Marked for Daniil Grada
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market19 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 The request is on a desk at Vitebsk, and it is not being withdrawn.
The dugout19 Jun 2028
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Vitebsk may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Market19 Jun 2028
The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.
Transfer targets19 Jun 2028
The deal with Volna Pinsk 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 ratings19 Jun 2028
Successful dribbles: 20. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Transfer targets19 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.
Squad19 Jun 2028
Evgeniy Krasnov 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.
Squad19 Jun 2028
Milad Mohammadi 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.
Match17 Jun 2028
Vitebsk caught on 89 minutes
The board was up, the win was priced in, and then Dnepr Mogilev scored. There is no worse minute to concede in and the ground emptied in the silence that follows one.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Match29 Apr 2028
The 2-goal deficit was real and so was the recovery. Alexandr Anufriev was at the centre of it, Arsenal Dzerzhinsk were at the end of it, and everybody who left early will hear about this one for years.
Player ratings1 May 2028
Two goals and a mark of 8.74 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Match29 Apr 2028
A 3‑2 win over Arsenal Dzerzhinsk, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
Squad1 May 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 Vitebsk this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The dugout1 May 2028
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Vsevolod Yermakov, and the manager let it.
Squad1 May 2028
A row about effort at Vitebsk
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Milad Mohammadi was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Loan watch1 May 2028
“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 Vitebsk, and 6 appearances in 9 say he has earned the hearing.
The dugout1 May 2028
The view from the dugout
“We controlled it. There were spells I did not like and we will look at them, but the group showed me something.” Yahor Shikavka, on a 3‑2 win that he was already picking apart on the walk to the press room.
Squad1 May 2028
It will be explained as a change for the team and it may even be one. Nobody who has worn one believes that, and neither does the man who has just had it taken away.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad10 Apr 2028
20 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Vitebsk lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Match5 Apr 2028
Cup progress for Vitebsk
A 2‑1 win over Lokomotiv Gomel, a place in the next round, and the quiet arithmetic every supporter does on the walk home: how many more until a final?
Player ratings10 Apr 2028
No sign of nerves from Yegor Yunusov at 20 — 7.76
The hardest thing about being 20 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Yegor Yunusov did not need any: 7.76, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
Player ratings10 Apr 2028
Marin Žgomba pops up at the right end — 7.57
7.57, 1 on the scoresheet, and the specific comedy of a back-four player celebrating like somebody who does this every week. He does not, and that is exactly why the ground reacted the way it did.
Market10 Apr 2028
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Vitebsk is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Player ratings10 Apr 2028
Successful dribbles: 22. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
Squad10 Apr 2028
A falling-out at Vitebsk
Evgeniy Krasnov and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
The terraces10 Apr 2028
At 20 he is being sung about by people twice his age, which is an affection a signing has to earn over years and a local kid gets for turning up. It is also the hardest thing in football to live up to.
Squad10 Apr 2028
Milad Mohammadi 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.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Boardroom21 Feb 2028
The silence upstairs is getting loud at Avangard
Nobody on the board has said anything against the manager, which is the point — they have stopped saying anything for him either.
Market21 Feb 2028
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Avangard people have started saying his name in the past tense.
Player ratings21 Feb 2028
Marked 8.14 at 19, in a side that makes no allowances for age. He did not need any, and he looked the least nervous man on the pitch.
Transfer targets21 Feb 2028
Everything agreed with Rodina, 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
A falling-out at Avangard
Danila Knyazev and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Transfer targets21 Feb 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.
Squad21 Feb 2028
A row about effort at Avangard
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Maxim Slobodchikov was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The terraces21 Feb 2028
He is 19 and the ground already sings his name, which is a thing that happens to local boys and almost never to signings. Everything from here is measured against an affection he did nothing to earn except be from here.
Match19 Feb 2028
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Yegor Balitskiy. 1‑0 against Kvant, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
In brief
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Boardroom
Wages swallow 124% of the Avangard income
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Boardroom
The Avangard debt reaches $3.9M
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The dugout
The manager makes an example of Daniil Grada
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Market14 Feb 2028
“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.
