Marked for Nikolay Sobolev
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Player ratings9 Aug 2032
No sign of nerves from Joseph Hubert at 20 — 7.88
The hardest thing about being 20 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Joseph Hubert did not need any: 7.88, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
The dugout9 Aug 2032
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Squad9 Aug 2032
He is 20, he is averaging 7.01, and older professionals have started passing to him in the difficult minutes. That last part is the real scouting report.
Player ratings9 Aug 2032
Elton Jesus beats them one at a time
Successful dribbles: 21. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
Match7 Aug 2032
Volna Pinsk left with the points after a 0‑1 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
The dugout9 Aug 2032
“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 0‑1, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
The dugout9 Aug 2032
It is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. Slonim told Joseph Hubert something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
The dugout9 Aug 2032
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.
Player ratings9 Aug 2032
Shots: 11, not one of them in. A centre forward is paid for one thing, and on this evidence he has forgotten which thing it is.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad19 Jul 2032
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Slonim will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
The terraces19 Jul 2032
Anger at Slonim spills outside the ground
It has stopped being a mood in the stands and started being something organised. Boards can ignore a bad atmosphere for a long time; they cannot ignore this stage of it for very long at all.
Market19 Jul 2032
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Slonim can pretend not to have heard.
Player ratings19 Jul 2032
Joseph Hubert, 20, steals the show — 8.25
Marked 8.25 at 20, in a side that makes no allowances for age. He did not need any, and he looked the least nervous man on the pitch.
Transfer targets19 Jul 2032
Everything agreed with Dinamo Brest, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
The dugout19 Jul 2032
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The terraces19 Jul 2032
He is 20 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.
Match17 Jul 2032
Slonim get the job done against Lida
A 1‑0 win over Lida, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
Squad19 Jul 2032
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Slonim this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Transfer targets28 Jun 2032
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.
The dugout28 Jun 2032
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Squad28 Jun 2032
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Slonim can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
Boardroom28 Jun 2032
The Slonim debt reaches $6.8M
Football clubs borrow; that is not the story. Borrowing more than the facility allows is, because from here it is the owner's money or somebody else's decision, and neither of those belongs to the board.
Market28 Jun 2032
A stepping stone, not a home, for Samuel Venutti
He is doing his job and he is not settling. Slonim were supposed to be a step up in his own reckoning, and his own reckoning has been adjusted since he arrived.
The dugout28 Jun 2032
Amaury Charlier has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at Slonim 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 dugout28 Jun 2032
Dmitriy Sai 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 Dmitriy Sai trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
The dugout28 Jun 2032
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.
Market28 Jun 2032
3 months remain and no agreement is close. Every week without a signature costs Slonim money.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match29 May 2032
3‑0, and Patrik Volarević took the headlines on an afternoon when everything Slonim tried came off. Days like this are retold all winter.
Player ratings31 May 2032
Two goals and a mark of 8.99 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Player ratings31 May 2032
No sign of nerves from Joseph Hubert at 20 — 7.60
The hardest thing about being 20 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Joseph Hubert did not need any: 7.60, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
The dugout31 May 2032
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The dugout31 May 2032
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Nikolay Sobolev, and the manager let it.
Player ratings31 May 2032
A performance of 8.31 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
Player ratings31 May 2032
Successful dribbles: 18. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad31 May 2032
100 games in this shirt, through managers and relegations and everything else. Service like it is disappearing from the game and the crowd knows what it is watching.
Boardroom31 May 2032
The borrowing at Slonim reaches $6.6M
Past the limit the bank set, which is the line between a club being financed and a club being in trouble. $6.6M is now the number every conversation about this club will start with.
In brief
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Squad
Words exchanged at Slonim
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Squad
Words at Slonim training over how hard people work
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The dugout
Interim Coach has his say
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
The terraces24 May 2032
Supporters organise against the Slonim 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.
Player ratings24 May 2032
Successful dribbles: 27. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
The dugout24 May 2032
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Squad24 May 2032
Tempers go at Slonim
Dmitriy Vechorko 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 May 2032
A row about effort at Slonim
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Joseph Hubert was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Squad24 May 2032
47 days, the medical staff say, and medical staff are optimists by profession. The team sheet will look wrong without him.
The dugout24 May 2032
Somebody else is better right now than Dmitriy Sai
The team sheet says it in public every week until it changes. The only version of being dropped a footballer cannot argue with, and the one he takes hardest.
