Marked for Sergey Gaiduk
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Player ratings27 Aug 2029
Headers, blocks, tackles, interceptions — 31 of them, and not one goal behind him. The sort of performance that never makes a highlight reel and wins football matches.
Market27 Aug 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 The request is on a desk at Salyut, and it is not being withdrawn.
Market27 Aug 2029
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Dmitry Koltyukov will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Salyut the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Squad27 Aug 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 Salyut this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Player ratings27 Aug 2029
A performance of 9.00 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
Match25 Aug 2029
A 2‑0 win over Rotor 2, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
Player ratings27 Aug 2029
A performance of 8.32 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
Squad27 Aug 2029
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
Player ratings27 Aug 2029
Defensive actions: 15. He was first to everything and second to nothing, and the goalkeeper had an easy day because of it.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad13 Aug 2029
The medical room confirms 30 days on the sidelines for Nikolay Boyarkin, and a plan built around him now has to be rebuilt.
Player ratings13 Aug 2029
Successful dribbles: 23. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad13 Aug 2029
Tempers go at Salyut
Alexandr Krikunenko 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.
Market13 Aug 2029
The interest is real enough to have reached print. Salyut have said nothing, which in a transfer window is its own kind of answer.
Squad13 Aug 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.
Match11 Aug 2029
A bad afternoon for Salyut against Ryazan
0‑1 to Ryazan, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Market13 Aug 2029
Both sides expect a conversation in the coming days. Salyut will name a price, and everything after that is arithmetic.
Player ratings13 Aug 2029
Shots: 6, enough of them from close enough that a striker in form scores two. He is not a striker in form.
Market13 Aug 2029
Every press conference now starts and ends the same way: with Sergey Gaiduk’s future. The manager has run out of new ways to say nothing.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Market6 Aug 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 Salyut, and it is not being withdrawn.
Market6 Aug 2029
The shirt still fits. Semyon Abramov is back at Salyut, and half the ground remembers him in these colours already. Some signings need selling to the town; this one sold itself.
Squad6 Aug 2029
Tempers go at Salyut
Sergey Gaiduk 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.
Boardroom6 Aug 2029
The owner puts $100.6K into Salyut
This is money that keeps the lights on rather than money that buys a centre-half, and the difference is the whole story. A club funded by its owner rather than by its football has exactly one conversation left ahead of it.
Squad6 Aug 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.
Match4 Aug 2029
Metallurg left with the points after a 0‑1 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Boardroom6 Aug 2029
Salyut cannot sign anybody
The embargo bars a fee being paid for a player, whatever the manager thinks the squad needs. Every rumour printed about this club between now and its lifting is a rumour about a deal that cannot happen.
Boardroom6 Aug 2029
123% of the income goes out in wages at Salyut
Every club in football pays most of what it earns to its players. Paying nearly all of it is a different arrangement, and it has ended the same way every time somebody has tried it.
Squad6 Aug 2029
“The easiest signature of my career.” Yegor Yelesin and Salyut agree another 3 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market30 Jul 2029
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Salyut can pretend not to have heard.
Market30 Jul 2029
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Salyut is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Squad30 Jul 2029
Tempers go at Salyut
Alexandr Krikunenko was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Player ratings30 Jul 2029
Successful dribbles: 21. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Match28 Jul 2029
It finished 2‑1, and it was Vladislav Faskhutdinov’s afternoon: on the scoresheet when it mattered, and the reason the points belong to Salyut.
Player ratings30 Jul 2029
A performance of 8.46 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
Squad30 Jul 2029
The first one is the one every signing is asked about until it arrives. It has arrived, and he can stop being asked.
Player ratings30 Jul 2029
Shots: 7. Goals: none. The chances were there and they were good ones, and they went into the stand, the goalkeeper's arms and the side netting in roughly that order.
Squad30 Jul 2029
Tumelo Shai 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 Salyut, and both men came out saying it was fine.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Market23 Jul 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 Salyut, and it is not being withdrawn.
Market23 Jul 2029
Only the photograph left for Andrey Pisarev
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Andrey Pisarev will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Salyut the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Squad23 Jul 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 Salyut this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Player ratings23 Jul 2029
Successful dribbles: 21. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Match21 Jul 2029
Beaten 1‑2, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Squad23 Jul 2029
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Alexandr Krikunenko, and the manager let it.
