Marked for Simone Abbondanza
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad24 Nov 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 KDV Tomsk this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad24 Nov 2031
Words at KDV Tomsk training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Hugo Basto 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.
Boardroom24 Nov 2031
Wages swallow 161% of the KDV Tomsk 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.
The dugout24 Nov 2031
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Simone Abbondanza, and the manager let it.
The dugout24 Nov 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 Daniil Kondrakov is on it.
Market24 Nov 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.
Squad24 Nov 2031
Somebody watched every match in the division at the weekend and decided he was the best thing in any of them. A small honour, and most careers end without one.
Market24 Nov 2031
Every press conference now starts and ends the same way: with Daniil Kondrakov’s future. The manager has run out of new ways to say nothing.
The dugout24 Nov 2031
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Sergey Yemelkin trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad17 Nov 2031
A fracture rules Sergey Yemelkin out for 15 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason KDV Tomsk will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Match17 Nov 2031
KDV Tomsk finish in position 4
34 points, and the season has a number on it. Whatever it felt like from the inside, this is what it will look like in a book.
Player ratings17 Nov 2031
A brace, and Daniil Kondrakov takes the afternoon — 9.31
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Daniil Kondrakov provided it, and the 9.31 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Squad17 Nov 2031
A season average of 7.46 with 14 goals behind it. Opponents have started planning around him, which is the sincerest compliment football pays.
Match15 Nov 2031
Nobody wants to play KDV Tomsk right now
3 wins in a row changes how opponents warm up: quieter, more glances across. Runs end, everybody knows that — but nobody in this dressing room is planning for it.
Squad17 Nov 2031
Hugo Basto in a row with a teammate
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at KDV Tomsk this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad17 Nov 2031
Words at KDV Tomsk training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Simone Abbondanza 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.
Match15 Nov 2031
It finished 2‑0, and it was Daniil Kondrakov’s afternoon: on the scoresheet when it mattered, and the reason the points belong to KDV Tomsk.
Boardroom17 Nov 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.
From our football correspondent
Triumph
Squad20 Oct 2031
43 days out for Sergey Yemelkin after a fracture
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. KDV Tomsk will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Player ratings20 Oct 2031
Daniil Kondrakov, 33, rolls back the years — 8.39
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 8.39 at 33, and nobody on the pitch was better.
Squad20 Oct 2031
Dennis Oalo 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.
Squad20 Oct 2031
A season average of 7.27 with 13 goals behind it. Opponents have started planning around him, which is the sincerest compliment football pays.
Match18 Oct 2031
A 3‑1 win over Rubin 2, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
Squad20 Oct 2031
Hugo Basto 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.
Match18 Oct 2031
KDV Tomsk keep winning on the road
3 away wins in a row. Travelling support is the truest kind, and this season it is being repaid in the only currency that counts.
Player ratings20 Oct 2031
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.54, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
Boardroom20 Oct 2031
KDV Tomsk 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.
From our football correspondent
Triumph
Squad6 Oct 2031
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 57 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Player ratings6 Oct 2031
A brace, and Daniil Kondrakov takes the afternoon — 9.09
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Daniil Kondrakov provided it, and the 9.09 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Match4 Oct 2031
KDV Tomsk make it 4 in a row
Momentum is a hard thing to buy and an easy thing to lose, and right now KDV Tomsk have 4 straight wins of it.
Squad6 Oct 2031
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Nikita Simdyankin commits to KDV Tomsk for another 3 years.
Squad6 Oct 2031
Words exchanged at KDV Tomsk
Hugo Basto 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.
Match4 Oct 2031
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Daniil Kondrakov. 3‑1 against Krylya Sovetov 2, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Boardroom6 Oct 2031
The owner puts $59.6K into KDV Tomsk
This is money that keeps the lights on rather than money that buys a centre-half, and the difference is the whole story. A club funded by its owner rather than by its football has exactly one conversation left ahead of it.
Squad6 Oct 2031
Simone Abbondanza 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 terraces6 Oct 2031
He is 19 and the ground already sings his name, which is a thing that happens to local boys and almost never to signings. Everything from here is measured against an affection he did nothing to earn except be from here.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad29 Sep 2031
A fracture rules Sergey Yemelkin out for 64 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason KDV Tomsk will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Match29 Sep 2031
KDV Tomsk are in among the leaders
Position 3 and 19 points on the board. Nobody at the ground will say the word out loud yet, and everybody at the ground is thinking it.
Player ratings29 Sep 2031
At 33 every good afternoon gets called a throwback, and this one was: 8.23, and nobody on the pitch better.
Match27 Sep 2031
KDV Tomsk cannot stop winning
3 wins on the spin now, and the question has changed from whether the run ends to who ends it. Confidence like this cannot be bought; it has to be earned exactly this way.
