Marked for Seb Auton
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market18 Jun 2029
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Spartak Tambov they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Market18 Jun 2029
“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 The request is on a desk at Spartak Tambov, and it is not being withdrawn.
The dugout18 Jun 2029
This is not rotation. Alexandr Shmarov has not been in the manager's plans for some time, and nobody at Spartak Tambov is pretending otherwise.
Squad18 Jun 2029
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Pavel Khodeev was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Squad18 Jun 2029
Spartak Ajazi 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 dugout18 Jun 2029
Maxim Sergeev 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.
Squad18 Jun 2029
He is not being dropped. There is simply nowhere in the formation Spartak Tambov are playing to put a man who does what he does, which is a harder thing to be told than any team sheet.
The dugout18 Jun 2029
No hiding place for Seb Auton
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Seb Auton, and the manager let it.
Boardroom18 Jun 2029
A month in which every rumour is possible and most of them are nonsense. The manager has a list, the board has a number, and neither is telling the other the whole of it.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad5 Mar 2029
“The easiest signature of my career.” Maxim Levin and Spartak Tambov agree another 4 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Squad5 Mar 2029
Maxim Sergeev 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.
Boardroom5 Mar 2029
$209.2K from the owner keeps Spartak Tambov 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.
Squad5 Mar 2029
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Alexey Shulgin was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Boardroom5 Mar 2029
The borrowing at Spartak Tambov reaches $3.8M
Past the limit the bank set, which is the line between a club being financed and a club being in trouble. $3.8M is now the number every conversation about this club will start with.
The dugout5 Mar 2029
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.
The dugout5 Mar 2029
Andrey Bondar' 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 Bondar' trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
The dugout5 Mar 2029
No hiding place for Seb Auton
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Seb Auton, and the manager let it.
The dugout5 Mar 2029
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.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
The dugout15 Jan 2029
This is not rotation. Artem Mironov has not been in the manager's plans for some time, and nobody at Spartak Tambov is pretending otherwise.
Squad15 Jan 2029
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Maxim Sergeev was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Squad15 Jan 2029
Alexandr Mironov 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.
Boardroom15 Jan 2029
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.
Squad15 Jan 2029
200 times in these colours, in all weathers and under four or five different managers. That kind of service is quietly disappearing from the game.
Player ratings15 Jan 2029
Ninety minutes of Pavel Khodeev at his very best
Marked 8.31. Players have careers without a single afternoon like this in them, and he has just had one in front of everybody at Spartak Tambov.
The dugout15 Jan 2029
“The players deserve the credit. My job was easy today.” It was not, and everybody in the room knew it; after 1‑0, Valery Gribov could afford to be generous.
The dugout15 Jan 2029
Andrey Bondar' 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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market11 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 Spartak Tambov, and it is not being withdrawn.
Boardroom11 Sep 2028
Window shuts: 11 in, 12 out at Spartak Tambov
The deadline has passed and the squad is the squad. 11 arrived, 12 left, and everything else printed about this club last month was a rumour that stayed one.
The dugout11 Sep 2028
This is not rotation. Alexandr Shmarov has not been in the manager's plans for some time, and nobody at Spartak Tambov is pretending otherwise.
Squad11 Sep 2028
Pavel Khodeev and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Transfer targets11 Sep 2028
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Orenburg have kept their man, and Spartak Tambov go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Squad11 Sep 2028
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Maxim Sergeev was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout11 Sep 2028
Roman Petrov gets it from the manager
“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.
Market11 Sep 2028
He is 18, and the scouting reports agree on the only line that matters: the ceiling. Signings like this are lottery tickets written by professionals.
Squad11 Sep 2028
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Seb Auton commits to Spartak Tambov for another 3 years.