Marked for Mark Vysochenko
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market29 May 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.
Squad29 May 2028
A falling-out at Rodina M
Nikita Kukanov and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad29 May 2028
Words at Rodina M training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Maxim Belkovskiy 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 dugout29 May 2028
Kirill Krol has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at Rodina M 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.
Market29 May 2028
Every press conference now starts and ends the same way: with Artem Kriulskiy’s future. The manager has run out of new ways to say nothing.
Match29 May 2028
Rodina M in the hunt for Europe
Position 6, 45 points, and a run-in that decides whether next season has Thursday nights in it. Nobody is calling it a race yet, which is what people say during one.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market3 Apr 2028
“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 The request is on a desk at Rodina M, and it is not being withdrawn.
Boardroom3 Apr 2028
Iliria Fushë-Krujë have made their interest known and Rodina M have to have a conversation they never wanted. A manager other clubs ask about is a manager whose next contract costs more.
Squad3 Apr 2028
Nikita Kukanov in trouble away from the ground
Every paper's favourite story and every manager's least. What happened is being dealt with internally, which is the phrase clubs use when they would rather nobody asked again.
The dugout3 Apr 2028
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Rodina M may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Squad3 Apr 2028
Maxim Belkovskiy 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.
Squad3 Apr 2028
Training ground row involving Nikita Kukanov
Tempers went at Rodina M this week. Nothing a hard session and a quiet word cannot repair, though the story got out all the same.
The dugout3 Apr 2028
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Mark Vysochenko, and the manager let it.
Squad3 Apr 2028
Words at Rodina M training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ilja Gorbachev 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 dugout3 Apr 2028
When it matters, Kirill Krol plays
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
The dugout20 Dec 2027
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Rodina M may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Squad20 Dec 2027
A falling-out at Rodina M
Maxim Belkovskiy and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Match18 Dec 2027
3 matches without a goal for Rodina M
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.
Squad20 Dec 2027
Words at Rodina M training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Timur Sharapov 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 dugout20 Dec 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.
Squad20 Dec 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 Rodina M know it.
Player ratings20 Dec 2027
7.28, and no serious argument from anybody who was there. Rodina M had eleven men on the pitch and one of them decided how it went.
The dugout20 Dec 2027
“A point is a point and I will take it, but we should have had all three.” Innokentiy Bogdanov after the 0‑0 draw, and the sentence every manager in the country said at some stage this weekend.
The dugout20 Dec 2027
Somebody else has been better, the manager has said so with a team sheet, and there is no argument to be had. He will get the shirt back the only way it can be got back.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Player ratings29 Nov 2027
Marked 7.69 at 19, in a side that makes no allowances for age. He did not need any, and he looked the least nervous man on the pitch.
Squad29 Nov 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 Rodina M this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad29 Nov 2027
A row about effort at Rodina M
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Timur Sharapov was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The terraces29 Nov 2027
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.
Match27 Nov 2027
A 1‑0 win over Rotor 2, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
The dugout29 Nov 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.
Boardroom29 Nov 2027
108% of the income goes out in wages at Rodina M
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.
The dugout29 Nov 2027
“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.
Market29 Nov 2027
“The manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Ilja Gorbachev has his answer from Rodina M; what he does with it is the next window’s story.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Match30 Oct 2027
Rarely has this fixture seen a display like it: 6‑0 against SKA Khabarovsk 2, and it could have been more.
Player ratings1 Nov 2027
A brace, and Timur Sharapov takes the afternoon — 8.80
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Timur Sharapov provided it, and the 8.80 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Player ratings1 Nov 2027
Two goals and a mark of 8.04 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Player ratings1 Nov 2027
Mark Vysochenko, 21, plays like he has been here for years — 8.20
A mark of 8.20 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 21-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
Match30 Oct 2027
6 goals. Both benches spent the second half looking at each other rather than at the pitch. Purists will complain about Rodina M and SKA Khabarovsk 2 in equal measure; everybody else had a wonderful time.
Squad1 Nov 2027
Words exchanged at Rodina M
Maxim Belkovskiy 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 terraces1 Nov 2027
He is 21 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.
Squad1 Nov 2027
A row about effort at Rodina M
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Ilja Gorbachev was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Boardroom1 Nov 2027
Wages eat 87% of everything Rodina M earn
There is a figure at which a wage bill stops being ambitious and becomes the reason nothing else is possible, and this club has reached it. Nothing is left over for a transfer, a stand or a rainy afternoon.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Match31 Jul 2027
5‑0, and Arkhip Kazantsev took the headlines on an afternoon when everything Rodina M tried came off. Days like this are retold all winter.
