Marked for Ivan Semin
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad29 May 2028
21 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Slonim lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Market29 May 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 The request is on a desk at Slonim, and it is not being withdrawn.
Match27 May 2028
The wait goes on for Slonim
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.
Squad29 May 2028
Tempers go at Slonim
Dmitriy Sai 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 May 2028
Everybody saw it before anybody said it. At 34 the numbers say 3 points down on what he was, and the question for Slonim is how to handle a man they owe a great deal.
Match27 May 2028
Slonim caught on 91 minutes
The board was up, the win was priced in, and then Ostrovets scored. There is no worse minute to concede in and the ground emptied in the silence that follows one.
Match27 May 2028
It needed Marat Kalinchenko to find the net to bring anything home at all: 2‑2 against Ostrovets, and half the dressing room will call it a point won.
Squad29 May 2028
Words at Slonim training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ivan Semin 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.
Player ratings29 May 2028
Successful dribbles: 14. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad15 May 2028
Alexandr Fedosenko damages knee ligaments — 35 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 35 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.
Squad15 May 2028
A falling-out at Slonim
Dmitriy Sai and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Match13 May 2028
Volna Pinsk left with the points after a 1‑2 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Boardroom15 May 2028
No fees may be paid for anybody, whatever the squad needs. Every rumour about this club until it lifts is a rumour about a deal that cannot be done.
Boardroom15 May 2028
134% of the income goes out in wages at Slonim
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.
Boardroom15 May 2028
The borrowing at Slonim reaches $4.5M
Past the limit the bank set, which is the line between a club being financed and a club being in trouble. $4.5M is now the number every conversation about this club will start with.
The dugout15 May 2028
“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 1‑2, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
Squad15 May 2028
A row about effort at Slonim
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Ivan Semin was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout15 May 2028
Dmitriy Sai gets picked when it counts
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 Dmitriy Sai is on it.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market8 May 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 Slonim can pretend not to have heard.
Squad8 May 2028
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Viktor Berg commits to Slonim for another 2 years.
Squad8 May 2028
Words exchanged at Slonim
Dmitriy Sai 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.
Boardroom8 May 2028
The owner puts $17.3K into Slonim
This is money that keeps the lights on rather than money that buys a centre-half, and the difference is the whole story. A club funded by its owner rather than by its football has exactly one conversation left ahead of it.
Match6 May 2028
Nobody wins at Slonim
8 home matches unbeaten. Visiting sides arrive already talking about the atmosphere, which is usually the sign that they have half-lost before kickoff.
Squad8 May 2028
Patrik Kelemen in trouble away from the ground
Every paper's favourite story and every manager's least. What happened is being dealt with internally, which is the phrase clubs use when they would rather nobody asked again.
Squad8 May 2028
Words at Slonim training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ivan Semin 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.
Match6 May 2028
It finished 1‑1, and it somehow always looked like it would. One of those afternoons where the table moves less than the tempers.
The dugout8 May 2028
The manager makes an example of Ivan Semin
“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
Match22 Apr 2028
Chastening afternoon for Slonim
A 0‑4 beating by Lida was the sort of result that empties a stadium long before the final whistle.
Market24 Apr 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 Slonim can pretend not to have heard.
Squad24 Apr 2028
6 saves, and a scoreline the ten men in front of him had no right to. Goalkeepers only get noticed on the bad days; this was one of the other ones.
Match22 Apr 2028
After 8 games, Slonim finally taste it again
The first defeat in 8 matches. The manager will say it had to come; the dressing room will say it did not have to come against Lida; the supporters will say both, in that order, all week.
Squad24 Apr 2028
Dmitriy Sai 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 Slonim this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The dugout24 Apr 2028
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Dmitriy Vechorko, and the manager let it.
Boardroom24 Apr 2028
Nobody left the Slonim dressing room in a hurry
The door stayed shut a long time after the final whistle. What was said in there is between them; whether it worked is between them and Saturday.
The dugout24 Apr 2028
“I could talk about decisions and I could talk about luck. I will not. We lost.” The manager, 0‑4, and a press conference that lasted four minutes.
Squad24 Apr 2028
Words at Slonim training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ivan Semin 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
Steady
Squad3 Apr 2028
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Slonim will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Market3 Apr 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.
The dugout3 Apr 2028
“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.
Boardroom3 Apr 2028
Slonim told to sell
The instruction came from the boardroom and the dugout did not agree with it. Somebody will go, the fee will be called good business, and the manager will spend the season rebuilding around the space.
Squad3 Apr 2028
Tempers go at Slonim
Dmitriy Sai 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.
Boardroom3 Apr 2028
The owner puts $10.7K into Slonim
This is money that keeps the lights on rather than money that buys a centre-half, and the difference is the whole story. A club funded by its owner rather than by its football has exactly one conversation left ahead of it.
Squad3 Apr 2028
“The easiest signature of my career.” Ivan Semin and Slonim agree another 3 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Market3 Apr 2028
Vitaliy Para is free to find somewhere else
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at Slonim has been clear about where Vitaliy Para stands, which is more than many ever get.
