Marked for Ilja Mescheryakov
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market24 Mar 2036
Only the photograph left for Ádám Somogyi
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Ádám Somogyi will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Rostov the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Boardroom24 Mar 2036
There is no worse way to lose a footballer. Ádám Somogyi has pre-agreed a move away, which means every appearance between now and June is made by a man the club can no longer sell, and somebody upstairs will be asked why the contract was allowed to get here.
Squad24 Mar 2036
Words exchanged at Rostov
Victor Melekhin 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.
Squad24 Mar 2036
A row about effort at Rostov
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Egor Karpitskiy was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout24 Mar 2036
Elyh Harrison knocks on the manager's door
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Rostov, and both men came out saying it was fine.
The dugout24 Mar 2036
“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.
Market24 Mar 2036
Every press conference now starts and ends the same way: with Victor Melekhin’s future. The manager has run out of new ways to say nothing.
The dugout24 Mar 2036
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.
Squad24 Mar 2036
A call-up flatters the player and the club that produced him in the same breath. Rostov would like him back in one piece and know they will not be consulted.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match20 Feb 2036
The cup run ends for Rostov
0‑2 against Dinamo Moscow, and the road stops here. Cup exits are quick deaths — no second leg, no next week, just the league from now until May.
Market25 Feb 2036
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Rostov people have started saying his name in the past tense.
Boardroom25 Feb 2036
Rostov close the window on a squad of their own making
6 in and 7 out, and no more changes for months. The manager has what he has, the supporters have their opinion of it, and the table will have the last word.
Transfer targets25 Feb 2036
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 targets25 Feb 2036
Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at Ufa is saying, and nobody at Rostov is enjoying the guessing.
Match23 Feb 2036
The wait goes on for Rostov
4 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
Squad25 Feb 2036
Words exchanged at Rostov
Victor Melekhin 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 targets25 Feb 2036
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Krasnodar have kept their man, and Rostov go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Squad25 Feb 2036
Footballers are asked about their boyhood club so often that nobody listens to the answer. Maxim Belkovskiy has just signed for Rostov, and for once the answer mattered.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Market11 Feb 2036
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Akron have lost him in all but the paperwork.
Transfer targets11 Feb 2036
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Akron have done the hard part with Krylya Sovetov, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
Squad11 Feb 2036
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Akron this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Market11 Feb 2036
Sochi paid $380.0K and Akron took it, which is the whole story in one sentence. The longer version involves a wage budget and will be told all season.
Boardroom11 Feb 2036
Akron counting the cost
The accounts make uncomfortable reading. Wages first and ambition second is the order of business at Akron now.
Squad11 Feb 2036
A row about effort at Akron
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Yury Zheleznov was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Match9 Feb 2036
KAMAZ take the points off Akron
Beaten 0‑1, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Market11 Feb 2036
“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 dugout11 Feb 2036
The manager’s verdict
“That is on me. I pick the team and I picked wrong.” Managers say that when they mean it and when they need to be seen to, and after 0‑1 Interim Coach left the room before anybody could ask which.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market4 Feb 2036
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Akron people have started saying his name in the past tense.
Market4 Feb 2036
The bid was some way short and Akron did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.
Player ratings4 Feb 2036
Savely Pavlov, 21, plays like he has been here for years — 7.62
A mark of 7.62 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.
Squad4 Feb 2036
“The easiest signature of my career.” Dmitry Pestryakov and Akron agree another 4 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Squad4 Feb 2036
Tempers go at Akron
Abu-Said Eldarushev 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.
Squad4 Feb 2036
Dmitry Pestryakov 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.
Transfer targets4 Feb 2036
Akron asked and Lokomotiv 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.
Loan watch4 Feb 2036
“I watch every Akron game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Rostov runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
The dugout4 Feb 2036
“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
Upbeat
Match26 Jan 2036
3‑0, and the margin flattered nobody — it could have carried another goal or two without complaint. Afternoons like this are why people keep coming.
Market28 Jan 2036
“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 Akron, and it is not being withdrawn.
Market28 Jan 2036
The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.
Match26 Jan 2036
Nobody wins at Akron
14 home matches unbeaten. Visiting sides arrive already talking about the atmosphere, which is usually the sign that they have half-lost before kickoff.
Player ratings28 Jan 2036
Yury Zheleznov, 33, rolls back the years — 8.36
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 8.36 at 33, and nobody on the pitch was better.
Market28 Jan 2036
The name of Ilja Mescheryakov has come up in conversations Akron were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
Market28 Jan 2036
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Akron they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Squad28 Jan 2036
A falling-out at Akron
Ilja Mescheryakov and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Loan watch28 Jan 2036
25 appearances away from home and 16 goals to show for them. Every one of them makes next summer's conversation a little more expensive.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Match9 Jan 2036
Akron bow out of the cup
Zenit go through and Akron go home, 0‑1 the scoreline that did it. The dressing room will call the league the priority now, because that is what dressing rooms say.
Market14 Jan 2036
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Ilja Mescheryakov will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Akron the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Squad14 Jan 2036
There were 7 saves in it, and at least three that had no business being saves at all. The ten outfield players owe him a drink and they know it.
Match12 Jan 2036
The run at home goes on for Akron
13 matches unbeaten here. Every visiting manager is asked about it in the week before, which is precisely why it keeps going.