The dugout24 May 2032
Amaury Charlier has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at Slonim 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 dugout24 May 2032
“It is not the end of the world and it is not good enough. Both of those are true.” The manager, after a 0‑0 draw, said the honest thing and then went to say it again inside.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Player ratings10 May 2032
Successful dribbles: 26. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
The dugout10 May 2032
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Boardroom10 May 2032
Wages eat 197% of everything Slonim earn
There is a figure at which a wage bill stops being ambitious and becomes the reason nothing else is possible, and this club has reached it. Nothing is left over for a transfer, a stand or a rainy afternoon.
Match8 May 2032
A 1‑0 win over Volna Pinsk, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
Boardroom10 May 2032
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.
Player ratings10 May 2032
A performance of 8.04 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
Squad10 May 2032
Patrik Volarević 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 dugout10 May 2032
“That is what I want every week. Not the result, the way they went about it.” The manager, after 1‑0, already talking about the next one.
The dugout10 May 2032
There is no complaint available here and everybody involved knows it, which does not make the walk to the bench any shorter. Form is the only currency in football that cannot be borrowed against.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Market19 Apr 2032
“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.
Player ratings19 Apr 2032
Successful dribbles: 24. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
Squad19 Apr 2032
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Slonim this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The dugout19 Apr 2032
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Match17 Apr 2032
Lida take the points off Slonim
Beaten 0‑1, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
The dugout19 Apr 2032
The manager’s verdict
“That is on me. I pick the team and I picked wrong.” Managers say that when they mean it and when they need to be seen to, and after 0‑1 Interim Coach left the room before anybody could ask which.
The dugout19 Apr 2032
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.
Squad19 Apr 2032
Words at Slonim training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Patrik Volarević 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.
Looking ahead19 Apr 2032
Osipovichi next, and one man in the Slonim dressing room knows their training ground better than his own. The reception will tell him what they thought of him.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Player ratings12 Apr 2032
Elton Jesus beats them one at a time
Successful dribbles: 36. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
The dugout12 Apr 2032
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Squad12 Apr 2032
A row about effort at Slonim
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Joseph Hubert was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Boardroom12 Apr 2032
166% of the income goes out in wages at Slonim
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.
Match10 Apr 2032
Bumprom Gomel made Slonim work for it, but the scoreboard read 1‑0 at the end and the table does not ask how.
Boardroom12 Apr 2032
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 Apr 2032
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Joseph Hubert, and the manager let it.
Player ratings12 Apr 2032
Ninety minutes of Patrik Volarević at his very best
Marked 8.13. Players have careers without a single afternoon like this in them, and he has just had one in front of everybody at Slonim.
Squad12 Apr 2032
A falling-out at Slonim
Artur Chuyko and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match20 Mar 2032
Nowhere to hide for Slonim
0‑3 against Smorgon, and no complaints that would survive the replay. The manager spoke about character afterwards; the terraces used shorter words.
The dugout22 Mar 2032
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Squad22 Mar 2032
A row about effort at Slonim
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Joseph Hubert was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Player ratings22 Mar 2032
Successful dribbles: 19. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
The dugout22 Mar 2032
Dmitriy Sai 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.
Boardroom22 Mar 2032
Nobody left the Slonim 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.
The dugout22 Mar 2032
“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 0‑3, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
The dugout22 Mar 2032
Amaury Charlier has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at Slonim 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.
Squad22 Mar 2032
A first team debut at 20 for Joseph Hubert
Off the academy pitches and into a senior shirt, at 20. The parents in the stand will keep the programme, and so will he.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Player ratings15 Mar 2032
Successful dribbles: 28. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad15 Mar 2032
Words exchanged at Slonim
Dmitriy Vechorko 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 dugout15 Mar 2032
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Squad15 Mar 2032
Words at Slonim training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Joseph Hubert 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.
Boardroom15 Mar 2032
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 dugout15 Mar 2032
The manager makes an example of Joseph Hubert
“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.
Boardroom15 Mar 2032
Wages eat 123% of everything Slonim earn
There is a figure at which a wage bill stops being ambitious and becomes the reason nothing else is possible, and this club has reached it. Nothing is left over for a transfer, a stand or a rainy afternoon.
Match13 Mar 2032
Slonim rescue it on 90 minutes
Behind, and beaten by any honest reading, until minute 90. Molodechno had the points in their pocket and a corner of the ground still believed, which is generally when it happens.
