Marked for Evgeniy Radkov
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Match24 Oct 2033
0‑5. There is a level at which football is played every single week by clubs that have been doing it for fifty years, and an evening like this is what it feels like to arrive there without having done it.
Match31 Oct 2033
59 points on the board and a place in the leading group. Nobody at the ground is saying the word out loud yet.
Market31 Oct 2033
Andrés Prieto 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 Lokomotiv Gomel can pretend not to have heard.
Squad31 Oct 2033
Words at Lokomotiv Gomel training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ismaël Sylla 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.
Squad31 Oct 2033
Bence Kovács 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.
Squad31 Oct 2033
Defences have started doubling up on António Machado
8 goals and a season average of 7.39 will do that. The space he used to find has gone; he keeps scoring anyway, which is the mark of the real thing.
The dugout31 Oct 2033
“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.
Boardroom31 Oct 2033
Nobody left the Lokomotiv Gomel 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 dugout31 Oct 2033
“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 0‑5, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Triumph
Match27 Jul 2033
BATE are out and Lokomotiv Gomel go through, 1‑0 the final word. The bracket opens up a little, and everyone allows themselves a look at it.
Squad1 Aug 2033
The match ball belongs to Zsolt Magyar, whose 3 goals turned a difficult afternoon into a procession.
Market1 Aug 2033
“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 The request is on a desk at Lokomotiv Gomel, and it is not being withdrawn.
The dugout1 Aug 2033
“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.
Player ratings1 Aug 2033
Successful dribbles: 26. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Transfer targets1 Aug 2033
No thanks: Vadzim Rios rejects the move
Lokomotiv Gomel had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at Vitebsk, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.
Match30 Jul 2033
Another one collected away from home
5 on the bounce on the road for Lokomotiv Gomel. The coaches leave early, arrive at unlovely grounds in the dark, and keep coming home with three points.
Squad1 Aug 2033
Ismaël Sylla 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 Lokomotiv Gomel this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad1 Aug 2033
A muscle injury sidelines Evgeniy Radkov for 16 days
Nobody makes a documentary about a hamstring and everybody in the game fears one. Lokomotiv Gomel will be careful with the return date, because the second one is always worse than the first.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match2 Jul 2033
1‑4 against Dinamo Minsk, and no complaints that would survive the replay. The manager spoke about character afterwards; the terraces used shorter words.
Match2 Jul 2033
Every run ends on an afternoon somebody had marked down as routine. This one went 8 matches, which is long enough that a town had stopped counting, and short enough that it will remember exactly who stopped it.
Squad4 Jul 2033
“The easiest signature of my career.” Evgeniy Radkov and Lokomotiv Gomel agree another 4 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Squad4 Jul 2033
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Ismaël Sylla was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Transfer targets4 Jul 2033
Lokomotiv Gomel asked and Slavia Mozyr said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Squad4 Jul 2033
Bence Kovács 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 Lokomotiv Gomel this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Boardroom4 Jul 2033
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.
Boardroom4 Jul 2033
Wages eat 123% of everything Lokomotiv Gomel 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 dugout4 Jul 2033
The manager makes an example of Evgeniy Radkov
“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
Upbeat
Squad27 Jun 2033
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Lokomotiv Gomel this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad27 Jun 2033
Ismaël Sylla 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 targets27 Jun 2033
Lokomotiv Gomel asked and Volna Pinsk said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
The dugout27 Jun 2033
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Andre Castro, and the manager let it.
Looking ahead27 Jun 2033
Dinamo Minsk next, and the two sides the division is watching meet each other. Whoever wins will be told nothing is decided in the same breath as being congratulated.
Market27 Jun 2033
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at Lokomotiv Gomel has been clear about where Oleksandr Shcherbakov stands, which is more than many ever get.
The dugout27 Jun 2033
Ismaël Sylla has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at Lokomotiv Gomel 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.
Looking ahead27 Jun 2033
Every squad has one of these fixtures for somebody every season. This one is Evgeniy Radkov’s: the club that knew him first, the supporters who will decide in the first minute whether to applaud, and Lokomotiv Gomel needing him to play as if none of it matters.
The dugout27 Jun 2033
“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
Steady
Squad9 May 2033
Ismaël Sylla 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 Lokomotiv Gomel this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad9 May 2033
Words at Lokomotiv Gomel training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Sergio Fernandes 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.
Boardroom9 May 2033
Wages eat 168% of everything Lokomotiv Gomel 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.
Boardroom9 May 2033
The manager may talk to whoever he likes and may pay nobody. A squad survives a window like this by borrowing, by promoting, and by hoping the injuries land somewhere else.
Player ratings9 May 2033
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.42, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
Squad9 May 2033
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.
The dugout9 May 2033
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Bence Kovács, and the manager let it.
The dugout9 May 2033
The manager’s verdict
“I am not going to get carried away and I will not let them either. It was a good day. There will be harder ones.” Interim Coach kept it short after the 1‑0 win, which is what managers do when they are happy.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad14 Mar 2033
Cristiano Palamarchuk 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.
Boardroom14 Mar 2033
The approach has gone in and the answer belongs to AS Etat Major. Business like this is done quietly and reported loudly, and rarely in that order.
Boardroom14 Mar 2033
13 days with the chair empty, a list of names that grows and shrinks by the day, and not one signature on anything. Every week that passes takes the best candidates off it.
Squad14 Mar 2033
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Ismaël Sylla was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Transfer targets14 Mar 2033
Lokomotiv Gomel asked and Volna Pinsk said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Boardroom14 Mar 2033
Wages swallow 145% of the Lokomotiv Gomel 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.
Boardroom14 Mar 2033
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 dugout14 Mar 2033
The manager makes an example of Alessio Minei
“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.
Market14 Mar 2033
“There is a gap, and pretending there is not helps nobody.” Neither side has moved, and the calendar is working for exactly one of them.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Market19 Jan 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.
Boardroom19 Jan 2032
The manager may talk to whoever he likes and may pay nobody. A squad survives a window like this by borrowing, by promoting, and by hoping the injuries land somewhere else.
The dugout19 Jan 2032
Bence Kovács 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 Bence Kovács trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
The dugout19 Jan 2032
Maxim Makarov has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at Lokomotiv Gomel 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.
Market19 Jan 2032
Every press conference now starts and ends the same way: with Bence Kovács’s future. The manager has run out of new ways to say nothing.
Squad19 Jan 2032
The training reports on Andrei Kavalyou are not good
A bad Saturday is forgiven; a bad Tuesday is chosen. Standards have slipped and in a building where everybody watches everybody, it has been noticed.