Marked for Nestor Yevcin
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Boardroom22 Oct 2029
The silence upstairs is getting loud at Tammeka
Nobody on the board has said anything against the manager, which is the point — they have stopped saying anything for him either.
Squad22 Oct 2029
Nikita Sokolovskiy 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.
Squad22 Oct 2029
“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 Tammeka know it.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad15 Oct 2029
129 days, the medical staff say, and medical staff are optimists by profession. The team sheet will look wrong without him.
Market15 Oct 2029
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Tammeka is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Squad15 Oct 2029
14 days, the scan says, and scans are kinder than reality. The fixtures in that window have just become somebody else’s job.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad1 Oct 2029
Reda Rabeï 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.
Squad1 Oct 2029
A season on the outside for Reda Rabeï
He trains hard, says the right things and goes home to an empty flat. Nobody at Tammeka has done anything wrong, which is exactly what makes it so difficult to fix.
Market1 Oct 2029
12 months left and silence from upstairs — no offer, no talks, nothing for his people to answer. Clubs that let a calendar do their negotiating usually end up negotiating with the calendar.
Squad1 Oct 2029
Nestor Yevcin 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 Nestor Yevcin trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Market1 Oct 2029
Tammeka have made Rauno Marin available for transfer. A career at this club is over in all but paperwork.
Boardroom1 Oct 2029
Tammeka keep producing them
16 graduates from an academy now rated 7 out of 20. A club this size does not survive any other way, and every name on that list is known in the town.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Boardroom24 Sep 2029
The silence upstairs is getting loud at Tammeka
Nobody on the board has said anything against the manager, which is the point — they have stopped saying anything for him either.
Squad24 Sep 2029
“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.
Squad24 Sep 2029
Reda Rabeï 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 Tammeka this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Market17 Sep 2029
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Tammeka is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Squad17 Sep 2029
51 days, the medical staff say, and medical staff are optimists by profession. The team sheet will look wrong without him.
Market17 Sep 2029
The shirt still fits. Patrick Genro Veelma is back at Tammeka, and half the ground remembers him in these colours already. Some signings need selling to the town; this one sold itself.
Squad17 Sep 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 Tammeka this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad17 Sep 2029
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Fahad Al Bloushi, and the manager let it.
Market17 Sep 2029
Every press conference now starts and ends the same way: with Santiago Herrera’s future. The manager has run out of new ways to say nothing.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad20 Aug 2029
“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.
Market20 Aug 2029
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Tammeka is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Squad20 Aug 2029
Reda Rabeï 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.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Boardroom6 Aug 2029
The board have said in public what they had been saying in private. Results between now and the next meeting decide it, and everybody in the building knows the arithmetic.
Market6 Aug 2029
Narva Trans come back empty-handed
The bid was some way short and Tammeka did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.
Market6 Aug 2029
Derick Keiser 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 Tammeka can pretend not to have heard.
Squad6 Aug 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 Tammeka this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad6 Aug 2029
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Richard Aland, and the manager let it.
Squad6 Aug 2029
The armband comes off Reda Rabeï
Tammeka will explain it as a decision about the team, and it may well be one. A dressing room has never once read it that way.
Boardroom6 Aug 2029
Tammeka pull $390.0K back off the table
The money that was there in the summer is not there now. Nobody upstairs calls this a change of ambition, and everybody downstairs reads it as one.
Squad6 Aug 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 Tammeka, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Market6 Aug 2029
The list is a quiet document with a loud meaning. Patrick Genro Veelma may talk to anybody who asks, and everybody at the club understands what that means.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market23 Jul 2029
Only the photograph left for Nestor Yevcin
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Nestor Yevcin will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Tammeka the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Market23 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 Tammeka, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad23 Jul 2029
Reda Rabeï 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.
Market23 Jul 2029
Every press conference now starts and ends the same way: with Santiago Herrera’s future. The manager has run out of new ways to say nothing.
Squad23 Jul 2029
Marcel Koren 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
Uneasy
Market16 Jul 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 Tammeka can pretend not to have heard.
