Marked for Denis Pushkarev
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Market8 Nov 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.
Match8 Nov 2027
Every point is an argument now for Chelyabinsk
Position 16 and 12 points, and the table gets read bottom-up in this part of town. The calendar has stopped being a schedule and started being a countdown.
Match6 Nov 2027
No clean sheets in sight for Chelyabinsk
7 games now with at least two against. The back line has been rearranged, the goalkeeper has been backed publicly, and the goals keep going in anyway.
Squad8 Nov 2027
David Semenchuk and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Match6 Nov 2027
Beaten 1‑3, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Squad8 Nov 2027
Words at Chelyabinsk training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Artem Ignatjev 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 dugout8 Nov 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Dmitry Yudin, and the manager let it.
Squad8 Nov 2027
Chelyabinsk are still strangers to each other
7 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.
The dugout8 Nov 2027
“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 1‑3, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Market1 Nov 2027
“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 The request is on a desk at Chelyabinsk, and it is not being withdrawn.
Player ratings1 Nov 2027
Garrik Levin goes up and wins it — 7.94
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 7.94 for the rest of it.
Match30 Oct 2027
No clean sheets in sight for Chelyabinsk
6 games now with at least two against. The back line has been rearranged, the goalkeeper has been backed publicly, and the goals keep going in anyway.
Squad1 Nov 2027
Garrik Levin 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.
Match30 Oct 2027
Chernomorets left with the points after a 1‑2 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Boardroom1 Nov 2027
Wages eat 166% of everything Chelyabinsk earn
There is a figure at which a wage bill stops being ambitious and becomes the reason nothing else is possible, and this club has reached it. Nothing is left over for a transfer, a stand or a rainy afternoon.
The dugout1 Nov 2027
“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.
Squad1 Nov 2027
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Yefim Stanislavchuk was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Squad1 Nov 2027
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Chelyabinsk can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match23 Oct 2027
At 2 goals adrift this was a formality, and the formality lasted right up until it did not. Chelyabinsk found something the first half had given no notice of, and Ufa could not hold what they had.
Market25 Oct 2027
“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 Chelyabinsk, and it is not being withdrawn.
Player ratings25 Oct 2027
Ricuenio Kewal scored one and made one — 7.92
Two of the goals had his name somewhere on them, which is the afternoon a manager wants from anybody asked to both create and finish. 7.92, and 2 involvements.
Squad25 Oct 2027
Garrik Levin and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Match23 Oct 2027
Chelyabinsk are shipping goals every week
Two or more conceded in each of the last 5 matches. It is not one mistake repeating itself, which would be the easier thing to fix; it is a different one every week.
Match23 Oct 2027
It had gone 6 games. The players did not celebrate like men who had won a match; they celebrated like men who had been let out of something.
Match23 Oct 2027
It finished 3‑2, and it was Garrik Levin’s afternoon: on the scoresheet when it mattered, and the reason the points belong to Chelyabinsk.
Squad25 Oct 2027
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Yefim Stanislavchuk was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The terraces25 Oct 2027
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 22-year-old it feels ownership of. Denis Pushkarev has it now, and everything he does for the rest of his time here will be measured against the goodwill he was handed for free.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market11 Oct 2027
“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 Chelyabinsk, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad11 Oct 2027
Garrik Levin 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.
Squad11 Oct 2027
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Yefim Stanislavchuk was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Market11 Oct 2027
“They were honest with me, and I would rather know.” Vsevolod Buradjiev has been informed he is not in the manager's thinking at Chelyabinsk.
Squad11 Oct 2027
Too much change too quickly at Chelyabinsk
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.
Market11 Oct 2027
A stepping stone, not a home, for Ruuben Nõmmann
He is doing his job and he is not settling. Chelyabinsk were supposed to be a step up in his own reckoning, and his own reckoning has been adjusted since he arrived.
Squad11 Oct 2027
“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 Chelyabinsk will have to give him a reason to stay or an exit.
The dugout11 Oct 2027
Ricuenio Kewal asks for a word with the manager
“I would rather say it to his face than read about it.” The meeting was requested by the player, which tells you most of what you need to know.
The dugout11 Oct 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Wessel van der Heijden, and the manager let it.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market13 Sep 2027
“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 Chelyabinsk, and it is not being withdrawn.
Boardroom13 Sep 2027
Deadline passes with 16 signed and 25 gone
That is the business done at Chelyabinsk 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.
Transfer targets13 Sep 2027
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: Fakel keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
Squad13 Sep 2027
Garrik Levin 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.
Market13 Sep 2027
The chase for Yaroslav Dol ended with $61.0K changing hands and Nart out of reasons to say no. The supporters will judge the fee the only way that matters: on Saturdays.
Transfer targets13 Sep 2027
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Rubin have kept their man, and Chelyabinsk go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Squad13 Sep 2027
Artem Ignatjev 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.
Match11 Sep 2027
Beaten 0‑1, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
The dugout13 Sep 2027
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market16 Aug 2027
Denis Firsov hands in a written request
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Chelyabinsk can pretend not to have heard.
Transfer targets16 Aug 2027
$390.0K on the table at Nizhniy Novgorod. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.
Market16 Aug 2027
CS Constantine pay $960.0K, 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.
Squad16 Aug 2027
Alexey Berdnikov 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 targets16 Aug 2027
$310.0K was the most the club would pay and Dinamo Makhachkala were asking for more. Deals like this are revived in the last week of a window roughly half the time, and everybody involved knows it.