Player ratings14 Jan 2036
At 34 every good afternoon gets called a throwback, and this one was: 7.98, and nobody on the pitch better.
Squad14 Jan 2036
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Akron this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad14 Jan 2036
Words at Akron training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Dmitry Pestryakov 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.
Boardroom14 Jan 2036
Belts tighten at Akron
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.
Loan watch14 Jan 2036
23 appearances at Fakel and the goals keep coming. Akron are watching this more closely than the borrowing club would like.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market7 Jan 2036
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Denis Bogomolov will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Akron the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Squad7 Jan 2036
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 7 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Squad7 Jan 2036
The kind of year that ends with a name being read out in a hall. Akron had the benefit of it every week and now have the problem of everybody else knowing.
Squad7 Jan 2036
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Akron this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad7 Jan 2036
A row about effort at Akron
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Denis Bogomolov was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Match5 Jan 2036
Krasnodar left with the points after a 0‑1 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Player ratings7 Jan 2036
Ricuenio Kewal did the work nobody counts — 6.79
10 combined actions and 6.79. 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.
Market7 Jan 2036
“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 dugout7 Jan 2036
“I could talk about decisions and I could talk about luck. I will not. We lost.” The manager, 0‑1, and a press conference that lasted four minutes.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Match29 Dec 2035
Akron run riot against Ufa
4‑0, and the margin flattered nobody — it could have carried another goal or two without complaint. Afternoons like this are why people keep coming.
Squad31 Dec 2035
The match ball belongs to Abu-Said Eldarushev, whose 3 goals turned a difficult afternoon into a procession.
Player ratings31 Dec 2035
At 34 every good afternoon gets called a throwback, and this one was: 9.49, and nobody on the pitch better.
Match29 Dec 2035
The run at home goes on for Akron
12 matches unbeaten here. Every visiting manager is asked about it in the week before, which is precisely why it keeps going.
The dugout31 Dec 2035
Yegor Kalinichev: 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.” Akron have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Market31 Dec 2035
“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 Akron, and it is not being withdrawn.
Market31 Dec 2035
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Akron they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Squad31 Dec 2035
Words exchanged at Akron
Abu-Said Eldarushev 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.
Squad31 Dec 2035
Emil Larsson arrives at the club he grew up with
Every footballer has an answer to the question about his boyhood club, and most of them never get to act on it. Emil Larsson has, at Akron, and the first month will show what that does to a man.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Match15 Dec 2035
Every run ends on an afternoon somebody had marked down as routine. This one went 17 matches, which is long enough that a town had stopped counting, and short enough that it will remember exactly who stopped it.
Market17 Dec 2035
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Akron is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Squad17 Dec 2035
Marat Bokoev 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 Akron this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad17 Dec 2035
Words at Akron training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Dmitry Pestryakov 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.
Match15 Dec 2035
0‑1 to Zarya Lugansk, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
The dugout17 Dec 2035
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Alexandr Temirov, and the manager let it.
Loan watch17 Dec 2035
The goals keep arriving from Artem Korneev’s exile
11 goals in 19 games at Fakel — numbers that travel home faster than he does. Somebody at Akron updates a spreadsheet every Monday, and it makes better reading each week.
The dugout17 Dec 2035
The view from the dugout
“We will look at it, we will learn from it, and we go again.” The three sentences every manager keeps for a 0‑1 defeat, delivered by Interim Coach to a room that had heard them before.
Boardroom17 Dec 2035
Akron counting the cost
The accounts make uncomfortable reading. Wages first and ambition second is the order of business at Akron now.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Match8 Dec 2035
Still nobody has beaten Akron
The unbeaten run reaches 17. Some of them were wins and some were escapes, but a side that refuses to lose is a side other dressing rooms talk about.
Market10 Dec 2035
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Akron they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Player ratings10 Dec 2035
Two goals and a mark of 8.29 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Boardroom10 Dec 2035
He will play here until the summer and then walk out of the door for free, having already signed elsewhere. Supporters will manage the first part of that sentence; it is the second they will struggle with.
Match8 Dec 2035
The run at home goes on for Akron
10 matches unbeaten here. Every visiting manager is asked about it in the week before, which is precisely why it keeps going.
Squad10 Dec 2035
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Akron this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad10 Dec 2035
A row about effort at Akron
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Yury Zheleznov was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Match8 Dec 2035
It finished 2‑1, and it was Ilja Mescheryakov’s afternoon: on the scoresheet when it mattered, and the reason the points belong to Akron.
Loan watch10 Dec 2035
“I watch every Akron game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Rostov runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
In brief
-
Loan watch
Artem Korneev keeps scoring at Fakel
-
Squad
Too much change too quickly at Akron
-
The dugout
The manager’s verdict
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Market19 Nov 2035
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Akron they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
The dugout19 Nov 2035
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Akron may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Squad19 Nov 2035
Words at Akron training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Yury Zheleznov 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 dugout19 Nov 2035
The manager makes an example of Savely Pavlov
“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 Nov 2035
Words exchanged at Akron
Nikita Pavlov 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.
Market19 Nov 2035
2 months left and the two sides are nowhere near each other. Every week this drags on takes money off what Akron could get for him.
