The words a physio says slowly. 82 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.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what SKA Khabarovsk can pretend not to have heard.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around SKA Khabarovsk they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at Dinamo Moscow is saying, and nobody at SKA Khabarovsk is enjoying the guessing.
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.
SKA Khabarovsk asked and Dinamo Moscow said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at SKA Khabarovsk this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
SKA Khabarovsk have made the call to Torpedo Moscow. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
96 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. SKA Khabarovsk lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Chernomorets waiting with a shirt. Nobody at SKA Khabarovsk is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
The offer from Spartak Moscow for Vladislav Zykh 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.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what SKA Khabarovsk can pretend not to have heard.
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. SKA Khabarovsk have done the hard part with Torpedo Moscow, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
Everything was agreed until it was not, and Riccardo Guidi reports back to SKA Khabarovsk with a summer to forget. Neither club is saying who walked away from the table.
Demjan Iljev 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Valentin Guillaume was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
SKA Khabarovsk asked and Rostov said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
In brief
Transfer targetsA loan move for Timur Kraikov is in the works
117 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. SKA Khabarovsk lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Nobody upstairs has said anything, which is the loudest thing they could do. Results buy silence in this game; the account at SKA Khabarovsk is running low.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Vladislav Zykh will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around SKA Khabarovsk the goodbyes have quietly begun.
The rules permit it and it stings anyway. German Parfenov has agreed terms with Ufa for the summer, and until then he pulls on this shirt as a player who has already chosen his next one.
Squad10 Jun 2030
Words at SKA Khabarovsk training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Valentin Guillaume 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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at SKA Khabarovsk this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Matvey Uzhgin trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
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 Arshak Koryan is on it.
124 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. SKA Khabarovsk lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
What was said behind closed doors has now been said in front of a microphone. Everybody at SKA Khabarovsk can do the arithmetic, including the man it is aimed at.
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.
“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 SKA Khabarovsk, and it is not being withdrawn.
He will play here until the summer and then walk out of the door for free, having already signed elsewhere. Supporters will manage the first part of that sentence; it is the second they will struggle with.
Squad3 Jun 2030
Words at SKA Khabarovsk training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Valentin Guillaume 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.
Anton Gurylev 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 easiest signature of my career.” Valentin Cenatiempo and SKA Khabarovsk agree another 2 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Kamran Aliev damages knee ligaments — 131 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 131 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.
“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 SKA Khabarovsk, and it is not being withdrawn.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at SKA Khabarovsk is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
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.
Vladislav Sokolov 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 injury that keeps coming back, keeps being rushed back from, and quietly costs more careers than the dramatic ones. 14 days is the estimate; the honest figure depends on whether anybody is patient.
“I am grateful for the games, but I did not become a footballer to be somebody else's spare part.” He wants to be at SKA Khabarovsk, and 0 appearances in 13 say he has earned the hearing.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. SKA Khabarovsk will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Vladislav Zykh will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around SKA Khabarovsk the goodbyes have quietly begun.
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.
Valentin Cenatiempo 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.
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 Arshak Koryan is on it.
The dugout13 May 2030
The manager has not finished forgetting Edoardo Riccardi's mistake
Publicly it is behind everybody. It is not behind the man who picks the team, and the only place that shows is a team sheet. He will get another chance; he will get it in a match that matters less.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason SKA Khabarovsk will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at SKA Khabarovsk is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Valentin Guillaume was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Nobody at SKA Khabarovsk will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
The dugout15 Apr 2030
The manager has not finished forgetting Edoardo Riccardi's mistake
Publicly it is behind everybody. It is not behind the man who picks the team, and the only place that shows is a team sheet. He will get another chance; he will get it in a match that matters less.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. SKA Khabarovsk will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at SKA Khabarovsk is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
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.
Anton Gurylev 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.
“I am grateful for the games, but I did not become a footballer to be somebody else's spare part.” He wants to be at SKA Khabarovsk, and 0 appearances in 5 say he has earned the hearing.
The manager has re-ordered his thinking and Kirill Roschin 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.
Every squad has men who were signed by a particular manager and men who were merely inherited. Gleb Shilnikov is in the first group, and the man who wanted him here is no longer in the building.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 76 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Nobody upstairs has said anything, which is the loudest thing they could do. Results buy silence in this game; the account at SKA Khabarovsk is running low.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around SKA Khabarovsk they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
1 for Gleb Shilnikov, marked 7.71, 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.