Market14 Feb 2028
Daniil Grada has one foot out of the door
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Avangard they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Transfer targets14 Feb 2028
The deal with Dinamo Vladivostok 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.
Squad14 Feb 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 Avangard this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Transfer targets14 Feb 2028
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Leningradets have kept their man, and Avangard go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Squad14 Feb 2028
Bohdan Shmyhelskyi 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.
Match12 Feb 2028
A bad afternoon for Avangard against Ryazan
0‑1 to Ryazan, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
The dugout14 Feb 2028
The team sheet said everything about Maxim Slobodchikov
Warm-up bib, ninety minutes of watching, and a handshake at the end that fooled nobody. Big matches tell you who a manager trusts; this one told Maxim Slobodchikov.
The dugout14 Feb 2028
“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
Uneasy
Boardroom7 Feb 2028
The board’s statement ran to three sentences and one of them mentioned results. Vladislav Tikhomirov has managed long enough to translate: win soon, or the next statement is shorter.
Market7 Feb 2028
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Volgar waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Avangard is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
Market7 Feb 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 Avangard, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad7 Feb 2028
Danila Knyazev 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 targets7 Feb 2028
Avangard asked and Lokomotiv Moscow said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Squad7 Feb 2028
Bohdan Shmyhelskyi 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 dugout7 Feb 2028
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Artem Gavrilenko, and the manager let it.
Squad7 Feb 2028
A place in the month's best eleven for Denis Traigel
Four or five weekends of consistency, judged against everybody in the division doing his job. Denis Traigel has come out of that comparison in the side, and Avangard have had the benefit of every one of those afternoons.
The dugout7 Feb 2028
Maxim Slobodchikov loses the manager who believed in him
A change in the dugout is not one story, it is twenty-five of them. This is Maxim Slobodchikov's: he was somebody's player, and now he has to be somebody else's, starting from nothing.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
The terraces31 Jan 2028
Supporters organise against the Avangard 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.
Market31 Jan 2028
Ali Al-Memari 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 Avangard can pretend not to have heard.
Market31 Jan 2028
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Avangard have lost him in all but the paperwork.
Market31 Jan 2028
“I know what people will say. I know what I want, and it is here.” Kuban Holding had the fee agreed and the shirt ready; they did not have the player, and now they will not.
Squad31 Jan 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 Avangard this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Match29 Jan 2028
Beaten 1‑3, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Squad31 Jan 2028
A row about effort at Avangard
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Maxim Slobodchikov was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout31 Jan 2028
The manager makes an example of Denis Traigel
“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 dugout31 Jan 2028
“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 1‑3, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Boardroom24 Jan 2028
The scrutiny sharpens at Avangard
Nobody upstairs has said anything, which is the loudest thing they could do. Results buy silence in this game; the account at Avangard is running low.
Squad24 Jan 2028
There were 8 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.
Squad24 Jan 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 Avangard this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad24 Jan 2028
A row about effort at Avangard
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Bohdan Shmyhelskyi was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Player ratings24 Jan 2028
Successful dribbles: 18. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Boardroom24 Jan 2028
Wages eat 123% of everything Avangard 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.
The dugout24 Jan 2028
“There are things I liked and things we will be doing on Tuesday until they are right.” 0‑0, and a manager who had already decided what Tuesday looked like.
Looking ahead24 Jan 2028
The leaders are next for Avangard
Metallurg top the table and they are coming into view. Nothing to lose, which is what every manager says before losing.
The dugout24 Jan 2028
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
Upbeat
Market17 Jan 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 Avangard, and it is not being withdrawn.
Market17 Jan 2028
Only the photograph left for Daniil Grada
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Daniil Grada will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Avangard the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Player ratings17 Jan 2028
Yegor Gulyaev, 20, steals the show — 7.82
Marked 7.82 at 20, in a side that makes no allowances for age. He did not need any, and he looked the least nervous man on the pitch.
