Marked for Panagiotis Chiotis
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market1 Jan 2029
“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.
Squad1 Jan 2029
An individual honour is a strange thing in a team game, and the best of them are never argued with. He has had the sort of year that ends with his name being read out, and Krylya Sovetov 2 have had the benefit of it.
Squad1 Jan 2029
Yegor Truntaev 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.
Player ratings1 Jan 2029
Successful dribbles: 21. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
The dugout1 Jan 2029
The manager makes an example of Yordy Reyna
“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.
Match30 Dec 2028
Uralets-TS left with the points after a 0‑1 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
The dugout1 Jan 2029
“I could talk about decisions and I could talk about luck. I will not. We lost.” The manager, 0‑1, and a press conference that lasted four minutes.
Squad1 Jan 2029
Andrey Tsorn 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 Krylya Sovetov 2 will have to give him a reason to stay or an exit.
Market1 Jan 2029
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at Krylya Sovetov 2 has been clear about where Panagiotis Chiotis stands, which is more than many ever get.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Steady
The terraces18 Dec 2028
Anger at Krylya Sovetov 2 spills outside the ground
It has stopped being a mood in the stands and started being something organised. Boards can ignore a bad atmosphere for a long time; they cannot ignore this stage of it for very long at all.
Squad18 Dec 2028
Danil Beltyukov and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Looking ahead18 Dec 2028
Dinamo Barnaul next, and the two sides the division is watching meet each other. Whoever wins will be told nothing is decided in the same breath as being congratulated.
Player ratings18 Dec 2028
Some games turn on a moment; this one turned on a man. 7.92 on the card, and the Krylya Sovetov 2 support went home talking about one name.
The dugout18 Dec 2028
“We earned that. I asked them for a reaction and I got one, and now I want the same again on Saturday.” Andrey Zotkin on a 1‑0 afternoon that pleased him more than he was prepared to show.
The dugout18 Dec 2028
Yordy Reyna 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 Krylya Sovetov 2, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Player ratings18 Dec 2028
Shots: 7. Goals: none. The chances were there and they were good ones, and they went into the stand, the goalkeeper's arms and the side netting in roughly that order.
Player ratings18 Dec 2028
Headers, blocks, tackles, interceptions — 13 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
Steady
The terraces20 Nov 2028
Supporters organise against the Krylya Sovetov 2 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.
Market20 Nov 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.
Squad20 Nov 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 Krylya Sovetov 2 this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The dugout20 Nov 2028
Yordy Reyna 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.
Squad20 Nov 2028
Yegor Chistyakov 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 dugout20 Nov 2028
Danil Beltyukov 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.
Market20 Nov 2028
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Danil Beltyukov signs something — a contract at Krylya Sovetov 2 or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
Market20 Nov 2028
The shop window has Artem Chaly in it
Krylya Sovetov 2 have let the market know Artem Chaly can be had. No price in the advert, but everyone in the trade knows roughly what it says.
Squad20 Nov 2028
The training reports on Petr Salasin are not good
A bad Saturday is forgiven; a bad Tuesday is chosen. Standards have slipped and in a building where everybody watches everybody, it has been noticed.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad30 Oct 2028
21 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Krylya Sovetov 2 lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Market30 Oct 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 Krylya Sovetov 2, and it is not being withdrawn.
Match30 Oct 2028
Position 2 and 25 points on the board. Nobody at the ground will say the word out loud yet, and everybody at the ground is thinking it.
Squad30 Oct 2028
Danil Beltyukov 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 dugout30 Oct 2028
Yordy Reyna 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.
Looking ahead30 Oct 2028
Dinamo Vladivostok next, and one man in the Krylya Sovetov 2 dressing room knows their training ground better than his own. The reception will tell him what they thought of him.
Market30 Oct 2028
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Krylya Sovetov 2 know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
Looking ahead30 Oct 2028
A side in position 5 visits next. The result will not make anybody’s season and it could quietly break the shape of one, which is why the manager has been watching the video since Sunday.
Squad30 Oct 2028
Yegor Borisov makes the division’s eleven — 7.04
Marked 7.04, and picked in the team of the week for it. He was the best player on that pitch and the selectors saw the same match everybody else did.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
The terraces23 Oct 2028
Supporters organise against the Krylya Sovetov 2 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.
Squad23 Oct 2028
28 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Krylya Sovetov 2 lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Market23 Oct 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 Krylya Sovetov 2, and it is not being withdrawn.
Match21 Oct 2028
9 games unbeaten now. Some were earned and some were survived, but a habit is forming — and habits are the hardest thing in football to play against.
