Marked for Sergey Gaiduk
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad13 Mar 2028
136 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Ufa lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Market13 Mar 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 The request is on a desk at Ufa, and it is not being withdrawn.
The dugout13 Mar 2028
news_b_frozen_out_of_the_side
Squad13 Mar 2028
Words exchanged at Ufa
Ivan Lomaev 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.
Squad13 Mar 2028
A move Dino Kurbegović would have made for nothing
There is a version of every career where the player ends up somewhere he chose rather than somewhere that chose him. Dino Kurbegović is living that version at Ufa, and it tends to show in the first month.
The dugout13 Mar 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.
Squad13 Mar 2028
Words at Ufa training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ivan Khomukha 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.
Market13 Mar 2028
He is 18, and nobody at Ufa signed him for this season. Deals like this are judged in four years, by people who may not still be in the building.
The dugout13 Mar 2028
Nobody at Ufa will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad28 Feb 2028
150 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Ufa lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Market28 Feb 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.
Market28 Feb 2028
Ural come back empty-handed
The bid was some way short and Ufa did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.
Boardroom28 Feb 2028
Window shuts: 1 in, 2 out at Ufa
The deadline has passed and the squad is the squad. 1 arrived, 2 left, and everything else printed about this club last month was a rumour that stayed one.
Squad28 Feb 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 Ufa this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Transfer targets28 Feb 2028
Ufa offered $110.0K; Dinamo Bryansk said it was not close. The manager will be told the money is still there for the right player, which is what managers are told.
Squad28 Feb 2028
Words at Ufa training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Noah Mbamba is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Transfer targets28 Feb 2028
The window shuts on the Danila Yezhkov deal
Ufa ran out of time with Dinamo Vologda. The paperwork was open when the deadline passed, and a transfer that was almost done is now a transfer that never happened.
Market28 Feb 2028
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Ufa know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
The dugout21 Feb 2028
news_b_frozen_out_of_the_side
Boardroom21 Feb 2028
The rules permit it and it stings anyway. Alexandr Lyasov has agreed terms with SKA Khabarovsk for the summer, and until then he pulls on this shirt as a player who has already chosen his next one.
Squad21 Feb 2028
A falling-out at Ufa
Mamadou Diakhon and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Transfer targets21 Feb 2028
$160.0K on the table at Dinamo Vologda. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.
Transfer targets21 Feb 2028
$110.0K was the most the club would pay and Akron were asking for more. Deals like this are revived in the last week of a window roughly half the time, and everybody involved knows it.
Boardroom21 Feb 2028
The paperwork is done long before the player is. Stijn Meijer has agreed terms to come here when his current deal runs out, which means Ufa have spent a summer's transfer budget on a phone call.
Squad21 Feb 2028
Denis Kutin 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 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.
The dugout21 Feb 2028
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 Timofey Shipunov is on it.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match5 Feb 2028
Ufa run riot against Rubin
3‑0, and the margin flattered nobody — it could have carried another goal or two without complaint. Afternoons like this are why people keep coming.
Player ratings7 Feb 2028
Successful dribbles: 32. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Match7 Feb 2028
The season ends: position 12 for Ufa
The last league game has been played and the table has stopped moving: 31 points. The summer begins on Monday, and so does the argument about what it all meant.
Market7 Feb 2028
Sergey Gaiduk 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 Ufa can pretend not to have heard.
Market7 Feb 2028
Legion come back empty-handed
The bid was some way short and Ufa did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.
The dugout7 Feb 2028
news_b_frozen_out_of_the_side
Squad7 Feb 2028
Tempers go at Ufa
Mamadou Diakhon was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Transfer targets7 Feb 2028
$110.0K was the most the club would pay and Pobeda were asking for more. Deals like this are revived in the last week of a window roughly half the time, and everybody involved knows it.
Squad7 Feb 2028
A row about effort at Ufa
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.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market5 Jul 2027
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Salyut they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
The terraces5 Jul 2027
Salyut sell a favourite for $140.0K
The accountants will call it good business and they will be right, which is not the point anybody outside the boardroom is making. Sergey Gaiduk was one of the reasons people came, and $140.0K does not replace that by itself.