Squad18 Mar 2030
Words at SKA Khabarovsk training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Valentin Guillaume 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.
Nobody makes a documentary about a hamstring and everybody in the game fears one. SKA Khabarovsk will be careful with the return date, because the second one is always worse than the first.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 92 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
The board’s statement ran to three sentences and one of them mentioned results. Pyotr Savinov has managed long enough to translate: win soon, or the next statement is shorter.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what SKA Khabarovsk can pretend not to have heard.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” SKA Khabarovsk have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at SKA Khabarovsk is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Valentin Guillaume was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. SKA Khabarovsk will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Nobody upstairs has said anything, which is the loudest thing they could do. Results buy silence in this game; the account at SKA Khabarovsk is running low.
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. SKA Khabarovsk have lost him in all but the paperwork.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at SKA Khabarovsk is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Everything agreed with Baltika, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
Squad18 Feb 2030
Words at SKA Khabarovsk training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Valentin Guillaume 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.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Dinamo Makhachkala have kept their man, and SKA Khabarovsk go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Nobody upstairs has said anything, which is the loudest thing they could do. Results buy silence in this game; the account at SKA Khabarovsk is running low.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at SKA Khabarovsk is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Valentin Guillaume was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Everybody saw it before anybody said it. At 33 the numbers say 3 points down on what he was, and the question for SKA Khabarovsk is how to handle a man they owe a great deal.
The dugout21 Jan 2030
The view from the dugout
“We will look at it, we will learn from it, and we go again.” The three sentences every manager keeps for a 0‑2 defeat, delivered by Pyotr Savinov to a room that had heard them before.
8 shots, and a count that reads like a good afternoon until you check the other column. Strikers survive weeks like this on the understanding that the chances keep arriving; the day they stop is the day it becomes a problem.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Valentin Guillaume was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Anton Gurylev 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.
1‑1, and both dressing rooms will call it two points lost. A draw that asked plenty of questions and answered none of them.
The dugout14 Jan 2030
The manager’s verdict
“I am frustrated, honestly. We did enough to win and we did not win.” Pyotr Savinov was not hiding it after 1‑1, and nobody in the SKA Khabarovsk dressing room was either.
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at SKA Khabarovsk, another week without a signature from Kirill Roschin.
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 Arshak Koryan is on it.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Jacobo Alcalde signs something — a contract at SKA Khabarovsk or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around SKA Khabarovsk they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Valentin Guillaume was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at SKA Khabarovsk this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Pyotr Savinov after 0‑1, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
Nobody at SKA Khabarovsk will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
0‑4 to Torpedo Moscow, and it was every bit as bad as the number suggests. There are defeats you argue about and defeats you apologise for; this was the second kind.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at SKA Khabarovsk is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
He will play here until the summer and then walk out of the door for free, having already signed elsewhere. Supporters will manage the first part of that sentence; it is the second they will struggle with.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Valentin Guillaume was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“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 SKA Khabarovsk know it.
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Pyotr Savinov after 0‑4, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
The dugout17 Dec 2029
The manager has not finished forgetting Vladislav Zykh's mistake
Publicly it is behind everybody. It is not behind the man who picks the team, and the only place that shows is a team sheet. He will get another chance; he will get it in a match that matters less.
Nobody upstairs has said anything, which is the loudest thing they could do. Results buy silence in this game; the account at SKA Khabarovsk is running low.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Vladislav Zykh will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around SKA Khabarovsk the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Zakhar Kravtsov was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
He won it back and then made something of it, which is two jobs and the reason the scoreline looks the way it does. 9 combined actions and a mark of 6.54, and not one of them will make a highlights package.
“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 0‑2, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
The board’s statement ran to three sentences and one of them mentioned results. Pyotr Savinov has managed long enough to translate: win soon, or the next statement is shorter.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 6 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at SKA Khabarovsk is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
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.
Every club pays most of what it earns to its players. Paying nearly all of it is a different arrangement, and it has ended the same way every time it has been tried.
Every squad has men who were signed by a particular manager and men who were merely inherited. Yegor Lyubakov is in the first group, and the man who wanted him here is no longer in the building.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at SKA Khabarovsk is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
At 34 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 7.92 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
9 without defeat on their own grass. The pitch has not changed; the crowd has — louder earlier, and quicker to sense when the opposition would rather be somewhere else.
