Marked for Ivan Salikhov
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market30 Apr 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 Ural 2 can pretend not to have heard.
Market30 Apr 2029
Dmitry Kiselev has one foot out of the door
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Ural 2 they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Squad30 Apr 2029
Words exchanged at Ural 2
Artem Kulikov 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.
Market30 Apr 2029
“The manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Evgeny Markov has his answer from Ural 2; what he does with it is the next window’s story.
Squad30 Apr 2029
A row about effort at Ural 2
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Daniil Sekach was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout30 Apr 2029
Evgeny Markov 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 Evgeny Markov trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad9 Apr 2029
Ivan Ryzhkov in a row with a teammate
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Ural 2 this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The dugout9 Apr 2029
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Rodrigo Pinto, and the manager let it.
Squad9 Apr 2029
“I did not sign to watch. Nobody does.” The oldest complaint in the game, and Ural 2 will have to answer it with minutes or with a move.
The dugout9 Apr 2029
Leonid Belov 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 Leonid Belov trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
The dugout9 Apr 2029
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at Ural 2. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
Market9 Apr 2029
4 months remain and no agreement is close. Every week without a signature costs Ural 2 money.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market2 Apr 2029
Only the photograph left for Dmitry Kiselev
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Dmitry Kiselev will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Ural 2 the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Squad2 Apr 2029
Words at Ural 2 training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Artem Kulikov 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.
Squad2 Apr 2029
Yury Maleev is no longer first choice
The manager has re-ordered his thinking and Yury Maleev has come out of it lower. He will be told it is temporary, and the players who have heard that before will avoid his eye.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad5 Mar 2029
33 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Ural 2 lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Market5 Mar 2029
Dmitry Kiselev has one foot out of the door
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Ural 2 they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Squad5 Mar 2029
“The easiest signature of my career.” Alexandr Scherbakov and Ural 2 agree another 3 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Squad5 Mar 2029
A falling-out at Ural 2
Yury Maleev and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad5 Mar 2029
The medical room confirms 14 days on the sidelines for Daniil Yeremin, and a plan built around him now has to be rebuilt.
Market5 Mar 2029
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Ural 2, another week without a signature from Ivan Ryzhkov.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad26 Feb 2029
The words a physio says slowly. 41 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.
Squad26 Feb 2029
Words exchanged at Ural 2
Yury Maleev and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
The dugout26 Feb 2029
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Leonid Belov, and the manager let it.
Market26 Feb 2029
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Ural 2, another week without a signature from Ivan Salikhov.
The dugout26 Feb 2029
Daniil Sekach 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.
Match26 Feb 2029
Ural 2 have something to play for
Position 6 on 35 points, and the places that carry a European ticket are close enough to count. Seasons like this are decided by two results in April, and the club knows which two.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad5 Feb 2029
Words at Ural 2 training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Daniil Sekach 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 dugout5 Feb 2029
The manager makes an example of Evgeny Markov
“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.
Squad5 Feb 2029
Yury Maleev wants out of the dugout
“I did not sign to watch. Nobody does.” The oldest complaint in the game, and Ural 2 will have to answer it with minutes or with a move.
Squad5 Feb 2029
It will be explained as a change for the team and it may even be one. Nobody who has worn one believes that, and neither does the man who has just had it taken away.
The dugout5 Feb 2029
Ivan Ryzhkov 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 Ural 2, and both men came out saying it was fine.
The dugout5 Feb 2029
Ninety specific minutes wanted a different sort of player, and the manager picked one. He is not out of form and he is not in the side, and both are true.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Player ratings8 Jan 2029
A defender's goal wins it for Ural 2 — 7.92
1 for Daniil Yeremin, marked 7.92, 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.
Match6 Jan 2029
No end in sight to Ural 2's wait for a win
4 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Ural 2 has to find a result from somewhere.
Squad8 Jan 2029
A falling-out at Ural 2
Yury Maleev and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad8 Jan 2029
A row about effort at Ural 2
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Artem Kulikov was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Match6 Jan 2029
Level with 90 minutes on the clock, after an afternoon Ural 2 had all but put away. Dinamo Barnaul will call it a point earned; the home dressing room will call it two given away, and both of them are right.
Match6 Jan 2029
2‑2, and both dressing rooms will call it two points lost. A draw that asked plenty of questions and answered none of them.
Squad8 Jan 2029
Ivan Salikhov makes the team of the month
Four or five weekends of consistency, measured against everybody else in the division. A quieter compliment than an award and a more reliable one.
Squad8 Jan 2029
“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 Ural 2 will have to give him a reason to stay or an exit.