Player ratings23 Jul 2029
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.17, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
The terraces23 Jul 2029
He is the name in every column and on every phone-in, which is a heavy thing to carry at any age. Some footballers thrive on it; others are quietly finished by it.
Squad23 Jul 2029
The first one is the one every signing is asked about until it arrives. It has arrived, and he can stop being asked.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market16 Jul 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 Salyut, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad16 Jul 2029
98 days, the medical staff say, and medical staff are optimists by profession. The team sheet will look wrong without him.
Squad16 Jul 2029
58 days, the scan says, and scans are kinder than reality. The fixtures in that window have just become somebody else’s job.
Market16 Jul 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.
Market16 Jul 2029
Some transfers need a press campaign. This one needed a shirt with the old number on it. Aleksandr Kalinichev is a Salyut player again, and the town has its story of the summer.
Market16 Jul 2029
As if he never left: Foma Rybakov returns
Some transfers need a press campaign. This one needed a shirt with the old number on it. Foma Rybakov is a Salyut player again, and the town has its story of the summer.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market25 Jun 2029
Ilja Vinnikov 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 Salyut can pretend not to have heard.
Squad25 Jun 2029
Tempers go at Salyut
Sergey Gaiduk 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.
Squad25 Jun 2029
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Tumelo Shai, and the manager let it.
Market25 Jun 2029
The name of Nikolay Boyarkin keeps appearing in other people's back pages. Salyut say nothing, which says plenty.
Squad25 Jun 2029
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Stanislav Bukatov trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Market25 Jun 2029
The clock does Semyon Abramov’s negotiating for him
1 months left, and both sides know what that means: every week without a signature, the fee Salyut could ask drops and the wages Semyon Abramov can ask rise.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad4 Jun 2029
There are footballers who have a good season and footballers a season is remembered for, and the second kind get their names read out in a hall in the summer. Salyut will be quietly delighted and privately nervous.
Market4 Jun 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 Salyut, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad4 Jun 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 Salyut this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Boardroom4 Jun 2029
$86.5K of the owner's money at Salyut
The shortfall was covered from upstairs again. Supporters are entitled to be relieved and entitled to ask what happens the month it is not, and both feelings usually arrive together.
Market4 Jun 2029
“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.
Squad4 Jun 2029
Anton Zalamay 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
Uneasy
Market28 May 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 Salyut, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad28 May 2029
Tempers go at Salyut
Alexandr Krikunenko 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.
Market28 May 2029
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Salyut know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
Squad28 May 2029
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Andrey Ivanteev trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Market28 May 2029
The clock does Semyon Abramov’s negotiating for him
2 months left, and both sides know what that means: every week without a signature, the fee Salyut could ask drops and the wages Semyon Abramov can ask rise.
Squad28 May 2029
Questions about Sergey Gaiduk on the training pitch
The standards have slipped, and in a building where everybody watches everybody it has not gone unremarked. This is how a player loses a place before he loses one.
In brief
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Boardroom
The Salyut production line keeps running
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Squad
The manager plants his flag on Ilja Vinnikov
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market14 May 2029
Only the photograph left for Semyon Abramov
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Semyon Abramov will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Salyut the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Market14 May 2029
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Salyut can pretend not to have heard.
Squad14 May 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 Salyut this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Boardroom14 May 2029
No signings allowed at Salyut
The manager may talk to whoever he likes and may pay nobody. A squad survives a window like this by borrowing, by promoting, and by hoping the injuries land somewhere else.
Boardroom14 May 2029
128% of the income goes out in wages at Salyut
Every club in football pays most of what it earns to its players. Paying nearly all of it is a different arrangement, and it has ended the same way every time somebody has tried it.
Boardroom14 May 2029
The Salyut debt reaches $7.2M
Football clubs borrow; that is not the story. Borrowing more than the facility allows is, because from here it is the owner's money or somebody else's decision, and neither of those belongs to the board.
Squad14 May 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.
Loan watch14 May 2029
“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 Salyut, and 0 appearances in 13 say he has earned the hearing.
Squad14 May 2029
Nikolay Boyarkin 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
Squad23 Apr 2029
He is 21, he is averaging 7.25, and older professionals have started passing to him in the difficult minutes. That last part is the real scouting report.
Squad23 Apr 2029
Tempers go at Salyut
Sergey Gaiduk 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.