Player ratings17 Jan 2028
At 34 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 8.10 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
Match15 Jan 2028
Another one collected away from home
5 on the bounce on the road for Avangard. The coaches leave early, arrive at unlovely grounds in the dark, and keep coming home with three points.
Squad17 Jan 2028
Words exchanged at Avangard
Danila Knyazev 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.
Squad17 Jan 2028
Words at Avangard training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Bohdan Shmyhelskyi 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.
Match15 Jan 2028
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Ali Al-Memari. 2‑1 against Zenit Penza, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
The dugout17 Jan 2028
A player who expected to start watched it instead. The manager will call it a decision for the team; Artyom Zinchenko will call it something else in private.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
The terraces3 Jan 2028
Supporters organise against the Avangard 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.
Boardroom3 Jan 2028
What was said behind closed doors has now been said in front of a microphone. Everybody at Avangard can do the arithmetic, including the man it is aimed at.
Market3 Jan 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 Avangard, and it is not being withdrawn.
Player ratings3 Jan 2028
No sign of nerves from Yegor Gulyaev at 20 — 8.45
The hardest thing about being 20 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Yegor Gulyaev did not need any: 8.45, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
Squad3 Jan 2028
There are footballers who have a good season and footballers a season is remembered for, and the second kind get their names read out in a hall in the summer. Avangard will be quietly delighted and privately nervous.
Squad3 Jan 2028
Danila Knyazev 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.
Match1 Jan 2028
Beaten 1‑3, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Squad3 Jan 2028
Yegor Gulyaev 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 dugout3 Jan 2028
“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
Uneasy
Market20 Dec 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 Avangard, and it is not being withdrawn.
Market20 Dec 2027
Daniil Grada has one foot out of the door
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Avangard they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Squad20 Dec 2027
A falling-out at Avangard
Danila Knyazev and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
The dugout20 Dec 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Artem Gavrilenko, and the manager let it.
Squad20 Dec 2027
A row about effort at Avangard
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Jakub Jakimiuk was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Player ratings20 Dec 2027
Successful dribbles: 15. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
The dugout20 Dec 2027
“It is not the end of the world and it is not good enough. Both of those are true.” The manager, after a 0‑0 draw, said the honest thing and then went to say it again inside.
The dugout20 Dec 2027
Danila Knyazev 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.
The dugout20 Dec 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
The terraces6 Dec 2027
The mood at Avangard 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.
Boardroom6 Dec 2027
The board’s statement ran to three sentences and one of them mentioned results. Vladislav Tikhomirov has managed long enough to translate: win soon, or the next statement is shorter.
Market6 Dec 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 Avangard, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad6 Dec 2027
Oskar Veje is a better footballer than he was
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 18 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.
Squad6 Dec 2027
Words at Avangard training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Bohdan Shmyhelskyi 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.
Squad6 Dec 2027
Words exchanged at Avangard
Dmitry Zakharov 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.
Match4 Dec 2027
Beaten 0‑2, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
The dugout6 Dec 2027
“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.
Squad6 Dec 2027
Every paper's favourite story and every manager's least. What happened is being dealt with internally, which is the phrase clubs use when they would rather nobody asked again.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match20 Nov 2027
No end in sight to Avangard's wait for a win
7 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Avangard has to find a result from somewhere.
Market22 Nov 2027
Only the photograph left for Daniil Grada
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Daniil Grada will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Avangard the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Squad22 Nov 2027
Valerii Yurchuk 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 Nov 2027
Words at Avangard training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Bohdan Shmyhelskyi 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.
Match20 Nov 2027
Spartak Tambov left with the points after a 1‑2 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
The dugout22 Nov 2027
The manager makes an example of Valerii Yurchuk
“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 ratings22 Nov 2027
Successful dribbles: 17. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
Match22 Nov 2027
The half-term report on Avangard
Position 10, 15 points, and every result so far reduced to one line. The second half of the season starts with the same squad and a different set of expectations.
