Marked for Kirill Simonov
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Player ratings6 Aug 2029
2 goals, and the second was the one that settled it. Marked 8.91, and he could have had a third with better luck at the near post.
Market6 Aug 2029
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Alexandr Rakhmatov will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Gomel the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Player ratings6 Aug 2029
Successful dribbles: 23. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Transfer targets6 Aug 2029
$120.0K on the table at Neman. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.
Squad6 Aug 2029
A falling-out at Gomel
Timofey Simanenka and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad6 Aug 2029
A row about effort at Gomel
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Kirill Simonov was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The terraces6 Aug 2029
At 22 he is being sung about by people twice his age, which is an affection a signing has to earn over years and a local kid gets for turning up. It is also the hardest thing in football to live up to.
Match4 Aug 2029
It finished 2‑0, and it was Dmitriy Emeljanov’s afternoon: on the scoresheet when it mattered, and the reason the points belong to Gomel.
Market6 Aug 2029
Add another name to the list: Bumprom Gomel have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Pavel Sergutko. The answer from Gomel has not changed — yet.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Market25 Jun 2029
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Gomel have lost him in all but the paperwork.
Transfer targets25 Jun 2029
The clubs have shaken hands with Neman; the player has not yet. Personal terms are next, and personal terms are where more deals die than anybody prints.
Market25 Jun 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.
Match23 Jun 2029
Nobody wins at Gomel
12 home matches unbeaten. Visiting sides arrive already talking about the atmosphere, which is usually the sign that they have half-lost before kickoff.
Player ratings25 Jun 2029
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 7.81 for the rest of it.
Transfer targets25 Jun 2029
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Vitebsk have kept their man, and Gomel go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Squad25 Jun 2029
Pavel Pashevich 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 terraces25 Jun 2029
He is 23 and the ground already sings his name, which is a thing that happens to local boys and almost never to signings. Everything from here is measured against an affection he did nothing to earn except be from here.
Match23 Jun 2029
It finished 1‑0, and it was Kirill Simonov’s afternoon: on the scoresheet when it mattered, and the reason the points belong to Gomel.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Player ratings7 May 2029
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.
Squad7 May 2029
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Gomel will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Market7 May 2029
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Gomel is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Match5 May 2029
Vitebsk made Gomel work for it, but the scoreboard read 3‑1 at the end and the table does not ask how.
Squad7 May 2029
A row about effort at Gomel
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Vladislav Lazarev was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout7 May 2029
The manager makes an example of Pavel Pashevich
“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.
Match5 May 2029
Nobody wins at Gomel
8 home matches unbeaten. Visiting sides arrive already talking about the atmosphere, which is usually the sign that they have half-lost before kickoff.
Squad7 May 2029
Words exchanged at Gomel
Igor Monich 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 dugout7 May 2029
“We earned that. I asked them for a reaction and I got one, and now I want the same again on Saturday.” Yan Kendysh on a 3‑1 afternoon that pleased him more than he was prepared to show.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market2 Apr 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 Gomel can pretend not to have heard.
Squad2 Apr 2029
Words at Gomel training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Vladislav Lazarev 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.
Squad2 Apr 2029
A falling-out at Gomel
Artur Nechaev and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
The dugout2 Apr 2029
Clubs make promises constantly and the page usually only hears about them when they are broken. This one was honoured, and the dressing room noticed that faster than any supporter did.
Squad2 Apr 2029
Somebody has moved past him. It is not a dropping and it is worse than one, because a dropping is about a Saturday and this is about where he stands.
The dugout2 Apr 2029
The manager makes an example of Artur Nechaev
“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.
Squad2 Apr 2029
The captaincy has been taken off Stanislav Kleschuk. Gomel will call it a decision about the team; a dressing room reads it as a verdict on a man.
Market2 Apr 2029
“The manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Rasil Asaidulin has his answer from Gomel; what he does with it is the next window’s story.
The dugout2 Apr 2029
Nobody at Gomel 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.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market26 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 Gomel can pretend not to have heard.
Market26 Mar 2029
Pavel Sergutko has one foot out of the door
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Gomel they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
The dugout26 Mar 2029
This is not rotation. Egor Yudenko has not been in the manager's plans for some time, and nobody at Gomel is pretending otherwise.
Squad26 Mar 2029
Vladislav Lazarev 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.