Market16 Jul 2029
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Tammeka they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Squad16 Jul 2029
Muhammed Hydara 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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market9 Jul 2029
The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.
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
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Carlos Espinoza commits to Tammeka for another 2 years.
Squad9 Jul 2029
Reda Rabeï 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.
Squad9 Jul 2029
Nestor Yevcin 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 Nestor Yevcin trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Market9 Jul 2029
Tammeka have let the market know Patrick Genro Veelma can be had. No price in the advert, but everyone in the trade knows roughly what it says.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match13 Jun 2029
Tammeka through in the cup
A 1‑1 win over Flora, and the draw for the next round can be watched with some interest for once.
Market18 Jun 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 Tammeka can pretend not to have heard.
Squad18 Jun 2029
Silver Hein decides it from twelve yards
1 kept out in the shoot-out, and a stadium that will still be describing them in twenty years. A goalkeeper only needs one of these to be remembered forever.
Match16 Jun 2029
No end in sight to Tammeka's wait for a win
5 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Tammeka has to find a result from somewhere.
Player ratings18 Jun 2029
Successful dribbles: 25. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad18 Jun 2029
Reda Rabeï 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 Tammeka this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Player ratings18 Jun 2029
Marked 8.77 — the sort of number a correspondent writes down twice to be sure. Everything he tried came off, and what he did not try was not worth trying.
Player ratings18 Jun 2029
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.71, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
Squad18 Jun 2029
The manager makes an example of Carlos Espinoza
“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.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Market28 May 2029
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Tammeka they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
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
Reda Rabeï 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 Tammeka this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Match26 May 2029
Nomme Kalju left with the points after a 0‑1 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Squad28 May 2029
The manager makes an example of Richard Aland
“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.
Player ratings28 May 2029
Successful dribbles: 17. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market21 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.
Squad21 May 2029
Reda Rabeï 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.
Match19 May 2029
Three points for Tammeka, 1‑0 the final word against FCI Tallinn in a contest settled by the finer margins.
Player ratings21 May 2029
Marked 7.93 on an afternoon he ran from the first whistle to the last. Whatever else went wrong, Tammeka had the best player on the pitch.
Player ratings21 May 2029
Successful dribbles: 15. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad21 May 2029
8 clean sheets and counting. Strikers leave this ground muttering his name, which is exactly how a goalkeeper measures a good season.
Player ratings21 May 2029
A defender's afternoon for Marcel Koren
Defensive actions: 15. He was first to everything and second to nothing, and the goalkeeper had an easy day because of it.
Squad21 May 2029
“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.
Player ratings21 May 2029
The one thing Pavel Marin could not do
Shots: 5, enough of them from close enough that a striker in form scores two. He is not a striker in form.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market14 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.
Squad14 May 2029
Muhammed Hydara 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 ratings14 May 2029
Successful dribbles: 21. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad14 May 2029
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Nestor Yevcin, and the manager let it.
Squad14 May 2029
Richard Aland 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 Richard Aland trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Match12 May 2029
Nil-nil, and few chances worth the name. Levadia came to defend and left with exactly what they came for.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match7 Apr 2029
Tammeka march on in the cup
Tulevik are out and Tammeka go through, 0‑0 the final word. The bracket opens up a little, and everyone allows themselves a look at it.
Match4 Apr 2029
Cup ties wait for somebody to seize them, and Nestor Yevcin obliged against Tulevik. 1‑0 on the night, and the name in the next round’s hat is Tammeka.
Squad9 Apr 2029
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Reda Rabeï and Tammeka agree another 2 years.
Squad9 Apr 2029
Reda Rabeï 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 ratings9 Apr 2029
Marked 9.12 — the sort of number a correspondent writes down twice to be sure. Everything he tried came off, and what he did not try was not worth trying.
Player ratings9 Apr 2029
Headers, blocks, tackles, interceptions — 20 of them, and not one goal behind him. The sort of performance that never makes a highlight reel and wins football matches.
Player ratings9 Apr 2029
Successful dribbles: 19. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad9 Apr 2029
“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 Tammeka know it.
Player ratings9 Apr 2029
A mark of 7.72, and nobody in the ground would argue with it. He was involved in everything that mattered and most of what did not.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Market16 Oct 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.
