Marked for Kiko Pimenta
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market1 Jan 2029
Kristjan Kask 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 Nomme Kalju can pretend not to have heard.
Market1 Jan 2029
Kristjan Kask has one foot out of the door
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Nomme Kalju they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Squad1 Jan 2029
There are footballers who have a good season and footballers a season is remembered for, and the second kind get their names read out in a hall in the summer. Nomme Kalju will be quietly delighted and privately nervous.
Squad1 Jan 2029
Nikita Ivanov 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.
Squad1 Jan 2029
Alex Boronilštšikov 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 dugout1 Jan 2029
“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 dugout1 Jan 2029
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 Godwin Chinemeren is on it.
Market1 Jan 2029
Every press conference now starts and ends the same way: with Nikita Ivanov’s future. The manager has run out of new ways to say nothing.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad2 Oct 2028
Henri Perk: 12 seasons and counting
228 appearances across 12 seasons in one shirt. Careers like that are not built on purpose any more, and Nomme Kalju know exactly what they have.
Market2 Oct 2028
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Nomme Kalju is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Market2 Oct 2028
Frank Puri 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 Nomme Kalju can pretend not to have heard.
Squad2 Oct 2028
Nikita Ivanov 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.
Squad2 Oct 2028
Words at Nomme Kalju training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Modou Tambedou 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 Oct 2028
Nomme Kalju release $579.7K for the manager
The board have put money on the table rather than an encouraging word. What happens to it now is somebody else's problem, and somebody else's job.
The dugout2 Oct 2028
Nikita Ivanov has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at Nomme Kalju 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 dugout2 Oct 2028
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Tiago Baptista, and the manager let it.
Market2 Oct 2028
No place for Kiko Pimenta in the plan
“The manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Kiko Pimenta has his answer from Nomme Kalju; what he does with it is the next window’s story.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Match25 Sep 2028
Nomme Kalju are in among the leaders
Position 3 and 39 points on the board. Nobody at the ground will say the word out loud yet, and everybody at the ground is thinking it.
Market25 Sep 2028
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Daniil Tarassenkov will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Nomme Kalju the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Squad25 Sep 2028
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Nomme Kalju this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The dugout25 Sep 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.
The dugout25 Sep 2028
Modou Tambedou 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.
Squad25 Sep 2028
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Daniil Sotšugov was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout25 Sep 2028
Henri Perk 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 Nomme Kalju, and both men came out saying it was fine.
The dugout25 Sep 2028
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 Tarassenkov is on it.
Market25 Sep 2028
The list is a quiet document with a loud meaning. Karl Igonen may talk to anybody who asks, and everybody at the club understands what that means.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market11 Sep 2028
Only the photograph left for Kristjan Kask
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Kristjan Kask will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Nomme Kalju the goodbyes have quietly begun.
The dugout11 Sep 2028
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Nomme Kalju have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Market11 Sep 2028
So close: Kiko Pimenta’s move dies late
The fee was agreed and the flight was looked at — and then the phone stopped ringing. Tulevik moved on, Kiko Pimenta reports back to Nomme Kalju, and everybody pretends Monday is just Monday.
Squad11 Sep 2028
Modou Tambedou 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.
Squad11 Sep 2028
Uku Kõrre 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 Sep 2028
The manager makes an example of Bogdan Vaštšuk
“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 dugout11 Sep 2028
Rommi Siht 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 dugout11 Sep 2028
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 Godwin Chinemeren is on it.
Market11 Sep 2028
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Nomme Kalju know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market4 Sep 2028
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Tulevik waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Nomme Kalju is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
Market4 Sep 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 Nomme Kalju, and it is not being withdrawn.
Market4 Sep 2028
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Nomme Kalju they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Boardroom4 Sep 2028
Deadline passes with 13 signed and 6 gone
That is the business done at Nomme Kalju until the window opens again. Whether it was enough will be answered on Saturdays rather than in a column, and the first Saturday is close.
Transfer targets4 Sep 2028
No thanks: Filip Taraba rejects the move
Nomme Kalju had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at Hajduk Split, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.
Squad4 Sep 2028
Modou Tambedou 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.
Transfer targets4 Sep 2028
Nomme Kalju asked and Dinamo Moscow said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Transfer targets4 Sep 2028
A deal that was a phone call from completion at lunchtime was dead by midnight. Nomme Kalju will try again when the window opens; Paide may not be selling by then.
Market4 Sep 2028
Both sides expect a conversation in the coming days. Nomme Kalju will name a price, and everything after that is arithmetic.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Market21 Aug 2028
“I listened, I thought about it, and I am staying. That is the whole story.” The clubs had agreed a fee. Tiago Baptista had not agreed to go, which turned out to be the part that mattered.
Market21 Aug 2028
The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.
Transfer targets21 Aug 2028
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Nomme Kalju have done the hard part with CSKA Moscow, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
Squad21 Aug 2028
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Nomme Kalju this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad21 Aug 2028
Words at Nomme Kalju training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Modou Tambedou 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.
Transfer targets21 Aug 2028
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.
Market21 Aug 2028
The Karl Igonen conversation is coming
Everyone has stopped pretending: Parnu will make the call about Karl Igonen this week. Nomme Kalju have a number in mind, and the number is not shy.
The dugout21 Aug 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.
The dugout21 Aug 2028
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.