Marked for Ivan Oborocha
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market15 May 2028
Marat Asatryan has one foot out of the door
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Yenisey 2 they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Squad15 May 2028
Artur Gilyazetdinov 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.
Squad15 May 2028
A row about effort at Yenisey 2
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Doğan Gölpek was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Squad15 May 2028
“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.
The dugout15 May 2028
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Rodion Konstantinov trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Squad15 May 2028
A year in and the city has not opened up, the language has not come, and lunch is eaten alone more often than anybody at Yenisey 2 would admit. It shows on Saturdays.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market17 Apr 2028
Marat Asatryan has one foot out of the door
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Yenisey 2 they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Squad17 Apr 2028
Words at Yenisey 2 training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Andrey Ostrovskiy 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.
Squad17 Apr 2028
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Yenisey 2 this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The dugout17 Apr 2028
Doğan Gölpek 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.
Market17 Apr 2028
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Ivan Oborocha signs something — a contract at Yenisey 2 or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
Market17 Apr 2028
The list is a quiet document with a loud meaning. Zakhar Terpugov may talk to anybody who asks, and everybody at the club understands what that means.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad20 Mar 2028
A knee injury of the worst kind for Dmitry Tashov
24 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Yenisey 2 lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Market20 Mar 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.
Market20 Mar 2028
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Yenisey 2 is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Squad20 Mar 2028
Artur Gilyazetdinov 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.
Squad20 Mar 2028
Doğan Gölpek 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.
Player ratings20 Mar 2028
Some games turn on a moment; this one turned on a man. 7.65 on the card, and the Yenisey 2 support went home talking about one name.
The dugout20 Mar 2028
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Yenisey 2, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Market20 Mar 2028
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Ivan Oborocha signs something — a contract at Yenisey 2 or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
Market20 Mar 2028
The list is a quiet document with a loud meaning. Zakhar Terpugov may talk to anybody who asks, and everybody at the club understands what that means.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Market28 Feb 2028
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Zakhar Terpugov will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Yenisey 2 the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Market28 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 Yenisey 2, and it is not being withdrawn.
Market28 Feb 2028
The phone has started ringing about Kirill Porshunov again, and this time the name on the line is Amkar. Yenisey 2 are listening politely and promising nothing.
Squad28 Feb 2028
Doğan Gölpek 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 terraces28 Feb 2028
At 22 he is being sung about by people twice his age, which is an affection a signing has to earn over years and a local kid gets for turning up. It is also the hardest thing in football to live up to.
Match26 Feb 2028
Luki-Energiya made Yenisey 2 work for it, but the scoreboard read 1‑0 at the end and the table does not ask how.
Player ratings28 Feb 2028
7.61, and no serious argument from anybody who was there. Yenisey 2 had eleven men on the pitch and one of them decided how it went.
The dugout28 Feb 2028
“We earned that. I asked them for a reaction and I got one, and now I want the same again on Saturday.” Lev Smirnov on a 1‑0 afternoon that pleased him more than he was prepared to show.
The dugout28 Feb 2028
A player who expected to start watched it instead. The manager will call it a decision for the team; Alexandr Yegorov will call it something else in private.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Match19 Feb 2028
A 2-goal lead gone for Yenisey 2
It is a specific kind of quiet, a ground watching a winning position dissolve. Zvezda kept coming because nothing stopped them, and Yenisey 2 will be asked about the last half hour all week.
Market21 Feb 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 Yenisey 2 can pretend not to have heard.
Player ratings21 Feb 2028
Marked 7.72 at 21, in a side that makes no allowances for age. He did not need any, and he looked the least nervous man on the pitch.
Squad21 Feb 2028
Words exchanged at Yenisey 2
Zakhar Terpugov 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.
Squad21 Feb 2028
The decline has begun for Doğan Gölpek
Everybody saw it before anybody said it. At 34 the numbers say 3 points down on what he was, and the question for Yenisey 2 is how to handle a man they owe a great deal.
Squad21 Feb 2028
Vladislav Skavysh 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.
Player ratings21 Feb 2028
Marked 7.82. Ask anyone leaving the ground what settled it and you will get one name, which is the only award that has ever really counted.
