It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Arsenal Dzerzhinsk this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad7 Apr 2036
Aleks Ristić 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 demotion a club never announces and a dressing room always notices. Ties Kramer is further from the side than he was, and the reason will not be given until he asks.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Arsenal Dzerzhinsk they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Arsenal Dzerzhinsk this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Nikita Sokolovskiy 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.
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.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Arsenal Dzerzhinsk, and both men came out saying it was fine.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Ties Kramer signs something — a contract at Arsenal Dzerzhinsk or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
He trains hard, says the right things and goes home to an empty flat. Nobody at Arsenal Dzerzhinsk has done anything wrong, which is exactly what makes it so difficult to fix.
The deal that would have taken Rustam Gurinovich to Naftan has collapsed at the last stage, and he reports back to Arsenal Dzerzhinsk with a summer to forget and a season still to play. Nobody is saying which side walked away.
Ties Kramer 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Nikita Sokolovskiy 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.
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at Arsenal Dzerzhinsk has been clear about where Ties Kramer stands, which is more than many ever get.
He is doing things every Saturday that nobody around him can answer. It is flattering for a season and a problem after that, and Arsenal Dzerzhinsk know which stage they are at.
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Arsenal Dzerzhinsk have lost him in all but the paperwork.
0 in and 5 out, and no more changes for months. The manager has what he has, the supporters have their opinion of it, and the table will have the last word.
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.
Nobody at Arsenal Dzerzhinsk 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.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Ivan Oreshkevich signs something — a contract at Arsenal Dzerzhinsk or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Niva waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Arsenal Dzerzhinsk is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
“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 Arsenal Dzerzhinsk, and it is not being withdrawn.
Kirill Parmonov 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.
Arsenal Dzerzhinsk asked and BATE said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
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.
Nobody at Arsenal Dzerzhinsk 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 words a physio says slowly. 19 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.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Arsenal Dzerzhinsk can pretend not to have heard.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Luka Bijol and Arsenal Dzerzhinsk agree another 4 years.
Ramazan Aliev 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 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.
Arsenal Dzerzhinsk asked and BATE said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
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.
40 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Arsenal Dzerzhinsk lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
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. Arsenal Dzerzhinsk will be quietly delighted and privately nervous.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Nikita Sokolovskiy and Arsenal Dzerzhinsk agree another 3 years.
47 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Arsenal Dzerzhinsk lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ties Kramer 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.
75 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Arsenal Dzerzhinsk lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ivan Oreshkevich 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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Arsenal Dzerzhinsk this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
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 Yegor Plotnikov is on it.
“The manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Domenico Ferraro has his answer from Arsenal Dzerzhinsk; what he does with it is the next window’s story.
96 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Arsenal Dzerzhinsk lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Ramazan Aliev 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ivan Oreshkevich 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.
8 signings in three months. Every one of them may be an upgrade and the team can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild that never appears in the transfer-window verdicts.
Nobody at Arsenal Dzerzhinsk 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.
103 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Arsenal Dzerzhinsk lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ivan Oreshkevich 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.
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.
The manager has re-ordered his thinking and Rustam Gurinovich has come out of it lower. He will be told it is temporary, and the players who have heard that before will avoid his eye.
“The manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Rustam Gurinovich has his answer from Arsenal Dzerzhinsk; what he does with it is the next window’s story.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Arsenal Dzerzhinsk this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ivan Oreshkevich 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.
7 signings in three months. Every one of them may be an upgrade and the team can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild that never appears in the transfer-window verdicts.
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.
“The manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Yauhen Noyok has his answer from Arsenal Dzerzhinsk; what he does with it is the next window’s story.
Still no offer on the table, and Matteo Rianna’s deal keeps shrinking. In boardroom language, silence this long stops being an oversight and starts being an answer.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Arsenal Dzerzhinsk will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Two goals and a mark of 8.27 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
0 on the scoresheet on his first appearance and a mark of 7.63 beside it. Most debuts are got through; this one was enjoyed, by him and by everybody watching it.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 6 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
300 appearances across 11 seasons in one shirt. Careers like that are not built on purpose any more, and Arsenal Dzerzhinsk know exactly what they have.
