Marked for Vladislav Stepanenko
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market22 Jul 2030
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Vladislav Stepanenko will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Dnepr Mogilev the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Market22 Jul 2030
“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 The request is on a desk at Dnepr Mogilev, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad22 Jul 2030
“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.
Squad22 Jul 2030
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Dnepr Mogilev this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Player ratings22 Jul 2030
Headers, blocks, tackles, interceptions — 22 of them, and not one goal behind him. The sort of performance that never makes a highlight reel and wins football matches.
Player ratings22 Jul 2030
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.
Squad22 Jul 2030
“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 ratings22 Jul 2030
Defensive actions: 14. He was first to everything and second to nothing, and the goalkeeper had an easy day because of it.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market15 Jul 2030
“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.
Market15 Jul 2030
Nikita Sednev has one foot out of the door
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Dnepr Mogilev they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Squad15 Jul 2030
Ivan Solovjov 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.
Player ratings15 Jul 2030
Defensive actions: 20. He was first to everything and second to nothing, and the goalkeeper had an easy day because of it.
Squad15 Jul 2030
“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; Dnepr Mogilev are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
Player ratings15 Jul 2030
Defensive actions: 13. He was first to everything and second to nothing, and the goalkeeper had an easy day because of it.
Match13 Jul 2030
The crowd waited for a goal that never came. Molodechno defended in numbers and left with what they came for, and the two sides could be playing still without troubling a scorer.
Squad15 Jul 2030
The manager makes an example of Anton Laptev
“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.
Market15 Jul 2030
1 months left and the two sides are nowhere near each other. Every week this drags on takes money off what Dnepr Mogilev could get for him.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match29 Jun 2030
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.
Match1 Jul 2030
Every point is an argument now for Dnepr Mogilev
Position 14 and 12 points, and the table gets read bottom-up in this part of town. The calendar has stopped being a schedule and started being a countdown.
Market1 Jul 2030
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Vladislav Tarasenko will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Dnepr Mogilev the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Squad1 Jul 2030
Fedor Yurkevich 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.
Match29 Jun 2030
Fedor Yurkevich scored, and precious little else went right: 1‑2 to Minsk, and a quiet walk to the dressing room.
Player ratings1 Jul 2030
Marked 8.60 — 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.
Squad1 Jul 2030
“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.
Squad1 Jul 2030
An error at the back is a moment; an error in goal is a goal. Nikita Sednev knows it, the crowd knew it instantly, and there was nobody behind him to make it anything else.
Squad1 Jul 2030
He wheeled away like a man who had been carrying it for months, because he had. Dnepr Mogilev have their signing off the mark and one press-conference question retired.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match15 Jun 2030
11 matches without a win for Dnepr Mogilev
The run now stands at 11, and the questions being asked around Dnepr Mogilev are no longer polite ones.
Market17 Jun 2030
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Dnepr Mogilev is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Market17 Jun 2030
Amadou Diarra 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 Dnepr Mogilev can pretend not to have heard.
Squad17 Jun 2030
“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.
Squad17 Jun 2030
Fedor Yurkevich 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 Jun 2030
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Ivan Solovjov, and the manager let it.
Match15 Jun 2030
Beaten 0‑1, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Player ratings17 Jun 2030
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.
Squad17 Jun 2030
Nikita Sednev lets one through his hands
A defender's mistake gets tidied up by somebody else; a goalkeeper's ends up in the net. He knew before the ball crossed the line, and so did everybody in the ground.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match18 May 2030
6 matches without a win for Dnepr Mogilev
The run now stands at 6, and the questions being asked around Dnepr Mogilev are no longer polite ones.
Squad20 May 2030
Leandro Lombardo: 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.” Dnepr Mogilev have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Squad20 May 2030
Ivan Solovjov 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.
Match18 May 2030
Beaten 1‑2, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Squad20 May 2030
“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 ratings20 May 2030
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.
Squad20 May 2030
An error at the back is a moment; an error in goal is a goal. Nikita Sednev knows it, the crowd knew it instantly, and there was nobody behind him to make it anything else.
Player ratings20 May 2030
Marked 5.64, and generously at that. Nothing came off, and by the end the crowd had stopped expecting it to.
Player ratings20 May 2030
5.79 on the card. Some afternoons a footballer looks like a man who has only just been introduced to the game, and this was one of them.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market15 Apr 2030
Pavel Sedich 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 Dnepr Mogilev can pretend not to have heard.
Squad15 Apr 2030
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Dnepr Mogilev this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Match13 Apr 2030
1‑1, and both dressing rooms will call it two points lost. A draw that asked plenty of questions and answered none of them.
Squad15 Apr 2030
“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.
Squad15 Apr 2030
The first one is the one every signing is asked about until it arrives. It has arrived, and he can stop being asked.