Market5 Jul 2027
The phone has started ringing about Vladislav Zernaev again, and this time the name on the line is Narva Trans. Salyut are listening politely and promising nothing.
Squad5 Jul 2027
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Stanislav Bukatov is 19, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Market5 Jul 2027
Sergey Gaiduk has left for Ufa in a $140.0K deal. The accountants are pleased; the supporters are less certain.
Squad5 Jul 2027
Words at Salyut training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Maxim Kutovoy 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 Jul 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.
Boardroom5 Jul 2027
Salyut sign 3 boys into the academy
None of them will be seen by anybody outside the training ground for three years, most of them will never play a senior match, and one of them might change the club. That is the whole proposition, and it is why academies exist.
Squad5 Jul 2027
The manager has re-ordered his thinking and Eshonxon Jahbarov 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.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
The dugout5 Jul 2027
“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.
Market5 Jul 2027
Sergey Gaiduk 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 Ufa can pretend not to have heard.
Market5 Jul 2027
The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.
Transfer targets5 Jul 2027
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: Spartak Moscow keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
Squad5 Jul 2027
A move Sergey Gaiduk would have made for nothing
There is a version of every career where the player ends up somewhere he chose rather than somewhere that chose him. Sergey Gaiduk is living that version at Ufa, and it tends to show in the first month.
Market5 Jul 2027
Ufa pay Akron $540.0K for a proper upgrade
Akron did not want to sell and the number is why they did. $540.0K for Stepan Melnikov, and the expectation that arrives with him is the kind no amount of settling-in period softens.
Market5 Jul 2027
Ufa spend $140.0K to raise the standard
This is not cover and nobody is pretending it is. $140.0K has been paid because Sergey Gaiduk is straightforwardly better than what was already here, and the club has decided to stop waiting.
Transfer targets5 Jul 2027
The approach was made and the answer came back in a sentence. There is no number on the table because there was no number that would have been enough.
Squad5 Jul 2027
A falling-out at Ufa
Ivan Lomaev and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
In brief
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The terraces
Ufa spend $540.0K on the signing the town wanted
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Squad
Stepan Melnikov falls out with a teammate over standards
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Transfer targets
A loan move for Nikita Saltykov is in the works
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market28 Jun 2027
Sergey Gaiduk 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.
Market28 Jun 2027
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Strogino waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Salyut is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
Squad28 Jun 2027
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Eshonxon Jahbarov is 23, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Squad28 Jun 2027
A falling-out at Salyut
Maxim Kutovoy and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Transfer targets28 Jun 2027
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Dinamo St Petersburg have kept their man, and Salyut go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Squad28 Jun 2027
Words at Salyut training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Nikita Ponomarev 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 dugout28 Jun 2027
“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.
The dugout28 Jun 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.
Market28 Jun 2027
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Maxim Kutovoy signs something — a contract at Salyut or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market14 Jun 2027
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
Market14 Jun 2027
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.
Squad14 Jun 2027
Tempers go at Salyut
Maxim Kutovoy 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.
Squad14 Jun 2027
A row about effort at Salyut
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Nikita Ponomarev was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Market14 Jun 2027
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.
The dugout14 Jun 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.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market31 May 2027
Sergey Gaiduk 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.
Squad31 May 2027
A falling-out at Salyut
Maxim Kutovoy and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad31 May 2027
Arseny Prokurorov 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 dugout31 May 2027
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.
Market31 May 2027
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Maxim Kutovoy signs something — a contract at Salyut or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
Squad31 May 2027
Questions about Yegor Yelesin 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.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market17 May 2027
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.
Squad17 May 2027
Nikita Ponomarev 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 dugout17 May 2027
A promise honoured at Salyut
Something was said to Vladislav Sergeev and then it happened. In this industry that passes for remarkable, and the dressing room noticed faster than any supporter could.
Market17 May 2027
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.
Market17 May 2027
Salyut have let the market know Sergey Gaiduk can be had. No price in the advert, but everyone in the trade knows roughly what it says.
