Marked for Danil Shashlov
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad25 Aug 2036
David Sangaré breaks a bone — 22 days out
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 22 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Match20 Aug 2036
Sokol bow out of the cup
Shakhter Donetsk go through and Sokol go home, 1‑2 the scoreline that did it. The dressing room will call the league the priority now, because that is what dressing rooms say.
Player ratings25 Aug 2036
Philippe Moreau could not have asked for more on his first appearance — 8.15
Debuts are survived rather than enjoyed. This one was enjoyed: 8.15, 1 goals, and a manager already being asked whether he starts again next week.
Squad25 Aug 2036
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 6 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Match23 Aug 2036
5 matches without a win for Sokol
The run now stands at 5, and the questions being asked around Sokol are no longer polite ones.
The dugout25 Aug 2036
Fernando Cordoba: 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.” Sokol have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Market25 Aug 2036
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Sokol they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Squad25 Aug 2036
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Sokol this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The terraces25 Aug 2036
He is 22 and the ground already sings his name, which is a thing that happens to local boys and almost never to signings. Everything from here is measured against an affection he did nothing to earn except be from here.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad30 Jun 2036
42 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Sokol lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Squad30 Jun 2036
78 days out for David Sangaré after a fracture
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Sokol will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Market30 Jun 2036
“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 Sokol, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad30 Jun 2036
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Sokol this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Transfer targets30 Jun 2036
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.
Squad30 Jun 2036
A muscle injury sidelines Matvey Lykov for 14 days
Nobody makes a documentary about a hamstring and everybody in the game fears one. Sokol will be careful with the return date, because the second one is always worse than the first.
Market30 Jun 2036
“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 dugout30 Jun 2036
Nobody will confirm this and nothing else explains the last month of selections. A costly error buys a player a period of being second choice that is always longer than the error was.
Market30 Jun 2036
Sokol have made Danila Matvevnin available for transfer. A career at this club is over in all but paperwork.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad26 May 2036
Aleksej Golijanin damages knee ligaments — 77 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 77 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 terraces26 May 2036
The mood at Sokol has turned into something else
Supporters who sing when it goes badly are supporters. Supporters who gather afterwards are a problem, and everybody inside the building knows which of the two this now is.
Squad26 May 2036
113 days out for David Sangaré after a fracture
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Sokol will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Squad26 May 2036
A falling-out at Sokol
Andrey Ostrovskiy and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad26 May 2036
Words at Sokol training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Alexey Ismagilov 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.
Boardroom26 May 2036
Wages eat 126% of everything Sokol 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.
Market26 May 2036
Pavel Blinov is free to find somewhere else
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at Sokol has been clear about where Pavel Blinov stands, which is more than many ever get.
The dugout26 May 2036
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Ogino Zeukang, and the manager let it.
The dugout26 May 2036
The manager has not finished forgetting Danil Shashlov'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.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad28 Apr 2036
A knee injury of the worst kind for Aleksej Golijanin
105 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Sokol lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
The terraces28 Apr 2036
Supporters organise against the Sokol 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.
The dugout28 Apr 2036
Alexandr Shubin: 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.” Sokol have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Market28 Apr 2036
“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 Sokol, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad28 Apr 2036
Tempers go at Sokol
Alexandr Shubin 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.
Squad28 Apr 2036
Alexey Ismagilov 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.
Boardroom28 Apr 2036
Wages swallow 140% of the Sokol 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.
The dugout28 Apr 2036
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Andrey Anisimov, and the manager let it.
The dugout28 Apr 2036
“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.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
The terraces31 Mar 2036
The mood at Sokol has turned into something else
Supporters who sing when it goes badly are supporters. Supporters who gather afterwards are a problem, and everybody inside the building knows which of the two this now is.
Market31 Mar 2036
“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.
Squad31 Mar 2036
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Sokol this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad31 Mar 2036
Words at Sokol training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Alexey Ismagilov 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.
Boardroom31 Mar 2036
Wages eat 147% of everything Sokol 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 dugout31 Mar 2036
Zaur Kasaev 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.
Looking ahead31 Mar 2036
A test against the best for Sokol
The team at the top of the table next, and the honest measure of where this side actually is. Anybody can beat the club below them; the question is what happens against Krasnodar.
Squad31 Mar 2036
A Sokol teenager takes the young player award
Nikita Baranov is 19, and for one weekend he was the best of everybody his age in the division. Nobody should build a career on it and everybody quietly does.
The dugout31 Mar 2036
The manager has not finished forgetting Danil Shashlov'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.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Market24 Mar 2036
“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 dugout24 Mar 2036
This is not rotation. Foma Yershov has not been in the manager's plans for some time, and nobody at Sokol is pretending otherwise.
Squad24 Mar 2036
A falling-out at Sokol
David Sangaré and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad24 Mar 2036
A row about effort at Sokol
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Alexey Ismagilov was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout24 Mar 2036
“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.