Squad15 Mar 2032
Joseph Hubert has had enough of the bench
“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 Slonim will have to give him a reason to stay or an exit.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
The terraces1 Mar 2032
Anger at Slonim spills outside the ground
It has stopped being a mood in the stands and started being something organised. Boards can ignore a bad atmosphere for a long time; they cannot ignore this stage of it for very long at all.
Boardroom1 Mar 2032
Slonim close the window on a squad of their own making
6 in and 5 out, and no more changes for months. The manager has what he has, the supporters have their opinion of it, and the table will have the last word.
The dugout1 Mar 2032
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Squad1 Mar 2032
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Slonim this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad1 Mar 2032
Words at Slonim training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Patrik Volarević 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.
Squad1 Mar 2032
Somebody has moved past him. It is not a dropping and it is worse than one, because a dropping is about a Saturday and this is about where he stands.
The dugout1 Mar 2032
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Amaury Charlier trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
The dugout1 Mar 2032
The manager makes an example of Yauhen Laptev
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.
Looking ahead1 Mar 2032
Every squad has one of these fixtures for somebody every season. This one is Kirill Krutorozhkin’s: the club that knew him first, the supporters who will decide in the first minute whether to applaud, and Slonim needing him to play as if none of it matters.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Boardroom23 Feb 2032
Pressure builds in the Slonim boardroom
The directors have stopped offering the manager public warmth. In football that is usually the stage before the short statement.
Market23 Feb 2032
“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 Slonim, and it is not being withdrawn.
The dugout23 Feb 2032
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Squad23 Feb 2032
“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 Slonim know it.
Transfer targets23 Feb 2032
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.
Squad23 Feb 2032
Tempers go at Slonim
Artur Chuyko 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 dugout23 Feb 2032
Amaury Charlier has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at Slonim 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 dugout23 Feb 2032
Patrik Jankto 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 Slonim, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Market23 Feb 2032
The name of Nikolay Sobolev keeps appearing in other people's back pages. Slonim say nothing, which says plenty.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
The terraces2 Feb 2032
Supporters organise against the Slonim 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.
The dugout2 Feb 2032
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Squad2 Feb 2032
“The easiest signature of my career.” Patrik Volarević and Slonim agree another 4 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Transfer targets2 Feb 2032
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Minsk have kept their man, and Slonim go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Transfer targets2 Feb 2032
Minsk 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.
Market2 Feb 2032
“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.
Market2 Feb 2032
“He is at an age where he has to be playing at the top level. We will listen to anybody.” The representative of Patrik Volarević is not being subtle.
Market2 Feb 2032
Contract settled, hands shaken, no fee changing hands. Hleb Arlouski leaves Slonim the quiet way, and the wage bill breathes a little easier.
Market2 Feb 2032
Contract settled, hands shaken, no fee changing hands. Vadzim Pavlov leaves Slonim the quiet way, and the wage bill breathes a little easier.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Boardroom26 Jan 2032
Pressure builds in the Slonim boardroom
The directors have stopped offering the manager public warmth. In football that is usually the stage before the short statement.
Market26 Jan 2032
“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 Slonim, and it is not being withdrawn.
The dugout26 Jan 2032
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Squad26 Jan 2032
Tempers go at Slonim
Dmitriy Vechorko 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.
Squad26 Jan 2032
Patrik Volarević 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 dugout26 Jan 2032
The manager makes an example of Maxim Sapriko
“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.
Transfer targets26 Jan 2032
Minsk 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.
The dugout26 Jan 2032
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 Amaury Charlier is on it.
The dugout26 Jan 2032
Patrik Volarević 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
Squad29 Dec 2031
Mikita Yablonski damages knee ligaments — 23 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 23 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.
Boardroom29 Dec 2031
The scrutiny sharpens at Slonim
Nobody upstairs has said anything, which is the loudest thing they could do. Results buy silence in this game; the account at Slonim is running low.
The dugout29 Dec 2031
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Squad29 Dec 2031
Tempers go at Slonim
Dmitriy Vechorko was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Squad29 Dec 2031
A row about effort at Slonim
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Patrik Volarević was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout29 Dec 2031
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 Amaury Charlier is on it.
