Marked for Yegor Postrigan
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad1 Nov 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.
Squad1 Nov 2027
Tempers go at Flora
Mihkel Ainsalu was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Squad1 Nov 2027
A year in and the language has not come, the city has not opened up, and he eats alone more often than anybody at Flora would like to admit. It is showing on Saturdays.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market4 Oct 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.
Squad4 Oct 2027
“The easiest signature of my career.” Dumisani Zuma and Flora agree another 2 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Squad4 Oct 2027
Tempers go at Flora
Mihkel Ainsalu was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Boardroom27 Sep 2027
Pressure builds in the Tammeka boardroom
The directors have stopped offering the manager public warmth. In football that is usually the stage before the short statement.
Match27 Sep 2027
Tammeka are in real trouble now
Position 9, 12 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.
Market27 Sep 2027
Pedro Manoel hands in a written request
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Tammeka can pretend not to have heard.
Market27 Sep 2027
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Tammeka is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Squad27 Sep 2027
Asion Daja 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.
Squad27 Sep 2027
“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; Tammeka are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Market20 Sep 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.
Market20 Sep 2027
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Tammeka is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Squad20 Sep 2027
109 days, the scan says, and scans are kinder than reality. The fixtures in that window have just become somebody else’s job.
Squad20 Sep 2027
Asion Daja in a row with a teammate
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Tammeka this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad20 Sep 2027
97 days, the scan says, and scans are kinder than reality. The fixtures in that window have just become somebody else’s job.
Squad20 Sep 2027
“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; Tammeka are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Market13 Sep 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 Tammeka can pretend not to have heard.
Squad13 Sep 2027
Pavel Marin was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Squad13 Sep 2027
The medical room confirms 54 days on the sidelines for Giacomo Uggeri, and a plan built around him now has to be rebuilt.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Market23 Aug 2027
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Oliver Kangaslahti will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Tammeka the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Squad23 Aug 2027
138 days, the scan says, and scans are kinder than reality. The fixtures in that window have just become somebody else’s job.
Squad23 Aug 2027
Pavel Marin in a row with a teammate
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Tammeka this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad23 Aug 2027
Pedro Manoel 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 Pedro Manoel trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Market23 Aug 2027
The shop window has Pedro Manoel in it
Tammeka have let the market know Pedro Manoel can be had. No price in the advert, but everyone in the trade knows roughly what it says.
Market23 Aug 2027
The Mairo Miil story refuses to die
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Mairo Miil signs something — a contract at Tammeka or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Market9 Aug 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.
Market9 Aug 2027
The bid was some way short and Tammeka did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.
Squad9 Aug 2027
Asion Daja in a row with a teammate
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Tammeka this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market26 Jul 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 Tammeka, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad26 Jul 2027
Asion Daja in a row with a teammate
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Tammeka this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad26 Jul 2027
“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; Tammeka are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
Squad26 Jul 2027
The manager makes an example of Mateusz Pach
“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.
Squad26 Jul 2027
Tim Smith 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.
Market26 Jul 2027
The Mairo Miil story refuses to die
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Mairo Miil signs something — a contract at Tammeka or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market12 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.
Market12 Jul 2027
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Tammeka they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Squad12 Jul 2027
Pavel Marin in a row with a teammate
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Tammeka this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad12 Jul 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.
Market12 Jul 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.
Squad12 Jul 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 Tammeka, and both men came out saying it was fine.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market14 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 Tammeka, and it is not being withdrawn.
Match12 Jun 2027
No end in sight to Tammeka's wait for a win
6 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Tammeka has to find a result from somewhere.
Squad14 Jun 2027
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Tammeka may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Squad14 Jun 2027
Asion Daja in a row with a teammate
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Tammeka this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad14 Jun 2027
29 days, the scan says, and scans are kinder than reality. The fixtures in that window have just become somebody else’s job.
Player ratings14 Jun 2027
Successful dribbles: 16. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market24 May 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.
Squad24 May 2027
Asion Daja 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.
Squad24 May 2027
“I have given this everything, but my family is not here and neither am I, not really.” A footballer can be coached out of bad form. Nobody has ever been coached out of this, and Tammeka know it.
Player ratings24 May 2027
Successful dribbles: 18. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad24 May 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Oliver Kangaslahti, and the manager let it.
Match22 May 2027
It needed Alexander Guerra to find the net to bring anything home at all: 1‑1 against FCI Tallinn, and half the dressing room will call it a point won.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market17 May 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 Tammeka can pretend not to have heard.
Squad17 May 2027
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.
Squad17 May 2027
Asion Daja in a row with a teammate
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Tammeka this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Player ratings17 May 2027
Marked 8.92 — 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.
Squad17 May 2027
The medical room confirms 58 days on the sidelines for Chilem Williams Ignatius, and a plan built around him now has to be rebuilt.
Player ratings17 May 2027
Marked 8.15 — 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.
Squad17 May 2027
The manager makes an example of Mairo Miil
“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.
Match15 May 2027
It finished 1‑1, and it somehow always looked like it would. One of those afternoons where the table moves less than the tempers.
Player ratings17 May 2027
Shots: 10, not one of them in. A centre forward is paid for one thing, and on this evidence he has forgotten which thing it is.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match12 Apr 2027
Every point is an argument now for Tammeka
Position 9 and 4 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.
Market12 Apr 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 Tammeka, and it is not being withdrawn.