Match22 Mar 2036
Sokol and Ufa take a point apiece
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 dugout24 Mar 2036
The manager’s verdict
“I am frustrated, honestly. We did enough to win and we did not win.” Interim Coach was not hiding it after 1‑1, and nobody in the Sokol dressing room was either.
Squad24 Mar 2036
At 19 he was the best of everybody his age in the division for one weekend. Nobody should build a career on it and everybody quietly does.
The dugout24 Mar 2036
It is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. Sokol told Danil Shashlov something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad28 Jan 2036
22 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Sokol lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Market28 Jan 2036
“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 targets28 Jan 2036
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Sokol have done the hard part with Rostov, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
The dugout28 Jan 2036
This is not rotation. Foma Yershov has not been in the manager's plans for some time, and nobody at Sokol is pretending otherwise.
Transfer targets28 Jan 2036
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.
Squad28 Jan 2036
Words at Sokol training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Alexey Ismagilov 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.
Squad28 Jan 2036
“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; Sokol are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
Squad28 Jan 2036
A falling-out at Sokol
Danil Shashlov and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Transfer targets28 Jan 2036
Rostov have been asked whether they would lend him. Loans are agreed quickly or not at all, and this one will be one or the other by the weekend.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match15 Dec 2035
The wait goes on for Sokol
10 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.
Squad17 Dec 2035
Tempers go at Sokol
David Sangaré 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 Dec 2035
Words at Sokol training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Danila Matvevnin 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 dugout17 Dec 2035
“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.
Match15 Dec 2035
A point taken on 89 minutes is worth exactly one point and considerably more than that to a dressing room. This side does not stop, which is a reputation worth more than the result.
Loan watch17 Dec 2035
“I watch every Sokol game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Druzhba runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
Match15 Dec 2035
Sokol and Shinnik take a point apiece
It finished 2‑2, and it somehow always looked like it would. One of those afternoons where the table moves less than the tempers.
The dugout17 Dec 2035
Half-satisfied: Interim Coach on the draw
“There are things I liked and things we will be doing on Tuesday until they are right.” 2‑2, and a manager who had already decided what Tuesday looked like.
Squad17 Dec 2035
The one goal every signing is asked about until it comes. It has come, and a press-conference question has been retired.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Market19 Nov 2035
“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 dugout19 Nov 2035
Santiago Barrios: 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.” Sokol have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Squad19 Nov 2035
Words exchanged at Sokol
Alexey Ismagilov 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 Nov 2035
Aleksej Golijanin 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 dugout19 Nov 2035
Pavel Blinov 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.
Squad19 Nov 2035
15 days, the medical staff say, and medical staff are optimists by profession. The team sheet will look wrong without him.
Squad19 Nov 2035
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Sokol can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
Loan watch19 Nov 2035
“I did not go to Druzhba to sit and watch. I want to come back to Sokol and fight for my place.” 2 appearances in 9 matches say the rest.
Market19 Nov 2035
“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
Crisis
The terraces12 Nov 2035
Anger at Sokol spills outside the ground
It has stopped being a mood in the stands and started being something organised. Boards can ignore a bad atmosphere for a long time; they cannot ignore this stage of it for very long at all.
Squad12 Nov 2035
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.
Market12 Nov 2035
“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 Sokol, and it is not being withdrawn.
Match10 Nov 2035
5 matches without a win for Sokol
The run now stands at 5, and the questions being asked around Sokol are no longer polite ones.
Match10 Nov 2035
Sokol cannot find the net
4 games without scoring. Strikers stop looking up, midfielders take the extra touch, and every shot that clears the bar is followed by a groan that has been building since the last goal.
Squad12 Nov 2035
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Sokol this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad12 Nov 2035
A row about effort at Sokol
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Aleksej Golijanin was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout12 Nov 2035
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Artem Zakirov, and the manager let it.
Match10 Nov 2035
A bad afternoon for Sokol against Akron
0‑1 to Akron, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
The terraces15 Oct 2035
The mood at Sokol has turned into something else
Supporters who sing when it goes badly are supporters. Supporters who gather afterwards are a problem, and everybody inside the building knows which of the two this now is.
Squad15 Oct 2035
Pavel Blinov gets the move he always wanted
Footballers are asked about their boyhood club so often that nobody listens to the answer. Pavel Blinov has just signed for Sokol, and for once the answer mattered.
Market15 Oct 2035
“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.
Squad15 Oct 2035
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Sokol this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad15 Oct 2035
A row about effort at Sokol
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Ilja Dronov was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout15 Oct 2035
“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.
Boardroom15 Oct 2035
Wages swallow 124% of the Sokol 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.
Squad15 Oct 2035
The formation has left Ilja Dronov behind
Every shape has positions in it and this one does not have his. Sokol will either change the shape, change his job, or change his club, and he is waiting to hear which.
Market15 Oct 2035
“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.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match3 Oct 2035
Cup ties wait for somebody to seize them, and Maxime Hongla obliged against Chernomorets. 5‑2 on the night, and the name in the next round’s hat is Sokol.
