Marked for Ruslan Slavin
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad20 Sep 2027
Rinat Shakerov: 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.” Tyumen have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Match18 Sep 2027
Still nobody has beaten Tyumen
The unbeaten run reaches 7. Some of them were wins and some were escapes, but a side that refuses to lose is a side other dressing rooms talk about.
Player ratings20 Sep 2027
Successful dribbles: 22. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad20 Sep 2027
Tempers go at Tyumen
Damir Talikin 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.
Player ratings20 Sep 2027
Marked 8.94 — the sort of number a correspondent writes down twice to be sure. Everything he tried came off, and what he did not try was not worth trying.
Squad20 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.
Match18 Sep 2027
A 1‑1 draw with Leningradets leaves the dressing room somewhere between relief and regret.
Squad20 Sep 2027
“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.
Market20 Sep 2027
The Tomas Rukas story refuses to die
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Tomas Rukas signs something — a contract at Tyumen or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Player ratings6 Sep 2027
Successful dribbles: 27. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad6 Sep 2027
Alexandr Bem 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 Tyumen this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Boardroom6 Sep 2027
$44.6K of the owner's money at Tyumen
The shortfall was covered from upstairs again. Supporters are entitled to be relieved and entitled to ask what happens the month it is not, and both feelings usually arrive together.
Boardroom6 Sep 2027
Wages eat 253% of everything Tyumen 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.
Loan watch6 Sep 2027
“I am grateful for the games, but I did not become a footballer to be somebody else's spare part.” He wants to be at Tyumen, and 0 appearances in 10 say he has earned the hearing.
Boardroom6 Sep 2027
The Tyumen debt reaches $6.3M
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.
Squad6 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.
Squad6 Sep 2027
“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 Tyumen know it.
Player ratings6 Sep 2027
Marked 7.68 on an afternoon he ran from the first whistle to the last. Whatever else went wrong, Tyumen had the best player on the pitch.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Market9 Aug 2027
The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.
Market9 Aug 2027
Everything was agreed until it was not, and Vitaly Shitov reports back to Tyumen with a summer to forget. Neither club is saying who walked away from the table.
Player ratings9 Aug 2027
Successful dribbles: 25. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad9 Aug 2027
Tempers go at Tyumen
Vitaly Shitov 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.
Boardroom9 Aug 2027
156% of the income goes out in wages at Tyumen
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.
Squad9 Aug 2027
Alexandr Bem 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.
Match7 Aug 2027
0‑1 to Dinamo Kirov, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Squad9 Aug 2027
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Sergey Zuikov and Tyumen agree another 2 years.
Boardroom9 Aug 2027
The Tyumen debt reaches $5.4M
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.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad2 Aug 2027
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Tyumen may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Match31 Jul 2027
Whatever happens, Tyumen do not lose
10 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.
Player ratings2 Aug 2027
Successful dribbles: 23. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad2 Aug 2027
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Tyumen this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Market2 Aug 2027
Dinamo Bryansk are about to pick up the phone
A conversation is coming this week. Tyumen will put a number on him, and from there it stops being football and becomes arithmetic.
Squad2 Aug 2027
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Sergey Zuikov and Tyumen agree another 2 years.
Squad2 Aug 2027
“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 Tyumen know it.
Player ratings2 Aug 2027
Marked 7.90 on an afternoon he ran from the first whistle to the last. Whatever else went wrong, Tyumen had the best player on the pitch.
Match31 Jul 2027
Point won or two lost for Tyumen?
Ninety minutes, no goals, and the argument started before the car park emptied: a point gained, or two thrown away against Sibir? Both sides of it will still be going on Thursday.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market4 Jan 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.
Player ratings4 Jan 2027
Successful dribbles: 29. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad4 Jan 2027
Brayan Gil is named among the best
There are footballers who have a good season and footballers a season is remembered for, and the second kind get their names read out in a hall in the summer. Baltika will be quietly delighted and privately nervous.
Squad4 Jan 2027
The medical room confirms 110 days on the sidelines for Vladimir Khubulov, and a plan built around him now has to be rebuilt.
Squad4 Jan 2027
Eldar Ćivić 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.
Match2 Jan 2027
Rubin left with the points after a 0‑1 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Squad4 Jan 2027
The manager makes an example of Stefan Kovač
“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.
Market4 Jan 2027
The Brayan Gil story refuses to die
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Brayan Gil signs something — a contract at Baltika or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
Player ratings4 Jan 2027
A mark of 5.74 tells the story without any need for embellishment. He will want the tape of this one quietly lost.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Match4 Jan 2027
Tyumen refuse to drop out of the race
Position 3, 23 points, and the result everyone checks first is now theirs. The word is still not being said around the ground, which is how you know everyone is thinking it.
Squad4 Jan 2027
Tomas Rukas is named among the best
There are footballers who have a good season and footballers a season is remembered for, and the second kind get their names read out in a hall in the summer. Tyumen will be quietly delighted and privately nervous.
Market4 Jan 2027
Rajneel Singh 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 Tyumen can pretend not to have heard.
Squad4 Jan 2027
Tempers go at Tyumen
Vitaly Shitov 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.
Squad4 Jan 2027
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Ruslan Slavin commits to Tyumen for another 3 years.
Market4 Jan 2027
“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
Match18 Nov 2026
The small margins put Baltika out
Out, 0‑0 to Yenisey, and the long argument about which of the small moments decided it. The league is all there is now, and everybody knows it.
Player ratings23 Nov 2026
Successful dribbles: 32. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Market23 Nov 2026
“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 Baltika, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad23 Nov 2026
Yegor Lyubakov decides it from twelve yards
1 kept out in the shoot-out, and a stadium that will still be describing them in twenty years. A goalkeeper only needs one of these to be remembered forever.
Match21 Nov 2026
The wait goes on for Baltika
5 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.
Squad23 Nov 2026
Eldar Ćivić 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.
Match21 Nov 2026
Krylya Sovetov left with the points after a 1‑2 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Squad23 Nov 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Tenton Yenne, and the manager let it.
Player ratings23 Nov 2026
The kick that got away from Ruslan Slavin
Twelve yards, a goalkeeper guessing, and it still did not go in. He will take the next one, and every soul in the ground will hold their breath.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market24 Aug 2026
“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 Baltika, and it is not being withdrawn.
Player ratings24 Aug 2026
Successful dribbles: 27. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Market24 Aug 2026
The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.
Market24 Aug 2026
Business is business: Maxim Petrov goes
CSKA Moscow paid $3.8M and Baltika took it, which is the whole story in one sentence. The longer version involves a wage budget and will be told all season.
Squad24 Aug 2026
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Baltika this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Player ratings24 Aug 2026
A performance of 8.34 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
Squad24 Aug 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Alexandr Filin, and the manager let it.
Match22 Aug 2026
A 1‑1 draw with Akron leaves the dressing room somewhere between relief and regret.
Market24 Aug 2026
“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.