Match19 Feb 2028
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 dugout21 Feb 2028
“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
Upbeat
Match5 Feb 2028
4‑1, and the margin flattered nobody — it could have carried another goal or two without complaint. Afternoons like this are why people keep coming.
Player ratings7 Feb 2028
Two goals and a mark of 8.73 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Player ratings7 Feb 2028
Two goals and a mark of 8.55 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Market7 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.
Market7 Feb 2028
Only the photograph left for Bogdan Ruppel
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Bogdan Ruppel will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Yenisey 2 the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Squad7 Feb 2028
Artur Gilyazetdinov and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad7 Feb 2028
Doğan Gölpek 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 terraces7 Feb 2028
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.
Match5 Feb 2028
Yenisey 2 settle it inside twenty minutes
3 goals before the ground had finished arriving. Irkutsk spent the rest of the afternoon playing a match that had already been decided, and everybody in the stadium knew it.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Match15 Jan 2028
Beaten 1‑4 by Baltika 2, and beaten everywhere it matters. The inquest starts on the training pitch on Monday morning.
Player ratings17 Jan 2028
A defender's goal wins it for Yenisey 2 — 5.13
1 for Artur Gilyazetdinov, marked 5.13, and a centre-half's name in the part of the report he normally only reaches by mistake. He will not be allowed to forget it in the dressing room for a month.
Squad17 Jan 2028
Rodion Konstantinov 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 Jan 2028
Words at Yenisey 2 training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Doğan Gölpek 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 Jan 2028
“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.
Boardroom17 Jan 2028
The manager kept them in and said what needed saying. A response is expected on Saturday, and if it does not come the questions move upstairs.
The dugout17 Jan 2028
“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 1‑4, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
The dugout17 Jan 2028
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.
The dugout17 Jan 2028
Clubs make promises constantly and the page usually only hears about them when they are broken. This one was honoured, and the dressing room noticed that faster than any supporter did.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Market10 Jan 2028
Bogdan Ruppel has one foot out of the door
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Yenisey 2 they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Match8 Jan 2028
Kosmos left with the points after a 1‑2 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
The dugout10 Jan 2028
“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.
Match8 Jan 2028
The run is over for Yenisey 2
4 matches without defeat, and then Kosmos. Nobody at the ground pretended it would go on forever; nobody expected it to stop here either.
Player ratings10 Jan 2028
Successful dribbles: 16. 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.
The dugout10 Jan 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.
The dugout10 Jan 2028
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.
Player ratings10 Jan 2028
4.53. Every footballer has these and most of them happen away from a full ground; his did not, and he will be aware of that all week.
The dugout10 Jan 2028
Dmitry Tashov 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.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market13 Dec 2027
Only the photograph left for Bogdan Ruppel
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Bogdan Ruppel will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Yenisey 2 the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Squad13 Dec 2027
Ivan Oborocha pulls a muscle — 16 days out
The injury that keeps coming back, keeps being rushed back from, and quietly costs more careers than the dramatic ones. 16 days is the estimate; the honest figure depends on whether anybody is patient.
Squad13 Dec 2027
Words exchanged at Yenisey 2
Artur Gilyazetdinov 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.
Squad13 Dec 2027
Doğan Gölpek 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 dugout13 Dec 2027
“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.
The dugout13 Dec 2027
Artem Nadolskiy 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.
The dugout13 Dec 2027
It is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. Yenisey 2 told Alexandr Yudin something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
Market13 Dec 2027
The list is a quiet document with a loud meaning. Ivan Oborocha may talk to anybody who asks, and everybody at the club understands what that means.
Squad13 Dec 2027
“I have done everything asked of me in training and it has not changed a thing on a Saturday.” The most familiar complaint in football, and one Yenisey 2 will have to answer with minutes or with a transfer.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Match4 Dec 2027
Rarely has this fixture seen a display like it: 3‑0 against Kolomna, and it could have been more.
Player ratings6 Dec 2027
2 goals, and the second was the one that settled it. Marked 8.70, and he could have had a third with better luck at the near post.
Squad6 Dec 2027
Artur Gilyazetdinov and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad6 Dec 2027
A row about effort at Yenisey 2
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Doğan Gölpek was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The terraces6 Dec 2027
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 21-year-old it feels ownership of. Evgeny Gololobov 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.
The dugout6 Dec 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.
