Marked for Alexandr Mischenko
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market16 Apr 2029
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Sergey Kirikovich will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Volna Pinsk the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Squad16 Apr 2029
Yaroslav Oreshkevich 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.
Boardroom16 Apr 2029
Wages eat 121% of everything Volna Pinsk earn
There is a figure at which a wage bill stops being ambitious and becomes the reason nothing else is possible, and this club has reached it. Nothing is left over for a transfer, a stand or a rainy afternoon.
Market16 Apr 2029
“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.
Squad16 Apr 2029
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
Market16 Apr 2029
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Volna Pinsk know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market19 Feb 2029
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at Volna Pinsk, and it is not being withdrawn.
Market19 Feb 2029
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Sergey Kirikovich will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Volna Pinsk the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Squad19 Feb 2029
Kirill Polkhovskiy 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.
Market19 Feb 2029
Everyone has stopped pretending: Niva will make the call about Ikechukwu Nwabueze this week. Volna Pinsk have a number in mind, and the number is not shy.
Boardroom19 Feb 2029
Wages eat 113% of everything Volna Pinsk earn
There is a figure at which a wage bill stops being ambitious and becomes the reason nothing else is possible, and this club has reached it. Nothing is left over for a transfer, a stand or a rainy afternoon.
Squad19 Feb 2029
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market29 Jan 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.
Squad29 Jan 2029
Egor Yuschenko 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.
Squad29 Jan 2029
Dmitriy Lesnyak 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.
Market29 Jan 2029
Every press conference now starts and ends the same way: with Yaroslav Oreshkevich’s future. The manager has run out of new ways to say nothing.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market15 Jan 2029
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at Volna Pinsk, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad15 Jan 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 Volna Pinsk this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad15 Jan 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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market8 Jan 2029
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Volna Pinsk can pretend not to have heard.
Squad8 Jan 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.
Squad8 Jan 2029
116 days, the scan says, and scans are kinder than reality. The fixtures in that window have just become somebody else’s job.
Squad8 Jan 2029
71 days, the medical staff say, and medical staff are optimists by profession. The team sheet will look wrong without him.
Squad8 Jan 2029
Yaroslav Oreshkevich 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.
Boardroom8 Jan 2029
$220.5K of the owner's money at Volna Pinsk
The shortfall was covered from upstairs again. Supporters are entitled to be relieved and entitled to ask what happens the month it is not, and both feelings usually arrive together.
Boardroom8 Jan 2029
No signings allowed at Volna Pinsk
The manager may talk to whoever he likes and may pay nobody. A squad survives a window like this by borrowing, by promoting, and by hoping the injuries land somewhere else.
Boardroom8 Jan 2029
The Volna Pinsk debt reaches $8.1M
Football clubs borrow; that is not the story. Borrowing more than the facility allows is, because from here it is the owner's money or somebody else's decision, and neither of those belongs to the board.
Market8 Jan 2029
“We are a long way apart, and pretending otherwise helps nobody.” Neither side is close, and the calendar is not on the club's side.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market13 Nov 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 Volna Pinsk can pretend not to have heard.
Squad13 Nov 2028
The medical room confirms 127 days on the sidelines for Maxim Grechikha, and a plan built around him now has to be rebuilt.
Squad13 Nov 2028
Ezequiel Sánchez 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.
Boardroom13 Nov 2028
No signings allowed at Volna Pinsk
The manager may talk to whoever he likes and may pay nobody. A squad survives a window like this by borrowing, by promoting, and by hoping the injuries land somewhere else.
Boardroom13 Nov 2028
The Volna Pinsk debt reaches $8.0M
Football clubs borrow; that is not the story. Borrowing more than the facility allows is, because from here it is the owner's money or somebody else's decision, and neither of those belongs to the board.
Squad13 Nov 2028
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Alexey Stroychuk trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad25 Sep 2028
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Volna Pinsk this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad25 Sep 2028
The medical room confirms 16 days on the sidelines for Arseniy Asonov, and a plan built around him now has to be rebuilt.
Squad25 Sep 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 Volna Pinsk, and both men came out saying it was fine.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market28 Aug 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 Volna Pinsk can pretend not to have heard.
Market28 Aug 2028
The name of Ikechukwu Nwabueze has come up in conversations Volna Pinsk were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
Squad28 Aug 2028
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Volna Pinsk this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Match29 Jul 2028
Hard to beat is not the same as winning, but 15 matches without defeat is a foundation Volna Pinsk did not have in the autumn.
