Marked for Rival Gumerov
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Market30 Aug 2027
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Rubin 2 have lost him in all but the paperwork.
Market30 Aug 2027
Enri Mukba 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 Rubin 2 can pretend not to have heard.
Player ratings30 Aug 2027
Marked 8.04 at 21, in a side that makes no allowances for age. He did not need any, and he looked the least nervous man on the pitch.
Squad30 Aug 2027
A falling-out at Rubin 2
Nikita Vasiljev and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
The terraces30 Aug 2027
He is 21 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.
Player ratings30 Aug 2027
Successful dribbles: 19. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
The dugout30 Aug 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Nikita Vasiljev, and the manager let it.
Match28 Aug 2027
It finished 1‑0, and it was Dmitry Prokhorov’s afternoon: on the scoresheet when it mattered, and the reason the points belong to Rubin 2.
Player ratings30 Aug 2027
Yegor Chumarin did the work nobody counts — 7.15
11 combined actions and 7.15. 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.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Market26 Jul 2027
The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.
Player ratings26 Jul 2027
Marked 7.95 at 21, in a side that makes no allowances for age. He did not need any, and he looked the least nervous man on the pitch.
Market26 Jul 2027
Rival Gumerov 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 Rubin 2 can pretend not to have heard.
Player ratings26 Jul 2027
Successful dribbles: 26. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad26 Jul 2027
Lenar Fattakhov 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 terraces26 Jul 2027
He is 20 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.
Match24 Jul 2027
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Dmitry Prokhorov. 1‑0 against Dinamo Barnaul, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
The dugout26 Jul 2027
Nikita Lobov 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 Nikita Lobov trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
The dugout26 Jul 2027
There is no complaint available here and everybody involved knows it, which does not make the walk to the bench any shorter. Form is the only currency in football that cannot be borrowed against.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market5 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 Rubin 2, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad5 Jul 2027
At 21 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 Jul 2027
“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.
Squad5 Jul 2027
Enri Mukba 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 Jul 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Rival Gumerov, and the manager let it.
Squad5 Jul 2027
Nikita Vasiljev 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
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 Rubin 2, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad14 Jun 2027
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Yegor Kuznetsov is 20, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Squad14 Jun 2027
A falling-out at Rubin 2
Lenar Fattakhov and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
The dugout14 Jun 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.
The dugout14 Jun 2027
Nikita Lobov 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.
Squad14 Jun 2027
“I want to play”: Adel Teshkin 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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad31 May 2027
Lenar Fattakhov 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 dugout31 May 2027
Nikita Lobov 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 dugout31 May 2027
Adel Teshkin 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 Rubin 2, and both men came out saying it was fine.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
The dugout29 Mar 2027
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Rubin 2 may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
The dugout29 Mar 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Dmitry Prokhorov, and the manager let it.
Squad29 Mar 2027
Words at Rubin 2 training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Alexandr Zotov 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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market8 Feb 2027
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Shinnik waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Rubin 2 is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
The dugout8 Feb 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.
The dugout8 Feb 2027
Somebody else has been better, the manager has said so with a team sheet, and there is no argument to be had. He will get the shirt back the only way it can be got back.
Squad8 Feb 2027
“I want to play”: Nikita Lobov 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 dugout8 Feb 2027
Nobody at Rubin 2 is suggesting he is out of form. The manager simply wanted somebody with a different set of qualities for ninety specific minutes, and there is nothing a player can train to fix that.
Market8 Feb 2027
The name of Dmitry Prokhorov keeps appearing in other people's back pages. Rubin 2 say nothing, which says plenty.
Market8 Feb 2027
Rubin 2 have made Artur Nigmatullin available for transfer. A career at this club is over in all but paperwork.
Squad8 Feb 2027
“I am not asking anybody to be better than they are. I am asking everybody to be as good as they are, every week.” Said out loud, in front of everybody, and the room at Rubin 2 was different afterwards.
The dugout8 Feb 2027
Prokhor Iljin 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 Prokhor Iljin trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market1 Feb 2027
Add another name to the list: Shinnik have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Alexey Kenyaikin. The answer from Rubin 2 has not changed — yet.
The dugout1 Feb 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Lenar Fattakhov, and the manager let it.
Squad1 Feb 2027
A falling-out at Rubin 2
Alexey Kenyaikin and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad1 Feb 2027
“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 Rubin 2 will have to give him a reason to stay or an exit.
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
“Ask me in the summer. I will know before anybody else does.” He is 36 with 367 appearances behind him, and Rubin 2 have to plan for both answers.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad4 Jan 2027
A falling-out at Rubin 2
Lenar Fattakhov and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
The dugout4 Jan 2027
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 Konstantin Nizhegorodov.
Squad4 Jan 2027
Nikita Lobov makes the team of the month
Four or five weekends of consistency, measured against everybody else in the division. A quieter compliment than an award and a more reliable one.
The dugout4 Jan 2027
A promise honoured at Rubin 2
Something was said to Lenar Fattakhov and then it happened. In this industry that passes for remarkable, and the dressing room noticed faster than any supporter could.
The dugout4 Jan 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.
The dugout4 Jan 2027
Somebody else is better right now than Lenar Fattakhov
The team sheet says it in public every week until it changes. The only version of being dropped a footballer cannot argue with, and the one he takes hardest.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Player ratings16 Nov 2026
Successful dribbles: 24. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
Match14 Nov 2026
4 matches without a win for Rubin 2
The run now stands at 4, and the questions being asked around Rubin 2 are no longer polite ones.
Match14 Nov 2026
4 matches without a goal for Rubin 2
The chances are being made and something is happening between the making and the finishing. 4 matches now, and the anxiety in the ground arrives a little earlier every week.
Squad16 Nov 2026
Words exchanged at Rubin 2
Lenar Fattakhov 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 dugout16 Nov 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Dmitry Prokhorov, and the manager let it.
Player ratings16 Nov 2026
Marked 7.33. Ask anyone leaving the ground what settled it and you will get one name, which is the only award that has ever really counted.
The dugout16 Nov 2026
“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 dugout16 Nov 2026
There is no complaint available here and everybody involved knows it, which does not make the walk to the bench any shorter. Form is the only currency in football that cannot be borrowed against.
Squad16 Nov 2026
Rival Gumerov has had enough of the bench
“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 Rubin 2 will have to give him a reason to stay or an exit.