Marked for Maxim Marchenko
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Transfer targets22 Feb 2027
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: Neftyanik keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
Squad22 Feb 2027
Anatoly Anisimov and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Match20 Feb 2027
1‑3 to Rostov 2, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Squad22 Feb 2027
Jakub Kantyka 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.
Boardroom22 Feb 2027
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 dugout22 Feb 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to August Bryld, and the manager let it.
The dugout22 Feb 2027
“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.
Transfer targets22 Feb 2027
PSK Pervorechenskoe have made the call to Veles. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
The dugout22 Feb 2027
Something was said to Amirkhan Selyaev and then it happened. In this industry that passes for remarkable, and the dressing room noticed faster than any supporter could.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match30 Jan 2027
The board had gone up, the arguing had started, and then the ball was in the net in the 91th minute. Kuban Holding will replay every second of the added time for a week.
Market1 Feb 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.
Player ratings1 Feb 2027
2 goals, and the second was the one that settled it. Marked 8.60, and he could have had a third with better luck at the near post.
Squad1 Feb 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 PSK Pervorechenskoe this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Transfer targets1 Feb 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.
Match30 Jan 2027
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Lucas Neverdal. 2‑1 against Kuban Holding, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Squad1 Feb 2027
Jakub Kantyka 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 terraces1 Feb 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.
Player ratings1 Feb 2027
Successful dribbles: 19. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market25 Jan 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 PSK Pervorechenskoe, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad25 Jan 2027
Anatoly Anisimov and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad25 Jan 2027
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Łukasz Borkowski was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Boardroom25 Jan 2027
Every club pays most of what it earns to its players. Paying nearly all of it is a different arrangement, and it has ended the same way every time it has been tried.
The dugout25 Jan 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Domagoj Pojer, and the manager let it.
Player ratings25 Jan 2027
The chances came and went for Lucas Neverdal
15 shots, and a count that reads like a good afternoon until you check the other column. Strikers survive weeks like this on the understanding that the chances keep arriving; the day they stop is the day it becomes a problem.
The dugout25 Jan 2027
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 Maxim Marchenko is on it.
The dugout25 Jan 2027
The view from the dugout
“We did not lose. Some weeks that is all you get, and I would rather have the point than not.” Stepan Kalinovsky chose the glass-half-full version of 0‑0; the supporters left with the other one.
The dugout25 Jan 2027
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Maxim Marchenko trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Market18 Jan 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 PSK Pervorechenskoe, and it is not being withdrawn.
Player ratings18 Jan 2027
Up for the corner, and Danil Kazantsev delivers — 7.73
Centre-halves are allowed forward twice a season and are judged on what they do when they get there. Danil Kazantsev scored, was marked 7.73, and got back before anybody noticed he had gone.
Squad18 Jan 2027
Anatoly Anisimov 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 Jan 2027
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Łukasz Borkowski was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout18 Jan 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Łukasz Borkowski, and the manager let it.
The dugout18 Jan 2027
“I could talk about decisions and I could talk about luck. I will not. We lost.” The manager, 1‑2, and a press conference that lasted four minutes.
The dugout18 Jan 2027
Artem Antonov gets picked when it counts
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 Artem Antonov is on it.
The dugout18 Jan 2027
The manager wanted a different profile for this opponent, which is a real football reason and no consolation. He did nothing wrong and he did not play.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad4 Jan 2027
Luca Martinazzi is a better footballer than he was
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 20 he is doing things at this level he could not do at the start of the season, and the coaching staff will tell you exactly which of them.
Squad4 Jan 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 PSK Pervorechenskoe this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad4 Jan 2027
Words at PSK Pervorechenskoe training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Łukasz Borkowski 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 terraces4 Jan 2027
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 22-year-old it feels ownership of. Maxim Marchenko 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 dugout4 Jan 2027
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
Player ratings4 Jan 2027
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, 6.72, and a manager who will not be substituting him again in a hurry.
Squad4 Jan 2027
Lucas Neverdal is the month’s best young player
At 19 he was better than everybody his age in the division for four weeks running, which is harder than one good afternoon. PSK Pervorechenskoe will try not to make too much of it.
Player ratings4 Jan 2027
Some games turn on a moment; this one turned on a man. 7.86 on the card, and the PSK Pervorechenskoe support went home talking about one name.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad28 Dec 2026
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 19 he is doing things at this level he could not do at the start of the season, and the coaching staff will tell you exactly which of them.
Squad28 Dec 2026
Anatoly Anisimov and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad28 Dec 2026
Words at PSK Pervorechenskoe training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Łukasz Borkowski 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.
Boardroom28 Dec 2026
Every club pays most of what it earns to its players. Paying nearly all of it is a different arrangement, and it has ended the same way every time it has been tried.
Match26 Dec 2026
0‑1 to Angusht, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
The dugout28 Dec 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Anatoly Anisimov, and the manager let it.
Match28 Dec 2026
23 points at the turn. The first half of a season is a promise; the second is a bill, and the town is about to find out which of the two this one was.
Player ratings28 Dec 2026
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 dugout28 Dec 2026
“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 0‑1, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Market21 Dec 2026
Domagoj Pojer 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 PSK Pervorechenskoe can pretend not to have heard.
