Marked for Pavel Tabolin
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad12 Apr 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 Sibir this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad12 Apr 2027
Ilja Maximenkov 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.
Squad12 Apr 2027
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Pavel Tabolin and Sibir agree another 3 years.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad5 Apr 2027
Tempers go at Sibir
Alexandr Nosov 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.
Squad5 Apr 2027
Words at Sibir training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ilja Maximenkov 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.
Squad5 Apr 2027
6 new faces, and Sibir 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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market29 Mar 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 Rubin Yalta can pretend not to have heard.
Squad29 Mar 2027
Danil Polyakh 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.
Squad29 Mar 2027
Words at Rubin Yalta training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Bartłomiej Kolec 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
Squad15 Mar 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 Sibir this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad15 Mar 2027
Ilja Maximenkov 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 watch15 Mar 2027
“I watch every Sibir game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Rubin Yalta runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad15 Feb 2027
A fracture rules Oleg Kozachenko out for 22 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Sibir will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
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 Sibir this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Loan watch15 Feb 2027
“I watch every Sibir game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Rubin Yalta runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
Squad15 Feb 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Petr Kosarevskiy, and the manager let it.
Squad15 Feb 2027
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
Uneasy
Market1 Feb 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.
Market1 Feb 2027
Kosmos come back empty-handed
The bid was some way short and Rubin Yalta did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.
Squad1 Feb 2027
Danil Polyakh 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.
Market1 Feb 2027
The phone has started ringing about Andrey Koltakov again, and this time the name on the line is Murom. Rubin Yalta are listening politely and promising nothing.
Squad1 Feb 2027
Words at Rubin Yalta training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Bartłomiej Kolec 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.
Squad1 Feb 2027
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
Uneasy
Squad18 Jan 2027
Ivan Shmakov: 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.” Sibir have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Squad18 Jan 2027
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 51 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Squad18 Jan 2027
Ivan Shmakov in a row with a teammate
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Sibir this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match26 Dec 2026
No end in sight to Rubin Yalta's wait for a win
20 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Rubin Yalta has to find a result from somewhere.
Market28 Dec 2026
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Rubin Yalta can pretend not to have heard.
Squad28 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.
Match26 Dec 2026
4 matches without a goal for Rubin Yalta
The chances are being made and something is happening between the making and the finishing. 4 matches now, and the anxiety in the ground arrives a little earlier every week.
Squad28 Dec 2026
“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; Rubin Yalta are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
Squad28 Dec 2026
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Rubin Yalta this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad28 Dec 2026
Danil Sizov 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.
Player ratings28 Dec 2026
Successful dribbles: 14. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Match26 Dec 2026
The crowd waited for a goal that never came. Legion defended in numbers and left with what they came for, and the two sides could be playing still without troubling a scorer.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad21 Dec 2026
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 81 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Squad21 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.
Squad21 Dec 2026
Ilja Maximenkov 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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad23 Nov 2026
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Sibir this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Loan watch23 Nov 2026
“I watch every Sibir game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Rubin Yalta runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
Squad23 Nov 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Alexandr Yeliseev, and the manager let it.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match24 Oct 2026
Beaten 0‑2, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Squad26 Oct 2026
Georgy Zotov gets it from the manager
“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.
Squad26 Oct 2026
Alexandr Yeliseev 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 watch26 Oct 2026
“I did not go to Rubin Yalta to sit and watch. I want to come back to Sibir and fight for my place.” 0 appearances in 5 matches say the rest.
Squad26 Oct 2026
Clubs make promises constantly and the page usually only hears about them when they are broken. This one was honoured, and the dressing room noticed that faster than any supporter did.
Player ratings26 Oct 2026
Successful dribbles: 13. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.