Marked for German Zhernosek
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad30 Nov 2026
A knee injury of the worst kind for Sergey Melnik
69 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Ostrovets lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Squad30 Nov 2026
Gleb Krivtsov 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.
Boardroom30 Nov 2026
165% of the income goes out in wages at Ostrovets
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.
The dugout30 Nov 2026
The manager makes an example of Rodion Medvedev
“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.
Squad30 Nov 2026
Artem Gonzhurov 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 dugout30 Nov 2026
Kirill Goncharik is still being punished for one mistake
Nobody will confirm it and the team sheets confirm it every week. One error has bought him a spell as second choice that is already longer than the error deserved.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad9 Nov 2026
Sergey Melnik damages knee ligaments — 90 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 90 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.
Squad9 Nov 2026
Words exchanged at Ostrovets
Dmitriy Gradoboev 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 dugout9 Nov 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to German Zhernosek, and the manager let it.
Market9 Nov 2026
“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.
Squad9 Nov 2026
Artem Gonzhurov 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.
Market9 Nov 2026
Every press conference now starts and ends the same way: with Rodion Medvedev’s future. The manager has run out of new ways to say nothing.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad2 Nov 2026
Sergey Melnik damages knee ligaments — 97 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 97 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.
Squad2 Nov 2026
Words at Ostrovets training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Gleb Krivtsov 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.
Boardroom2 Nov 2026
165% of the income goes out in wages at Ostrovets
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.
Squad2 Nov 2026
Ivan Mokshin and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Market2 Nov 2026
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Ostrovets, another week without a signature from Evgeniy Gremza.
The dugout2 Nov 2026
Nobody will confirm this and nothing else explains the last month of selections. A costly error buys a player a period of being second choice that is always longer than the error was.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market28 Sep 2026
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Ostrovets they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Squad28 Sep 2026
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Ostrovets this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Transfer targets28 Sep 2026
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Isloch have kept their man, and Ostrovets go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Squad28 Sep 2026
German Zhernosek 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 dugout28 Sep 2026
Dmitriy Gradoboev is still being punished for one mistake
Nobody will confirm it and the team sheets confirm it every week. One error has bought him a spell as second choice that is already longer than the error deserved.
The dugout28 Sep 2026
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Ostrovets, and both men came out saying it was fine.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad21 Sep 2026
Egor Mikhey and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Transfer targets21 Sep 2026
Ostrovets asked and Smorgon said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Squad21 Sep 2026
Words at Ostrovets training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Dmitriy Gradoboev 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 dugout21 Sep 2026
“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.
Squad21 Sep 2026
“I have done everything asked of me in training and it has not changed a thing on a Saturday.” The most familiar complaint in football, and one Ostrovets will have to answer with minutes or with a transfer.
Squad21 Sep 2026
He is doing things on a Saturday afternoon that nobody around him can answer, which is flattering for about one season and a problem after that. Ostrovets will not keep him by pretending otherwise.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market7 Sep 2026
“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 Ostrovets, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad7 Sep 2026
Dmitriy Gradoboev 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.
Transfer targets7 Sep 2026
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.
Squad7 Sep 2026
German Zhernosek 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 dugout7 Sep 2026
The manager makes an example of Egor Shashko
“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.
Squad7 Sep 2026
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.
Market7 Sep 2026
“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.
Squad7 Sep 2026
A place in the month's best eleven for Alexandr Fedosenko
Four or five weekends of consistency, judged against everybody in the division doing his job. Alexandr Fedosenko has come out of that comparison in the side, and Ostrovets have had the benefit of every one of those afternoons.
The dugout7 Sep 2026
Nobody will confirm this and nothing else explains the last month of selections. A costly error buys a player a period of being second choice that is always longer than the error was.