Squad23 Apr 2029
Ilja Bychkov 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.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market2 Apr 2029
Ilja Vinnikov 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 Salyut can pretend not to have heard.
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 Salyut this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad2 Apr 2029
“The easiest signature of my career.” Vitaliy Tkachuk and Salyut agree another 4 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Boardroom2 Apr 2029
$69.5K of the owner's money at Salyut
The shortfall was covered from upstairs again. Supporters are entitled to be relieved and entitled to ask what happens the month it is not, and both feelings usually arrive together.
Squad2 Apr 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.
Squad2 Apr 2029
Ilja Vinnikov 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 Salyut, and both men came out saying it was fine.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad5 Mar 2029
“I was told what my role would be, and I signed on that basis. It has not happened.” A grievance with a date attached is the hardest kind to settle.
Squad5 Mar 2029
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Sergey Gaiduk and Salyut agree another 4 years.
Squad5 Mar 2029
Tempers go at Salyut
Alexandr Krikunenko 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.
Boardroom5 Mar 2029
$50.3K of the owner's money at Salyut
The shortfall was covered from upstairs again. Supporters are entitled to be relieved and entitled to ask what happens the month it is not, and both feelings usually arrive together.
Squad5 Mar 2029
The manager makes an example of Ilja Bychkov
“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.
Market5 Mar 2029
“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.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad8 Jan 2029
There were 6 saves in it, and at least three that had no business being saves at all. The ten outfield players owe him a drink and they know it.
Squad8 Jan 2029
Tempers go at Salyut
Arseny Prokurorov was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Player ratings8 Jan 2029
Successful dribbles: 21. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Boardroom8 Jan 2029
$55.3K of the owner's money at Salyut
The shortfall was covered from upstairs again. Supporters are entitled to be relieved and entitled to ask what happens the month it is not, and both feelings usually arrive together.
Match6 Jan 2029
Spartak Tambov left with the points after a 0‑2 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Squad8 Jan 2029
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Arseny Prokurorov, and the manager let it.
Squad8 Jan 2029
The medical room confirms 31 days on the sidelines for Savely Ignatov, and a plan built around him now has to be rebuilt.
Player ratings8 Jan 2029
Shots: 6, enough of them from close enough that a striker in form scores two. He is not a striker in form.
Player ratings8 Jan 2029
The one thing Sergey Gaiduk could not do
Shots: 4, enough of them from close enough that a striker in form scores two. He is not a striker in form.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match30 Dec 2028
1‑4 to Znamya Truda, and it was every bit as bad as the number suggests. There are defeats you argue about and defeats you apologise for; this was the second kind.
Squad1 Jan 2029
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 8 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
The terraces1 Jan 2029
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 25 senior players walked off into it; the rest were not playing.
Squad1 Jan 2029
An individual honour is a strange thing in a team game, and the best of them are never argued with. He has had the sort of year that ends with his name being read out, and Salyut have had the benefit of it.
Squad1 Jan 2029
He is 20, he is averaging 7.25, and older professionals have started passing to him in the difficult minutes. That last part is the real scouting report.
Squad1 Jan 2029
A season average of 7.61 with 10 goals behind it. Opponents have started planning around him, which is the sincerest compliment football pays.
Player ratings1 Jan 2029
Successful dribbles: 18. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Player ratings1 Jan 2029
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.05, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
Boardroom1 Jan 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.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad4 Dec 2028
10 goals and a season average of 7.62. Form like that gets noticed well beyond this town.
Squad4 Dec 2028
A season average of 7.11 at an age when most of his year group are still in the youth team. Salyut know what they have, and so, by now, does everybody else.
Squad4 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 Salyut this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Player ratings4 Dec 2028
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 9.26, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
Boardroom4 Dec 2028
The owner puts $46.1K into Salyut
This is money that keeps the lights on rather than money that buys a centre-half, and the difference is the whole story. A club funded by its owner rather than by its football has exactly one conversation left ahead of it.
Player ratings4 Dec 2028
A performance of 8.92 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
Match2 Dec 2028
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Sergey Gaiduk. 2‑0 against SKA Khabarovsk 2, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Player ratings4 Dec 2028
A performance of 8.05 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
Player ratings4 Dec 2028
Defensive actions: 18, and a clean sheet at the end of it. A centre-half's best afternoons look like nothing happening, which is precisely the point.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Match22 Nov 2028
The cup run ends for Salyut
0‑1 against Krasnodar, and the road stops here. Cup exits are quick deaths — no second leg, no next week, just the league from now until May.