Player ratings12 Apr 2027
Successful dribbles: 28. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Player ratings12 Apr 2027
Headers, blocks, tackles, interceptions — 25 of them, and not one goal behind him. The sort of performance that never makes a highlight reel and wins football matches.
Market12 Apr 2027
The shirt still fits. Sasha Cachia is back at Tammeka, and half the ground remembers him in these colours already. Some signings need selling to the town; this one sold itself.
Squad12 Apr 2027
Asion Daja in a row with a teammate
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Tammeka this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Match10 Apr 2027
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Alexander Guerra. 1‑0 against Tulevik, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Player ratings12 Apr 2027
A performance of 8.12 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
Squad12 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.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market22 Feb 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 Tammeka, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad22 Feb 2027
Asion Daja 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 Feb 2027
The medical room confirms 28 days on the sidelines for Yegor Postrigan, and a plan built around him now has to be rebuilt.
Market22 Feb 2027
He is 20, and nobody at Tammeka signed him for this season. Deals like this are judged in four years, by people who may not still be in the building.
Squad22 Feb 2027
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Oliver Kangaslahti trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Squad22 Feb 2027
Asion Daja has company in his position
The competition arrived without a word said to him about it. Asion Daja keeps the shirt for now, at Tammeka's convenience rather than his own.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market15 Feb 2027
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
Squad15 Feb 2027
Gonzalo Viotti: 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.” Dinamo Makhachkala have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Squad15 Feb 2027
Mohammad Javad Hosseinnejad 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.
Loan watch15 Feb 2027
“I watch every Dinamo Makhachkala game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Krylya Sovetov runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
Squad15 Feb 2027
The manager makes an example of Jemal Tabidze
“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.
Market15 Feb 2027
He is 20, and the scouting reports agree on the only line that matters: the ceiling. Signings like this are lottery tickets written by professionals.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market8 Feb 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 Dinamo Makhachkala can pretend not to have heard.
Player ratings8 Feb 2027
Successful dribbles: 26. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Market8 Feb 2027
Astana come back empty-handed
The bid was some way short and Dinamo Makhachkala did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.
Squad8 Feb 2027
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Dinamo Makhachkala this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Market8 Feb 2027
The paperwork is done: Daniil Silev joins from Sochi in a deal worth $91.0K. Now comes the harder part.
Loan watch8 Feb 2027
“I am grateful for the games, but I did not become a footballer to be somebody else's spare part.” He wants to be at Dinamo Makhachkala, and 3 appearances in 26 say he has earned the hearing.
Player ratings8 Feb 2027
Headers, blocks, tackles, interceptions — 18 of them, and not one goal behind him. The sort of performance that never makes a highlight reel and wins football matches.
Squad8 Feb 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Temirkan Sundukov, and the manager let it.
Squad8 Feb 2027
39 days, the scan says, and scans are kinder than reality. The fixtures in that window have just become somebody else’s job.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market1 Feb 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 Orenburg 2 can pretend not to have heard.
Market1 Feb 2027
The offer from Rostov for Evgeny Bolotov 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.
Market1 Feb 2027
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Orenburg 2 is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Squad1 Feb 2027
Evgeny Bolotov was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Squad1 Feb 2027
46 days, the scan says, and scans are kinder than reality. The fixtures in that window have just become somebody else’s job.
Squad1 Feb 2027
The medical room confirms 62 days on the sidelines for Mikhail Pykhcheev, and a plan built around him now has to be rebuilt.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match26 Dec 2026
11 matches without a win for Orenburg 2
The run now stands at 11, and the questions being asked around Orenburg 2 are no longer polite ones.
Market28 Dec 2026
Ruslan Kul' 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 Orenburg 2 can pretend not to have heard.
Squad28 Dec 2026
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Orenburg 2 have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Squad28 Dec 2026
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Orenburg 2 this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Player ratings28 Dec 2026
Successful dribbles: 16. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad28 Dec 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Yegor Postrigan, and the manager let it.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Player ratings23 Nov 2026
Defensive actions: 31. He was first to everything and second to nothing, and the goalkeeper had an easy day because of it.
Match21 Nov 2026
No end in sight to Orenburg 2's wait for a win
7 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Orenburg 2 has to find a result from somewhere.
Player ratings23 Nov 2026
Successful dribbles: 28. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Market23 Nov 2026
“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.
Squad23 Nov 2026
Evgeny Bolotov 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.
Match21 Nov 2026
Beaten 0‑2, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Squad23 Nov 2026
Ruslan Kul' gets it from the manager
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
Player ratings23 Nov 2026
Shots: 5. Goals: none. The chances were there and they were good ones, and they went into the stand, the goalkeeper's arms and the side netting in roughly that order.
Squad23 Nov 2026
Kirill Dudarin 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 Kirill Dudarin trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market10 Aug 2026
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
Squad10 Aug 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 Orenburg 2 this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Player ratings10 Aug 2026
Successful dribbles: 19. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Player ratings10 Aug 2026
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.22, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
Market10 Aug 2026
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at Orenburg 2 has been clear about where Mikhail Pykhcheev stands, which is more than many ever get.
Squad10 Aug 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Vladimir Kerin, and the manager let it.
Squad10 Aug 2026
“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 Orenburg 2 will have to give him a reason to stay or an exit.
Match8 Aug 2026
It finished 1‑1, and it somehow always looked like it would. One of those afternoons where the table moves less than the tempers.
Market10 Aug 2026
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Orenburg 2, another week without a signature from Vladimir Kerin.