Squad26 Mar 2029
Words exchanged at Gomel
Artur Nechaev 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 dugout26 Mar 2029
The manager makes an example of Evgeniy Tishkov
“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 ratings26 Mar 2029
Successful dribbles: 16. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
The dugout26 Mar 2029
The manager’s verdict
“I am frustrated, honestly. We did enough to win and we did not win.” Yan Kendysh was not hiding it after 0‑0, and nobody in the Gomel dressing room was either.
The dugout26 Mar 2029
Ninety specific minutes wanted a different sort of player, and the manager picked one. He is not out of form and he is not in the side, and both are true.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Market12 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 Gomel can pretend not to have heard.
Market12 Mar 2029
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Gomel have lost him in all but the paperwork.
Player ratings12 Mar 2029
Successful dribbles: 25. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Market12 Mar 2029
Nikita Mayorov has one foot out of the door
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Gomel they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Squad12 Mar 2029
Tempers go at Gomel
Viktor Sotnikov 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.
Squad12 Mar 2029
Vladislav Lazarev 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.
Transfer targets12 Mar 2029
A deal that was a phone call from completion at lunchtime was dead by midnight. Gomel will try again when the window opens; Neman may not be selling by then.
Player ratings12 Mar 2029
Kirill Simonov did the work nobody counts — 6.93
10 combined actions and 6.93. The job he did is the one that shows up as other people looking good, and the only reliable way to notice it is to watch what happens on the afternoons he is missing.
The dugout12 Mar 2029
The manager has not finished forgetting Vladislav Lazarev's mistake
Publicly it is behind everybody. It is not behind the man who picks the team, and the only place that shows is a team sheet. He will get another chance; he will get it in a match that matters less.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Market19 Feb 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 Gomel can pretend not to have heard.
Market19 Feb 2029
“I listened, I thought about it, and I am staying. That is the whole story.” The clubs had agreed a fee. Alexandr Savitskiy had not agreed to go, which turned out to be the part that mattered.
Transfer targets19 Feb 2029
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.
Squad19 Feb 2029
Pavel Pashevich 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.
Squad19 Feb 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 Gomel this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Transfer targets19 Feb 2029
A loan enquiry to Fakel: cover, or a look at somebody the club cannot afford to buy yet. Either way the answer will come back inside the week.
Transfer targets19 Feb 2029
A loan enquiry to Dinamo Bucharest: cover, or a look at somebody the club cannot afford to buy yet. Either way the answer will come back inside the week.
The dugout19 Feb 2029
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Gomel, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Market19 Feb 2029
Every press conference now starts and ends the same way: with Timofey Simanenka’s future. The manager has run out of new ways to say nothing.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Market12 Feb 2029
“I listened, I thought about it, and I am staying. That is the whole story.” The clubs had agreed a fee. Kirill Simonov had not agreed to go, which turned out to be the part that mattered.
Market12 Feb 2029
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Lokomotiv Gomel waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Gomel is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
Market12 Feb 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.
Market12 Feb 2029
The phone has started ringing about Alexandr Savitskiy again, and this time the name on the line is Uni-X Labs. Gomel are listening politely and promising nothing.
Squad12 Feb 2029
Vladislav Lazarev 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.
Transfer targets12 Feb 2029
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 Feb 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 Gomel this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The dugout12 Feb 2029
A promise honoured at Gomel
Something was said to Vadim Martinkevich and then it happened. In this industry that passes for remarkable, and the dressing room noticed faster than any supporter could.
The dugout12 Feb 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
Market5 Feb 2029
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Orsha waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Gomel is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
Market5 Feb 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.
Market5 Feb 2029
“I know what people will say. I know what I want, and it is here.” Lokomotiv Gomel had the fee agreed and the shirt ready; they did not have the player, and now they will not.
Market5 Feb 2029
Everyone has stopped pretending: Minsk will make the call about Kirill Simonov this week. Gomel have a number in mind, and the number is not shy.
Transfer targets5 Feb 2029
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.
Squad5 Feb 2029
Vladislav Lazarev 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.
Squad5 Feb 2029
A falling-out at Gomel
Artur Nechaev and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Transfer targets5 Feb 2029
A loan enquiry to Baltika: cover, or a look at somebody the club cannot afford to buy yet. Either way the answer will come back inside the week.
Transfer targets5 Feb 2029
A loan move for Yegor Smirnov is in the works
Gomel have made the call to Fakel. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad8 Jan 2029
Words exchanged at Gomel
Viktor Sotnikov 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.