Squad3 Apr 2028
Ivan Semin is no longer first choice
The manager has re-ordered his thinking and Ivan Semin 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.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad27 Mar 2028
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Slonim will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Market27 Mar 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 Slonim can pretend not to have heard.
Market27 Mar 2028
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Slonim is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Squad27 Mar 2028
Dmitriy Sai 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 Slonim this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad27 Mar 2028
Ivan Semin 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 dugout27 Mar 2028
Nikita Chuyko knocks on the manager’s door
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Nikita Chuyko trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad13 Mar 2028
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Slonim will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Market13 Mar 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 Slonim, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad13 Mar 2028
Words exchanged at Slonim
Dmitriy Sai 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 targets13 Mar 2028
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Torpedo-BelAZ have kept their man, and Slonim go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Boardroom13 Mar 2028
No fees may be paid for anybody, whatever the squad needs. Every rumour about this club until it lifts is a rumour about a deal that cannot be done.
Boardroom13 Mar 2028
The borrowing at Slonim reaches $4.1M
Past the limit the bank set, which is the line between a club being financed and a club being in trouble. $4.1M is now the number every conversation about this club will start with.
The dugout13 Mar 2028
The manager makes an example of Artur Chuduk
“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.
Match11 Mar 2028
It finished 1‑1, and it somehow always looked like it would. One of those afternoons where the table moves less than the tempers.
The dugout13 Mar 2028
“A point is a point and I will take it, but we should have had all three.” Mikalai Ihnatovich after the 1‑1 draw, and the sentence every manager in the country said at some stage this weekend.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad28 Feb 2028
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Slonim will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Market28 Feb 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.
Market28 Feb 2028
Only the photograph left for Ivan Semin
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Ivan Semin will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Slonim the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Boardroom28 Feb 2028
Window shuts: 3 in, 5 out at Slonim
The deadline has passed and the squad is the squad. 3 arrived, 5 left, and everything else printed about this club last month was a rumour that stayed one.
Transfer targets28 Feb 2028
Everything agreed with Gomel, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
Boardroom28 Feb 2028
The rules permit it and it stings anyway. Ivan Semin has agreed terms with Arsenal Dzerzhinsk for the summer, and until then he pulls on this shirt as a player who has already chosen his next one.
Market28 Feb 2028
The shirt still fits. Artur Chuduk is back at Slonim, and half the ground remembers him in these colours already. Some signings need selling to the town; this one sold itself.
Squad28 Feb 2028
Dmitriy Sai 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 Slonim this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Transfer targets28 Feb 2028
Slonim asked and Gomel said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market14 Feb 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 Slonim, and it is not being withdrawn.
Transfer targets14 Feb 2028
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Slonim have done the hard part with Vitebsk, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
Squad14 Feb 2028
Words exchanged at Slonim
Dmitriy Sai 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 targets14 Feb 2028
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Torpedo-BelAZ have kept their man, and Slonim go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Squad14 Feb 2028
Words at Slonim training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ilya Lebedev 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 dugout14 Feb 2028
Ilya Lebedev 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 Slonim, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Market14 Feb 2028
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Arseniy Zhukovskiy signs something — a contract at Slonim or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
The dugout14 Feb 2028
Artur Chuyko has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at Slonim 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.
Market14 Feb 2028
Ivan Semin runs his contract down
6 months remain and no agreement is close. Every week without a signature costs Slonim money.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Boardroom24 Jan 2028
The silence upstairs is getting loud at Slonim
Nobody on the board has said anything against the manager, which is the point — they have stopped saying anything for him either.
Market24 Jan 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 Slonim, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad24 Jan 2028
The medical room confirms 41 days on the sidelines for Ivan Semin, and a plan built around him now has to be rebuilt.
Squad24 Jan 2028
A falling-out at Slonim
Dmitriy Sai and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Boardroom24 Jan 2028
Slonim counting the cost
The accounts make uncomfortable reading. Wages first and ambition second is the order of business at Slonim now.
Squad24 Jan 2028
A row about effort at Slonim
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Ilya Lebedev was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Boardroom24 Jan 2028
Wages eat 102% of everything Slonim 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.
Squad24 Jan 2028
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Vladislav Demeshevich and Slonim agree another 3 years.
Market24 Jan 2028
“We are a long way apart, and pretending otherwise helps nobody.” Neither side is close, and the calendar is not on the club's side.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad10 Jan 2028
Tempers go at Slonim
Dmitriy Sai was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
The dugout10 Jan 2028
The manager has not finished forgetting Vitaliy Para'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.
The dugout10 Jan 2028
Artur Chuyko has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at Slonim 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.
Market10 Jan 2028
“We are a long way apart, and pretending otherwise helps nobody.” Neither side is close, and the calendar is not on the club's side.
The dugout10 Jan 2028
Vitaliy Para 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.
Market10 Jan 2028
Still no signature from Ivan Semin
7 months left and the two sides are nowhere near each other. Every week this drags on takes money off what Slonim could get for him.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Boardroom3 Jan 2028
What was said behind closed doors has now been said in front of a microphone. Everybody at Slonim can do the arithmetic, including the man it is aimed at.
Squad3 Jan 2028
Tempers go at Slonim
Dmitriy Sai 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.