Squad27 Nov 2028
“I was told what my role would be, and I signed on that basis. It has not happened.” A grievance with a date attached is the hardest kind to settle.
The terraces27 Nov 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.” 5 of the 25 senior players walked off into it; the rest were not playing.
Player ratings27 Nov 2028
Defensive actions: 23, and a clean sheet at the end of it. A centre-half's best afternoons look like nothing happening, which is precisely the point.
Squad27 Nov 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 Salyut this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Boardroom27 Nov 2028
154% of the income goes out in wages at Salyut
Every club in football pays most of what it earns to its players. Paying nearly all of it is a different arrangement, and it has ended the same way every time somebody has tried it.
Player ratings27 Nov 2028
Successful dribbles: 19. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad27 Nov 2028
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Arseny Prokurorov, and the manager let it.
Boardroom27 Nov 2028
No signings allowed at Salyut
The manager may talk to whoever he likes and may pay nobody. A squad survives a window like this by borrowing, by promoting, and by hoping the injuries land somewhere else.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad6 Nov 2028
He is 20, he is averaging 7.03, and older professionals have started passing to him in the difficult minutes. That last part is the real scouting report.
Squad6 Nov 2028
Tempers go at Salyut
Sergey Gaiduk was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Player ratings6 Nov 2028
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 9.24, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
Boardroom6 Nov 2028
The owner puts $35.4K into Salyut
This is money that keeps the lights on rather than money that buys a centre-half, and the difference is the whole story. A club funded by its owner rather than by its football has exactly one conversation left ahead of it.
Squad6 Nov 2028
“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.
Match4 Nov 2028
Three points for Salyut, 1‑0 the final word against Ryazan in a contest settled by the finer margins.
Player ratings6 Nov 2028
Headers, blocks, tackles, interceptions — 17 of them, and not one goal behind him. The sort of performance that never makes a highlight reel and wins football matches.
Player ratings6 Nov 2028
Successful dribbles: 16. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad6 Nov 2028
The award goes to Arseny Budylin, and nobody around here is inclined to argue with the choice.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match28 Oct 2028
8 matches without a win for Salyut
The run now stands at 8, and the questions being asked around Salyut are no longer polite ones.
Squad30 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 Salyut this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Match28 Oct 2028
Metallurg left with the points after a 1‑3 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Boardroom30 Oct 2028
152% of the income goes out in wages at Salyut
Every club in football pays most of what it earns to its players. Paying nearly all of it is a different arrangement, and it has ended the same way every time somebody has tried it.
Player ratings30 Oct 2028
Marked 8.76 — the sort of number a correspondent writes down twice to be sure. Everything he tried came off, and what he did not try was not worth trying.
Squad30 Oct 2028
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Arseny Prokurorov, and the manager let it.
Boardroom30 Oct 2028
No signings allowed at Salyut
The manager may talk to whoever he likes and may pay nobody. A squad survives a window like this by borrowing, by promoting, and by hoping the injuries land somewhere else.
Boardroom30 Oct 2028
The Salyut debt reaches $5.8M
Football clubs borrow; that is not the story. Borrowing more than the facility allows is, because from here it is the owner's money or somebody else's decision, and neither of those belongs to the board.
Player ratings30 Oct 2028
Successful dribbles: 17. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad23 Oct 2028
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 8 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Market23 Oct 2028
“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.
Match21 Oct 2028
No end in sight to Salyut's wait for a win
7 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Salyut has to find a result from somewhere.
Squad23 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 Salyut this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Player ratings23 Oct 2028
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 9.03, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
Player ratings23 Oct 2028
Marked 8.24 — the sort of number a correspondent writes down twice to be sure. Everything he tried came off, and what he did not try was not worth trying.
Squad23 Oct 2028
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Ilja Bychkov, and the manager let it.
Match21 Oct 2028
It needed Arseny Budylin to find the net to bring anything home at all: 2‑2 against Orel, and half the dressing room will call it a point won.
Player ratings23 Oct 2028
Shots: 4, not one of them in. A centre forward is paid for one thing, and on this evidence he has forgotten which thing it is.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match14 Oct 2028
6 matches without a win for Salyut
The run now stands at 6, and the questions being asked around Salyut are no longer polite ones.
