Marked for Agustín Giménez
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad8 Nov 2027
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 7 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
The dugout8 Nov 2027
This is not rotation. Francisco Abella has not been in the manager's plans for some time, and nobody at Ufa is pretending otherwise.
Squad8 Nov 2027
Mohamed Azzi 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.
Match6 Nov 2027
A bad afternoon for Ufa against Baltika
1‑2 to Baltika, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Squad8 Nov 2027
Words exchanged at Ufa
Zalimkhan Yusupov 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.
Match8 Nov 2027
Halfway: Ufa sit in position 15
8 points at the turn. The first half of a season is a promise; the second is a bill, and the town is about to find out which of the two this one was.
The dugout8 Nov 2027
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 1‑2 Danil Sedov left the room before anybody could ask which.
Squad8 Nov 2027
A month is long enough that nobody gets in by accident. Emiliano Daghero is in the division's best eleven for it, which is a quieter compliment than an award and a more reliable one.
The dugout8 Nov 2027
“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.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match11 Sep 2027
11 matches without a win for Ufa
The run now stands at 11, and the questions being asked around Ufa are no longer polite ones.
Squad13 Sep 2027
A fracture rules Vasily Cherov out for 29 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Ufa will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
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 The request is on a desk at Ufa, and it is not being withdrawn.
Transfer targets13 Sep 2027
Ufa and Orenburg have settled on $150.0K. The rest belongs to the player and his agent, and a supporter who has watched one of these before knows not to buy the shirt yet.
The dugout13 Sep 2027
“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.
Boardroom13 Sep 2027
Ufa close the window on a squad of their own making
27 in and 18 out, and no more changes for months. The manager has what he has, the supporters have their opinion of it, and the table will have the last word.
Squad13 Sep 2027
Tempers go at Ufa
Vladislav Kamilov 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.
Squad13 Sep 2027
A row about effort at Ufa
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Mohamed Azzi was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Transfer targets13 Sep 2027
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Tyumen have kept their man, and Ufa go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match28 Aug 2027
No end in sight to Ufa's wait for a win
10 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Ufa has to find a result from somewhere.
Squad30 Aug 2027
43 days out for Vasily Cherov after a fracture
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Ufa will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
The dugout30 Aug 2027
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Ufa have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Market30 Aug 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 Ufa, and it is not being withdrawn.
Market30 Aug 2027
Only the photograph left for Shamil Isaev
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Shamil Isaev will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Ufa the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Squad30 Aug 2027
A falling-out at Ufa
Vladislav Kamilov and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Transfer targets30 Aug 2027
Ufa 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.
Squad30 Aug 2027
A row about effort at Ufa
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Mohamed Azzi was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Match28 Aug 2027
Zenit take the points off Ufa
Beaten 1‑2, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Market1 Feb 2027
“It was not right for me. I am not going to explain why to anybody except the people I owe an explanation to.” A deal agreed between two clubs, and a player who declined to be part of it.
Match1 Feb 2027
Ufa are top
49 points and nobody above them. The word is not being said around the ground yet, and it is being thought in every seat.
Match30 Jan 2027
Every run ends on an afternoon somebody had marked down as routine. This one went 15 matches, which is long enough that a town had stopped counting, and short enough that it will remember exactly who stopped it.
Market1 Feb 2027
Khazar come back empty-handed
The bid was some way short and Ufa did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.
Market1 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 Ufa, and it is not being withdrawn.
Market1 Feb 2027
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Zenit Penza waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Ufa is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
The dugout1 Feb 2027
“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.
Player ratings1 Feb 2027
At 33 every good afternoon gets called a throwback, and this one was: 8.10, and nobody on the pitch better.
Squad1 Feb 2027
Agustín Giménez arrives at the club he grew up with
Every footballer has an answer to the question about his boyhood club, and most of them never get to act on it. Agustín Giménez has, at Ufa, and the first month will show what that does to a man.