Marked for Kacper Błaszkiewicz
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market31 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 The request is on a desk at Uralets-TS, and it is not being withdrawn.
The dugout31 Jul 2028
This is not rotation. Maxim Gorin has not been in the manager's plans for some time, and nobody at Uralets-TS is pretending otherwise.
Transfer targets31 Jul 2028
The deal with Chertanovo 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.
Match29 Jul 2028
4 matches without a win for Uralets-TS
The run now stands at 4, and the questions being asked around Uralets-TS are no longer polite ones.
Squad31 Jul 2028
Everybody saw it before anybody said it. At 34 the numbers say 3 points down on what he was, and the question for Uralets-TS is how to handle a man they owe a great deal.
Match29 Jul 2028
Hard to beat is not the same as winning, but 6 matches without defeat is a foundation Uralets-TS did not have in the autumn.
Match29 Jul 2028
3 matches without a goal for Uralets-TS
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.
Transfer targets31 Jul 2028
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.
Market31 Jul 2028
Nart are about to pick up the phone
A conversation is coming this week. Uralets-TS will put a number on him, and from there it stops being football and becomes arithmetic.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Player ratings24 Jul 2028
Successful dribbles: 36. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
Market24 Jul 2028
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Uralets-TS people have started saying his name in the past tense.
Market24 Jul 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.
The dugout24 Jul 2028
This is not rotation. Mikhail Pilipenko has not been in the manager's plans for some time, and nobody at Uralets-TS is pretending otherwise.
Transfer targets24 Jul 2028
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Uralets-TS have done the hard part with Murom, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
Squad24 Jul 2028
Mikhail Pilipenko and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Transfer targets24 Jul 2028
Uralets-TS asked and Orel said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Boardroom24 Jul 2028
No signings allowed at Uralets-TS
The manager may talk to whoever he likes and may pay nobody. A squad survives a window like this by borrowing, by promoting, and by hoping the injuries land somewhere else.
Squad24 Jul 2028
Kacper Błaszkiewicz 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
Steady
Market17 Jul 2028
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Uralets-TS have lost him in all but the paperwork.
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 Uralets-TS, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad17 Jul 2028
Stephen Adayilo 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.
Boardroom17 Jul 2028
5 academy players handed senior numbers at Uralets-TS
The morning the pathway stops being a brochure and becomes a team sheet. Most of them will not be here in three years; all of them have already done the hard part, which was getting to today.
Transfer targets17 Jul 2028
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Chertanovo have kept their man, and Uralets-TS go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Market17 Jul 2028
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Yefrem Petukhov has come through every age group the club runs and has now been handed a senior number, and the people who coached him at twelve will be the proudest in the building.
Market17 Jul 2028
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Evgeni Lopatin has been at this club since he was a boy and is now, formally, one of the first-team squad — which for a local readership beats any signing of any size.
The dugout17 Jul 2028
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Konstantin Kotov, and the manager let it.
Boardroom17 Jul 2028
Uralets-TS are $4.1M in the red
The borrowing is past what the bank agreed, which is the line where a debt stops being how football is financed and starts being a problem. Every phone-in in this town will quote the figure for the next five years.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market10 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 Uralets-TS, and it is not being withdrawn.
Market10 Jul 2028
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Uralets-TS is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Transfer targets10 Jul 2028
Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at Volga is saying, and nobody at Uralets-TS is enjoying the guessing.
The dugout10 Jul 2028
This is not rotation. Jakub Kokosiński has not been in the manager's plans for some time, and nobody at Uralets-TS is pretending otherwise.
Market10 Jul 2028
The interest is real enough to have reached print. Uralets-TS have said nothing, which in a transfer window is its own kind of answer.
Squad10 Jul 2028
Stephen Adayilo 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 targets10 Jul 2028
Uralets-TS asked and Salyut said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Boardroom10 Jul 2028
Wages eat 160% of everything Uralets-TS 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
Uneasy
Market26 Jun 2028
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Volgar waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Uralets-TS is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
Market26 Jun 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 Uralets-TS, and it is not being withdrawn.
Boardroom26 Jun 2028
The scrutiny sharpens at Uralets-TS
Nobody upstairs has said anything, which is the loudest thing they could do. Results buy silence in this game; the account at Uralets-TS is running low.
The dugout26 Jun 2028
This is not rotation. Mikhail Pilipenko has not been in the manager's plans for some time, and nobody at Uralets-TS is pretending otherwise.
Transfer targets26 Jun 2028
The deal with Irtysh 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.
Squad26 Jun 2028
Mikhail Pilipenko and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Transfer targets26 Jun 2028
Uralets-TS asked and Dinamo Kirov said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Boardroom26 Jun 2028
The embargo bars a fee being paid for a player, whatever the manager thinks the squad needs. Every rumour printed about this club between now and its lifting is a rumour about a deal that cannot happen.
Squad26 Jun 2028
Words at Uralets-TS training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Kacper Błaszkiewicz 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
Market19 Jun 2028
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Uralets-TS people have started saying his name in the past tense.