The dugout29 Dec 2031
Patrik Jankto 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 Slonim, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Market29 Dec 2031
The name of Nikolay Sobolev keeps appearing in other people's back pages. Slonim say nothing, which says plenty.
Market29 Dec 2031
The list is a quiet document with a loud meaning. Patrik Jankto may talk to anybody who asks, and everybody at the club understands what that means.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad22 Dec 2031
“Some mornings you wake up and you are still a long way from everything you know.” It is not the football and it never was; Slonim are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
The dugout22 Dec 2031
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Boardroom22 Dec 2031
Slonim 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.
Boardroom22 Dec 2031
Wages eat 114% of everything Slonim earn
There is a figure at which a wage bill stops being ambitious and becomes the reason nothing else is possible, and this club has reached it. Nothing is left over for a transfer, a stand or a rainy afternoon.
The dugout22 Dec 2031
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.
Market22 Dec 2031
2 months left and the two sides are nowhere near each other. Every week this drags on takes money off what Slonim could get for him.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Boardroom1 Dec 2031
Pressure builds in the Slonim boardroom
The directors have stopped offering the manager public warmth. In football that is usually the stage before the short statement.
Squad1 Dec 2031
Artur Chuyko breaks a bone — 15 days out
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 15 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Squad1 Dec 2031
An individual honour is a strange thing in a team game, and the best of them are never argued with. He has had the sort of year that ends with his name being read out, and Slonim have had the benefit of it.
The dugout1 Dec 2031
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Squad1 Dec 2031
Tempers go at Slonim
Dmitriy Vechorko 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 dugout1 Dec 2031
“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.
Squad1 Dec 2031
Roger Caron is no longer first choice
The manager has re-ordered his thinking and Roger Caron 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.
Market1 Dec 2031
“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 dugout1 Dec 2031
A promise honoured for Dmitriy Sai
It is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. Slonim told Dmitriy Sai something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Boardroom3 Nov 2031
The scrutiny sharpens at Slonim
Nobody upstairs has said anything, which is the loudest thing they could do. Results buy silence in this game; the account at Slonim is running low.
Squad3 Nov 2031
54 days out for Raman Klimovich after a fracture
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Slonim will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
The dugout3 Nov 2031
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Squad3 Nov 2031
“The easiest signature of my career.” Roger Caron and Slonim agree another 5 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Squad3 Nov 2031
A row about effort at Slonim
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Patrik Volarević was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Market3 Nov 2031
“They were honest with me, and I would rather know.” Maxim Sapriko has been informed he is not in the manager's thinking at Slonim.
The dugout3 Nov 2031
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Stepan Gomonov, and the manager let it.
The dugout3 Nov 2031
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.
Market3 Nov 2031
The name of Nikolay Sobolev keeps appearing in other people's back pages. Slonim say nothing, which says plenty.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad13 Oct 2031
Patrik Volarević 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.
Squad13 Oct 2031
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Mikita Yablonski and Slonim agree another 3 years.
Squad13 Oct 2031
Words exchanged at Slonim
Dzmitry Noyok 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 dugout13 Oct 2031
Patrik Volarević 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 dugout13 Oct 2031
“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.
Market13 Oct 2031
Slonim have made Stanislav Bulakhov available for transfer. A career at this club is over in all but paperwork.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Boardroom6 Oct 2031
Pressure builds in the Slonim boardroom
The directors have stopped offering the manager public warmth. In football that is usually the stage before the short statement.
Boardroom6 Oct 2031
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.
The dugout6 Oct 2031
news_b_frozen_out_of_the_side
Squad6 Oct 2031
Tempers go at Slonim
Dmitriy Vechorko 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.
Squad6 Oct 2031
Patrik Volarević 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 dugout6 Oct 2031
Amaury Charlier has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at Slonim 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 dugout6 Oct 2031
Every squad is half players the manager chose and half players he inherited. Stanislav Lomako was chosen, the man who chose him has gone, and he starts again from nothing under the next one.
The dugout6 Oct 2031
Roger Caron 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 Roger Caron trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Market6 Oct 2031
Roger Caron runs his contract down
2 months remain and no agreement is close. Every week without a signature costs Slonim money.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market29 Sep 2031
“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 Slonim, and it is not being withdrawn.
The dugout29 Sep 2031
news_b_frozen_out_of_the_side
Boardroom29 Sep 2031
Wages swallow 140% of the Slonim income
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.
Boardroom29 Sep 2031
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.