Player ratings6 Dec 2027
Successful dribbles: 15. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
The dugout6 Dec 2027
Lev Smirnov: “That is the standard”
“That is what I want every week. Not the result, the way they went about it.” The manager, after 3‑0, already talking about the next one.
Squad6 Dec 2027
It will be explained as a change for the team and it may even be one. Nobody who has worn one believes that, and neither does the man who has just had it taken away.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Player ratings22 Nov 2027
No sign of nerves from Ivan Oborocha at 21 — 7.70
The hardest thing about being 21 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Ivan Oborocha did not need any: 7.70, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
Player ratings22 Nov 2027
Chances created: 16. Not on the scoresheet and not remotely anonymous — a passing performance that pulled a defence apart without leaving a mark on the column that gets read.
Squad22 Nov 2027
A row about effort at Yenisey 2
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Doğan Gölpek was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The terraces22 Nov 2027
At 22 he is being sung about by people twice his age, which is an affection a signing has to earn over years and a local kid gets for turning up. It is also the hardest thing in football to live up to.
Match20 Nov 2027
A 1‑0 win over Zenit 2, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
Match22 Nov 2027
Halfway: Yenisey 2 sit in position 9
20 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 dugout22 Nov 2027
The manager’s verdict
“I am not going to get carried away and I will not let them either. It was a good day. There will be harder ones.” Lev Smirnov kept it short after the 1‑0 win, which is what managers do when they are happy.
The dugout22 Nov 2027
Somebody else is better right now than Alexandr Gubanov
The team sheet says it in public every week until it changes. The only version of being dropped a footballer cannot argue with, and the one he takes hardest.
The dugout22 Nov 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Danil Ambrosenok, and the manager let it.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market15 Nov 2027
Bogdan Ruppel has one foot out of the door
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Yenisey 2 they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Squad15 Nov 2027
Words exchanged at Yenisey 2
Artur Gilyazetdinov 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.
Squad15 Nov 2027
Doğan Gölpek 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.
Squad15 Nov 2027
Ivan Oborocha has had enough of the bench
“I did not come here to warm up in front of people.” He is out of contract eventually, he is old enough to count the weeks, and Yenisey 2 will have to give him a reason to stay or an exit.
The dugout15 Nov 2027
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Danil Ambrosenok trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Market15 Nov 2027
The list is a quiet document with a loud meaning. Bogdan Ruppel may talk to anybody who asks, and everybody at the club understands what that means.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad8 Nov 2027
Words exchanged at Yenisey 2
Rodion Konstantinov 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.
Match6 Nov 2027
Luki-Energiya left with the points after a 1‑2 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Player ratings8 Nov 2027
Some games turn on a moment; this one turned on a man. 7.73 on the card, and the Yenisey 2 support went home talking about one name.
The dugout8 Nov 2027
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Lev Smirnov after 1‑2, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
Squad8 Nov 2027
A place in the month's best eleven for Artur Gilyazetdinov
Four or five weekends of consistency, judged against everybody in the division doing his job. Artur Gilyazetdinov has come out of that comparison in the side, and Yenisey 2 have had the benefit of every one of those afternoons.
Squad8 Nov 2027
“I have done everything asked of me in training and it has not changed a thing on a Saturday.” The most familiar complaint in football, and one Yenisey 2 will have to answer with minutes or with a transfer.
The dugout8 Nov 2027
Dmitry Livanov 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.
Player ratings8 Nov 2027
The one thing Ivan Oborocha could not do
Shots: 10, enough of them from close enough that a striker in form scores two. He is not a striker in form.
Squad8 Nov 2027
A year in and the language has not come, the city has not opened up, and he eats alone more often than anybody at Yenisey 2 would like to admit. It is showing on Saturdays.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad11 Oct 2027
Words exchanged at Yenisey 2
Rodion Konstantinov 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.
The dugout11 Oct 2027
The manager makes an example of Dmitry Tashov
“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.
Squad11 Oct 2027
Words at Yenisey 2 training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Doğan Gölpek 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
Squad4 Oct 2027
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Doğan Gölpek commits to Yenisey 2 for another 2 years.
Squad4 Oct 2027
Doğan Gölpek 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.
Market4 Oct 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.
