Marked for Stepan Glotov
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match12 Aug 2028
The run now stands at 6, and the questions being asked around SKA Khabarovsk are no longer polite ones.
Market14 Aug 2028
The offer from Sokol for Stepan Glotov was heard out and sent back the same day. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loudly the door closes.
Squad14 Aug 2028
Welinton Júnior 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.
Squad14 Aug 2028
At 27 the improving is meant to be over. It is not: 3 points better than the mark taken at the start of the year, which is the sort of thing that happens to players who take the boring parts of the job seriously.
Squad14 Aug 2028
Words at SKA Khabarovsk training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Jacobo Alcalde 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 ratings14 Aug 2028
Vladislav Bragin was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.08. There are performances a supporter describes to somebody who was not there and cannot quite convey; this was one, and the number does not help either.
Squad14 Aug 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.
Match12 Aug 2028
It finished 1‑1, and it somehow always looked like it would. One of those afternoons where the table moves less than the tempers.
Market14 Aug 2028
Georgy Tigiev is free to find somewhere else
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at SKA Khabarovsk has been clear about where Georgy Tigiev stands, which is more than many ever get.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Boardroom8 May 2028
The caretaker keeps it: Bogdan Yermakov confirmed
A month of looking elsewhere ended where it started. He already knows every name in the building; the rest of it he now has to prove in public.
Squad8 May 2028
Alexandr Gagloev: 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.” SKA Khabarovsk have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Squad8 May 2028
“The easiest signature of my career.” Welinton Júnior and SKA Khabarovsk agree another 2 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Squad8 May 2028
Welinton Júnior 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.
Boardroom8 May 2028
The numbers do not look good at SKA Khabarovsk
Wages have outrun income and the accountants have started attending meetings they used to send apologies to. Ambition comes second in a season like this.
Squad8 May 2028
Words at SKA Khabarovsk training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Kamran Aliev 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
Squad10 Apr 2028
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” SKA Khabarovsk may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Boardroom10 Apr 2028
The numbers do not look good at SKA Khabarovsk
Wages have outrun income and the accountants have started attending meetings they used to send apologies to. Ambition comes second in a season like this.
Squad10 Apr 2028
Konstantin Pliev 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.
Boardroom10 Apr 2028
Still no name above the door at SKA Khabarovsk
Day 9 of the vacancy. Candidates have been priced, sounded out and quietly ruled out — and the caretaker’s win ratio is becoming an argument all by itself.
Squad10 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 SKA Khabarovsk this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad10 Apr 2028
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Alexey Kuznetsov, and the manager let it.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Boardroom13 Mar 2028
The numbers do not look good at SKA Khabarovsk
Wages have outrun income and the accountants have started attending meetings they used to send apologies to. Ambition comes second in a season like this.
Squad13 Mar 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 SKA Khabarovsk this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad13 Mar 2028
Vasily Aleinikov 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.
Loan watch13 Mar 2028
“I am grateful for the games, but I did not become a footballer to be somebody else's spare part.” He wants to be at SKA Khabarovsk, and 5 appearances in 26 say he has earned the hearing.
Squad13 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.
Squad13 Mar 2028
Islam Imamov has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at SKA Khabarovsk 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.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad7 Feb 2028
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 31 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Match7 Feb 2028
29 points, and a fixture list that is running out. The mathematics are not yet cruel, but they are no longer kind.
Match5 Feb 2028
0‑3 against Rotor, and no complaints that would survive the replay. The manager spoke about character afterwards; the terraces used shorter words.
Squad7 Feb 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 SKA Khabarovsk this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad7 Feb 2028
Words at SKA Khabarovsk training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Konstantin Pliev 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.
Boardroom7 Feb 2028
The paperwork is done long before the player is. Bogdan Boldyrev has agreed terms to come here when his current deal runs out, which means SKA Khabarovsk have spent a summer's transfer budget on a phone call.
Player ratings7 Feb 2028
Successful dribbles: 20. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad7 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.
Boardroom7 Feb 2028
The music was off and the showers ran late. What was said in that dressing room stays there, but Saturday will publish the minutes.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match8 Jan 2028
14 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.
Squad10 Jan 2028
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 61 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Squad10 Jan 2028
“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.
Squad10 Jan 2028
Vladislav Bragin 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 ratings10 Jan 2028
Successful dribbles: 19. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad10 Jan 2028
Georgy Tigiev pulls a muscle — 14 days out
The injury that keeps coming back, keeps being rushed back from, and quietly costs more careers than the dramatic ones. 14 days is the estimate; the honest figure depends on whether anybody is patient.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad6 Dec 2027
Welinton Júnior damages knee ligaments — 24 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 24 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
Squad6 Dec 2027
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 99 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Match4 Dec 2027
9 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.
Boardroom6 Dec 2027
The board’s statement ran to three sentences and one of them mentioned results. Nil Tsaryov has managed long enough to translate: win soon, or the next statement is shorter.