The dugout19 Nov 2035
It is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. Akron told Andrii Melnyk something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
Market19 Nov 2035
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Dmitry Pestryakov signs something — a contract at Akron or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
The dugout19 Nov 2035
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 Jemal-Giorgi Jinjolava is on it.
From our football correspondent
Triumph
Match27 Oct 2035
Nobody wants to play Akron right now
7 wins in a row changes how opponents warm up: quieter, more glances across. Runs end, everybody knows that — but nobody in this dressing room is planning for it.
Match29 Oct 2035
Akron refuse to drop out of the race
Position 3, 26 points, and the result everyone checks first is now theirs. The word is still not being said around the ground, which is how you know everyone is thinking it.
Player ratings29 Oct 2035
Age has not caught Ricuenio Kewal yet — 8.01
At 33 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 8.01 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
Squad29 Oct 2035
A falling-out at Akron
Marat Bokoev and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Player ratings29 Oct 2035
Successful dribbles: 21. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
Boardroom29 Oct 2035
Akron counting the cost
The accounts make uncomfortable reading. Wages first and ambition second is the order of business at Akron now.
Squad29 Oct 2035
A row about effort at Akron
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Yury Zheleznov was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Match27 Oct 2035
Akron 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.
Match27 Oct 2035
A 1‑0 win over Chelyabinsk, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
In brief
-
Squad
Ivan Zazvonkin reaches 200 appearances
-
Boardroom
Wages swallow 115% of the Akron income
-
The dugout
The view from the dugout
From our football correspondent
Triumph
Match20 Oct 2035
Akron cannot stop winning
6 wins on the spin now, and the question has changed from whether the run ends to who ends it. Confidence like this cannot be bought; it has to be earned exactly this way.
Squad22 Oct 2035
Tempers go at Akron
Ilja Mescheryakov 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 2035
A muscle injury and 14 days out for Ángel Climent
The most common injury in the game and the most rushed back from. Akron will quote 14 days and will be careful with it, because the second one is always worse than the first.
Squad22 Oct 2035
Words at Akron training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Dmitry Pestryakov 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.
Match20 Oct 2035
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Yury Zheleznov. 3‑1 against Rodina, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
The terraces22 Oct 2035
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 23-year-old it feels ownership of. Semyon Abramov 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 dugout22 Oct 2035
“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 ratings22 Oct 2035
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.16, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
Player ratings22 Oct 2035
Ninety minutes of Semyon Abramov at his very best
Marked 8.04. Players have careers without a single afternoon like this in them, and he has just had one in front of everybody at Akron.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Market15 Oct 2035
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Ilja Mescheryakov will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Akron the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Market15 Oct 2035
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Akron can pretend not to have heard.
Squad15 Oct 2035
Words at Akron training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Dmitry Pestryakov 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 dugout15 Oct 2035
“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.
Market15 Oct 2035
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Akron, another week without a signature from Ilja Mescheryakov.
Squad15 Oct 2035
Akron are still strangers to each other
5 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.
The dugout15 Oct 2035
Savely Pavlov 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 Savely Pavlov trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
The dugout15 Oct 2035
A promise honoured at Akron
Something was said to Vadim Pigas and then it happened. In this industry that passes for remarkable, and the dressing room noticed faster than any supporter could.
Squad15 Oct 2035
The division's best last weekend was a Akron man
It is a small honour and it is not nothing: somebody watched every match in the division and decided that Abu-Said Eldarushev was the best thing in any of them.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad17 Sep 2035
37 days out for Aleksey Kotov after a fracture
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Akron will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Market17 Sep 2035
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Akron they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Market17 Sep 2035
The fee was agreed and the flight was looked at — and then the phone stopped ringing. Krylya Sovetov moved on, Denis Bogomolov reports back to Akron, and everybody pretends Monday is just Monday.
Market17 Sep 2035
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Tver waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Akron is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
Player ratings17 Sep 2035
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 7.90 at 33, and nobody on the pitch was better.
Squad17 Sep 2035
Words exchanged at Akron
Abu-Said Eldarushev 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.
Squad17 Sep 2035
A row about effort at Akron
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Yury Zheleznov was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Boardroom17 Sep 2035
The paperwork is done long before the player is. Roman Safronov has agreed terms to come here when his current deal runs out, which means Akron have spent a summer's transfer budget on a phone call.
Match15 Sep 2035
At last: Akron win one
5 matches without a win, and then this, against Arsenal Tula. Relief is a strange noise in a football ground and it was the only noise at the end.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Boardroom20 Aug 2035
The caretaker keeps it: Interim Coach confirmed
A month of looking elsewhere ended where it started. He already knows every name in the building; the rest of it he now has to prove in public.
Squad20 Aug 2035
A fracture rules Aleksey Kotov out for 65 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Akron will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Market20 Aug 2035
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Akron is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Squad20 Aug 2035
7 saves, and a scoreline the ten men in front of him had no right to. Goalkeepers only get noticed on the bad days; this was one of the other ones.
Market20 Aug 2035
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and PSK Pervorechenskoe waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Akron is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
Market20 Aug 2035
The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.
Squad20 Aug 2035
Words exchanged at Akron
Abu-Said Eldarushev 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.
Squad20 Aug 2035
Dmitry Pestryakov 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.
Match18 Aug 2035
3 matches without a goal for Akron
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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad13 Aug 2035
72 days out for Aleksey Kotov after a fracture
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Akron will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Market13 Aug 2035
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Akron have lost him in all but the paperwork.