The dugout21 Dec 2026
Domagoj Pojer: that is not what I was promised
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” PSK Pervorechenskoe have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Squad21 Dec 2026
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.
Squad21 Dec 2026
Anatoly Anisimov 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.
Match19 Dec 2026
Maxim Marchenko scored, and precious little else went right: 1‑2 to Nart, and a quiet walk to the dressing room.
Squad21 Dec 2026
Jakub Kantyka 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 Dec 2026
Livio Legac 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 ratings21 Dec 2026
Successful dribbles: 17. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
The dugout21 Dec 2026
“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 1‑2, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Match5 Dec 2026
Chaika M will want this one forgotten quickly: 8‑0, every duel lost, and a long ride home. PSK Pervorechenskoe were ruthless in the way good sides are ruthless.
Squad7 Dec 2026
4 goals in one game. The first was taken well, the second was taken greedily, and by the third the crowd were simply waiting for him to get the ball.
Player ratings7 Dec 2026
No sign of nerves from Lucas Neverdal at 19 — 9.92
The hardest thing about being 19 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Lucas Neverdal did not need any: 9.92, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
Player ratings7 Dec 2026
Two goals and a mark of 8.35 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Squad7 Dec 2026
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at PSK Pervorechenskoe can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
Match5 Dec 2026
Defending was optional and nobody took up the option. 8 goals between PSK Pervorechenskoe and Chaika M, and not one of the people who paid to be there will ask for the money back.
Squad7 Dec 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 PSK Pervorechenskoe this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad7 Dec 2026
Words at PSK Pervorechenskoe training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Łukasz Borkowski 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 terraces7 Dec 2026
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.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Market23 Nov 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 PSK Pervorechenskoe, and it is not being withdrawn.
Player ratings23 Nov 2026
Successful dribbles: 30. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad23 Nov 2026
Anatoly Anisimov 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.
Squad23 Nov 2026
Łukasz Borkowski 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.
Match21 Nov 2026
0‑1 to Rubin Yalta, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
The dugout23 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.
The dugout23 Nov 2026
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Stepan Kalinovsky after 0‑1, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
Market23 Nov 2026
“The manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Nikita Kochkin has his answer from PSK Pervorechenskoe; what he does with it is the next window’s story.
The dugout23 Nov 2026
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at PSK Pervorechenskoe, and both men came out saying it was fine.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad2 Nov 2026
Anatoly Anisimov and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Player ratings2 Nov 2026
Successful dribbles: 21. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
Squad2 Nov 2026
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Łukasz Borkowski was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Boardroom2 Nov 2026
Every club pays most of what it earns to its players. Paying nearly all of it is a different arrangement, and it has ended the same way every time it has been tried.
Match31 Oct 2026
0‑2 to Pobeda, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
The dugout2 Nov 2026
August Bryld 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.
Market2 Nov 2026
“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.
The dugout2 Nov 2026
The view from the dugout
“We will look at it, we will learn from it, and we go again.” The three sentences every manager keeps for a 0‑2 defeat, delivered by Stepan Kalinovsky to a room that had heard them before.
Player ratings2 Nov 2026
One lapse, one goal, and ninety minutes of honest work counting for nothing. That is the job at PSK Pervorechenskoe, and it is a cruel one.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Player ratings26 Oct 2026
Up for the corner, and Nikita Gorunkov delivers — 7.82
Centre-halves are allowed forward twice a season and are judged on what they do when they get there. Nikita Gorunkov scored, was marked 7.82, and got back before anybody noticed he had gone.
Squad26 Oct 2026
Anatoly Anisimov 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.
Squad26 Oct 2026
Łukasz Borkowski 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.
Match24 Oct 2026
A 2‑1 win over Zarya Lugansk, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
The terraces26 Oct 2026
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 22-year-old it feels ownership of. Amirkhan Selyaev 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 dugout26 Oct 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.
Player ratings26 Oct 2026
Ninety minutes of Danil Kazantsev at his very best
Marked 8.19. Players have careers without a single afternoon like this in them, and he has just had one in front of everybody at PSK Pervorechenskoe.
Squad26 Oct 2026
25 signings in three months. Every one of them may be an upgrade and the team can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild that never appears in the transfer-window verdicts.
The dugout26 Oct 2026
“The players deserve the credit. My job was easy today.” It was not, and everybody in the room knew it; after 2‑1, Stepan Kalinovsky could afford to be generous.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Player ratings19 Oct 2026
1 for Danil Kazantsev, marked 7.81, and a centre-half's name in the part of the report he normally only reaches by mistake. He will not be allowed to forget it in the dressing room for a month.
Squad19 Oct 2026
Lucas Neverdal is a better footballer than he was
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 18 he is doing things at this level he could not do at the start of the season, and the coaching staff will tell you exactly which of them.
Squad19 Oct 2026
Anatoly Anisimov was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Squad19 Oct 2026
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Amirkhan Selyaev was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Squad19 Oct 2026
14 days, the scan says, and scans are kinder than reality. The fixtures in that window have just become somebody else’s job.
