Marked for Dmitry Shevchenko
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match26 Aug 2030
5 points, and a fixture list that is running out. The mathematics are not yet cruel, but they are no longer kind.
Match24 Aug 2030
No end in sight to Zarya Lugansk's wait for a win
4 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Zarya Lugansk has to find a result from somewhere.
Squad26 Aug 2030
Nikita Krivoruchko and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad26 Aug 2030
14 days, the scan says, and scans are kinder than reality. The fixtures in that window have just become somebody else’s job.
Transfer targets26 Aug 2030
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.
The dugout26 Aug 2030
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Alexey Dolya, and the manager let it.
Squad26 Aug 2030
50 for the club now, each one filed in somebody’s memory with a date and a scoreline. Numbers like this are what supporters argue about in twenty years.
Player ratings26 Aug 2030
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.32, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
Match24 Aug 2030
A goal on 87 minutes turned three points into one and a good afternoon into an argument about game management that will run until Saturday.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Steady
Boardroom1 Jul 2030
Confirmed, mathematical, and a town awake all night. Whatever else the season contained, it finishes a division higher than it started.
Squad1 Jul 2030
43 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Zarya Lugansk lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Market1 Jul 2030
“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 The request is on a desk at Zarya Lugansk, and it is not being withdrawn.
Transfer targets1 Jul 2030
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.
Squad1 Jul 2030
Dmitry Serebryakov and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad1 Jul 2030
At 35, 3 points below where he was, and a body that has started charging interest. It happens to all of them and it is still the hardest paragraph on this page.
The dugout1 Jul 2030
The manager makes an example of Sergey Kopylov
“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.
Transfer targets1 Jul 2030
A loan move for Bogdan Markov is in the works
Zarya Lugansk have made the call to Veles. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
Squad1 Jul 2030
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.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market3 Jun 2030
Miron Belyaev hands in a written request
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Zarya Lugansk can pretend not to have heard.
Squad3 Jun 2030
A move Dmitry Shevchenko would have made for nothing
There is a version of every career where the player ends up somewhere he chose rather than somewhere that chose him. Dmitry Shevchenko is living that version at Zarya Lugansk, and it tends to show in the first month.
Squad3 Jun 2030
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 Zarya Lugansk have had the benefit of it.
Squad3 Jun 2030
Nikita Krivoruchko and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad3 Jun 2030
“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; Zarya Lugansk are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
The dugout3 Jun 2030
“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 dugout3 Jun 2030
Denis Popenkov 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 Zarya Lugansk, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Market3 Jun 2030
“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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market9 Jul 2029
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Rostov 2 is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Market9 Jul 2029
“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.
Squad9 Jul 2029
Words exchanged at Rostov 2
Egor Karpitskiy 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.
Squad9 Jul 2029
15 days, the medical staff say, and medical staff are optimists by profession. The team sheet will look wrong without him.
The dugout9 Jul 2029
Kirill Moiseev 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 Rostov 2, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Squad9 Jul 2029
Words at Rostov 2 training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Nikita Babakin 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
Uneasy
Market2 Jul 2029
“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 Rostov 2, and it is not being withdrawn.
Market2 Jul 2029
Murad Alimov has one foot out of the door
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Rostov 2 they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Squad2 Jul 2029
A falling-out at Rostov 2
Egor Karpitskiy and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad2 Jul 2029
A row about effort at Rostov 2
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Andrey Bondar was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout2 Jul 2029
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Rostov 2, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Market2 Jul 2029
Rostov 2 have made Dmitry Shevchenko available for transfer. A career at this club is over in all but paperwork.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market18 Jun 2029
“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 Rostov 2, and it is not being withdrawn.
Market18 Jun 2029
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Rostov 2 they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Squad18 Jun 2029
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Rostov 2 this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market4 Jun 2029
“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.
Market4 Jun 2029
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Rostov 2 is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Squad4 Jun 2029
Words exchanged at Rostov 2
David Semenchuk 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 Jun 2029
Words at Rostov 2 training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Andrey Bondar 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.
Squad4 Jun 2029
“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 Rostov 2 will have to answer with minutes or with a transfer.
Market4 Jun 2029
Rostov 2 have let the market know Khoren Bairamyan can be had. No price in the advert, but everyone in the trade knows roughly what it says.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match28 May 2029
Rostov 2 sink to position 8
13 points, and a fixture list that is running out. The mathematics are not yet cruel, but they are no longer kind.
Market28 May 2029
“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.
Squad28 May 2029
Egor Karpitskiy 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 May 2029
Kirill Moiseev 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 Kirill Moiseev trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Market28 May 2029
2 months remain and no agreement is close. Every week without a signature costs Rostov 2 money.
Market28 May 2029
The name of Daniil Gorovykh keeps appearing in other people's back pages. Rostov 2 say nothing, which says plenty.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market21 May 2029
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Rostov 2 can pretend not to have heard.
Squad21 May 2029
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Rostov 2 this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad21 May 2029
A row about effort at Rostov 2
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Andrey Bondar was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout21 May 2029
Kirill Moiseev 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 Rostov 2, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Market21 May 2029
The name of Kirill Moiseev keeps appearing in other people's back pages. Rostov 2 say nothing, which says plenty.
Market21 May 2029
The clock does Maxim Zhukov’s negotiating for him
2 months left, and both sides know what that means: every week without a signature, the fee Rostov 2 could ask drops and the wages Maxim Zhukov can ask rise.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market26 Feb 2029
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Rostov 2 can pretend not to have heard.
Market26 Feb 2029
Rostov 2 say no — this time
The offer from Rodina for David Semenchuk 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.
Squad26 Feb 2029
David Semenchuk 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 Feb 2029
The manager makes an example of Kirill Moiseev
“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 Feb 2029
A row about effort at Rostov 2
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Andrey Bondar was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout26 Feb 2029
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.
The dugout26 Feb 2029
“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 Feb 2029
The name of Kirill Moiseev keeps appearing in other people's back pages. Rostov 2 say nothing, which says plenty.
Squad26 Feb 2029
Marat Kovalkov speaks, and the room listens
“I am not asking anybody to be better than they are. I am asking everybody to be as good as they are, every week.” Said out loud, in front of everybody, and the room at Rostov 2 was different afterwards.