Squad29 Sep 2031
Words exchanged at Slonim
Artur Chuyko 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 dugout29 Sep 2031
Patrik Jankto 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 Patrik Jankto trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad15 Sep 2031
Words at Slonim training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Patrik Volarević 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 dugout15 Sep 2031
The manager makes an example of Maxim Sapriko
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.
Squad15 Sep 2031
“The easiest signature of my career.” Stanislau Malevich and Slonim agree another 3 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
The dugout15 Sep 2031
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Amaury Charlier trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Squad15 Sep 2031
A year in and the city has not opened up, the language has not come, and lunch is eaten alone more often than anybody at Slonim would admit. It shows on Saturdays.
Market15 Sep 2031
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Slonim, another week without a signature from Vitaliy Klimovich.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Boardroom8 Sep 2031
Window shuts: 16 in, 15 out at Slonim
The deadline has passed and the squad is the squad. 16 arrived, 15 left, and everything else printed about this club last month was a rumour that stayed one.
Squad8 Sep 2031
“The easiest signature of my career.” Dmitriy Sai and Slonim agree another 2 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Squad8 Sep 2031
A row about effort at Slonim
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Maxim Sapriko was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Market8 Sep 2031
“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.
Squad8 Sep 2031
Roger Caron named in the team of the month
A month is long enough that nobody gets in by accident. Roger Caron is in the division's best eleven for it, which is a quieter compliment than an award and a more reliable one.
The dugout8 Sep 2031
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 dugout8 Sep 2031
“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 dugout8 Sep 2031
Stepan Gomonov 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 Stepan Gomonov trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Squad8 Sep 2031
A year in and the city has not opened up, the language has not come, and lunch is eaten alone more often than anybody at Slonim would admit. It shows on Saturdays.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match16 Aug 2031
No end in sight to Slonim's wait for a win
9 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Slonim has to find a result from somewhere.
Market18 Aug 2031
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Slonim can pretend not to have heard.
Squad18 Aug 2031
“Some mornings you wake up and you are still a long way from everything you know.” It is not the football and it never was; Slonim are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
Squad18 Aug 2031
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Slonim this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Match16 Aug 2031
A bad afternoon for Slonim against Niva
1‑3 to Niva, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Squad18 Aug 2031
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Egor Zaytsev commits to Slonim for another 2 years.
Squad18 Aug 2031
Maxim Sapriko 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 dugout18 Aug 2031
“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 ratings18 Aug 2031
Successful dribbles: 16. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
In brief
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The dugout
The manager’s verdict
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The dugout
Roger Caron knocks on the manager’s door
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Player ratings
Patrik Jankto could not find anything
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market11 Aug 2031
“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 targets11 Aug 2031
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.
Squad11 Aug 2031
Tempers go at Slonim
Artur Chuyko 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 dugout11 Aug 2031
Amaury Charlier has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at Slonim 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 dugout11 Aug 2031
Dmitriy Sai 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 Slonim, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Looking ahead11 Aug 2031
Niva next, and one man in the Slonim dressing room knows their training ground better than his own. The reception will tell him what they thought of him.
Market11 Aug 2031
The name of Nikolay Sobolev keeps appearing in other people's back pages. Slonim say nothing, which says plenty.
Market11 Aug 2031
Still no signature from Roger Caron
4 months left and the two sides are nowhere near each other. Every week this drags on takes money off what Slonim could get for him.
Market11 Aug 2031
Contract settled, hands shaken, no fee changing hands. Alexandr Alexandrovich leaves Slonim the quiet way, and the wage bill breathes a little easier.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Market21 Jul 2031
“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.
Match19 Jul 2031
The wait goes on for Slonim
6 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.
Market21 Jul 2031
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Slonim they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
The dugout21 Jul 2031
news_b_frozen_out_of_the_side
Squad21 Jul 2031
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Slonim this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Match19 Jul 2031
Anton Filipenko scored, and precious little else went right: 1‑2 to Neman, and a quiet walk to the dressing room.
The dugout21 Jul 2031
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Dmitriy Sai, and the manager let it.
The dugout21 Jul 2031
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Interim Coach after 1‑2, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
Transfer targets21 Jul 2031
A loan move for Ivan Makas is in the works
Slonim have made the call to Dinamo Brest. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad23 Jun 2031
30 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Slonim lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Market23 Jun 2031
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Slonim can pretend not to have heard.
