Marked for Alexandr Grigorjev
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match22 Jan 2029
Rostov 2 are in among the leaders
Position 3 and 39 points on the board. Nobody at the ground will say the word out loud yet, and everybody at the ground is thinking it.
Squad22 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.
Match20 Jan 2029
The wait goes on for Rostov 2
4 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
Squad22 Jan 2029
Denis Titow in a row with a teammate
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Rostov 2 this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Match20 Jan 2029
Whatever happens, Rostov 2 do not lose
6 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.
The dugout22 Jan 2029
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Alexandr Grigorjev, and the manager let it.
Player ratings22 Jan 2029
Defensive actions: 14, and a clean sheet at the end of it. A centre-half's best afternoons look like nothing happening, which is precisely the point.
Match20 Jan 2029
Point won or two lost for Rostov 2?
Ninety minutes, no goals, and the argument started before the car park emptied: a point gained, or two thrown away against Zenit 2? Both sides of it will still be going on Thursday.
Looking ahead22 Jan 2029
He used to wear the other shirt. On Saturday he plays against Saturn in this one, and whatever he says this week about it being just another game will be untrue.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market18 Dec 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 Rostov 2 can pretend not to have heard.
Match18 Dec 2028
Rostov 2 are in among the leaders
Position 3 and 35 points on the board. Nobody at the ground will say the word out loud yet, and everybody at the ground is thinking it.
Market18 Dec 2028
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Rostov 2 they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Player ratings18 Dec 2028
Nikita Solomatin, 21, plays like he has been here for years — 7.81
A mark of 7.81 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.
Squad18 Dec 2028
A falling-out at Rostov 2
Daniil Gorovykh and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Match16 Dec 2028
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Nikita Solomatin. 2‑1 against Kolomna, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
The terraces18 Dec 2028
At 23 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 ratings18 Dec 2028
7.86, and no serious argument from anybody who was there. Rostov 2 had eleven men on the pitch and one of them decided how it went.
The dugout18 Dec 2028
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Alexandr Grigorjev, and the manager let it.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Match9 Dec 2028
A 2-goal lead gone for Rostov 2
It is a specific kind of quiet, a ground watching a winning position dissolve. Chertanovo kept coming because nothing stopped them, and Rostov 2 will be asked about the last half hour all week.
Squad11 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 Rostov 2 this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The dugout11 Dec 2028
Denis Titow gets it from the manager
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
Player ratings11 Dec 2028
Successful dribbles: 18. 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.
Squad11 Dec 2028
Goalkeepers do not get to make mistakes; they get to make goals. He made one, he knew it instantly, and there was nobody behind him to make it anything else.
Match9 Dec 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.
Squad11 Dec 2028
A booking nobody needed, on a night the game was already won. Rostov 2 lose a player for the most avoidable reason there is.
The dugout11 Dec 2028
Somebody else has been better, the manager has said so with a team sheet, and there is no argument to be had. He will get the shirt back the only way it can be got back.
The dugout11 Dec 2028
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Rostov 2, and both men came out saying it was fine.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Match2 Dec 2028
Chastening afternoon for Rostov 2
A 0‑3 beating by Baltika 2 was the sort of result that empties a stadium long before the final whistle.
Squad4 Dec 2028
Daniil Gorovykh 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.
Squad4 Dec 2028
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Alexandr Grigorjev and Rostov 2 agree another 3 years.
Boardroom4 Dec 2028
Nobody left the Rostov 2 dressing room in a hurry
The door stayed shut a long time after the final whistle. What was said in there is between them; whether it worked is between them and Saturday.
Market4 Dec 2028
“There is a gap, and pretending there is not helps nobody.” Neither side has moved, and the calendar is working for exactly one of them.
Squad4 Dec 2028
Denis Titow wants out of the dugout
“I did not sign to watch. Nobody does.” The oldest complaint in the game, and Rostov 2 will have to answer it with minutes or with a move.
Squad4 Dec 2028
Marat Kovalkov named in the team of the month
A month is long enough that nobody gets in by accident. Marat Kovalkov is in the division's best eleven for it, which is a quieter compliment than an award and a more reliable one.
Player ratings4 Dec 2028
Successful dribbles: 14. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
The dugout4 Dec 2028
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at Rostov 2. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Player ratings27 Nov 2028
A brace, and Nikita Solomatin takes the afternoon — 8.90
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Nikita Solomatin provided it, and the 8.90 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Squad27 Nov 2028
A falling-out at Rostov 2
Nikita Solomatin and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Match25 Nov 2028
Luki-Energiya made Rostov 2 work for it, but the scoreboard read 2‑1 at the end and the table does not ask how.