The dugout22 Nov 2027
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Vladislav Tikhomirov after 1‑2, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
The terraces8 Nov 2027
Supporters organise against the Avangard 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.
Market8 Nov 2027
Ali Al-Memari 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 Avangard can pretend not to have heard.
Match6 Nov 2027
No end in sight to Avangard's wait for a win
6 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Avangard has to find a result from somewhere.
Squad8 Nov 2027
A falling-out at Avangard
Valerii Yurchuk and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Match6 Nov 2027
Salyut left with the points after a 1‑2 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
The dugout8 Nov 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Danila Knyazev, and the manager let it.
The dugout8 Nov 2027
“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 1‑2, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
Player ratings8 Nov 2027
Successful dribbles: 13. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
The dugout8 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
Market25 Oct 2027
Daniil Grada has one foot out of the door
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Avangard they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Player ratings25 Oct 2027
No sign of nerves from Yegor Gulyaev at 19 — 7.64
The hardest thing about being 19 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Yegor Gulyaev did not need any: 7.64, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
Match23 Oct 2027
4 matches without a win for Avangard
The run now stands at 4, and the questions being asked around Avangard are no longer polite ones.
Boardroom25 Oct 2027
There is no worse way to lose a footballer. Daniil Grada has pre-agreed a move away, which means every appearance between now and June is made by a man the club can no longer sell, and somebody upstairs will be asked why the contract was allowed to get here.
Squad25 Oct 2027
A falling-out at Avangard
Danila Knyazev and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad25 Oct 2027
Words at Avangard training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Bohdan Shmyhelskyi 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.
Match23 Oct 2027
Dmitry Zakharov scored, and precious little else went right: 1‑2 to Ryazan, and a quiet walk to the dressing room.
The dugout25 Oct 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Valerii Yurchuk, and the manager let it.
Player ratings25 Oct 2027
11 combined actions and 6.90. The job he did is the one that shows up as other people looking good, and the only reliable way to notice it is to watch what happens on the afternoons he is missing.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad18 Oct 2027
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 10 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Match13 Oct 2027
CSKA Moscow ended it 1‑4. The season narrows to the league now, and everyone in the ground knew it before the final whistle.
The dugout18 Oct 2027
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Avangard may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
The terraces18 Oct 2027
Avangard are taken apart by CSKA Moscow — and the town wants answers
It finished 1-4. A cup exit is a disappointment; this was a public dismantling, and the difference between the two is the number of people who will still be talking about it in August.
Boardroom18 Oct 2027
The numbers do not look good at Avangard
Wages have outrun income and the accountants have started attending meetings they used to send apologies to. Ambition comes second in a season like this.
Squad18 Oct 2027
A falling-out at Avangard
Ali Al-Memari and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
The dugout18 Oct 2027
The manager makes an example of Anton Novikov
“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.
Boardroom18 Oct 2027
Nobody left the Avangard 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 dugout18 Oct 2027
“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 1‑4, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
The terraces11 Oct 2027
The mood at Avangard 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.
Squad11 Oct 2027
Danila Knyazev 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.
Squad11 Oct 2027
Words at Avangard training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Bohdan Shmyhelskyi 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 dugout11 Oct 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Artyom Zinchenko, and the manager let it.
Squad11 Oct 2027
“I want to play”: Daniil Grada speaks
“I respect the manager and I am not going to sit here and pretend I am happy.” It is the most common sentence in football and it has never once been the end of a story.
The dugout11 Oct 2027
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 Rustam Berzegov is on it.
Market11 Oct 2027
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Avangard know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
Squad11 Oct 2027
Where he used to play does most of his talking for him at Avangard. The room defers to it, the kids study it, and the only thing that can puncture it is a bad month.
Market11 Oct 2027
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Avangard, another week without a signature from Alexandr Bazhenov.
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
55 days, the medical staff say, and medical staff are optimists by profession. The team sheet will look wrong without him.