Squad8 Jan 2029
Vladislav Lazarev 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.
Boardroom8 Jan 2029
$836.2K on the table at Gomel
The board have answered with money instead of encouragement, which is the only answer a manager ever wants. Spending it well is now entirely his problem.
The dugout8 Jan 2029
“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 dugout8 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 Damir Shaikhtdinov is on it.
Market8 Jan 2029
The name of Timofey Simanenka keeps appearing in other people's back pages. Gomel say nothing, which says plenty.
Match8 Jan 2029
Gomel in the hunt for Europe
Position 5, 48 points, and a run-in that decides whether next season has Thursday nights in it. Nobody is calling it a race yet, which is what people say during one.
Market8 Jan 2029
Gomel have made Kirill Simonov available for transfer. A career at this club is over in all but paperwork.
Boardroom8 Jan 2029
The Gomel academy earns its keep
20 graduates, from a department now rated 9 out of 20. Nothing about the academy appears in a result, and nothing about the club’s future exists without it.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad11 Dec 2028
“The easiest signature of my career.” Vadim Martinkevich and Gomel agree another 3 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Squad11 Dec 2028
A row about effort at Gomel
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Vladislav Lazarev was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Squad11 Dec 2028
Words exchanged at Gomel
Igor Zayats 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 dugout11 Dec 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.
The dugout11 Dec 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.
Market11 Dec 2028
The name of Timofey Simanenka keeps appearing in other people's back pages. Gomel say nothing, which says plenty.
Squad11 Dec 2028
Numbers do not stay secret in a dressing room. He is not asking for more than he is worth; he is asking why somebody beside him is worth more, and Gomel have no good answer.
Match11 Dec 2028
Continental football is in reach for Gomel
48 points from position 5. The title is somebody else’s business and the drop is somebody else’s problem; what is left is the argument about passports.
Market11 Dec 2028
Gomel have made Kirill Simonov available for transfer. A career at this club is over in all but paperwork.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
The dugout13 Nov 2028
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Gomel may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Squad13 Nov 2028
Vladislav Lazarev 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.
Squad13 Nov 2028
Words exchanged at Gomel
Dmitriy Emeljanov 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 dugout13 Nov 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.
The dugout13 Nov 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.
Market13 Nov 2028
The name of Timofey Simanenka keeps appearing in other people's back pages. Gomel say nothing, which says plenty.
Squad13 Nov 2028
He goes off to be somebody else’s player for a fortnight. Gomel lose him for the window and would like him returned in the condition he left.
Match13 Nov 2028
Continental football is in reach for Gomel
48 points from position 5. The title is somebody else’s business and the drop is somebody else’s problem; what is left is the argument about passports.
Market13 Nov 2028
The list is a quiet document with a loud meaning. Kirill Simonov may talk to anybody who asks, and everybody at the club understands what that means.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Market23 Oct 2028
Pavel Sergutko has one foot out of the door
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Gomel they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Squad23 Oct 2028
Words at Gomel training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Vladislav Lazarev 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.
Squad23 Oct 2028
Words exchanged at Gomel
Egor Yudenko 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 dugout23 Oct 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.
Squad23 Oct 2028
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Vladislav Boltushko commits to Gomel for another 4 years.
The dugout23 Oct 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.
The dugout23 Oct 2028
Evgeniy Tishkov 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.
Market23 Oct 2028
The name of Stanislav Kleschuk keeps appearing in other people's back pages. Gomel say nothing, which says plenty.
Market23 Oct 2028
The list is a quiet document with a loud meaning. Igor Zayats may talk to anybody who asks, and everybody at the club understands what that means.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
The dugout16 Oct 2028
Maxim Khalilov: 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.” Gomel have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Squad16 Oct 2028
The injury that keeps coming back, keeps being rushed back from, and quietly costs more careers than the dramatic ones. 16 days is the estimate; the honest figure depends on whether anybody is patient.
Squad16 Oct 2028
Words exchanged at Gomel
Viktor Sotnikov 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.
Squad16 Oct 2028
A row about effort at Gomel
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Vladislav Lazarev was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout16 Oct 2028
Clubs make promises constantly and the page usually only hears about them when they are broken. This one was honoured, and the dressing room noticed that faster than any supporter did.
Squad16 Oct 2028
The division's best last weekend was a Gomel man
It is a small honour and it is not nothing: somebody watched every match in the division and decided that Kirill Burov was the best thing in any of them.