Market23 Jun 2031
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Kirill Sidorenko will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Slonim the goodbyes have quietly begun.
The dugout23 Jun 2031
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Transfer targets23 Jun 2031
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Minsk have kept their man, and Slonim go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Squad23 Jun 2031
Kirill Krutorozhkin 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.
Squad23 Jun 2031
The medical room confirms 29 days on the sidelines for Vitaliy Hleb, and a plan built around him now has to be rebuilt.
Match21 Jun 2031
Slonim rescue it on 92 minutes
Behind, and beaten by any honest reading, until minute 92. Volna Pinsk had the points in their pocket and a corner of the ground still believed, which is generally when it happens.
Market23 Jun 2031
“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
Squad16 Jun 2031
37 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Slonim lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
The dugout16 Jun 2031
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Slonim may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Squad16 Jun 2031
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 7 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
Market16 Jun 2031
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Slonim can pretend not to have heard.
Squad16 Jun 2031
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Slonim can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
Squad16 Jun 2031
Words exchanged at Slonim
Dmitriy Vechorko 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 dugout16 Jun 2031
“I could talk about decisions and I could talk about luck. I will not. We lost.” The manager, 1‑2, and a press conference that lasted four minutes.
The dugout16 Jun 2031
Dmitriy Sai dropped after a run of poor form
The one version of being left out a player cannot argue with, and the one he takes worst. Somebody else has been better and the team sheet says so, in public, every week until it changes.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market12 May 2031
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Slonim can pretend not to have heard.
Squad12 May 2031
Tempers go at Slonim
Dmitriy Vechorko 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.
Squad12 May 2031
Kirill Krutorozhkin 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.
Boardroom12 May 2031
Wages eat 163% of everything Slonim earn
There is a figure at which a wage bill stops being ambitious and becomes the reason nothing else is possible, and this club has reached it. Nothing is left over for a transfer, a stand or a rainy afternoon.
Boardroom12 May 2031
Slonim 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 dugout12 May 2031
Yauhen Laptev 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.
Market12 May 2031
“The manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Patrik Jankto has his answer from Slonim; what he does with it is the next window’s story.
The dugout12 May 2031
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.
Looking ahead12 May 2031
Every squad has one of these fixtures for somebody every season. This one is Artur Chuyko’s: the club that knew him first, the supporters who will decide in the first minute whether to applaud, and Slonim needing him to play as if none of it matters.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Market28 Apr 2031
“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.
Squad28 Apr 2031
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 6 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
Market28 Apr 2031
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Kirill Sidorenko will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Slonim the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Squad28 Apr 2031
A falling-out at Slonim
Dmitriy Vechorko and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
The dugout28 Apr 2031
news_b_frozen_out_of_the_side
Squad28 Apr 2031
Words at Slonim training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Patrik Volarević 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.
Match26 Apr 2031
1‑2 to Osipovichi, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
The dugout28 Apr 2031
The manager’s verdict
“That is on me. I pick the team and I picked wrong.” Managers say that when they mean it and when they need to be seen to, and after 1‑2 Interim Coach left the room before anybody could ask which.
The dugout28 Apr 2031
There is no complaint available here and everybody involved knows it, which does not make the walk to the bench any shorter. Form is the only currency in football that cannot be borrowed against.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match2 Apr 2031
Slonim out of the cup
Gomel ended it 1‑2. The season narrows to the league now, and everyone in the ground knew it before the final whistle.
Squad7 Apr 2031
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.
Market7 Apr 2031
“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.
Squad7 Apr 2031
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Slonim this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Boardroom7 Apr 2031
$119.1K from the owner keeps Slonim 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.
Player ratings7 Apr 2031
Successful dribbles: 20. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
The dugout7 Apr 2031
news_b_frozen_out_of_the_side
Match5 Apr 2031
Ostrovets left with the points after a 0‑1 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Squad7 Apr 2031
100 times in these colours, in all weathers and under four or five different managers. That kind of service is quietly disappearing from the game.
In brief
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Boardroom
The borrowing at Slonim reaches $8.2M
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The dugout
The view from the dugout
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Squad
A row about effort at Slonim
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Market31 Mar 2031
“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.
The dugout31 Mar 2031
news_b_frozen_out_of_the_side
Market31 Mar 2031
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Kirill Sidorenko will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Slonim the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Squad31 Mar 2031
Kirill Krutorozhkin 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.