Match31 Jul 2028
Volna Pinsk are in among the leaders
Position 3 and 34 points on the board. Nobody at the ground will say the word out loud yet, and everybody at the ground is thinking it.
Squad31 Jul 2028
Ezequiel Sánchez 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.
Squad31 Jul 2028
15 clean sheets and counting. Strikers leave this ground muttering his name, which is exactly how a goalkeeper measures a good season.
Player ratings31 Jul 2028
Marked 8.98 — 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.
Squad31 Jul 2028
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Alexandr Mischenko, and the manager let it.
Squad31 Jul 2028
Defences have started doubling up on Kirill Kovalevich
6 goals and a season average of 7.24 will do that. The space he used to find has gone; he keeps scoring anyway, which is the mark of the real thing.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match15 Jul 2028
Still nobody has beaten Volna Pinsk
The unbeaten run reaches 13. Some of them were wins and some were escapes, but a side that refuses to lose is a side other dressing rooms talk about.
Market17 Jul 2028
The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.
Squad17 Jul 2028
Ezequiel Sánchez 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.
Squad17 Jul 2028
14 clean sheets and counting. Strikers leave this ground muttering his name, which is exactly how a goalkeeper measures a good season.
Player ratings17 Jul 2028
Successful dribbles: 19. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad17 Jul 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.
Player ratings17 Jul 2028
Some games turn on a moment; this one turned on a man. 7.71 on the card, and the Volna Pinsk support went home talking about one name.
Squad17 Jul 2028
“I did not come here to warm up in front of people.” He is out of contract eventually, he is old enough to count the weeks, and Volna Pinsk will have to give him a reason to stay or an exit.
Match15 Jul 2028
Point won or two lost for Volna Pinsk?
Ninety minutes, no goals, and the argument started before the car park emptied: a point gained, or two thrown away against Uni-X Labs? Both sides of it will still be going on Thursday.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match8 Jul 2028
Hard to beat is not the same as winning, but 12 matches without defeat is a foundation Volna Pinsk did not have in the autumn.
Player ratings10 Jul 2028
Defensive actions: 23. He was first to everything and second to nothing, and the goalkeeper had an easy day because of it.
Squad10 Jul 2028
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Volna Pinsk this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad10 Jul 2028
13 clean sheets and counting. Strikers leave this ground muttering his name, which is exactly how a goalkeeper measures a good season.
Boardroom10 Jul 2028
Wages eat 144% of everything Volna Pinsk earn
There is a figure at which a wage bill stops being ambitious and becomes the reason nothing else is possible, and this club has reached it. Nothing is left over for a transfer, a stand or a rainy afternoon.
Player ratings10 Jul 2028
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.64, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
Match8 Jul 2028
It finished 1‑0, and it was Ezequiel Sánchez’s afternoon: on the scoresheet when it mattered, and the reason the points belong to Volna Pinsk.
Market10 Jul 2028
Lida are about to pick up the phone
A conversation is coming this week. Volna Pinsk will put a number on him, and from there it stops being football and becomes arithmetic.
Player ratings10 Jul 2028
Defensive actions: 18, and a clean sheet at the end of it. A centre-half's best afternoons look like nothing happening, which is precisely the point.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match17 Jun 2028
6 matches without a win for Volna Pinsk
The run now stands at 6, and the questions being asked around Volna Pinsk are no longer polite ones.
Match17 Jun 2028
Still nobody has beaten Volna Pinsk
The unbeaten run reaches 9. Some of them were wins and some were escapes, but a side that refuses to lose is a side other dressing rooms talk about.
Squad19 Jun 2028
Ezequiel Sánchez was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Squad19 Jun 2028
“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 ratings19 Jun 2028
Successful dribbles: 18. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad19 Jun 2028
Getting past Stanislav Letsko has become the hardest job in the division
10 clean sheets and counting. Forwards used to back themselves here; now they shoot early, shoot wide, and look for somebody to blame.
Market19 Jun 2028
Bumprom Gomel are about to pick up the phone
A conversation is coming this week. Volna Pinsk will put a number on him, and from there it stops being football and becomes arithmetic.
Squad19 Jun 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 Volna Pinsk will have to give him a reason to stay or an exit.