Squad16 Oct 2028
A season average of 7.59 with 9 goals behind it. Opponents have started planning around him, which is the sincerest compliment football pays.
Squad16 Oct 2028
Tempers go at Salyut
Alexandr Krikunenko 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.
Match14 Oct 2028
1‑2 to Dinamo St Petersburg, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Player ratings16 Oct 2028
Marked 9.03 — the sort of number a correspondent writes down twice to be sure. Everything he tried came off, and what he did not try was not worth trying.
Squad16 Oct 2028
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Ilja Vinnikov, and the manager let it.
Squad16 Oct 2028
An error at the back is a moment; an error in goal is a goal. Semyon Abramov knows it, the crowd knew it instantly, and there was nobody behind him to make it anything else.
Market16 Oct 2028
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Salyut know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
Player ratings16 Oct 2028
Marked 5.43, and generously at that. Nothing came off, and by the end the crowd had stopped expecting it to.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad9 Oct 2028
Semyon Abramov decides it from twelve yards
2 kept out in the shoot-out, and a stadium that will still be describing them in twenty years. A goalkeeper only needs one of these to be remembered forever.
Match4 Oct 2028
Salyut through in the cup
A 0‑0 win over Dinamo Makhachkala, and the draw for the next round can be watched with some interest for once.
Match7 Oct 2028
The wait goes on for Salyut
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.
Squad9 Oct 2028
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Vladislav Faskhutdinov and Salyut agree another 2 years.
Squad9 Oct 2028
Tempers go at Salyut
Ilja Vinnikov was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Player ratings9 Oct 2028
Successful dribbles: 20. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad9 Oct 2028
“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.
Player ratings9 Oct 2028
The kick that got away from Sergey Gaiduk
Twelve yards, a goalkeeper guessing, and it still did not go in. He will take the next one, and every soul in the ground will hold their breath.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad2 Oct 2028
Vitaliy Tkachuk: that is not what I was promised
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Salyut have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Squad2 Oct 2028
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Vladislav Faskhutdinov commits to Salyut for another 2 years.
Squad2 Oct 2028
Tempers go at Salyut
Alexandr Krikunenko 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.
Boardroom2 Oct 2028
$32.0K of the owner's money at Salyut
The shortfall was covered from upstairs again. Supporters are entitled to be relieved and entitled to ask what happens the month it is not, and both feelings usually arrive together.
Boardroom2 Oct 2028
138% of the income goes out in wages at Salyut
Every club in football pays most of what it earns to its players. Paying nearly all of it is a different arrangement, and it has ended the same way every time somebody has tried it.
Squad2 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.
Boardroom2 Oct 2028
No signings allowed at Salyut
The manager may talk to whoever he likes and may pay nobody. A squad survives a window like this by borrowing, by promoting, and by hoping the injuries land somewhere else.
Boardroom2 Oct 2028
The Salyut debt reaches $5.8M
Football clubs borrow; that is not the story. Borrowing more than the facility allows is, because from here it is the owner's money or somebody else's decision, and neither of those belongs to the board.
Player ratings2 Oct 2028
Successful dribbles: 15. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad25 Sep 2028
Defences have started doubling up on Nikolay Boyarkin
8 goals and a season average of 7.54 will do that. The space he used to find has gone; he keeps scoring anyway, which is the mark of the real thing.
Squad25 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 Salyut this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Player ratings25 Sep 2028
Marked 9.05 — the sort of number a correspondent writes down twice to be sure. Everything he tried came off, and what he did not try was not worth trying.
Player ratings25 Sep 2028
Successful dribbles: 18. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad25 Sep 2028
Ilja Bychkov 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.
Match23 Sep 2028
It finished 2‑2, and it somehow always looked like it would. One of those afternoons where the table moves less than the tempers.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Match9 Sep 2028
Still nobody has beaten Salyut
The unbeaten run reaches 9. Some of them were wins and some were escapes, but a side that refuses to lose is a side other dressing rooms talk about.
Squad11 Sep 2028
Tempers go at Salyut
Alexandr Krikunenko 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.
Match9 Sep 2028
Dinamo Bryansk made Salyut work for it, but the scoreboard read 3‑2 at the end and the table does not ask how.
Player ratings11 Sep 2028
A performance of 9.36 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
Player ratings11 Sep 2028
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 9.02, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
Squad11 Sep 2028
A season average of 7.47 with 6 goals behind it. Opponents have started planning around him, which is the sincerest compliment football pays.