Match29 Mar 2031
Beaten 0‑1, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
The dugout31 Mar 2031
Dmitriy Sai 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.
Market31 Mar 2031
“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.
The dugout31 Mar 2031
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 0‑1 defeat, delivered by Interim Coach to a room that had heard them before.
Squad31 Mar 2031
Tempers go at Slonim
Dzmitry Noyok was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Player ratings24 Mar 2031
Two goals and a mark of 8.81 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Squad24 Mar 2031
Words exchanged at Slonim
Dmitriy Vechorko 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.
Squad24 Mar 2031
Words at Slonim training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Kirill Krutorozhkin 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.
Squad24 Mar 2031
It is the quietest kind of dressing-room problem and the one that lasts longest, because nobody has done anything anyone can be disciplined for. 3 players sit outside all 4 groups entirely, which is the detail that tends to matter.
The terraces24 Mar 2031
At 23 he is being sung about by people twice his age, which is an affection a signing has to earn over years and a local kid gets for turning up. It is also the hardest thing in football to live up to.
Match22 Mar 2031
A 2‑0 win over Volna Pinsk, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
The dugout24 Mar 2031
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Anton Filipenko, and the manager let it.
The dugout24 Mar 2031
“That is what I want every week. Not the result, the way they went about it.” The manager, after 2‑0, already talking about the next one.
The dugout24 Mar 2031
Dmitriy Sai dropped after a run of poor form
The one version of being left out a player cannot argue with, and the one he takes worst. Somebody else has been better and the team sheet says so, in public, every week until it changes.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Boardroom17 Mar 2031
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.
Squad17 Mar 2031
Tempers go at Slonim
Artur Chuyko 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.
Boardroom17 Mar 2031
110% of the income goes out in wages at Slonim
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.
Squad17 Mar 2031
Words at Slonim training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Matteo Nicastro 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 dugout17 Mar 2031
Somebody else is better right now than Dmitriy Sai
The team sheet says it in public every week until it changes. The only version of being dropped a footballer cannot argue with, and the one he takes hardest.
Squad17 Mar 2031
“I did not sign to watch. Nobody does.” The oldest complaint in the game, and Slonim will have to answer it with minutes or with a move.
The dugout17 Mar 2031
Amaury Charlier has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at Slonim 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 dugout17 Mar 2031
“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 dugout17 Mar 2031
The manager’s verdict
“I am frustrated, honestly. We did enough to win and we did not win.” Interim Coach was not hiding it after 0‑0, and nobody in the Slonim dressing room was either.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Player ratings3 Mar 2031
Successful dribbles: 28. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
The dugout3 Mar 2031
news_b_frozen_out_of_the_side
Squad3 Mar 2031
Dmitriy Vechorko makes the wrong kind of headline
Dealt with internally, which is the phrase a club uses when it would rather nobody asked twice. He will be fined, he will apologise, and he will play on Saturday.
Boardroom3 Mar 2031
The Slonim board want somebody sold
The instruction has come from upstairs rather than from the dugout, which is the version of this conversation no manager enjoys. Somebody in that squad is now available whether the man who picks the team thinks so or not.
Market3 Mar 2031
“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.
Market3 Mar 2031
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Kirill Sidorenko will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Slonim the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Boardroom3 Mar 2031
The rules permit it and it stings anyway. Kirill Sidorenko has agreed terms with Slutsk for the summer, and until then he pulls on this shirt as a player who has already chosen his next one.
Boardroom3 Mar 2031
5 academy graduates step up at Slonim
Senior shirt numbers handed to boys the coaches have known since they were twelve. Most will not make it and all of them have already done the hard part.
Match1 Mar 2031
It finished 3‑1, and it was Nikita Chuyko’s afternoon: on the scoresheet when it mattered, and the reason the points belong to Slonim.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Market17 Feb 2031
“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.
Market17 Feb 2031
The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.
Squad17 Feb 2031
Tempers go at Slonim
Dmitriy Vechorko was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Squad17 Feb 2031
Words at Slonim training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Kirill Krutorozhkin 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.
Boardroom17 Feb 2031
Slonim 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.
Boardroom17 Feb 2031
Wages eat 125% of everything Slonim earn
There is a figure at which a wage bill stops being ambitious and becomes the reason nothing else is possible, and this club has reached it. Nothing is left over for a transfer, a stand or a rainy afternoon.