“The easiest signature of my career.” Daniil Kuznetsov and Arsenal Dzerzhinsk agree another 2 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Daniil Kuznetsov. 2‑1 against Slavia Mozyr, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Arsenal Dzerzhinsk will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Two goals and a mark of 8.47 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
There is a version of every career where the player ends up somewhere he chose rather than somewhere that chose him. Luka Bijol is living that version at Arsenal Dzerzhinsk, and it tends to show in the first month.
299 appearances across 11 seasons in one shirt. Nobody builds a career like that on purpose any more; it happens to a certain kind of footballer at a certain kind of club.
Player ratings1 Oct 2035
Up for the corner, and Ties Kramer delivers — 7.31
Centre-halves are allowed forward twice a season and are judged on what they do when they get there. Ties Kramer scored, was marked 7.31, and got back before anybody noticed he had gone.
Kirill Parmonov 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.
A point taken on 94 minutes is worth exactly one point and considerably more than that to a dressing room. This side does not stop, which is a reputation worth more than the result.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 30 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Daniil Chergeyko provided it, and the 8.75 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Arsenal Dzerzhinsk this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Daniil Chergeyko. 3‑1 against Molodechno, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ivan Oreshkevich 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 easiest signature of my career.” Melvin Costa and Arsenal Dzerzhinsk agree another 2 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 37 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 6 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
Footballers are asked about their boyhood club so often that nobody listens to the answer. Andrei Gordeichuk has just signed for Arsenal Dzerzhinsk, and for once the answer mattered.
He is doing his job and he is not settling. Arsenal Dzerzhinsk were supposed to be a step up in his own reckoning, and his own reckoning has been adjusted since he arrived.
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 Daniel Volskiy is on it.
“It is not the end of the world and it is not good enough. Both of those are true.” The manager, after a 0‑0 draw, said the honest thing and then went to say it again inside.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Arsenal Dzerzhinsk will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
10 in and 13 out, and no more changes for months. The manager has what he has, the supporters have their opinion of it, and the table will have the last word.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Arsenal Dzerzhinsk this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ties Kramer 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.
Arsenal Dzerzhinsk ran out of time with Minsk. The paperwork was open when the deadline passed, and a transfer that was almost done is now a transfer that never happened.
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 Ivan Oreshkevich is on it.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Arsenal Dzerzhinsk, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Arsenal Dzerzhinsk will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Bumprom Gomel waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Arsenal Dzerzhinsk is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Arsenal Dzerzhinsk have done the hard part with Dinamo Minsk, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
Kirill Parmonov 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ties Kramer 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.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Isloch waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Arsenal Dzerzhinsk is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
The deal with Minsk is done in every sense but the one that puts him on the pitch. Nothing goes wrong at this stage, except on the occasions when it does.
4 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
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.
Dinamo Minsk have been asked whether they would lend him. Loans are agreed quickly or not at all, and this one will be one or the other by the weekend.
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 Yegor Plotnikov is on it.
17 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Arsenal Dzerzhinsk lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Footballers are asked about their boyhood club so often that nobody listens to the answer. Ivan Tikhonov has just signed for Arsenal Dzerzhinsk, and for once the answer mattered.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Arsenal Dzerzhinsk they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Ivan Oreshkevich 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 words a physio says slowly. 23 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.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Arsenal Dzerzhinsk have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Arsenal Dzerzhinsk this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad21 May 2035
Ties Kramer 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.
“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 May 2035
The view from the dugout
“We will look at it, we will learn from it, and we go again.” The three sentences every manager keeps for a 1‑2 defeat, delivered by Interim Coach to a room that had heard them before.
“The manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Arseniy Prokopenko has his answer from Arsenal Dzerzhinsk; what he does with it is the next window’s story.