The terraces27 Nov 2028
At 22 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.
Looking ahead27 Nov 2028
Top-of-the-table clash for Rostov 2
Baltika 2 next, and the two sides the division is watching meet each other. Whoever wins will be told nothing is decided in the same breath as being congratulated.
Player ratings27 Nov 2028
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.
The dugout27 Nov 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 dugout27 Nov 2028
The shape wanted a different profile against this opponent, which is a real football answer and no comfort at all to the man it is about. He did nothing wrong and he did not play.
Market27 Nov 2028
Every press conference now starts and ends the same way: with Rustam Asenchukov’s future. The manager has run out of new ways to say nothing.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Player ratings13 Nov 2028
Two goals and a mark of 8.71 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Market13 Nov 2028
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Alexandr Grigorjev will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Rostov 2 the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Match11 Nov 2028
Nikita Solomatin among the goals in a wild afternoon
6 goals in one match, Nikita Solomatin on the scoresheet, and a scoreline that will look like a misprint. Neutrals could not have asked more of Rostov 2 and Zvezda.
Match11 Nov 2028
Beaten 2‑4, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Player ratings13 Nov 2028
Successful dribbles: 20. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad13 Nov 2028
Words exchanged at Rostov 2
Denis Titow 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.
Match13 Nov 2028
Rostov 2 at the halfway mark
Half the programme played, position 3, 28 on the board. Doubling it is the sum every supporter has done and the only one nobody at the club will do out loud.
Squad13 Nov 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 Rostov 2 will have to give him a reason to stay or an exit.
The dugout13 Nov 2028
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.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Match4 Nov 2028
Marat Kovalkov among the goals in a wild afternoon
6 goals in one match, Marat Kovalkov on the scoresheet, and a scoreline that will look like a misprint. Neutrals could not have asked more of Rostov 2 and Rodina 2.
Match4 Nov 2028
Rodina 2 left with the points after a 2‑4 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Squad6 Nov 2028
Words exchanged at Rostov 2
Vladimir Kasparyan and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Player ratings6 Nov 2028
Ninety minutes of Marat Kovalkov at his very best
Marked 8.10. Players have careers without a single afternoon like this in them, and he has just had one in front of everybody at Rostov 2.
Player ratings6 Nov 2028
Successful dribbles: 17. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
Squad6 Nov 2028
Somebody has moved past him. It is not a dropping and it is worse than one, because a dropping is about a Saturday and this is about where he stands.
Squad6 Nov 2028
Goalkeepers do not get to make mistakes; they get to make goals. He made one, he knew it instantly, and there was nobody behind him to make it anything else.
Squad6 Nov 2028
“I respect the manager and I am not going to sit here and pretend I am happy.” It is the most common sentence in football and it has never once been the end of a story.
The dugout6 Nov 2028
A promise honoured at Rostov 2
Something was said to Murad Alimov and then it happened. In this industry that passes for remarkable, and the dressing room noticed faster than any supporter could.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market16 Oct 2028
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Rostov 2 is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Squad16 Oct 2028
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Rostov 2 this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The dugout16 Oct 2028
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Match7 Oct 2028
Rarely has this fixture seen a display like it: 3‑0 against Torpedo Vladimir, and it could have been more.
Player ratings9 Oct 2028
Maxim Radchenko, 21, plays like he has been here for years — 8.33
A mark of 8.33 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.
Squad9 Oct 2028
“The easiest signature of my career.” Rustam Khalnazarov and Rostov 2 agree another 4 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Squad9 Oct 2028
Daniil Gorovykh 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 terraces9 Oct 2028
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 22-year-old it feels ownership of. Vladimir Kasparyan has it now, and everything he does for the rest of his time here will be measured against the goodwill he was handed for free.
The dugout9 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.
Squad9 Oct 2028
100 games in this shirt, through managers and relegations and everything else. Service like it is disappearing from the game and the crowd knows what it is watching.
Market9 Oct 2028
48 months to run and not a word offered. A club that lets the calendar negotiate for it usually ends up losing to the calendar.
Player ratings9 Oct 2028
Successful dribbles: 12. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Player ratings2 Oct 2028
2 goals, and the second was the one that settled it. Marked 8.59, and he could have had a third with better luck at the near post.
Player ratings2 Oct 2028
No sign of nerves from Maxim Radchenko at 21 — 7.78
The hardest thing about being 21 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Maxim Radchenko did not need any: 7.78, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
Squad2 Oct 2028
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Rustam Khalnazarov commits to Rostov 2 for another 4 years.
Squad2 Oct 2028
Ilja Zhbanov 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 terraces2 Oct 2028
The crowd has taken to Denis Titow
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.