Match17 Jun 2028
The crowd waited for a goal that never came. Slonim defended in numbers and left with what they came for, and the two sides could be playing still without troubling a scorer.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Match3 Jun 2028
No end in sight to Volna Pinsk's wait for a win
4 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Volna Pinsk has to find a result from somewhere.
Match3 Jun 2028
Still nobody has beaten Volna Pinsk
The unbeaten run reaches 7. Some of them were wins and some were escapes, but a side that refuses to lose is a side other dressing rooms talk about.
Squad5 Jun 2028
Ezequiel Sánchez was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Boardroom5 Jun 2028
$79.1K of the owner's money at Volna Pinsk
The shortfall was covered from upstairs again. Supporters are entitled to be relieved and entitled to ask what happens the month it is not, and both feelings usually arrive together.
Player ratings5 Jun 2028
Successful dribbles: 19. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Match3 Jun 2028
1‑1, and both dressing rooms will call it two points lost. A draw that asked plenty of questions and answered none of them.
Squad5 Jun 2028
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Roman Terletskiy, and the manager let it.
Squad5 Jun 2028
At 22 years old, Alexandr Mischenko became the latest name off the academy production line to be handed a senior shirt.
Market5 Jun 2028
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Dmitriy Lesnyak signs something — a contract at Volna Pinsk or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad22 May 2028
Ezequiel Sánchez 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.
Match20 May 2028
Still nobody has beaten Volna Pinsk
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.
Squad22 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.
Player ratings22 May 2028
Headers, blocks, tackles, interceptions — 18 of them, and not one goal behind him. The sort of performance that never makes a highlight reel and wins football matches.
Player ratings22 May 2028
Successful dribbles: 14. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad22 May 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 Volna Pinsk, and both men came out saying it was fine.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Player ratings1 May 2028
Headers, blocks, tackles, interceptions — 25 of them, and not one goal behind him. The sort of performance that never makes a highlight reel and wins football matches.
Match29 Apr 2028
Momentum is a hard thing to buy and an easy thing to lose, and right now Volna Pinsk have 3 straight wins of it.
Squad1 May 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 Volna Pinsk this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Player ratings1 May 2028
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 9.60, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
Match29 Apr 2028
It finished 1‑0, and it was Egor Yuschenko’s afternoon: on the scoresheet when it mattered, and the reason the points belong to Volna Pinsk.
Boardroom1 May 2028
The embargo bars a fee being paid for a player, whatever the manager thinks the squad needs. Every rumour printed about this club between now and its lifting is a rumour about a deal that cannot happen.
Boardroom1 May 2028
The borrowing is past what the bank agreed, which is the line where a debt stops being how football is financed and starts being a problem. Every phone-in in this town will quote the figure for the next five years.
Squad1 May 2028
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Alexey Stroychuk, and the manager let it.
Squad1 May 2028
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Alexandr Mischenko trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Match11 Mar 2028
Still nobody has beaten Volna Pinsk
The unbeaten run reaches 13. Some of them were wins and some were escapes, but a side that refuses to lose is a side other dressing rooms talk about.
Match11 Mar 2028
No end in sight to Volna Pinsk's wait for a win
4 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Volna Pinsk has to find a result from somewhere.
Squad13 Mar 2028
Ezequiel Sánchez 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.
Squad13 Mar 2028
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
Squad13 Mar 2028
19 days, the scan says, and scans are kinder than reality. The fixtures in that window have just become somebody else’s job.
Squad13 Mar 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 Volna Pinsk will have to give him a reason to stay or an exit.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad17 Jan 2028
Ezequiel Sánchez 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.
Squad17 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 Volna Pinsk, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Market17 Jan 2028
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Yaroslav Oreshkevich signs something — a contract at Volna Pinsk or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Match13 Dec 2027
Volna Pinsk are in among the leaders
Position 3 and 44 points on the board. Nobody at the ground will say the word out loud yet, and everybody at the ground is thinking it.
Squad13 Dec 2027
Ezequiel Sánchez 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.
Squad13 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.
Squad13 Dec 2027
The competition arrived without a word said to him about it. Yaroslav Oreshkevich keeps the shirt for now, at Volna Pinsk's convenience rather than his own.
Market13 Dec 2027
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Volna Pinsk, another week without a signature from Pavel Vakulich.
Squad13 Dec 2027
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Dmitriy Nizhnik trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.