Squad3 Jan 2028
Ilya Lebedev 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.
Boardroom3 Jan 2028
The Slonim debt reaches $3.7M
Football clubs borrow; that is not the story. Borrowing more than the facility allows is, because from here it is the owner's money or somebody else's decision, and neither of those belongs to the board.
The dugout3 Jan 2028
Ivan Semin 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.
The dugout3 Jan 2028
Dmitriy Sai loses the manager who believed in him
A change in the dugout is not one story, it is twenty-five of them. This is Dmitriy Sai's: he was somebody's player, and now he has to be somebody else's, starting from nothing.
Market3 Jan 2028
“We are a long way apart, and pretending otherwise helps nobody.” Neither side is close, and the calendar is not on the club's side.
The dugout3 Jan 2028
Ivan Furmanov knocks on the manager’s door
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Ivan Furmanov trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Market3 Jan 2028
Every press conference now starts and ends the same way: with Nikita Chuyko’s future. The manager has run out of new ways to say nothing.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad6 Dec 2027
Tempers go at Slonim
Dmitriy Sai 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.
Squad6 Dec 2027
Words at Slonim training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Dmitriy Vechorko 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.
Boardroom6 Dec 2027
Slonim are $3.6M in the red
The borrowing is past what the bank agreed, which is the line where a debt stops being how football is financed and starts being a problem. Every phone-in in this town will quote the figure for the next five years.
Market6 Dec 2027
Signings arrive with a picture of the club in their head, and this one’s picture was bigger than the building. He will play well and he will be gone, in that order, and everybody knows it.
Market6 Dec 2027
Slonim and Ivan Semin are talking past each other
“There is a gap, and pretending there is not helps nobody.” Neither side has moved, and the calendar is working for exactly one of them.
The dugout6 Dec 2027
Viktor Berg 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.
Squad6 Dec 2027
No place for Rasmus Kund in the new shape
He is not being dropped. There is simply nowhere in the formation Slonim are playing to put a man who does what he does, which is a harder thing to be told than any team sheet.
Squad6 Dec 2027
Not a new contract, not a new number: a new place in the manager’s thinking, which is the only promotion in football that actually matters. Ivan Semin has moved up it.
The dugout6 Dec 2027
Rasmus Kund 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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market29 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.
Boardroom29 Nov 2027
Pressure builds in the Slonim boardroom
The directors have stopped offering the manager public warmth. In football that is usually the stage before the short statement.
Squad29 Nov 2027
Words exchanged at Slonim
Ilya Lebedev 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.
Boardroom29 Nov 2027
The numbers do not look good at Slonim
Wages have outrun income and the accountants have started attending meetings they used to send apologies to. Ambition comes second in a season like this.
Squad29 Nov 2027
Words at Slonim training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Dmitriy Vechorko 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.
Boardroom29 Nov 2027
Wages eat 253% of everything Slonim 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.
Market29 Nov 2027
He is 19, and the scouting reports agree on the only line that matters: the ceiling. Signings like this are lottery tickets written by professionals.
The dugout29 Nov 2027
The manager makes an example of Vitaliy Para
“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.
Squad29 Nov 2027
He is not being dropped. There is simply nowhere in the formation Slonim are playing to put a man who does what he does, which is a harder thing to be told than any team sheet.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad27 Sep 2027
A falling-out at Slonim
Dmitriy Sai and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad27 Sep 2027
Too much change too quickly at Slonim
10 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 dugout27 Sep 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Ivan Semin, and the manager let it.
Squad27 Sep 2027
No place for Ben Gaerty in the new shape
He is not being dropped. There is simply nowhere in the formation Slonim are playing to put a man who does what he does, which is a harder thing to be told than any team sheet.
Market27 Sep 2027
Every press conference now starts and ends the same way: with Arseniy Zhukovskiy’s future. The manager has run out of new ways to say nothing.
Squad27 Sep 2027
“I want to play”: Ivan Semin speaks
“I respect the manager and I am not going to sit here and pretend I am happy.” It is the most common sentence in football and it has never once been the end of a story.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match31 Mar 2027
The cup run ends for Slonim
0‑2 against Neman, and the road stops here. Cup exits are quick deaths — no second leg, no next week, just the league from now until May.
Squad5 Apr 2027
A falling-out at Slonim
Dmitriy Sai and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad5 Apr 2027
Roman Mushulov 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 dugout5 Apr 2027
“I could talk about decisions and I could talk about luck. I will not. We lost.” The manager, 0‑2, and a press conference that lasted four minutes.
Squad5 Apr 2027
A place in the month's best eleven for Nikita Chuyko
Four or five weekends of consistency, judged against everybody in the division doing his job. Nikita Chuyko has come out of that comparison in the side, and Slonim have had the benefit of every one of those afternoons.
The dugout5 Apr 2027
Ilya Lebedev 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.
Squad5 Apr 2027
Slonim will explain it as a decision about the team, and it may well be one. A dressing room has never once read it that way.
The dugout5 Apr 2027
Viktor Berg 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 Slonim, and both men came out saying it was fine.
The dugout5 Apr 2027
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.