Marked for Daniil Grishkov
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market26 Jun 2028
“I listened, I thought about it, and I am staying. That is the whole story.” The clubs had agreed a fee. Georgiy Kukushkin had not agreed to go, which turned out to be the part that mattered.
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 The request is on a desk at Gomel, and it is not being withdrawn.
Match24 Jun 2028
No end in sight to Gomel's wait for a win
5 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Gomel has to find a result from somewhere.
The dugout26 Jun 2028
“I was told what my role would be, and I signed on that basis. It has not happened.” A grievance with a date attached is the hardest kind to settle.
Transfer targets26 Jun 2028
The offer went to Torpedo-BelAZ this week and it is theirs to answer. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loud the door closes.
Transfer targets26 Jun 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.
Squad26 Jun 2028
Tempers go at Gomel
Viktor Sotnikov 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.
Squad26 Jun 2028
Words at Gomel training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Vadim Martinkevich 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.
Player ratings26 Jun 2028
Marked 8.04 — the sort of number a correspondent writes down twice to be sure. Everything he tried came off, and what he did not try was not worth trying.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match31 May 2028
The small margins put Gomel out
Out, 2‑3 to Osipovichi, and the long argument about which of the small moments decided it. The league is all there is now, and everybody knows it.
Player ratings5 Jun 2028
No sign of nerves from Daniil Grishkov at 21 — 7.99
The hardest thing about being 21 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Daniil Grishkov did not need any: 7.99, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
Market5 Jun 2028
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Gomel they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Match3 Jun 2028
A bad afternoon for Gomel against Slutsk
1‑2 to Slutsk, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
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 Gomel this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Player ratings5 Jun 2028
A midfielder is measured on whether the team functions when he is on the pitch, which is nearly impossible to see and completely obvious in retrospect. 11 actions, 7.01, and a manager who will not be substituting him again in a hurry.
Squad5 Jun 2028
Words at Gomel training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Vadim Martinkevich is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Squad5 Jun 2028
Kirill Burov is the division's best young player this month
At 21 he has spent a month being better than everybody his age in the league, which is a different and harder thing than one good afternoon. Gomel will try very hard not to make too much of it.
Player ratings5 Jun 2028
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
Steady
Match23 Aug 2027
Gomel refuse to drop out of the race
Position 2, 40 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.
Market23 Aug 2027
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Osipovichi waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Gomel is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
Transfer targets23 Aug 2027
Gomel had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at Nizhniy Novgorod, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.
Transfer targets23 Aug 2027
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Volga have kept their man, and Gomel go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Squad23 Aug 2027
A row about effort at Gomel
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Pavel Pashevich was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Match21 Aug 2027
Volna Pinsk left with the points after a 1‑2 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Market23 Aug 2027
The name of Oleg Kovalev has come up in conversations Gomel were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
The dugout23 Aug 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Pavel Pashevich, and the manager let it.
Squad23 Aug 2027
A falling-out at Gomel
Egor Yudenko and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad11 Jan 2027
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 22 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.
Squad11 Jan 2027
A falling-out at Gomel
Viktor Sotnikov and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad11 Jan 2027
Pavel Pashevich 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 dugout11 Jan 2027
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Timofey Simanenka trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Market11 Jan 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.
The dugout11 Jan 2027
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at Gomel. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.