Squad4 Oct 2027
“The easiest signature of my career.” Valerii Yurchuk and Avangard agree another 2 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Squad4 Oct 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 Avangard this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad4 Oct 2027
A row about effort at Avangard
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Bohdan Shmyhelskyi was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Match2 Oct 2027
1‑2 to Metallurg, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Boardroom4 Oct 2027
Wages swallow 163% of the Avangard income
Every club pays most of what it earns to its players. Paying nearly all of it is a different arrangement, and it has ended the same way every time it has been tried.
The dugout4 Oct 2027
The manager makes an example of Dmitry Kumsarov
“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 dugout4 Oct 2027
“I could talk about decisions and I could talk about luck. I will not. We lost.” The manager, 1‑2, and a press conference that lasted four minutes.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad27 Sep 2027
A falling-out at Avangard
Danila Knyazev and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad27 Sep 2027
Words at Avangard training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Jakub Jakimiuk 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 dugout27 Sep 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.
Market27 Sep 2027
He is 18, and nobody at Avangard signed him for this season. Deals like this are judged in four years, by people who may not still be in the building.
Squad27 Sep 2027
Too much change too quickly at Avangard
5 signings in three months. Every one of them may be an upgrade and the team can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild that never appears in the transfer-window verdicts.
Squad27 Sep 2027
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Oskar Veje and Avangard agree another 3 years.
The dugout27 Sep 2027
“There are things I liked and things we will be doing on Tuesday until they are right.” 0‑0, and a manager who had already decided what Tuesday looked like.
The dugout27 Sep 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 Avangard, and both men came out saying it was fine.
The dugout27 Sep 2027
Daniil Grada has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at Avangard will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad6 Sep 2027
29 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Avangard lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Market6 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.
Transfer targets6 Sep 2027
Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at SKA Khabarovsk is saying, and nobody at Avangard is enjoying the guessing.
Squad6 Sep 2027
At 19 he is doing things this season that he could not do last season, and doing them every week. Form comes and goes; this has stayed long enough to be called something else.
Squad6 Sep 2027
Words exchanged at Avangard
Alexey Sukharev 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.
Transfer targets6 Sep 2027
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. SKA Khabarovsk have kept their man, and Avangard go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Squad6 Sep 2027
Jakub Jakimiuk 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.
Boardroom6 Sep 2027
Wages eat 142% of everything Avangard 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.
The dugout6 Sep 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Daniil Grada, and the manager let it.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Match18 Aug 2027
Avangard march on in the cup
Neftyanik are out and Avangard go through, 3‑2 the final word. The bracket opens up a little, and everyone allows themselves a look at it.
Match18 Aug 2027
Rustam Berzegov wins it after the whistle should have gone
102 minutes played. Rustam Berzegov found the finish in time that only existed because of earlier delays, and Neftyanik went from a point to nothing inside one movement.
Player ratings23 Aug 2027
2 goals, and the second was the one that settled it. Marked 8.06, and he could have had a third with better luck at the near post.
Player ratings23 Aug 2027
Daniil Grada, 19, plays like he has been here for years — 7.90
A mark of 7.90 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 19-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
Player ratings23 Aug 2027
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 8.47 at 33, and nobody on the pitch was better.
Player ratings23 Aug 2027
A defender on the scoresheet, which happens rarely enough that everybody in the ground remembers who took the corner. 1 for him, and a mark of 7.95 for the rest of it.
Squad23 Aug 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 Avangard this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Boardroom23 Aug 2027
The numbers do not look good at Avangard
Wages have outrun income and the accountants have started attending meetings they used to send apologies to. Ambition comes second in a season like this.
Match21 Aug 2027
Three points for Avangard, 3‑2 the final word against Strogino in a contest settled by the finer margins.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
The terraces19 Jul 2027
Supporters organise against the Avangard 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.
The dugout19 Jul 2027
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Avangard may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Market19 Jul 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 Avangard can pretend not to have heard.
Transfer targets19 Jul 2027
Everything agreed with Kuban, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
Market19 Jul 2027
The fee was agreed and the flight was looked at — and then the phone stopped ringing. Murom moved on, Vladislav Tereshkin reports back to Avangard, and everybody pretends Monday is just Monday.
