Nikita Dronov 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.
Squad17 May 2032
Words at Kolomna training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ilja Vorontsov 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.
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Kolomna, another week without a signature from Frederik Ibsen.
1 months left, and both sides know what that means: every week without a signature, the fee Kolomna could ask drops and the wages Ilja Vorontsov can ask rise.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Nikita Solomatin will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Kolomna the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Jakub Grzegorzewski was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
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.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Ilja Vorontsov trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Nikita Chelyshev will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Kolomna the goodbyes have quietly begun.
“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 The request is on a desk at Kolomna, and it is not being withdrawn.
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.
1 months left, and both sides know what that means: every week without a signature, the fee Kolomna could ask drops and the wages Rinat Garaev can ask rise.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Kolomna is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Ivan Bzikadze 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.
Squad26 Apr 2032
Words at Kolomna training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ilja Vorontsov is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Beka Djanelidze signs something — a contract at Kolomna or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
Nikita Dronov 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 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.
1 months left, and both sides know what that means: every week without a signature, the fee Kolomna could ask drops and the wages Ilja Vorontsov can ask rise.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Mikhail Osinov signs something — a contract at Kolomna or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
In brief
The dugoutPaul Murphy knocks on the manager's door
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Nikita Chelyshev will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Kolomna the goodbyes have quietly begun.
“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 Kolomna, and it is not being withdrawn.
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 manager may talk to whoever he likes and may pay nobody. A squad survives a window like this by borrowing, by promoting, and by hoping the injuries land somewhere else.
“I have given this everything, but my family is not here and neither am I, not really.” A footballer can be coached out of bad form. Nobody has ever been coached out of this, and Kolomna know it.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Jakub Grzegorzewski was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Kolomna this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
2 months left, and both sides know what that means: every week without a signature, the fee Kolomna could ask drops and the wages Ilja Vorontsov can ask rise.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Kolomna is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Ilja Vorontsov was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
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 academy exists for exactly this morning. Nazar Korolev has come through every age group the club runs and has now been handed a senior number, and the people who coached him at twelve will be the proudest in the building.
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Alexey Belikov has come through every age group the club runs and has now been handed a senior number, and the people who coached him at twelve will be the proudest in the building.
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Vladislav Rakov has been at this club since he was a boy and is now, formally, one of the first-team squad — which for a local readership beats any signing of any size.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Adrian Platon trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and KDV Tomsk waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Kolomna is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Kolomna this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
This is not rotation. Gustavo Rodrigues has not been in the manager's plans for some time, and nobody at Kolomna is pretending otherwise.
Squad23 Feb 2032
Words at Kolomna training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ilja Vorontsov 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 board had gone up, the arguing had started, and then the ball was in the net in the 91th minute. Chertanovo will replay every second of the added time for a week.
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Kolomna people have started saying his name in the past tense.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Kolomna can pretend not to have heard.
Nikita Dronov 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.
Kolomna asked and Rodina said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Squad9 Feb 2032
Words at Kolomna training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Jakub Grzegorzewski is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Dinamo St Petersburg waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Kolomna is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at Kolomna, and it is not being withdrawn.
Every run ends on an afternoon somebody had marked down as routine. This one went 8 matches, which is long enough that a town had stopped counting, and short enough that it will remember exactly who stopped it.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Kolomna this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Kolomna can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Kolomna is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Kolomna can pretend not to have heard.
Nikita Chelyshev 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 Jan 2032
Ivan Bzikadze 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.
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.
The most common injury in the game and the most rushed back from. Kolomna will quote 14 days and will be careful with it, because the second one is always worse than the first.
Some goals win a match and some take one off somebody else. Ilja Vorontsov scored in the 89th minute, Veles had already begun thinking about the journey home, and Kolomna took the lot.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Kolomna is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Kolomna this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Ilja Vorontsov was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
30 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Kolomna lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Player ratings22 Dec 2031
A brace, and Daniil Grada takes the afternoon — 8.80
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Daniil Grada provided it, and the 8.80 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Kolomna is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
“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 Kolomna, and it is not being withdrawn.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Ilja Vorontsov was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
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.