Market15 Apr 2030
4 months left, and both sides know what that means: every week without a signature, the fee Dnepr Mogilev could ask drops and the wages Vladislav Stepanenko can ask rise.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad1 Apr 2030
“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.
Squad1 Apr 2030
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Dnepr Mogilev this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Match30 Mar 2030
0‑1 to Molodechno, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Squad1 Apr 2030
“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.
Squad1 Apr 2030
“I have given this everything, but my family is not here and neither am I, not really.” A footballer can be coached out of bad form. Nobody has ever been coached out of this, and Dnepr Mogilev know it.
Player ratings1 Apr 2030
5.62 on the card. Some afternoons a footballer looks like a man who has only just been introduced to the game, and this was one of them.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad18 Mar 2030
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 8 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Squad18 Mar 2030
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Dnepr Mogilev this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad18 Mar 2030
The manager makes an example of Pavel Sedich
“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 Mar 2030
Successful dribbles: 14. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Match16 Mar 2030
The crowd waited for a goal that never came. Minsk defended in numbers and left with what they came for, and the two sides could be playing still without troubling a scorer.
Squad18 Mar 2030
At 18 years old, Anton Laptev became the latest name off the academy production line to be handed a senior shirt.
Player ratings18 Mar 2030
5.74 on the card. Some afternoons a footballer looks like a man who has only just been introduced to the game, and this was one of them.
Player ratings18 Mar 2030
5.79 on the card. Some afternoons a footballer looks like a man who has only just been introduced to the game, and this was one of them.
Market18 Mar 2030
5 months left, and both sides know what that means: every week without a signature, the fee Dnepr Mogilev could ask drops and the wages Vladislav Stepanenko can ask rise.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad11 Mar 2030
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.
Squad11 Mar 2030
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Kirill Zabelin commits to Dnepr Mogilev for another 4 years.
Squad11 Mar 2030
Ivan Solovjov 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.
Match9 Mar 2030
0‑2 to Dinamo Minsk, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Squad11 Mar 2030
“I have given this everything, but my family is not here and neither am I, not really.” A footballer can be coached out of bad form. Nobody has ever been coached out of this, and Dnepr Mogilev know it.
Player ratings11 Mar 2030
Successful dribbles: 12. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Match2 Mar 2030
Beaten 0‑3 by Neman, and beaten everywhere it matters. The inquest starts on the training pitch on Monday morning.
Market4 Mar 2030
Pavel Sedich 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 Dnepr Mogilev can pretend not to have heard.
Market4 Mar 2030
The Niva deal is off
Everything was agreed until it was not, and Nikita Sednev reports back to Dnepr Mogilev with a summer to forget. Neither club is saying who walked away from the table.
Squad4 Mar 2030
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Ivan Solovjov and Dnepr Mogilev agree another 1 years.
Market4 Mar 2030
He left as a boy and has come back still knowing where the away end is. Most signings have to be explained to a town; this one needed a photograph and nothing else.
Market4 Mar 2030
The shirt still fits. Valery Filipenko is back at Dnepr Mogilev, and half the ground remembers him in these colours already. Some signings need selling to the town; this one sold itself.
Squad4 Mar 2030
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Dnepr Mogilev this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad4 Mar 2030
Tilen Mlakar 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.
Boardroom4 Mar 2030
The manager kept them in and said what needed saying. A response is expected on Saturday, and if it does not come the questions move upstairs.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Market18 Feb 2030
“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.
Market18 Feb 2030
The offer from Naftan for Nikita Sednev 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.
Squad18 Feb 2030
“The easiest signature of my career.” Leandro Lombardo and Dnepr Mogilev agree another 4 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Squad18 Feb 2030
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Dnepr Mogilev this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad18 Feb 2030
There is a level at which a footballer stops being tested and starts being contained, and he reached it some time ago. Dnepr Mogilev know it, and so does everybody who watches him.
Market18 Feb 2030
He is 17, and nobody at Dnepr Mogilev signed him for this season. Deals like this are judged in four years, by people who may not still be in the building.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Market14 Jan 2030
“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.
Squad14 Jan 2030
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Dnepr Mogilev this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad14 Jan 2030
“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
Upbeat
Market17 Dec 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.
Squad17 Dec 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 Dnepr Mogilev this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad17 Dec 2029
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Abakar Akaev commits to Dnepr Mogilev for another 3 years.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Market19 Nov 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 Dnepr Mogilev can pretend not to have heard.
Squad19 Nov 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 Dnepr Mogilev this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad19 Nov 2029
A window away with the national side, and a shirt at Dnepr Mogilev that briefly doubles as an advertisement. A call-up flatters the player and the club that built him in the same breath.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Market22 Oct 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.