Market19 Jun 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 Uralets-TS, and it is not being withdrawn.
Transfer targets19 Jun 2028
Uralets-TS asked and CSKA Moscow said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Squad19 Jun 2028
Words at Uralets-TS training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Kacper Błaszkiewicz 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.
Boardroom19 Jun 2028
The Uralets-TS debt reaches $3.9M
Football clubs borrow; that is not the story. Borrowing more than the facility allows is, because from here it is the owner's money or somebody else's decision, and neither of those belongs to the board.
The dugout19 Jun 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.
Squad19 Jun 2028
Robert Ayvazyan and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Transfer targets19 Jun 2028
A loan enquiry to Chertanovo: cover, or a look at somebody the club cannot afford to buy yet. Either way the answer will come back inside the week.
The dugout19 Jun 2028
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Dmitry Pakhomov is on it.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market5 Jun 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.
The dugout5 Jun 2028
This is not rotation. Maxim Gorin has not been in the manager's plans for some time, and nobody at Uralets-TS is pretending otherwise.
Squad5 Jun 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 Uralets-TS this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Boardroom5 Jun 2028
The owner puts $60.6K into Uralets-TS
This is money that keeps the lights on rather than money that buys a centre-half, and the difference is the whole story. A club funded by its owner rather than by its football has exactly one conversation left ahead of it.
Squad5 Jun 2028
Kacper Błaszkiewicz 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.
Market5 Jun 2028
“We are a long way apart, and pretending otherwise helps nobody.” Neither side is close, and the calendar is not on the club's side.
The dugout5 Jun 2028
Nobody at Uralets-TS 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.
The dugout5 Jun 2028
Alexey Naidenov 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
Market22 May 2028
Maxim Gorin 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 Uralets-TS can pretend not to have heard.
Squad22 May 2028
Stephen Adayilo 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.
Boardroom22 May 2028
Uralets-TS are $3.8M in the red
The borrowing is past what the bank agreed, which is the line where a debt stops being how football is financed and starts being a problem. Every phone-in in this town will quote the figure for the next five years.
The dugout22 May 2028
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Dmitry Pakhomov is on it.
Squad22 May 2028
Belinga Omgba 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 dugout22 May 2028
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Uralets-TS, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Market22 May 2028
Every press conference now starts and ends the same way: with Vladislav Yanchenko’s future. The manager has run out of new ways to say nothing.
Market22 May 2028
7 months remain and no agreement is close. Every week without a signature costs Uralets-TS money.
Squad22 May 2028
Questions about Belinga Omgba on the training pitch
The standards have slipped, and in a building where everybody watches everybody it has not gone unremarked. This is how a player loses a place before he loses one.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
The terraces24 Apr 2028
The mood at Dinamo Stavropol has turned into something else
Supporters who sing when it goes badly are supporters. Supporters who gather afterwards are a problem, and everybody inside the building knows which of the two this now is.
Match22 Apr 2028
The run now stands at 7, and the questions being asked around Dinamo Stavropol are no longer polite ones.
Match22 Apr 2028
The chances are being made and something is happening between the making and the finishing. 7 matches now, and the anxiety in the ground arrives a little earlier every week.
Market24 Apr 2028
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Dinamo Stavropol is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
The dugout24 Apr 2028
This is not rotation. Nikita Kashtan has not been in the manager's plans for some time, and nobody at Dinamo Stavropol is pretending otherwise.
Squad24 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 Dinamo Stavropol this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad24 Apr 2028
Dmitry Kratkov 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 ratings24 Apr 2028
The game went through Denis Rubanov — 6.63
Marked 6.63 on 9 actions at both ends of the pitch. Midfielders like this get described as unspectacular by people who have never tried to play against one.
Player ratings24 Apr 2028
Marked 7.27 on an afternoon he ran from the first whistle to the last. Whatever else went wrong, Dinamo Stavropol had the best player on the pitch.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Boardroom17 Apr 2028
Nobody upstairs has said anything, which is the loudest thing they could do. Results buy silence in this game; the account at Dinamo Stavropol is running low.
Match15 Apr 2028
The run now stands at 6, and the questions being asked around Dinamo Stavropol are no longer polite ones.
Match15 Apr 2028
The chances are being made and something is happening between the making and the finishing. 6 matches now, and the anxiety in the ground arrives a little earlier every week.
Squad17 Apr 2028
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Dmitry Kratkov was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Boardroom17 Apr 2028
Wages eat 180% of everything Dinamo Stavropol 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.
Squad17 Apr 2028
Kacper Błaszkiewicz 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.
Player ratings17 Apr 2028
Successful dribbles: 18. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
The dugout17 Apr 2028
The manager makes an example of Danil Khromov
“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 ratings17 Apr 2028
A mark of 7.39, 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
Uneasy
Market17 Apr 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.
