Marked for Ilya Dubinets
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match26 Sep 2029
The small margins put Minsk out
Out, 1‑3 to Dinamo Minsk, and the long argument about which of the small moments decided it. The league is all there is now, and everybody knows it.
Match26 Sep 2029
The wait goes on for Minsk
6 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
Squad1 Oct 2029
Tempers go at Minsk
Alexandr Gutor 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.
Squad1 Oct 2029
Ilya Aleksievich 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 Oct 2029
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
Player ratings1 Oct 2029
The game went through Daouda Natama — 6.94
Marked 6.94 on 9 actions at both ends of the pitch. Midfielders like this get described as unspectacular by people who have never tried to play against one.
The dugout1 Oct 2029
“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 1‑3, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
Squad1 Oct 2029
Ilya Dubinets moves up the pecking order
Nothing is announced when this happens and everybody knows. He is a bigger part of the plan at Minsk than he was a month ago, and the training ground worked that out before the team sheet said so.
Squad1 Oct 2029
One booking too many, and a game watched from the stand. Minsk lose him for the most avoidable reason in the sport.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market24 Sep 2029
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
Match22 Sep 2029
No end in sight to Minsk's wait for a win
5 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Minsk has to find a result from somewhere.
Market24 Sep 2029
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Minsk they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Player ratings24 Sep 2029
Successful dribbles: 22. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad24 Sep 2029
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Minsk this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad24 Sep 2029
Ilya Aleksievich 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.
Market24 Sep 2029
Ben Abbott is 20, and Minsk have signed him for the player he will be rather than the one he is. The first team can wait; the point of a deal like this is the years it buys.
The dugout24 Sep 2029
“It is not the end of the world and it is not good enough. Both of those are true.” The manager, after a 0‑0 draw, said the honest thing and then went to say it again inside.
The dugout24 Sep 2029
Ilya Aleksievich asks for a word with the manager
“I would rather say it to his face than read about it.” The meeting was requested by the player, which tells you most of what you need to know.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market10 Sep 2029
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Smorgon waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Minsk is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
Market10 Sep 2029
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
The dugout10 Sep 2029
“I was told what my role would be, and I signed on that basis. It has not happened.” A grievance with a date attached is the hardest kind to settle.
Boardroom10 Sep 2029
Window shuts: 7 in, 6 out at Minsk
The deadline has passed and the squad is the squad. 7 arrived, 6 left, and everything else printed about this club last month was a rumour that stayed one.
Squad10 Sep 2029
Words exchanged at Minsk
Alexandr Gutor 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.
Squad10 Sep 2029
Words at Minsk training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ilya Aleksievich 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.
Match8 Sep 2029
3 matches without a goal for Minsk
The chances are being made and something is happening between the making and the finishing. 3 matches now, and the anxiety in the ground arrives a little earlier every week.
Transfer targets10 Sep 2029
Minsk asked and DAC Dunajska Streda said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
The dugout10 Sep 2029
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Abena Ottou Felix Christanval, and the manager let it.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad18 Jun 2029
A knee injury of the worst kind for Alexandr Gutor
34 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Minsk lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Transfer targets18 Jun 2029
The paperwork begins on Noa Skoko
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Minsk have done the hard part with Hajduk Split, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
Player ratings18 Jun 2029
Successful dribbles: 22. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad18 Jun 2029
Words exchanged at Minsk
Alexandr Gutor 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.
Squad18 Jun 2029
A row about effort at Minsk
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Ilya Aleksievich was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Transfer targets18 Jun 2029
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.
Match16 Jun 2029
It finished 2‑0, and it was Ignat Pranovich’s afternoon: on the scoresheet when it mattered, and the reason the points belong to Minsk.
Player ratings18 Jun 2029
Marked 8.23 — 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.
Squad18 Jun 2029
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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad30 Apr 2029
84 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Minsk lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Market30 Apr 2029
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
Match28 Apr 2029
4 matches without a win for Minsk
The run now stands at 4, and the questions being asked around Minsk are no longer polite ones.
Squad30 Apr 2029
Words exchanged at Minsk
Alexandr Gutor 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.
Squad30 Apr 2029
Words at Minsk training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ilya Aleksievich 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 ratings30 Apr 2029
Both jobs done by Artem Turich — 7.12
A midfielder is measured on whether the team functions when he is on the pitch, which is nearly impossible to see and completely obvious in retrospect. 11 actions, 7.12, and a manager who will not be substituting him again in a hurry.
Squad30 Apr 2029
“The easiest signature of my career.” Abena Ottou Felix Christanval and Minsk agree another 4 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
The dugout30 Apr 2029
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Ilya Dubinets, and the manager let it.
The dugout30 Apr 2029
“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.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad11 Sep 2028
116 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Minsk lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Market11 Sep 2028
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Minsk have lost him in all but the paperwork.
Player ratings11 Sep 2028
Successful dribbles: 28. 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 dugout11 Sep 2028
news_b_frozen_out_of_the_side
Boardroom11 Sep 2028
Deadline passes with 9 signed and 8 gone
That is the business done at Minsk until the window opens again. Whether it was enough will be answered on Saturdays rather than in a column, and the first Saturday is close.