Match30 Sep 2028
Rostov 2 hit back inside 3 minutes
Saturn held the lead for 3 minutes, which is not long enough to enjoy it. Rostov 2 answered before the celebration had properly finished, and the shape of the afternoon changed with it.
Squad2 Oct 2028
Denis Titow is the division's best young player this month
At 21 he has spent a month being better than everybody his age in the league, which is a different and harder thing than one good afternoon. Rostov 2 will try very hard not to make too much of it.
Market2 Oct 2028
37 months to run and not a word offered. A club that lets the calendar negotiate for it usually ends up losing to the calendar.
Match30 Sep 2028
2‑2, and both dressing rooms will call it two points lost. A draw that asked plenty of questions and answered none of them.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Match23 Sep 2028
4‑0, and the margin flattered nobody — it could have carried another goal or two without complaint. Afternoons like this are why people keep coming.
Player ratings25 Sep 2028
Denis Titow, 21, plays like he has been here for years — 9.53
A mark of 9.53 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.
Squad25 Sep 2028
The match ball belongs to Denis Titow, whose 3 goals turned a difficult afternoon into a procession.
The dugout25 Sep 2028
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Rostov 2 have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Market25 Sep 2028
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Yaroslav Solovjov will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Rostov 2 the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Squad25 Sep 2028
Ilja Zhbanov in a row with a teammate
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Rostov 2 this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad25 Sep 2028
Denis Titow is the real thing at 21
A season average of 7.03 at an age when most of his year group are still in the youth team. Rostov 2 know what they have, and so, by now, does everybody else.
The terraces25 Sep 2028
He is 23 and the ground already sings his name, which is a thing that happens to local boys and almost never to signings. Everything from here is measured against an affection he did nothing to earn except be from here.
Match23 Sep 2028
Zenit 2 blown away early
There is a particular helplessness in conceding 2 times before the twentieth minute. Zenit 2 tried to reorganise, Rostov 2 did not allow it, and the result was written long before it was confirmed.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market18 Sep 2028
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Alexandr Grigorjev will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Rostov 2 the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Squad18 Sep 2028
A falling-out at Rostov 2
Vladimir Kasparyan and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Match16 Sep 2028
Beaten 0‑1, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Market18 Sep 2028
“There is a gap, and pretending there is not helps nobody.” Neither side has moved, and the calendar is working for exactly one of them.
Player ratings18 Sep 2028
Successful dribbles: 13. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
The dugout18 Sep 2028
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Yaroslav Solovjov, and the manager let it.
The dugout18 Sep 2028
“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.
Market18 Sep 2028
The name of Daniil Gorovykh keeps appearing in other people's back pages. Rostov 2 say nothing, which says plenty.
The dugout18 Sep 2028
He asked about his future and was given an answer with minutes in it. The manager has now made a promise in a building where promises are remembered, and the clock on it has started.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Market21 Aug 2028
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Rostov 2 people have started saying his name in the past tense.
Market21 Aug 2028
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Alexandr Grigorjev will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Rostov 2 the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Squad21 Aug 2028
A falling-out at Rostov 2
Daniil Gorovykh and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad21 Aug 2028
Words at Rostov 2 training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Andrey Bondar 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.
Squad21 Aug 2028
The division's best last weekend was a Rostov 2 man
It is a small honour and it is not nothing: somebody watched every match in the division and decided that Denis Titow was the best thing in any of them.
Market21 Aug 2028
“They were honest with me, and I would rather know.” Yaroslav Solovjov has been informed he is not in the manager's thinking at Rostov 2.
Looking ahead21 Aug 2028
He used to wear the other shirt. On Saturday he plays against Tver in this one, and whatever he says this week about it being just another game will be untrue.
Market21 Aug 2028
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Daniil Gorovykh signs something — a contract at Rostov 2 or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
The dugout21 Aug 2028
The shape wanted a different profile against this opponent, which is a real football answer and no comfort at all to the man it is about. He did nothing wrong and he did not play.
In brief
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The dugout
Andrey Bondar knocks on the manager's door
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Looking ahead
Looking ahead: the trip to Tver
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Squad
Denis Titow named in the team of the week
From our football correspondent
Triumph
Market7 Aug 2028
Rostov 2 say no — this time
The offer from Krylya Sovetov for Denis Titow was heard out and sent back the same day. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loudly the door closes.
Market7 Aug 2028
Ilja Zhbanov 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 Rostov 2 can pretend not to have heard.
Squad7 Aug 2028
Daniil Gorovykh 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 terraces7 Aug 2028
The crowd has taken to Denis Titow
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.