Market17 Apr 2028
Belinga Omgba has one foot out of the door
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Uralets-TS they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
The dugout17 Apr 2028
This is not rotation. Jakub Kokosiński has not been in the manager's plans for some time, and nobody at Uralets-TS is pretending otherwise.
Squad17 Apr 2028
Mikhail Pilipenko 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.
Boardroom17 Apr 2028
Wages eat 132% of everything Uralets-TS 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.
The dugout17 Apr 2028
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Stephen Adayilo is on it.
The dugout17 Apr 2028
Alexey Naidenov 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.
Market17 Apr 2028
Maxim Gorin linked with a move away
The name of Maxim Gorin keeps appearing in other people's back pages. Uralets-TS say nothing, which says plenty.
Market17 Apr 2028
The shop window has Maxim Gorin in it
Uralets-TS have let the market know Maxim Gorin can be had. No price in the advert, but everyone in the trade knows roughly what it says.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad21 Feb 2028
Arseny Lomtev breaks a bone — 32 days out
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 32 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Market21 Feb 2028
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Murom waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Uralets-TS is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
Market21 Feb 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 Uralets-TS, and it is not being withdrawn.
Transfer targets21 Feb 2028
Everything was agreed with Fakel and then the doctor spoke. Uralets-TS have walked away from a signing on the advice of somebody who never saw him play, which is how it is supposed to work.
Transfer targets21 Feb 2028
Everything agreed with Volga, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
Squad21 Feb 2028
Stephen Adayilo 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 targets21 Feb 2028
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.
Boardroom21 Feb 2028
Wages eat 143% of everything Uralets-TS 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.
The dugout21 Feb 2028
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Stephen Adayilo is on it.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market14 Feb 2028
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Uralets-TS have lost him in all but the paperwork.
Market14 Feb 2028
Maxim Gorin 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 Uralets-TS can pretend not to have heard.
Transfer targets14 Feb 2028
Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at Volga is saying, and nobody at Uralets-TS is enjoying the guessing.
Squad14 Feb 2028
Stephen Adayilo and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Transfer targets14 Feb 2028
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.
Squad14 Feb 2028
Narek Hambardzumyan 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.
Market14 Feb 2028
The interest is real enough to have reached print. Uralets-TS have said nothing, which in a transfer window is its own kind of answer.
The dugout14 Feb 2028
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Mikhail Pilipenko is on it.
The dugout14 Feb 2028
“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
Market31 Jan 2028
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Torpedo Vladimir waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Uralets-TS is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
Market31 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.
Player ratings31 Jan 2028
Successful dribbles: 29. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
Player ratings31 Jan 2028
Dominik Pikulik, 21, plays like he has been here for years — 7.64
A mark of 7.64 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.
The dugout31 Jan 2028
Robert Ayvazyan: 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.” Uralets-TS have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Transfer targets31 Jan 2028
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Uralets-TS have done the hard part with Sevastopol, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
Market31 Jan 2028
The interest is real enough to have reached print. Uralets-TS have said nothing, which in a transfer window is its own kind of answer.
Squad31 Jan 2028
Mikhail Pilipenko 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 targets31 Jan 2028
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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market17 Jan 2028
Maxim Gorin 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 Uralets-TS can pretend not to have heard.
Market17 Jan 2028
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Uralets-TS is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Boardroom17 Jan 2028
The accounts are being read more closely than the results. Wages before ambition is the order of business now, and the manager has been told so.
Player ratings17 Jan 2028
Successful dribbles: 20. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Player ratings17 Jan 2028
Marked 8.28. Players have careers without a single afternoon like this in them, and he has just had one in front of everybody at Uralets-TS.
Squad17 Jan 2028
Narek Hambardzumyan 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.
Squad17 Jan 2028
Robert Ayvazyan 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.
Match15 Jan 2028
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 dugout17 Jan 2028
It is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. Uralets-TS told Nikolay Shulzhevskiy something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market20 Dec 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 Uralets-TS, and it is not being withdrawn.
The dugout20 Dec 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.
Match18 Dec 2027
No end in sight to Uralets-TS's wait for a win
6 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Uralets-TS has to find a result from somewhere.
Market20 Dec 2027
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Kacper Błaszkiewicz will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Uralets-TS the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Squad20 Dec 2027
Mikhail Pilipenko 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.
Boardroom20 Dec 2027
The accounts make uncomfortable reading. Wages first and ambition second is the order of business at Uralets-TS now.
Match18 Dec 2027
The run at home goes on for Uralets-TS
8 matches unbeaten here. Every visiting manager is asked about it in the week before, which is precisely why it keeps going.
The dugout20 Dec 2027
“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 ratings20 Dec 2027
Successful dribbles: 17. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad6 Dec 2027
A knee injury of the worst kind for Oleg Bessonov
21 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Uralets-TS lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Squad6 Dec 2027
Maxim Gorin 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.
Squad6 Dec 2027
Narek Hambardzumyan 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.