The dugout17 May 2027
Public backing, and the sort that costs a manager something if it turns out to be wrong. Nikita Ponomarev has been told in front of everybody that the shirt is his.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market10 May 2027
Yury Kudrevaty has one foot out of the door
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Salyut they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Squad10 May 2027
A row about effort at Salyut
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Arseny Prokurorov was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Squad10 May 2027
Words exchanged at Salyut
Yuri Plyushkin 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.
Market10 May 2027
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.
The dugout10 May 2027
Yuri Plyushkin 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 Yuri Plyushkin trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Squad10 May 2027
A manager forgives a bad Saturday far more readily than a bad Tuesday, because one of them he can explain and the other one he chose. The reports this week have not been good.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market3 May 2027
Sergey Gaiduk 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.
Squad3 May 2027
A falling-out at Salyut
Maxim Kutovoy and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad3 May 2027
A row about effort at Salyut
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Nikita Ponomarev was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout3 May 2027
The manager makes an example of Yegor Yelesin
“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 dugout3 May 2027
“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.
Market3 May 2027
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Maxim Kutovoy signs something — a contract at Salyut or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market5 Apr 2027
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
Squad5 Apr 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.
Squad5 Apr 2027
Sergey Gaiduk 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.
Squad5 Apr 2027
“The easiest signature of my career.” Eshonxon Jahbarov and Salyut agree another 3 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Squad5 Apr 2027
Every shape has positions in it and this one does not have his. Salyut will either change the shape, change his job, or change his club, and he is waiting to hear which.
Market5 Apr 2027
The name of Maxim Kutovoy keeps appearing in other people's back pages. Salyut say nothing, which says plenty.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad22 Mar 2027
20 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Salyut lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Market22 Mar 2027
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.
Squad22 Mar 2027
A row about effort at Salyut
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Sergey Gaiduk was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout22 Mar 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.
Boardroom22 Mar 2027
109% 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.
Squad22 Mar 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.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad15 Mar 2027
27 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Salyut lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
The dugout15 Mar 2027
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Salyut may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Market15 Mar 2027
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.
Squad15 Mar 2027
The medical room confirms 29 days on the sidelines for Stepan Inozemtsev, and a plan built around him now has to be rebuilt.
Squad15 Mar 2027
A falling-out at Salyut
Maxim Kutovoy and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad15 Mar 2027
Words at Salyut training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Sergey Gaiduk 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 dugout15 Mar 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Yegor Yelesin, and the manager let it.
Market15 Mar 2027
Every press conference now starts and ends the same way: with Nikita Ponomarev’s future. The manager has run out of new ways to say nothing.
The dugout15 Mar 2027
Yuri Plyushkin 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
Squad8 Mar 2027
Arseny Prokurorov damages knee ligaments — 35 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 35 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
Market8 Mar 2027
Sergey Gaiduk 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.
The dugout8 Mar 2027
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Salyut may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Transfer targets8 Mar 2027
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. SKA Khabarovsk have kept their man, and Salyut go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Squad8 Mar 2027
Words exchanged at Salyut
Maxim Shabaidakov 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 dugout8 Mar 2027
The manager makes an example of Artem Tsygulev
“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.
Market8 Mar 2027
The name of Maxim Kutovoy keeps appearing in other people's back pages. Salyut say nothing, which says plenty.
Squad8 Mar 2027
He trains hard, says the right things and goes home to an empty flat. Nobody at Salyut has done anything wrong, which is exactly what makes it so difficult to fix.
Market8 Mar 2027
Salyut spent the window trying to move Vladislav Faskhutdinov on and nobody came. He trains with a squad that has already told him he is not part of it, and both sides now wait for the next one.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad1 Mar 2027
Arseny Prokurorov damages knee ligaments — 42 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 42 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
Market1 Mar 2027
Yegor Yelesin 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.
The dugout1 Mar 2027
“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.
Boardroom1 Mar 2027
Window shuts: 0 in, 0 out at Salyut
The deadline has passed and the squad is the squad. 0 arrived, 0 left, and everything else printed about this club last month was a rumour that stayed one.
Transfer targets1 Mar 2027
The approach was made and the answer came back in a sentence. There is no number on the table because there was no number that would have been enough.