Player ratings4 Oct 2027
Marked 7.68 on an afternoon he ran from the first whistle to the last. Whatever else went wrong, Yenisey 2 had the best player on the pitch.
Squad4 Oct 2027
A place in the month's best eleven for Dmitry Livanov
Four or five weekends of consistency, judged against everybody in the division doing his job. Dmitry Livanov has come out of that comparison in the side, and Yenisey 2 have had the benefit of every one of those afternoons.
The dugout4 Oct 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Ivan Lapitskiy, and the manager let it.
The dugout4 Oct 2027
The manager’s verdict
“I am frustrated, honestly. We did enough to win and we did not win.” Lev Smirnov was not hiding it after 0‑0, and nobody in the Yenisey 2 dressing room was either.
Match2 Oct 2027
Nil-nil, and few chances worth the name. Dinamo Vologda came to defend and left with exactly what they came for.
Market4 Oct 2027
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Yenisey 2 know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Market20 Sep 2027
Bogdan Ruppel 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 Yenisey 2 can pretend not to have heard.
Market20 Sep 2027
Bogdan Ruppel has one foot out of the door
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Yenisey 2 they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Squad20 Sep 2027
Rodion Konstantinov and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Player ratings20 Sep 2027
Successful dribbles: 20. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
Match18 Sep 2027
Baltika 2 left with the points after a 1‑2 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
The dugout20 Sep 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Rodion Konstantinov, and the manager let it.
Squad20 Sep 2027
Doğan Gölpek 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 dugout20 Sep 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 Lev Smirnov left the room before anybody could ask which.
Looking ahead20 Sep 2027
Every squad has one of these fixtures for somebody every season. This one is Bogdan Ruppel’s: the club that knew him first, the supporters who will decide in the first minute whether to applaud, and Yenisey 2 needing him to play as if none of it matters.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market13 Sep 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.
Squad13 Sep 2027
Artur Gilyazetdinov and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Match11 Sep 2027
Three points for Yenisey 2, 1‑0 the final word against Kosmos in a contest settled by the finer margins.
Squad13 Sep 2027
A row about effort at Yenisey 2
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Doğan Gölpek was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Squad13 Sep 2027
“I have done everything asked of me in training and it has not changed a thing on a Saturday.” The most familiar complaint in football, and one Yenisey 2 will have to answer with minutes or with a transfer.
The dugout13 Sep 2027
“The players deserve the credit. My job was easy today.” It was not, and everybody in the room knew it; after 1‑0, Lev Smirnov could afford to be generous.
The dugout13 Sep 2027
Somebody else has been better, the manager has said so with a team sheet, and there is no argument to be had. He will get the shirt back the only way it can be got back.
The dugout13 Sep 2027
Doğan Gölpek 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 Doğan Gölpek trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Market13 Sep 2027
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Yenisey 2 know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Market16 Aug 2027
Ivan Oborocha 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 Yenisey 2 can pretend not to have heard.
Player ratings16 Aug 2027
2 goals, and the second was the one that settled it. Marked 8.29, and he could have had a third with better luck at the near post.
Market16 Aug 2027
The bid was some way short and Yenisey 2 did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.
Match14 Aug 2027
Ivan Oborocha scored, and precious little else went right: 2‑3 to Tver, and a quiet walk to the dressing room.
Squad16 Aug 2027
Words at Yenisey 2 training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Artur Gilyazetdinov 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 terraces16 Aug 2027
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 21-year-old it feels ownership of. Ivan Oborocha 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.
The dugout16 Aug 2027
“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.
The dugout16 Aug 2027
“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 2‑3, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
Market16 Aug 2027
The name of Zakhar Terpugov keeps appearing in other people's back pages. Yenisey 2 say nothing, which says plenty.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market2 Aug 2027
“I listened, I thought about it, and I am staying. That is the whole story.” The clubs had agreed a fee. Zakhar Terpugov had not agreed to go, which turned out to be the part that mattered.
Market2 Aug 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 ratings2 Aug 2027
Ivan Oborocha, 21, steals the show — 7.73
Marked 7.73 at 21, in a side that makes no allowances for age. He did not need any, and he looked the least nervous man on the pitch.
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 Yenisey 2 this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad2 Aug 2027
Words at Yenisey 2 training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ivan Oborocha 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.