Market6 Dec 2027
“We are a long way apart, and pretending otherwise helps nobody.” Neither side is close, and the calendar is not on the club's side.
Market6 Dec 2027
“They were honest with me, and I would rather know.” Alexey Belyanin has been informed he is not in the manager's thinking at Uralets-TS.
The dugout6 Dec 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.
The dugout6 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.
The dugout6 Dec 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 Uralets-TS, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Market6 Dec 2027
Every press conference now starts and ends the same way: with Maxim Gorin’s future. The manager has run out of new ways to say nothing.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad22 Nov 2027
35 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Uralets-TS lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Match17 Nov 2027
Lokomotiv Moscow ended it 1‑2. The season narrows to the league now, and everyone in the ground knew it before the final whistle.
Market22 Nov 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 Uralets-TS, and it is not being withdrawn.
Market22 Nov 2027
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Kacper Błaszkiewicz will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Uralets-TS the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Player ratings22 Nov 2027
Successful dribbles: 25. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
Squad22 Nov 2027
Mikhail Pilipenko 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.
Boardroom22 Nov 2027
The numbers do not look good at Uralets-TS
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.
The dugout22 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.
Squad22 Nov 2027
A row about effort at Uralets-TS
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Narek Hambardzumyan was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market25 Oct 2027
Maxim Gorin 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 Uralets-TS can pretend not to have heard.
Match23 Oct 2027
5 matches without a win for Uralets-TS
The run now stands at 5, and the questions being asked around Uralets-TS are no longer polite ones.
Market25 Oct 2027
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Uralets-TS they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Match23 Oct 2027
4 matches without a goal for Uralets-TS
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.
Squad25 Oct 2027
Mikhail Pilipenko 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.
Boardroom25 Oct 2027
The numbers do not look good at Uralets-TS
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.
The dugout25 Oct 2027
“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 ratings25 Oct 2027
Successful dribbles: 18. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
The dugout25 Oct 2027
It is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. Uralets-TS told Akhjad Garisultanov something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad18 Oct 2027
A shoot-out is remembered by its ending, and this one ends with Konstantin Kotov: 3 kept out, and a set of supporters who will describe every one of them for the next twenty years.
Match13 Oct 2027
Akron are out and Uralets-TS go through, 0‑0 the final word. The bracket opens up a little, and everyone allows themselves a look at it.
Market18 Oct 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 Uralets-TS can pretend not to have heard.
The dugout18 Oct 2027
This is not rotation. Jakub Kokosiński has not been in the manager's plans for some time, and nobody at Uralets-TS is pretending otherwise.
Player ratings18 Oct 2027
Successful dribbles: 24. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
Match16 Oct 2027
No end in sight to Uralets-TS's wait for a win
4 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Uralets-TS has to find a result from somewhere.
Player ratings18 Oct 2027
16 combined actions and 7.18. The job he did is the one that shows up as other people looking good, and the only reliable way to notice it is to watch what happens on the afternoons he is missing.
Squad18 Oct 2027
Maxim Gorin and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Match16 Oct 2027
The goals have deserted Uralets-TS
3 matches, no goals, and a training ground that has tried everything. It will end — droughts always do — but nobody at Uralets-TS can tell you which week it ends in.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad11 Oct 2027
Robert Ayvazyan 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 dugout11 Oct 2027
Stephen Adayilo has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at Uralets-TS 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.
The dugout11 Oct 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.
Market11 Oct 2027
The name of Stephen Adayilo keeps appearing in other people's back pages. Uralets-TS say nothing, which says plenty.
Squad11 Oct 2027
“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 Uralets-TS will have to give him a reason to stay or an exit.
The dugout11 Oct 2027
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Alexey Belyanin trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Squad11 Oct 2027
A season on the outside for Viktor Baciu
He trains hard, says the right things and goes home to an empty flat. Nobody at Uralets-TS has done anything wrong, which is exactly what makes it so difficult to fix.
Market11 Oct 2027
The list is a quiet document with a loud meaning. Belinga Omgba may talk to anybody who asks, and everybody at the club understands what that means.
Squad11 Oct 2027
The standards have slipped, and in a building where everybody watches everybody it has not gone unremarked. This is how a player loses a place before he loses one.
From our football correspondent
Steady
The dugout4 Oct 2027
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Uralets-TS have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Player ratings4 Oct 2027
Successful dribbles: 24. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad4 Oct 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 Uralets-TS this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Boardroom4 Oct 2027
Wages eat 164% of everything Uralets-TS 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.
The dugout4 Oct 2027
“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.
Market4 Oct 2027
24 months to run and not a word offered. A club that lets the calendar negotiate for it usually ends up losing to the calendar.
Player ratings4 Oct 2027
Marked 7.61. Ask anyone leaving the ground what settled it and you will get one name, which is the only award that has ever really counted.
Squad4 Oct 2027
A place in the month's best eleven for Dmitry Pakhomov
Four or five weekends of consistency, judged against everybody in the division doing his job. Dmitry Pakhomov has come out of that comparison in the side, and Uralets-TS have had the benefit of every one of those afternoons.
