Marked for Ruslan Bagaev
From our football correspondent
Crisis
The terraces24 Dec 2029
The mood at Avangard has turned into something else
Supporters who sing when it goes badly are supporters. Supporters who gather afterwards are a problem, and everybody inside the building knows which of the two this now is.
Boardroom24 Dec 2029
The scrutiny sharpens at Avangard
Nobody upstairs has said anything, which is the loudest thing they could do. Results buy silence in this game; the account at Avangard is running low.
Squad24 Dec 2029
Denis Traigel 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.
Squad24 Dec 2029
Daniil Kamenev 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 dugout24 Dec 2029
Daniil Kamenev 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.
Market24 Dec 2029
Every press conference now starts and ends the same way: with Dmitry Zakharov’s future. The manager has run out of new ways to say nothing.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match10 Dec 2029
Avangard are in real trouble now
Position 7, 9 points, and a fixture list with fewer games left in it than excuses. The arithmetic is not cruel yet, but it has stopped being kind.
Squad10 Dec 2029
24 days out for Rustam Berzegov after a fracture
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Avangard will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Market10 Dec 2029
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Avangard is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Market10 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.
Squad10 Dec 2029
A falling-out at Avangard
Denis Traigel and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad10 Dec 2029
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Janos Gulacsi and Avangard agree another 3 years.
Squad10 Dec 2029
Danila Knyazev 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.
Boardroom10 Dec 2029
Avangard cannot sign anybody
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.
The dugout10 Dec 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
Crisis
Match12 Nov 2029
Every point is an argument now for Avangard
Position 7 and 9 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.
Squad12 Nov 2029
52 days out for Rustam Berzegov after a fracture
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Avangard will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Market12 Nov 2029
Only the photograph left for Savely Borisov
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Savely Borisov will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Avangard the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Squad12 Nov 2029
A falling-out at Avangard
Danila Knyazev and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Boardroom12 Nov 2029
No fees may be paid for anybody, whatever the squad needs. Every rumour about this club until it lifts is a rumour about a deal that cannot be done.
The dugout12 Nov 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.
Squad12 Nov 2029
A row about effort at Avangard
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Daniil Kamenev was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Market12 Nov 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.
The dugout12 Nov 2029
Ruslan Bagaev 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
Crisis
Squad5 Nov 2029
59 days out for Rustam Berzegov after a fracture
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Avangard will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Boardroom5 Nov 2029
The board’s statement ran to three sentences and one of them mentioned results. Interim Coach has managed long enough to translate: win soon, or the next statement is shorter.
Market5 Nov 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.
Squad5 Nov 2029
Words exchanged at Avangard
Denis Traigel 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.
Boardroom5 Nov 2029
The owner puts $141.4K into Avangard
This is money that keeps the lights on rather than money that buys a centre-half, and the difference is the whole story. A club funded by its owner rather than by its football has exactly one conversation left ahead of it.
Squad5 Nov 2029
Danila Knyazev 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.
Squad5 Nov 2029
Leonid Sidorenko is the division's best young player this month
At 19 he has spent a month being better than everybody his age in the league, which is a different and harder thing than one good afternoon. Avangard will try very hard not to make too much of it.
The dugout5 Nov 2029
Ruslan Bagaev 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.
Market5 Nov 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.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad15 Oct 2029
A fracture rules Rustam Berzegov out for 80 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Avangard will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Match15 Oct 2029
Avangard are in real trouble now
Position 6, 9 points, and a fixture list with fewer games left in it than excuses. The arithmetic is not cruel yet, but it has stopped being kind.
Match13 Oct 2029
Chastening afternoon for Avangard
A 0‑3 beating by Torpedo Miass was the sort of result that empties a stadium long before the final whistle.
Market15 Oct 2029
Only the photograph left for Savely Borisov
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Savely Borisov will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Avangard the goodbyes have quietly begun.
The dugout15 Oct 2029
Georgy Goryachev: 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.” Avangard have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Squad15 Oct 2029
Danila Knyazev 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.
Boardroom15 Oct 2029
No signings allowed at Avangard
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.
Boardroom15 Oct 2029
Nobody left the Avangard dressing room in a hurry
The door stayed shut a long time after the final whistle. What was said in there is between them; whether it worked is between them and Saturday.