Player ratings23 Oct 2028
Successful dribbles: 23. 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.
Squad23 Oct 2028
Dmytro Ivanisenya 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 terraces23 Oct 2028
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 22-year-old it feels ownership of. Yegor Borisov 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.
Match21 Oct 2028
Three points for Krylya Sovetov 2, 2‑0 the final word against Ural 2 in a contest settled by the finer margins.
Player ratings23 Oct 2028
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.34, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad16 Oct 2028
37 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Krylya Sovetov 2 lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Squad16 Oct 2028
Dmytro Ivanisenya 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.
Market16 Oct 2028
The Andrey Tsorn talk will not go away
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Krylya Sovetov 2 know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad9 Oct 2028
Panagiotis Chiotis damages knee ligaments — 45 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 45 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
Match7 Oct 2028
8 games unbeaten now. Some were earned and some were survived, but a habit is forming — and habits are the hardest thing in football to play against.
Squad9 Oct 2028
Danil Beltyukov 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 ratings9 Oct 2028
Yordy Reyna beats them one at a time
Successful dribbles: 14. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
The dugout9 Oct 2028
The view from the dugout
“We did not lose. Some weeks that is all you get, and I would rather have the point than not.” Andrey Zotkin chose the glass-half-full version of 0‑0; the supporters left with the other one.
Player ratings9 Oct 2028
11 shots, and a count that reads like a good afternoon until you check the other column. Strikers survive weeks like this on the understanding that the chances keep arriving; the day they stop is the day it becomes a problem.
The dugout9 Oct 2028
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.
Match7 Oct 2028
Nil-nil, and few chances worth the name. Nosta came to defend and left with exactly what they came for.
Market9 Oct 2028
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Krylya Sovetov 2 know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Match18 Sep 2028
Position 3, 15 points, and the result everyone checks first is now theirs. The word is still not being said around the ground, which is how you know everyone is thinking it.
Squad18 Sep 2028
Chinedu Geoffrey 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 ratings18 Sep 2028
Successful dribbles: 14. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
The dugout18 Sep 2028
The manager makes an example of Artem Chaly
“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 dugout18 Sep 2028
“A point is a point and I will take it, but we should have had all three.” Andrey Zotkin after the 0‑0 draw, and the sentence every manager in the country said at some stage this weekend.
The dugout18 Sep 2028
Yegor Borisov 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 Krylya Sovetov 2, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Match16 Sep 2028
The crowd waited for a goal that never came. Uralets-TS defended in numbers and left with what they came for, and the two sides could be playing still without troubling a scorer.
Player ratings18 Sep 2028
Shots: 6, enough of them from close enough that a striker in form scores two. He is not a striker in form.
Market18 Sep 2028
The Andrey Tsorn talk will not go away
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Krylya Sovetov 2 know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad30 Aug 2027
Spyros Fourlanos damages knee ligaments — 103 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 103 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
Market30 Aug 2027
Marko say no — this time
The offer from Panionios for Fran González was heard out and sent back the same day. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loudly the door closes.
Market30 Aug 2027
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Panargiakos waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Marko is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
Transfer targets30 Aug 2027
Marko had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at Panathinaikos, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.
Market30 Aug 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 Marko, and it is not being withdrawn.
The dugout30 Aug 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.
Transfer targets30 Aug 2027
PAOK wanted more than $1.5M and the board would not go there. Walked away, for now, which in a transfer window means until somebody blinks.
Transfer targets30 Aug 2027
The deal with Atromitos 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 ratings30 Aug 2027
Faustino Dettler ran the middle of the pitch — 7.14
He won it back and then made something of it, which is two jobs and the reason the scoreline looks the way it does. 16 combined actions and a mark of 7.14, and not one of them will make a highlights package.
In brief
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Squad
A falling-out at Marko
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Boardroom
5 academy players handed senior numbers at Marko
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Match
6 unbeaten for Marko
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad16 Aug 2027
118 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Marko lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Transfer targets16 Aug 2027
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.
Squad16 Aug 2027
Tempers go at Marko
Dimitris Kaloskamis 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.
Market16 Aug 2027
The phone has started ringing about Alexandros Safarikas again, and this time the name on the line is Hellas Syros. Marko are listening politely and promising nothing.
Squad16 Aug 2027
Jonny Arriba 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.
Market16 Aug 2027
“We are a long way apart, and pretending otherwise helps nobody.” Neither side is close, and the calendar is not on the club's side.