Player ratings8 Oct 2035
At 33 every good afternoon gets called a throwback, and this one was: 7.87, and nobody on the pitch better.
Market8 Oct 2035
“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 Sokol, and it is not being withdrawn.
Player ratings8 Oct 2035
7.92, 1 on the scoresheet, and the specific comedy of a back-four player celebrating like somebody who does this every week. He does not, and that is exactly why the ground reacted the way it did.
Squad8 Oct 2035
Tempers go at Sokol
Andrey Anisimov 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.
Match3 Oct 2035
Defending was optional and nobody took up the option. 7 goals between Sokol and Chernomorets, and not one of the people who paid to be there will ask for the money back.
Squad8 Oct 2035
Words at Sokol training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Aleksej Golijanin 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.
Boardroom8 Oct 2035
$646.5K of the owner's money at Sokol
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.
The terraces8 Oct 2035
Sokol supporters have found a favourite in Maxime Hongla
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 22-year-old it feels ownership of. Maxime Hongla 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
Steady
The terraces20 Aug 2035
Supporters organise against the Sokol 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.
Market20 Aug 2035
“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.
Market20 Aug 2035
Sokol say no — this time
The offer from Nosta for Boris Chaykovsky was heard out and sent back the same day. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loudly the door closes.
Transfer targets20 Aug 2035
Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at Baltika is saying, and nobody at Sokol is enjoying the guessing.
Squad20 Aug 2035
A falling-out at Sokol
David Sangaré and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Transfer targets20 Aug 2035
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.
Squad20 Aug 2035
Words at Sokol training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Alexey Ismagilov 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 ratings20 Aug 2035
A mark of 7.80, and nobody in the ground would argue with it. He was involved in everything that mattered and most of what did not.
Transfer targets20 Aug 2035
A loan enquiry to Nizhniy Novgorod: cover, or a look at somebody the club cannot afford to buy yet. Either way the answer will come back inside the week.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market30 Jul 2035
“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.
Market30 Jul 2035
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Sokol they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Transfer targets30 Jul 2035
Everything agreed with Sochi, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
Squad30 Jul 2035
Words exchanged at Sokol
David Sangaré 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.
Squad30 Jul 2035
It happens to all of them and it is still the hardest paragraph a local paper has to write. 35 years old, 3 points down on where he was, and a body that has started charging interest on a career.
Transfer targets30 Jul 2035
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Ural have kept their man, and Sokol go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Squad30 Jul 2035
Alexey Ismagilov 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.
Match28 Jul 2035
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Yann Junior Mengue. 1‑0 against Shinnik, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Player ratings30 Jul 2035
Marked 7.70 on an afternoon he ran from the first whistle to the last. Whatever else went wrong, Sokol had the best player on the pitch.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match4 Nov 2034
No end in sight to Sokol's wait for a win
9 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Sokol has to find a result from somewhere.
Boardroom6 Nov 2034
Interim Coach has until the next board meeting
What was said behind closed doors has now been said in front of a microphone. Everybody at Sokol can do the arithmetic, including the man it is aimed at.
The dugout6 Nov 2034
“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.
Squad6 Nov 2034
Tempers go at Sokol
David Sangaré 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.
Boardroom6 Nov 2034
$802.4K of the owner's money at Sokol
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.
Match4 Nov 2034
A bad afternoon for Sokol against Orenburg
0‑2 to Orenburg, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
The dugout6 Nov 2034
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to David Sangaré, and the manager let it.
Squad6 Nov 2034
Cliques at Sokol
It is the quietest kind of dressing-room problem and the one that lasts longest, because nobody has done anything anyone can be disciplined for. 2 players sit outside all 3 groups entirely, which is the detail that tends to matter.
Player ratings6 Nov 2034
Ilja Popov ran the middle of the pitch — 6.70
He won it back and then made something of it, which is two jobs and the reason the scoreline looks the way it does. 9 combined actions and a mark of 6.70, and not one of them will make a highlights package.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad9 Oct 2034
A knee injury of the worst kind for Danila Matvevnin
37 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Sokol lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Match4 Oct 2034
The small margins put Sokol out
Out, 1‑1 to Tyumen, and the long argument about which of the small moments decided it. The league is all there is now, and everybody knows it.
The terraces9 Oct 2034
Supporters organise against the Sokol 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.
Squad9 Oct 2034
16 days out for Vlad Konovalov after a fracture
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Sokol will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
The dugout9 Oct 2034
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Sokol may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Player ratings9 Oct 2034
A brace, and Aleksej Golijanin takes the afternoon — 8.53
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Aleksej Golijanin provided it, and the 8.53 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Market9 Oct 2034
Only the photograph left for Mark Polushin
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Mark Polushin will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Sokol the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Squad9 Oct 2034
Danil Shashlov 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.
Match7 Oct 2034
No end in sight to Sokol's wait for a win
6 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Sokol has to find a result from somewhere.