Market15 Oct 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.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad17 Sep 2029
A fracture rules Rustam Berzegov out for 108 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Avangard will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Match17 Sep 2029
Avangard sink to position 6
6 points, and a fixture list that is running out. The mathematics are not yet cruel, but they are no longer kind.
Squad17 Sep 2029
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.
Market17 Sep 2029
Only the photograph left for Savely Borisov
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Savely Borisov will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Avangard the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Match15 Sep 2029
5 matches without a win for Avangard
The run now stands at 5, and the questions being asked around Avangard are no longer polite ones.
Squad17 Sep 2029
Words exchanged at Avangard
Rustam Berzegov 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.
Transfer targets17 Sep 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.
Squad17 Sep 2029
A row about effort at Avangard
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Danila Knyazev was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Match15 Sep 2029
Kaluga left with the points after a 0‑2 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
In brief
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Boardroom
Embargo at Avangard
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The dugout
No hiding place for German Rodin
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The dugout
The view from the dugout
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad10 Sep 2029
115 days out for Rustam Berzegov after a fracture
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Avangard will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Market10 Sep 2029
“I know what people will say. I know what I want, and it is here.” Orel had the fee agreed and the shirt ready; they did not have the player, and now they will not.
Player ratings10 Sep 2029
No sign of nerves from Radomir Skvortsov at 19 — 8.02
The hardest thing about being 19 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Radomir Skvortsov did not need any: 8.02, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
Boardroom10 Sep 2029
Window shuts: 15 in, 14 out at Avangard
The deadline has passed and the squad is the squad. 15 arrived, 14 left, and everything else printed about this club last month was a rumour that stayed one.
Match8 Sep 2029
No end in sight to Avangard's wait for a win
4 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Avangard has to find a result from somewhere.
Squad10 Sep 2029
Words exchanged at Avangard
Danila Knyazev 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.
Transfer targets10 Sep 2029
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Baltika have kept their man, and Avangard go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
The terraces10 Sep 2029
He is 19 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 dugout10 Sep 2029
The manager makes an example of Ruslan Bagaev
“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
Squad13 Aug 2029
143 days out for Rustam Berzegov after a fracture
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Avangard will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Match11 Aug 2029
It had gone 15 games. The players did not celebrate like men who had won a match; they celebrated like men who had been let out of something.
Squad13 Aug 2029
Words exchanged at Avangard
Vladimir Pochechura 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.
Transfer targets13 Aug 2029
Avangard asked and Baltika said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Squad13 Aug 2029
Words at Avangard training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Danila Knyazev 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.
Match11 Aug 2029
A 1‑0 win over Dinamo Vladivostok, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
The dugout13 Aug 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 ratings13 Aug 2029
Some games turn on a moment; this one turned on a man. 7.77 on the card, and the Avangard support went home talking about one name.
Squad13 Aug 2029
Too much change too quickly at Avangard
8 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.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match28 Jul 2029
No end in sight to Avangard's wait for a win
14 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Avangard has to find a result from somewhere.
Squad30 Jul 2029
There were 13 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.
Squad30 Jul 2029
A fracture rules Denis Traigel out for 51 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Avangard will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Market30 Jul 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 Avangard can pretend not to have heard.
Market30 Jul 2029
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Avangard is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Squad30 Jul 2029
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Savely Borisov is 21, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Squad30 Jul 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 Avangard this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Match28 Jul 2029
Luka Martynov scored, and precious little else went right: 1‑2 to Kaluga, and a quiet walk to the dressing room.
Boardroom30 Jul 2029
The borrowing at Avangard reaches $4.8M
Past the limit the bank set, which is the line between a club being financed and a club being in trouble. $4.8M is now the number every conversation about this club will start with.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad4 Jun 2029
A fracture rules Denis Traigel out for 107 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Avangard will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Boardroom4 Jun 2029
The board’s statement ran to three sentences and one of them mentioned results. Daniil Guryev has managed long enough to translate: win soon, or the next statement is shorter.
Boardroom4 Jun 2029
Emergency meeting at Avangard
The whole football department in one room on a weekday morning. Nothing was announced afterwards, which is what a board announces when it has run out of patience.
Market4 Jun 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 Avangard can pretend not to have heard.
