Marked for Théo Bourdon-Rey
From our football correspondent
Steady
Match19 Apr 2027
Leningradets are in among the leaders
Position 2 and 30 points on the board. Nobody at the ground will say the word out loud yet, and everybody at the ground is thinking it.
Squad19 Apr 2027
Alexey Kuznetsov and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad19 Apr 2027
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Sergey Nikolaev was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Boardroom19 Apr 2027
Wages swallow 167% of the Leningradets 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.
Market19 Apr 2027
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Alexey Kuznetsov signs something — a contract at Leningradets or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
Market19 Apr 2027
Leningradets have let the market know Sergey Nikolaev can be had. No price in the advert, but everyone in the trade knows roughly what it says.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Steady
Match22 Mar 2027
Leningradets are in among the leaders
Position 2 and 30 points on the board. Nobody at the ground will say the word out loud yet, and everybody at the ground is thinking it.
Squad22 Mar 2027
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Sergey Nikolaev was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Boardroom22 Mar 2027
196% of the income goes out in wages at Leningradets
Every club in football 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 somebody has tried it.
The dugout22 Mar 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 dugout22 Mar 2027
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Danila Yemeljanov trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Market22 Mar 2027
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Alexey Kuznetsov signs something — a contract at Leningradets or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
Loan watch22 Mar 2027
24 appearances at Kolomna and the goals keep coming. Leningradets are watching this more closely than the borrowing club would like.
The dugout22 Mar 2027
A conversation in the manager’s office, and a commitment that came out of it. Promises like that are cheap to make and expensive to break, and Yegor Smirnov has written the date down.
Market22 Mar 2027
The list is a quiet document with a loud meaning. Théo Bourdon-Rey may talk to anybody who asks, and everybody at the club understands what that means.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market8 Mar 2027
“I know what people will say. I know what I want, and it is here.” Murom had the fee agreed and the shirt ready; they did not have the player, and now they will not.
Market8 Mar 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.
Market8 Mar 2027
The offer from Znamya Truda for Danila Kozlov 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.
Market8 Mar 2027
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Leningradets they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
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
Alexey Kuznetsov 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
A muscle injury sidelines Roman Kudryavtsev for 15 days
Nobody makes a documentary about a hamstring and everybody in the game fears one. Leningradets will be careful with the return date, because the second one is always worse than the first.
Squad8 Mar 2027
A move Théo Bourdon-Rey would have made for nothing
There is a version of every career where the player ends up somewhere he chose rather than somewhere that chose him. Théo Bourdon-Rey is living that version at Leningradets, and it tends to show in the first month.
Squad8 Mar 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; Leningradets are dealing with a man who wants a different country.