Market2 Aug 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 Rodina M, and it is not being withdrawn.
Player ratings2 Aug 2027
A brace, and Anton Kamyshenko takes the afternoon — 8.33
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Anton Kamyshenko provided it, and the 8.33 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Player ratings2 Aug 2027
2 goals, and the second was the one that settled it. Marked 8.06, and he could have had a third with better luck at the near post.
Player ratings2 Aug 2027
Mark Vysochenko, 21, plays like he has been here for years — 7.78
A mark of 7.78 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 21-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
Transfer targets2 Aug 2027
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Rodina M have done the hard part with KDV Tomsk, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
Squad2 Aug 2027
Words exchanged at Rodina M
Arkhip Kazantsev 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.
Transfer targets2 Aug 2027
Rodina M offered $6.0K; Tver said it was not close. The manager will be told the money is still there for the right player, which is what managers are told.
Transfer targets2 Aug 2027
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Spartak Tambov have kept their man, and Rodina M go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market12 Jul 2027
The name of Alexandr Andreev has come up in conversations Rodina M were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
Squad12 Jul 2027
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Alexandr Andreev is 18, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Transfer targets12 Jul 2027
$100.0K on the table at Volgar. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.
Squad12 Jul 2027
Words exchanged at Rodina M
Maxim Belkovskiy 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.
Transfer targets12 Jul 2027
$1.0K was the most the club would pay and Leningradets were asking for more. Deals like this are revived in the last week of a window roughly half the time, and everybody involved knows it.
Transfer targets12 Jul 2027
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Dinamo Bryansk have kept their man, and Rodina M go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Squad12 Jul 2027
A row about effort at Rodina M
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Timur Sharapov was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout12 Jul 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Mark Vysochenko, and the manager let it.
The dugout12 Jul 2027
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Rodina M, and both men came out saying it was fine.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market26 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.
Squad26 Apr 2027
Patryk Stefański 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 dugout26 Apr 2027
The manager makes an example of Timur Sharapov
“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.
Squad26 Apr 2027
Arkhip Kazantsev 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 dugout26 Apr 2027
Alexandr Andreev 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.
Market26 Apr 2027
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Rodina M know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market19 Apr 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 Rodina M can pretend not to have heard.
Squad19 Apr 2027
20 days, the scan says, and scans are kinder than reality. The fixtures in that window have just become somebody else’s job.
Squad19 Apr 2027
Maxim Belkovskiy 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.
Squad19 Apr 2027
Timur Sharapov 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 dugout19 Apr 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Maxim Belkovskiy, and the manager let it.
Boardroom19 Apr 2027
Wages eat 95% of everything Rodina M earn
There is a figure at which a wage bill stops being ambitious and becomes the reason nothing else is possible, and this club has reached it. Nothing is left over for a transfer, a stand or a rainy afternoon.
From our football correspondent
Steady
The dugout5 Apr 2027
This is not rotation. Alexandr Andreev has not been in the manager's plans for some time, and nobody at Rodina M is pretending otherwise.
Squad5 Apr 2027
Alexandr Andreev is a better footballer than he was
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 18 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.
Squad5 Apr 2027
At 19, Artem Kriulskiy is already the best thing here
An average of 7.06 in a first team he is several years too young for. Rodina M have something, and by now the whole division has noticed.
Squad5 Apr 2027
A falling-out at Rodina M
Maxim Belkovskiy and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad5 Apr 2027
Everybody at Rodina M saw it before anybody said it, which is how this always goes. At 37 the decline is real and measurable — 3 points — and the only question left is how the club handles somebody it owes a great deal to.
Boardroom5 Apr 2027
Rodina M counting the cost
The accounts make uncomfortable reading. Wages first and ambition second is the order of business at Rodina M now.
The dugout5 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 dugout5 Apr 2027
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Rodina M, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Market5 Apr 2027
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Maxim Belkovskiy signs something — a contract at Rodina M or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Match13 Feb 2027
Zenit Penza will want this one forgotten quickly: 3‑0, every duel lost, and a long ride home. Rodina M were ruthless in the way good sides are ruthless.