Squad2 Aug 2027
200 times in these colours, in all weathers and under four or five different managers. That kind of service is quietly disappearing from the game.
Match31 Jul 2027
Late, late show earns Yenisey 2 a point
Minute 91, against Kolomna, and a goal that felt like a win to everybody who had stayed. It was a draw. Nobody leaving the ground will describe it as one.
The dugout2 Aug 2027
The manager makes an example of Dmitry Tashov
“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.
Squad2 Aug 2027
Too much change too quickly at Yenisey 2
5 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.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Market26 Jul 2027
The fee was agreed and the flight was looked at — and then the phone stopped ringing. Tyumen moved on, Zakhar Terpugov reports back to Yenisey 2, and everybody pretends Monday is just Monday.
Market26 Jul 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.
Market26 Jul 2027
Bogdan Ruppel has one foot out of the door
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Yenisey 2 they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Squad26 Jul 2027
Rodion Konstantinov and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad26 Jul 2027
Words at Yenisey 2 training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Artur Gilyazetdinov 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 dugout26 Jul 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Rodion Konstantinov, and the manager let it.
Match24 Jul 2027
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 dugout26 Jul 2027
Half-satisfied: Lev Smirnov 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.
Market26 Jul 2027
Every press conference now starts and ends the same way: with Artur Gilyazetdinov’s future. The manager has run out of new ways to say nothing.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Market5 Jul 2027
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Yenisey 2 have lost him in all but the paperwork.
Market5 Jul 2027
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Yenisey 2 can pretend not to have heard.
Squad5 Jul 2027
A move Marat Asatryan would have made for nothing
There is a version of every career where the player ends up somewhere he chose rather than somewhere that chose him. Marat Asatryan is living that version at Yenisey 2, and it tends to show in the first month.
Squad5 Jul 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 Yenisey 2 this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad5 Jul 2027
A row about effort at Yenisey 2
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Artur Gilyazetdinov was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Market5 Jul 2027
He is 19, and nobody at Yenisey 2 signed him for this season. Deals like this are judged in four years, by people who may not still be in the building.
Squad5 Jul 2027
Too much change too quickly at Yenisey 2
5 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 dugout5 Jul 2027
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Olivier Kenfack trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
The dugout5 Jul 2027
“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
Upbeat
Squad29 Mar 2027
At 22 he is doing things this season that he could not do last season, and doing them every week. Form comes and goes; this has stayed long enough to be called something else.
Squad29 Mar 2027
Words at Yenisey 2 training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Andrey Ostrovskiy 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.
Market29 Mar 2027
Every press conference now starts and ends the same way: with Nikita Shershov’s future. The manager has run out of new ways to say nothing.
From our football correspondent
Triumph
Squad1 Mar 2027
The match ball belongs to Vladislav Kravtsov, whose 9 goals turned a difficult afternoon into a procession.
Match27 Feb 2027
18‑0, and Vladislav Kravtsov took the headlines on an afternoon when everything Yenisey 2 tried came off. Days like this are retold all winter.
Squad1 Mar 2027
5 goals in one game. The first was taken well, the second was taken greedily, and by the third the crowd were simply waiting for him to get the ball.
Market1 Mar 2027
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Yenisey 2 can pretend not to have heard.
Player ratings1 Mar 2027
The hardest thing about being 21 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Vladislav Kravtsov did not need any: 9.94, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
Market1 Mar 2027
Sevastopol come back empty-handed
The bid was some way short and Yenisey 2 did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.
Squad1 Mar 2027
The match ball belongs to Ivan Oborocha, whose 3 goals turned a difficult afternoon into a procession.
Player ratings1 Mar 2027
A defender on the scoresheet, which happens rarely enough that everybody in the ground remembers who took the corner. 1 for him, and a mark of 6.17 for the rest of it.
Match27 Feb 2027
18 goals. Both benches spent the second half looking at each other rather than at the pitch. Purists will complain about Yenisey 2 and Zenit 2 in equal measure; everybody else had a wonderful time.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Market8 Feb 2027
“I listened, I thought about it, and I am staying. That is the whole story.” The clubs had agreed a fee. Vladislav Kravtsov had not agreed to go, which turned out to be the part that mattered.