Squad16 Oct 2028
67 days, the medical staff say, and medical staff are optimists by profession. The team sheet will look wrong without him.
Squad16 Oct 2028
Muhammed Hydara 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.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match28 Aug 2028
Tammeka are in real trouble now
Position 10, 10 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.
Boardroom28 Aug 2028
The silence upstairs is getting loud at Tammeka
Nobody on the board has said anything against the manager, which is the point — they have stopped saying anything for him either.
Market28 Aug 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.
Squad28 Aug 2028
The medical room confirms 108 days on the sidelines for Silver Hein, and a plan built around him now has to be rebuilt.
Squad28 Aug 2028
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Tammeka may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Market28 Aug 2028
Add another name to the list: Tulevik have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Patrick Genro Veelma. The answer from Tammeka has not changed — yet.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Market17 Jul 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 Tammeka, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad17 Jul 2028
Silver Hein 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 Tammeka this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad17 Jul 2028
The manager makes an example of Igors Dubra
“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.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Market3 Apr 2028
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Tammeka can pretend not to have heard.
Squad3 Apr 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.
Match1 Apr 2028
No end in sight to Tammeka's wait for a win
5 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Tammeka has to find a result from somewhere.
Match1 Apr 2028
Flora left with the points after a 1‑2 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Squad3 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 Tammeka this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad3 Apr 2028
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Chilem Williams Ignatius, and the manager let it.
Squad3 Apr 2028
Pedro Manoel 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.
Player ratings3 Apr 2028
Successful dribbles: 12. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Player ratings3 Apr 2028
Marked 5.74, and generously at that. Nothing came off, and by the end the crowd had stopped expecting it to.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Market20 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.
Squad20 Mar 2028
42 days, the scan says, and scans are kinder than reality. The fixtures in that window have just become somebody else’s job.
Squad20 Mar 2028
The medical room confirms 56 days on the sidelines for Paulo Romero, and a plan built around him now has to be rebuilt.
Squad20 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 Tammeka this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Match18 Mar 2028
Beaten 1‑2, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Squad20 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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market10 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.
Squad10 Jan 2028
Pedro Manoel 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 Tammeka this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad10 Jan 2028
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Chilem Williams Ignatius and Tammeka agree another 4 years.
Market10 Jan 2028
No place for Reio Laabus in the plan
“The manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Reio Laabus has his answer from Tammeka; what he does with it is the next window’s story.
Squad10 Jan 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.
Squad10 Jan 2028
Nestor Yevcin has had enough of the bench
“I did not come here to warm up in front of people.” He is out of contract eventually, he is old enough to count the weeks, and Tammeka will have to give him a reason to stay or an exit.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Boardroom3 Jan 2028
Joonas Sappinen has until the next board meeting
What was said behind closed doors has now been said in front of a microphone. Everybody at Tammeka can do the arithmetic, including the man it is aimed at.
Squad3 Jan 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 Tammeka this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad3 Jan 2028
The manager makes an example of Nestor Yevcin
“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.
Market3 Jan 2028
Tammeka bring in an old head
Sergio Osorio is 33 and has run out of things to prove. What he has left is where to stand, when to slow it down and what to say at half-time, and none of that is on a fitness chart.
Boardroom3 Jan 2028
Tammeka pull $494.8K back off the table
The money that was there in the summer is not there now. Nobody upstairs calls this a change of ambition, and everybody downstairs reads it as one.
Market3 Jan 2028
The name of Santiago Herrera keeps appearing in other people's back pages. Tammeka say nothing, which says plenty.
Market3 Jan 2028
3 months remain and no agreement is close. Every week without a signature costs Tammeka money.
Squad3 Jan 2028
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Chilem Williams Ignatius trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Squad3 Jan 2028
A year in and the language has not come, the city has not opened up, and he eats alone more often than anybody at Tammeka would like to admit. It is showing on Saturdays.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market13 Dec 2027
Nestor Yevcin 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 Tammeka can pretend not to have heard.
Squad13 Dec 2027
Muhammed Hydara 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 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 Tammeka know it.