The dugout16 Oct 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.
The dugout16 Oct 2028
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Dmitriy Emeljanov trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Market16 Oct 2028
The name of Timofey Simanenka keeps appearing in other people's back pages. Gomel say nothing, which says plenty.
In brief
-
Match
Gomel have something to play for
-
Market
Kirill Simonov placed on the list
-
Boardroom
The Gomel academy earns its keep
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Match30 Sep 2028
Gomel cannot stop winning
4 wins on the spin now, and the question has changed from whether the run ends to who ends it. Confidence like this cannot be bought; it has to be earned exactly this way.
Market2 Oct 2028
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Gomel is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Squad2 Oct 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 Gomel this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad2 Oct 2028
A row about effort at Gomel
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Pavel Pashevich was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Match30 Sep 2028
Isloch made Gomel work for it, but the scoreboard read 2‑0 at the end and the table does not ask how.
Player ratings2 Oct 2028
Kirill Simonov was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.15. There are performances a supporter describes to somebody who was not there and cannot quite convey; this was one, and the number does not help either.
Squad2 Oct 2028
At 21 he was better than everybody his age in the division for four weeks running, which is harder than one good afternoon. Gomel will try not to make too much of it.
The dugout2 Oct 2028
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Igor Zayats, and the manager let it.
Player ratings2 Oct 2028
Successful dribbles: 16. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Match22 Jul 2028
Rarely has this fixture seen a display like it: 4‑0 against Arsenal Dzerzhinsk, and it could have been more.
Market24 Jul 2028
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Gomel can pretend not to have heard.
Player ratings24 Jul 2028
2 goals, and the second was the one that settled it. Marked 9.00, and he could have had a third with better luck at the near post.
Player ratings24 Jul 2028
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 7.64 for the rest of it.
The dugout24 Jul 2028
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Gomel have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Market24 Jul 2028
Nikita Mayorov has one foot out of the door
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Gomel they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Squad24 Jul 2028
Words at Gomel training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Kirill Simonov 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 targets24 Jul 2028
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Baltika have kept their man, and Gomel go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
The terraces24 Jul 2028
At 21 he is being sung about by people twice his age, which is an affection a signing has to earn over years and a local kid gets for turning up. It is also the hardest thing in football to live up to.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market3 Jul 2028
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Ostrovets waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Gomel is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
Player ratings3 Jul 2028
Successful dribbles: 28. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
Market3 Jul 2028
“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.
Match1 Jul 2028
No end in sight to Gomel's wait for a win
4 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Gomel has to find a result from somewhere.
Squad3 Jul 2028
Words exchanged at Gomel
Viktor Sotnikov 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 targets3 Jul 2028
Gomel asked and Vitebsk said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Squad3 Jul 2028
Kirill Simonov 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 dugout3 Jul 2028
The manager makes an example of Denis Laptev
“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 Jul 2028
Marked 7.96 on an afternoon he ran from the first whistle to the last. Whatever else went wrong, Gomel had the best player on the pitch.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Market26 Jun 2028
“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.
Market26 Jun 2028
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Gomel is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Transfer targets26 Jun 2028
The offer went to Torpedo-BelAZ this week and it is theirs to answer. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loud the door closes.
Squad26 Jun 2028
Tempers go at Gomel
Viktor Sotnikov 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.
Squad26 Jun 2028
Words at Gomel training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Timofey Simanenka 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 targets26 Jun 2028
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Lokomotiv Moscow have kept their man, and Gomel go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Match24 Jun 2028
A bad afternoon for Gomel against Smorgon
0‑2 to Smorgon, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Market26 Jun 2028
Add another name to the list: Ostrovets have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Konstantin Lipnitskiy. The answer from Gomel has not changed — yet.
The dugout26 Jun 2028
The manager makes an example of Pavel Pashevich
“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.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Player ratings12 Jun 2028
Two goals and a mark of 8.70 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Market12 Jun 2028
Pavel Sergutko has one foot out of the door
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Gomel they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Match10 Jun 2028
Whatever happens, Gomel do not lose
6 games unbeaten now. Some were earned and some were survived, but a habit is forming — and habits are the hardest thing in football to play against.
Squad12 Jun 2028
A row about effort at Gomel
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Kirill Simonov was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout12 Jun 2028
“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 dugout12 Jun 2028
Clubs make promises constantly and the page usually only hears about them when they are broken. This one was honoured, and the dressing room noticed that faster than any supporter did.