The dugout4 Oct 2027
Mikhail Pilipenko has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at Uralets-TS 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
Steady
Market27 Sep 2027
Maxim Gorin 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 Uralets-TS can pretend not to have heard.
Market27 Sep 2027
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Kacper Błaszkiewicz will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Uralets-TS the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Squad27 Sep 2027
Stephen Adayilo 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.
Boardroom27 Sep 2027
The accounts make uncomfortable reading. Wages first and ambition second is the order of business at Uralets-TS now.
Match25 Sep 2027
Rubin 2 left with the points after a 1‑2 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Squad27 Sep 2027
A row about effort at Uralets-TS
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Dominik Pikulik was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout27 Sep 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.
Player ratings27 Sep 2027
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.08, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
Player ratings27 Sep 2027
Successful dribbles: 17. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Match18 Sep 2027
There were 87 minutes on the clock and Krylya Sovetov 2 had all but banked the point. Football rarely reads the room, and Uralets-TS did not stop to explain themselves.
The dugout20 Sep 2027
This is not rotation. Jakub Kokosiński has not been in the manager's plans for some time, and nobody at Uralets-TS is pretending otherwise.
Squad20 Sep 2027
Stephen Adayilo 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.
Market20 Sep 2027
The interest is real enough to have reached print. Uralets-TS have said nothing, which in a transfer window is its own kind of answer.
Transfer targets20 Sep 2027
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 terraces20 Sep 2027
At 23 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.
Player ratings20 Sep 2027
17 defensive actions and a clean sheet at the end of them. A defender's afternoon can only be told by what did not happen, which is why nobody makes a highlights package out of one and every manager in the division would take it.
Player ratings20 Sep 2027
7.74, and no serious argument from anybody who was there. Uralets-TS had eleven men on the pitch and one of them decided how it went.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market30 Aug 2027
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Uralets-TS have lost him in all but the paperwork.
Market30 Aug 2027
Maxim Gorin 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 Uralets-TS can pretend not to have heard.
Player ratings30 Aug 2027
No sign of nerves from Dominik Pikulik at 20 — 7.68
The hardest thing about being 20 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Dominik Pikulik did not need any: 7.68, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
Squad30 Aug 2027
Maxim Gorin 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 Uralets-TS this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Boardroom30 Aug 2027
The accounts are being read more closely than the results. Wages before ambition is the order of business now, and the manager has been told so.
Transfer targets30 Aug 2027
Uralets-TS asked and Dinamo Kirov said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
The terraces30 Aug 2027
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 20-year-old it feels ownership of. Dominik Pikulik has it now, and everything he does for the rest of his time here will be measured against the goodwill he was handed for free.
The dugout30 Aug 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.
Market30 Aug 2027
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at Uralets-TS has been clear about where Rayat Sharafutdinov stands, which is more than many ever get.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Match18 Aug 2027
A 3‑1 win over Cherepovets, a place in the next round, and the quiet arithmetic every supporter does on the walk home: how many more until a final?
Player ratings23 Aug 2027
2 goals, and the second was the one that settled it. Marked 8.18, and he could have had a third with better luck at the near post.
The dugout23 Aug 2027
This is not rotation. Jakub Kokosiński has not been in the manager's plans for some time, and nobody at Uralets-TS is pretending otherwise.
Market23 Aug 2027
The interest is real enough to have reached print. Uralets-TS have said nothing, which in a transfer window is its own kind of answer.
Transfer targets23 Aug 2027
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: Rostov keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
Squad23 Aug 2027
At 33, 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.
Transfer targets23 Aug 2027
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 terraces23 Aug 2027
At 23 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.
The dugout23 Aug 2027
“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
Steady
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 Uralets-TS, and it is not being withdrawn.
Boardroom2 Aug 2027
An order from above at Uralets-TS: somebody has to go
Balance sheets do not care about form or about who the manager was planning to build around. The board have decided a sale is required, and the only question left is which name ends up carrying it.
Squad2 Aug 2027
“The easiest signature of my career.” Akhjad Garisultanov and Uralets-TS agree another 2 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Squad2 Aug 2027
Stephen Adayilo 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.
Boardroom2 Aug 2027
The accounts are being read more closely than the results. Wages before ambition is the order of business now, and the manager has been told so.
Transfer targets2 Aug 2027
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Sevastopol have kept their man, and Uralets-TS go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
The dugout2 Aug 2027
The manager makes an example of Kirill Matsak
“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.
Market2 Aug 2027
“We are a long way apart, and pretending otherwise helps nobody.” Neither side is close, and the calendar is not on the club's side.
Player ratings2 Aug 2027
Successful dribbles: 15. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Match24 Jul 2027
There is no crueller way to lose a football match. Uralets-TS scored in the 91th minute, the restart barely happened, and the away end was still standing when the whistle went.
Market26 Jul 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.