Squad19 Jul 2027
Alexey Sukharev 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.
Boardroom19 Jul 2027
5 academy graduates step up at Avangard
Senior shirt numbers handed to boys the coaches have known since they were twelve. Most will not make it and all of them have already done the hard part.
Squad19 Jul 2027
A row about effort at Avangard
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Jakub Jakimiuk was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Market19 Jul 2027
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Kirill Mitin 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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Boardroom7 Jun 2027
The board’s statement ran to three sentences and one of them mentioned results. Vladislav Tikhomirov has managed long enough to translate: win soon, or the next statement is shorter.
Match7 Jun 2027
Every point is an argument now for Avangard
Position 6 and 13 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.
Boardroom7 Jun 2027
Crisis meeting at Avangard
The official line will be that it was routine. It was not routine, the timing says so, and every person in that room knows what the next bad result costs.
Market7 Jun 2027
Yegor Yunusov 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 Avangard can pretend not to have heard.
Squad7 Jun 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 Avangard this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad7 Jun 2027
Words at Avangard training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Bohdan Shmyhelskyi 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.
Market7 Jun 2027
He is 18, and the scouting reports agree on the only line that matters: the ceiling. Signings like this are lottery tickets written by professionals.
Squad7 Jun 2027
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Zacharias Durup commits to Avangard for another 3 years.
Market7 Jun 2027
“There is a gap, and pretending there is not helps nobody.” Neither side has moved, and the calendar is working for exactly one of them.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
The terraces24 May 2027
Supporters organise against the Avangard 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.
Boardroom24 May 2027
The silence upstairs is getting loud at Avangard
Nobody on the board has said anything against the manager, which is the point — they have stopped saying anything for him either.
Squad24 May 2027
A falling-out at Avangard
Vitaly Bondarev and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad24 May 2027
Words at Avangard training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Jakub Jakimiuk 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 dugout24 May 2027
Daniil Grada 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.
Market24 May 2027
Every press conference now starts and ends the same way: with Dmitry Zakharov’s future. The manager has run out of new ways to say nothing.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
The terraces26 Apr 2027
Supporters organise against the Avangard 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.
Boardroom26 Apr 2027
The scrutiny sharpens at Avangard
Nobody upstairs has said anything, which is the loudest thing they could do. Results buy silence in this game; the account at Avangard is running low.
Squad26 Apr 2027
A falling-out at Avangard
Vitaly Bondarev and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad26 Apr 2027
A row about effort at Avangard
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Bohdan Shmyhelskyi was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout26 Apr 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Alexey Sukharev, and the manager let it.
The dugout26 Apr 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 Avangard, and both men came out saying it was fine.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match12 Apr 2027
Avangard sink to position 6
13 points, and a fixture list that is running out. The mathematics are not yet cruel, but they are no longer kind.
Squad12 Apr 2027
Words exchanged at Avangard
Vitaly Bondarev 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 Apr 2027
A row about effort at Avangard
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Ali Al-Memari was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout12 Apr 2027
The manager makes an example of Daniil Grada
“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.
Squad12 Apr 2027
“I did not sign to watch. Nobody does.” The oldest complaint in the game, and Avangard will have to answer it with minutes or with a move.
The dugout12 Apr 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 Avangard, and both men came out saying it was fine.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad5 Apr 2027
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 19 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Boardroom5 Apr 2027
The board’s statement ran to three sentences and one of them mentioned results. Vladislav Tikhomirov has managed long enough to translate: win soon, or the next statement is shorter.
Squad5 Apr 2027
At 19 he is doing things this season that he could not do last season, and doing them every week. Form comes and goes; this has stayed long enough to be called something else.
Squad5 Apr 2027
Vitaly Bondarev 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.
The dugout5 Apr 2027
The manager makes an example of Ali Al-Memari
“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 dugout5 Apr 2027
Nobody will confirm this and nothing else explains the last month of selections. A costly error buys a player a period of being second choice that is always longer than the error was.
