Marked for Maxime Galere
From our football correspondent
Steady
The dugout15 Nov 2027
“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.
Market15 Nov 2027
Maxim Kiselev 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 Akron 2 can pretend not to have heard.
Squad15 Nov 2027
A row about effort at Akron 2
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Khetag Khosonov was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Squad15 Nov 2027
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Akron 2 this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad15 Nov 2027
“I did not sign to watch. Nobody does.” The oldest complaint in the game, and Akron 2 will have to answer it with minutes or with a move.
The dugout15 Nov 2027
“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.
Squad15 Nov 2027
A year in and the language has not come, the city has not opened up, and he eats alone more often than anybody at Akron 2 would like to admit. It is showing on Saturdays.
The dugout15 Nov 2027
Nazar Makeev 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 Akron 2, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Market15 Nov 2027
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Maxim Kholodov signs something — a contract at Akron 2 or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market13 Sep 2027
“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.
Squad13 Sep 2027
At 21 he is doing things this season that he could not do last season, and doing them every week. Form comes and goes; this has stayed long enough to be called something else.
Match11 Sep 2027
7 unbeaten for Akron 2
Hard to beat is not the same as winning, but 7 matches without defeat is a foundation Akron 2 did not have in the autumn.
Squad13 Sep 2027
Yomar Rocha 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 Akron 2 this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad13 Sep 2027
A row about effort at Akron 2
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Khetag Khosonov was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Match11 Sep 2027
Three points for Akron 2, 1‑0 the final word against Ural 2 in a contest settled by the finer margins.
Player ratings13 Sep 2027
A performance of 8.21 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
Squad13 Sep 2027
Fedor Fenin has had enough of the bench
“I did not come here to warm up in front of people.” He is out of contract eventually, he is old enough to count the weeks, and Akron 2 will have to give him a reason to stay or an exit.
The dugout13 Sep 2027
“We earned that. I asked them for a reaction and I got one, and now I want the same again on Saturday.” Fedor Chizhov on a 1‑0 afternoon that pleased him more than he was prepared to show.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market12 Jul 2027
The fee is $680.0K, the contract is signed, and the argument about whether he is worth it can begin. Textilschik drove a hard bargain; time will say who won it.
Squad12 Jul 2027
Words exchanged at Akron
Stefan Lončar 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.
Market12 Jul 2027
Akron get their man
The chase for Mikhail Rybalko ended with $75.0K changing hands and Veles out of reasons to say no. The supporters will judge the fee the only way that matters: on Saturdays.
Squad12 Jul 2027
At 23 he is doing things this season that he could not do last season, and doing them every week. Form comes and goes; this has stayed long enough to be called something else.
Squad12 Jul 2027
Words at Akron training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Gilson Benchimol 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 targets12 Jul 2027
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.
Squad12 Jul 2027
7 new faces, and Akron are still learning each other
A squad rebuilt inside one window pays for it in a currency nobody budgets for. The football is not worse than the sum of the players; it is worse than the sum of the players who have played together before.
The dugout12 Jul 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Kevin Arévalo, and the manager let it.
The dugout12 Jul 2027
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
Uneasy
Squad10 May 2027
A knee injury of the worst kind for Maxim Kondakov
27 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Akron lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Squad10 May 2027
Tempers go at Akron
Roberto Fernández 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 dugout10 May 2027
“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.
Squad10 May 2027
A row about effort at Akron
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Paulo Vitor was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout10 May 2027
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.
Market10 May 2027
Every press conference now starts and ends the same way: with Slobodan Tedić’s future. The manager has run out of new ways to say nothing.
The dugout10 May 2027
Semyon Zelenov 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 dugout10 May 2027
He asked about his future and was given an answer with minutes in it. The manager has now made a promise in a building where promises are remembered, and the clock on it has started.
Loan watch10 May 2027
30 appearances at Spartak Kostroma and the goals keep coming. Akron are watching this more closely than the borrowing club would like.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad3 May 2027
Maxim Kondakov damages knee ligaments — 34 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 34 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.
Squad3 May 2027
Words exchanged at Akron
Roberto Fernández 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.
Squad3 May 2027
A row about effort at Akron
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Paulo Vitor was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout3 May 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Paulo Vitor, and the manager let it.
Squad3 May 2027
Maxime Galere slips down the pecking order
The demotion a club never announces and a dressing room always notices. Maxime Galere is further from the side than he was, and the reason will not be given until he asks.
The dugout3 May 2027
Nobody at Akron 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.
Market3 May 2027
The name of Kristijan Bistrović keeps appearing in other people's back pages. Akron say nothing, which says plenty.
Loan watch3 May 2027
“For the first time in years I am picked because somebody wants me in the team.” Spartak Kostroma suits him; the awkward conversation belongs to Akron, and the summer will force it.
The dugout3 May 2027
A conversation in the manager’s office, and a commitment that came out of it. Promises like that are cheap to make and expensive to break, and Yegor Baburin has written the date down.