Match17 Oct 2026
It needed Danil Kazantsev to find the net to bring anything home at all: 1‑1 against Spartak Nalchik, and half the dressing room will call it a point won.
The dugout19 Oct 2026
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 Lucas Neverdal is on it.
The dugout19 Oct 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Radmir Khainetskiy, and the manager let it.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Match30 Sep 2026
Dinamo Moscow ended it 0‑2. The season narrows to the league now, and everyone in the ground knew it before the final whistle.
Squad5 Oct 2026
7 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.
Squad5 Oct 2026
Anatoly Anisimov and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad5 Oct 2026
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Maxim Marchenko was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Boardroom5 Oct 2026
Every club pays most of what it earns to its players. Paying nearly all of it is a different arrangement, and it has ended the same way every time it has been tried.
The dugout5 Oct 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Anatoly Anisimov, and the manager let it.
Player ratings5 Oct 2026
Ninety minutes of Danil Kazantsev at his very best
Marked 8.05. Players have careers without a single afternoon like this in them, and he has just had one in front of everybody at PSK Pervorechenskoe.
Player ratings5 Oct 2026
17 defensive actions and a clean sheet at the end of them. A defender's afternoon can only be told by what did not happen, which is why nobody makes a highlights package out of one and every manager in the division would take it.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad28 Sep 2026
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Aikhan Bakhysh-Zade is 19, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Squad28 Sep 2026
Anatoly Anisimov 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.
Squad28 Sep 2026
Words at PSK Pervorechenskoe training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Krzysztof Kalemba 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 Sep 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Jakub Kantyka, and the manager let it.
Squad28 Sep 2026
25 signings in three months. Every one of them may be an upgrade and the team can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild that never appears in the transfer-window verdicts.
The dugout28 Sep 2026
Nobody will confirm this and nothing else explains the last month of selections. A costly error buys a player a period of being second choice that is always longer than the error was.
The dugout28 Sep 2026
“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.
The dugout28 Sep 2026
Artem Antonov has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at PSK Pervorechenskoe 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.
Player ratings28 Sep 2026
Marked 4.76. Nothing he attempted worked and by the hour mark he had stopped attempting much, which is the part a manager notices rather than the mistakes.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Player ratings21 Sep 2026
Two goals and a mark of 8.19 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Match19 Sep 2026
Defending was optional and nobody took up the option. 6 goals between PSK Pervorechenskoe and Dinamo Makhachkala 2, and not one of the people who paid to be there will ask for the money back.
Squad21 Sep 2026
Anatoly Anisimov 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.
Match19 Sep 2026
Beaten 2‑4, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Transfer targets21 Sep 2026
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.
Squad21 Sep 2026
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Łukasz Borkowski was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout21 Sep 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Maksym Czekała, and the manager let it.
The dugout21 Sep 2026
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Stepan Kalinovsky after 2‑4, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
Player ratings21 Sep 2026
Successful dribbles: 15. 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
Upbeat
Market14 Sep 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 PSK Pervorechenskoe, and it is not being withdrawn.
Player ratings14 Sep 2026
Successful dribbles: 28. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Boardroom14 Sep 2026
Deadline passes with 36 signed and 18 gone
That is the business done at PSK Pervorechenskoe 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.
Squad14 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 PSK Pervorechenskoe this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Transfer targets14 Sep 2026
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Tyumen have kept their man, and PSK Pervorechenskoe go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Squad14 Sep 2026
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Krzysztof Kalemba was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The terraces14 Sep 2026
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.
The dugout14 Sep 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.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad7 Sep 2026
Anatoly Anisimov and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Transfer targets7 Sep 2026
PSK Pervorechenskoe asked and Astrakhan said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Squad7 Sep 2026
Krzysztof Kalemba 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 dugout7 Sep 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.
Market7 Sep 2026
“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.
Market7 Sep 2026
He signed expecting a bigger stage than the one he found. It has not taken long, and it has not taken the dressing room long to notice either.
Market7 Sep 2026
Przemysław Zakrzewski is 19, and PSK Pervorechenskoe 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 dugout7 Sep 2026
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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match19 Aug 2026
Metallurg are out and PSK Pervorechenskoe go through, 3‑2 the final word. The bracket opens up a little, and everyone allows themselves a look at it.
Match22 Aug 2026
1‑4 against Kyzyltash, and no complaints that would survive the replay. The manager spoke about character afterwards; the terraces used shorter words.
Match19 Aug 2026
There is no crueller way to lose a football match. PSK Pervorechenskoe scored in the 90th minute, the restart barely happened, and the away end was still standing when the whistle went.
Squad24 Aug 2026
7 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.
Player ratings24 Aug 2026
Lucas Neverdal, 18, plays like he has been here for years — 7.76
A mark of 7.76 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 18-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
Player ratings24 Aug 2026
A defender on the scoresheet, which happens rarely enough that everybody in the ground remembers who took the corner. 1 for him, and a mark of 7.83 for the rest of it.
Transfer targets24 Aug 2026
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: another club keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
Squad24 Aug 2026
Anatoly Anisimov 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 targets24 Aug 2026
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.