Squad11 Sep 2028
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Arseny Budylin, and the manager let it.
Player ratings11 Sep 2028
A performance of 8.39 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
Squad11 Sep 2028
Ilja Vinnikov 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 Ilja Vinnikov trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Match26 Aug 2028
Whatever happens, Salyut do not lose
7 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.
Squad28 Aug 2028
The medical room confirms 39 days on the sidelines for Andrey Ivanteev, and a plan built around him now has to be rebuilt.
Squad28 Aug 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 Salyut this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Match26 Aug 2028
Zenit Penza made Salyut work for it, but the scoreboard read 2‑1 at the end and the table does not ask how.
Player ratings28 Aug 2028
A performance of 8.78 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
Player ratings28 Aug 2028
Marked 8.63 — the sort of number a correspondent writes down twice to be sure. Everything he tried came off, and what he did not try was not worth trying.
Player ratings28 Aug 2028
Marked 8.39 — the sort of number a correspondent writes down twice to be sure. Everything he tried came off, and what he did not try was not worth trying.
Squad28 Aug 2028
A season average of 7.36 with 5 goals behind it. Opponents have started planning around him, which is the sincerest compliment football pays.
Squad28 Aug 2028
The manager makes an example of Yegor Tinyakov
“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.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Match12 Aug 2028
3‑0, and Nikolay Boyarkin took the headlines on an afternoon when everything Salyut tried came off. Days like this are retold all winter.
Squad14 Aug 2028
“I was told what my role would be, and I signed on that basis. It has not happened.” A grievance with a date attached is the hardest kind to settle.
Squad14 Aug 2028
Tempers go at Salyut
Alexandr Krikunenko was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Player ratings14 Aug 2028
A performance of 9.48 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
Player ratings14 Aug 2028
A performance of 9.09 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
Player ratings14 Aug 2028
Defensive actions: 19. He was first to everything and second to nothing, and the goalkeeper had an easy day because of it.
Player ratings14 Aug 2028
Successful dribbles: 16. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad14 Aug 2028
The manager makes an example of Vitaliy Tkachuk
“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.
Market14 Aug 2028
The name of Ilja Vinnikov keeps appearing in other people's back pages. Salyut say nothing, which says plenty.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad31 Jul 2028
67 days, the medical staff say, and medical staff are optimists by profession. The team sheet will look wrong without him.
Squad31 Jul 2028
Tempers go at Salyut
Alexandr Krikunenko was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Player ratings31 Jul 2028
A performance of 9.02 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
Squad31 Jul 2028
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Ilja Vinnikov, and the manager let it.
Match29 Jul 2028
It finished 1‑1, and it somehow always looked like it would. One of those afternoons where the table moves less than the tempers.
Player ratings31 Jul 2028
Successful dribbles: 13. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad31 Jul 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 Salyut will have to give him a reason to stay or an exit.
Player ratings31 Jul 2028
5.33 on the card. Some afternoons a footballer looks like a man who has only just been introduced to the game, and this was one of them.
Market31 Jul 2028
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Alexandr Krikunenko signs something — a contract at Salyut or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
In brief
-
Player ratings
Yegor Yelesin never got going
-
Boardroom
The Salyut production line keeps running
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad24 Jul 2028
There were 6 saves in it, and at least three that had no business being saves at all. The ten outfield players owe him a drink and they know it.
Market24 Jul 2028
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Salyut is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Squad24 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 Salyut this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Player ratings24 Jul 2028
Marked 9.32 — the sort of number a correspondent writes down twice to be sure. Everything he tried came off, and what he did not try was not worth trying.
Match22 Jul 2028
Orel made Salyut work for it, but the scoreboard read 2‑1 at the end and the table does not ask how.
Player ratings24 Jul 2028
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.83, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
Squad24 Jul 2028
The manager makes an example of Yegor Tinyakov
“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.
Squad24 Jul 2028
Ilja Vinnikov 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 terraces24 Jul 2028
He is the name in every column and on every phone-in, which is a heavy thing to carry at any age. Some footballers thrive on it; others are quietly finished by it.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Boardroom19 Jun 2028
The numbers do not look good at Salyut
Wages have outrun income and the accountants have started attending meetings they used to send apologies to. Ambition comes second in a season like this.
