the finished article for four weekends running. The next four are the ones that decide whether he is.
Squad7 Aug 2028
“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 SKA Khabarovsk 2 will have to give him a reason to stay or an exit.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market31 Jul 2028
“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 SKA Khabarovsk 2, and it is not being withdrawn.
Player ratings31 Jul 2028
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 7.82 at 35, and nobody on the pitch was better.
Squad31 Jul 2028
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at SKA Khabarovsk 2 this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad31 Jul 2028
Words at SKA Khabarovsk 2 training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ovik Galayan 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 dugout31 Jul 2028
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Vadim Vshivkov, and the manager let it.
Match29 Jul 2028
A 1‑1 draw with Irtysh leaves the dressing room somewhere between relief and regret.
The dugout31 Jul 2028
Ovik Galayan 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 SKA Khabarovsk 2, and both men came out saying it was fine.
The dugout31 Jul 2028
Ninety specific minutes wanted a different sort of player, and the manager picked one. He is not out of form and he is not in the side, and both are true.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Player ratings24 Jul 2028
Márk Szelényi, 21, steals the show — 9.26
Marked 9.26 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.
Squad24 Jul 2028
The match ball belongs to Márk Szelényi, whose 3 goals turned a difficult afternoon into a procession.
Market24 Jul 2028
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what SKA Khabarovsk 2 can pretend not to have heard.
Match22 Jul 2028
After 9 games, SKA Khabarovsk 2 finally taste it again
The first defeat in 9 matches. The manager will say it had to come; the dressing room will say it did not have to come against Zenit Penza; the supporters will say both, in that order, all week.
Market24 Jul 2028
So close: Márk Szelényi’s move dies late
The fee was agreed and the flight was looked at — and then the phone stopped ringing. Chaika moved on, Márk Szelényi reports back to SKA Khabarovsk 2, and everybody pretends Monday is just Monday.
Match22 Jul 2028
Zenit Penza left with the points after a 3‑4 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Squad24 Jul 2028
Vadim Vshivkov and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Match22 Jul 2028
7 goals. Both benches spent the second half looking at each other rather than at the pitch. Purists will complain about SKA Khabarovsk 2 and Zenit Penza in equal measure; everybody else had a wonderful time.
Squad24 Jul 2028
Stepan Burdakov 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.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Match15 Jul 2028
Zakhar Kravtsov had done his part in building a 2-goal cushion. What happened after that was collective, and Znamya Truda were allowed back into a match that had been finished with.
Market17 Jul 2028
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what SKA Khabarovsk 2 can pretend not to have heard.
Market17 Jul 2028
Everything was agreed until it was not, and Stepan Burdakov reports back to SKA Khabarovsk 2 with a summer to forget. Neither club is saying who walked away from the table.
Match15 Jul 2028
9 games unbeaten now. Some were earned and some were survived, but a habit is forming — and habits are the hardest thing in football to play against.
Player ratings17 Jul 2028
A defender's goal wins it for SKA Khabarovsk 2 — 7.50
1 for Zakhar Kravtsov, marked 7.50, and a centre-half's name in the part of the report he normally only reaches by mistake. He will not be allowed to forget it in the dressing room for a month.
Match15 Jul 2028
9 matches unbeaten here. Every visiting manager is asked about it in the week before, which is precisely why it keeps going.
Squad17 Jul 2028
Words at SKA Khabarovsk 2 training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Vadim Vshivkov 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.
Squad17 Jul 2028
Eldar Bliev 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.
Squad17 Jul 2028
100 games in the shirt. Nobody sets out to build a record like that; it happens to a certain kind of player at a certain kind of club, and this town knows what it has.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market10 Jul 2028
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around SKA Khabarovsk 2 people have started saying his name in the past tense.
Market10 Jul 2028
“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 SKA Khabarovsk 2, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad10 Jul 2028
Vadim Vshivkov 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.