Market13 Aug 2035
“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 Akron, and it is not being withdrawn.
Transfer targets13 Aug 2035
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Akron have done the hard part with Dinamo Moscow, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
Squad13 Aug 2035
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Akron this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad13 Aug 2035
Dmitry Pestryakov 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.
Market13 Aug 2035
“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 dugout13 Aug 2035
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.” Interim Coach chose the glass-half-full version of 0‑0; the supporters left with the other one.
Player ratings13 Aug 2035
Successful dribbles: 13. 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.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
The terraces6 Aug 2035
Anger at Akron spills outside the ground
It has stopped being a mood in the stands and started being something organised. Boards can ignore a bad atmosphere for a long time; they cannot ignore this stage of it for very long at all.
Market6 Aug 2035
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Akron people have started saying his name in the past tense.
The dugout6 Aug 2035
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Akron may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Market6 Aug 2035
“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.
Squad6 Aug 2035
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Akron this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Boardroom6 Aug 2035
The numbers do not look good at Akron
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.
Transfer targets6 Aug 2035
Akron offered $600.00; Fakel said it was not close. The manager will be told the money is still there for the right player, which is what managers are told.
Squad6 Aug 2035
Words at Akron training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Yury Zheleznov 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.
Match4 Aug 2035
0‑2 to Dinamo Moscow 2, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match28 Jul 2035
3‑0, and the margin flattered nobody — it could have carried another goal or two without complaint. Afternoons like this are why people keep coming.
Player ratings30 Jul 2035
At 33 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 7.81 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
Market30 Jul 2035
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Akron can pretend not to have heard.
Transfer targets30 Jul 2035
The paperwork begins on Ivan Gulko
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Akron have done the hard part with Sochi, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
Squad30 Jul 2035
A falling-out at Akron
Abu-Said Eldarushev and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad30 Jul 2035
A move Anton Winter would have made for nothing
There is a version of every career where the player ends up somewhere he chose rather than somewhere that chose him. Anton Winter is living that version at Akron, and it tends to show in the first month.
Squad30 Jul 2035
Dmitry Pestryakov 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.
Market30 Jul 2035
Lokomotiv Moscow pay $170.0K, and the deal is done. The number reads well on a balance sheet; whether it reads well on the pitch is next season's question.
Transfer targets30 Jul 2035
Akron asked and Rostov said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
The dugout23 Jul 2035
“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.
Market23 Jul 2035
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Akron is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Match21 Jul 2035
The wait goes on for Akron
5 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
Match21 Jul 2035
The goals have deserted Akron
5 matches, no goals, and a training ground that has tried everything. It will end — droughts always do — but nobody at Akron can tell you which week it ends in.
Squad23 Jul 2035
Words exchanged at Akron
Marat Bokoev 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.
Squad23 Jul 2035
A row about effort at Akron
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Dmitry Pestryakov was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Boardroom23 Jul 2035
Still no name above the door at Akron
Day 8 of the vacancy. Candidates have been priced, sounded out and quietly ruled out — and the caretaker’s win ratio is becoming an argument all by itself.
Transfer targets23 Jul 2035
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Dinamo Moscow have kept their man, and Akron go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
The dugout23 Jul 2035
“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
Crisis
Match25 Jun 2035
Akron are in real trouble now
Position 16, 15 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.
Market25 Jun 2035
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Legion waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Akron is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
Market25 Jun 2035
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Ilja Mescheryakov will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Akron the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Squad25 Jun 2035
A falling-out at Akron
Ilja Mescheryakov and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Market25 Jun 2035
Akhmat Grozny pay $500.0K, and the deal is done. The number reads well on a balance sheet; whether it reads well on the pitch is next season's question.
Squad25 Jun 2035
Yury Zheleznov 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.
Transfer targets25 Jun 2035
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Baltika have kept their man, and Akron go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Transfer targets25 Jun 2035
A loan move for Zakhar Fedorov is in the works
Akron have made the call to Dinamo Moscow. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
Boardroom25 Jun 2035
Akron bank $366.7K from an old deal
The unglamorous genius of a well-written contract. Kirill Schetinin is somebody else's player now, and $366.7K has arrived because the people who sold him thought further ahead than the transfer window.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Market18 Jun 2035
Krasnodar come back empty-handed
The bid was some way short and Akron did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.
Market18 Jun 2035
“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.
Transfer targets18 Jun 2035
The deal with Dinamo Moscow is done in every sense but the one that puts him on the pitch. Nothing goes wrong at this stage, except on the occasions when it does.
Squad18 Jun 2035
Tempers go at Akron
Abu-Said Eldarushev 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.
Squad18 Jun 2035
Dmitry Pestryakov 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.
Transfer targets18 Jun 2035
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 dugout18 Jun 2035
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Ángel Climent, and the manager let it.
Squad18 Jun 2035
The medical room confirms 33 days on the sidelines for Savely Nesterov, and a plan built around him now has to be rebuilt.
Market18 Jun 2035
Both sides expect a conversation in the coming days. Akron will name a price, and everything after that is arithmetic.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
The terraces11 Jun 2035
Anger at Akron spills outside the ground
It has stopped being a mood in the stands and started being something organised. Boards can ignore a bad atmosphere for a long time; they cannot ignore this stage of it for very long at all.