Squad29 Oct 2029
Words at SKA Khabarovsk training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Valentin Guillaume 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.
Valentin Cenatiempo 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.
“A point is a point and I will take it, but we should have had all three.” Pyotr Savinov after the 1‑1 draw, and the sentence every manager in the country said at some stage this weekend.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around SKA Khabarovsk they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Squad22 Oct 2029
Words at SKA Khabarovsk training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Valentin Guillaume 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.
5 new signings in one window. Every one may be an upgrade and the side can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild the verdicts never mention.
The manager has a list and the board has a condition attached to it. That is not a crisis — half of football works this way — but it decides which of the two of them gets his way in August.
“A point is a point and I will take it, but we should have had all three.” Pyotr Savinov after the 0‑0 draw, and the sentence every manager in the country said at some stage this weekend.
0‑4 against Arsenal Tula, and no complaints that would survive the replay. The manager spoke about character afterwards; the terraces used shorter words.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Vladislav Zykh will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around SKA Khabarovsk the goodbyes have quietly begun.
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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at SKA Khabarovsk this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The demotion a club never announces and a dressing room always notices. Bogdan Ruppel is further from the side than he was, and the reason will not be given until he asks.
“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 SKA Khabarovsk, and it is not being withdrawn.
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.
Vladislav Sokolov 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.
Every shape has positions in it and this one does not have his. SKA Khabarovsk will either change the shape, change his job, or change his club, and he is waiting to hear which.
That is the business done at SKA Khabarovsk until the window opens again. Whether it was enough will be answered on Saturdays rather than in a column, and the first Saturday is close.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Riccardo Guidi will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around SKA Khabarovsk the goodbyes have quietly begun.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at SKA Khabarovsk this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad10 Sep 2029
Words at SKA Khabarovsk training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Kamran Aliev 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.
“I did not go to Krylya Sovetov to sit and watch. I want to come back to SKA Khabarovsk and fight for my place.” 1 appearances in 9 matches say the rest.
SKA Khabarovsk have made the call to Rubin. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
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.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around SKA Khabarovsk they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
“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 SKA Khabarovsk, and it is not being withdrawn.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Kamran Aliev was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
3 matches, no goals, and a training ground that has tried everything. It will end — droughts always do — but nobody at SKA Khabarovsk can tell you which week it ends in.
SKA Khabarovsk asked and Krasnodar said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Marked 6.28 on 11 actions at both ends of the pitch. Midfielders like this get described as unspectacular by people who have never tried to play against one.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at SKA Khabarovsk is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
The terraces6 Aug 2029
The stands have turned
“Enough is enough. We have watched this for months.” 7 of the 30 senior players walked off to it, and the message was not aimed at any one of them.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what SKA Khabarovsk can pretend not to have heard.
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. SKA Khabarovsk have done the hard part with Rotor, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
Add another name to the list: Nizhniy Novgorod have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Arseny Dmitriev. The answer from SKA Khabarovsk has not changed — yet.
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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at SKA Khabarovsk this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
In brief
SquadAlexandr Temirov is the division's best young player this month
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what SKA Khabarovsk can pretend not to have heard.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” SKA Khabarovsk have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at Rostov is saying, and nobody at SKA Khabarovsk is enjoying the guessing.
Add another name to the list: Tyumen have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Arseny Dmitriev. The answer from SKA Khabarovsk has not changed — yet.
Valentin Guillaume 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.
6 without a win is the sort of run that changes how a town talks about its club, and Shinnik were the afternoon it stopped. Nothing is fixed by one result and everything feels different by one.
Squad23 Jul 2029
Words at SKA Khabarovsk training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Kamran Aliev 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 last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. SKA Khabarovsk have lost him in all but the paperwork.
“I know what people will say. I know what I want, and it is here.” Spartak Moscow had the fee agreed and the shirt ready; they did not have the player, and now they will not.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Vladislav Zykh will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around SKA Khabarovsk the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, and a scan that said otherwise. He goes back to Krylya Sovetov; SKA Khabarovsk go back to the market; and both will insist there is no story here.
