Marked for Ramil Gainullin
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market4 Sep 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.
Market4 Sep 2028
The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.
Match2 Sep 2028
No end in sight to Chertanovo's wait for a win
6 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Chertanovo has to find a result from somewhere.
Squad4 Sep 2028
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Georgy Borisov is 20, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Squad4 Sep 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 Chertanovo this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad4 Sep 2028
14 days, the medical staff say, and medical staff are optimists by profession. The team sheet will look wrong without him.
Boardroom4 Sep 2028
The owner puts $116.3K into Chertanovo
This is money that keeps the lights on rather than money that buys a centre-half, and the difference is the whole story. A club funded by its owner rather than by its football has exactly one conversation left ahead of it.
Boardroom4 Sep 2028
185% of the income goes out in wages at Chertanovo
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.
Market4 Sep 2028
The interest is real enough to have reached print. Chertanovo have said nothing, which in a transfer window is its own kind of answer.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match29 Jul 2028
Beaten 0‑4 by Baltika 2, and beaten everywhere it matters. The inquest starts on the training pitch on Monday morning.
Market31 Jul 2028
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Chertanovo can pretend not to have heard.
The terraces31 Jul 2028
The boos come down from three sides
“We pay for this every fortnight. The least we want is somebody who looks like he cares.” 9 of the 25 senior players walked off into it; the rest were not playing.
Market31 Jul 2028
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Chertanovo they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Squad31 Jul 2028
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Ramil Gainullin is 19, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Squad31 Jul 2028
“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.
Boardroom31 Jul 2028
The music was off and the showers ran late. What was said in that dressing room stays there, but Saturday will publish the minutes.
Market31 Jul 2028
Rubin Yalta are about to pick up the phone
A conversation is coming this week. Chertanovo will put a number on him, and from there it stops being football and becomes arithmetic.
Squad31 Jul 2028
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Iñaki Baigorria trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market24 Jul 2028
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Chertanovo can pretend not to have heard.
Squad24 Jul 2028
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Daniil Kiryagin is 22, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Market24 Jul 2028
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Chertanovo is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Match22 Jul 2028
Three points for Chertanovo, 1‑0 the final word against Kosmos in a contest settled by the finer margins.
Boardroom24 Jul 2028
The embargo bars a fee being paid for a player, whatever the manager thinks the squad needs. Every rumour printed about this club between now and its lifting is a rumour about a deal that cannot happen.
Boardroom24 Jul 2028
Chertanovo are $5.0M in the red
The borrowing is past what the bank agreed, which is the line where a debt stops being how football is financed and starts being a problem. Every phone-in in this town will quote the figure for the next five years.
Squad24 Jul 2028
The manager makes an example of Ivan Polyakov
“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.
Squad24 Jul 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 Chertanovo this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad24 Jul 2028
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Iñaki Baigorria trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Boardroom3 Jul 2028
The board have said in public what they had been saying in private. Results between now and the next meeting decide it, and everybody in the building knows the arithmetic.
Market3 Jul 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.
Boardroom3 Jul 2028
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.
Market3 Jul 2028
The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.
Squad3 Jul 2028
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Ramil Gainullin is 18, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Squad3 Jul 2028
Daniil Kiryagin 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.
Boardroom3 Jul 2028
$89.3K of the owner's money at Chertanovo
The shortfall was covered from upstairs again. Supporters are entitled to be relieved and entitled to ask what happens the month it is not, and both feelings usually arrive together.
Squad3 Jul 2028
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Vasily Chekavinskiy and Chertanovo agree another 3 years.
Market3 Jul 2028
The interest is real enough to have reached print. Chertanovo have said nothing, which in a transfer window is its own kind of answer.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Market29 May 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.
Squad29 May 2028
Ramil Gainullin 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.
Boardroom29 May 2028
The embargo bars a fee being paid for a player, whatever the manager thinks the squad needs. Every rumour printed about this club between now and its lifting is a rumour about a deal that cannot happen.
Squad29 May 2028
Ivan Polyakov 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.
Boardroom29 May 2028
Chertanovo are $4.3M in the red
The borrowing is past what the bank agreed, which is the line where a debt stops being how football is financed and starts being a problem. Every phone-in in this town will quote the figure for the next five years.
Squad29 May 2028
Artem Selyukov 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.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Boardroom6 Mar 2028
The board’s statement ran to three sentences and one of them mentioned results. Ivan Dubrovin has managed long enough to translate: win soon, or the next statement is shorter.
Market6 Mar 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 Chertanovo, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad6 Mar 2028
Ramil Gainullin 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.