30 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Arsenal Dzerzhinsk lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Domenico Ferraro will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Arsenal Dzerzhinsk the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Ivan Oreshkevich 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.
Successful dribbles: 17. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
The dugout14 May 2035
The manager’s verdict
“I am not going to get carried away and I will not let them either. It was a good day. There will be harder ones.” Interim Coach kept it short after the 1‑0 win, which is what managers do when they are happy.
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.
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Arsenal Dzerzhinsk, another week without a signature from Nikolay Sobolev.
37 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Arsenal Dzerzhinsk lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Arsenal Dzerzhinsk they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Ivan Oreshkevich 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ties Kramer 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 demotion a club never announces and a dressing room always notices. Mattia Terranova is further from the side than he was, and the reason will not be given until he asks.
“The manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Alexandr Berulava has his answer from Arsenal Dzerzhinsk; what he does with it is the next window’s story.
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.
Every squad has one of these fixtures for somebody every season. This one is Giorgio Congdon’s: the club that knew him first, the supporters who will decide in the first minute whether to applaud, and Arsenal Dzerzhinsk needing him to play as if none of it matters.
The words a physio says slowly. 58 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.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 6 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Arsenal Dzerzhinsk they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Ivan Oreshkevich 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Ties Kramer was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Every run ends on an afternoon somebody had marked down as routine. This one went 4 matches, which is long enough that a town had stopped counting, and short enough that it will remember exactly who stopped it.
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Interim Coach after 0‑1, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
65 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Arsenal Dzerzhinsk lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Lokomotiv Gomel are out and Arsenal Dzerzhinsk go through, 4‑3 the final word. The bracket opens up a little, and everyone allows themselves a look at it.
Player ratings9 Apr 2035
A brace, and Ties Kramer takes the afternoon — 7.73
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Ties Kramer provided it, and the 7.73 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Arsenal Dzerzhinsk is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Ivan Oreshkevich 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.
Defending was optional and nobody took up the option. 7 goals between Arsenal Dzerzhinsk and Lokomotiv Gomel, and not one of the people who paid to be there will ask for the money back.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Ties Kramer. 3‑1 against Naftan, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
In brief
SquadTies Kramer falls out with a teammate over standards
72 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Arsenal Dzerzhinsk lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Four or five weekends of consistency, judged against everybody in the division doing his job. Kirill Parmonov has come out of that comparison in the side, and Arsenal Dzerzhinsk have had the benefit of every one of those afternoons.
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 Yegor Plotnikov is on it.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Arsenal Dzerzhinsk, and both men came out saying it was fine.
The words a physio says slowly. 86 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.
Slutsk will want this one forgotten quickly: 4‑1, every duel lost, and a long ride home. Arsenal Dzerzhinsk were ruthless in the way good sides are ruthless.
Player ratings19 Mar 2035
A brace, and Ramazan Aliev takes the afternoon — 8.90
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Ramazan Aliev provided it, and the 8.90 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
7.85, 1 on the scoresheet, and the specific comedy of a back-four player celebrating like somebody who does this every week. He does not, and that is exactly why the ground reacted the way it did.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Domenico Ferraro will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Arsenal Dzerzhinsk the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Ivan Oreshkevich 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 words a physio says slowly. 114 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.
“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 Arsenal Dzerzhinsk, and it is not being withdrawn.
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Arsenal Dzerzhinsk have lost him in all but the paperwork.
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Arsenal Dzerzhinsk have done the hard part with Dinamo Minsk, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Arsenal Dzerzhinsk this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
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.
129 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Arsenal Dzerzhinsk lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
The deal with Lida is done in every sense but the one that puts him on the pitch. Nothing goes wrong at this stage, except on the occasions when it does.
Ivan Oreshkevich 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Ties Kramer was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Nobody at Arsenal Dzerzhinsk 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.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Arsenal Dzerzhinsk, and both men came out saying it was fine.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Yegor Plotnikov signs something — a contract at Arsenal Dzerzhinsk or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
150 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Arsenal Dzerzhinsk lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Ivan Oreshkevich 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.