Boardroom11 Jun 2035
The scrutiny sharpens at Akron
Nobody upstairs has said anything, which is the loudest thing they could do. Results buy silence in this game; the account at Akron is running low.
Squad11 Jun 2035
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Akron this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad11 Jun 2035
A row about effort at Akron
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Dmitry Pestryakov was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Squad11 Jun 2035
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Artur Maxetsov commits to Akron for another 3 years.
The dugout11 Jun 2035
“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 Jun 2035
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Dmitry Pestryakov signs something — a contract at Akron or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
The dugout11 Jun 2035
Ilja Antonov has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at Akron 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 Jun 2035
Ángel Climent 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 Akron, and both men came out saying it was fine.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Boardroom4 Jun 2035
The board’s statement ran to three sentences and one of them mentioned results. Interim Coach has managed long enough to translate: win soon, or the next statement is shorter.
Boardroom4 Jun 2035
Crisis meeting at Akron
The official line will be that it was routine. It was not routine, the timing says so, and every person in that room knows what the next bad result costs.
Market4 Jun 2035
Artem Korneev has one foot out of the door
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Akron they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Squad4 Jun 2035
Words exchanged at Akron
Ilja Mescheryakov 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.
Boardroom4 Jun 2035
Belts tighten at Akron
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.
Squad4 Jun 2035
A row about effort at Akron
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Yury Zheleznov was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Squad4 Jun 2035
“The easiest signature of my career.” Ivan Zazvonkin and Akron agree another 3 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Market4 Jun 2035
27 games, 2 goals, and a squad option that has arrived without a fee attached. The interesting question at Akron now is not whether he plays but who he displaces.
Market4 Jun 2035
“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.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match28 May 2035
Every point is an argument now for Akron
Position 16 and 15 points, and the table gets read bottom-up in this part of town. The calendar has stopped being a schedule and started being a countdown.
Market28 May 2035
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Akron they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Squad28 May 2035
Words exchanged at Akron
Abu-Said Eldarushev 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.
Squad28 May 2035
Dmitry Pestryakov 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 dugout28 May 2035
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Semyon Abramov, and the manager let it.
The dugout28 May 2035
Miłosz Kurowski has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at Akron 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 dugout28 May 2035
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at Akron. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
Market28 May 2035
4 months remain and no agreement is close. Every week without a signature costs Akron money.
Squad28 May 2035
The training reports on Alexandr Temirov are not good
A bad Saturday is forgiven; a bad Tuesday is chosen. Standards have slipped and in a building where everybody watches everybody, it has been noticed.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Boardroom7 May 2035
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.
Boardroom7 May 2035
The Akron board call everybody in
Nothing has been announced and everybody understands what it means. A board that summons the whole football department on a Tuesday morning is a board that has stopped believing the problem will fix itself.
Market7 May 2035
Only the photograph left for Artem Korneev
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Artem Korneev will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Akron the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Squad7 May 2035
Words exchanged at Akron
Ilja Mescheryakov 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.
Squad7 May 2035
A row about effort at Akron
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Dmitry Pestryakov was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Market7 May 2035
“They were honest with me, and I would rather know.” Bogdan Sheiko has been informed he is not in the manager's thinking at Akron.
Squad7 May 2035
At 34, 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.
Market7 May 2035
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Akron, another week without a signature from Marat Bokoev.
The dugout7 May 2035
Marat Bokoev without the man who signed him
Every squad is half players the manager chose and half players he inherited. Marat Bokoev was chosen, the man who chose him has gone, and he starts again from nothing under the next one.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match30 Apr 2035
Akron sink to position 16
15 points, and a fixture list that is running out. The mathematics are not yet cruel, but they are no longer kind.
Market30 Apr 2035
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Akron they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Squad30 Apr 2035
Words exchanged at Akron
Abu-Said Eldarushev 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.
Squad30 Apr 2035
Words at Akron training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Dmitry Pestryakov 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 dugout30 Apr 2035
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Ivan Salikhov, and the manager let it.
The dugout30 Apr 2035
Ángel Climent 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.
The dugout30 Apr 2035
Artem Korneev has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at Akron 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 dugout30 Apr 2035
A conversation in the manager’s office, and a commitment that came out of it. Promises like that are cheap to make and expensive to break, and Aman Babakhanov has written the date down.
Market30 Apr 2035
5 months left and the two sides are nowhere near each other. Every week this drags on takes money off what Akron could get for him.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Market23 Apr 2035
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Akron they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Squad23 Apr 2035
Tempers go at Akron
Abu-Said Eldarushev 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.
Squad23 Apr 2035
Words at Akron training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Yury Zheleznov 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 dugout23 Apr 2035
“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.
The dugout23 Apr 2035
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Artem Korneev, and the manager let it.
The dugout23 Apr 2035
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.
Squad23 Apr 2035
“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 Akron will have to answer with minutes or with a transfer.
Squad23 Apr 2035
A year in and the city has not opened up, the language has not come, and lunch is eaten alone more often than anybody at Akron would admit. It shows on Saturdays.
Market23 Apr 2035
3 months left, and both sides know what that means: every week without a signature, the fee Akron could ask drops and the wages Mario Kordić-Gružić can ask rise.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
The terraces16 Apr 2035
The mood at Akron 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.