The dugout26 Jul 2027
This is not rotation. Jakub Kokosiński has not been in the manager's plans for some time, and nobody at Uralets-TS is pretending otherwise.
Squad26 Jul 2027
Mikhail Pilipenko 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 targets26 Jul 2027
Pobeda wanted more than $20.0K and the board would not go there. Walked away, for now, which in a transfer window means until somebody blinks.
Transfer targets26 Jul 2027
Uralets-TS asked and Baltika said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
The terraces26 Jul 2027
He is 22 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.
Match24 Jul 2027
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Artur Nechaev. 1‑0 against Dinamo Barnaul, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
The dugout26 Jul 2027
“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
Steady
Market28 Jun 2027
The fee was agreed and the flight was looked at — and then the phone stopped ringing. Strogino moved on, Maxim Moskovets reports back to Uralets-TS, and everybody pretends Monday is just Monday.
Market28 Jun 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 Uralets-TS, and it is not being withdrawn.
The dugout28 Jun 2027
This is not rotation. Jakub Kokosiński has not been in the manager's plans for some time, and nobody at Uralets-TS is pretending otherwise.
Transfer targets28 Jun 2027
No thanks: Ivan Yenin rejects the move
Uralets-TS had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at Spartak Kostroma, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.
Transfer targets28 Jun 2027
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Volga have kept their man, and Uralets-TS go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Squad28 Jun 2027
A row about effort at Uralets-TS
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Dominik Pikulik was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout28 Jun 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Kacper Błaszkiewicz, and the manager let it.
Transfer targets28 Jun 2027
A loan enquiry to Khimik: cover, or a look at somebody the club cannot afford to buy yet. Either way the answer will come back inside the week.
Transfer targets28 Jun 2027
A loan move for Artur Nechaev is in the works
Uralets-TS have made the call to Murom. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market21 Jun 2027
“It was not right for me. I am not going to explain why to anybody except the people I owe an explanation to.” A deal agreed between two clubs, and a player who declined to be part of it.
Market21 Jun 2027
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Uralets-TS people have started saying his name in the past tense.
Squad21 Jun 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 Uralets-TS this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Transfer targets21 Jun 2027
Uralets-TS asked and Fakel said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Squad21 Jun 2027
A row about effort at Uralets-TS
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Dominik Pikulik was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout21 Jun 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Alexey Naidenov, and the manager let it.
Transfer targets21 Jun 2027
A loan enquiry to Volgar: cover, or a look at somebody the club cannot afford to buy yet. Either way the answer will come back inside the week.
Squad21 Jun 2027
“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 Uralets-TS will have to give him a reason to stay or an exit.
The dugout21 Jun 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 Uralets-TS, and both men came out saying it was fine.
From our football correspondent
Steady
The dugout31 May 2027
This is not rotation. Jakub Kokosiński has not been in the manager's plans for some time, and nobody at Uralets-TS is pretending otherwise.
Market31 May 2027
Only the photograph left for Maxim Tarasov
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Maxim Tarasov will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Uralets-TS the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Squad31 May 2027
Mikhail Pilipenko 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 dugout31 May 2027
“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.
Squad31 May 2027
“I respect the manager and I am not going to sit here and pretend I am happy.” It is the most common sentence in football and it has never once been the end of a story.
The dugout31 May 2027
Kirill Matsak has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at Uralets-TS 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.
The dugout31 May 2027
Yegor Zubarev 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 Yegor Zubarev trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Market31 May 2027
Every press conference now starts and ends the same way: with Vladislav Yanchenko’s future. The manager has run out of new ways to say nothing.
Market31 May 2027
The clock does Alexey Chaplygin’s negotiating for him
2 months left, and both sides know what that means: every week without a signature, the fee Uralets-TS could ask drops and the wages Alexey Chaplygin can ask rise.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad24 May 2027
15 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Uralets-TS lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Market24 May 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 Uralets-TS, and it is not being withdrawn.
The dugout24 May 2027
The manager makes an example of Maxim Moskovets
“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 dugout24 May 2027
“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.
Squad24 May 2027
Belinga Omgba 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 Uralets-TS will have to give him a reason to stay or an exit.
Market24 May 2027
Every press conference now starts and ends the same way: with Maxim Gorin’s future. The manager has run out of new ways to say nothing.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad12 Apr 2027
A knee injury of the worst kind for Alexey Naidenov
57 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Uralets-TS lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Market12 Apr 2027
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Uralets-TS they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Match12 Apr 2027
Uralets-TS are in among the leaders
Position 3 and 42 points on the board. Nobody at the ground will say the word out loud yet, and everybody at the ground is thinking it.
Squad12 Apr 2027
Mikhail Pilipenko 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.
Squad12 Apr 2027
Words at Uralets-TS training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Akhjad Garisultanov 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 dugout12 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.
Boardroom12 Apr 2027
The accounts are being read more closely than the results. Wages before ambition is the order of business now, and the manager has been told so.
