Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 8 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Salyut have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Squad23 Nov 2026
Words at Salyut training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Roman Yemeljanov 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.
12 combined actions and 6.79. The job he did is the one that shows up as other people looking good, and the only reliable way to notice it is to watch what happens on the afternoons he is missing.
Pavel Maslov 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Abdullo Djebov was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“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.
Nobody at Chaika will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
He trains hard, says the right things and goes home to an empty flat. Nobody at Chaika has done anything wrong, which is exactly what makes it so difficult to fix.
Position 3, 27 points, and the result everyone checks first is now theirs. The word is still not being said around the ground, which is how you know everyone is thinking it.
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.
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 Nesher Meulenbroek is on it.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Vladislav Zernaev signs something — a contract at Salyut or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
A conversation in the manager’s office, and a commitment that came out of it. Promises like that are cheap to make and expensive to break, and Sergey Gaiduk has written the date down.
Vladislav Zernaev 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Maxim Kutovoy was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Nikolay Boyarkin. 1‑0 against Spartak Tambov, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
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 dugout9 Nov 2026
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.” Maxim Raspopin kept it short after the 1‑0 win, which is what managers do when they are happy.
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 David Gagua is on it.
Znamya Truda will want this one forgotten quickly: 3‑0, every duel lost, and a long ride home. Salyut were ruthless in the way good sides are ruthless.
7 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.
Player ratings2 Nov 2026
David Gagua, 19, plays like he has been here for years — 7.85
A mark of 7.85 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 19-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
1 for Alexandr Kanischev, marked 7.26, 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.
Balance sheets do not care about form or about who the manager was planning to build around. The board have decided a sale is required, and the only question left is which name ends up carrying it.
5 straight away victories. Sides that win away are usually sides that can defend and can counter, and the table has begun to reflect what those journeys have earned.
Squad2 Nov 2026
Vadim Shilov 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.
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.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 19-year-old it feels ownership of. David Gagua 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.
Every run ends on an afternoon somebody had marked down as routine. This one went 11 matches, which is long enough that a town had stopped counting, and short enough that it will remember exactly who stopped it.
Successful dribbles: 23. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
Squad26 Oct 2026
Maxim Kutovoy 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.
“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 dugout26 Oct 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 1‑2 Maxim Raspopin left the room before anybody could ask which.
The one version of being left out a player cannot argue with, and the one he takes worst. Somebody else has been better and the team sheet says so, in public, every week until it changes.
Znamya Truda next, and one man in the Salyut dressing room knows their training ground better than his own. The reception will tell him what they thought of him.
The hardest thing about being 18 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Vadim Shilov did not need any: 7.65, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
1 for Alexandr Kanischev, marked 7.48, 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.
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Maxim Shabaidakov is 19, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
4 away wins in a row. Travelling support is the truest kind, and this season it is being repaid in the only currency that counts.
Squad19 Oct 2026
Maxim Kutovoy 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.
At 18 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.
Abdullo Djebov 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Carlinhos was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“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.
Squad12 Oct 2026
19 new faces, and Chaika 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.
Something was said to Yegor Ushakov and then it happened. In this industry that passes for remarkable, and the dressing room noticed faster than any supporter could.
Vladislav Zernaev 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Vadim Shilov was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“The manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Alexandr Kanischev has his answer from Salyut; what he does with it is the next window’s story.
Nobody at Salyut will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
Roman Yemeljanov is 34 and has run out of things to prove. What he has left is where to stand, when to slow it down and what to say at half-time, and none of that is on a fitness chart.
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.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Alexandr Kanischev trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
The hardest thing about being 20 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Nesher Meulenbroek did not need any: 7.93, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
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.
Squad5 Oct 2026
Words at Salyut training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Maxim Kutovoy 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.
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.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 20-year-old it feels ownership of. Nesher Meulenbroek 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.
Every run ends on an afternoon somebody had marked down as routine. This one went 4 matches, which is long enough that a town had stopped counting, and short enough that it will remember exactly who stopped it.
There were 86 minutes on the clock and Dinamo Bryansk had all but banked the point. Football rarely reads the room, and Salyut did not stop to explain themselves.
Player ratings28 Sep 2026
David Gagua, 19, plays like he has been here for years — 7.89
A mark of 7.89 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 19-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Salyut this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad28 Sep 2026
Maxim Kutovoy 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.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: David Gagua. 2‑1 against Dinamo Bryansk, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
The dugout28 Sep 2026
The view from the dugout
“We controlled it. There were spells I did not like and we will look at them, but the group showed me something.” Maxim Raspopin, on a 2‑1 win that he was already picking apart on the walk to the press room.
He used to wear the other shirt. On Saturday he plays against Arsenal Tula 2 in this one, and whatever he says this week about it being just another game will be untrue.
Vladislav Zernaev and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad21 Sep 2026
Vadim Shilov 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.
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Sergey Semak has been at this club since he was a boy and is now, formally, one of the first-team squad — which for a local readership beats any signing of any size.
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Vladislav Zabelin has been at this club since he was a boy and is now, formally, one of the first-team squad — which for a local readership beats any signing of any size.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Maxim Kutovoy. 1‑0 against SKA Khabarovsk 2, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Salyut can pretend not to have heard.
The deadline has passed and the squad is the squad. 13 arrived, 5 left, and everything else printed about this club last month was a rumour that stayed one.
6 games unbeaten now. Some were earned and some were survived, but a habit is forming — and habits are the hardest thing in football to play against.
Squad14 Sep 2026
Maxim Kutovoy 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.
He is 19 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.
Zenit Penza made Salyut work for it, but the scoreboard read 1‑0 at the end and the table does not ask how.
The dugout14 Sep 2026
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.” Maxim Raspopin kept it short after the 1‑0 win, which is what managers do when they are happy.
A brace, and Maxim Kutovoy takes the afternoon — 8.42
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Maxim Kutovoy provided it, and the 8.42 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
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.
Squad17 Aug 2026
Words at Salyut training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Maxim Kutovoy 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.
Three points for Salyut, 2‑0 the final word against Ryazan in a contest settled by the finer margins.
The dugout17 Aug 2026
David Gagua 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.
The dugout17 Aug 2026
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.” Maxim Raspopin kept it short after the 2‑0 win, which is what managers do when they are happy.
Every shape has positions in it and this one does not have his. Salyut will either change the shape, change his job, or change his club, and he is waiting to hear which.