Squad10 Jul 2028
Words at SKA Khabarovsk 2 training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ovik Galayan 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 dugout10 Jul 2028
Vadim Vshivkov 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 Vadim Vshivkov trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market3 Jul 2028
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what SKA Khabarovsk 2 can pretend not to have heard.
Market3 Jul 2028
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around SKA Khabarovsk 2 they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Market3 Jul 2028
The interest is real enough to have reached print. SKA Khabarovsk 2 have said nothing, which in a transfer window is its own kind of answer.
Squad3 Jul 2028
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at SKA Khabarovsk 2 this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad3 Jul 2028
Somebody has moved past him. It is not a dropping and it is worse than one, because a dropping is about a Saturday and this is about where he stands.
Squad3 Jul 2028
He is not being dropped. There is simply nowhere in the formation SKA Khabarovsk 2 are playing to put a man who does what he does, which is a harder thing to be told than any team sheet.
Squad3 Jul 2028
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Téo Germinario was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout3 Jul 2028
Vadim Vshivkov 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 Vadim Vshivkov trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Market3 Jul 2028
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. SKA Khabarovsk 2 know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market26 Jun 2028
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what SKA Khabarovsk 2 can pretend not to have heard.
Squad26 Jun 2028
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Ovik Galayan was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Squad26 Jun 2028
Talgat Akhmetov 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 dugout26 Jun 2028
Zakhar Kravtsov asks for a word with the manager
“I would rather say it to his face than read about it.” The meeting was requested by the player, which tells you most of what you need to know.
Market26 Jun 2028
“They were honest with me, and I would rather know.” Vadim Vshivkov has been informed he is not in the manager's thinking at SKA Khabarovsk 2.
Squad26 Jun 2028
A new face in his position, and Alexandr Maximenko suddenly has to win back what he thought he owned. SKA Khabarovsk 2 have promised nothing — clubs rarely do at this stage.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Market1 May 2028
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Chelyabinsk is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
The dugout1 May 2028
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Chelyabinsk may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Squad1 May 2028
Nikita Saltykov and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
The dugout1 May 2028
“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.
Squad1 May 2028
Igor Rusyaev 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 May 2028
Denis Firsov loses the manager who believed in him
A change in the dugout is not one story, it is twenty-five of them. This is Denis Firsov's: he was somebody's player, and now he has to be somebody else's, starting from nothing.
Squad1 May 2028
Ben Yagan remains an outsider
A year in and the city has not opened up, the language has not come, and lunch is eaten alone more often than anybody at Chelyabinsk would admit. It shows on Saturdays.
Market1 May 2028
The Ilja Tuseev talk will not go away
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Chelyabinsk know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
Squad1 May 2028
Not a new contract, not a new number: a new place in the manager’s thinking, which is the only promotion in football that actually matters. Vasily Palkin has moved up it.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad1 May 2028
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at SKA Khabarovsk this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Boardroom1 May 2028
The accounts are being read more closely than the results. Wages before ambition is the order of business now, and the manager has been told so.
Squad1 May 2028
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Timofey Komissarov was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Market1 May 2028
“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.
Loan watch1 May 2028
“I watch every SKA Khabarovsk game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Chelyabinsk runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
The dugout1 May 2028
The manager's exit leaves Yan Gudkov exposed
Every squad has men who were signed by a particular manager and men who were merely inherited. Yan Gudkov is in the first group, and the man who wanted him here is no longer in the building.
The dugout1 May 2028
Sten Grytebust asks for a word with the manager
“I would rather say it to his face than read about it.” The meeting was requested by the player, which tells you most of what you need to know.
Squad1 May 2028
“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 SKA Khabarovsk will have to give him a reason to stay or an exit.
Squad1 May 2028
A year in and the language has not come, the city has not opened up, and he eats alone more often than anybody at SKA Khabarovsk would like to admit. It is showing on Saturdays.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match18 Mar 2028
No end in sight to Chelyabinsk's wait for a win
4 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Chelyabinsk has to find a result from somewhere.