Market4 Jun 2029
Only the photograph left for Savely Borisov
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Savely Borisov will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Avangard the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Boardroom4 Jun 2029
$125.3K from the owner keeps Avangard afloat
The gap in the accounts was filled from upstairs again. Supporters are entitled to be grateful and to ask what happens the month it is not, and both feelings arrive together.
Squad4 Jun 2029
A row about effort at Avangard
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Danila Knyazev was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Squad4 Jun 2029
Words exchanged at Avangard
Yegor Skorobogatko 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.
Boardroom4 Jun 2029
The borrowing at Avangard reaches $4.8M
Past the limit the bank set, which is the line between a club being financed and a club being in trouble. $4.8M is now the number every conversation about this club will start with.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad19 Jun 2028
Maxim Shiryaev damages knee ligaments — 44 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 44 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.
Squad19 Jun 2028
Ruslan Bagaev breaks a bone — 17 days out
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 17 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
The dugout19 Jun 2028
Artem Serikov: 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.” Neftekhimik have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Market19 Jun 2028
Only the photograph left for Vitaly Shakhov
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Vitaly Shakhov will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Neftekhimik the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Transfer targets19 Jun 2028
Neftekhimik had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at Lokomotiv Moscow, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.
Squad19 Jun 2028
Danila Prokhin and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
The dugout19 Jun 2028
The manager makes an example of Alexandr Nosov
“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.
Squad19 Jun 2028
Words at Neftekhimik training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Alexandr Kakhidze 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.
Transfer targets19 Jun 2028
CSKA Moscow have been asked whether they would lend him. Loans are agreed quickly or not at all, and this one will be one or the other by the weekend.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad12 Jun 2028
51 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Neftekhimik lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Boardroom12 Jun 2028
Pressure builds in the Neftekhimik boardroom
The directors have stopped offering the manager public warmth. In football that is usually the stage before the short statement.
Squad12 Jun 2028
24 days out for Ruslan Bagaev after a fracture
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Neftekhimik will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Squad12 Jun 2028
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Neftekhimik this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad12 Jun 2028
Andrey Nikitin 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 dugout12 Jun 2028
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Alexandr Kakhidze, and the manager let it.
The dugout12 Jun 2028
Nikita Fedorov 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.
The dugout12 Jun 2028
Clubs make promises constantly and the page usually only hears about them when they are broken. This one was honoured, and the dressing room noticed that faster than any supporter did.
The dugout12 Jun 2028
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 Alexandr Kakhidze is on it.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad5 Jun 2028
A knee injury of the worst kind for Maxim Shiryaev
58 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Neftekhimik lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Boardroom5 Jun 2028
The board’s statement ran to three sentences and one of them mentioned results. Andrei Putin has managed long enough to translate: win soon, or the next statement is shorter.
Boardroom5 Jun 2028
The Neftekhimik board call everybody in
Nothing has been announced and everybody understands what it means. A board that summons the whole football department on a Tuesday morning is a board that has stopped believing the problem will fix itself.
Squad5 Jun 2028
A fracture rules Ruslan Bagaev out for 31 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Neftekhimik will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Market5 Jun 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 Neftekhimik can pretend not to have heard.
Squad5 Jun 2028
Danila Prokhin 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.
Squad5 Jun 2028
Redzuan Fachgi arrives at the club he grew up with
Every footballer has an answer to the question about his boyhood club, and most of them never get to act on it. Redzuan Fachgi has, at Neftekhimik, and the first month will show what that does to a man.
Market5 Jun 2028
He is doing his job and he is not settling. Neftekhimik were supposed to be a step up in his own reckoning, and his own reckoning has been adjusted since he arrived.
Market5 Jun 2028
Daniil Grada is 20, and Neftekhimik 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.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad29 May 2028
65 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Neftekhimik lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
The terraces29 May 2028
Supporters organise against the Neftekhimik board
A bad atmosphere can be waited out. A group of people meeting afterwards to decide what to do about it cannot, and everybody in the building knows which stage this is.
Squad29 May 2028
Ruslan Bagaev breaks a bone — 38 days out
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 38 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Market29 May 2028
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Neftekhimik they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Squad29 May 2028
Marat Sitdikov was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
The dugout29 May 2028
The manager makes an example of Andrey Golubev
“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.