Market8 Feb 2027
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Yenisey 2 people have started saying his name in the past tense.
Match6 Feb 2027
Ninety minutes of very little, and then everything at once. The winner arrived in the 87th, and Tver spent what remained of the match appealing to the referee rather than chasing the ball.
Player ratings8 Feb 2027
The hardest thing about being 21 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Vladislav Kravtsov did not need any: 7.90, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
Match6 Feb 2027
Yenisey 2 make it 3 in a row
Momentum is a hard thing to buy and an easy thing to lose, and right now Yenisey 2 have 3 straight wins of it.
Squad8 Feb 2027
A row about effort at Yenisey 2
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Andrey Ostrovskiy was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Match6 Feb 2027
Three points for Yenisey 2, 2‑1 the final word against Tver in a contest settled by the finer margins.
The terraces8 Feb 2027
He is 21 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.
Market8 Feb 2027
“The manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Rodion Konstantinov has his answer from Yenisey 2; what he does with it is the next window’s story.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match9 Jan 2027
No end in sight to Yenisey 2's wait for a win
4 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Yenisey 2 has to find a result from somewhere.
Squad11 Jan 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 Yenisey 2 this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad11 Jan 2027
14 days, the medical staff say, and medical staff are optimists by profession. The team sheet will look wrong without him.
Match9 Jan 2027
0‑1 to Baltika 2, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
The dugout11 Jan 2027
“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 0‑1, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
The dugout11 Jan 2027
The manager has not finished forgetting Alexandr Yegorov'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 dugout11 Jan 2027
The manager makes an example of Dmitry Livanov
“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.
Looking ahead11 Jan 2027
Yenisey 2 take on the side everybody is chasing
Torpedo Vladimir arrive as leaders. A side at the top is beaten roughly once a month, and the club that does it gets a week it remembers for a year.
Squad11 Jan 2027
One yellow too many, and a match watched from the stand. The most avoidable absence in football, and Yenisey 2 will feel it on Saturday.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Player ratings4 Jan 2027
A brace, and Zakhar Terpugov takes the afternoon — 8.79
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Zakhar Terpugov provided it, and the 8.79 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Player ratings4 Jan 2027
Evgeny Gololobov, 20, plays like he has been here for years — 7.86
A mark of 7.86 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 20-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
Squad4 Jan 2027
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Rodion Konstantinov is 22, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Match2 Jan 2027
Beaten 3‑4, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Match2 Jan 2027
7 goals. Both benches spent the second half looking at each other rather than at the pitch. Purists will complain about Yenisey 2 and Kosmos in equal measure; everybody else had a wonderful time.
Squad4 Jan 2027
Rodion Konstantinov 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
Words at Yenisey 2 training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Andrey Ostrovskiy 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 terraces4 Jan 2027
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 23-year-old it feels ownership of. Zakhar Terpugov 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.
The dugout4 Jan 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Kirill Porshunov, and the manager let it.
From our football correspondent
Steady
The terraces21 Dec 2026
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 20-year-old it feels ownership of. Andrey Ostrovskiy 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.
Player ratings21 Dec 2026
Marked 7.38 on an afternoon he ran from the first whistle to the last. Whatever else went wrong, Yenisey 2 had the best player on the pitch.
The dugout21 Dec 2026
“A point is a point and I will take it, but we should have had all three.” Lev Smirnov after the 0‑0 draw, and the sentence every manager in the country said at some stage this weekend.
The dugout21 Dec 2026
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Yenisey 2, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Match19 Dec 2026
Nil-nil, and few chances worth the name. Cherepovets came to defend and left with exactly what they came for.
Market21 Dec 2026
The name of Nikita Shershov keeps appearing in other people's back pages. Yenisey 2 say nothing, which says plenty.
Market21 Dec 2026
The clock does Nikita Shershov’s negotiating for him
5 months left, and both sides know what that means: every week without a signature, the fee Yenisey 2 could ask drops and the wages Nikita Shershov can ask rise.
The dugout21 Dec 2026
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.