Match18 Mar 2028
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.
Squad20 Mar 2028
Nikita Saltykov 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.
Boardroom20 Mar 2028
Wages swallow 142% of the Chelyabinsk income
Every club pays most of what it earns to its players. Paying nearly all of it is a different arrangement, and it has ended the same way every time it has been tried.
Match18 Mar 2028
Beaten 0‑1, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Squad20 Mar 2028
Igor Rusyaev 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.
Squad20 Mar 2028
A goalkeeper’s error has no defender behind it to tidy it away. He knew before the ball crossed the line, the crowd knew a second later, and there is nothing anybody can say tonight.
The dugout20 Mar 2028
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 Marius Moustapha to a room that had heard them before.
The dugout20 Mar 2028
Ilja Tuseev 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.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Market14 Feb 2028
“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 SKA Khabarovsk, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad14 Feb 2028
Demjan Iljev 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 SKA Khabarovsk this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad14 Feb 2028
Nichita Moțpan 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 targets14 Feb 2028
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Ural have kept their man, and SKA Khabarovsk go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
The dugout14 Feb 2028
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Sten Grytebust, and the manager let it.
Match12 Feb 2028
0‑1 to Arsenal Tula, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Market14 Feb 2028
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at SKA Khabarovsk, another week without a signature from Artur Kopylov.
Loan watch14 Feb 2028
“I watch every SKA Khabarovsk game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Chelyabinsk runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
The dugout14 Feb 2028
“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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market15 Nov 2027
Only the photograph left for Denis Pokotylo
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Denis Pokotylo will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Chelyabinsk the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Squad15 Nov 2027
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Nikita Saltykov was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout15 Nov 2027
The manager makes an example of Denis Samoilov
“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 Nov 2027
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Vladimir Uljanovskiy trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Looking ahead15 Nov 2027
Every squad has one of these fixtures for somebody every season. This one is Vadim Vshivkov’s: the club that knew him first, the supporters who will decide in the first minute whether to applaud, and Chelyabinsk needing him to play as if none of it matters.
Squad15 Nov 2027
Ben Yagan still has not settled
A year in and the language has not come, the city has not opened up, and he eats alone more often than anybody at Chelyabinsk would like to admit. It is showing on Saturdays.
Market15 Nov 2027
The name of Garrik Levin keeps appearing in other people's back pages. Chelyabinsk say nothing, which says plenty.
Squad15 Nov 2027
Aslan Aushev has had enough of the bench
“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 Chelyabinsk will have to give him a reason to stay or an exit.
Market15 Nov 2027
The shop window has Garrik Levin in it
Chelyabinsk have let the market know Garrik Levin can be had. No price in the advert, but everyone in the trade knows roughly what it says.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
The dugout1 Nov 2027
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” SKA Khabarovsk may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Squad1 Nov 2027
Demjan Iljev 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 SKA Khabarovsk this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Player ratings1 Nov 2027
Both jobs done by Jordi Tur — 6.85
A midfielder is measured on whether the team functions when he is on the pitch, which is nearly impossible to see and completely obvious in retrospect. 13 actions, 6.85, and a manager who will not be substituting him again in a hurry.
Squad1 Nov 2027
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Nichita Moțpan was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Match30 Oct 2027
3 matches without a goal for SKA Khabarovsk
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.
Match30 Oct 2027
Beaten 0‑2, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
The dugout1 Nov 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Kamran Aliev, and the manager let it.
Boardroom1 Nov 2027
Wages swallow 128% of the SKA Khabarovsk income
Every club pays most of what it earns to its players. Paying nearly all of it is a different arrangement, and it has ended the same way every time it has been tried.
Squad1 Nov 2027
A muscle injury and 14 days out for David Bekoev
The most common injury in the game and the most rushed back from. SKA Khabarovsk will quote 14 days and will be careful with it, because the second one is always worse than the first.