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. SKA Khabarovsk have done the hard part with Torpedo Moscow, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: Orenburg keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Kamran Aliev was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“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 SKA Khabarovsk, and it is not being withdrawn.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Vladislav Zykh will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around SKA Khabarovsk the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Kamran Aliev was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
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 Arshak Koryan is on it.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Valentin Guillaume signs something — a contract at SKA Khabarovsk or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
“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 SKA Khabarovsk, and it is not being withdrawn.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at SKA Khabarovsk this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Denis Pershin was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
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 Arseny Dmitriev is on it.
2 months left, and both sides know what that means: every week without a signature, the fee SKA Khabarovsk could ask drops and the wages Daniil Borisov can ask rise.
He asked about his future and was given an answer with minutes in it. The manager has now made a promise in a building where promises are remembered, and the clock on it has started.
“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 SKA Khabarovsk, and it is not being withdrawn.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around SKA Khabarovsk they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
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.
“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 SKA Khabarovsk will have to give him a reason to stay or an exit.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Arseny Dmitriev trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Nobody upstairs has said anything, which is the loudest thing they could do. Results buy silence in this game; the account at SKA Khabarovsk is running low.
The words a physio says slowly. 31 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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at SKA Khabarovsk this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Valentin Guillaume was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at SKA Khabarovsk, and both men came out saying it was fine.
In brief
The dugoutArseny Dmitriev has become a man the manager trusts
39 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. SKA Khabarovsk lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what SKA Khabarovsk can pretend not to have heard.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at SKA Khabarovsk is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Evgeny Tatarinov 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.
Squad16 Apr 2029
Words at SKA Khabarovsk training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Valentin Guillaume 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.
“I watch every SKA Khabarovsk game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Volgar runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at SKA Khabarovsk, and both men came out saying it was fine.
The words a physio says slowly. 46 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.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” SKA Khabarovsk have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Denis Pershin was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Denis Pershin trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Nobody at SKA Khabarovsk will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Valentin Guillaume signs something — a contract at SKA Khabarovsk or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
“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 SKA Khabarovsk will have to give him a reason to stay or an exit.
The words a physio says slowly. 67 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.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what SKA Khabarovsk can pretend not to have heard.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around SKA Khabarovsk they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
5 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Denis Pershin was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Player ratings19 Mar 2029
Kamran Aliev was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.02. There are performances a supporter describes to somebody who was not there and cannot quite convey; this was one, and the number does not help either.
“I am grateful for the games, but I did not become a footballer to be somebody else's spare part.” He wants to be at SKA Khabarovsk, and 8 appearances in 37 say he has earned the hearing.
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.
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. SKA Khabarovsk have lost him in all but the paperwork.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what SKA Khabarovsk can pretend not to have heard.
Everything was agreed until it was not, and Evgeny Tatarinov reports back to SKA Khabarovsk with a summer to forget. Neither club is saying who walked away from the table.
The deadline has passed and the squad is the squad. 2 arrived, 1 left, and everything else printed about this club last month was a rumour that stayed one.
Valentin Guillaume 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.
Nobody makes a documentary about a hamstring and everybody in the game fears one. SKA Khabarovsk will be careful with the return date, because the second one is always worse than the first.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Dinamo Makhachkala have kept their man, and SKA Khabarovsk go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
38 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. SKA Khabarovsk lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
“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 SKA Khabarovsk, and it is not being withdrawn.
The run now stands at 4, and the questions being asked around SKA Khabarovsk are no longer polite ones.
Squad25 Dec 2028
Words at SKA Khabarovsk training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Kamran Aliev 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.
Evgeny Tatarinov 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.
Successful dribbles: 14. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
The dugout25 Dec 2028
The view from the dugout
“We did not lose. Some weeks that is all you get, and I would rather have the point than not.” Valentin Yelagin chose the glass-half-full version of 1‑1; the supporters left with the other one.
In brief
The dugoutSomebody else is better right now than Matvey Uzhgin
The dugoutDemjan Iljev knocks on the manager's door
“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 SKA Khabarovsk, and it is not being withdrawn.
Mikhail Schetinin 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Valentin Guillaume was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“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 dugout11 Dec 2028
The view from the dugout
“We did not lose. Some weeks that is all you get, and I would rather have the point than not.” Valentin Yelagin chose the glass-half-full version of 0‑0; the supporters left with the other one.
Somebody else has been better, the manager has said so with a team sheet, and there is no argument to be had. He will get the shirt back the only way it can be got back.