Squad22 Jan 2035
Ties Kramer 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.
Nobody at Arsenal Dzerzhinsk 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.
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.
Contract settled, hands shaken, no fee changing hands. Hleb Dragun leaves Arsenal Dzerzhinsk the quiet way, and the wage bill breathes a little easier.
Ivan Oreshkevich 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.
Squad15 Jan 2035
Ties Kramer 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.
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.
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Arsenal Dzerzhinsk, another week without a signature from Zétény Garai.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Arsenal Dzerzhinsk, and both men came out saying it was fine.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Yegor Plotnikov signs something — a contract at Arsenal Dzerzhinsk or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Arsenal Dzerzhinsk this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
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.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Arsenal Dzerzhinsk know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
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 Mattia Terranova has written the date down.
“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 Arsenal Dzerzhinsk will have to give him a reason to stay or an exit.
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 Kuznetsov is on it.
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at Arsenal Dzerzhinsk. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Rustam Gurinovich trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
The standards have slipped, and in a building where everybody watches everybody it has not gone unremarked. This is how a player loses a place before he loses one.
The shrug has gone, the language is coming, and he now argues in training like somebody who expects to be here next year. Half a signing's value is this and none of it appears on a fee.
The message was aimed at the stands as much as the dressing room: Vladislav Rusenchik plays, and the argument is closed until the manager decides otherwise.
The words a physio says slowly. 15 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.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Arsenal Dzerzhinsk is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Ivan Oreshkevich 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Ties Kramer was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
6 new signings in one window. Every one may be an upgrade and the side can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild the verdicts never mention.
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 Daniel Volskiy is on it.
22 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Arsenal Dzerzhinsk lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Ivan Oreshkevich 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.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Mattia Terranova and Arsenal Dzerzhinsk agree another 3 years.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Ties Kramer was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
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 Ivan Oreshkevich is on it.
What was a back-page story is now a matter for the terraces, and the terraces do not do nuance. Arsenal Dzerzhinsk would like it dealt with before it becomes the only question anybody asks.
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at Arsenal Dzerzhinsk. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Arsenal Dzerzhinsk this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Everybody saw it before anybody said it. At 35 the numbers say 3 points down on what he was, and the question for Arsenal Dzerzhinsk is how to handle a man they owe a great deal.
Nobody at Arsenal Dzerzhinsk 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 system has changed and his position has not. A footballer can improve his form; he cannot improve the manager’s formation, and that is the whole of the problem.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Arsenal Dzerzhinsk know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
A new face in his position, and Daniil Kuznetsov suddenly has to win back what he thought he owned. Arsenal Dzerzhinsk have promised nothing — clubs rarely do at this stage.
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.
Ivan Oreshkevich and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad20 Nov 2034
Ties Kramer 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.
Nobody at Arsenal Dzerzhinsk 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.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Domenico Ferraro will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Arsenal Dzerzhinsk the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Ivan Oreshkevich 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 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.
“I watch every Arsenal Dzerzhinsk game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Uni-X Labs runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
Nobody at Arsenal Dzerzhinsk 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.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Arsenal Dzerzhinsk, and both men came out saying it was fine.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Arsenal Dzerzhinsk this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ties Kramer 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.
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.
Nobody at Arsenal Dzerzhinsk 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.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Arsenal Dzerzhinsk know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
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.
“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 Arsenal Dzerzhinsk will have to give him a reason to stay or an exit.
He trains hard, says the right things and goes home to an empty flat. Nobody at Arsenal Dzerzhinsk has done anything wrong, which is exactly what makes it so difficult to fix.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Nikita Sokolovskiy 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.
He is doing his job and he is not settling. Arsenal Dzerzhinsk were supposed to be a step up in his own reckoning, and his own reckoning has been adjusted since he arrived.
Nobody at Arsenal Dzerzhinsk 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.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Arsenal Dzerzhinsk, and both men came out saying it was fine.