Squad11 Sep 2028
The medical room confirms 32 days on the sidelines for Konstantin Kuchinskiy, and a plan built around him now has to be rebuilt.
Squad11 Sep 2028
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Minsk this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Match9 Sep 2028
Minsk cannot find the net
3 games without scoring. Strikers stop looking up, midfielders take the extra touch, and every shot that clears the bar is followed by a groan that has been building since the last goal.
Transfer targets11 Sep 2028
Minsk asked and Dukla Prague said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad4 Sep 2028
Gevork Sarkisyan damages knee ligaments — 125 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 125 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.
Market4 Sep 2028
Artem Turich 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 Minsk can pretend not to have heard.
Player ratings4 Sep 2028
Successful dribbles: 23. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad4 Sep 2028
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Ilya Aleksievich and Minsk agree another 2 years.
Squad4 Sep 2028
A falling-out at Minsk
Alexandr Gutor and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Transfer targets4 Sep 2028
Minsk asked and Neman said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
The dugout4 Sep 2028
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Alexandr Gutor, and the manager let it.
Market4 Sep 2028
The phone has started ringing about Artem Malashko again, and this time the name on the line is Gomel. Minsk are listening politely and promising nothing.
Player ratings4 Sep 2028
Artem Turich did the work nobody counts — 6.95
10 combined actions and 6.95. 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.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market15 May 2028
Ji-hun Park has one foot out of the door
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Minsk they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Squad15 May 2028
A falling-out at Minsk
Alexandr Gutor and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Match13 May 2028
Beaten 0‑1, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Player ratings15 May 2028
Successful dribbles: 16. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
The dugout15 May 2028
“I could talk about decisions and I could talk about luck. I will not. We lost.” The manager, 0‑1, and a press conference that lasted four minutes.
Squad15 May 2028
Ilya Bondarenko 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 dugout15 May 2028
Alexandr Gutor has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at Minsk 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.
The dugout15 May 2028
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
Looking ahead15 May 2028
Every squad has one of these fixtures for somebody every season. This one is Ilya Dubinets’s: the club that knew him first, the supporters who will decide in the first minute whether to applaud, and Minsk needing him to play as if none of it matters.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Market8 May 2028
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Minsk is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
The dugout8 May 2028
“I was told what my role would be, and I signed on that basis. It has not happened.” A grievance with a date attached is the hardest kind to settle.
Squad8 May 2028
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Alexandr Gutor commits to Minsk for another 2 years.
Squad8 May 2028
Words exchanged at Minsk
Alexandr Gutor 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 terraces8 May 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.
Match6 May 2028
Another one collected away from home
3 on the bounce on the road for Minsk. The coaches leave early, arrive at unlovely grounds in the dark, and keep coming home with three points.
Match6 May 2028
Three points for Minsk, 1‑0 the final word against Neman in a contest settled by the finer margins.
Player ratings8 May 2028
Ninety minutes of Ignat Pranovich at his very best
Marked 8.07. Players have careers without a single afternoon like this in them, and he has just had one in front of everybody at Minsk.
Market8 May 2028
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Minsk, another week without a signature from Ilya Aleksievich.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market6 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 Minsk, and it is not being withdrawn.
Market6 Mar 2028
Prokhor Struk has one foot out of the door
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Minsk they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Boardroom6 Mar 2028
A new deal for the man in the dugout, and the clearest thing a board can say without calling a press conference about it. Stability is cheap to promise and expensive to deliver.
Squad6 Mar 2028
A falling-out at Minsk
Konstantin Kuchinskiy and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Player ratings6 Mar 2028
Successful dribbles: 21. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Boardroom6 Mar 2028
Graduation day at Minsk
1 boys move up, and somewhere in the building the people who coached them at twelve are quietly having the best morning of their working year. Nothing about this shows up in a result and it is why the academy exists.
Match4 Mar 2028
Minsk cannot find the net
3 games without scoring. Strikers stop looking up, midfielders take the extra touch, and every shot that clears the bar is followed by a groan that has been building since the last goal.
Transfer targets6 Mar 2028
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.
Market6 Mar 2028
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Dzmitry Kendysh has been at this club since he was a boy and is now, formally, one of the first-team squad — which for a local readership beats any signing of any size.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
The dugout3 Jan 2028
news_b_frozen_out_of_the_side
Squad3 Jan 2028
The kind of year that ends with a name being read out in a hall. Minsk had the benefit of it every week and now have the problem of everybody else knowing.
Squad3 Jan 2028
Tempers go at Minsk
Alexandr Gutor 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.
Squad3 Jan 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.
The dugout3 Jan 2028
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
The dugout3 Jan 2028
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Stanislav Kendysh, and the manager let it.
Squad3 Jan 2028
A row about effort at Minsk
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Artem Malashko was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Market3 Jan 2028
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Minsk, another week without a signature from Prokhor Struk.
Market3 Jan 2028
Still no signature from Ji-hun Park
7 months left and the two sides are nowhere near each other. Every week this drags on takes money off what Minsk could get for him.