Transfer targets16 Aug 2027
The approach was made and the answer came back in a sentence. There is no number on the table because there was no number that would have been enough.
Match14 Aug 2027
A 2‑1 win over Tyumen, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
The terraces16 Aug 2027
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 22-year-old it feels ownership of. Denis Pushkarev has it now, and everything he does for the rest of his time here will be measured against the goodwill he was handed for free.
Squad16 Aug 2027
Words at Chelyabinsk training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Baba N'Diaye 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.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Market12 Jul 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.
Transfer targets12 Jul 2027
The offer went to Orenburg 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.
Squad12 Jul 2027
Garrik Levin and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Market12 Jul 2027
Sevastopol are about to pick up the phone
A conversation is coming this week. Chelyabinsk will put a number on him, and from there it stops being football and becomes arithmetic.
Transfer targets12 Jul 2027
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Akron have kept their man, and Chelyabinsk go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Squad12 Jul 2027
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Denis Pushkarev was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Squad12 Jul 2027
28 days, the scan says, and scans are kinder than reality. The fixtures in that window have just become somebody else’s job.
Boardroom12 Jul 2027
109% of the income goes out in wages at Chelyabinsk
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.
Market12 Jul 2027
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Chelyabinsk, another week without a signature from Denis Pushkarev.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
The terraces31 May 2027
Supporters organise against the Shinnik board
A bad atmosphere can be waited out. A group of people meeting afterwards to decide what to do about it cannot, and everybody in the building knows which stage this is.
Squad31 May 2027
A fracture rules Denis Vambolt out for 90 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Shinnik will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Market31 May 2027
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Shinnik can pretend not to have heard.
Market31 May 2027
Timofey Mitrov has one foot out of the door
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Shinnik they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
The dugout31 May 2027
This is not rotation. Albek Gongapshev has not been in the manager's plans for some time, and nobody at Shinnik is pretending otherwise.
Squad31 May 2027
A falling-out at Shinnik
Danila Yanov and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad31 May 2027
Words at Shinnik training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Denis Mironov 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 dugout31 May 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Oleg Lanin, and the manager let it.
The dugout31 May 2027
Denis Pushkarev has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at Shinnik 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
Crisis
Boardroom24 May 2027
The silence upstairs is getting loud at Chelyabinsk
Nobody on the board has said anything against the manager, which is the point — they have stopped saying anything for him either.
Market24 May 2027
“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 Chelyabinsk, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad24 May 2027
Garrik Levin 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.
Squad24 May 2027
Words at Chelyabinsk training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Vilmos Jován 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 dugout24 May 2027
“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 dugout24 May 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 Chelyabinsk, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Market24 May 2027
The Garrik Levin talk will not go away
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Chelyabinsk know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
Market24 May 2027
Chelyabinsk have made Ricuenio Kewal available for transfer. A career at this club is over in all but paperwork.
The dugout24 May 2027
A conversation in the manager’s office, and a commitment that came out of it. Promises like that are cheap to make and expensive to break, and Bogdan Rogochiy has written the date down.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Boardroom29 Mar 2027
The scrutiny sharpens at Shinnik
Nobody upstairs has said anything, which is the loudest thing they could do. Results buy silence in this game; the account at Shinnik is running low.
Market29 Mar 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 dugout29 Mar 2027
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Shinnik may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Squad29 Mar 2027
Danila Yanov 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.
Squad29 Mar 2027
Words at Shinnik training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Denis Mironov 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 dugout29 Mar 2027
The manager makes an example of Oleg Lanin
“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 dugout29 Mar 2027
Artur Cherny 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 Shinnik, and both men came out saying it was fine.
The dugout29 Mar 2027
Kirill Nikitin has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at Shinnik 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.
Looking ahead29 Mar 2027
He used to wear the other shirt. On Saturday he plays against Chelyabinsk in this one, and whatever he says this week about it being just another game will be untrue.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market15 Feb 2027
“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 Shinnik, and it is not being withdrawn.
Market15 Feb 2027
The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.
Market15 Feb 2027
“I listened, I thought about it, and I am staying. That is the whole story.” The clubs had agreed a fee. Pavel Kuznetsov had not agreed to go, which turned out to be the part that mattered.
The dugout15 Feb 2027
Denis Pushkarev: 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.” Shinnik have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Transfer targets15 Feb 2027
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Shinnik have done the hard part with Rostov, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
Transfer targets15 Feb 2027
Shinnik asked and Sevastopol said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Squad15 Feb 2027
A row about effort at Shinnik
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Denis Mironov was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The terraces15 Feb 2027
At 23 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.
The dugout15 Feb 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Artur Cherny, and the manager let it.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad5 Oct 2026
111 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Shinnik lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Match30 Sep 2026
Shinnik march on in the cup
Irtysh are out and Shinnik go through, 1‑0 the final word. The bracket opens up a little, and everyone allows themselves a look at it.
Player ratings5 Oct 2026
Marked 8.13 at 21, in a side that makes no allowances for age. He did not need any, and he looked the least nervous man on the pitch.
Squad5 Oct 2026
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.
Squad5 Oct 2026
Words exchanged at Shinnik
Vitalijs Ikaunieks 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.
Player ratings5 Oct 2026
Successful dribbles: 21. 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.
Squad5 Oct 2026
A row about effort at Shinnik
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Denis Mironov was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Match3 Oct 2026
Beaten 1‑2, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Boardroom5 Oct 2026
Wages swallow 225% of the Shinnik income
Every club 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 it has been tried.