Boardroom5 Apr 2027
Avangard counting the cost
The accounts make uncomfortable reading. Wages first and ambition second is the order of business at Avangard now.
The dugout5 Apr 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.
Squad5 Apr 2027
Somebody has moved past him. It is not a dropping and it is worse than one, because a dropping is about a Saturday and this is about where he stands.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad8 Mar 2027
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Avangard will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Boardroom8 Mar 2027
The board’s statement ran to three sentences and one of them mentioned results. Vladislav Tikhomirov has managed long enough to translate: win soon, or the next statement is shorter.
Transfer targets8 Mar 2027
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: another club keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
Squad8 Mar 2027
“The easiest signature of my career.” Valerii Yurchuk and Avangard agree another 2 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Squad8 Mar 2027
Vitaly Bondarev 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 Mar 2027
Jakub Jakimiuk 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.
Market8 Mar 2027
He is 19, and nobody at Avangard signed him for this season. Deals like this are judged in four years, by people who may not still be in the building.
The dugout8 Mar 2027
Nobody will confirm this and nothing else explains the last month of selections. A costly error buys a player a period of being second choice that is always longer than the error was.
Boardroom8 Mar 2027
Belts tighten at Avangard
The accounts are being read more closely than the results. Wages before ambition is the order of business now, and the manager has been told so.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad15 Feb 2027
Words exchanged at Rotor
Abu-Said Eldarushev 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.
Transfer targets15 Feb 2027
Rotor asked and Volgar said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Match13 Feb 2027
Three points for Rotor, 1‑0 the final word against Chelyabinsk in a contest settled by the finer margins.
The dugout15 Feb 2027
“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 dugout15 Feb 2027
Daniil Grada left out for the big one
A player who expected to start watched it instead. The manager will call it a decision for the team; Daniil Grada will call it something else in private.
Player ratings15 Feb 2027
A mark of 7.94, and nobody in the ground would argue with it. He was involved in everything that mattered and most of what did not.
Squad15 Feb 2027
Imran Aznaurov 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.
Transfer targets15 Feb 2027
A loan enquiry to Akhmat Grozny: cover, or a look at somebody the club cannot afford to buy yet. Either way the answer will come back inside the week.
The dugout15 Feb 2027
“We earned that. I asked them for a reaction and I got one, and now I want the same again on Saturday.” Bogdan Gagarin on a 1‑0 afternoon that pleased him more than he was prepared to show.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market8 Feb 2027
“I know what people will say. I know what I want, and it is here.” Sevastopol had the fee agreed and the shirt ready; they did not have the player, and now they will not.
Squad8 Feb 2027
A row about effort at Rotor
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Artem Simonyan was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Transfer targets8 Feb 2027
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Ural have kept their man, and Rotor go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
The terraces8 Feb 2027
At 23 he is being sung about by people twice his age, which is an affection a signing has to earn over years and a local kid gets for turning up. It is also the hardest thing in football to live up to.
Match6 Feb 2027
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Nikola Knežević. 2‑0 against Yenisey, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Match6 Feb 2027
It had gone 5 games. The players did not celebrate like men who had won a match; they celebrated like men who had been let out of something.
The dugout8 Feb 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Daniil Grada, and the manager let it.
Player ratings8 Feb 2027
Marked 8.17 — 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.
Squad8 Feb 2027
Words exchanged at Rotor
Sergey Makarov 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.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad1 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 Rotor 2 this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Player ratings1 Feb 2027
Successful dribbles: 20. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
The dugout1 Feb 2027
Daniil Grada 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.
The dugout1 Feb 2027
“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 1‑2, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
Squad1 Feb 2027
“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 Rotor 2 will have to answer with minutes or with a transfer.
The dugout1 Feb 2027
The shape wanted a different profile against this opponent, which is a real football answer and no comfort at all to the man it is about. He did nothing wrong and he did not play.
