Marked for Denis Firsov
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match28 Dec 2026
Position 12, 17 points, and a fixture list with fewer games left in it than excuses. The arithmetic is not cruel yet, but it has stopped being kind.
Squad28 Dec 2026
6 saves, and a scoreline the ten men in front of him had no right to. Goalkeepers only get noticed on the bad days; this was one of the other ones.
The dugout28 Dec 2026
“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.
Squad28 Dec 2026
Words at Chelyabinsk 2 training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Vsevolod Buradjiev 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 Dec 2026
Denis Firsov in a row with a teammate
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Chelyabinsk 2 this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Match26 Dec 2026
Beaten 0‑2, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Player ratings28 Dec 2026
Successful dribbles: 18. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Looking ahead28 Dec 2026
Two sides from the bottom of the table, three points, and an afternoon that will be described afterwards as a relegation decider by whoever loses it.
The dugout28 Dec 2026
“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 0‑2, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad7 Dec 2026
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Vsevolod Buradjiev was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Squad7 Dec 2026
Denis Firsov and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Match5 Dec 2026
Beaten 0‑1, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
The dugout7 Dec 2026
The manager makes an example of Yelizar Glukhov
“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 dugout7 Dec 2026
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Ivan Zhdanov after 0‑1, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
Squad7 Dec 2026
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 dugout7 Dec 2026
The manager has not finished forgetting Yefim Stanislavchuk'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.
Market7 Dec 2026
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Chelyabinsk 2, another week without a signature from Mark Pereverzev.
Squad7 Dec 2026
“I did not sign to watch. Nobody does.” The oldest complaint in the game, and Chelyabinsk 2 will have to answer it with minutes or with a move.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Match30 Nov 2026
Every point is an argument now for Chelyabinsk 2
Position 12 and 13 points, and the table gets read bottom-up in this part of town. The calendar has stopped being a schedule and started being a countdown.
Match28 Nov 2026
Some goals win a match and some take one off somebody else. Alexandr Novosad scored in the 87th minute, Akron 2 had already begun thinking about the journey home, and Chelyabinsk 2 took the lot.
Player ratings30 Nov 2026
No sign of nerves from Alexandr Novosad at 20 — 7.81
The hardest thing about being 20 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Alexandr Novosad did not need any: 7.81, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
Squad30 Nov 2026
Denis Firsov in a row with a teammate
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Chelyabinsk 2 this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The terraces30 Nov 2026
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 22-year-old it feels ownership of. Yefim Stanislavchuk 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.
Match28 Nov 2026
A 1‑0 win over Akron 2, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
Squad30 Nov 2026
100 games in these colours. Service of that kind gets rarer every season, and the crowd knows it.
Match30 Nov 2026
Half the programme played, position 12, 13 on the board. Doubling it is the sum every supporter has done and the only one nobody at the club will do out loud.
The dugout30 Nov 2026
“We earned that. I asked them for a reaction and I got one, and now I want the same again on Saturday.” Ivan Zhdanov on a 1‑0 afternoon that pleased him more than he was prepared to show.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad23 Nov 2026
Words at Chelyabinsk 2 training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Vsevolod Buradjiev 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.
Squad23 Nov 2026
Denis Firsov 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.
Boardroom23 Nov 2026
Nobody left the Chelyabinsk 2 dressing room in a hurry
The door stayed shut a long time after the final whistle. What was said in there is between them; whether it worked is between them and Saturday.
The dugout23 Nov 2026
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Mark Pereverzev trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
The dugout23 Nov 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.
Squad23 Nov 2026
The training reports on Mark Pereverzev are not good
A bad Saturday is forgiven; a bad Tuesday is chosen. Standards have slipped and in a building where everybody watches everybody, it has been noticed.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad9 Nov 2026
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 14 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
Match7 Nov 2026
A 1‑4 beating by Amkar was the sort of result that empties a stadium long before the final whistle.
Player ratings9 Nov 2026
Marked 7.77 at 20, in a side that makes no allowances for age. He did not need any, and he looked the least nervous man on the pitch.
Squad9 Nov 2026
Denis Firsov and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
The dugout9 Nov 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Mark Pereverzev, and the manager let it.
Boardroom9 Nov 2026
Nobody left the Chelyabinsk 2 dressing room in a hurry
The door stayed shut a long time after the final whistle. What was said in there is between them; whether it worked is between them and Saturday.
The dugout9 Nov 2026
“I could talk about decisions and I could talk about luck. I will not. We lost.” The manager, 1‑4, and a press conference that lasted four minutes.
Squad9 Nov 2026
At 20 he is being measured against the rest of the division's kids and coming out in front. The senior version of this award is where the club would like this to lead.
Player ratings9 Nov 2026
Successful dribbles: 12. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Match17 Oct 2026
Rarely has this fixture seen a display like it: 3‑0 against KDV Tomsk, and it could have been more.
Player ratings19 Oct 2026
No sign of nerves from Yelizar Glukhov at 20 — 7.69
The hardest thing about being 20 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Yelizar Glukhov did not need any: 7.69, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
Player ratings19 Oct 2026
Up for the corner, and Alexandr Novosad delivers — 6.18
Centre-halves are allowed forward twice a season and are judged on what they do when they get there. Alexandr Novosad scored, was marked 6.18, and got back before anybody noticed he had gone.
Squad19 Oct 2026
At 19 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.
Squad19 Oct 2026
Denis Firsov 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 terraces19 Oct 2026
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.
The dugout19 Oct 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Alexandr Novosad, and the manager let it.
The dugout19 Oct 2026
“The players deserve the credit. My job was easy today.” It was not, and everybody in the room knew it; after 3‑0, Ivan Zhdanov could afford to be generous.
