Marked for Ilja Vasin
From our football correspondent
Steady
The dugout9 Apr 2029
This is not rotation. Roberto Fernández has not been in the manager's plans for some time, and nobody at Akron is pretending otherwise.
Market9 Apr 2029
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at Akron, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad9 Apr 2029
A falling-out at Akron
Roberto Fernández and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad9 Apr 2029
Words at Akron training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Gilson Benchimol is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
The dugout9 Apr 2029
Nikita Kokarev knocks on the manager's door
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Akron, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Market9 Apr 2029
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Akron, another week without a signature from Denis Popenkov.
The dugout9 Apr 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 Vyacheslav Bardybakhin is on it.
Market9 Apr 2029
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Roberto Fernández signs something — a contract at Akron or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
Market9 Apr 2029
The list is a quiet document with a loud meaning. Nikita Kokarev may talk to anybody who asks, and everybody at the club understands what that means.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad19 Mar 2029
Words exchanged at Akron
Roberto Fernández and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Squad19 Mar 2029
Words at Akron training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Paulo Vitor 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.
Boardroom19 Mar 2029
Neftekhimik will keep picking him until June and will get nothing for him after it. Alexandr Kakhidze has pre-agreed a move to Akron, and the only people who lose in that arrangement are the ones who let the contract run down.
Squad19 Mar 2029
Too much change too quickly at Akron
6 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.
The dugout19 Mar 2029
Yomar Rocha knocks on the manager's door
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Akron, and both men came out saying it was fine.
The dugout19 Mar 2029
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
The dugout19 Mar 2029
Ilja Vasin gets it from the manager
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
Market19 Mar 2029
Every press conference now starts and ends the same way: with Marat Bokoev’s future. The manager has run out of new ways to say nothing.
Market19 Mar 2029
Akron have let the market know Roberto Fernández can be had. No price in the advert, but everyone in the trade knows roughly what it says.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market14 Aug 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.
Squad14 Aug 2028
A fracture rules Pavel Zubkov out for 23 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Akron will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Market14 Aug 2028
Akron get their man
The chase for Ilja Vasin ended with $400.0K changing hands and Fakel out of reasons to say no. The supporters will judge the fee the only way that matters: on Saturdays.
Transfer targets14 Aug 2028
Akron asked and Orenburg said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Squad14 Aug 2028
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Akron this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Transfer targets14 Aug 2028
The offer went to Amkar 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.
Squad14 Aug 2028
A row about effort at Akron
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Roberto Fernández was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Boardroom14 Aug 2028
Nothing happens for months and then he simply arrives, at no cost, having signed a pre-contract while still turning out for somebody else. It is the least dramatic way to sign a footballer and frequently the shrewdest.
The dugout14 Aug 2028
The manager makes an example of Nikita Kokarev
“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
Crisis
Market14 Aug 2028
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at Fakel, and it is not being withdrawn.
Market14 Aug 2028
Terms done: Max Dziov is going
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Vitebsk waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Fakel is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
Market14 Aug 2028
Akron pay $400.0K, and the deal is done. The number reads well on a balance sheet; whether it reads well on the pitch is next season's question.
Transfer targets14 Aug 2028
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Sochi have kept their man, and Fakel go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Squad14 Aug 2028
A falling-out at Fakel
Nuri Abdokov and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Match12 Aug 2028
Krylya Sovetov left with the points after a 0‑2 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Squad14 Aug 2028
Butta Magomedov 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.
Squad14 Aug 2028
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Oleg Balandin commits to Fakel for another 3 years.
The dugout14 Aug 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.