He trains hard, says the right things and goes home to an empty flat. Nobody at Arsenal Dzerzhinsk has done anything wrong, which is exactly what makes it so difficult to fix.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Arsenal Dzerzhinsk this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Nikita Sokolovskiy was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Interim Coach after 1‑2, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Arsenal Dzerzhinsk can pretend not to have heard.
Footballers are asked about their boyhood club so often that nobody listens to the answer. Daniil Tkachik has just signed for Arsenal Dzerzhinsk, and for once the answer mattered.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Domenico Ferraro will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Arsenal Dzerzhinsk the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Ivan Oreshkevich 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 paperwork is done long before the player is. Silvan Ndoye has agreed terms to come here when his current deal runs out, which means Arsenal Dzerzhinsk have spent a summer's transfer budget on a phone call.
Footballers are asked about their boyhood club so often that nobody listens to the answer. Nikolay Sobolev has just signed for Arsenal Dzerzhinsk, and for once the answer mattered.
Boardroom11 Sep 2034
Deadline passes with 16 signed and 20 gone
That is the business done at Arsenal Dzerzhinsk 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.
Kirill Parmonov 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.
Arsenal Dzerzhinsk asked and Dinamo Minsk said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Arsenal Dzerzhinsk ran out of time with Neman. The paperwork was open when the deadline passed, and a transfer that was almost done is now a transfer that never happened.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Ties Kramer was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
He is not being dropped. There is simply nowhere in the formation Arsenal Dzerzhinsk are playing to put a man who does what he does, which is a harder thing to be told than any team sheet.
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.
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Arsenal Dzerzhinsk people have started saying his name in the past tense.
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.
The offer from Osipovichi for Aliaksandr Laptev 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.
A defender on the scoresheet, which happens rarely enough that everybody in the ground remembers who took the corner. 1 for him, and a mark of 7.55 for the rest of it.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ties Kramer 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.
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.
Dinamo Minsk have been asked whether they would lend him. Loans are agreed quickly or not at all, and this one will be one or the other by the weekend.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Slonim waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Arsenal Dzerzhinsk is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
Ivan Oreshkevich 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.
3 matches, no goals, and a training ground that has tried everything. It will end — droughts always do — but nobody at Arsenal Dzerzhinsk can tell you which week it ends in.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Nikita Sokolovskiy was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Arsenal Dzerzhinsk asked and BATE said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Uni-X Labs waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Arsenal Dzerzhinsk is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 7 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Arsenal Dzerzhinsk can pretend not to have heard.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Arsenal Dzerzhinsk have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
The name of Aliaksandr Laptev has come up in conversations Arsenal Dzerzhinsk were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Arsenal Dzerzhinsk people have started saying his name in the past tense.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 6 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
“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 Arsenal Dzerzhinsk, and it is not being withdrawn.
Kirill Parmonov 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 phone has started ringing about Shant Beybutyan again, and this time the name on the line is Uni-X Labs. Arsenal Dzerzhinsk are listening politely and promising nothing.
Level with 88 minutes on the clock, after an afternoon Arsenal Dzerzhinsk had all but put away. Dinamo Brest will call it a point earned; the home dressing room will call it two given away, and both of them are right.
In brief
Player ratingsThe afternoon belonged to Ramazan Aliev
Ivan Oreshkevich 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Ábel Győri was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“A point is a point and I will take it, but we should have had all three.” Interim Coach after the 0‑0 draw, and the sentence every manager in the country said at some stage this weekend.
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 Ábel Győri is on it.
Ninety minutes, no goals, and the argument started before the car park emptied: a point gained, or two thrown away against Naftan? Both sides of it will still be going on Thursday.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 6 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Ivan Oreshkevich 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.
Minute 90, against Minsk, and a goal that felt like a win to everybody who had stayed. It was a draw. Nobody leaving the ground will describe it as one.
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.
“A point is a point and I will take it, but we should have had all three.” Interim Coach after the 2‑2 draw, and the sentence every manager in the country said at some stage this weekend.