Boardroom6 Mar 2028
The accounts make uncomfortable reading. Wages first and ambition second is the order of business at Chertanovo now.
Squad6 Mar 2028
Ivan Polyakov 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.
Loan watch6 Mar 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 Chertanovo, and 1 appearances in 25 say he has earned the hearing.
Squad6 Mar 2028
Manos Sbokos loses the manager who believed in him
A change in the dugout is not one story, it is twenty-five of them. This is Manos Sbokos's: he was somebody's player, and now he has to be somebody else's, starting from nothing.
Squad6 Mar 2028
Matvey Melnikov 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.
Market6 Mar 2028
Every press conference now starts and ends the same way: with Daniil Kiryagin’s future. The manager has run out of new ways to say nothing.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Market10 Jan 2028
Halil Bağcı 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 Chertanovo can pretend not to have heard.
Boardroom10 Jan 2028
The accounts make uncomfortable reading. Wages first and ambition second is the order of business at Chertanovo now.
Player ratings10 Jan 2028
A performance of 8.16 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
Squad10 Jan 2028
Ivan Polyakov 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 ratings10 Jan 2028
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.
Loan watch10 Jan 2028
“I watch every Chertanovo game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Pobeda runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
Squad10 Jan 2028
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Chertanovo, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Player ratings10 Jan 2028
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.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Market22 Nov 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 terraces22 Nov 2027
The ground has had enough
“We travel everywhere and we get this.” 6 of the 26 senior players heard it walking off, and the ones who did not hear it were not playing.
Squad22 Nov 2027
Ramil Gainullin 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.
Match20 Nov 2027
0‑1 to Torpedo Vladimir, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Squad22 Nov 2027
Manos Sbokos 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.
Squad22 Nov 2027
Ivan Polyakov 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 ratings22 Nov 2027
Successful dribbles: 14. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad22 Nov 2027
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Iñaki Baigorria trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Player ratings22 Nov 2027
5.45 on the card. Some afternoons a footballer looks like a man who has only just been introduced to the game, and this was one of them.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market8 Nov 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 Chertanovo, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad8 Nov 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 Chertanovo this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad8 Nov 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Daniil Kiryagin, and the manager let it.
Squad8 Nov 2027
Ivan Polyakov 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 ratings8 Nov 2027
Joaquín Gómez was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.03. 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 ratings8 Nov 2027
Successful dribbles: 16. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Match6 Nov 2027
It finished 1‑1, and it somehow always looked like it would. One of those afternoons where the table moves less than the tempers.
Squad8 Nov 2027
One weekend, judged against everybody else's. Joaquín Gómez has come out on top of it, and for most footballers a weekly award is the only silverware a career ever produces.
Player ratings8 Nov 2027
A mark of 5.47 tells the story without any need for embellishment. He will want the tape of this one quietly lost.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Market13 Sep 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 Chertanovo, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad13 Sep 2027
Ramil Gainullin 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.
Squad13 Sep 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 Chertanovo this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Match11 Sep 2027
Beaten 1‑2, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Squad13 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.
Player ratings13 Sep 2027
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.
Squad13 Sep 2027
The division's best last weekend was a Chertanovo man
It is a small honour and it is not nothing: somebody watched every match in the division and decided that Matvey Melnikov was the best thing in any of them.
Market13 Sep 2027
Every press conference now starts and ends the same way: with Daniil Kiryagin’s future. The manager has run out of new ways to say nothing.
Player ratings13 Sep 2027
An afternoon Ivan Polyakov will want back
Marked 5.68. Nothing he attempted worked and by the hour mark he had stopped attempting much, which is the part a manager notices rather than the mistakes.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Market19 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 terraces19 Jul 2027
The boos come down from three sides
“We pay for this every fortnight. The least we want is somebody who looks like he cares.” 10 of the 31 senior players walked off into it; the rest were not playing.
Player ratings19 Jul 2027
Successful dribbles: 28. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad19 Jul 2027
Matvey Melnikov 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 boys move up, and somewhere in the building the people who coached them at twelve are quietly having the best morning of their working year. Nothing about this shows up in a result and it is why the academy exists.
Match17 Jul 2027
0‑2 to Yenisey 2, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Market19 Jul 2027
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Igor Nesterov is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
Market19 Jul 2027
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Georgy Nikiforov has been at this club since he was a boy and is now, formally, one of the first-team squad — which for a local readership beats any signing of any size.
Market19 Jul 2027
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Sergei Erofeev 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.