Match6 Dec 2027
19 points, and a fixture list that is running out. The mathematics are not yet cruel, but they are no longer kind.
Boardroom6 Dec 2027
Pressure builds in the SKA Khabarovsk boardroom
The directors have stopped offering the manager public warmth. In football that is usually the stage before the short statement.
Squad6 Dec 2027
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” SKA Khabarovsk may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Squad6 Dec 2027
Alexey Kuznetsov 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.
Match4 Dec 2027
0‑1 to Fakel, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Match6 Oct 2027
Dinamo Stavropol go through and Chernomorets go home, 1‑2 the scoreline that did it. The dressing room will call the league the priority now, because that is what dressing rooms say.
Market11 Oct 2027
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Chernomorets they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Squad11 Oct 2027
Ilja Zhigulev 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.
Squad11 Oct 2027
Words at Chernomorets training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Roger Tamba 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.
Squad11 Oct 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Roger Tamba, and the manager let it.
Match9 Oct 2027
Chernomorets hit back inside 4 minutes
Akhmat held the lead for 4 minutes, which is not long enough to enjoy it. Chernomorets answered before the celebration had properly finished, and the shape of the afternoon changed with it.
Player ratings11 Oct 2027
The cruellest goal, and it is Stepan Glotov's
A touch he did not want, a bounce he could not have read, and his name in the wrong column. There is no consoling a man after one of these, and Chernomorets will not try tonight.
Match9 Oct 2027
1‑1, and both dressing rooms will call it two points lost. A draw that asked plenty of questions and answered none of them.
Squad11 Oct 2027
Mikhail Shtepa 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
Squad13 Sep 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.
Player ratings13 Sep 2027
Up for the corner, and Eldiyar Zarypbekov delivers — 7.88
Centre-halves are allowed forward twice a season and are judged on what they do when they get there. Eldiyar Zarypbekov scored, was marked 7.88, and got back before anybody noticed he had gone.
Market13 Sep 2027
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Chernomorets is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Squad13 Sep 2027
Ilja Zhigulev 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.
Squad13 Sep 2027
Renat Tlyashok gets the move he always wanted
Footballers are asked about their boyhood club so often that nobody listens to the answer. Renat Tlyashok has just signed for Chernomorets, and for once the answer mattered.
Squad13 Sep 2027
Words at Chernomorets training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Roger Tamba 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.
Match11 Sep 2027
Volga made Chernomorets work for it, but the scoreboard read 2‑0 at the end and the table does not ask how.
Market13 Sep 2027
Renat Tlyashok is 20, and Chernomorets have signed him for the player he will be rather than the one he is. The first team can wait; the point of a deal like this is the years it buys.
Player ratings13 Sep 2027
Successful dribbles: 13. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Market13 Sep 2027
The offer from Sibir for Gleb Lunev was heard out and sent back the same day. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loudly the door closes.
Squad13 Sep 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 SKA Khabarovsk this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad13 Sep 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Alexey Kuznetsov, and the manager let it.
Match11 Sep 2027
KAMAZ left with the points after a 0‑1 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Squad13 Sep 2027
Words at SKA Khabarovsk training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Vasily Aleinikov 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 ratings13 Sep 2027
Successful dribbles: 16. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match8 Feb 2027
Every point is an argument now for SKA Khabarovsk
Position 18 and 23 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.
Match6 Feb 2027
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.
Squad8 Feb 2027
The match ball belongs to Jacobo Alcalde, whose 3 goals turned a difficult afternoon into a procession.
Squad8 Feb 2027
Stepan Glotov: 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.” SKA Khabarovsk have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Player ratings8 Feb 2027
Ninety minutes of Jacobo Alcalde at his very best
Marked 9.38. Players have careers without a single afternoon like this in them, and he has just had one in front of everybody at SKA Khabarovsk.
Squad8 Feb 2027
Words at SKA Khabarovsk training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Emmanuel Uchenna Aririerisim 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.
Squad8 Feb 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Georgy Tigiev, and the manager let it.
Market8 Feb 2027
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at SKA Khabarovsk has been clear about where Vladislav Masternoy stands, which is more than many ever get.
Loan watch8 Feb 2027
“I am grateful for the games, but I did not become a footballer to be somebody else's spare part.” He wants to be at SKA Khabarovsk, and 0 appearances in 22 say he has earned the hearing.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match14 Dec 2026
Every point is an argument now for SKA Khabarovsk
Position 18 and 16 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.
Match12 Dec 2026
The run now stands at 6, and the questions being asked around SKA Khabarovsk are no longer polite ones.
Squad14 Dec 2026
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” SKA Khabarovsk may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Squad14 Dec 2026
Roman Yemeljanov 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.
Squad14 Dec 2026
Words at SKA Khabarovsk training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Vasily Aleinikov 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.
Squad14 Dec 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.