Squad1 Mar 2027
Sergey Gaiduk 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 Mar 2027
news_b_frozen_out_of_the_side
The dugout1 Mar 2027
Clubs make promises constantly and the page usually only hears about them when they are broken. This one was honoured, and the dressing room noticed that faster than any supporter did.
Boardroom1 Mar 2027
Salyut counting the cost
The accounts make uncomfortable reading. Wages first and ambition second is the order of business at Salyut now.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad22 Feb 2027
49 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Salyut lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Market22 Feb 2027
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at Salyut, and it is not being withdrawn.
Market22 Feb 2027
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Salyut they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Squad22 Feb 2027
Words exchanged at Salyut
Maxim Kutovoy 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.
Squad22 Feb 2027
A row about effort at Salyut
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Sergey Gaiduk was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Boardroom22 Feb 2027
118% 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.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Match9 Jan 2027
4‑0, and Maxim Kutovoy took the headlines on an afternoon when everything Salyut tried came off. Days like this are retold all winter.
Player ratings11 Jan 2027
A brace, and Maxim Kutovoy takes the afternoon — 9.15
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Maxim Kutovoy provided it, and the 9.15 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Player ratings11 Jan 2027
No sign of nerves from Sergey Gaiduk at 21 — 8.23
The hardest thing about being 21 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Sergey Gaiduk did not need any: 8.23, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
Player ratings11 Jan 2027
Successful dribbles: 23. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
Squad11 Jan 2027
Nikita Ponomarev 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 terraces11 Jan 2027
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 ratings11 Jan 2027
A performance of 8.08 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
Squad11 Jan 2027
Defences have started doubling up on Maxim Kutovoy
10 goals and a season average of 7.20 will do that. The space he used to find has gone; he keeps scoring anyway, which is the mark of the real thing.
Squad11 Jan 2027
Words exchanged at Salyut
Vladislav Sergeev 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.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad4 Jan 2027
Tempers go at Salyut
Maxim Kutovoy 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 dugout4 Jan 2027
news_b_frozen_out_of_the_side
The dugout4 Jan 2027
The manager makes an example of Sergey Gaiduk
“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.
Squad4 Jan 2027
Arseny Prokurorov 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.
Player ratings4 Jan 2027
Successful dribbles: 17. 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 ratings4 Jan 2027
Marked 7.28 on an afternoon he ran from the first whistle to the last. Whatever else went wrong, Salyut had the best player on the pitch.
The dugout4 Jan 2027
“There are things I liked and things we will be doing on Tuesday until they are right.” 0‑0, and a manager who had already decided what Tuesday looked like.
Squad4 Jan 2027
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. Sergey Gaiduk has moved up it.
Match2 Jan 2027
Ninety minutes, two goalkeepers with clean gloves, and not one finish worth keeping. Dinamo Bryansk will be the happier side with the point.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Player ratings30 Nov 2026
Successful dribbles: 40. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad30 Nov 2026
36 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Salyut lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Squad30 Nov 2026
David Gagua is the real thing at 19
A season average of 7.04 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.
Market30 Nov 2026
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Stanislav Bukatov will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Salyut the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Squad30 Nov 2026
A row about effort at Salyut
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Nikita Ponomarev was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Boardroom30 Nov 2026
Wages eat 305% 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.
The terraces30 Nov 2026
He is 21 and the ground already sings his name, which is a thing that happens to local boys and almost never to signings. Everything from here is measured against an affection he did nothing to earn except be from here.
Match28 Nov 2026
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Maxim Kutovoy. 1‑0 against Ryazan, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
The dugout30 Nov 2026
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
In brief
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Player ratings
One of those days for Maxim Kutovoy
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The dugout
The view from the dugout
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The dugout
No place in the plan for Maxim Kutovoy
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad23 Nov 2026
43 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Salyut lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Market23 Nov 2026
“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.
Squad23 Nov 2026
Words at Salyut training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Arseny Prokurorov 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 dugout23 Nov 2026
The manager makes an example of Sergey Gaiduk
“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.
Squad23 Nov 2026
Tempers go at Salyut
Vladislav Sergeev 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 Nov 2026
Sergey Gaiduk 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 Salyut will have to give him a reason to stay or an exit.