Match5 Aug 2028
Chertanovo made Rostov 2 work for it, but the scoreboard read 1‑0 at the end and the table does not ask how.
Squad7 Aug 2028
Words at Rostov 2 training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Murad Alimov 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.
Player ratings7 Aug 2028
The afternoon belonged to Ilja Zhbanov
A mark of 7.98, and nobody in the ground would argue with it. He was involved in everything that mattered and most of what did not.
Squad7 Aug 2028
The award is a small thing with a heavy meaning: for four weeks nobody in this division did his job better. Rostov 2 have the trophy on a shelf and the player in the side.
Squad7 Aug 2028
Ilja Zubenko is no longer first choice
The manager has re-ordered his thinking and Ilja Zubenko 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
Player ratings24 Jul 2028
Two goals and a mark of 8.75 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Market24 Jul 2028
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Rostov 2 can pretend not to have heard.
Match22 Jul 2028
Nobody wants to play Rostov 2 right now
4 wins in a row changes how opponents warm up: quieter, more glances across. Runs end, everybody knows that — but nobody in this dressing room is planning for it.
Market24 Jul 2028
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Rostov 2 they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Squad24 Jul 2028
A falling-out at Rostov 2
Daniil Gorovykh and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Match22 Jul 2028
It finished 3‑1, and it was Rustam Khalnazarov’s afternoon: on the scoresheet when it mattered, and the reason the points belong to Rostov 2.
The terraces24 Jul 2028
At 22 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 ratings24 Jul 2028
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.15, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
Squad24 Jul 2028
Words at Rostov 2 training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Murad Alimov 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.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market26 Jun 2028
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Alexandr Grigorjev will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Rostov 2 the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Squad26 Jun 2028
A falling-out at Rostov 2
Daniil Gorovykh and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad26 Jun 2028
29 days, the scan says, and scans are kinder than reality. The fixtures in that window have just become somebody else’s job.
Market26 Jun 2028
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at Rostov 2 has been clear about where Nikita Solomatin stands, which is more than many ever get.
The dugout26 Jun 2028
Anton Shamonin 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 Rostov 2, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Market26 Jun 2028
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Rostov 2 know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market5 Jun 2028
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Rostov 2 they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Squad5 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 Rostov 2 this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad5 Jun 2028
“I have done everything asked of me in training and it has not changed a thing on a Saturday.” The most familiar complaint in football, and one Rostov 2 will have to answer with minutes or with a transfer.
Market5 Jun 2028
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Vladimir Kasparyan signs something — a contract at Rostov 2 or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
Market5 Jun 2028
The list is a quiet document with a loud meaning. Daniil Gorovykh may talk to anybody who asks, and everybody at the club understands what that means.
Squad5 Jun 2028
The table has started to be checked before the results are in, and that is always the tell. Nobody at Rostov 2 says the word out loud, and everybody in the building is thinking it.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market29 May 2028
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Rostov 2 is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Squad29 May 2028
Ilja Zhbanov in a row with a teammate
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Rostov 2 this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Market29 May 2028
The list is a quiet document with a loud meaning. Anton Shamonin may talk to anybody who asks, and everybody at the club understands what that means.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market1 May 2028
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Alexandr Grigorjev will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Rostov 2 the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Squad1 May 2028
Ilja Zhbanov in a row with a teammate
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Rostov 2 this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad1 May 2028
“I did not sign to watch. Nobody does.” The oldest complaint in the game, and Rostov 2 will have to answer it with minutes or with a move.
Market1 May 2028
Rostov 2 have made Anton Shamonin available for transfer. A career at this club is over in all but paperwork.
The dugout1 May 2028
Denis Titow 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 Rostov 2, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Squad1 May 2028
A year in and the language has not come, the city has not opened up, and he eats alone more often than anybody at Rostov 2 would like to admit. It is showing on Saturdays.
Market1 May 2028
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Rostov 2 know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
The dugout1 May 2028
Ilja Zhbanov has been promised minutes
A conversation in the manager’s office, and a commitment that came out of it. Promises like that are cheap to make and expensive to break, and Ilja Zhbanov has written the date down.
Squad1 May 2028
The table has started to be checked before the results are in, and that is always the tell. Nobody at Rostov 2 says the word out loud, and everybody in the building is thinking it.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market3 Apr 2028
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Rostov 2 they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Squad3 Apr 2028
A falling-out at Rostov 2
Daniil Gorovykh and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad3 Apr 2028
He will be fined, he will apologise, and he will play on Saturday. The order of those three tells you everything about what a football club actually values.