Squad19 Jun 2028
Tempers go at Salyut
Alexandr Krikunenko 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.
Squad19 Jun 2028
The manager makes an example of Ilja Bychkov
“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.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad12 Jun 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 Salyut this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad12 Jun 2028
The manager makes an example of Ilja Vinnikov
“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.
Boardroom12 Jun 2028
Wages eat 124% of everything Salyut earn
There is a figure at which a wage bill stops being ambitious and becomes the reason nothing else is possible, and this club has reached it. Nothing is left over for a transfer, a stand or a rainy afternoon.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Boardroom22 May 2028
The numbers do not look good at Salyut
Wages have outrun income and the accountants have started attending meetings they used to send apologies to. Ambition comes second in a season like this.
Squad22 May 2028
Tempers go at Salyut
Alexandr Krikunenko 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.
Squad22 May 2028
Ilja Bychkov 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.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Boardroom24 Apr 2028
The numbers do not look good at Salyut
Wages have outrun income and the accountants have started attending meetings they used to send apologies to. Ambition comes second in a season like this.
Market24 Apr 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 Salyut can pretend not to have heard.
Squad24 Apr 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 Salyut this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Boardroom27 Mar 2028
The numbers do not look good at Salyut
Wages have outrun income and the accountants have started attending meetings they used to send apologies to. Ambition comes second in a season like this.
Squad27 Mar 2028
Tempers go at Salyut
Alexandr Krikunenko 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.
Squad27 Mar 2028
15 days, the medical staff say, and medical staff are optimists by profession. The team sheet will look wrong without him.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Boardroom28 Feb 2028
The numbers do not look good at Salyut
Wages have outrun income and the accountants have started attending meetings they used to send apologies to. Ambition comes second in a season like this.
Squad28 Feb 2028
Tempers go at Salyut
Alexandr Krikunenko 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.
Squad28 Feb 2028
18 days, the scan says, and scans are kinder than reality. The fixtures in that window have just become somebody else’s job.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad7 Feb 2028
Tempers go at Salyut
Sergey Gaiduk 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.
Squad7 Feb 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 Feb 2028
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Nikita Ponomarev trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad31 Jan 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 Salyut this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Boardroom31 Jan 2028
The numbers do not look good at Salyut
Wages have outrun income and the accountants have started attending meetings they used to send apologies to. Ambition comes second in a season like this.
Loan watch31 Jan 2028
“I did not go to Strogino to sit and watch. I want to come back to Salyut and fight for my place.” 3 appearances in 29 matches say the rest.
Squad31 Jan 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.
Market31 Jan 2028
The name of Sergey Gaiduk keeps appearing in other people's back pages. Salyut say nothing, which says plenty.
Market31 Jan 2028
Salyut have made Dmitry Shilov available for transfer. A career at this club is over in all but paperwork.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad10 Jan 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 Salyut this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Player ratings10 Jan 2028
Headers, blocks, tackles, interceptions — 22 of them, and not one goal behind him. The sort of performance that never makes a highlight reel and wins football matches.
Player ratings10 Jan 2028
Marked 9.41 — the sort of number a correspondent writes down twice to be sure. Everything he tried came off, and what he did not try was not worth trying.
Match8 Jan 2028
Spartak Tambov made Salyut work for it, but the scoreboard read 1‑0 at the end and the table does not ask how.
Squad10 Jan 2028
The medical room confirms 24 days on the sidelines for Maxim Shabaidakov, and a plan built around him now has to be rebuilt.
Player ratings10 Jan 2028
Defensive actions: 19, and a clean sheet at the end of it. A centre-half's best afternoons look like nothing happening, which is precisely the point.
Player ratings10 Jan 2028
Successful dribbles: 18. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad10 Jan 2028
Defences have started doubling up on Tumelo Shai
6 goals and a season average of 7.28 will do that. The space he used to find has gone; he keeps scoring anyway, which is the mark of the real thing.
Squad10 Jan 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.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Market27 Dec 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 Salyut, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad27 Dec 2027
Tempers go at Salyut
Alexandr Krikunenko 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.
Squad27 Dec 2027
A season average of 7.47 with 8 goals behind it. Opponents have started planning around him, which is the sincerest compliment football pays.