Boardroom16 Apr 2035
The silence upstairs is getting loud at Akron
Nobody on the board has said anything against the manager, which is the point — they have stopped saying anything for him either.
Squad16 Apr 2035
Tempers go at Akron
Ilja Mescheryakov 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.
Squad16 Apr 2035
The decline has begun for Marat Bokoev
Everybody saw it before anybody said it. At 33 the numbers say 3 points down on what he was, and the question for Akron is how to handle a man they owe a great deal.
Squad16 Apr 2035
A row about effort at Akron
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Dmitry Pestryakov was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout16 Apr 2035
“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.
Market16 Apr 2035
The name of Marat Bokoev keeps appearing in other people's back pages. Akron say nothing, which says plenty.
The dugout16 Apr 2035
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.
Squad16 Apr 2035
Numbers do not stay secret in a dressing room. He is not asking for more than he is worth; he is asking why somebody beside him is worth more, and Akron have no good answer.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Market9 Apr 2035
Artem Korneev has one foot out of the door
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Akron they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Squad9 Apr 2035
A falling-out at Akron
Abu-Said Eldarushev and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad9 Apr 2035
A row about effort at Akron
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Dmitry Pestryakov was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Squad9 Apr 2035
“The easiest signature of my career.” Ricuenio Kewal and Akron agree another 2 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
The dugout9 Apr 2035
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Ilja Mescheryakov, and the manager let it.
Market9 Apr 2035
“There is a gap, and pretending there is not helps nobody.” Neither side has moved, and the calendar is working for exactly one of them.
Squad9 Apr 2035
5 new faces, and Akron are still learning each other
A squad rebuilt inside one window pays for it in a currency nobody budgets for. The football is not worse than the sum of the players; it is worse than the sum of the players who have played together before.
Boardroom9 Apr 2035
86% of the income goes out in wages at Akron
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.
Boardroom9 Apr 2035
Akron counting the cost
The accounts make uncomfortable reading. Wages first and ambition second is the order of business at Akron now.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match2 Apr 2035
Every point is an argument now for Akron
Position 16 and 15 points, and the table gets read bottom-up in this part of town. The calendar has stopped being a schedule and started being a countdown.
Boardroom2 Apr 2035
Interim Coach has until the next board meeting
What was said behind closed doors has now been said in front of a microphone. Everybody at Akron can do the arithmetic, including the man it is aimed at.
Boardroom2 Apr 2035
Emergency meeting at Akron
The whole football department in one room on a weekday morning. Nothing was announced afterwards, which is what a board announces when it has run out of patience.
Market2 Apr 2035
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Ilja Mescheryakov will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Akron the goodbyes have quietly begun.
The dugout2 Apr 2035
“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.
Squad2 Apr 2035
Noam Lestienne gets the move he always wanted
Footballers are asked about their boyhood club so often that nobody listens to the answer. Noam Lestienne has just signed for Akron, and for once the answer mattered.
Squad2 Apr 2035
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Ricuenio Kewal and Akron agree another 2 years.
Squad2 Apr 2035
A row about effort at Akron
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Yury Zheleznov was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout2 Apr 2035
“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
Crisis
The terraces19 Mar 2035
The mood at Akron 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.
Boardroom19 Mar 2035
The silence upstairs is getting loud at Akron
Nobody on the board has said anything against the manager, which is the point — they have stopped saying anything for him either.
Market19 Mar 2035
Only the photograph left for Harry Watts
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Harry Watts will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Akron the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Squad19 Mar 2035
Tempers go at Akron
Ilja Mescheryakov was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Squad19 Mar 2035
Words at Akron training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Dmitry Pestryakov 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 dugout19 Mar 2035
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Alexandr Temirov trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
The dugout19 Mar 2035
“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.
Market19 Mar 2035
The name of Marat Bokoev keeps appearing in other people's back pages. Akron say nothing, which says plenty.
Market19 Mar 2035
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Akron, another week without a signature from Mario Kordić-Gružić.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Market12 Mar 2035
Only the photograph left for Artem Korneev
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Artem Korneev will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Akron the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Squad12 Mar 2035
A falling-out at Akron
Abu-Said Eldarushev and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
The dugout12 Mar 2035
“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.
Squad12 Mar 2035
Words at Akron training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Jemal-Giorgi Jinjolava 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.
Boardroom12 Mar 2035
Wages eat 87% of everything Akron 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.
Boardroom12 Mar 2035
Akron counting the cost
The accounts make uncomfortable reading. Wages first and ambition second is the order of business at Akron now.
Market12 Mar 2035
“There is a gap, and pretending there is not helps nobody.” Neither side has moved, and the calendar is working for exactly one of them.
Market12 Mar 2035
The name of Dmitry Pestryakov keeps appearing in other people's back pages. Akron say nothing, which says plenty.
The dugout12 Mar 2035
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match5 Mar 2035
Every point is an argument now for Akron
Position 16 and 15 points, and the table gets read bottom-up in this part of town. The calendar has stopped being a schedule and started being a countdown.
Squad5 Mar 2035
14 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Akron lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Boardroom5 Mar 2035
The board’s statement ran to three sentences and one of them mentioned results. Interim Coach has managed long enough to translate: win soon, or the next statement is shorter.