Squad1 Feb 2027
He trains hard, says the right things and goes home to an empty flat. Nobody at Rotor 2 has done anything wrong, which is exactly what makes it so difficult to fix.
Squad1 Feb 2027
Every signing waits for it and every press conference asks about it until it comes. It has come, Rotor 2 have their man off the mark, and the second one is always easier.
From our football correspondent
Triumph
Match16 Jan 2027
5‑1, and David Davidyan took the headlines on an afternoon when everything Rotor 2 tried came off. Days like this are retold all winter.
Match16 Jan 2027
Rotor 2 make it 3 in a row
Momentum is a hard thing to buy and an easy thing to lose, and right now Rotor 2 have 3 straight wins of it.
Match16 Jan 2027
Defending was optional and nobody took up the option. 6 goals between Rotor 2 and Zenit Penza, and not one of the people who paid to be there will ask for the money back.
Match16 Jan 2027
Another one collected away from home
4 on the bounce on the road for Rotor 2. The coaches leave early, arrive at unlovely grounds in the dark, and keep coming home with three points.
Squad18 Jan 2027
Words at Rotor 2 training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Pavel Gorelov 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 terraces18 Jan 2027
At 23 he is being sung about by people twice his age, which is an affection a signing has to earn over years and a local kid gets for turning up. It is also the hardest thing in football to live up to.
Player ratings18 Jan 2027
Marked 8.57 — 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.
Looking ahead18 Jan 2027
Two sides from the top of the table, one afternoon, and a month of talk decided in ninety minutes. Rotor 2 will not use the word title this week and will not stop thinking it.
Player ratings18 Jan 2027
A performance of 8.03 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
In brief
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The dugout
The view from the dugout
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Squad
Daniil Grada, 19, is the weekend’s best young player
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The dugout
Batyr Umirov left out for tactical reasons at Rotor 2
From our football correspondent
Triumph
Player ratings4 Jan 2027
Adrian Platon, 20, steals the show — 7.61
Marked 7.61 at 20, in a side that makes no allowances for age. He did not need any, and he looked the least nervous man on the pitch.
Squad4 Jan 2027
There are footballers who have a good season and footballers a season is remembered for, and the second kind get their names read out in a hall in the summer. Rotor 2 will be quietly delighted and privately nervous.
Squad4 Jan 2027
Daniil Grada 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.
Squad4 Jan 2027
Words exchanged at Rotor 2
Andrey Khityaev 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.
Match2 Jan 2027
Rotor 2 are at home on the road
3 straight away victories. Sides that win away are usually sides that can defend and can counter, and the table has begun to reflect what those journeys have earned.
Match2 Jan 2027
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Adrian Platon. 1‑0 against Salyut, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Squad4 Jan 2027
Nikita Plotnikov 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.
Player ratings4 Jan 2027
David Davidyan was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.07. There are performances a supporter describes to somebody who was not there and cannot quite convey; this was one, and the number does not help either.
Player ratings4 Jan 2027
Headers, blocks, tackles, interceptions — 17 of them, and not one goal behind him. The sort of performance that never makes a highlight reel and wins football matches.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Player ratings31 Aug 2026
Two goals and a mark of 8.27 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Match29 Aug 2026
The wait goes on for Rotor 2
5 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.
Match29 Aug 2026
Defending was optional and nobody took up the option. 6 goals between Rotor 2 and Salyut, and not one of the people who paid to be there will ask for the money back.
Match29 Aug 2026
Daniil Grada scored, and precious little else went right: 2‑4 to Salyut, and a quiet walk to the dressing room.
The terraces31 Aug 2026
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 18-year-old it feels ownership of. Daniil Grada 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.
The dugout31 Aug 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.
Squad31 Aug 2026
Words exchanged at Rotor 2
Pavel Gorelov 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.
Squad31 Aug 2026
Rotor 2 are still strangers to each other
17 new signings in one window. Every one may be an upgrade and the side can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild the verdicts never mention.
The dugout31 Aug 2026
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Platon Sergeev after 2‑4, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.