The words a physio says slowly. 37 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Kolomna is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Ivan Bzikadze was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The manager may talk to whoever he likes and may pay nobody. A squad survives a window like this by borrowing, by promoting, and by hoping the injuries land somewhere else.
0‑3 to Tver, and it was every bit as bad as the number suggests. There are defeats you argue about and defeats you apologise for; this was the second kind.
Nikita Dronov 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 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.
8 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 dugout10 Nov 2031
The manager’s verdict
“That is on me. I pick the team and I picked wrong.” Managers say that when they mean it and when they need to be seen to, and after 0‑3 Interim Coach left the room before anybody could ask which.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Kolomna this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Ivan Bzikadze was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Kolomna can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Kolomna, another week without a signature from Ilja Vorontsov.
Stephane Anguissa is 18, and Kolomna have signed him for the player he will be rather than the one he is. The first team can wait; the point of a deal like this is the years it buys.
Squad13 Oct 2031
6 new faces, and Kolomna are still learning each other
A squad rebuilt inside one window pays for it in a currency nobody budgets for. The football is not worse than the sum of the players; it is worse than the sum of the players who have played together before.
“The manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Artur Sivolapov has his answer from Kolomna; what he does with it is the next window’s story.
Every squad has one of these fixtures for somebody every season. This one is Juho Lam’s: the club that knew him first, the supporters who will decide in the first minute whether to applaud, and Kolomna needing him to play as if none of it matters.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Kolomna they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
“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 Kolomna, and it is not being withdrawn.
Player ratings29 Sep 2031
Adrian Platon was on a different afternoon to everybody else
10.00. 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.
13 goals. Both benches spent the second half looking at each other rather than at the pitch. Purists will complain about Kolomna and Yenisey 2 in equal measure; everybody else had a wonderful time.
In brief
Player ratingsDaniil Grada was on a different afternoon to everybody else
Boardroom274% of the income goes out in wages at Kolomna
Nikita Dronov was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Jakub Grzegorzewski was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Kolomna can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
The dugout15 Sep 2031
The view from the dugout
“We controlled it. There were spells I did not like and we will look at them, but the group showed me something.” Interim Coach, on a 1‑0 win that he was already picking apart on the walk to the press room.
He is not being dropped. There is simply nowhere in the formation Kolomna are playing to put a man who does what he does, which is a harder thing to be told than any team sheet.
The manager wanted a different profile for this opponent, which is a real football reason and no consolation. He did nothing wrong and he did not play.
Shots: 5. Goals: none. The chances were there and they were good ones, and they went into the stand, the goalkeeper's arms and the side netting in roughly that order.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Kolomna this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Ivan Bzikadze was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Successful dribbles: 15. 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.
Kolomna interviewed the field and appointed the corridor: Interim Coach keeps the job he had been doing in all but title. Sometimes the safest pair of hands is the one already holding the wheel.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 10 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
Squad11 Aug 2031
Ivan Bzikadze 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.
Renar Velav was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
“Some mornings you wake up and you are still a long way from everything you know.” It is not the football and it never was; Kolomna are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Interim Coach after 1‑2, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Kolomna can pretend not to have heard.
Nikita Chelyshev 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.
Squad14 Jul 2031
Words at Kolomna training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ivan Bzikadze 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.
“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.
Squad14 Jul 2031
5 new faces, and Kolomna are still learning each other
A squad rebuilt inside one window pays for it in a currency nobody budgets for. The football is not worse than the sum of the players; it is worse than the sum of the players who have played together before.
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
It is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. Kolomna told Johan Hoxer something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Kolomna can pretend not to have heard.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Kolomna this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Ivan Bzikadze was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Kolomna know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
He asked about his future and was given an answer with minutes in it. The manager has now made a promise in a building where promises are remembered, and the clock on it has started.
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.