Market5 Mar 2035
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Akron is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Market5 Mar 2035
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Akron people have started saying his name in the past tense.
Boardroom5 Mar 2035
Harry Watts has agreed to leave Akron for nothing
He will play here until the summer and then walk out of the door for free, having already signed elsewhere. Supporters will manage the first part of that sentence; it is the second they will struggle with.
Squad5 Mar 2035
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Abu-Said Eldarushev and Akron agree another 2 years.
Squad5 Mar 2035
Words exchanged at Akron
Abu-Said Eldarushev 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.
Squad5 Mar 2035
Dmitry Pestryakov 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
Crisis
Squad26 Feb 2035
A knee injury of the worst kind for Egor Tsvetkov
21 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Akron lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Match24 Feb 2035
Nowhere to hide for Akron
0‑3 against Spartak Moscow, and no complaints that would survive the replay. The manager spoke about character afterwards; the terraces used shorter words.
Match26 Feb 2035
Akron finish in position 16
15 points, and the season has a number on it. Whatever it felt like from the inside, this is what it will look like in a book.
The dugout26 Feb 2035
Aman Babakhanov: 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.” Akron have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Boardroom26 Feb 2035
Window shuts: 3 in, 7 out at Akron
The deadline has passed and the squad is the squad. 3 arrived, 7 left, and everything else printed about this club last month was a rumour that stayed one.
Transfer targets26 Feb 2035
The deal with Orenburg 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.
Match24 Feb 2035
4 matches without a win for Akron
The run now stands at 4, and the questions being asked around Akron are no longer polite ones.
Match24 Feb 2035
4 matches without a goal for Akron
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.
Squad26 Feb 2035
A row about effort at Akron
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Dmitry Pestryakov was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
The terraces19 Feb 2035
Anger at Akron spills outside the ground
It has stopped being a mood in the stands and started being something organised. Boards can ignore a bad atmosphere for a long time; they cannot ignore this stage of it for very long at all.
Boardroom19 Feb 2035
The scrutiny sharpens at Akron
Nobody upstairs has said anything, which is the loudest thing they could do. Results buy silence in this game; the account at Akron is running low.
Squad19 Feb 2035
A knee injury of the worst kind for Egor Tsvetkov
28 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Akron lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Market19 Feb 2035
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Akron have lost him in all but the paperwork.
Market19 Feb 2035
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Akron is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Squad19 Feb 2035
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Akron this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Match17 Feb 2035
3 matches without a goal for Akron
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.
Squad19 Feb 2035
A row about effort at Akron
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Denis Bogomolov was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Match17 Feb 2035
A bad afternoon for Akron against Rubin
0‑1 to Rubin, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match5 Feb 2035
Akron sink to position 16
15 points, and a fixture list that is running out. The mathematics are not yet cruel, but they are no longer kind.
Squad5 Feb 2035
42 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Akron lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Boardroom5 Feb 2035
The board’s statement ran to three sentences and one of them mentioned results. Interim Coach has managed long enough to translate: win soon, or the next statement is shorter.
Market5 Feb 2035
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Akron people have started saying his name in the past tense.
Market5 Feb 2035
Sokol come back empty-handed
The bid was some way short and Akron did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.
Market5 Feb 2035
Only the photograph left for Artem Korneev
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Artem Korneev will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Akron the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Squad5 Feb 2035
Words exchanged at Akron
Abu-Said Eldarushev 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.
Squad5 Feb 2035
A row about effort at Akron
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Dmitry Pestryakov was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Transfer targets5 Feb 2035
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
Crisis
Market29 Jan 2035
“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 Akron, and it is not being withdrawn.
Match27 Jan 2035
It had gone 10 games. The players did not celebrate like men who had won a match; they celebrated like men who had been let out of something.
Player ratings29 Jan 2035
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 7.87 at 33, and nobody on the pitch was better.
Player ratings29 Jan 2035
A defender's goal wins it for Akron — 7.57
1 for Azor Matusiwa, marked 7.57, and a centre-half's name in the part of the report he normally only reaches by mistake. He will not be allowed to forget it in the dressing room for a month.
Transfer targets29 Jan 2035
Everything agreed with Orenburg, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
Squad29 Jan 2035
At 36, 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 targets29 Jan 2035
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Rostov have kept their man, and Akron go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Match27 Jan 2035
It finished 2‑1, and it was Azor Matusiwa’s afternoon: on the scoresheet when it mattered, and the reason the points belong to Akron.
Squad29 Jan 2035
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Akron this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match8 Jan 2035
Akron are in real trouble now
Position 16, 11 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.
Boardroom8 Jan 2035
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.
Match6 Jan 2035
8 matches without a win for Akron
The run now stands at 8, and the questions being asked around Akron are no longer polite ones.
Market8 Jan 2035
Artem Korneev has one foot out of the door
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Akron they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Squad8 Jan 2035
Words exchanged at Akron
Ilja Mescheryakov 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.
Market8 Jan 2035
“There is a gap, and pretending there is not helps nobody.” Neither side has moved, and the calendar is working for exactly one of them.
The dugout8 Jan 2035
The team sheet said everything about Alexandr Temirov
Warm-up bib, ninety minutes of watching, and a handshake at the end that fooled nobody. Big matches tell you who a manager trusts; this one told Alexandr Temirov.
