Marked for Stepan Glebov
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad7 Jun 2027
Ilja Salnikov 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.
Squad7 Jun 2027
Words at Luki-Energiya training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Alexandr Galimov 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 dugout7 Jun 2027
The manager makes an example of Ilja Salnikov
“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.
Market7 Jun 2027
“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.
The dugout7 Jun 2027
Igor Shestakov 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 dugout7 Jun 2027
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
Squad7 Jun 2027
Luki-Energiya will explain it as a decision about the team, and it may well be one. A dressing room has never once read it that way.
Squad7 Jun 2027
A decision that decides nothing on the pitch and everything in the room. The manager has said, without saying it, whose voice he wants heard when his own is not there.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market17 May 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.
Squad17 May 2027
Ilja Salnikov 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.
Squad17 May 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 Luki-Energiya this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The dugout17 May 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 dugout17 May 2027
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Alexandr Galimov trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Market17 May 2027
1 months remain and no agreement is close. Every week without a signature costs Luki-Energiya money.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad10 May 2027
Alexandr Kukharchuk and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad10 May 2027
Ilja Salnikov 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 dugout10 May 2027
Vasily Lunev 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 Luki-Energiya, and both men came out saying it was fine.
The dugout10 May 2027
Dmitry Melnik gets picked when it counts
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Dmitry Melnik is on it.
Match10 May 2027
Continental football is in reach for Luki-Energiya
37 points from position 6. The title is somebody else’s business and the drop is somebody else’s problem; what is left is the argument about passports.
From our football correspondent
Steady
The dugout12 Apr 2027
Nikolay Edjibia: 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.” Luki-Energiya have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Market12 Apr 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.
Squad12 Apr 2027
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Luki-Energiya can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
Squad12 Apr 2027
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Ilja Salnikov was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Squad12 Apr 2027
Valentin Andyamov and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
The dugout12 Apr 2027
The manager makes an example of Gennady Nikitin
“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 dugout12 Apr 2027
Lev Ushakhin 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.
Market12 Apr 2027
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Alexandr Galimov signs something — a contract at Luki-Energiya or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
The dugout12 Apr 2027
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market15 Mar 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 Luki-Energiya, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad15 Mar 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 Luki-Energiya this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad15 Mar 2027
Ilja Salnikov 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 dugout15 Mar 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Vsevolod Yeliseev, and the manager let it.
Market15 Mar 2027
4 appearances and 2 clean sheets. A goalkeeper learns his job by playing it, and a season that gave him neither the games nor the shut-outs is a year taken off the front of a career.
Market15 Mar 2027
The list is a quiet document with a loud meaning. Vasily Lunev may talk to anybody who asks, and everybody at the club understands what that means.
Squad15 Mar 2027
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 Luki-Energiya would admit. It shows on Saturdays.
Market15 Mar 2027
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Alexandr Galimov signs something — a contract at Luki-Energiya or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
The dugout15 Mar 2027
Dmitry Melnik gets picked when it counts
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Dmitry Melnik is on it.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
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 Luki-Energiya can pretend not to have heard.
Player ratings1 Mar 2027
A brace, and Bogdan Dunjić takes the afternoon — 8.06
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Bogdan Dunjić provided it, and the 8.06 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
The dugout1 Mar 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.
Boardroom1 Mar 2027
Window shuts: 0 in, 0 out at Luki-Energiya
The deadline has passed and the squad is the squad. 0 arrived, 0 left, and everything else printed about this club last month was a rumour that stayed one.
Market1 Mar 2027
Everything was agreed until it was not, and Stepan Glebov reports back to Luki-Energiya with a summer to forget. Neither club is saying who walked away from the table.
Transfer targets1 Mar 2027
Luki-Energiya have gone to Yenisey with a bid, and the supporters have gone to the internet with an opinion about it. Whether either changes anything is up to the selling club.
Transfer targets1 Mar 2027
Luki-Energiya asked and Sibir said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Squad1 Mar 2027
Words at Luki-Energiya training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ilja Salnikov 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.
Boardroom1 Mar 2027
153% of the income goes out in wages at Luki-Energiya
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.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Transfer targets22 Feb 2027
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Luki-Energiya have done the hard part with Shinnik, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
Transfer targets22 Feb 2027
Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at Uralets-TS is saying, and nobody at Luki-Energiya is enjoying the guessing.
Market22 Feb 2027
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Luki-Energiya is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Player ratings22 Feb 2027
Successful dribbles: 22. 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.
Squad22 Feb 2027
Ilja Salnikov and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Transfer targets22 Feb 2027
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Veles have kept their man, and Luki-Energiya go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Squad22 Feb 2027
Words at Luki-Energiya training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Alexandr Galimov 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.
Match20 Feb 2027
1‑2 to Yenisey 2, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
The dugout22 Feb 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Alexandr Kukharchuk, and the manager let it.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Market15 Feb 2027
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Orel waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Luki-Energiya is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
Transfer targets15 Feb 2027
$33.0K settles it between the clubs for Gelani Khashtyrov
Angusht have accepted the money. What Luki-Energiya do not yet have is the man, and between here and the photograph is a conversation about wages that both sides are dreading.
Market15 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 Luki-Energiya, and it is not being withdrawn.
Player ratings15 Feb 2027
Successful dribbles: 25. 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.
Transfer targets15 Feb 2027
Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at Shinnik is saying, and nobody at Luki-Energiya is enjoying the guessing.
Squad15 Feb 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 Luki-Energiya know it.
Transfer targets15 Feb 2027
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.
Squad15 Feb 2027
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Ilja Salnikov was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Squad15 Feb 2027
Valentin Andyamov and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market8 Feb 2027
Lev Ushakhin 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 Luki-Energiya can pretend not to have heard.
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 Luki-Energiya people have started saying his name in the past tense.
The dugout8 Feb 2027
This is not rotation. Lev Ushakhin has not been in the manager's plans for some time, and nobody at Luki-Energiya is pretending otherwise.
Transfer targets8 Feb 2027
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Shinnik have kept their man, and Luki-Energiya go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Squad8 Feb 2027
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Ilja Salnikov was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout8 Feb 2027
The manager makes an example of Anas Raheel
“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.
Market8 Feb 2027
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Luki-Energiya, another week without a signature from Ilja Salnikov.
The dugout8 Feb 2027
Alexandr Galimov is still being punished for one mistake
Nobody will confirm it and the team sheets confirm it every week. One error has bought him a spell as second choice that is already longer than the error deserved.
Squad8 Feb 2027
A place in the month's best eleven for Anas Raheel
Four or five weekends of consistency, judged against everybody in the division doing his job. Anas Raheel has come out of that comparison in the side, and Luki-Energiya have had the benefit of every one of those afternoons.