Marked for Emil Ganeev
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match27 Nov 2027
No end in sight to Strogino's wait for a win
11 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Strogino has to find a result from somewhere.
Boardroom29 Nov 2027
Pressure builds in the Strogino boardroom
The directors have stopped offering the manager public warmth. In football that is usually the stage before the short statement.
Match29 Nov 2027
Strogino sink to position 13
16 points, and a fixture list that is running out. The mathematics are not yet cruel, but they are no longer kind.
Market29 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 The request is on a desk at Strogino, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad29 Nov 2027
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Strogino may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Squad29 Nov 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 Strogino this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Player ratings29 Nov 2027
Successful dribbles: 21. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Loan watch29 Nov 2027
“I watch every Strogino game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Nart runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
Squad29 Nov 2027
José Sifuentes 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 José Sifuentes trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad11 Oct 2027
A shoot-out is remembered by its ending, and this one ends with Lucas Modernell: 2 kept out, and a set of supporters who will describe every one of them for the next twenty years.
Match6 Oct 2027
Cup progress for Strogino
A 0‑0 win over Dinamo Moscow, a place in the next round, and the quiet arithmetic every supporter does on the walk home: how many more until a final?
Squad11 Oct 2027
Alexey Muldarov 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.
Player ratings11 Oct 2027
Defensive actions: 20. He was first to everything and second to nothing, and the goalkeeper had an easy day because of it.
Player ratings11 Oct 2027
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.04, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
Squad11 Oct 2027
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
Player ratings11 Oct 2027
Emil Ganeev misses from twelve yards
It was his to settle and he did not settle it. A long walk back to the halfway line, and a considerably longer week.
Loan watch11 Oct 2027
“I watch every Strogino game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Kuban Holding runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
Match9 Oct 2027
It needed Artem Karpekin to find the net to bring anything home at all: 1‑1 against SKA Khabarovsk 2, and half the dressing room will call it a point won.
From our football correspondent
Steady
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 Strogino can pretend not to have heard.
Squad8 Feb 2027
Emil Ganeev: 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.” Strogino have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Squad8 Feb 2027
Alexey Muldarov 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.
Squad8 Feb 2027
A season average of 7.00 at an age when most of his year group are still in the youth team. Strogino know what they have, and so, by now, does everybody else.
Match6 Feb 2027
It finished 3‑2, and it was Sergey Guzyuk’s afternoon: on the scoresheet when it mattered, and the reason the points belong to Strogino.
Player ratings8 Feb 2027
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 9.25, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
Player ratings8 Feb 2027
Marked 8.58 — 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.
Player ratings8 Feb 2027
A performance of 8.29 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
Market8 Feb 2027
Both sides expect a conversation in the coming days. Strogino will name a price, and everything after that is arithmetic.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad7 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 Strogino this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Match5 Dec 2026
Beaten 0‑2, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Squad7 Dec 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Dmitry Khokhlov, and the manager let it.
Squad7 Dec 2026
“The easiest signature of my career.” Emil Ganeev and Strogino agree another 3 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Player ratings7 Dec 2026
Successful dribbles: 17. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad7 Dec 2026
A defender's mistake gets tidied up by somebody else; a goalkeeper's ends up in the net. He knew before the ball crossed the line, and so did everybody in the ground.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Market30 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.
The terraces30 Nov 2026
The boos come down from three sides
“We pay for this every fortnight. The least we want is somebody who looks like he cares.” 7 of the 24 senior players walked off into it; the rest were not playing.
Squad30 Nov 2026
“I was told what my role would be, and I signed on that basis. It has not happened.” A grievance with a date attached is the hardest kind to settle.
Squad30 Nov 2026
Dmitry Khokhlov 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.
Boardroom30 Nov 2026
Wages eat 242% of everything Strogino 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.
Match28 Nov 2026
Znamya Truda left with the points after a 0‑1 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Squad30 Nov 2026
The manager makes an example of Lucas Modernell
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.
Player ratings30 Nov 2026
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.
Player ratings30 Nov 2026
Marked 5.54, and generously at that. Nothing came off, and by the end the crowd had stopped expecting it to.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market23 Nov 2026
“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 Strogino, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad23 Nov 2026
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Strogino this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad23 Nov 2026
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
Loan watch23 Nov 2026
“I did not go to Irkutsk to sit and watch. I want to come back to Strogino and fight for my place.” 1 appearances in 11 matches say the rest.
Squad23 Nov 2026
Sergey Guzyuk 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.
Player ratings23 Nov 2026
Successful dribbles: 13. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.