Squad8 Jan 2035
A row about effort at Akron
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Artur Maxetsov was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout8 Jan 2035
Marat Bokoev loses the manager who believed in him
A change in the dugout is not one story, it is twenty-five of them. This is Marat Bokoev's: he was somebody's player, and now he has to be somebody else's, starting from nothing.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
The terraces25 Dec 2034
Supporters organise against the Akron board
A bad atmosphere can be waited out. A group of people meeting afterwards to decide what to do about it cannot, and everybody in the building knows which stage this is.
Boardroom25 Dec 2034
Pressure builds in the Akron boardroom
The directors have stopped offering the manager public warmth. In football that is usually the stage before the short statement.
Market25 Dec 2034
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Akron they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Match23 Dec 2034
The wait goes on for Akron
6 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
Squad25 Dec 2034
A row about effort at Akron
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Dmitry Pestryakov was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Match23 Dec 2034
Akron come up short against Rostov
Rostov left with the points after a 1‑2 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
The dugout25 Dec 2034
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Marat Bokoev, and the manager let it.
Squad25 Dec 2034
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Akron this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The dugout25 Dec 2034
“I could talk about decisions and I could talk about luck. I will not. We lost.” The manager, 1‑2, and a press conference that lasted four minutes.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match16 Dec 2034
Nowhere to hide for Akron
0‑3 against Zenit, and no complaints that would survive the replay. The manager spoke about character afterwards; the terraces used shorter words.
The dugout18 Dec 2034
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Akron have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Match16 Dec 2034
5 matches without a win for Akron
The run now stands at 5, and the questions being asked around Akron are no longer polite ones.
Match16 Dec 2034
5 matches without a goal for Akron
The chances are being made and something is happening between the making and the finishing. 5 matches now, and the anxiety in the ground arrives a little earlier every week.
Market18 Dec 2034
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Akron they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Squad18 Dec 2034
A row about effort at Akron
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Yury Zheleznov was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Squad18 Dec 2034
A falling-out at Akron
Ilja Mescheryakov and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
The dugout18 Dec 2034
“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.
Boardroom18 Dec 2034
Inquest at Akron
The manager kept them in and said what needed saying. A response is expected on Saturday, and if it does not come the questions move upstairs.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Boardroom4 Dec 2034
The board’s statement ran to three sentences and one of them mentioned results. Interim Coach has managed long enough to translate: win soon, or the next statement is shorter.
Match3 Dec 2034
Chastening afternoon for Akron
A 0‑3 beating by CSKA Moscow was the sort of result that empties a stadium long before the final whistle.
Squad4 Dec 2034
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Akron this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad4 Dec 2034
Words at Akron training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Dmitry Pestryakov 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.
Match3 Dec 2034
3 matches without a goal for Akron
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.
The dugout4 Dec 2034
“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.
Boardroom4 Dec 2034
Inquest at Akron
The manager kept them in and said what needed saying. A response is expected on Saturday, and if it does not come the questions move upstairs.
Boardroom4 Dec 2034
103% of the income goes out in wages at Akron
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.
Market4 Dec 2034
“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.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
The terraces30 Oct 2034
Supporters organise against the Akron board
A bad atmosphere can be waited out. A group of people meeting afterwards to decide what to do about it cannot, and everybody in the building knows which stage this is.
Match28 Oct 2034
Akron taken apart
0‑4 to Rubin, and it was every bit as bad as the number suggests. There are defeats you argue about and defeats you apologise for; this was the second kind.
Market30 Oct 2034
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Akron is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Boardroom30 Oct 2034
The silence upstairs is getting loud at Akron
Nobody on the board has said anything against the manager, which is the point — they have stopped saying anything for him either.
Squad30 Oct 2034
Dmitry Pestryakov 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.
Squad30 Oct 2034
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Akron this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The dugout30 Oct 2034
“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.
Boardroom30 Oct 2034
Doors closed at Akron
The music was off and the showers ran late. What was said in that dressing room stays there, but Saturday will publish the minutes.
The dugout30 Oct 2034
“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 0‑4, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Boardroom11 Sep 2034
He arrived for a fee and leaves for a fraction of it. $634.0K of what Akron paid for Maxim Sidelnikov is money the club will not see again, and the boardroom will be asked about it for two seasons.
Boardroom11 Sep 2034
Akron close the window on a squad of their own making
24 in and 50 out, and no more changes for months. The manager has what he has, the supporters have their opinion of it, and the table will have the last word.
Transfer targets11 Sep 2034
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: Sochi keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
Squad11 Sep 2034
A row about effort at Akron
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Dmitry Pestryakov was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Transfer targets11 Sep 2034
Akron asked and Krylya Sovetov said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Squad11 Sep 2034
Tempers go at Akron
Ilja Mescheryakov 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.
Market11 Sep 2034
“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.
Squad11 Sep 2034
Too much change too quickly at Akron
7 signings in three months. Every one of them may be an upgrade and the team can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild that never appears in the transfer-window verdicts.
The dugout11 Sep 2034
Clubs make promises constantly and the page usually only hears about them when they are broken. This one was honoured, and the dressing room noticed that faster than any supporter did.
In brief
-
Boardroom
Wages eat 87% of everything Akron earn
-
Boardroom
The numbers do not look good at Akron
-
Market
The Dmitry Pestryakov story refuses to die