Squad22 Oct 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 Dnepr Mogilev this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Market22 Oct 2029
Renat Jafarov is 20, and Dnepr Mogilev 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.
Squad22 Oct 2029
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Renat Jafarov and Dnepr Mogilev agree another 3 years.
Market22 Oct 2029
Experience through the door at Dnepr Mogilev
Alain Ngeleka arrives at 37 with nothing left to prove and plenty left to pass on. Legs are a young man's currency; knowing where to stand never ages.
Squad22 Oct 2029
A season on the outside for Alain Ngeleka
He trains hard, says the right things and goes home to an empty flat. Nobody at Dnepr Mogilev has done anything wrong, which is exactly what makes it so difficult to fix.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Market24 Sep 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 Dnepr Mogilev, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad24 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.
Market24 Sep 2029
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Dnepr Mogilev is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
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 Dnepr Mogilev this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad24 Sep 2029
“I have given this everything, but my family is not here and neither am I, not really.” A footballer can be coached out of bad form. Nobody has ever been coached out of this, and Dnepr Mogilev know it.
Squad24 Sep 2029
A season on the outside for Mark Fenech
He trains hard, says the right things and goes home to an empty flat. Nobody at Dnepr Mogilev has done anything wrong, which is exactly what makes it so difficult to fix.
From our football correspondent
Triumph
Match11 Aug 2029
Ostrovets will want this one forgotten quickly: 3‑0, every duel lost, and a long ride home. Dnepr Mogilev were ruthless in the way good sides are ruthless.
Market13 Aug 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 Dnepr Mogilev, and it is not being withdrawn.
Market13 Aug 2029
The name of Vadim Arutyunyan has come up in conversations Dnepr Mogilev were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
Market13 Aug 2029
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Timofey Tkachev will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Dnepr Mogilev the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Match11 Aug 2029
Hard to beat is not the same as winning, but 8 matches without defeat is a foundation Dnepr Mogilev did not have in the autumn.
Squad13 Aug 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 Dnepr Mogilev this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad13 Aug 2029
Defences have started doubling up on Kirill Zabelin
8 goals and a season average of 7.54 will do that. The space he used to find has gone; he keeps scoring anyway, which is the mark of the real thing.
Player ratings13 Aug 2029
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 9.62, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
Player ratings13 Aug 2029
Marked 9.18 — 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.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Market7 May 2029
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Dnepr Mogilev is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Market7 May 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 Dnepr Mogilev can pretend not to have heard.
Squad7 May 2029
Alexey Dunaev 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.
Match5 May 2029
Beaten 1‑2, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Player ratings7 May 2029
Successful dribbles: 18. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Player ratings7 May 2029
Marked 8.08 — 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.
Squad7 May 2029
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Vladislav Stepanenko, and the manager let it.
Player ratings7 May 2029
Marked 5.79, and generously at that. Nothing came off, and by the end the crowd had stopped expecting it to.
Squad7 May 2029
Nikita Sednev knocks on the manager’s door
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Nikita Sednev trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market11 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 Dnepr Mogilev can pretend not to have heard.
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 Dnepr Mogilev this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad11 Dec 2028
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Vadim Arutyunyan trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Market11 Dec 2028
Dnepr Mogilev have let the market know Muzaffar Gurbanov can be had. No price in the advert, but everyone in the trade knows roughly what it says.
Market11 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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Boardroom27 Nov 2028
“This is a club with real history, and I did not have to think about it for long.” The new manager takes charge with every slate wiped clean.
Market27 Nov 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.
Squad27 Nov 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 Dnepr Mogilev this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad27 Nov 2028
Alexey Dunaev 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 Dnepr Mogilev, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Market27 Nov 2028
The clock does Lukáš Ho Hung’s negotiating for him
3 months left, and both sides know what that means: every week without a signature, the fee Dnepr Mogilev could ask drops and the wages Lukáš Ho Hung can ask rise.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market20 Nov 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.
Market20 Nov 2028
Only the photograph left for Lukáš Ho Hung
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Lukáš Ho Hung will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Dnepr Mogilev the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Squad20 Nov 2028
Alexey Dunaev 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.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Market30 Oct 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 Dnepr Mogilev, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad30 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 Dnepr Mogilev this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad30 Oct 2028
29 days, the scan says, and scans are kinder than reality. The fixtures in that window have just become somebody else’s job.
Squad30 Oct 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.
Market30 Oct 2028
The list is a quiet document with a loud meaning. Vadim Arutyunyan may talk to anybody who asks, and everybody at the club understands what that means.
Market30 Oct 2028
4 months left and the two sides are nowhere near each other. Every week this drags on takes money off what Dnepr Mogilev could get for him.