Squad16 Aug 2027
“Some mornings you wake up and you are still a long way from everything you know.” It is not the football and it never was; Marko are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
Transfer targets16 Aug 2027
Iraklis Gerolakkou have been asked whether they would lend him. Loans are agreed quickly or not at all, and this one will be one or the other by the weekend.
The dugout16 Aug 2027
The manager makes an example of Nélson Campali
“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
Upbeat
Squad9 Aug 2027
A knee injury of the worst kind for Spyros Fourlanos
125 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Marko lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Market9 Aug 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 Marko, and it is not being withdrawn.
Market9 Aug 2027
The bid was some way short and Marko did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.
Squad9 Aug 2027
Words exchanged at Marko
Dimitris Kaloskamis 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.
Squad9 Aug 2027
Words at Marko training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Fran González 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.
Transfer targets9 Aug 2027
Marko asked and ND Gorica said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Squad9 Aug 2027
“Some mornings you wake up and you are still a long way from everything you know.” It is not the football and it never was; Marko are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
Market9 Aug 2027
Panargiakos are about to pick up the phone
A conversation is coming this week. Marko will put a number on him, and from there it stops being football and becomes arithmetic.
Market9 Aug 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
Upbeat
Squad2 Aug 2027
Spyros Fourlanos damages knee ligaments — 133 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 133 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
Transfer targets2 Aug 2027
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: PAOK keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
Transfer targets2 Aug 2027
Marko asked and Levadiakos said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Squad2 Aug 2027
A falling-out at Marko
Alexander Johansson and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad2 Aug 2027
Dimitris Kaloskamis 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 targets2 Aug 2027
A loan enquiry to IMT: cover, or a look at somebody the club cannot afford to buy yet. Either way the answer will come back inside the week.
Squad2 Aug 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.
Market2 Aug 2027
12 months to run and not a word offered. A club that lets the calendar negotiate for it usually ends up losing to the calendar.
Market2 Aug 2027
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Fran González signs something — a contract at Marko or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad26 Jul 2027
141 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Marko lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Match26 Jul 2027
Marko refuse to drop out of the race
Position 2, 43 points, and the result everyone checks first is now theirs. The word is still not being said around the ground, which is how you know everyone is thinking it.
Market26 Jul 2027
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Marko have lost him in all but the paperwork.
Transfer targets26 Jul 2027
The clubs have shaken hands with PAOK; the player has not yet. Personal terms are next, and personal terms are where more deals die than anybody prints.
Transfer targets26 Jul 2027
Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at OFI is saying, and nobody at Marko is enjoying the guessing.
Squad26 Jul 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 Marko this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Transfer targets26 Jul 2027
Marko asked and OFI said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Squad26 Jul 2027
Words at Marko training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Jonny Arriba 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 dugout26 Jul 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.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad12 Jul 2027
156 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Marko lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Market12 Jul 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.
The terraces12 Jul 2027
Supporters turn on the $1.3M sale of Lucas Necul
He is going to Atromitos, the club has $1.3M it did not have on Friday, and the phone-ins have already decided how they feel about that. Selling well and selling somebody they loved are not the same skill.
Transfer targets12 Jul 2027
No thanks: Baba Rahman rejects the move
Marko had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at PAOK, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.
Market12 Jul 2027
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Marko is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Market12 Jul 2027
Atromitos pay $1.3M, and the deal is done. The number reads well on a balance sheet; whether it reads well on the pitch is next season's question.
Squad12 Jul 2027
Words exchanged at Marko
Alexander Johansson 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 Jul 2027
Words at Marko training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Dimitris Kaloskamis 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.
Squad12 Jul 2027
“I have given this everything, but my family is not here and neither am I, not really.” A footballer can be coached out of bad form. Nobody has ever been coached out of this, and Marko know it.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad28 Jun 2027
38 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Marko lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Match28 Jun 2027
Marko are in among the leaders
Position 2 and 43 points on the board. Nobody at the ground will say the word out loud yet, and everybody at the ground is thinking it.
Market28 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 Marko, and it is not being withdrawn.
Market28 Jun 2027
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Panargiakos waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Marko is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
Transfer targets28 Jun 2027
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: Olympiacos keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
Squad28 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 Marko this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad28 Jun 2027
Words at Marko training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Fran González 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.
Transfer targets28 Jun 2027
Marko asked and OFI said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Squad28 Jun 2027
Everybody at Marko saw it before anybody said it, which is how this always goes. At 33 the decline is real and measurable — 3 points — and the only question left is how the club handles somebody it owes a great deal to.