Marked for Dmitriy Drobyshevskiy
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market17 Sep 2029
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Khimik can pretend not to have heard.
Market17 Sep 2029
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Khimik they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Squad17 Sep 2029
Ilja Gruznov 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 Khimik this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Match15 Sep 2029
A bad afternoon for Khimik against Ural 2
0‑1 to Ural 2, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Player ratings17 Sep 2029
Successful dribbles: 16. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad17 Sep 2029
A defender's mistake gets tidied up by somebody else; a goalkeeper's ends up in the net. He knew before the ball crossed the line, and so did everybody in the ground.
Squad17 Sep 2029
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Alexandr Goryachkin, and the manager let it.
Squad17 Sep 2029
Andrey Savinov 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 Khimik, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Player ratings17 Sep 2029
5.48 on the card. Some afternoons a footballer looks like a man who has only just been introduced to the game, and this was one of them.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Steady
The terraces3 Sep 2029
The ground has had enough
“We travel everywhere and we get this.” 7 of the 25 senior players heard it walking off, and the ones who did not hear it were not playing.
Squad3 Sep 2029
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Khimik have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Market3 Sep 2029
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Khimik is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Squad3 Sep 2029
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Khimik this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Match1 Sep 2029
Beaten 2‑3, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Boardroom3 Sep 2029
The owner puts $162.6K into Khimik
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.
Player ratings3 Sep 2029
A performance of 8.63 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
Squad3 Sep 2029
The manager makes an example of Andrey Savinov
“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.
Player ratings3 Sep 2029
A performance of 8.54 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
In brief
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Boardroom
Wages eat 128% of everything Khimik earn
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Boardroom
Khimik sign a deal worth $50.4K a year
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Market
The Ilja Gruznov question follows Khimik around
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market6 Aug 2029
The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.
Squad6 Aug 2029
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 7 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Market6 Aug 2029
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Khimik is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Squad6 Aug 2029
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Khimik this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Boardroom6 Aug 2029
The owner puts $169.5K into Khimik
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.
Player ratings6 Aug 2029
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.65, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
Squad6 Aug 2029
The manager makes an example of Andrey Savinov
“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.
Squad6 Aug 2029
“The easiest signature of my career.” Artem Shirokov and Khimik agree another 3 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Player ratings6 Aug 2029
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.11, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Market9 Jul 2029
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Khimik can pretend not to have heard.
Squad9 Jul 2029
Nikita Nikiforov: that is not what I was promised
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Khimik have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Market9 Jul 2029
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Dmitriy Drobyshevskiy will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Khimik the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Squad9 Jul 2029
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Vyacheslav Zinkov and Khimik agree another 2 years.
Squad9 Jul 2029
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Khimik this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Boardroom9 Jul 2029
Wages eat 116% of everything Khimik 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.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Market11 Jun 2029
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Khimik can pretend not to have heard.
Market11 Jun 2029
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Khimik they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Squad11 Jun 2029
Ilja Gruznov 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 Khimik this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Boardroom11 Jun 2029
115% of the income goes out in wages at Khimik
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.
Squad11 Jun 2029
Andrey Savinov 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 Khimik, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Squad11 Jun 2029
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Ilja Shakhmatov, and the manager let it.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Boardroom5 Mar 2029
Pressure builds in the Khimik boardroom
The directors have stopped offering the manager public warmth. In football that is usually the stage before the short statement.
Market5 Mar 2029
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Khimik can pretend not to have heard.
Squad5 Mar 2029
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Ilja Gruznov commits to Khimik for another 3 years.
Squad5 Mar 2029
Tempers go at Khimik
Ilja Gruznov 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.
Boardroom5 Mar 2029
$129.6K of the owner's money at Khimik
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.
Squad5 Mar 2029
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Alexandr Goryachkin, and the manager let it.
Squad5 Mar 2029
Andrey Savinov 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 Andrey Savinov trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Market5 Mar 2029
Every press conference now starts and ends the same way: with Gleb Yakushevich’s future. The manager has run out of new ways to say nothing.
Market5 Mar 2029
Khimik have made Artem Shirokov available for transfer. A career at this club is over in all but paperwork.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market29 Jan 2029
Khimik say no — this time
The offer from Torpedo Vladimir for Sergey Konakov was heard out and sent back the same day. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loudly the door closes.
Market29 Jan 2029
“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.
Squad29 Jan 2029
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Khimik this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match4 Oct 2028
Khimik out of the cup
Akron ended it 0‑1. The season narrows to the league now, and everyone in the ground knew it before the final whistle.
Squad9 Oct 2028
Ilja Gruznov 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 Khimik this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad9 Oct 2028
34 days, the scan says, and scans are kinder than reality. The fixtures in that window have just become somebody else’s job.
Player ratings9 Oct 2028
Successful dribbles: 17. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad9 Oct 2028
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Daniil Zuev, and the manager let it.
Squad9 Oct 2028
“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.
Player ratings9 Oct 2028
Shots: 8, not one of them in. A centre forward is paid for one thing, and on this evidence he has forgotten which thing it is.
Match7 Oct 2028
Ninety minutes, two goalkeepers with clean gloves, and not one finish worth keeping. Rubin 2 will be the happier side with the point.
Player ratings9 Oct 2028
Defensive actions: 12. He was first to everything and second to nothing, and the goalkeeper had an easy day because of it.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Match6 May 2028
12 unbeaten for Vitebsk
Hard to beat is not the same as winning, but 12 matches without defeat is a foundation Vitebsk did not have in the autumn.
Market8 May 2028
“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 Vitebsk, and it is not being withdrawn.
Player ratings8 May 2028
Successful dribbles: 24. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Market8 May 2028
Maxim Sapriko has one foot out of the door
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Vitebsk they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Squad8 May 2028
14 days, the scan says, and scans are kinder than reality. The fixtures in that window have just become somebody else’s job.
Squad8 May 2028
“The easiest signature of my career.” Mikhail Bashilov and Vitebsk agree another 2 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Squad8 May 2028
Marko Veličković 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.
Squad8 May 2028
“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 ratings8 May 2028
Marked 7.96 on an afternoon he ran from the first whistle to the last. Whatever else went wrong, Vitebsk had the best player on the pitch.