Squad29 Sep 2031
Dennis Oalo in a row with a teammate
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at KDV Tomsk this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Boardroom29 Sep 2031
Nothing happens for months and then he simply arrives, at no cost, having signed a pre-contract while still turning out for somebody else. It is the least dramatic way to sign a footballer and frequently the shrewdest.
Squad29 Sep 2031
Words at KDV Tomsk training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Hugo Basto 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.
Match27 Sep 2031
It finished 2‑0, and it was Daniil Kondrakov’s afternoon: on the scoresheet when it mattered, and the reason the points belong to KDV Tomsk.
Boardroom29 Sep 2031
130% of the income goes out in wages at KDV Tomsk
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.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Player ratings8 Sep 2031
Successful dribbles: 37. 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.
Squad8 Sep 2031
85 days out for Sergey Yemelkin after a fracture
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. KDV Tomsk will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Squad8 Sep 2031
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 8 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Market8 Sep 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.
Player ratings8 Sep 2031
Daniil Kondrakov, 33, rolls back the years — 8.18
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 8.18 at 33, and nobody on the pitch was better.
Boardroom8 Sep 2031
Window shuts: 18 in, 16 out at KDV Tomsk
The deadline has passed and the squad is the squad. 18 arrived, 16 left, and everything else printed about this club last month was a rumour that stayed one.
Squad8 Sep 2031
Dennis Oalo and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Boardroom8 Sep 2031
$59.3K of the owner's money at KDV Tomsk
The shortfall was covered from upstairs again. Supporters are entitled to be relieved and entitled to ask what happens the month it is not, and both feelings usually arrive together.
Squad8 Sep 2031
Hugo Basto 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.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Player ratings18 Aug 2031
Two goals and a mark of 8.25 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Player ratings18 Aug 2031
At 33 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 8.19 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
Transfer targets18 Aug 2031
The deal with Torpedo Miass is done in every sense but the one that puts him on the pitch. Nothing goes wrong at this stage, except on the occasions when it does.
Player ratings18 Aug 2031
Successful dribbles: 22. 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.
Squad18 Aug 2031
Nani Ferreira 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.
Match16 Aug 2031
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Nikita Simdyankin. 3‑2 against Rubin 2, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Squad18 Aug 2031
Hugo Basto 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.
Transfer targets18 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.
The dugout18 Aug 2031
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Sergey Yemelkin, and the manager let it.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market4 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 KDV Tomsk can pretend not to have heard.
Player ratings4 Aug 2031
Anton Lobanov, 19, plays like he has been here for years — 7.73
A mark of 7.73 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 19-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
Boardroom4 Aug 2031
The KDV Tomsk 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.
Transfer targets4 Aug 2031
The deal with Tyumen is done in every sense but the one that puts him on the pitch. Nothing goes wrong at this stage, except on the occasions when it does.
Squad4 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 KDV Tomsk this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Boardroom4 Aug 2031
$49.0K from the owner keeps KDV Tomsk afloat
The gap in the accounts was filled from upstairs again. Supporters are entitled to be grateful and to ask what happens the month it is not, and both feelings arrive together.
Squad4 Aug 2031
A row about effort at KDV Tomsk
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Hugo Basto was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Transfer targets4 Aug 2031
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Orenburg have kept their man, and KDV Tomsk go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad24 Jun 2030
121 days out for Vinícius Lopes after a fracture
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Santa Clara will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Market24 Jun 2030
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Dinamo Minsk waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Santa Clara is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
Transfer targets24 Jun 2030
No deal for Manuel Costa at that price
Santa Clara offered $2.6M; Chaves said it was not close. The manager will be told the money is still there for the right player, which is what managers are told.
The dugout24 Jun 2030
“I was told what my role would be, and I signed on that basis. It has not happened.” A grievance with a date attached is the hardest kind to settle.
Market24 Jun 2030
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
Transfer targets24 Jun 2030
Everything agreed with Sporting CP, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
Transfer targets24 Jun 2030
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Farense have kept their man, and Santa Clara go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Squad24 Jun 2030
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Mario Pirovano is 22, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Squad24 Jun 2030
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and MT was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
The dugout22 Apr 2030
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Santa Clara have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Market22 Apr 2030
Adilson Bahia has one foot out of the door
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Santa Clara they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Squad22 Apr 2030
Álvaro Valles 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.
Squad22 Apr 2030
MT 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 dugout22 Apr 2030
The manager makes an example of Dilan Neves
“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.
The dugout22 Apr 2030
Carraça 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.
Market22 Apr 2030
MT linked with a move away
The name of MT keeps appearing in other people's back pages. Santa Clara say nothing, which says plenty.
Market22 Apr 2030
“They were honest with me, and I would rather know.” Hugo Travassos has been informed he is not in the manager's thinking at Santa Clara.
Squad22 Apr 2030
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.