Player ratings27 Dec 2027
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 9.13, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
Match25 Dec 2027
A 2‑0 win over Strogino, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
Player ratings27 Dec 2027
A performance of 8.71 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
Squad27 Dec 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.
Boardroom27 Dec 2027
112% of the income goes out in wages at Salyut
Every club in football pays most of what it earns to its players. Paying nearly all of it is a different arrangement, and it has ended the same way every time somebody has tried it.
Player ratings27 Dec 2027
Defensive actions: 17, and a clean sheet at the end of it. A centre-half's best afternoons look like nothing happening, which is precisely the point.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad20 Dec 2027
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Salyut this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Match18 Dec 2027
A bad afternoon for Salyut against Rodina M
3‑4 to Rodina M, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Squad20 Dec 2027
“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 ratings20 Dec 2027
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.62, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
Player ratings20 Dec 2027
Marked 8.53 — the sort of number a correspondent writes down twice to be sure. Everything he tried came off, and what he did not try was not worth trying.
Squad20 Dec 2027
Ilja Bychkov lets one through his hands
A defender's mistake gets tidied up by somebody else; a goalkeeper's ends up in the net. He knew before the ball crossed the line, and so did everybody in the ground.
Squad20 Dec 2027
Nikita Ponomarev 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.
Market20 Dec 2027
Every press conference now starts and ends the same way: with Alexandr Krikunenko’s future. The manager has run out of new ways to say nothing.
Player ratings20 Dec 2027
Marked 5.56, and generously at that. Nothing came off, and by the end the crowd had stopped expecting it to.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Player ratings6 Dec 2027
Headers, blocks, tackles, interceptions — 24 of them, and not one goal behind him. The sort of performance that never makes a highlight reel and wins football matches.
Squad6 Dec 2027
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Salyut this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Boardroom6 Dec 2027
Salyut counting the cost
The accounts make uncomfortable reading. Wages first and ambition second is the order of business at Salyut now.
Player ratings6 Dec 2027
Marked 9.00 — the sort of number a correspondent writes down twice to be sure. Everything he tried came off, and what he did not try was not worth trying.
Player ratings6 Dec 2027
A performance of 8.98 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
Squad6 Dec 2027
7 goals and a season average of 7.45. Form like that gets noticed well beyond this town.
Loan watch6 Dec 2027
“I watch every Salyut game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Strogino runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
Match4 Dec 2027
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Nikolay Boyarkin. 2‑0 against SKA Khabarovsk 2, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Squad6 Dec 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Alexandr Kanischev, and the manager let it.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match13 Nov 2027
No end in sight to Salyut's wait for a win
8 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Salyut has to find a result from somewhere.
Match15 Nov 2027
Salyut refuse to drop out of the race
Position 3, 27 points, and the result everyone checks first is now theirs. The word is still not being said around the ground, which is how you know everyone is thinking it.
Squad15 Nov 2027
Tempers go at Salyut
Alexandr Krikunenko was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Squad15 Nov 2027
“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 ratings15 Nov 2027
Marked 8.56 — the sort of number a correspondent writes down twice to be sure. Everything he tried came off, and what he did not try was not worth trying.
Player ratings15 Nov 2027
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.31, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
Player ratings15 Nov 2027
Successful dribbles: 15. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Match13 Nov 2027
Salyut and Kvant take a point apiece
It finished 1‑1, and it somehow always looked like it would. One of those afternoons where the table moves less than the tempers.
Squad15 Nov 2027
He wheeled away like a man who had been carrying it for months, because he had. Salyut have their signing off the mark and one press-conference question retired.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Match16 Oct 2027
No end in sight to Salyut's wait for a win
4 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Salyut has to find a result from somewhere.
Squad18 Oct 2027
Tempers go at Salyut
Alexandr Krikunenko was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Player ratings18 Oct 2027
A performance of 8.82 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
Squad18 Oct 2027
“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.
Match16 Oct 2027
2‑2, and both dressing rooms will call it two points lost. A draw that asked plenty of questions and answered none of them.
Squad18 Oct 2027
A season average of 7.26 with 4 goals behind it. Opponents have started planning around him, which is the sincerest compliment football pays.
Player ratings18 Oct 2027
Successful dribbles: 14. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad18 Oct 2027
Ilja Bychkov 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 Ilja Bychkov trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Player ratings18 Oct 2027
Shots: 5, not one of them in. A centre forward is paid for one thing, and on this evidence he has forgotten which thing it is.