Marked for Valentin Atayan
From our football correspondent
Crisis
The terraces21 Feb 2028
The mood at Chertanovo 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.
Boardroom21 Feb 2028
The silence upstairs is getting loud at Chertanovo
Nobody on the board has said anything against the manager, which is the point — they have stopped saying anything for him either.
Match21 Feb 2028
7 points, and a fixture list that is running out. The mathematics are not yet cruel, but they are no longer kind.
Market21 Feb 2028
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Chertanovo can pretend not to have heard.
Transfer targets21 Feb 2028
Everything agreed with Tyumen, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
Squad21 Feb 2028
Matvey Melnikov 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.
Transfer targets21 Feb 2028
Chertanovo asked and Dinamo St Petersburg said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
The dugout21 Feb 2028
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Daniil Korunov is on it.
Market21 Feb 2028
Chertanovo have made Daniil Kombarov available for transfer. A career at this club is over in all but paperwork.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Market22 Nov 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 Chertanovo can pretend not to have heard.
Player ratings22 Nov 2027
Successful dribbles: 25. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad22 Nov 2027
Matvey Melnikov 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.
Match20 Nov 2027
3 matches without a goal for Chertanovo
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.
Match20 Nov 2027
Cherepovets left with the points after a 0‑1 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
The dugout22 Nov 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Dmitry Kondrashov, and the manager let it.
Squad22 Nov 2027
“The easiest signature of my career.” Valentin Atayan and Chertanovo agree another 3 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
The dugout22 Nov 2027
“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 0‑1, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
The dugout22 Nov 2027
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad15 Nov 2027
There were 11 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.
Match13 Nov 2027
Beaten 0‑5 by Irkutsk, and beaten everywhere it matters. The inquest starts on the training pitch on Monday morning.
Market15 Nov 2027
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at Chertanovo, and it is not being withdrawn.
The dugout15 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.
Squad15 Nov 2027
Matvey Melnikov and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
The dugout15 Nov 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Ramil Gainullin, and the manager let it.
Looking ahead15 Nov 2027
Both clubs in the mire, one fixture between them, and a ground that will be louder and more frightened than at any point in the season. Chertanovo know what is at stake and so does everybody in the away end.
Boardroom15 Nov 2027
Nobody left the Chertanovo dressing room in a hurry
The door stayed shut a long time after the final whistle. What was said in there is between them; whether it worked is between them and Saturday.
The dugout15 Nov 2027
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 0‑5 Aleksei Mikheev left the room before anybody could ask which.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match4 Sep 2027
30 matches without a win for Chertanovo
The run now stands at 30, and the questions being asked around Chertanovo are no longer polite ones.
The terraces6 Sep 2027
Supporters organise against the Chertanovo 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.
Match6 Sep 2027
Chertanovo are in real trouble now
Position 14, 1 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.
Market6 Sep 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 Chertanovo, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad6 Sep 2027
397 appearances across 14 seasons in one shirt. Careers like that are not built on purpose any more, and Chertanovo know exactly what they have.
Squad6 Sep 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 Chertanovo this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Transfer targets6 Sep 2027
Chertanovo asked and Nart said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Match4 Sep 2027
0‑2 to Kosmos, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
The dugout6 Sep 2027
The manager makes an example of Alexey Osipov
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match21 Aug 2027
No end in sight to Chertanovo's wait for a win
28 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Chertanovo has to find a result from somewhere.
Squad23 Aug 2027
Alexey Osipov decides it from twelve yards
4 kept out in the shoot-out, and a stadium that will still be describing them in twenty years. A goalkeeper only needs one of these to be remembered forever.
Match18 Aug 2027
A 0‑0 win over Dinamo Stavropol, and the draw for the next round can be watched with some interest for once.
Market23 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.
Transfer targets23 Aug 2027
The deal with Amkar 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.
Player ratings23 Aug 2027
Successful dribbles: 21. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Transfer targets23 Aug 2027
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Yenisey have kept their man, and Chertanovo go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Squad23 Aug 2027
Words at Chertanovo training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ivan Polyakov 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 terraces23 Aug 2027
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 20-year-old it feels ownership of. Alexey Osipov 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.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match14 Nov 2026
The wait goes on for Chertanovo
10 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.
Player ratings16 Nov 2026
Successful dribbles: 24. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad16 Nov 2026
A row about effort at Chertanovo
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Ivan Polyakov was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Squad16 Nov 2026
Dmitry Kondrashov 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.
Match14 Nov 2026
Baltika 2 left with the points after a 0‑2 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Match16 Nov 2026
Halfway: Chertanovo sit in position 14
6 points at the turn. The first half of a season is a promise; the second is a bill, and the town is about to find out which of the two this one was.
The dugout16 Nov 2026
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.
The dugout16 Nov 2026
“I could talk about decisions and I could talk about luck. I will not. We lost.” The manager, 0‑2, and a press conference that lasted four minutes.
Squad16 Nov 2026
“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 Chertanovo will have to answer with minutes or with a transfer.