The dugout8 Jan 2029
“A point is a point and I will take it, but we should have had all three.” Aleksandr Borodin after the 2‑2 draw, and the sentence every manager in the country said at some stage this weekend.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Player ratings25 Dec 2028
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 7.53 for the rest of it.
Match23 Dec 2028
Rodina 2 left with the points after a 1‑2 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
The dugout25 Dec 2028
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Yury Maleev, and the manager let it.
Squad25 Dec 2028
Words at Ural 2 training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Daniil Sekach 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 dugout25 Dec 2028
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 1‑2 defeat, delivered by Aleksandr Borodin to a room that had heard them before.
The dugout25 Dec 2028
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Robert Potinyan trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Player ratings25 Dec 2028
Successful dribbles: 12. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
Match25 Dec 2028
Ural 2 in the hunt for Europe
Position 4, 32 points, and a run-in that decides whether next season has Thursday nights in it. Nobody is calling it a race yet, which is what people say during one.
The dugout25 Dec 2028
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
Player ratings27 Nov 2028
A brace, and Dmitry Kiselev takes the afternoon — 9.15
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Dmitry Kiselev provided it, and the 9.15 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Player ratings27 Nov 2028
Up for the corner, and Artem Kulikov delivers — 7.73
Centre-halves are allowed forward twice a season and are judged on what they do when they get there. Artem Kulikov scored, was marked 7.73, and got back before anybody noticed he had gone.
Squad27 Nov 2028
Tempers go at Ural 2
Yury Maleev 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.
Match25 Nov 2028
It finished 3‑2, and it was Dmitry Kiselev’s afternoon: on the scoresheet when it mattered, and the reason the points belong to Ural 2.
The dugout27 Nov 2028
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Yury Maleev, and the manager let it.
Squad27 Nov 2028
Words at Ural 2 training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Artem Kulikov 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 dugout27 Nov 2028
The view from the dugout
“We controlled it. There were spells I did not like and we will look at them, but the group showed me something.” Aleksandr Borodin, on a 3‑2 win that he was already picking apart on the walk to the press room.
The dugout27 Nov 2028
Artem Kulikov 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 Ural 2, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Squad27 Nov 2028
He wheeled away like a man who had been carrying it for months, because he had. Ural 2 have their signing off the mark and one press-conference question retired.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Player ratings30 Oct 2028
Two goals and a mark of 8.28 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Match28 Oct 2028
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Evgeny Kharin. 2‑0 against Akron 2, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
The dugout30 Oct 2028
Ivan Ryzhkov 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.
Squad30 Oct 2028
Words at Ural 2 training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Artem Kulikov 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.
Match30 Oct 2028
Ural 2 at the halfway mark
Half the programme played, position 4, 22 on the board. Doubling it is the sum every supporter has done and the only one nobody at the club will do out loud.
The dugout30 Oct 2028
The manager’s verdict
“I am not going to get carried away and I will not let them either. It was a good day. There will be harder ones.” Aleksandr Borodin kept it short after the 2‑0 win, which is what managers do when they are happy.
Player ratings30 Oct 2028
Leonid Belov beats them one at a time
Successful dribbles: 14. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
Market30 Oct 2028
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Ural 2, another week without a signature from Ivan Salikhov.
Squad30 Oct 2028
A Ural 2 teenager takes the young player award
Yury Maleev is 20, and for one weekend he was the best of everybody his age in the division. Nobody should build a career on it and everybody quietly does.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market4 Sep 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 Ural 2 can pretend not to have heard.
Squad4 Sep 2028
A one-man rearguard from Yury Maleev
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.
Match2 Sep 2028
Still nobody has beaten Ural 2
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.
Squad4 Sep 2028
Words at Ural 2 training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Artem Kulikov 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.
Squad4 Sep 2028
100 games in the shirt. Nobody sets out to build a record like that; it happens to a certain kind of player at a certain kind of club, and this town knows what it has.
Player ratings4 Sep 2028
A mark of 7.59, and nobody in the ground would argue with it. He was involved in everything that mattered and most of what did not.
The dugout4 Sep 2028
Ilja Khatuntsev is still being punished for one mistake
Nobody will confirm it and the team sheets confirm it every week. One error has bought him a spell as second choice that is already longer than the error deserved.
Squad4 Sep 2028
Ivan Salikhov makes the team of the month
Four or five weekends of consistency, measured against everybody else in the division. A quieter compliment than an award and a more reliable one.
Match2 Sep 2028
A 1‑1 draw with Rodina 2 leaves the dressing room somewhere between relief and regret.
In brief
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The dugout
The view from the dugout
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The dugout
Ivan Ryzhkov knocks on the manager's door
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Player ratings
Ilja Khatuntsev could not find anything