Squad3 Apr 2028
Voices raised on the Rostov 2 training ground
Two players, one bad tackle and a session that had to be stopped. It was over in a minute; it was outside the gates in an hour.
Squad3 Apr 2028
Ilja Zhbanov 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 Rostov 2 will have to give him a reason to stay or an exit.
The dugout3 Apr 2028
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Rostov 2, and both men came out saying it was fine.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad20 Mar 2028
Words exchanged at Rostov 2
Ilja Zhbanov 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 dugout20 Mar 2028
He asked about his future and was given an answer with minutes in it. The manager has now made a promise in a building where promises are remembered, and the clock on it has started.
Market20 Mar 2028
Every press conference now starts and ends the same way: with Ilja Zubenko’s future. The manager has run out of new ways to say nothing.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market6 Mar 2028
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Rostov 2 they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Squad6 Mar 2028
Ilja Zhbanov in a row with a teammate
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Rostov 2 this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The dugout6 Mar 2028
Denis Titow 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 Rostov 2, and both men came out saying it was fine.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market21 Feb 2028
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at Rostov 2, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad21 Feb 2028
Words exchanged at Rostov 2
Ilja Zhbanov 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.
Market21 Feb 2028
“They were honest with me, and I would rather know.” Alexandr Grigorjev has been informed he is not in the manager's thinking at Rostov 2.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market14 Feb 2028
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Rostov 2 have lost him in all but the paperwork.
Market14 Feb 2028
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Rostov 2 is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Squad14 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 Rostov 2 this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad14 Feb 2028
“I have done everything asked of me in training and it has not changed a thing on a Saturday.” The most familiar complaint in football, and one Rostov 2 will have to answer with minutes or with a transfer.
The dugout14 Feb 2028
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Alexandr Tarasov trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Market14 Feb 2028
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Vladimir Kasparyan signs something — a contract at Rostov 2 or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Match31 Jan 2028
Rostov 2 sink to position 7
12 points, and a fixture list that is running out. The mathematics are not yet cruel, but they are no longer kind.
Market31 Jan 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.
Squad31 Jan 2028
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Eyad El Askalany commits to Rostov 2 for another 3 years.
Squad31 Jan 2028
Words exchanged at Rostov 2
Daniil Gorovykh 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 dugout31 Jan 2028
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Rostov 2, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Market31 Jan 2028
“The manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Yaroslav Solovjov has his answer from Rostov 2; what he does with it is the next window’s story.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market24 Jan 2028
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Rostov 2 they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Squad24 Jan 2028
Words exchanged at Rostov 2
Ilja Zhbanov 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 dugout24 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
Steady
Market27 Dec 2027
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Rostov 2 they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Squad27 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 Rostov 2 this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The dugout27 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.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market29 Nov 2027
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Rostov 2 is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Squad29 Nov 2027
A falling-out at Rostov 2
Ilja Zhbanov and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad29 Nov 2027
Vladimir Kasparyan falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Match1 Nov 2027
The season ends: position 7 for Rostov 2
The last league game has been played and the table has stopped moving: 12 points. The summer begins on Monday, and so does the argument about what it all meant.
Player ratings1 Nov 2027
A brace, and Rustam Khalnazarov takes the afternoon — 8.87
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Rustam Khalnazarov provided it, and the 8.87 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Player ratings1 Nov 2027
No sign of nerves from Maxim Radchenko at 20 — 7.78
The hardest thing about being 20 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Maxim Radchenko did not need any: 7.78, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
Market1 Nov 2027
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Alexandr Grigorjev will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Rostov 2 the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Squad1 Nov 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 Rostov 2 this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Match30 Oct 2027
Still nobody has beaten Rostov 2
The unbeaten run reaches 6. Some of them were wins and some were escapes, but a side that refuses to lose is a side other dressing rooms talk about.
Squad1 Nov 2027
Andrey Bondar in trouble away from the ground
Every paper's favourite story and every manager's least. What happened is being dealt with internally, which is the phrase clubs use when they would rather nobody asked again.
The terraces1 Nov 2027
At 22 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.
Match30 Oct 2027
A 2‑0 win over Metallurg, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match16 Oct 2027
The wait goes on for Rostov 2
13 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
The dugout18 Oct 2027
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Rostov 2 may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Squad18 Oct 2027
6 saves, and a scoreline the ten men in front of him had no right to. Goalkeepers only get noticed on the bad days; this was one of the other ones.
Squad18 Oct 2027
Ilja Zhbanov 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 dugout18 Oct 2027
The manager makes an example of Ilja Zubenko
“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 ratings18 Oct 2027
Successful dribbles: 16. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
The dugout18 Oct 2027
Half-satisfied: Leonid Zubkov on the draw
“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.