Looking ahead23 Nov 2026
Ryazan next, and one man in the Salyut dressing room knows their training ground better than his own. The reception will tell him what they thought of him.
Market23 Nov 2026
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Maxim Kutovoy signs something — a contract at Salyut or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad12 Oct 2026
The words a physio says slowly. 86 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
Match10 Oct 2026
Salyut make it 4 in a row
Momentum is a hard thing to buy and an easy thing to lose, and right now Salyut have 4 straight wins of it.
Match10 Oct 2026
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.
The dugout12 Oct 2026
news_b_frozen_out_of_the_side
Player ratings12 Oct 2026
A performance of 8.46 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
Player ratings12 Oct 2026
Successful dribbles: 18. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad12 Oct 2026
A row about effort at Salyut
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Arseny Prokurorov was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Player ratings12 Oct 2026
A performance of 8.07 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
Squad12 Oct 2026
Salyut are still strangers to each other
6 new signings in one window. Every one may be an upgrade and the side can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild the verdicts never mention.
In brief
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The dugout
The view from the dugout
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Boardroom
Salyut counting the cost
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The dugout
No hiding place for Artem Tsygulev
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad5 Oct 2026
The words a physio says slowly. 93 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
Player ratings5 Oct 2026
Successful dribbles: 31. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
Player ratings5 Oct 2026
Two goals and a mark of 8.27 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Player ratings5 Oct 2026
Sergey Gaiduk, 21, plays like he has been here for years — 8.29
A mark of 8.29 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 21-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
Squad5 Oct 2026
He is 19, he is averaging 7.02, and older professionals have started passing to him in the difficult minutes. That last part is the real scouting report.
Match3 Oct 2026
Salyut make it 3 in a row
Momentum is a hard thing to buy and an easy thing to lose, and right now Salyut have 3 straight wins of it.
Market5 Oct 2026
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Salyut they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Match3 Oct 2026
David Gagua among the goals in a wild afternoon
6 goals in one match, David Gagua on the scoresheet, and a scoreline that will look like a misprint. Neutrals could not have asked more of Salyut and Rodina M.
Match3 Oct 2026
Rodina M made Salyut work for it, but the scoreboard read 4‑2 at the end and the table does not ask how.
In brief
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Squad
A row about effort at Salyut
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Player ratings
One of those days for Maxim Kutovoy
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Boardroom
Wages eat 429% of everything Salyut earn
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad21 Sep 2026
107 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Salyut lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Match19 Sep 2026
There is no crueller way to lose a football match. Salyut scored in the 94th minute, the restart barely happened, and the away end was still standing when the whistle went.
Player ratings21 Sep 2026
Two goals and a mark of 8.66 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Squad21 Sep 2026
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 6 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Squad21 Sep 2026
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Salyut this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad21 Sep 2026
A row about effort at Salyut
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and David Gagua was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Match19 Sep 2026
A 2‑1 win over Dinamo Bryansk, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
The terraces21 Sep 2026
At 21 he is being sung about by people twice his age, which is an affection a signing has to earn over years and a local kid gets for turning up. It is also the hardest thing in football to live up to.
Player ratings21 Sep 2026
Successful dribbles: 19. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Player ratings24 Aug 2026
Successful dribbles: 46. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad24 Aug 2026
136 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Salyut lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Match19 Aug 2026
The cup run ends for Salyut
0‑2 against KDV Tomsk, and the road stops here. Cup exits are quick deaths — no second leg, no next week, just the league from now until May.
Market24 Aug 2026
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Salyut have lost him in all but the paperwork.
Player ratings24 Aug 2026
David Gagua, 19, plays like he has been here for years — 7.90
A mark of 7.90 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 19-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
Market24 Aug 2026
“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.
Transfer targets24 Aug 2026
Salyut offered $18.0K; Dinamo Barnaul said it was not close. The manager will be told the money is still there for the right player, which is what managers are told.
Transfer targets24 Aug 2026
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Tyumen have kept their man, and Salyut go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Squad24 Aug 2026
Maxim Kutovoy 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.