The dugout19 Oct 2026
Alexandr Novosad 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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad12 Oct 2026
Vsevolod Buradjiev 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.
Squad12 Oct 2026
Denis Firsov and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
The dugout12 Oct 2026
The manager makes an example of Mark Pereverzev
“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
Crisis
Match5 Oct 2026
Every point is an argument now for Chelyabinsk 2
Position 12 and 6 points, and the table gets read bottom-up in this part of town. The calendar has stopped being a schedule and started being a countdown.
The dugout5 Oct 2026
Mark Pereverzev: 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.” Chelyabinsk 2 have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Squad5 Oct 2026
There were 6 saves in it, and at least three that had no business being saves at all. The ten outfield players owe him a drink and they know it.
Squad5 Oct 2026
Vsevolod Buradjiev and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Match3 Oct 2026
3 matches without a goal for Chelyabinsk 2
The chances are being made and something is happening between the making and the finishing. 3 matches now, and the anxiety in the ground arrives a little earlier every week.
Match3 Oct 2026
Orenburg 2 left with the points after a 0‑1 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Squad5 Oct 2026
Words at Chelyabinsk 2 training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Yefim Stanislavchuk 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.
Squad5 Oct 2026
Denis Firsov is no longer first choice
The manager has re-ordered his thinking and Denis Firsov has come out of it lower. He will be told it is temporary, and the players who have heard that before will avoid his eye.
The dugout5 Oct 2026
“I could talk about decisions and I could talk about luck. I will not. We lost.” The manager, 0‑1, and a press conference that lasted four minutes.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad21 Sep 2026
There were 11 saves in it, and at least three that had no business being saves at all. The ten outfield players owe him a drink and they know it.
Squad21 Sep 2026
A fracture rules Arseny Salenko out for 22 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Chelyabinsk 2 will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Squad21 Sep 2026
Daniil Bakhvalov is a better footballer than he was
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 19 he is doing things at this level he could not do at the start of the season, and the coaching staff will tell you exactly which of them.
Squad21 Sep 2026
Denis Firsov 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 terraces21 Sep 2026
At 21 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.
Match19 Sep 2026
Beaten 0‑1, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
The dugout21 Sep 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 dugout21 Sep 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 0‑1 Ivan Zhdanov left the room before anybody could ask which.
The dugout21 Sep 2026
The plan did not have a place for Artem Ignatjev
Nobody at Chelyabinsk 2 is suggesting he is out of form. The manager simply wanted somebody with a different set of qualities for ninety specific minutes, and there is nothing a player can train to fix that.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market7 Sep 2026
“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.
Squad7 Sep 2026
Words at Chelyabinsk 2 training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Artem Ignatjev 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.
Squad7 Sep 2026
Somebody has moved past him. It is not a dropping and it is worse than one, because a dropping is about a Saturday and this is about where he stands.
The dugout7 Sep 2026
Vasily Palkin 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 Chelyabinsk 2, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Squad7 Sep 2026
Not a new contract, not a new number: a new place in the manager’s thinking, which is the only promotion in football that actually matters. Vasily Palkin has moved up it.
The dugout7 Sep 2026
“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
Crisis
Squad31 Aug 2026
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.
Market31 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 Chelyabinsk 2, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad31 Aug 2026
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Vsevolod Buradjiev was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Match29 Aug 2026
0‑2 to Khimik, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Squad31 Aug 2026
Too much change too quickly at Chelyabinsk 2
15 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 dugout31 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 0‑2 Ivan Zhdanov left the room before anybody could ask which.
Squad31 Aug 2026
Denis Firsov was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Player ratings31 Aug 2026
Successful dribbles: 13. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
The dugout31 Aug 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Ilja Yurin, and the manager let it.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match22 Aug 2026
0‑3 to Dinamo Barnaul, and it was every bit as bad as the number suggests. There are defeats you argue about and defeats you apologise for; this was the second kind.
Squad24 Aug 2026
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.
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 Chelyabinsk 2, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad24 Aug 2026
Words at Chelyabinsk 2 training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Vsevolod Buradjiev 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.
Boardroom24 Aug 2026
The music was off and the showers ran late. What was said in that dressing room stays there, but Saturday will publish the minutes.
The dugout24 Aug 2026
The view from the dugout
“We will look at it, we will learn from it, and we go again.” The three sentences every manager keeps for a 0‑3 defeat, delivered by Ivan Zhdanov to a room that had heard them before.
Squad24 Aug 2026
Denis Firsov 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 dugout24 Aug 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Yaroslav Buradjiev, and the manager let it.
Player ratings24 Aug 2026
Successful dribbles: 12. 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.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad17 Aug 2026
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Chelyabinsk 2 this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The terraces17 Aug 2026
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 20-year-old it feels ownership of. Yelizar Glukhov 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.
Match15 Aug 2026
It finished 1‑0, and it was Yelizar Glukhov’s afternoon: on the scoresheet when it mattered, and the reason the points belong to Chelyabinsk 2.
Player ratings17 Aug 2026
Some games turn on a moment; this one turned on a man. 7.55 on the card, and the Chelyabinsk 2 support went home talking about one name.
The dugout17 Aug 2026
“That is what I want every week. Not the result, the way they went about it.” The manager, after 1‑0, already talking about the next one.
Squad17 Aug 2026
Words at Chelyabinsk 2 training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Yaroslav Buradjiev 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 ratings17 Aug 2026
Successful dribbles: 11. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
The dugout17 Aug 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.
Squad17 Aug 2026
The first one is the one every signing is asked about until it arrives. It has arrived, and he can stop being asked.