Squad12 Jun 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 Gomel this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Match10 Jun 2028
Gomel and Isloch take a point apiece
It finished 2‑2, and it somehow always looked like it would. One of those afternoons where the table moves less than the tempers.
The dugout12 Jun 2028
Half-satisfied: Yan Kendysh on the draw
“There are things I liked and things we will be doing on Tuesday until they are right.” 2‑2, and a manager who had already decided what Tuesday looked like.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market17 Jan 2028
Only the photograph left for Maxim Drozdov
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Maxim Drozdov will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Gomel the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Squad17 Jan 2028
Words at Gomel training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Pavel Pashevich 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.
Squad17 Jan 2028
Tempers go at Gomel
Egor Yudenko 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 dugout17 Jan 2028
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Gomel, and both men came out saying it was fine.
The dugout17 Jan 2028
Clubs make promises constantly and the page usually only hears about them when they are broken. This one was honoured, and the dressing room noticed that faster than any supporter did.
The dugout17 Jan 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 Denis Kovalevich is on it.
Market17 Jan 2028
Gomel have let the market know Daniil Silinskiy can be had. No price in the advert, but everyone in the trade knows roughly what it says.
Squad17 Jan 2028
Questions about Kirill Simonov on the training pitch
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 dugout17 Jan 2028
“Judge me on him.” Managers do not say that kind of thing by accident — it moves the pressure from Daniil Silinskiy’s shoulders onto his own, and both of them know it.
In brief
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Boardroom
Gomel keep producing them
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Squad
Maxim Drozdov is the talk of the training ground
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market27 Dec 2027
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Gomel is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Squad27 Dec 2027
Words exchanged at Gomel
Viktor Sotnikov 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.
Squad27 Dec 2027
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Vadim Martinkevich and Gomel agree another 4 years.
Squad27 Dec 2027
Words at Gomel training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Kirill Simonov 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 dugout27 Dec 2027
The manager makes an example of Viktor Sotnikov
“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 dugout27 Dec 2027
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 Damir Shaikhtdinov is on it.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market6 Dec 2027
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Gomel they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Squad6 Dec 2027
“The easiest signature of my career.” Timofey Simanenka and Gomel agree another 5 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Squad6 Dec 2027
The decline has begun for Denis Laptev
Everybody saw it before anybody said it. At 36 the numbers say 3 points down on what he was, and the question for Gomel is how to handle a man they owe a great deal.
Squad6 Dec 2027
Kirill Simonov 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.
Squad6 Dec 2027
Tempers go at Gomel
Dmitriy Emeljanov 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 dugout6 Dec 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.
The dugout6 Dec 2027
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Vladislav Lazarev trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Market6 Dec 2027
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Timofey Simanenka signs something — a contract at Gomel or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
Match6 Dec 2027
Gomel in the hunt for Europe
Position 5, 46 points, and a run-in that decides whether next season has Thursday nights in it. Nobody is calling it a race yet, which is what people say during one.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market22 Nov 2027
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Gomel is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Squad22 Nov 2027
Words at Gomel training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Timofey Simanenka 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.
Squad22 Nov 2027
Egor Yudenko 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 Gomel this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The dugout22 Nov 2027
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Gomel, and both men came out saying it was fine.
The dugout22 Nov 2027
Denis Kovalevich has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at Gomel 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.
Market22 Nov 2027
Gomel have let the market know Daniil Silinskiy can be had. No price in the advert, but everyone in the trade knows roughly what it says.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market27 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.
The dugout27 Sep 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.
Market27 Sep 2027
Maxim Drozdov has one foot out of the door
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Gomel they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Squad27 Sep 2027
A move Rasil Asaidulin would have made for nothing
There is a version of every career where the player ends up somewhere he chose rather than somewhere that chose him. Rasil Asaidulin is living that version at Gomel, and it tends to show in the first month.
Squad27 Sep 2027
Words at Gomel training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Timofey Simanenka 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.
Squad27 Sep 2027
A falling-out at Gomel
Igor Zayats and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Match25 Sep 2027
Beaten 0‑2, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
The dugout27 Sep 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Viktor Sotnikov, and the manager let it.
Squad27 Sep 2027
He is doing things every Saturday that nobody around him can answer. It is flattering for a season and a problem after that, and Gomel know which stage they are at.