The Rodina M Courier
Squad12 Oct 2026
Arkhip Kazantsev is a better footballer than he was
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 19 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.
Squad12 Oct 2026
Words exchanged at Rodina M
Patryk Stefański 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.
Squad12 Oct 2026
Timur Sharapov signs on for more
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Timur Sharapov and Rodina M agree another 3 years.
Market12 Oct 2026
Rodina M promote Vlad Putin from within
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Vlad Putin has come through every age group the club runs and has now been handed a senior number, and the people who coached him at twelve will be the proudest in the building.
Market12 Oct 2026
One of our own: Timofey Abdulov joins the Rodina M first team
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Timofey Abdulov is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
The dugout12 Oct 2026
Timur Sharapov 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.
Squad12 Oct 2026
Mubarak Al-Buainain: “I am not a substitute”
“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 Rodina M will have to answer with minutes or with a transfer.
The dugout12 Oct 2026
When it matters, Arkhip Kazantsev plays
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.
The dugout12 Oct 2026
Sergey Sary 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 Rodina M, and both men came out saying it was fine.
In brief
- Looking ahead Home comforts ahead for Rodina M
- The dugout The manager comes out for Martin Danihel