The dugout12 Apr 2027
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Alexey Naidenov is on it.
The dugout12 Apr 2027
Maxim Gorin 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 Uralets-TS, and both men came out saying it was fine.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad5 Apr 2027
64 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Uralets-TS lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Market5 Apr 2027
Maxim Tarasov has one foot out of the door
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Uralets-TS they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Squad5 Apr 2027
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Uralets-TS can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
Squad5 Apr 2027
Words at Uralets-TS training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Akhjad Garisultanov 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 dugout5 Apr 2027
The manager makes an example of Maxim Moskovets
“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 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 Uralets-TS, and both men came out saying it was fine.
The dugout5 Apr 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.
Squad5 Apr 2027
“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 Uralets-TS will have to answer with minutes or with a transfer.
Market5 Apr 2027
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Uralets-TS know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad22 Feb 2027
Alexey Naidenov damages knee ligaments — 106 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 106 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.
The dugout22 Feb 2027
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Uralets-TS may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Transfer targets22 Feb 2027
Everything agreed with Dinamo Moscow, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
Transfer targets22 Feb 2027
$16.0K on the table at Chernomorets. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.
Squad22 Feb 2027
Mikhail Pilipenko and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Market22 Feb 2027
Everyone has stopped pretending: Tver will make the call about Maxim Moskovets this week. Uralets-TS have a number in mind, and the number is not shy.
Transfer targets22 Feb 2027
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Dinamo Bryansk have kept their man, and Uralets-TS go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Boardroom22 Feb 2027
168% of the income goes out in wages at Uralets-TS
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 dugout22 Feb 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.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad8 Feb 2027
38 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Uralets-TS lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Market8 Feb 2027
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Uralets-TS have lost him in all but the paperwork.
Market8 Feb 2027
Maxim Tarasov 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 Uralets-TS can pretend not to have heard.
Transfer targets8 Feb 2027
$15.0K on the table at Chernomorets. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.
Transfer targets8 Feb 2027
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Dinamo Makhachkala have kept their man, and Uralets-TS go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Squad8 Feb 2027
Words at Uralets-TS training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Akhjad Garisultanov 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.
Loan watch8 Feb 2027
“I watch every Uralets-TS game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Irkutsk runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
The dugout8 Feb 2027
“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.
Squad8 Feb 2027
Four weeks in which nobody in the division did his job better. The award goes on a shelf and the player goes back into the side, which is the order Uralets-TS prefer.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad4 Jan 2027
73 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Uralets-TS lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Squad4 Jan 2027
A fracture rules Nawaf Al-Otaibi out for 20 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Uralets-TS will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Player ratings4 Jan 2027
Two goals and a mark of 8.40 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
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 Uralets-TS have had the benefit of it.
Match2 Jan 2027
Still nobody has beaten Uralets-TS
The unbeaten run reaches 7. Some of them were wins and some were escapes, but a side that refuses to lose is a side other dressing rooms talk about.
Squad4 Jan 2027
Maxim Gorin 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 terraces4 Jan 2027
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 23-year-old it feels ownership of. Nikita Sevostjanov has it now, and everything he does for the rest of his time here will be measured against the goodwill he was handed for free.
Match2 Jan 2027
A 2‑0 win over Rubin 2, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
Match2 Jan 2027
Uralets-TS are at home on the road
3 straight away victories. Sides that win away are usually sides that can defend and can counter, and the table has begun to reflect what those journeys have earned.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad28 Dec 2026
80 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Uralets-TS lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Squad28 Dec 2026
A fracture rules Nawaf Al-Otaibi out for 27 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Uralets-TS will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Market28 Dec 2026
Maxim Tarasov has one foot out of the door
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Uralets-TS they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Squad28 Dec 2026
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 19 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.
Match26 Dec 2026
Still nobody has beaten Uralets-TS
The unbeaten run reaches 6. Some of them were wins and some were escapes, but a side that refuses to lose is a side other dressing rooms talk about.
Match26 Dec 2026
A 3‑1 win over Krylya Sovetov 2, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
Squad28 Dec 2026
Words at Uralets-TS training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Akhjad Garisultanov 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.
Boardroom28 Dec 2026
Wages eat 177% of everything Uralets-TS 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.
The terraces28 Dec 2026
At 23 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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad30 Nov 2026
109 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Uralets-TS lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Squad30 Nov 2026
56 days out for Nawaf Al-Otaibi after a fracture
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Uralets-TS will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
The dugout30 Nov 2026
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Uralets-TS may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Market30 Nov 2026
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Uralets-TS is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Squad30 Nov 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; Uralets-TS are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
Squad30 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 Uralets-TS this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Boardroom30 Nov 2026
Wages swallow 147% of the Uralets-TS 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.
The dugout30 Nov 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Alexey Naidenov, and the manager let it.
Loan watch30 Nov 2026
“I watch every Uralets-TS game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Irkutsk runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad9 Nov 2026
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 78 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
The dugout9 Nov 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.