Squad21 Dec 2026
“Nobody outside is coming to save us.” It was short, it was not comfortable, and by all accounts the Yenisey 2 squad were quieter afterwards than they had been all season.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Player ratings14 Dec 2026
No sign of nerves from Ivan Oborocha at 20 — 8.11
The hardest thing about being 20 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Ivan Oborocha did not need any: 8.11, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
Match12 Dec 2026
A 3‑1 win over Irkutsk, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
Squad14 Dec 2026
Words at Yenisey 2 training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Andrey Ostrovskiy 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 terraces14 Dec 2026
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.
Player ratings14 Dec 2026
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.12, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
Match12 Dec 2026
No time for Irkutsk to settle
The goal that put Irkutsk ahead was still being replayed on the concourse when Yenisey 2 equalised, 4 minutes later. Leads are only worth what you do with them.
Player ratings14 Dec 2026
A midfielder is measured on whether the team functions when he is on the pitch, which is nearly impossible to see and completely obvious in retrospect. 9 actions, 7.09, and a manager who will not be substituting him again in a hurry.
The dugout14 Dec 2026
Lev Smirnov: “That is the standard”
“That is what I want every week. Not the result, the way they went about it.” The manager, after 3‑1, already talking about the next one.
The dugout14 Dec 2026
Somebody else is better right now than Alexandr Gubanov
The team sheet says it in public every week until it changes. The only version of being dropped a footballer cannot argue with, and the one he takes hardest.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad9 Nov 2026
Andrey Ostrovskiy 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.
Squad9 Nov 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 Yenisey 2 this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Match7 Nov 2026
Zenit 2 left with the points after a 0‑1 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
The dugout9 Nov 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Ivan Oborocha, and the manager let it.
Player ratings9 Nov 2026
Successful dribbles: 16. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
The dugout9 Nov 2026
“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 0‑1, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
Market9 Nov 2026
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Yenisey 2 know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
The dugout9 Nov 2026
The shape wanted a different profile against this opponent, which is a real football answer and no comfort at all to the man it is about. He did nothing wrong and he did not play.
Market9 Nov 2026
7 months left and the two sides are nowhere near each other. Every week this drags on takes money off what Yenisey 2 could get for him.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad5 Oct 2026
Words exchanged at Yenisey 2
Rodion Konstantinov 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.
Squad5 Oct 2026
A row about effort at Yenisey 2
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Andrey Ostrovskiy was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Squad5 Oct 2026
Ivan Oborocha makes the team of the month
Four or five weekends of consistency, measured against everybody else in the division. A quieter compliment than an award and a more reliable one.
The dugout5 Oct 2026
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.
Squad5 Oct 2026
“I did not come here to warm up in front of people.” He is out of contract eventually, he is old enough to count the weeks, and Yenisey 2 will have to give him a reason to stay or an exit.
The dugout5 Oct 2026
Andrey Sorokin 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 Yenisey 2, and both men came out saying it was fine.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match26 Sep 2026
The wait goes on for Yenisey 2
6 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.
Player ratings28 Sep 2026
No sign of nerves from Ivan Oborocha at 20 — 7.75
The hardest thing about being 20 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Ivan Oborocha did not need any: 7.75, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
Squad28 Sep 2026
Rodion Konstantinov and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad28 Sep 2026
19 new faces, and Yenisey 2 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 dugout28 Sep 2026
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Lev Smirnov after 1‑3, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
The dugout28 Sep 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Arseny Chulkov, and the manager let it.
The dugout28 Sep 2026
Somebody else has been better, the manager has said so with a team sheet, and there is no argument to be had. He will get the shirt back the only way it can be got back.
Player ratings28 Sep 2026
Successful dribbles: 13. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
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 Yenisey 2, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad24 Aug 2026
Alexandr Yegorov 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.
Match22 Aug 2026
1‑3 to Spartak Moscow 2, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
The dugout24 Aug 2026
“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 dugout24 Aug 2026
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 1‑3 Lev Smirnov left the room before anybody could ask which.
Squad24 Aug 2026
Words at Yenisey 2 training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Andrey Ostrovskiy 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 dugout24 Aug 2026
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.
Looking ahead24 Aug 2026
Every squad has one of these fixtures for somebody every season. This one is Rodion Konstantinov’s: the club that knew him first, the supporters who will decide in the first minute whether to applaud, and Yenisey 2 needing him to play as if none of it matters.
Player ratings24 Aug 2026
Successful dribbles: 11. 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.