Squad29 May 2028
Words at Neftekhimik training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Alexandr Kakhidze 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.
Boardroom29 May 2028
95% of the income goes out in wages at Neftekhimik
Every club in football 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 somebody has tried it.
The dugout29 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 Neftekhimik, and both men came out saying it was fine.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad22 May 2028
Maxim Shiryaev damages knee ligaments — 72 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 72 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.
Squad22 May 2028
A fracture rules Ruslan Bagaev out for 47 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Neftekhimik will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Market22 May 2028
Only the photograph left for Vitaly Shakhov
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Vitaly Shakhov will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Neftekhimik the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Loan watch22 May 2028
Timofey Kashintsev’s loan is measured in nothing happening
13 clean sheets from 32 appearances at Chaika. That is the whole of a goalkeeper’s job done properly, and it is being done a long way from the club that owns him.
The dugout22 May 2028
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Vitaly Shakhov, and the manager let it.
The dugout22 May 2028
Andrey Golubev 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 Neftekhimik, and both men came out saying it was fine.
The dugout22 May 2028
Something was said to Vitaly Shakhov and then it happened. In this industry that passes for remarkable, and the dressing room noticed faster than any supporter could.
The dugout22 May 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.
Market22 May 2028
The name of Daniil Marugin keeps appearing in other people's back pages. Neftekhimik say nothing, which says plenty.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad15 May 2028
A knee injury of the worst kind for Maxim Shiryaev
80 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Neftekhimik lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Boardroom15 May 2028
The scrutiny sharpens at Neftekhimik
Nobody upstairs has said anything, which is the loudest thing they could do. Results buy silence in this game; the account at Neftekhimik is running low.
Squad15 May 2028
A fracture rules Ruslan Bagaev out for 54 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Neftekhimik will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Squad15 May 2028
A season average of 7.01 at an age when most of his year group are still in the youth team. Neftekhimik know what they have, and so, by now, does everybody else.
Squad15 May 2028
Marat Sitdikov and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
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.
The dugout15 May 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 dugout15 May 2028
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Timofey Shipunov trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Market15 May 2028
The name of Danila Prokhin keeps appearing in other people's back pages. Neftekhimik say nothing, which says plenty.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad8 May 2028
Maxim Shiryaev damages knee ligaments — 88 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 88 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.
Boardroom8 May 2028
Andrei Putin has until the next board meeting
What was said behind closed doors has now been said in front of a microphone. Everybody at Neftekhimik can do the arithmetic, including the man it is aimed at.
Squad8 May 2028
A fracture rules Ruslan Bagaev out for 61 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Neftekhimik will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Boardroom8 May 2028
The Neftekhimik board call everybody in
Nothing has been announced and everybody understands what it means. A board that summons the whole football department on a Tuesday morning is a board that has stopped believing the problem will fix itself.
Market8 May 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 Neftekhimik, and it is not being withdrawn.
Market8 May 2028
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Neftekhimik is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Squad8 May 2028
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Marat Sitdikov and Neftekhimik agree another 2 years.
Squad8 May 2028
Andrey Nikitin 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.
Market8 May 2028
“We are a long way apart, and pretending otherwise helps nobody.” Neither side is close, and the calendar is not on the club's side.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad7 Feb 2028
A knee injury of the worst kind for Ivan Markelov
24 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Neftekhimik lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Boardroom7 Feb 2028
The board have said in public what they had been saying in private. Results between now and the next meeting decide it, and everybody in the building knows the arithmetic.
Market7 Feb 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.
Transfer targets7 Feb 2028
Neftekhimik had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at Krylya Sovetov, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.
Boardroom7 Feb 2028
There is no worse way to lose a footballer. Kirill Mordasov has pre-agreed a move away, which means every appearance between now and June is made by a man the club can no longer sell, and somebody upstairs will be asked why the contract was allowed to get here.
Squad7 Feb 2028
Marat Sitdikov 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 targets7 Feb 2028
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Cibalia have kept their man, and Neftekhimik go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Player ratings7 Feb 2028
Daniil Zorin beats them one at a time
Successful dribbles: 18. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
Match5 Feb 2028
Neftekhimik rescue it on 91 minutes
Behind, and beaten by any honest reading, until minute 91. Fakel had the points in their pocket and a corner of the ground still believed, which is generally when it happens.