Match7 Nov 2026
Whatever happens, Uralets-TS do not lose
11 games unbeaten now. Some were earned and some were survived, but a habit is forming — and habits are the hardest thing in football to play against.
Match7 Nov 2026
3 games without scoring. Strikers stop looking up, midfielders take the extra touch, and every shot that clears the bar is followed by a groan that has been building since the last goal.
Squad9 Nov 2026
Akhjad Garisultanov 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.
Market9 Nov 2026
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Uralets-TS, another week without a signature from Alexey Naidenov.
Player ratings9 Nov 2026
Successful dribbles: 15. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
The dugout9 Nov 2026
Somebody else is better right now than Kacper Błaszkiewicz
The team sheet says it in public every week until it changes. The only version of being dropped a footballer cannot argue with, and the one he takes hardest.
The dugout9 Nov 2026
The view from the dugout
“We did not lose. Some weeks that is all you get, and I would rather have the point than not.” Yakov Zheleznov chose the glass-half-full version of 0‑0; the supporters left with the other one.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad2 Nov 2026
85 days out for Nawaf Al-Otaibi after a fracture
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Uralets-TS will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Match31 Oct 2026
Hard to beat is not the same as winning, but 10 matches without defeat is a foundation Uralets-TS did not have in the autumn.
Boardroom2 Nov 2026
The Uralets-TS board want somebody sold
The instruction has come from upstairs rather than from the dugout, which is the version of this conversation no manager enjoys. Somebody in that squad is now available whether the man who picks the team thinks so or not.
Player ratings2 Nov 2026
Successful dribbles: 24. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Market2 Nov 2026
Only the photograph left for Maxim Tarasov
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Maxim Tarasov will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Uralets-TS the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Boardroom2 Nov 2026
Wages swallow 147% of the Uralets-TS 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.
The dugout2 Nov 2026
The manager makes an example of Nawaf Al-Otaibi
“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.
Market2 Nov 2026
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Uralets-TS, another week without a signature from Alexandr Seraskhov.
Player ratings2 Nov 2026
Some games turn on a moment; this one turned on a man. 7.40 on the card, and the Uralets-TS support went home talking about one name.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad12 Oct 2026
106 days out for Nawaf Al-Otaibi after a fracture
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Uralets-TS will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
The dugout12 Oct 2026
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Uralets-TS may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Squad12 Oct 2026
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Aikhan Bakhysh-Zade is 19, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Squad12 Oct 2026
Stephen Adayilo and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
The dugout12 Oct 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.
The dugout12 Oct 2026
It is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. Uralets-TS told Nikita Sevostjanov something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
The dugout12 Oct 2026
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Uralets-TS, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Market12 Oct 2026
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Maxim Moskovets signs something — a contract at Uralets-TS or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
Market12 Oct 2026
Uralets-TS have made Airat Musin available for transfer. A career at this club is over in all but paperwork.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad5 Oct 2026
A fracture rules Nawaf Al-Otaibi out for 113 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Uralets-TS will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Squad5 Oct 2026
A shoot-out is remembered by its ending, and this one ends with Maxim Moskovets: 2 kept out, and a set of supporters who will describe every one of them for the next twenty years.
Match30 Sep 2026
Neftekhimik are out and Uralets-TS go through, 0‑0 the final word. The bracket opens up a little, and everyone allows themselves a look at it.
Market5 Oct 2026
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Uralets-TS is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Match30 Sep 2026
Whatever happens, Uralets-TS do not lose
7 games unbeaten now. Some were earned and some were survived, but a habit is forming — and habits are the hardest thing in football to play against.
Squad5 Oct 2026
“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 Uralets-TS know it.
Squad5 Oct 2026
Mikhail Pilipenko and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Boardroom5 Oct 2026
Wages eat 150% of everything Uralets-TS 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.
The dugout5 Oct 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.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad21 Sep 2026
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 127 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Market21 Sep 2026
The offer from Strogino for Maxim Tarasov 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.
Match19 Sep 2026
Three points for Uralets-TS, 1‑0 the final word against Rubin 2 in a contest settled by the finer margins.
Transfer targets21 Sep 2026
Uralets-TS ran out of time with Sokol. The paperwork was open when the deadline passed, and a transfer that was almost done is now a transfer that never happened.
The dugout21 Sep 2026
The manager makes an example of Maxim Moskovets
“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.
Squad21 Sep 2026
Uralets-TS are still strangers to each other
18 new signings in one window. Every one may be an upgrade and the side can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild the verdicts never mention.
Player ratings21 Sep 2026
A mark of 7.71, and nobody in the ground would argue with it. He was involved in everything that mattered and most of what did not.
The dugout21 Sep 2026
“We earned that. I asked them for a reaction and I got one, and now I want the same again on Saturday.” Yakov Zheleznov on a 1‑0 afternoon that pleased him more than he was prepared to show.
The dugout21 Sep 2026
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.