Match16 Oct 2027
The crowd waited for a goal that never came. Spartak Moscow 2 defended in numbers and left with what they came for, and the two sides could be playing still without troubling a scorer.
Looking ahead18 Oct 2027
Every squad has one of these fixtures for somebody every season. This one is Rustam Khalnazarov’s: the club that knew him first, the supporters who will decide in the first minute whether to applaud, and Rostov 2 needing him to play as if none of it matters.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match2 Oct 2027
12 matches without a win for Rostov 2
The run now stands at 12, and the questions being asked around Rostov 2 are no longer polite ones.
Market4 Oct 2027
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Alexandr Grigorjev will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Rostov 2 the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Squad4 Oct 2027
A falling-out at Rostov 2
Ilja Zhbanov and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad4 Oct 2027
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Ilja Zubenko commits to Rostov 2 for another 4 years.
Match2 Oct 2027
Late, late show earns Rostov 2 a point
Minute 88, against Amkar, and a goal that felt like a win to everybody who had stayed. It was a draw. Nobody leaving the ground will describe it as one.
Squad4 Oct 2027
Denis Titow is no longer first choice
The manager has re-ordered his thinking and Denis Titow 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.
Market4 Oct 2027
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Rostov 2, another week without a signature from Eyad El Askalany.
The dugout4 Oct 2027
Vladimir Kasparyan is still being punished for one mistake
Nobody will confirm it and the team sheets confirm it every week. One error has bought him a spell as second choice that is already longer than the error deserved.
Squad4 Oct 2027
Four or five weekends of consistency, measured against everybody else in the division. A quieter compliment than an award and a more reliable one.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad20 Sep 2027
27 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Rostov 2 lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Match18 Sep 2027
No end in sight to Rostov 2's wait for a win
10 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Rostov 2 has to find a result from somewhere.
Player ratings20 Sep 2027
Kirill Cheburakov, 21, plays like he has been here for years — 7.75
A mark of 7.75 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 21-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
Market20 Sep 2027
The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.
Player ratings20 Sep 2027
15 combined actions and 6.97. The job he did is the one that shows up as other people looking good, and the only reliable way to notice it is to watch what happens on the afternoons he is missing.
Squad20 Sep 2027
Words exchanged at Rostov 2
Daniil Gorovykh 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 terraces20 Sep 2027
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.
The dugout20 Sep 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.
Match18 Sep 2027
It finished 1‑1, and it somehow always looked like it would. One of those afternoons where the table moves less than the tempers.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad13 Sep 2027
A knee injury of the worst kind for Yaroslav Solovjov
34 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Rostov 2 lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Match13 Sep 2027
Rostov 2 are in real trouble now
Position 8, 2 points, and a fixture list with fewer games left in it than excuses. The arithmetic is not cruel yet, but it has stopped being kind.
Match11 Sep 2027
Chastening afternoon for Rostov 2
A 1‑4 beating by Alania was the sort of result that empties a stadium long before the final whistle.
Match11 Sep 2027
No end in sight to Rostov 2's wait for a win
9 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Rostov 2 has to find a result from somewhere.
Squad13 Sep 2027
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 6 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
Squad13 Sep 2027
A falling-out at Rostov 2
Daniil Gorovykh and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Market13 Sep 2027
The name of Alexandr Grigorjev has come up in conversations Rostov 2 were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
The dugout13 Sep 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Vladimir Kasparyan, and the manager let it.
Squad13 Sep 2027
A row about effort at Rostov 2
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Murad Alimov was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
In brief
-
Looking ahead
A six-pointer for Rostov 2
-
Boardroom
Doors closed at Rostov 2
-
The dugout
The view from the dugout
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad6 Sep 2027
Yaroslav Solovjov 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.
Market6 Sep 2027
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Rostov 2 can pretend not to have heard.
Market6 Sep 2027
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Alexandr Grigorjev will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Rostov 2 the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Squad6 Sep 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 Rostov 2 this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad6 Sep 2027
Words at Rostov 2 training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Kirill Cheburakov 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 dugout6 Sep 2027
Murad Alimov 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.
Squad6 Sep 2027
“I did not come here to warm up in front of people.” He is out of contract eventually, he is old enough to count the weeks, and Rostov 2 will have to give him a reason to stay or an exit.
Market6 Sep 2027
The name of Daniil Gorovykh keeps appearing in other people's back pages. Rostov 2 say nothing, which says plenty.
