Marked for Valentin Mokrov
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market3 Apr 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.
Squad3 Apr 2028
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Alexandr Chemasov was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Squad3 Apr 2028
Stepan Burdakov 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.
The dugout3 Apr 2028
Arseny Salenko 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 Arseny Salenko trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Squad3 Apr 2028
“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 Chelyabinsk 2 will have to answer with minutes or with a transfer.
Squad3 Apr 2028
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. Dafiq Firdaus has moved up it.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market6 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.
Squad6 Mar 2028
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Alexandr Chemasov commits to Chelyabinsk 2 for another 4 years.
Squad6 Mar 2028
Alexandr Chemasov and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
The dugout6 Mar 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.
The dugout6 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 Chelyabinsk 2, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Squad6 Mar 2028
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. Yury Rudakov has moved up it.
Squad6 Mar 2028
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Wigi Pratama was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Player ratings6 Mar 2028
Fouls conceded: 12. Some of it was commitment and some of it was frustration, and the free-kick count did not distinguish between the two.
The dugout6 Mar 2028
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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match31 Jan 2028
Position 12, 11 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.
Market31 Jan 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.
Squad31 Jan 2028
A fracture rules Idan Luftig out for 23 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.
Squad31 Jan 2028
Artem Ignatjev 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.
Squad31 Jan 2028
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Alexandr Chemasov was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout31 Jan 2028
There is no complaint available here and everybody involved knows it, which does not make the walk to the bench any shorter. Form is the only currency in football that cannot be borrowed against.
The dugout31 Jan 2028
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Nikita Chernyshov, and the manager let it.
The dugout31 Jan 2028
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Alexandr Chemasov trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
The dugout31 Jan 2028
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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match12 Apr 2027
3 points, and a fixture list that is running out. The mathematics are not yet cruel, but they are no longer kind.
Market12 Apr 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 Chelyabinsk 2, and it is not being withdrawn.
The dugout12 Apr 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.
Squad12 Apr 2027
Vasily Palkin and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad12 Apr 2027
Yefim Stanislavchuk 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.
Market12 Apr 2027
“They were honest with me, and I would rather know.” Yelizar Glukhov has been informed he is not in the manager's thinking at Chelyabinsk 2.
Squad12 Apr 2027
“Some mornings you wake up and you are still a long way from everything you know.” It is not the football and it never was; Chelyabinsk 2 are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
The dugout12 Apr 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.
The dugout12 Apr 2027
Yelizar Glukhov 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.