Player ratings15 Feb 2027
Artem Kriulskiy, 19, plays like he has been here for years — 8.08
A mark of 8.08 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.
Transfer targets15 Feb 2027
The deal with Torpedo Moscow is done in every sense but the one that puts him on the pitch. Nothing goes wrong at this stage, except on the occasions when it does.
Squad15 Feb 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 Rodina M this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Transfer targets15 Feb 2027
Rodina M asked and Kuban said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Squad15 Feb 2027
Timur Sharapov 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 terraces15 Feb 2027
He is 21 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.
Player ratings15 Feb 2027
Successful dribbles: 16. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
The dugout15 Feb 2027
“That is what I want every week. Not the result, the way they went about it.” The manager, after 3‑0, already talking about the next one.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market4 Jan 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 Rodina M, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad4 Jan 2027
An individual honour is a strange thing in a team game, and the best of them are never argued with. He has had the sort of year that ends with his name being read out, and Rodina M have had the benefit of it.
Squad4 Jan 2027
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Anton Kamyshenko is 22, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Squad4 Jan 2027
Words exchanged at Rodina M
Alexandr Yevstratov 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.
Squad4 Jan 2027
A row about effort at Rodina M
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Maxim Belkovskiy was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Player ratings4 Jan 2027
Successful dribbles: 16. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
The dugout4 Jan 2027
The manager makes an example of Mark Vysochenko
“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 dugout4 Jan 2027
“There are things I liked and things we will be doing on Tuesday until they are right.” 0‑0, and a manager who had already decided what Tuesday looked like.
The dugout4 Jan 2027
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Maxim Belkovskiy trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market28 Dec 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 Rodina M, and it is not being withdrawn.
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
Maxim Belkovskiy is a better footballer than he was
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 22 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.
Squad28 Dec 2026
Maxim Belkovskiy 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 dugout28 Dec 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.
Boardroom28 Dec 2026
Wages eat 97% of everything Rodina M earn
There is a figure at which a wage bill stops being ambitious and becomes the reason nothing else is possible, and this club has reached it. Nothing is left over for a transfer, a stand or a rainy afternoon.
Squad28 Dec 2026
Words at Rodina M training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Arkhip Kazantsev 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 dugout28 Dec 2026
“There are things I liked and things we will be doing on Tuesday until they are right.” 1‑1, and a manager who had already decided what Tuesday looked like.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Player ratings30 Nov 2026
No sign of nerves from Anton Kamyshenko at 21 — 7.63
The hardest thing about being 21 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Anton Kamyshenko did not need any: 7.63, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
Match28 Nov 2026
No end in sight to Rodina M's wait for a win
4 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Rodina M has to find a result from somewhere.
Squad30 Nov 2026
Patryk Stefański 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.
Match28 Nov 2026
Beaten 2‑3, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Squad30 Nov 2026
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Mark Vysochenko commits to Rodina M for another 3 years.
The dugout30 Nov 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Andrey Krasnov, and the manager let it.
The dugout30 Nov 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 2‑3 Innokentiy Bogdanov left the room before anybody could ask which.
Squad30 Nov 2026
Ilja Gorbachev 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.
Boardroom30 Nov 2026
Wages swallow 90% of the Rodina M income
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.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Player ratings9 Nov 2026
Marked 7.90 at 21, in a side that makes no allowances for age. He did not need any, and he looked the least nervous man on the pitch.
Player ratings9 Nov 2026
Marked 7.06 on 15 actions at both ends of the pitch. Midfielders like this get described as unspectacular by people who have never tried to play against one.
Squad9 Nov 2026
Words exchanged at Rodina M
Maxim Belkovskiy 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.
Match7 Nov 2026
Hard to beat is not the same as winning, but 6 matches without defeat is a foundation Rodina M did not have in the autumn.
Squad9 Nov 2026
A row about effort at Rodina M
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Ilja Gorbachev was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Match7 Nov 2026
1‑1, and both dressing rooms will call it two points lost. A draw that asked plenty of questions and answered none of them.
The dugout9 Nov 2026
The manager makes an example of Mark Vysochenko
“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 dugout9 Nov 2026
“It is not the end of the world and it is not good enough. Both of those are true.” The manager, after a 1‑1 draw, said the honest thing and then went to say it again inside.
Market9 Nov 2026
Every press conference now starts and ends the same way: with Maxim Belkovskiy’s future. The manager has run out of new ways to say nothing.