The dugout6 Sep 2027
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Yaroslav Solovjov trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
In brief
-
Looking ahead
Home comforts ahead for Rostov 2
-
The dugout
The manager plants his flag on Ilja Zhbanov
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match16 Aug 2027
Rostov 2 are in real trouble now
Position 8, 1 points, and a fixture list with fewer games left in it than excuses. The arithmetic is not cruel yet, but it has stopped being kind.
Market16 Aug 2027
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Rostov 2 have lost him in all but the paperwork.
Match14 Aug 2027
No end in sight to Rostov 2's wait for a win
6 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Rostov 2 has to find a result from somewhere.
Squad16 Aug 2027
Ilja Zhbanov in a row with a teammate
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Rostov 2 this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Match14 Aug 2027
The goals have deserted Rostov 2
3 matches, no goals, and a training ground that has tried everything. It will end — droughts always do — but nobody at Rostov 2 can tell you which week it ends in.
Match14 Aug 2027
Beaten 0‑2, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
The dugout16 Aug 2027
Ilja Zubenko 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.
The dugout16 Aug 2027
“I could talk about decisions and I could talk about luck. I will not. We lost.” The manager, 0‑2, and a press conference that lasted four minutes.
Market16 Aug 2027
“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
Match31 Jul 2027
0‑3 to Dinamo Moscow 2, 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.
Market2 Aug 2027
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Znamya Truda waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Rostov 2 is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
Market2 Aug 2027
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Rostov 2 can pretend not to have heard.
Market2 Aug 2027
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Rostov 2 they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Match31 Jul 2027
4 matches without a win for Rostov 2
The run now stands at 4, and the questions being asked around Rostov 2 are no longer polite ones.
Squad2 Aug 2027
“Some mornings you wake up and you are still a long way from everything you know.” It is not the football and it never was; Rostov 2 are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
Squad2 Aug 2027
Daniil Gorovykh 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.
Market2 Aug 2027
Denis Titow told to find a new club
“They were honest with me, and I would rather know.” Denis Titow has been informed he is not in the manager's thinking at Rostov 2.
The dugout2 Aug 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
Market26 Jul 2027
“I listened, I thought about it, and I am staying. That is the whole story.” The clubs had agreed a fee. Yaroslav Solovjov had not agreed to go, which turned out to be the part that mattered.
Market26 Jul 2027
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Rostov 2 can pretend not to have heard.
Market26 Jul 2027
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Alexandr Grigorjev will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Rostov 2 the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Squad26 Jul 2027
Words exchanged at Rostov 2
Daniil Gorovykh 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 terraces26 Jul 2027
At 22 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.
Match24 Jul 2027
Rostov 2 caught on 87 minutes
The board was up, the win was priced in, and then Dinamo Vladivostok scored. There is no worse minute to concede in and the ground emptied in the silence that follows one.
The dugout26 Jul 2027
The manager makes an example of Denis Titow
“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 ratings26 Jul 2027
7.58, and no serious argument from anybody who was there. Rostov 2 had eleven men on the pitch and one of them decided how it went.
Match24 Jul 2027
It needed Georgy Suanov to find the net to bring anything home at all: 1‑1 against Dinamo Vladivostok, and half the dressing room will call it a point won.
In brief
-
The dugout
The manager’s verdict
-
Looking ahead
Rostov 2 take on the side everybody is chasing
-
The dugout
Ilja Zubenko asks for a word with the manager
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Market12 Jul 2027
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Kaluga waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Rostov 2 is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
Squad12 Jul 2027
A falling-out at Rostov 2
Ilja Zhbanov and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad12 Jul 2027
At 21, Dmitry Shevchenko is already the best thing here
An average of 7.01 in a first team he is several years too young for. Rostov 2 have something, and by now the whole division has noticed.
The dugout12 Jul 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.
Market12 Jul 2027
“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.
The dugout12 Jul 2027
Alexandr Tarasov 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
Boardroom5 Jul 2027
Promotion for Kaluga
Mathematically certain, and nobody in this town is going to bed early. Whatever else happened this season, it finishes a division above where it started.
Market5 Jul 2027
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Kaluga have lost him in all but the paperwork.
Market5 Jul 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 Kaluga, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad5 Jul 2027
Words exchanged at Kaluga
Ilja Grischenko 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.
Market5 Jul 2027
Sevastopol pay $15.0K, and the deal is done. The number reads well on a balance sheet; whether it reads well on the pitch is next season's question.
Squad5 Jul 2027
A row about effort at Kaluga
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Sergey Krotov was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Squad5 Jul 2027
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Marcel Błoch commits to Kaluga for another 3 years.
Transfer targets5 Jul 2027
Rostov have been asked whether they would lend him. Loans are agreed quickly or not at all, and this one will be one or the other by the weekend.