The dugout17 Feb 2031
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 dugout17 Feb 2031
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Anton Filipenko trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
The dugout17 Feb 2031
The manager makes an example of Maksim Kendysh
“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
Crisis
Boardroom6 Jan 2031
Interim Coach has until the next board meeting
What was said behind closed doors has now been said in front of a microphone. Everybody at Slonim can do the arithmetic, including the man it is aimed at.
The dugout6 Jan 2031
news_b_frozen_out_of_the_side
Market6 Jan 2031
“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 Slonim, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad6 Jan 2031
A falling-out at Slonim
Dmitriy Vechorko and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad6 Jan 2031
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Egor Zaytsev commits to Slonim for another 4 years.
Boardroom6 Jan 2031
$114.1K from the owner keeps Slonim 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.
Squad6 Jan 2031
Words at Slonim training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Kirill Krutorozhkin 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.
Boardroom6 Jan 2031
The borrowing at Slonim reaches $7.8M
Past the limit the bank set, which is the line between a club being financed and a club being in trouble. $7.8M is now the number every conversation about this club will start with.
The dugout6 Jan 2031
A change in the dugout is not one story, it is twenty-five of them. This is Alexandr Alexandrovich's: he was somebody's player, and now he has to be somebody else's, starting from nothing.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
The dugout9 Dec 2030
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Market9 Dec 2030
Andrei Rios hands in a written request
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Slonim can pretend not to have heard.
Squad9 Dec 2030
“The easiest signature of my career.” Dmitriy Sai and Slonim agree another 2 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Squad9 Dec 2030
A falling-out at Slonim
Dmitriy Vechorko and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad9 Dec 2030
A row about effort at Slonim
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Kirill Krutorozhkin was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Boardroom9 Dec 2030
The Slonim debt reaches $7.7M
Football clubs borrow; that is not the story. Borrowing more than the facility allows is, because from here it is the owner's money or somebody else's decision, and neither of those belongs to the board.
Market9 Dec 2030
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Slonim, another week without a signature from Stepan Gomonov.
Squad9 Dec 2030
A season on the outside for Roger Caron
He trains hard, says the right things and goes home to an empty flat. Nobody at Slonim has done anything wrong, which is exactly what makes it so difficult to fix.
The dugout9 Dec 2030
Patrik Jankto 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 Patrik Jankto trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
The dugout11 Nov 2030
news_b_frozen_out_of_the_side
Market11 Nov 2030
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at Slonim, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad11 Nov 2030
A falling-out at Slonim
Dmitriy Vechorko and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad11 Nov 2030
A row about effort at Slonim
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Patrik Jankto was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Boardroom11 Nov 2030
Slonim are $7.7M in the red
The borrowing is past what the bank agreed, which is the line where a debt stops being how football is financed and starts being a problem. Every phone-in in this town will quote the figure for the next five years.
The dugout11 Nov 2030
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Stanislav Bulakhov, and the manager let it.
Market11 Nov 2030
Every press conference now starts and ends the same way: with Nikolay Sobolev’s future. The manager has run out of new ways to say nothing.
Market11 Nov 2030
3 months left and the two sides are nowhere near each other. Every week this drags on takes money off what Slonim could get for him.
Squad11 Nov 2030
Nikolay Sobolev is not doing himself any favours
A manager forgives a bad Saturday far more readily than a bad Tuesday, because one of them he can explain and the other one he chose. The reports this week have not been good.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
The dugout14 Oct 2030
news_b_frozen_out_of_the_side
Squad14 Oct 2030
Besart Abdurahimi 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.
Boardroom14 Oct 2030
Slonim are $7.6M in the red
The borrowing is past what the bank agreed, which is the line where a debt stops being how football is financed and starts being a problem. Every phone-in in this town will quote the figure for the next five years.
Squad14 Oct 2030
“Some mornings you wake up and you are still a long way from everything you know.” It is not the football and it never was; Slonim are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
Squad14 Oct 2030
Words exchanged at Slonim
Artur Chuyko 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 dugout14 Oct 2030
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
Market14 Oct 2030
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Slonim, another week without a signature from Patrik Jankto.
The dugout14 Oct 2030
Patrik Jankto 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 Patrik Jankto trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Market14 Oct 2030
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Nikolay Sobolev signs something — a contract at Slonim or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.