Transfer targets5 Jul 2027
Kaluga have made the call to Krylya Sovetov. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Market5 Jul 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.
Market5 Jul 2027
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Zenit Penza waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Rostov 2 is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
Squad5 Jul 2027
At 20, Maxim Radchenko is already the best thing here
An average of 7.03 in a first team he is several years too young for. Rostov 2 have something, and by now the whole division has noticed.
Squad5 Jul 2027
Words exchanged at Rostov 2
Ilja Zhbanov 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.
Market5 Jul 2027
Add another name to the list: Kaluga have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Alexandr Grigorjev. The answer from Rostov 2 has not changed — yet.
The dugout5 Jul 2027
It is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. Rostov 2 told Daniil Gorovykh something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Market21 Jun 2027
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Rostov 2 have lost him in all but the paperwork.
Squad21 Jun 2027
A falling-out at Rostov 2
Daniil Gorovykh and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Market21 Jun 2027
“They were honest with me, and I would rather know.” Alexandr Grigorjev has been informed he is not in the manager's thinking at Rostov 2.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad7 Jun 2027
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 Rostov 2 have had the benefit of it.
Market7 Jun 2027
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Rostov 2 they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Squad7 Jun 2027
A season average of 7.03 at an age when most of his year group are still in the youth team. Rostov 2 know what they have, and so, by now, does everybody else.
Squad7 Jun 2027
Daniil Gorovykh 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 Jun 2027
Andrey Bondar makes the wrong kind of headline
Dealt with internally, which is the phrase a club uses when it would rather nobody asked twice. He will be fined, he will apologise, and he will play on Saturday.
The dugout7 Jun 2027
Ilja Zubenko 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 Rostov 2, and both men came out saying it was fine.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Market10 May 2027
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Alexandr Grigorjev will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Rostov 2 the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Squad10 May 2027
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.
Squad10 May 2027
Daniil Gorovykh 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 dugout10 May 2027
The manager makes an example of Andrey Amosov
“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.
Market10 May 2027
The name of Kirill Cheburakov keeps appearing in other people's back pages. Rostov 2 say nothing, which says plenty.
The dugout10 May 2027
Ivan Petrov 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 Rostov 2, and both men came out saying it was fine.
From our football correspondent
Triumph
Player ratings26 Apr 2027
Daniil Gorovykh pops up at the right end — 7.63
7.63, 1 on the scoresheet, and the specific comedy of a back-four player celebrating like somebody who does this every week. He does not, and that is exactly why the ground reacted the way it did.
Match24 Apr 2027
Nobody wants to play Rostov 2 right now
3 wins in a row changes how opponents warm up: quieter, more glances across. Runs end, everybody knows that — but nobody in this dressing room is planning for it.
Squad26 Apr 2027
A falling-out at Rostov 2
Daniil Gorovykh and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Match24 Apr 2027
Zarya Lugansk made Rostov 2 work for it, but the scoreboard read 1‑0 at the end and the table does not ask how.
Player ratings26 Apr 2027
Marked 8.04 — 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.
The dugout26 Apr 2027
The team sheet said everything about Vladimir Kasparyan
Warm-up bib, ninety minutes of watching, and a handshake at the end that fooled nobody. Big matches tell you who a manager trusts; this one told Vladimir Kasparyan.
The dugout26 Apr 2027
“We earned that. I asked them for a reaction and I got one, and now I want the same again on Saturday.” Leonid Zubkov on a 1‑0 afternoon that pleased him more than he was prepared to show.
Player ratings26 Apr 2027
Ivan Petrov beats them one at a time
Successful dribbles: 13. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
Squad26 Apr 2027
One booking too many, and Daniil Gorovykh sits out. Rostov 2 lose him for the sort of avoidable reason that makes a manager's week longer.
From our football correspondent
Triumph
Market12 Apr 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 Rostov 2, and it is not being withdrawn.
Player ratings12 Apr 2027
Maxim Radchenko, 20, plays like he has been here for years — 7.68
A mark of 7.68 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 20-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
Market12 Apr 2027
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Rostov 2 is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Squad12 Apr 2027
He is 20, 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.
Squad12 Apr 2027
Words exchanged at Rostov 2
Daniil Gorovykh 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 terraces12 Apr 2027
He is 22 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.
Match10 Apr 2027
A 1‑0 win over Druzhba, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
Player ratings12 Apr 2027
Marked 7.73. Ask anyone leaving the ground what settled it and you will get one name, which is the only award that has ever really counted.
The dugout12 Apr 2027
“The players deserve the credit. My job was easy today.” It was not, and everybody in the room knew it; after 1‑0, Leonid Zubkov could afford to be generous.